Chapter 915
Sending someone to their death!
"Second," Zheng Yi said, looking at Han Wuhen, "after you take over all the granaries, mines, medicinal fields, and land deeds in Baishi City, seal them all and take them over to Hongyun City Public Property. Patriarch Han, you are in charge of inventorying and listing them, and you must not miss a single detail."
Han Wuhen's eyes practically glowed with greed: "Don't worry, sir! My eyes are so sharp they could tell the difference between male and female even if they crawled into a rat hole. I'll expose every single detail about the Huang family!"
“Third,” Zheng Yi turned to look out the window, “speed is of the essence in war. Huang Delong has just suffered a major blow, and now is the time when they are most panicked and least prepared. We cannot give them the opportunity to ask for help from the outside world.”
"Tianyou, go to the drill ground now. Gather those thousand heavily armored infantrymen who have been refitted." Zheng Yi's speech grew faster and faster, his logic terrifyingly clear. "Zhao Sanhuai, take fifty scouts and set off an hour early. Eliminate all of Huang family's hidden agents and sentries along the 120-mile stretch from Hongyun City to Baishi City! Not a single carrier pigeon is allowed to fly over there!"
"Yes!" Guo Tianyou and Zhao Sanhuai clasped their hands in unison.
"Sir, what about me? What am I supposed to do?" Iron One-Eye was getting anxious and squirmed on the stretcher.
Zheng Yi glanced at him and frowned: "Your injuries are too severe. Stay in the city and assist Master Kulian and the brothers who stayed behind to guard the city."
"No! Absolutely not!" Iron One-Eye was so anxious his eyes were about to bulge out. "Sir! My injury is nothing serious! I am the number one warrior of Hongyun City. How can you not take me with you when it comes to something as prestigious as attacking a city? If I don't lead the team, I'll lie on a stretcher and beat the drums for the brothers! Even if I die, I will die under the walls of White Stone City!"
Looking at Iron One-Eyed's unreasonable and shameless demeanor, Zheng Yi felt somewhat helpless, but a hint of a smile flashed in his eyes.
"Alright. Have someone tie you to the cart." Zheng Yi relented. "But without my order, you're not allowed to get off the cart. Otherwise, you'll really be cooking in the logistics battalion from now on."
"Alright! You can tie me up to death if you want!" Iron One-Eyed's anger turned to joy, and he grinned like a child.
Outside the door, the thick clouds had completely dispersed, revealing a vast and clear blue sky.
Zheng Yi pushed open the door to the side room and went out.
Beneath the city wall, the grand open-air feast continued. The soldiers, having eaten and drunk their fill, lay sprawled in the sun, some sharpening their newly issued bone spears with whetstones, making a "shh" sound; others boasted to each other about how they had killed an earth dragon in the past two days.
"Brothers!"
Zheng Yi stood at the edge of the city wall, without using any spiritual power, but only using the breath in his chest to shout a sentence in a deep voice.
The sound echoed through the empty city gate area. The noise below quickly subsided, and countless eyes converged on the man in the gray cotton robe and old fox fur.
The soldiers stood up and brushed the dust off their clothes. The civilians also stopped what they were doing.
"Have you eaten your fill?" Zheng Yi asked.
"We're full, sir!" thousands of people answered in unison, their voices like rolling thunder.
Zheng Yi's gaze swept over the faces, which were flushed from being full, and over the thousand heavily armored infantrymen who were already dressed in their uniforms and looked like steel behemoths.
“In the past two days, we have lost fifteen brothers and seriously injured one hundred and twenty-seven.” Zheng Yi’s voice was not loud, but every word struck a chord in everyone’s hearts. “You think this beast tide is a natural disaster. In fact, it is a man-made disaster.”
The crowd below stirred slightly.
Zheng Yi pointed towards the direction of the black pine forest, his voice suddenly rising, carrying a chilling aura: "It was the Huang family of White Stone City who, in order to swallow up our Hongyun City and steal your livelihood, used an evil formation to drive tens of thousands of beasts to the foot of our city walls! They hid in a safe place, watching us bleed and watching our walls collapse!"
"boom--"
The crowd erupted instantly. The languid feeling after a satisfying meal vanished, replaced by uncontrollable anger.
"Damn the Huang family! I knew this beast tide was weird!"
"My brother was blinded in one eye by a fire crow yesterday! It turns out it was these bastards who did it!"
"Kill them!"
The crowd was in a frenzy, and countless bone spears were raised high, the sunlight reflecting off their pale blades with a blinding gleam.
Zheng Yi raised his hand and pressed it down. The entire room fell silent again, but the suppressed anger was like a volcano about to erupt.
"Others have come to our door, trampled our brothers, and smashed our city walls. We, Hongyun City, have no habit of swallowing our anger." Zheng Yi suddenly drew his purple-gold longsword from his waist, pointing it straight at the sky, and a clear dragon's roar came from the blade.
"Guo Tianyou!"
"Your subordinate is here!" Guo Tianyou stepped forward, his heavy armor clanging loudly.
"Gather the troops! Move out of the city!" Zheng Yi shouted sternly.
"Target—White Stone City! Tonight, I will watch Huang Delong pay this blood debt, one by one, in his mansion!"
"Raze White Stone City to the ground! Blood must be paid for!"
A thousand heavily armored infantrymen simultaneously slammed their spears into the ground, creating a deafening roar. Immediately afterward, the entire city's inhabitants joined in the furious roar. Waves of sound surged one after another, soaring into the sky.
There was no superfluous mobilization, no flowery rhetoric. Anger and the desire to survive, and to live better, became the most powerful driving force for this army.
One hour later.
The north gate of Hongyun City suddenly burst open.
Zhao Sanhuai led fifty lightly armed scouts, like fifty sharp knives, and plunged into the open wilderness ahead.
Immediately afterward, a thousand infantrymen clad in heavy iron armor surged out of the city gates in perfect unison. They carried no banners, but the chilling aura emanating from their silence made even the withered grass along the roadside seem to bow its head. In the middle of the column, Han Wuhen rode a tall horse, directing hundreds of carts laden with supplies and crossbows to follow closely behind. Iron One-Eyed, bound hand and foot to a cart covered with thick cotton blankets, hummed an unknown tune with excitement.
Zheng Yi walked at the very front of the group.
He didn't ride a horse; he just walked, step by step. His pace seemed slow, but each step felt like a miniature version of reality. His grey fox fur coat fluttered in the wind, and his silhouette appeared lonely yet incredibly steadfast.
Xiao Liu and Xiao Shitou stood on the city wall, watching the procession stretch out into the distance like a long black dragon.
"Little Stone, do you think the master and his men can win tonight?" Xiao Liu asked with some worry, gripping a brick from the city wall.
Little Stone nodded vigorously, his eyes sparkling: "Definitely! Sir is a god! Gods can beat bad guys with ease!"
The last rays of the setting sun were completely swallowed up by the distant mountains, and the wind in the wilderness began to cut like a knife.
A forced march of 120 li should have been an agonizing ordeal for the newly equipped heavy infantry of Hongyun City. But to everyone's surprise, the troops were eerily quiet. Not a single person complained, and even their heavy breathing was suppressed by their deliberately slowed pace. The beast bone broth that had been simmering for three days and three nights, along with the "Boiling Blood Paste" from the withered lotus immortal, had not only transformed their flesh but also infused their marrow with an inexhaustible savagery.
Two miles ahead, a city built entirely of white stone stood, resembling a crouching white tiger in the night. That was White Stone City.
The group stopped in a sheltered valley.
Zheng Yi stood at the valley entrance, without lighting a torch. He gazed at the sparse lights on the distant city walls, his eyes cold and desolate.
A series of light footsteps came from the shadows ahead, followed by several dark figures gliding along the ground like ghosts. Leading them was Zhao Sanhuai, who held the machete upside down in his hand, the blade still dripping with thick, black blood, and even his leather armor reeked of blood.
“Sir,” Zhao Sanhuai lowered his voice, knelt on one knee, and breathed slightly rapidly, “the fourteen hidden agents and three mobile sentries ahead have all been eliminated. Not a single word has leaked out. Baishi City is now completely blind.”
"Well done. Were any of your own men injured or killed?" Zheng Yi handed him a water pouch.
Zhao Sanhuai took the water pouch, took a big gulp, chuckled, revealing his gleaming white teeth: "Two of my brothers were careless when they were on patrol and got grazed by the Huang family's private soldiers' hidden arrows. They've already applied medicine. Those bastards never expected us to sneak over at this time. The people in the bunker were still drinking and playing dice. When we sneaked in, they thought we were just changing shifts, even with knives to their throats."
Has Huang Delong returned to the city?
"They're back! We captured a patrol leader from the Huang family and interrogated him." Zhao Sanhuai wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Huang Delong fled back to the city at dusk, and only a dozen or so of his men were left. As soon as he entered the city, he ordered the city gates sealed, saying that a great demon had appeared in the Qingyun Mountains, and ordered all the private soldiers in the city to be on guard. But he didn't mention anything about our Hongyun City."
Guo Tianyou, listening from the side, frowned, toying with the hilt of his sword: "Is this old bastard afraid of losing face? Or is he afraid that the people in the city will find out that he messed with us and the morale of the army will collapse?"
“Both.” Zheng Yi looked at the city walls of Baishi City. “What he fears more is that the other families in the city will take the opportunity to cause trouble. Although the Huang family is the only dominant family in Baishi City, there are definitely some who are not convinced. He has lost such a large amount of his wealth, and now is the weakest time. He must cover up the news.”
Zheng Yi turned around and looked at the thousand heavily armored infantrymen behind him, who stood like steel sculptures in the darkness.
"God bless you."
"exist!"
"Have the brothers unload their baggage and only carry weapons and shields. Patriarch Han, distribute the armor-piercing talismans drawn by Elder Liu. Form groups of ten, with archers in front." Zheng Yi spoke rapidly, each word carrying an unquestionable decisiveness.
Elder Liu immediately pulled a heavy cloth bag from his robes. Inside were stacks of yellow talismans covered in red cinnabar. “Brother Tianyou, these armor-piercing talismans are extremely powerful. When attached to a crossbow bolt, they will automatically detonate upon hitting a target. Use them sparingly, lest you blow up your own people.”
Guo Tianyou took the talisman and carefully distributed it to his squad leaders. He then turned to Zheng Yi and asked, "Sir, how should we fight? Should we attack head-on? The gates of White Stone City are covered with three layers of iron-plated redwood; they're very thick."
Zheng Yi looked up at the night sky. There was no moon tonight; thick clouds completely obscured the starlight—it was perfect weather for murder.
"Did you bring the poisonous smoke ball from Master Kulian?" Zheng Yi asked.
"I brought it!" Han Wuhen quickly unloaded a wooden box covered with an oilcloth from a cart next to him. Upon opening it, he found it full of fist-sized spheres covered in black mud, emitting a strange, pungent odor.
“The wind is blowing from the north tonight, and White Stone City is downwind.” Zheng Yi picked up a poison smoke ball from the box and weighed it in his hand. “Sanhuai, take your scout battalion and go around to the west side of White Stone City. Don’t get too close. Light more torches to create a disturbance and draw their attention away.”
“Tianyou, you lead the heavy infantry to within thirty feet of the north gate wall. Once the poisonous smoke rises on the city wall, apply armor-piercing talismans to the crossbows and remove the ballistae on the gate tower. Then…” A sharp golden glint flashed in Zheng Yi’s eyes, “I will open the gate.”
"Order!"
A deep, resounding response echoed through the valley. The killing machine was fully activated at that moment.
Meanwhile, inside White Stone City, at the Huang family mansion.
This large, secluded mansion, covering dozens of acres, was now filled with a suffocating sense of terror.
Huang Delong sat in the main seat of the main hall, holding an exquisite Ru kiln teacup in his hand, but his hand trembled violently, spilling tea halfway across the table. He had changed out of his brocade robe and was now wearing a gray cloth garment, his hair still somewhat disheveled.
"Brother, what exactly happened in the Black Pine Forest? Why are only a few of the men you brought with you dead? Where is Master Wu?" A thin, middle-aged man with a mustache paced back and forth in the hall, his voice filled with anxiety. This was Huang Delong's second brother, Huang Debao, who was also the commander of the private army in White Stone City.
“Dead… all dead…” Huang Delong slammed his teacup to the ground, shattering it into pieces. His eyes were bloodshot, and his voice sounded like it was being torn apart in his throat. “That guy surnamed Zheng… he’s not human! He killed a sixth-tier Iron-Spine Demon Ape with a single sword strike! He burned the mother flag of the ‘Ten Thousand Beasts Blood Spirit Array’! Tens of thousands of demonic beasts retaliated… Second brother, you didn’t see that scene, Master Wu was torn to pieces by a flock of rock eagles!”
Huang Debao gasped, his steps halting abruptly, his face turning deathly pale: "You... what did you say? A sixth-tier demonic beast? Slain in one sword strike? Brother, are you hallucinating from demonic energy?! Even the inner elders of the Qingyun Sect wouldn't dare claim to have slain a sixth-tier beast in one sword strike!"
"A hallucination? The three hundred carts of grain I brought, the fifty elite guards, and the Soul Control Crystals we got by mortgaging the gold mine—all gone! Is this also a hallucination?!" Huang Delong roared hysterically, like a mad boar. "Go! Tell the people on the city wall to open their eyes wide! All the ballistae are cocked! That guy surnamed Zheng's methods are too wicked!"
"Brother, calm down!" Huang Debao grabbed Huang Delong's shoulder. "Even if that Zheng guy is powerful, Hongyun City was besieged by a beast tide for three days and three nights. Now he's definitely a defeated army, a complete mess. Where would he find the strength to fight us? Besides, Baishi City has 1,500 elite troops, and its walls are high. If he dares to come, he'll be throwing his life away!" (End of Chapter)