Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 199 - 182: I Have a Method to Defeat the Enemy (6700 words in the - ) _2

Chapter 199: Chapter 182: I Have a Method to Defeat the Enemy (6700 words in the Chapter) _2

Despite the fervent resistance from the Commanding Officer, he was quickly taken down by Li Yan, Su Zhaojun, and their allies.

This battle gave Li Xuan a glimpse of how the Jin Dynasty’s martial commanders manipulate ’Shi’.

While the commanding officer’s true cultivation was only at the seventh house level, during the battle, he leveraged his military power and for a moment unleashed strength of the ninth house level.

Moreover, the elite soldiers of Tieweng City and those naval soldiers of Zhenjiang also astonished Li Xuan.

The maximum martial strength of these men was only at two or three house levels. However, when they put on their armor, worked in groups of three to five, even ten or twelve, forming a formation; adeptly using the tactic of dividing and converging, their strength was noticeably enhanced.

The city’s elites, a squad of ten, could oppose two to three shrimp soldiers at the Fourth-Floor Territory—although these shrimp soldiers’ power was seriously diminished after landing, they still possessed an overwhelming force and unbreakable armor.

If the naval soldiers of Zhenjiang hadn’t promptly followed up with the battle of Tieweng City, the shrimp soldiers may have been fully expelled by the city’s elite soldiers.

Li Xuan was secretly amazed. Previously, at the Xuanwu Lake dockyard when he was involved in a brawl with Cui Hongan and others, the royal camp elites were not much either—

"Do you think these are the so-called elite soldiers from the royal camp in Nanjing?"

Li Yan sneered, "As far as elite soldiers are concerned, their individual martial cultivation doesn’t need to be that strong. They must, however, be proficient in maneuvering tactical formations. But the royal camp has long been decayed, and the real elites have all been domesticated and conserved by the nobles and generals. And not to mention, during the previous battle of Dasheng Pass against the Han Dynasty’s ghostly army, our old man had nearly reached the half-heavenly level combat ability on shore. Why do you think he was injured so heavily, if not for those several ghost generals who manipulated the momentum of the ghostly army?"

He then contemplated while stroking his chin, "But I’m quite surprised. I have always heard that Lin Ziyang was very meticulous in training his soldiers. I was, however, not expecting the soldiers of Tieweng City to be this elite, nearly reaching the standard of ’Nine Border Soldiers’."

He implied that if it hadn’t been for Li Xuan, who was able to acquire the Dragon King’s guards due to his handsome face, Tieweng City might not have been captured so quickly.

At that moment, a roar filled with anger echoed from the western foothills of Beigu Mountain, "Li Yan! You’re courting death!"

Li Yan glanced upward in the air several miles away, only to see Lin Ziyang in a heavy armor and a long cloak, hovering in the sky, glaring furiously towards Tieweng City.

He appeared slightly surprised, let out a ’hmpf’ followed by a sneer, his eyes filled with mockery: "General Lin, you’re late! Really, General Lin, you should have seen this coming. If you can play the beginner’s game, why can’t I, Li Yan, play the full-moon game?"

Although Li Yan did not intentionally speak aloud, Lin Ziyang, overcome with anger, swept Li Yan a glance with his eyes filled with murderous intent, and then hastily turned around, retreating towards Dantu City.

"Defend well! If you cannot, you will die! If I don’t kill you today, I swear I’ll not remain a human!"

"Well then, General Lin, you might no longer remain a human in the future—" Only when Li Yan voiced these argumentative words, Lin Ziyang was long gone.

Li Xuan, in the meantime, brandished the document bestowed by the second prince, and started parading about the city on his horse, "All of you in the city, listen to me! I am Li Xuan, the Fumo Youjiao from the Liudao Division, the second son of Earl Chengyi. I am ordered by the second prince and the Ministry of War in Nanjing to investigate the case of military equipment theft! We have found that Lin Ziyang, the commander of Zhenjiang, and his subordinates are the masterminds behind this case and are plotting a rebellion! I am here to apprehend them. You all are servants of the court, misled by Lin Ziyang’s power and official position, and are not guilty in essence. If you still have a sense of righteousness and care for your families, surrender immediately! Otherwise, you will be killed without mercy!"

This was because although the city’s elite soldiers were crushed from the front, still, nearly a thousand men scattered into the buildings and houses in the city and lurked there.

Once Lin Ziyang instigates a city assault, this will be a huge threat.

Although Li Xuan himself was just a lowly Fumo Youjiao, he declared himself as Fumo Xiaowei to gain credibility among the people.

No one knows, whether the document was effective, or words from Li Xuan swayed the people’s hearts. In the following time, more than seven hundred soldiers of Tieweng City successively came out from all the houses.

While Li Yan was committed to eliminating the remaining enemies, they saw the city gates of Dantu County open, and a large number of cavalry rushing out of the city.

There was also a burst of brightness in the other directions, a flood of armored soldiers surged towards the foothills of Beigu Mountain.

As Li Xuan observed those torches from afar, they appeared to be an army of twenty to thirty thousand.

Luckily, Shi Shishi had led his two thousand five hundred soldiers to Beigu Mountain. Some entered Ganlu Port, while others took up positions in Tieweng City.

"Lin Ziyang has been plotting treason for a while; he was very covert about it. It was only when the case of military equipment theft busted at the Johannesburg armory a while ago, and when he started gathering refugees on purpose, that I realized what was going on."

Shi Shishi was thirty something, sturdy, with a face as red as dates. Upon entering the city, his first move was to set up the defense. After patroling and inspecting the city walls, he met up with Li Yan on the west parapet.

"He has enormous support from the back. A month ago, I risked my life to submit three secret reports to the north and had people look for your Earl’s mansion and Shaobao Yu from the north for help. But all those attempts ended up like stones sunk in the sea, with no response whatsoever. The people sent for these tasks disappeared without a trace. From then on, Lin Ziyang began to guard against me, even intending to sideline me."