Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 754 - 624

Chapter 754: 624

On the twelfth of March, atop a mountain peak next to the Mausoleum of the Tai Grand Emperor of Liao, Zhang Guanlan, the Heavenly Master Qianyuan, was seen overlooking the direction of Jizhou City with his hands behind his back, his eyes like a bright candle flame.

His words held a hint of probing, "Brother Zong, please tell me honestly, what does our master think about this impending battle?"

The man he was inquiring with was ’Shenlie Blade’ Zong Xuanhua, the enigmatic man in a black cloak and conical bamboo hat whom Li Xuan had met a few times.

However, the figure of this man was facing away from Zhang Guanlan, seeming interested in observing the corridor that led into the tomb. "Our master says observe the changing situation for now. If you want to support the Oirats, that is up to you.

But from now on, we shall each go our own way. Once we meet in the battlefield, do not resent our master for being ruthless!"

Upon hearing this, the Heavenly Master Qianyuan, Zhang Guanlan, furrowed his brow slightly, though he was not surprised in the least.

Their master, Master Zhongliu, had spent his lifetime relentlessly driving out all foreign invaders and maintaining the true lineage of Huaxia.

If not for the historiography from the Heaven Palace of Jinque that was disseminated hundreds of years ago, which had tremendously shaken Master Zhongliu and led to his dramatic shift in conviction, there would have been no way for him to cooperate with the Oirats.

"So our master has decided to remain neutral?"

A peculiar glint emerged in Zhang Guanlan’s eyes. "But doesn’t our master want to overthrow the historical account in the Book of Jinque? This would be the perfect opportunity."

Master Zhongliu is the pinnacle of battle strength in their age, not only has he reached the Great Heavenly Position in his cultivation, but he also controls the immensely powerful ’Rule of Extreme Heaven’, actually a ’half-extreme heavenly level’.

Even the Shaofu Yu Jie, who is known as ’the first under the heavens’, is a notch below him in terms of actual combat strength.

If this man were to side with the Jin Dynasty, then YeXian Khan’s stratagem would fail without a doubt.

Therefore, Zhang Guanlan was already satisfied that Master Zhongliu was prepared to be an observer.

Only, Zhang Guanlan was still holding on to a shred of hope, wanting to drag this man into the vortex.

Once they have Master Zhongliu’s support, be it the Jingtai Emperor or the Marquis of Guanjun Li Xuan, both of them will be doomed!

"Our master doesn’t see the need to intervene." ’Shenlie Blade’ Zong Xuanhua shook his head followed by a chuckle. "Isn’t this exciting? According to the historical records in the Book of Jinque, the ’Coup of Usurping the Door’ should take place in the twenty-third year of Jingtai’s reign. However, in the fourteenth year of Jingtai’s reign, you lot have decided to put all your eggs in one basket.

So the upcoming situation is strange, if your conspiracy fails, then the Zhengtong Emperor and Empress Sun will not survive this. However, if you succeed, then the incident that was supposed to happen in the twenty-third year of Jingtai’s reign will be brought forward to the fourteenth year of Jingtai’s reign.

Our master, who has always been yearning to alter history, planned meticulously for decades, only to have his efforts crumble just inches from success. Yet when he is down and out, good fortune seems to be just around the corner.

The amusing thing is that this time, he does not need to make any effort and can just watch as the history scripted by the Qianqiu Brush gets overturned. Since that’s the case, why on earth would he need to assist a Han renegade and lackey like you?"

Upon hearing these words, Zhang Guanlan’s face turned pale. "Brother Zong? You and I have been colleagues for decades, please watch your words!"

"Aren’t you the lapdog of the Oirats?"

’Shenlie Blade’ Zong Xuanhua turned around, his gaze taunting Zhang Guanlan. He then raised his hand and, by force, took a golden seal from Zhang Guanlan. "Since you no longer intend to comply with the master’s wishes, this seal, which can deceive the ’Book of Jinque’, is naturally unnecessary. Also, our master asked me to relay this message: if the Capital City were to fall into the hands of the Oirats, he would personally come for your life!"

Having said these words, he vanished into the sky, transformed into a streak of golden light.

Zhang Guanlan clenched his teeth as his gaze turned ice-cold.

The corners of his lips then curved up into a smirk.

If they can take over North Zhili this time, the Oirats will inevitably retake control over the Central Plains.

At that point, with Yexian Khan’s success a foregone conclusion, why would he need to fear that insignificant Master Zhongliu?

’Shenlie Blade’ Zong Xuanhua is merely a dog of Master Zhongliu —

Zong Xuanhua’s voice echoed once again, "Instead of worrying about our master, you should be more wary of those at the Heaven Palace of Jinque. I’m really curious, seeing as the ’Coup of Usurping the Door’ is taking place in the fourteenth year of Jingtai’s reign instead of at the appointed time, how will those in the Heaven Palace of Jinque react? I really look forward to seeing their expressions."

He burst out into laughter and vanished into the clouds in an instant.

Zhang Guanlan didn’t bother to pay him any attention, he immediately disappeared into the depth of the Mausoleum of the Tai Grand Emperor of Liao.

Over a year ago, Zhang Guanlan had already completed the experiment of conjuring a physical form for the soul of ’Empress of Liao, Shulv Ping’ and controlling the Pishi Zombie Army, with the help of ’God Lord of Ten Thousand Coffins, Sikong Xin’.

At this moment, all the preparations for the summoning were ready. He only had to wait for Empress Shulv Ping’s memorial day on the twenty-sixth of March to arrive, then the two hundred and seventy thousand zombie Iron Cavalry would advance south to Chengde!

At the same time, about twelve thousand li north of the Great Wall and outside Yanghe Pass, inside a golden King’s tent, the ’Khan of Vala’, Yexian was looking expectantly at the Guoshi Abas who had just entered his tent.

"Guoshi!" Yexian noticed the scroll in Abas’s hand. A fiery glow appeared in his eyes: "Is that the oath contract from the Zhengtong Emperor? Have you gotten it?"

"I have indeed succeeded in my mission!"

Mongolian Shaman, Abas, replied with a slight smile and placed the scroll in front of Yexian: "That emperor may lack the skill to rule, but he is certainly good at bartering. I discussed with him for almost a month before agreeing to the contract yesterday."

YeXian Khan of Vala looked closely at the scroll, and after a short while, saw the words, ’If I can successfully restore my rule, I will certainly kill the Jin Dynasty’s ’Minister of War, Shaofu Yu Jie’ and the ’Marquis of Guanjun, Shaobao Li Xuan’. The two men will be cut into a thousand pieces and punished with the most torturous execution to repay the kindness of Vala Khan YeXian’.

After reading this, YeXian’s lips curled into a hint of a satisfied smile, "This former Jin Emperor, he really did agree."

However, he then saw the final part of the scroll, which contained the words, ’This agreement is confidential, and both parties shall keep it secret. If the oath-maker breaks his vow, may he be struck by a thousand thunderbolts and die, cutting off his lineage forever’

After reading this, the Khan of Vala couldn’t help but chuckle, "This Jin Emperor is quite cautious. But once the Jingtai Emperor, Yu Jie, and Li Xuan are dead, who can stop me from the Jin people?"

Without hesitation, he bit his finger and imprinted a bloody handprint at the end of the scroll.

Besides him, there were already three blood-print handprints on the scroll. One belonged to Guoshi Abas, and the other two must belong to the Zhengtong Emperor and Empress Sun.

At this moment, Guoshi Abas took out a bright yellow paper, "This is a list provided by Empress Sun, there are a total of ninety-seven people on it. They are either literate or martial, holding ranks from the 7th to the 3rd. They are located in Datong Town and Taiyuan Town.

When our Mongwu army goes south, they will provide us with the military secrets of the Jin Army in a covert way, as well as other forms of help."

Behind this piece of paper, Abas took out a five-foot square map.

"This is a military map of Datong, Taiyuan, Ningxia, and Guyuan. All geographical features, fortresses, deployments, etc. of these four towns are on this piece of paper."

YeXian Khan, holding the object, suddenly laughed loudly, the sound echoing in the clouds.

He drank all the wine from the glass next to him in one gulp, then smashed it heavily on the ground, causing the fragments to scatter.

At the same time, YeXian stared at the soldiers outside the tent, his hair standing on end like a tiger, "Order all the Darru Hachk and Wanhu. Tell my children that it is time for war. Let them get moving.

This time, we don’t need to attack the city, nor do we need to take any forts. We just need to loot and plunder, so everyone can have a prosperous year!"

Just a moment later, the hundreds of thousands of Iron Cavalry outside this golden tent let out a series of wolf-like howls.

These knights raised their reins and ran with the Dragon Colt steeds beneath them. Soon after, they formed a dozen large arrows and crossed the gap in the Great Wall ahead in a grand manner.

※※※※

When the Mongwu army roared in through the gap in the Great Wall near Yanghewei, Shaofu Yu Jie, who had rushed to Taiyuan City, received the military intelligence as soon as possible.

In the first one or two days, Shaofu Yu Jie felt as if he had everything under control.

However, as time went on, Yu Jie’s brows gradually furrowed into a ’Sichuan’ character.

The reason being that the overall development of the war situation was very different from what he had anticipated.

After the 450,000 Mongwu Iron Cavalry crossed the Great Wall, they ignored all the forts and cities along the way, not even attacking Yanghe Fort and Gaoshanwei Fort on their back road. Instead, they marched straight ahead into the heart of Jin.

They flowed down following the Imperial River and the Sangan River. In just two short days, they reached the position of ’Yingzhou’ (Ying County). The army was already pointing towards Shanyin, Mayi, and Shuozhou.

The Jingtai Emperor was also surprised, "So apart from those 2 million sheep and some jerkies, they have no other military food reserves behind them? These supplies, can only sustain for about a month, right?"

"Your Majesty, it’s about a month and twenty days."

A great general next to him, dressed in the attire of a 1st-rank military minister, corrected him. That was the current Marquis of Dingxiang, Zongbingguan Guo Tai, one of the six Great Heavenly Generals of the Jin Dynasty, whose military power was only second to Liang Heng.

He saluted with his fists and looked respectful, "The Mongwu people have three horses per person, and the grass on the Central Plains is lush and green, enough for horse fodder. In case of emergency, they can slay their horses to stave off hunger and quench their thirst with horse blood."

The Jingtai Emperor couldn’t help but nod, "Marquis of Dingxiang is indeed experienced, then, in your view, what exactly do the Mongwu people want to do?"

"They must be intending to plunder Shuozhou!" Guo Tai answered without hesitation, "If the court doesn’t send help, they will then invade Taiyuan via Ningwu Pass and Yanmen Pass!"

The Jingtai Emperor immediately clenched his hand, his face stern.

The court had already prepared for this war. They had cleared the five hundred li area along the Great Wall. All the people in the fields were gathered into forts and cities.

They had decided that they would rather give up spring sowing than let the Mongwu people loot any wealth or grain.

But ’Shuozhou’ was outside this five hundred li area--

"That was my oversight." Yu Jie deeply bowed to the Jingtai Emperor; "YeXian’s move should be to hold the people of Shuozhou hostage to force our court into a decisive battle in Shuozhou."

The Jingtai Emperor’s eyebrows raised slightly, then he started to laugh, "A decisive battle, I was hoping for one!"

The present Jin was not the Jin of the Zhengtong era, nor was it the Jin of thirteen years ago during Jingtai.

The current Jin Army would not fear a head-to-head battle against Mongwu.

He stood up, suddenly driving his Longsword into the map.

"Then let’s fight. If we annihilate these 450,000 Mongwu cavalry on the plains of Shuozhou, the Jin can enjoy a century of peace!"