Dominating Martial King
Chapter 443 - 443 244 Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon Please Subscribe_4

443: Chapter 244: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Please Subscribe)_4 443: Chapter 244: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Please Subscribe)_4 Behind them, a chorus of disgruntled shouting arose.

“Commander Sheen, this won’t work if it keeps up.

Why not give the order to disperse them?”

“We can’t scatter, haven’t you seen?

They’re pressing their entire formation forward.

How can we resist if we break formation?”

“Where are our heavy crossbows?

Our archers?

We must counterattack now!”

“The wind is from the southwest!

Our archers’ range won’t reach.

Unless we stop calling the wind and dispelling the mist, or find another way—”

The man did not finish his sentence.

Stopping the calling of the wind and the dispelling of the mist was undoubtedly even more foolish—no one on the city walls would agree to it.

So the complaints continued unabated.

“It was a southeast wind just now, why did it suddenly change direction?”

“This is really something.

We can’t afford not to drive out the mist, but doing so doesn’t work either.

It seems that defeat is certain today, no matter how we respond, we lose.”

“I’ve said it before; we shouldn’t have fought in the open!

We should’ve retreated back into the city and defended from there.”

“What are you talking about?

Who was it that said West Mountain Hall’s morale had dissipated and that we clearly held a winning position?

If we didn’t dare to fight, it would’ve been a laughable retreat.”

At this moment, the nine thousand hunters from the southwest had begun their second round of volleys.

Accompanied by a buzzing sound, the dense arrow rain plummeted down, continuing to reap the lives of the Xiushui Family Alliance Army.

In just a moment, a whole section of the defensive line, with all of its seven hundred men, lay pinned to the ground by countless iron arrows.

Commander Sheen Zhou watched this scene with a pale face, and just as the third volley of arrows soared into the sky.

Sheen Zhou seemed to age ten years, “Tell the men below to retreat, we’ve lost.”

In fact, they didn’t need his orders.

His county army, including soldiers from the Sheen Family and the Shangguan Family, were already fleeing the formation.

They started with some semblance of order but soon after, they turned into a full rout.

“Shut the city gates!

Lower the deadweights!”

Sheen Zhou’s voice was icy cold, “Get a few people with loud voices to tell those below, let them all circumvent the city and enter from other directions!”

This undoubtedly meant that the losses to each family would multiply.

But Sheen Zhou could not risk West Mountain Hall seizing the opportunity to break into the city.

If they did, not only would he be finished, but the governor, the Prefecture Governor, and others in Xiushui County would all be doomed.

Sheen Zhou knew that by not giving the order to disperse the fog today, he had already gravely offended the Inner City Families and that the hefty losses of the county army were a great sin; losing his position became an inevitable conclusion.

Sheen Zhou had no choice but to secure a way out for himself and the Sheen Family.

Shangguan Shen Hao’s face was as pale as paper too.

He wiped the fresh blood from the corner of his lips with his sleeve and said emotionlessly, “Prepare a Qiankun Flying Sword and inform the governor of the outcome of this battle as soon as possible.

Send a capable person to cross the river and seek reinforcements from General Wei Lai of the Tianping Army.

Ask him to cross the river quickly!

Otherwise, all our properties outside the city will be destroyed in no time.”

※※※※

Once the Xiushui County Army scattered, the West Mountain Army began advancing in great strides.

Their morale was sky-high as they swept across all the alliance soldiers beneath the city walls.

Nobody anticipated this outcome; everyone had their faces flushed with victory, their expressions ecstatic and exuberant.

The military orders from Chu Xisheng to the various divisions of the West Mountain Army were utterly ruthless, demanding that they force all visible fugitive troops to surrender.

If they couldn’t force a surrender, then they were to shoot to kill without leaving a single survivor!

Chu Xisheng was convinced that inside Xiushui City, there were no significant forces left.

Even if there were, they definitely would not dare to come out and fight at this moment!

Therefore, Chu Xisheng kept only about a thousand men from West Mountain Hall ready for any unforeseen events while the rest were dispersed.

At the moment, West Mountain Hall did not possess the strength to storm the city, nor could it launch a strong attack on the county in the face of the Tianping Army’s containment across the river.

And if they did seize Xiushui County City, the nature of this battle would change.

It would mean raising the flag of rebellion, starting an uprising rather than being limited to the scope of a civilian revolt.

At that time, whether it was the influential households or local tyrants of West Mountain, or those hunters and woodcutters, would become indecisive and apprehensive again.

The psychological pressure caused by rebellion versus civil uprising was markedly different for them.

Chu Xisheng did not plan to act rashly and undermine the soldiers’ morale.

Even if he one day truly decided to rebel, he would make it so that everyone would unknowingly step onto his boat willingly.

However, he did not need to attack the city, but the county army and the house soldiers of the Xiushui Families had to be eradicated.

He aimed to exhaust every possible effort to kill off, remove, and lessen his own burdens of any future potential enemies!

Chu Xisheng would not allow, in the near future, a second sizable force from within Xiushui County City that could threaten West Mountain Hall’s existence to emerge.

‘Compassion does not command an army.’

Any merciful notions he had at this moment could become the cause of his downfall in the future.

While the various divisions were hot on the heels of those fleeing to the north and sweeping up the defeated soldiers, Chu Xisheng himself led fifteen hundred men swiftly to the East City Pier and stepped onto the Iron Banner Gang’s Headquarters.

The East City Pier was in complete disarray.

Previously, the Xiushui Alliance Army had sent three thousand troops to take control of the pier area, assaulting the Iron Banner Gang’s family quarters and Headquarters near the pier.

At this time, the elite of the Iron Banner Gang had already been called away to the Mi Family Mansion, protecting the Iron Madman, leaving insufficient gang members behind.

The boatmen and laborers on the pier also knew about the fall of the Iron Madman and were panicking, directionless.

Some, with more fragile psyches, felt as though the sky was about to fall.

Luckily, many laborers were deeply grateful to the Iron Madman.

Even after learning of his death, they still took up swords to participate in the defense.

Therefore, until the Xiushui Family Alliance Army was defeated, only some buildings around the Headquarters were burned, and no significant personnel losses were suffered.