Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Your Majesty, someone shot a letter inside,” said Hong Wu after opening the door to the empress’s room.
“What does the letter say?” The empress lay on the couch and didn’t want to budge. Alternatively, it could be said that she was aching all over and that she didn’t want to move at all.
“If we allow the Great Xia soldiers in our borders to return, they will withdraw all of their soldiers that are surrounding Tiesuo Pass and Shun City.” Hong Wu placed the piece of paper at the head of the empress’s couch.
“Hah!” The empress sneered.
At this time, Great Xia actually wanted their soldiers back? Was that not ridiculous?
Even if they were to incur more casualties, they still had to detain the Great Xia soldiers within Dayao. One had to know that these Great Xia soldiers had their hands stained with the blood of the commoners. Even if Dayao had to suffer further losses, they would still bury all of those foreign soldiers within Dayao.
“In that case, I shall not reply to them. How is Your Majesty feeling today?”
“Pretty good,” the empress faintly replied.
Even though it felt like there were countless steel needles pricking the empress’s body at this moment, she merely replied, “Pretty good.”
Over a long period of time, being alone in the palace had long since formed her current personality. Regardless of whether anything was good or bad, whether she was happy or in pain, the empress would never tell anyone.
Therefore, whenever she was angry, it was like a volcanic eruption, and her killing intent would fill the entire place. During normal times, she was just aloof.
It was only recently that she acted more like a human. Occasionally, she would also act like an ordinary person who smiled faintly, thought about her own stuff, or even threw tantrums.
“Your Majesty, don’t ever lie to me. How would it be possible that I wouldn’t know the consequences of this martial art? You were too impudent this time around. Never do this again in the future…” Hong Wu couldn’t help it and started yakking.
“Get out!” The empress’s face turned ice cold.
“Your Majesty, you must take care of your health!” Hong Wu advised as he retreated.
After Hong Wu left, the empress rolled that piece of paper into a ball and threw it on the ground. Then, she resumed lying on the couch and listened to the news from the radio station every now and then.
…
“Inform the soldiers to stop and begin pitching their tents!”
A middle aged commander passed down the order among the Great Xia soldiers who were advancing forward.
This commander was named Yu Zheng and was known as Great Xia’s General Xuanwei. He was one of the chief commanders who had led the two armies deep into Dayao.
At this moment, the sun had just started to set, and it was four hours before night fell. However, there were two Dayao soldiers on patrol that kept their guard up at all times.
After the tents were pitched, the middle aged commander gathered all the other high ranking officers in his tent.
“How’s the situation today?”
“Those Dayao soldiers behind are still following us. They are neither approaching nor distancing themselves from us. In my opinion, they feel that their military strength isn’t sufficient and are waiting for more soldiers to launch a joint attack,” a bearded commander said in a husky voice.
“15 kilometers to the west, traces of Dayao’s mounted scouts were discovered. It should be the winged cavalry!” another commander said.
“After Wu Shenghou’s death, the barbarians in Liao City are now free to do other things. They have about 7,000 soldiers after grouping up, and adding on the winged cavalry, it will definitely be a little troublesome,” the commander beside him added.
“Ze Ying and Zhong Tianshan, each of you take 10,000 soldiers and lie low in our camp. The rest of you, instruct the others to wear their helmets and armor. Most importantly, stay vigilant.”
“What’s Sir trying to imply…?”
“These days, we have to make such arrangements so as to prevent them from launching a night attack!” Yu Zheng explained.
The same arrangement was also made for the other army that was closely connected.
Even though both Great Xia soldiers had merged, they were still led by their respective commanders.
…
Wearing the night vision device, Ren Baqian and Li Qianqiu led everyone to a place that was a kilometer away from the Great Xia camp.
“Ha, they are waiting for us!” Ren Baqian used the night vision device to look at the camp. All of a sudden, he burst into laughter.
There wasn’t a single soul in sight regardless of whether it was inside the camp or near the fences. There was a complete lack of heat energy signatures.
Even a fool would know that the other party was waiting for the enemy.
“Go and find out where they are hiding.” Ren Baqian turned and said to Li Qianqiu. This type of situation was commonly seen in movies and television series. Normally, the soldiers within the camp were ready to face their enemies while some of them remained hidden outside. The enemies would then be faced with a frontal assault when they charged into the camp, followed by the hidden soldiers appearing, blocking off the path of retreat, and launching a pincer attack.
Li Qianqiu passed down the order. Soon enough, a few winged cavalry warriors disappeared into the darkness.
Only after more than an hour did a few winged cavalry warriors return and report, “There are two groups, one about a kilometer north of the Great Xia camp and the other a kilometer northeast of it.”
Not long after, another winged cavalry warrior made a report as well and said, “There are soldiers stationed at the eastern and southeastern sides of the Great Xia camp.”
Ren Baqian and Li Qianqiu did some calculations and estimated that there were easily 30,000 to 40,000 soldiers lying in ambush. Rather than launch a direct assault on the main camp, it would be well worth their while to take down these soldiers instead.
After making up their minds, they sent out orders without hesitation. The group of aboriginal soldiers in the south were tasked to observe the two Great Xia units nearby without making any moves. They were only to attack if they saw activity.
As for Ren Baqian and Li Qianqiu, they made their way toward the enemy unit that was northeast of the Great Xia camp. Ren Baqian adjusted the mortar, but didn’t open fire and waited for the winged cavalry to head over first.
At present, those Great Xia soldiers were still waiting to ambush the aboriginals. Ren Baqian was waiting to see which party would be the one ambushing the other.
In a small and sparse forest, over 10,000 Great Xia soldiers lay low and quiet, waiting for the night attack that Dayao might spring on them.
“Captain, do you think there will be a show tonight?”
“Only the heavens know what will happen. Wait patiently and don’t talk.”
“But this damned place has so many mosquitoes.”
Soon enough, the surroundings became quiet, and apart from breathing noises and slight rustlings made from moving their bodies, there were no other noises.
Many soldiers even started to sleep.
“Ah!” Suddenly, a miserable shriek came through the fringe of the forest.
“What’s the matter?” Just after the captain spoke, he heard thousands of people shouting at the top of their lungs, “Great Xia dogs! Kill!”
“It’s the Dayao soldiers!” It was too late for the people waiting in ambush to even comprehend what was going on. One by one, everyone began to shout at the top of their lungs in order to wake up the soldiers who had fallen asleep.
“The winged cavalry!” somebody shouted from afar so as to alert the people who didn’t know what was going on.
“Light the torches!” the captain yelled.
Anyone who fought against the winged cavalry in this pitch black darkness was practically courting death. At the moment, they could only light up their torches, get into their battle formation, and fight against the winged cavalry while waiting for the other soldiers to assist them.
Very quickly, Ren Baqian saw the lit torch. The forest was illuminated bright red, exposing everything that was happening within. The soldiers inside could now clearly see the approaching enemies as well as their cold and sharp blades that glistened in the torchlight.
“The weather is very dry, so things will catch fire easily. Be careful!” Ren Baqian muttered softly. He took a mortar shell and stuffed it into the mortar barrel before looking to the side. “Hold this!”
Only after the two guards reached for the barrels of the mortars did Ren Baqian release his hands and covered his ears.
Bang!
Right after hearing the sound of the two shots, two large masses of fire could be seen bursting forth amid the chaotic Great Xia soldiers in the forest. Shrapnel was flying all over the place and taking down all in it’s path.
The originally chaotic Great Xia army became even more chaotic after encountering such a situation.
Ren Baqian rubbed his ears, took another two mortar shells and stuffed them into the barrels. After that, he covered his ears again.
Another two masses of fire exploded within the forest.
“The Great Xia soldiers in the north have set off and are rushing toward the forest.” The news from the mounted scouts was transmitted through the walkie-talkies.
“Set off!” Li Qianqiu used the walkie-talkie to command the soldiers. From afar, 3,000 soldiers immediately rushed toward the north where the Great Xia soldiers were hiding and pounced on them.
As these 3,000 soldiers collided with the Great Xia army, blood-curdling screeches instantly rang out.
At this point in time, it was chaotic in the Great Xia camps as well. They had been waiting for Dayao to spring a night attack on them, but they hadn’t expected that Dayao would actually attack these two hidden Great Xia units at night. As a result, the Great Xia camps were rushing to dispatch reinforcements.
“Great Xia’s north camp has taken action and about 4,000 soldiers just marched out. They are all practitioners from the Great Xia sects!” This news was transmitted through the walkie-talkie.
“Quickly rack up my gun!” Ren Baqian shouted repeatedly, but he didn’t forget to turn around to speak to Li Qianqiu and say, “For Her Majesty’s happiness…”
After that, he changed to speaking in a pitiful tone, “You must protect me…”
Li Qianqiu was speechless.
Just a moment ago, he was still wondering what the link was between winning or losing this battle and Her Majesty’s happiness. In the end, he heard the latter half of Ren Baqian’s sentence and almost choked to death.
