Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
The warrior clad in white in Fort Jin Peng revealed something important before he died, but couldn’t say it all. He did not say how large the army was, when they would arrive, nor the route they would take.
This made even more questions.
“Just bring him back for questioning. This is not easy.” Fang Wenshi said with slight regret. It was evident that he was blaming the dragon king for moving too fast.
Gu Shenwei discussed this startling information with Zhong Heng and Fang Wenshi in the Council Chamber of the royal palace.
Recalling the scene, Gu Shen hadn’t a choice knowing the warrior would never speak again. But for the news being suprising, the warrior’s only purpose was to garner more time for rescue. Because he would almost impossibly turn traitor, for he feared the Supreme King more than he did death.
The assassination bore an enduring wait. However, he had to act very quickly once he began, as the slightest hesitation would lead to fatal consequences.
After Gu Shenwei killing the warrior with Maid Lotus, they evacuated leaving several Jin Peng killers who had lost their sanity.
Yang Dou was impressed by the quick skills of the two killers and finally guessed their true identities. “Dragon King, there is good news. Tomorrow morning, the 5,000 coalition forces will become our allies. Please remember what I will do today because I am risking my life.” He said.
It was not reliable to rest all hope on one man, especially when his standing was questionable. While Gu Shenwei sneaked into the military camp to assassinate the commander-in-chief, Zhong Heng had selected 500 soldiers equipped with all the horses in the city, and waited behind the gate.
Gu Shenwei left the Chamber and joined the 500 soldiers before he could know the outcome of the worker’s remarks.
News that the dragon king would fight with soldiers, like a warm wind in the early spring, invigorated them and filled them with great pride and courage.
Indeed, the dragon king was not as tall and powerful as they perceived, nor did he seem to have magical sorcery, but his bravery, calm and friedliness was beyond their imagination.
Gu Shenwei nodded at everyone as he slowly pushed from the end of the team to the front. Every time he passed a few soldiers, he whispered, “follow me.”
Although many soldiers were middle-aged, Gu Shenwei still felt childlike enthusiasm from them.
Yang Dou promised to persuade all the generals to surrender before dawn and as it approached 5 a.m., with the appointed time now more than an hour away, the Dragon King and his troop rode out of the gate quietly and attacked the coalition forces.
Gu Shenwei didn’t want to wait passively.
While they closed in on the enemy camp, Gu Shenwei sounded the horn and issued the order to fight. The soliders shouted as one, causing confusion among the enemies.
The enemy camp was already a mess nevertheless.
When the corpse of the warrior in white was found very soon, the four generals looked at the second commander-in-chief they had lost with pale expression, and what frightened them more was that the five killers of Jin Peng did not die nor did they live. Like walking dead, they stood in the main tent and seemed to be unaware of all people and things.
There were still dozens of soldiers in Fort Jin Peng, albeit none having special status. They quarreled among each other and then with the generals of the four countries because no one was willing to lead this ominous army.
Yang Dou felt that it was the right time to visit the main generals of the various countries to convey the conditions of Dragon King and persuade them to surrender immediately and said to them,”Prince Kang has already agreed, you have no reason to oppose. The Dragon King said those who surrender protect their countries and kings, but those who do not, will loose everything.”
The change being too sudden meant that some clever people that had already thought of this agreed vaguely, apart from Prince Kang.
The Prince had still fresh in his mind, the fault of vying for the princess with the Dragon King.
Yang Dou knew reckless and stubborn the prince was, so chose to see him at last, hoping to subdue him with the influence of the other three countries.
The Prince guessed Yang Dou’s purpose on seeing him and laughed. Before Yang Dou could speak, he lashed out at him and ordered the guards to hack him to death.
Yang Dou died in a place he’d never thought of before, however his death solved a small problem for the Dragon king, because the Dragon king now didn’t have to arrange a position for him, an exiled Prime Minister.
The coward often had the courage to be a fool, a valuabe trait Prince Kang possessed.
The blood drove him insane. Prince Kang led his troops and summoned all the generals to claim that he was still the commander of the coalition forces.
This night was doomed now to uncertainty, in all ranks from the general to the soldier, all staying up all night with no one knowing who would issue the next order.
It was then that the Dragon King and his cavalry stormed the camp as the horn sounded. The shout, loud as it was, seemed to come from a thousand people.
The four-nation coalition forces were at their weakest as they were attacked forcing them to retreat almost instinctively. Even the prince, that had made an oration, without honour left his men behind and rode his horse as far as the wind took him.
After dawn, the battle was over and those that hadn’t fled, surrendered to the Dragon King and just started to realise that they had been defeated by only 500 men.
Zhong Heng led more soldiers to take over the barracks.
Speed was most important as Gu Shenwei didn’t think this was a victory. With the four countries still on the side of Fort Jin Peng, there wasn’t a better time to change their position. The odds would be very much stacked agaisnt them once the mighty army of Fort Jin Peng entered Xiaoyao Lake.
In the frenzied barracks of the coalition forces, Gu Shenwei issued several orders on end.
Lin Xiaoshan then led the soldiers, still 500 strong, marching West to seize the capital before the Kingdoms of Kang, Sha and Hui each reacted, and “invited” all kings to meet the Dragon King.
A daring move that could achieve remarkable results as long as they acted quickly. At this moment, the main armies of all the countries had joined the coalition forces but had left provisional armies in their home territories. If Lin Xiaoshan followed the runners closely, he could not only break into the capital easily but also take advantage of the panic they created to gain an overwhelming advantage.
Zhong Heng received the second order: the city was under siege. The Prime Minister immediately started collecting boats on the north shore of Xiaoyao Lake while bringing the army from the south shore.
With the situation in Xiaoyao Lake hanging by a thread, this task required speed given how great the result the army could achieve, because they had to rely on robustness, if they wanted to keep the land and people in their hands.
Zhong Heng had already formulated a scheme in his mind that he spoke out before he left saying, “Fort Jin Peng can’t know so soon of news that the Dragon King is still alive or else its army will come to the Great Snow Mountain. Besides, Shangguan Fa wouldn’t think that DuGuXian would surrender, so his purpose isn’t to strengthen the coalition.”
Although Zhong Heng did not come to a conclusion, what he said was just what the Dragon King worried about. Gu Shenwei himself couldn’t lead his troops to conquer the three countries, west of Stone kingdom because of this.
Fang Wenshi was waiting anxiously when they returned to the city. He judged the coming the advancing army of Fort Jin Peng from another light saying, “This is a great deal of fraud. The Supreme King is no prophet, clearly the coalition has an advantage. Hadn’t the Dragon King arrived in time, the Stone Kingdom wouldn’t have held out the capital for long enough and even though the Supreme King just sent an army then, there was an agenda hidden.”
Fang Wenshi was a little wordy by nature, so it took some time for him to mention the point of topic but said, “the Supreme King is trying to annex Xiaoyao Lake.”
So sure was he of his hypothesis that he paced back and forth excitedly to demonstrate his opinion saying, “the Supreme King keeps protesting the proposal of abdication despite all four kings adhering. A greater ambition is self-evident in this, he wants to make the Xiaoyao lake his own.”
“Fort Jin Peng is backed by North Court, it always depends on the North Court’s army to conquer the West and East. The Supreme King must found his own country if he doesn’t want to be a stooge. However small Xianyao Lake may seem, it is difficult to attack yet easy to defend thus we regard it as a solid rear…”
Gu Shenwei understood already what he meant and agreed wholly but the key issue was the details of the army. Fort Jin Peng was a land of fragrance that was isolated from the rest of the world not some savage land in the woods. It was neither a Wushan tribe that had been fighting for years, nor a small sea country caught between two minds. They knew truly who the Dragon King was so they wouldn’t believe any exaggerated legends or be intimidated by a few people.
This crucial battle would be the first since the army of the Great Snow mountain returned to the Western Regions where them being triumphant would mean gaining a firm foothold in Xiaoyao Lake and making the foundation for challenging Fort Jin Peng however defeat would leave them only one option, to retreat to the Land of Fragrance. As a result, it would be more difficult to rush out of Wushan than ascend to heaven .
Gu Shenwei’s last order thus was given to him. To find out the enemy’s situation and know their strength.
Before he left, Gu Shenwei took the time to meet Dugu xian hoping to get some advice. After all, Dugu Xian was a general in Fort Jin Peng and more familiar with the situation.
In addition to the path of Wushan, Xiaoyao Lake had two access routes to it, one that came from the east and another from the west which all crossed the desert. The eastern route was easier to walk by, so Gu Shenwei rolled the dice and anticipated it would be the route through which the army of Fort Jin Peng would attack.
DuGuXian was willing to help, but didn’t want to make unfounded speculation and said, “Typically, a commander would certainly come in from the east, the reason being very simple—water. There is plenty of water and grass in the east enough to supply tens of thousands of soldiers trekking a short path across the desert. The western passage on the other hand has little water and can accommodate mere hundreds of people. If the army thus has more than 3,000 soldiers carrying a large amount of clean water on their own would bring a really high cost.”
Gu Shenwei became confident more in his plan after comtemplating this.
After betraying Fort Jin Peng, Dugu Xian was driven more to defeat the army sent by the Supreme King, When he knew that the Dragon he warned after knowing the Dragon King was going to spy on the enemy saying, “find out who their main generals are and from which country the soldiers come. I might of more help then.”
Gu Shenwei nodded.
He led the Dutch women and a few people across the desert to the northern village of Shuangquan in less than ten days.
Along the way, they didn’t see any signs of the army advancing. Besides, Shuangquan village also thrived by receiving passing businessmen as before.
But in the village’s tavern, news that an army was coming had spread with rumours flying around that it was as big as 10,000 to 200,000 strong. Finally, an old man said, “It’s obvious that a camp is being built in the east of the village where each stake inside represents a tent multiplied five times over, the number is probably the size of the army. I place a bet that it’s no more than thirty five thousand soldiers.”
Thirty thousand soldiers from Fort Jin Peng would fight against ten thousand of the Great Snow Mountain. Gu Shenwei knew in his heart that his men coming out victorious was a chance slimmer than a sword’s edge.
