Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
The banquet was suddenly stopped by the assault.
Long Fanyun had drunk a lot of wine, but when he realized what was happening, he immediately woke up and rushed to the door to protect the Dragon King. Shangguan Fei staggered behind him. Even though he had not drunk much, he seemed more drunken than Long Fanyun.
Meanwhile, Shangguan Yun and Zhang Ji seemed to have no reaction. One was still sitting on the blanket appreciating his wine glass, while the other was falling asleep on the ground. Several attendants quietly got close to them to protect them by forming a ring around them.
Shangguan Ru was sober, but her female officers were asleep. Therefore, she had to pull them aside and wait to see if the circumstances would change. Old Man Mu was barely affected by the good wine. He only went to the toilet several times, but he wasn’t drunk.
Most people in Norland were confused, and some hadn’t even heard the sentry’s call because they were still drinking heavily and having fun.
They were puzzled about one thing: this place belonged to the hinterland of Norland, and the mounted bandits only robbed single travelers or small-scale trade caravans. Moreover, after the death of Bighead Kingpin, no bandit gang had such powerful strength or dared to invade the Norland troops and tribes.
“There are at least 3,000 enemies coming,” a sentinel said again, nervously.
The leader of the tribe who was responsible for receiving guests threw his wine bowl on the floor and shouted, “Who dares to come and make trouble while we’re drinking?”
The sentinel shook his head in awe. At the sight of the enemies, he rushed to report at once, but he knew nothing of their identities.
The crowd in the tent was scrambling to run out, shouting all the while, “Wake up, we are ready to fight. Wake up!”
The people of the Shangguan family walked to the back and asked others to go out the door. Zhang Ji was awake and sober, though he was held by his attendant.
Gu Shenwei returned to his own encampment with very few people. He reacted very quickly. Meanwhile, patrol guards, along with the Norland sentinel, found the enemy and immediatey woke up their companions, forming an array. When the Dragon King arrived, they were ready to fight.
Gu Shenwei only brought 50 soldiers, which was not enough to fight with, so he allied with 1,000 female archers from the Land of Fragrance’s camp.
The women soldiers were slightly rattled, and some of them were not even wearing their armor. All of them were holding shortbows in their hands and carrying arrow bags on their shoulders, though. Shangguan Ru ordered someone to look after the drunken female officers, and then rode to the barracks alone to give orders and quickly arrange a formation . Although they all had horses, they were better at shooting while standing, so they did not mount their horses.
Gu Shenwei’s fifty people acted as cavalry, and stood in front of the women soldiers for support.
Maid Lotus and some others didn’t show up. They prefered to hide in the dark at that moment. Han Xuan also followed and hid, taking the opportunity to learn something from the disciples of the New Moon Hall.
Compared to them, the Norland Cavalry was more rattled, many of them shouting. The first round of cavalry had rushed to the door, and many people were chasing their horses in the back.
Gu Shenwei knew what was happening, but he couldn’t see the Golden Roc Fort in the distance, as there was no sound and no torches were lit.
However, no one believed in the quality of the Norland Cavalry. Dugu Xian was the General of troops in Norland and the Central Plain, so he told the Dragon King in detail all he knew. He had his own opinion about the difference between the two troops.
“The Central Plains troops are scrupulously trained, and have their own signal flags, code words, drums, gongs and so on. In the first half of the year, recruits are asked to memorize complicated military orders and must follow the General’s orders. But if their General commands something by mistake or gets into trouble, the soldiers don’t know what to do and naturally fail. It is said that one only needs to destory the leader and the gang will collapse,” said Dugu Xian.
“However, the Norland Cavalry is different from that of the Central Plain. They have simple military orders, such as ‘advance’ and ‘retreat’. They regard hunting as training and have simple tactics. The Commander takes charge of many small troops that fight separately, from a few dozen people to more than a thousand soldiers. Each troop will be given its position in the battle according to its own strength and practice. If the commander dies, the soldiers won’t be too affected. But the Norland Cavalry is afraid of night assaults, because they are used to being hunters. If they turn into prey, they become panicked,” he continued.
Gu Shenwei planned to attack them at night, because he wanted to see what the Norland Cavalry would do.
Over 700 of the Norland Cavalry was divided into two groups, and ordered to escort the guests separately, leaving only 20 or 30 soldiers in the barracks. In terms of sheer numbers, the thousands of female archers from the Land of Fragrance were the powerful army here, but they stayed in the rear because they were considered guests.
After that, another two sentries ran to report the situation and the estimated number of the enemy. They said, “There are at least 3,000 soldiers, and they seem… seem not to be bandits.”
The enemy arrived before the Norland Cavary made full preparations. Under the light of many torches, they found that the enemies were not bandits, but another cavalry of Norland.
The leader of the Norland Cavalry who had escorted the Dragon King and guests from the Golden Roc Fort was a leader of the highest status. He was known to have a bad temper, because his mother came from the Hanwang family. When he realized that the enemy was his own people, he became even angrier, and rode to ask them, “Who are you? Don’t you see the King’s flag standing here?”
As expected, the troops didn’t continue to rush to them, but stopped their mounts. However, the troops at the back spread to the two sides, surrounding the entire encampment.
Gu Shenwei guessed that the troops numbered about 5,000 people.
The leader of 1,000 soldiers turned pale and then shouted again, “Which tribe are you from? Who can speak on your behalf?”
Finally, a general who was dark and fat said, “We are from the Naihang Tribe. Today we have come to visit the King’s flag and catch an enemy.”
The leader of 1,000 soldiers felt relieved and then said slowly, “You are General Zhe Su, right? I am the leader of 1,000 soldiers of the Khan, and I have been ordered to escort the guests to the Royal Court. However, you scared them by arriving here like this.”
There were some soldiers who were not on horses and who did not carry any weapons standing behind Zhe Su, but those “scared” guests were still prepared for a battle.
Gu Shenwei learned a lot of information about the Norland military from Dugu Xian, but he had no idea about the “Naihang Tribe”. He seemed to have heard the name “General Zhe Su” before, but could not remember any specific details about him.
Old Man Mu told him the truth. When he met the Dragon King with Shangguan Ru, he explained, “The Naihang Tribe is one of the three clans in Norland, and it’s where the big Queen comes from. I’m guessing that something bad will happen.”
He stopped talking as the atmosphere at the gate of the encampment became tense.
“Surrender the enemy? We are the Cavalry of the Khan, so we haven’t any enemy of the Naihang Tribe, do we?” asked the leader of 1,000 soldiers.
“Find him among your guests,” said Zhe Su.
“Don’t talk recklessly. The Khan promised to guarantee the safety of the guests. Who dares to disobey his order?” asked the leader of 1,000 soldiers.
For the Norland people, what the Khan said was more important than some written agreement. Most Norland people, including members of the Royal Family, were also illiterate, so they didn’t believe those strange written words.
“We don’t intend to disturb the guests, but we want to ask the guests to help us,” Zhe Su said and then suddenly raised his voice to say, “Dragon King, please come out.”
Gu Shenwei was stunned. He had never heard of the Naihang Tribe, so how could he have offended them? He quickly glanced at everyone around him, and then focused on Old Man Mu, who was the only person associated with Norland since the place was once his “territory”.
“What I guessed is right,” Old Man Mu said, sitting on his horse and shrugging his shoulders, as if he didn’t care.
Gu Shenwei rode out without taking soldiers, but he nodded at Shangguan Ru.
Shangguan Ru followed him, as did Old Man Mu.
“How did you offend them?” Shangguan Ru whispered.
“I have killed so many people before, but I can’t remember them,” answered Gu Shenwei.
Shangguan Ru frowned. She still remembered that Old Man Mu had happily described every detail of killing in those days, as if it were treasured in his heart, and he couldn’t forget it easily.
“Well, I remember…” Old Man Mu said, seeming to think of something, but they had arrived at the gate of the encampment, so he didn’t continue.
“I am the Dragon King,” Gu Shenwei said.
Zhe Su quickly looked him up and down, a little surprised. Like most people, he believed that the Dragon King was more like a devil rather than the pale and gloomy young man before him.
“Are you really the Dragon King?” Zhe Su asked.
“Yes, he is.” The leader of 1,000 soldiers answered immediately. “He is the distinguished guest of the Khan,” he continued.
Zhe Su glanced at the Dragon King again. When he saw only one woman and a strange old man behind the Dragon King, he was even more disdainful. He didn’t say anything, just raised his whip to cross the Dragon King and then asked, “Are you Old Wood?”
“Well, I am Old Man Mu, not ‘Old Wood’. You’re making a mistake,” said Old Man Mu.
But Zhe Su ignored him and continued, “Old Wood, I heard that you changed your appearance. I didn’t think that you would be such a creature as this. God has eyes, and you will suffer endless torture.”
The enemy of the Naihang Tribe was Old Man Mu.
Gu Shenwei and Shangguan Ru had ignored this problem. Over ten years ago, Old Man Mu was the powerful devil of the north of Tianshan. He had killed many people, but some of his enemies were still alive now.
Gu Shenwei was also regarded as a devil, so he wasn’t surprised by the name. Shangguan Ru did not have a lot of experience, so she thought that Old Man Mu was just a man that had been vicious once, but had later become a good person.
Old Man Mu laughed for a while. He had vowed to Shangguan Ru that he would not kill anyone, but he was also no saint. “By Heaven, you were pretty handsome before, but now you are a fat, black man, aren’t you? Compared to you, I’d rather be shorter and smaller,” he said to Zhe Su.
“Stop chattering. We are going to avenge ourselves today. Dragon King, will you surrender our enemy or not?” he asked Gu Shenwei, threatenly.
The Norland people were used to speaking straightforwardly, but this time, Gu Shenwei thought that he was really being threatened.
“Wait,” Old Man Mu said before Gu Shenwei could answer. He jumped off of his horse and stood facing the Dragon King. “During the war of the seaside slope, I followed you to rush into the encampment and kill the General, didn’t I?” he asked Gu Shenwei.
“Yes,” Gu Shenwei said, admitting that Old Man Mu had played a very important part for him at that time.
“Okay,” said Old Man Mu, and then in full public view, he made an amazing move. He knelt in front of the Dragon King and triple kowtowed to him saying, “I, a small soldier of the Dragon Army, pay a visit to the Dragon King. Long live the Dragon King.”
Upon hearing this, both Zhe Su and his cavalry became confused. It was said that Old Man Mu was a devil who could kill countless people. If someone so much as blocked his sight, he may be killed. No one had ever heard him be submissive to anyone before, but today he kowtowed to the Dragon King to publicly show his loyalty.
Old Man Mu had his own idea. After showing his loyalty, he stood up without permission from the Dragon King and then shouted to the Naihang Tribe, “I am a soldier of the Dragon Army, and the Khan promised to protect my safety. If you want to hurt me, then you don’t care about the words of the Khan.”
Old Man Mu was trying to depend upon the Dragon King to live, but Gu Shenwei was unwilling to be entangled by such a poisonous vine.
