Coming from Lai’an Mountain, the distance to Pingyang City’s east gate was the shortest.
She was certain that before Pingyang City’s east gate opened wide, Yun Poxing would never let his Fire Cloud Army show themselves within the sight and guard of the Great Zhou forces.
After all… if the Fire Cloud Army were discovered before entering Pingyang City, the Great Zhou could immediately send people to Pingdu City to recall reinforcements. If they hadn’t entered Pingyang City by then and Great Zhou’s reinforcements returned, the Xiliang Fire Cloud Army would truly fall into a passive position.
Therefore, Bai Qingyan would let the Fire Cloud Army’s elite enter the city, and she would also let them open the city gates…
·
In the wind and snow of the night, swaying lanterns lit up Pingyang’s city tower, illuminating the gate tower in warm, melting colors, as if it were the warmest place on this cold, snowy night.
The Fire Cloud Army, led by Yun Poxing, was like a giant beast crouching in the darkness, hiding its form in shadowy places, yet staring at the Pingyang city gate tower like a predator eyeing its prey.
Soon, all the Fire Cloud Army’s elite squads had reached the base of the city wall, their backs pressed tightly against the wall’s foundation. More than thirty Fire Cloud Army soldiers with packs on their backs were the first to use tools and climb agilely up the city wall, like geckos in the darkness, their pace steady and almost perfectly synchronized.
Just as they had climbed to the top of the city wall and were preparing to leap over into the city, Great Zhou patrol soldiers holding torches high passed by with orderly steps. All the Fire Cloud Army soldiers who had climbed the wall held their breath and pressed their bodies tightly against the wall, their hands frozen blue-purple gripping the climbing tools tightly, gritting their teeth and holding their breath, afraid that the white mist from their breathing would let the enemy discover any clues.
Their numbers were too few to engage in direct conflict with the Great Zhou’s patrol soldiers. Otherwise, not only would the hundred-plus Fire Cloud Army brothers waiting below the city wall be unable to come up, but they wouldn’t even be able to open the city gates!
Before coming, their commander General Yun had instructed them that the key to success or failure in this battle rested with them!
But… what these thirty-plus Fire Cloud Army elite didn’t know was that on the other side of the wall from them, inside the city wall, Tiger Eagle Battalion elite soldiers were crouched in ambush. The patrol soldiers passing with torches was the signal prepared for the Tiger Eagle Battalion soldiers. Each of them gripped gleaming daggers in their hands, muscles tense, holding their breath to prevent the white mist of their breathing from showing, waiting only for those imposters to flip over from outside the city wall.
After the patrol soldiers’ swaying torches moved away, those thirty-plus Fire Cloud Army elite moved in unison, leaping over from outside the city wall. But before they could react, they were seized by Tiger Eagle Battalion elite soldiers ambushed inside the city wall, who covered their mouths and cleanly slit their throats. It was as if the Tiger Eagle Battalion soldiers had performed this action countless times—even with their eyes closed, they could execute it precisely and flawlessly, giving their opponents no chance to react before ending them, and the thirty-plus corpses were quickly dragged into the city gate tower.
The thirty-plus Fire Cloud Army elite died in the wind and snow without making a single sound.
The Fire Cloud Army soldiers, still crouching below the city tower, looked up toward the top of the city wall, but could only see falling snow and hear the silent wind.
Above the tower.
The Tiger Eagle Battalion elite soldiers indeed found soft ladders and other items that Tiger Eagle Battalion soldiers always carried when scaling city walls in the packs of these thirty-plus men.
“Damn it! They learned well! They brought quite a complete set of our gear!” A Tiger Eagle Battalion elite soldier took out a grappling hook and weighed it in his hand, saying in a lowered voice, “Damn, it looks better than what we use!”
“You! You… you! Just your three squads!” the Tiger Eagle Battalion squad leader ordered, “Just… lie scattered in this pile of blood and play dead!”
“Why don’t we just put the clothes on those Fire Cloud Army corpses instead of us playing dead bodies—it’s too unlucky!”
“Where’s the time for that? Stop talking nonsense! Hurry up!”
After speaking, the squad leader ordered the soldiers to throw down the soft ladders from the packs that those Fire Cloud Army soldiers had brought up.
Seeing the soft ladders thrown down, the Fire Cloud Army barely hesitated before climbing up one by one, carefully ascending the ladders.
The Fire Cloud Army soldiers who climbed up first saw the soldiers in Great Zhou clothing lying in pools of blood, but didn’t see their Fire Cloud Army elite who had climbed up first.
Thinking they might have gone to deal with the patrol soldiers, the young general leading the team quietly instructed the young general responsible for capturing Bai Qingyan alive: “No matter what, you must capture the Great Zhou Emperor alive at all costs!”
“Yes!” The young general acknowledged and led his soldiers in a crouch to the other side of the city wall, using grappling hooks to hook onto the wall and sliding down on ropes, avoiding places like the city wall stairs where troops might be stationed.
The soldiers tasked with opening the city gates also followed closely behind, sliding down the ropes, but hid in the darkness, quietly waiting for the dozens of soldiers going to capture Bai Qingyan alive to move away before opening the city gates.
Just as the Fire Cloud Army was holding their breath and waiting, the general leading them suddenly felt his scalp tighten and turned around… only to see a cold gleam whistling through the darkness with the wind. Before he could make a sound, the arrow pierced fiercely through his throat. The feathered arrow penetrated through his throat and stuck straight into the ground, its blood-stained fletching trembling continuously.
He widened his eyes, barely having time to react before he had already fallen…
“General?!” The Fire Cloud Army soldiers turned back and called out quietly.
In the black pupils of that Xiliang general, where fear had not yet dissipated, was reflected an arrow rain denser than snow. Before he could warn his comrades, his vision was blocked by the dense rain of arrows rushing toward them.
Screams rang out briefly in the dark alley closest to the city wall, then quickly dissipated in the winter gale, leaving only a blood-chilling smell.
Bai Qingyan, clad in silver armor, stood atop the city wall, looking down at those Fire Cloud Army soldiers shot full of arrows like hedgehogs as if viewing ants, her eyes filled with cold intent.
Fire Cloud Army comparable to the Tiger Eagle Battalion?
Heh…
The Xiliang people thought too highly of themselves.
Shen Liangyu stayed right beside Bai Qingyan, not leaving her side for an instant. Now that Bai Qingyan was pregnant, unlike in normal times, Shen Liangyu couldn’t help but worry. But seeing that even now, after Bai Qingyan had removed her iron sand weights, her arrows still never missed their mark, Shen Liangyu felt much more at ease.
“Have our soldiers prepare! Open the city gates! Of those who enter… not one can be allowed to escape!” Bai Qingyan ordered.
Yun Poxing, hiding with his large army in the darkness, saw from afar that beneath the city gates where lanterns swayed, those two heavy and weathered city gates slowly opened…
Yun Lingzhi’s blood immediately rushed to his head. He drew his sword and was about to order his soldiers to charge in, but was stopped by Yun Poxing pressing down on his hand.
“Father?” Yun Lingzhi looked at his father in confusion. “The city gates are already open!”
“Wait first. Our men… entered Pingyang City so quickly, one could say it was effortless.” Yun Poxing shook his head. “I feel uneasy. That’s the city where their Great Zhou Emperor Bai Qingyan is located, yet the defenses are so weak. I always feel there’s something rather strange about this.”