Boom! Boom! Boom!
Atop Xunzhou’s walls, heavy drum beats echoed across the horizon as columns of armored soldiers rushed to their positions.
The militia moved with practiced efficiency, methodically transporting siege defense equipment.
Amid the drums of war, from militia to soldiers, from soldiers to commanders, everyone displayed exceptional training and experience. For the city’s residents, having such a high-quality army defending their walls was a blessing.
For the defenders themselves, the bitterness behind this competence was beyond words.
How many baptisms of iron and blood had it taken to achieve such composed battle readiness and disciplined capability?
As drums thundered atop the walls, of the governor’s mansion, Yang Gong donned his official hat, adjusted his robes, and looked toward Zhang Shen and Li Mu Bai in the hall.
“The elite forces we brought from Qingzhou are practically gone, and Yongzhou garrison’s troops are mostly depleted. Now it’s our turn to take the field personally.”
Yang Gong smiled:
“Jin Yan, Mu Bai, we’ve known each other half our lives, yet it seems we’ve never fought side by side on the battlefield.”
Zhang Shen snorted:
“The Cloud Deer Academy has been dormant for two hundred years—the world has forgotten the might of our Confucian school.”
Throughout generations, Cloud Deer Academy scholars had two wishes:
First, for Confucian cultivators to return to court.
Second, to make the Nine Provinces’ various cultivation systems remember their fear of the Confucian school.
Before the emergence of the Ritual Practitioner system in the Central Plains, what supported dynasties through the ages, what formed the backbone of Central Plains kingdoms, wasn’t crude warriors, but Confucians!
It was the Confucian school that suppressed the shamans and intimidated the Buddhist sect.
The Western Regions had Buddhism, the Northeast had shamans, the Southern Frontier had Gu, and the Northern Borders had savage demons… all garbage!
Only the Central Plains’ Confucian school stood proudly above the Nine Provinces.
Two hundred years ago, Cheng Ya Sheng flattered the emperor, establishing the Imperial Academy, squeezing the Cloud Deer Academy and the entire Confucian system out of court.
The Supervisor had helped push this along.
The Confucian school thus fell dormant for two hundred years, Third Rank practitioners became rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns, while First and Second Rank disappeared entirely.
Today’s cultivators in the Nine Provinces had long forgotten the Confucian school’s peak glory.
Li Mu Bai appeared more practical:
“These are all Yunzhou army elites coming. We’ll kill as many as we can—we must exhaust Yunzhou’s elite forces here at Xunzhou.
“The Academy Principal has already gained the Empress’s approval to enter court. After this battle, with the military achievements Jin Yan and I established, we could become princes and ministers. If we can advance to transcendence in the future, we’ll cause trouble for that old thing, the Principal.
“He stole several of our poems.”
No, he stole mine… Yang Gong and Zhang Shen simultaneously objected in their hearts.
The three great Confucian scholars exchanged smiles and spoke in unison:
“Where I stand is not the great hall, but atop Xunzhou’s walls.”
Words become reality!
Three clear lights rose, enveloping their figures, and carrying them away from the hall.
…
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Atop the walls, cannons roared, shells flying from their barrels into the dense masses of attacking troops.
Each shell was an expanding ball of fire, blasting up chunks of earth and stone along with severed limbs.
After suffering some casualties, the Yunzhou rebels successfully advanced their cannons and crossbow carts, bringing the city walls within range.
Then came the artillery duel between both sides, a test of firepower.
Under cover of their artillery, the dense enemy forces instantly reached the base of the walls and began scaling them like ants.
The first wave of attackers consisted of the Vanguard Corps and Siege Corps, each with nine smaller units totaling 3,600 men, composed of martial artists and new recruits, led by Force-Controlling realm warriors or those with Bronze Skin Iron Bone cultivation.
The two corps had a clear purpose: to carve out a breakthrough point for the follow-up elite infantry of the Hundred Battles Corps.
Thus the Vanguard and Siege Corps suffered the highest casualties, but Qi Guang Bo didn’t care. A commander must understand both that mercy doesn’t command troops and the awareness that soldiers are tools to be used.
Since ancient times, taking cities has always meant spending soldiers’ lives.
Qi Guang Bo held up a monocular, observing the brutal assault and defense battle on the walls.
Under artillery cover, the Vanguard and Siege Corps faced falling logs and arrows, and after paying a terrible price, finally reached the top of the walls, engaging the defenders in mortal combat.
The breach had been opened.
Qi Guang Bo’s expression remained calm as he drew two small flags from his saddlebag, one black, one crimson.
The black flag represented the Hundred Battles Corps elite—ten thousand infantry led by former Yunzhou Administrative Commissioner Yang Chuan Nan and numerous Fourth Rank experts, the true core elite forces.
Whether Great Feng or Yunzhou, the main force was infantry.
How many cavalry could there be? The Central Plains weren’t like the northern frontier, with vast endless grasslands and herds of cattle and warhorses.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
War drums thundered, and the eager Hundred Battles Corps charged forth, their formation of ten thousand men spreading out as their leaders led them toward the walls.
“The wall’s artillery is quite fierce.”
Qi Guang Bo tossed the red flag to his deputy commander.
The deputy immediately relayed his instructions, and soon a large banner bearing a crimson bird was waving vigorously.
“Screech!”
Amid sky-piercing cries, four hundred Vermilion Bird cavalry charged from behind the main army, soaring on wings.
On the backs of the crimson-feathered giant birds sat riders with quivers, their birds’ claws carrying barrels of oil, sweeping majestically toward the walls.
The oil shattered on impact, splashing across the walls, horse paths, and soldiers.
The walls were covered in scorch marks and flames. This oil raining from above was truly like boiling oil, scorching the Great Feng defenders.
Flying cavalry was acclaimed as the elite of elites among various military branches, ranking first, surpassing even heavy cavalry and artillery.
This era had no concept of “air superiority”—they only knew that when one side completely controlled aerial strikes, it spelled catastrophic disaster for the other side.
The Vermilion Bird Army’s powerful assault, combined with the Hundred Battles Corps’ attack, instantly made the situation atop Xunzhou’s walls spiral out of control.
Yang Gong and the other great Confucian scholars struggled to invoke their “words become reality” power, trying to extinguish the flames.
But the Hundred Battles Corps’ experts were numerous, forcing them to focus on defense, leaving no opportunity to deal with this wind-swift flying cavalry.
Inside the city, at the Beast Riders’ quarters.
An advisor looked at the ready Heart Gu Masters and their fierce black-scaled flying beasts, bowing:
“In this battle, you must exhaust the enemy’s flying cavalry. We’re counting on you all.”
Ta Mo bared his teeth in a grin:
“We’ll fight to the death if we must. Heart Gu warriors keep their word—we promised Constable Xu we’d give our lives for your Central Plains dynasty, so we absolutely won’t spare them.”
Within Xunzhou city, two hundred Beast Riders soared skyward, boldly entering the battlefield to intercept the Vermilion Bird Army.
After the Vanguard and Siege Corps had “carved” out a breach with their lives, the second brutal slaughter began first the heights that even Fourth Rank warriors could barely reach.
In the high air, the fire-red feathered Vermilion Bird Army and the black-scaled, membrane-winged Beast Riders collided like red and black clouds at high speed.
The leading crimson bird had no rider—it was a Fourth Rank great demon, one of Xu Ping Feng’s early subordinates and the Vermilion Bird Army’s leader.
In the battle at Songshan County, it had led the Vermilion Bird Army in slaughtering most of the Heart Gu’s Beast Riders, reducing them from four hundred to two hundred and twenty riders.
As the Beast Riders were reduced, the Vermilion Bird Army also suffered heavy losses. The current four hundred Vermilion Bird riders were Yunzhou’s only remaining flying cavalry.
The Heart Gu warriors’ fearless fighting spirit had left a deep impression on this Fourth Rank great demon.
The moment the two flying cavalry forces met in the air, the demon Vermilion Bird suddenly spread its wings backward, bringing its body upright, its claws sharper than steel reaching for Ta Mo.
Ta Mo had just entered the Fourth Rank, his cultivation inferior to the demon Vermilion Bird, and his close combat ability even more lacking. But Heart Gu masters excelled at control. He immediately let out a light whistle, using sound waves as a medium to forcefully affect the demon Vermilion Bird’s primordial spirit.
The claws reaching for Ta Mo hesitated slightly. In this interval, Ta Mo’s black-scaled beast brushed past the demon Vermilion Bird, his long blade drawing sparks across the bird’s abdomen.
Only a few red feathers fell.
Unlike horses, flying cavalry couldn’t stop once airborne. The two leaders passed each other, crashing into the opposing formations.
The demon Vermilion Bird spun around, its wings like blades, instantly cutting two Heart Gu warriors and their beasts into several pieces. Blood stained its crimson feathers, making them appear even more bewitching.
Meanwhile, Ta Mo rode his black-scaled beast, alternating between using Heart Gu techniques to intimidate the crimson birds and swinging his war blade to cut down Vermilion Bird riders in his path.
The corpses of black-scaled beasts and crimson birds fell from the sky.
As the first charge ended, both sides had switched positions, each losing over thirty riders.
The two flying forces quickly adjusted their formations. Ta Mo raised his war blade high, shouting in the Southern Frontier language:
“Heart Gu warriors, charge with me!”
The demon Vermilion Bird screeched, leading the Vermilion Bird Army to meet them with beating wings.
After the second brutal charge, both sides lost over twenty riders, corpses falling like rain.
After the third charge, the Heart Gu Beast Riders had only one hundred left, while the Vermilion Bird Army had two hundred and sixty remaining. Aside from their leader, the demon Vermilion Bird, the Vermilion Bird Army’s combat power was far inferior to the Heart Gu Beast Riders.
Heart Gu practitioners were experts at beast control and could affect enemy mounts.
After the fourth charge, only fifty Heart Gu riders remained, while the Vermilion Bird Army was reduced to about one hundred and eighty riders.
The demon Vermilion Bird stopped trading lives for lives. Having four hundred Vermilion Bird cavalry reduced to one hundred and eighty made its heart bleed—these were all its direct descendants.
“What right does a Southern Frontier person have to shed blood for the Great Feng dynasty?”
The demon Vermilion Bird spoke harshly:
“How many Beast Riders does your Heart Gu have to waste like this? Is Great Feng worth it? With the Great Feng dynasty’s fickleness and shamelessness, today you die for them on the battlefield, tomorrow they might march south to destroy your Gu tribes.
“Has Great Feng done too few acts of betrayal?”
Ta Mo snorted:
“Bitch, spare me the nonsense. Gu tribe warriors aren’t afraid of death!
“Brothers, charge with me!”
The remaining fifty-some Heart Gu riders roared in unison, driving their beasts toward the Vermilion Bird Army. They always remembered their mission, which aligned with what Great Feng’s forces strove to do—exhaust Yunzhou’s elite forces.
This was the fifth charge.
This time, not one of the fifty Beast Riders survived. Like their companions, they fell to the battlefield below, forever remaining in Great Feng.
Only Ta Mo remained, bathed in blood, his armor shattered, his blade bent, and multiple fatal wounds on his body.
The demon Vermilion Bird was thoroughly enraged, as its carefully nurtured Vermilion Bird Army now numbered less than a hundred—over ten years of effort gone up in flames.
“I won’t let you die easily. I’ll tear off your limbs, cut open your belly, and slowly devour your entrails bit by bit,” the Vermilion Bird said fiercely.
Ta Mo looked down at his scattered compatriots and beast corpses on and below the city walls, speaking softly:
“They’re all dead, aren’t they.”
Constable Xu’s younger cousin, Xu Xin Nian, had a good saying—”The water jug breaks at the well, and the general dies at the battlefront.”
Damn if that wasn’t well said. Why couldn’t he come up with such sophisticated words?
He wished the children of his tribe could have the chance to study like Central Plains children.
Perhaps such opportunities weren’t impossible in the future.
If Great Feng won this war, the Gu tribe as allies could trade with the Central Plains. The Gu tribe would never lack Central Plains tea, porcelain, and silk again.
With Chief Chun Yan’s wisdom, she would surely think to borrow teachers from Great Feng.
Education was good—educated children were smarter.
Ta Mo looked down at Xunzhou’s walls and shouted:
“Tell Constable Xu not to shoot us a single copper of what was promised to my Gu tribe—that’s what we earned.
“In the monument forest outside Xunzhou, the names of my Gu tribe warriors must be there. You Central Plains dog-sons better remember us!”
After these shouts, he didn’t wait for the wall defenders’ response. Raising his bent blade, he roared:
“Brothers, charge with me!”
But there was no one behind him anymore.
A single lonely rider charged forward in a suicide attack.
…
The Heart Gu tribe’s four hundred Beast Riders were annihilated and died at Xunzhou city.