knife

Chapter 477 Returning to Dust
It's not something you can just happen to see masters of innate talent fighting in public.

Especially since Duanmu Miaomiao is very sad, disappointed, and angry, she doesn't restrain herself at all.

Rather than describing her as launching a frenzied attack, it would be more accurate to say she was venting her frustrations.

She watched Tiele grow up, and to her, he was no different from her own child.

Now, Tiele is going to die, and she is powerless to stop him.

Chang Jian faced off against her for a moment and then sensed her emotions.
If a winner were to be decided, Duanmu Miaomiao, whose mind is in turmoil, would naturally be in great trouble. However, since everyone is an acquaintance and has a deep connection with each other, Chang Jian would not take the opportunity to kill her. Instead, he should be careful not to accidentally injure the woman in front of him who seems to be on the verge of madness.

Chen Liang stood atop a high watchtower in the camp, watching the two great masters disappear into the distance, and then, laughing, leaped down from the height.

Duanmu Miaomiao came and went.

The proud Tiele, as expected, would rather die than face defeat.

Asking him to kneel before Li Dachui would probably be something he couldn't accept.

Now, he must make final preparations to face Tiele's desperate counterattack.

Now that he has decided to die, Chen Liang knows that the opponent's counterattack will be unprecedented and relentless. He must be fully prepared.

If, at this final moment, the Tiele were to bite him, it would become a laughing stock.

With the sound of bugles and the fluttering of banners, eagles soared and circled in the sky, and orders were swiftly relayed to each unit, after which the army began its orderly mobilization.

By the time the scouts finally discovered the unusual activity within the city, Chen Liang had already made all the necessary preparations. The main camp gates were wide open, and troops poured out in droves, advancing towards Qing Tong Xia City.

The city gates are open!
It was not the desperate counterattack by the Yuan army that Chen Liang believed.

Chen Liang knew very well that during this nearly month-long battle, Tiele's most elite 5,000 elite troops suffered minimal losses. These were the very men Tiele had prepared to protect him and help him break through the encirclement at the last moment.

If a desperate struggle is to be made, this team should be prioritized.

But now, this is indeed the team that has emerged, but it is a disarmed team.

He was unarmored, unarmed, and without a warhorse, but he still carried a flag, which was now hanging upside down.

Judging from this, are these people preparing to surrender?

Chen Liang was taken aback.

The entire Northern Army was also taken aback.

One man stepped out from the crowd and strode towards the Northern Court army.

Chen Liang recognized this person.

His name is Gao Qunshu. He was once a Qin man, but now he is the most trusted strategist and confidant of the Tiele people.

Chen Liang slowly spurred his horse forward.

"Gao Qunshu, the Commander of the Imperial Guard of the Great Yuan Palace, by order of His Majesty the Great Yuan, surrenders to Chen Liang, the Grand General of the Northern Protectorate!" Gao Qunshu glanced at Chen Liang, knelt on one knee, and raised the royal banner of the Tiele tribe high with both hands.

As Gao Qunshu knelt down, the Yuan soldiers behind him also knelt down one by one.

Chen Liang could see sadness, anger, despair, and bewilderment on these people's faces. At that moment, he seemed to see all the emotions that humans could possess. He dismounted and walked to Gao Qunshu. He first took the Tiele royal banner from Gao Qunshu, then handed it to Chang Xin behind him. After helping Gao Qunshu away, he asked gently, "Commander Gao, may I ask where His Majesty is now?"

Gao Qunshu turned around silently and looked into the city.

Following Gao Qunshu's gaze, a thick plume of smoke rose from a certain spot in the city. In just a moment, flames shot into the sky along with the smoke.

What a huge fire!

Clearly, this was a deliberate act of piling up countless flammable materials, spraying them with grease, and then igniting them.

Fires like this are virtually impossible to extinguish.

"Is that where His Majesty is?"

"Qingtongxia City is the place where His Majesty has lived the longest outside of Yandu, and that mansion was built brick by brick by His Majesty himself. His Majesty's great cause began in Qingtongxia and will also end in Qingtongxia!" Gao Qunshu turned around, faced the city, and slowly knelt down.

When Tiele arrived at Qingtongxia, he was just a boy in his early teens. After nearly ten years of development here, his prestige grew daily, his power increased dramatically, and more and more people followed him. This also gave him the ambition to conquer the world. It began here and ended here, which can be considered a different kind of beginning and end.

In Gao Qunshu's view, Tiele was indeed a wise ruler.

It's just that Heaven is cruel; if it could create Zhou Yu, why would it also create Zhuge Liang?

Tiele encountered Li Dachui, and thus lost again and again until he lost everything.

There is no such thing as a win-win situation in their struggle; it's a classic case of either you die or I die.

Tiele held a better hand and possessed greater strength, but he still suffered a bitter defeat against the freak Li Dachui.

Regardless, this man was a remarkable figure of his time, and Chen Liang spent more than ten of his twenty-plus years of military service fighting against him.

If it weren't Li Dachui, but Linghu Ye,
It's really hard to say who will win or lose this game!

Chen Liang looked solemn, clasped his hands together, and bowed deeply to the ground.

The more than 20,000 Yuan troops trapped in Qingtongxia City surrendered to the Beiting Protectorate under the arrangement of the Tiele and led by Gao Qunshu.

The next day, Chen Liang entered the city, only to find a complete wasteland, without even a single bone. It seemed the fire had been too intense, burning the person to ashes, which were then scattered by the wind and disappeared without a trace.

In Zhen Ding Prefecture, Xiao Yu'er, who was taking a nap, suddenly felt a jolt and burst into tears. The palace maid beside the bed quickly patted Xiao Yu'er gently and sang a little tune to soothe her.

Normally, a gentle pat and coaxing would lull her back to sleep, but today, no matter how much she was coaxed, Xiaoyu'er's crying only grew louder.

They picked up Xiaoyuer and walked around, but she still didn't get better. Her cries were shrill, and she was moving her arms and legs wildly, which frightened the palace maids. They had no choice but to carry her to see Princess Chang Le.

As Princess Chang Le took the crying child, a sense of unease washed over her, and a bad feeling surged up like a tide.

"Any news from southern Xinjiang?"

"Has Granny Duanmu returned yet?"

After being asked several questions, the palace maids looked at each other in bewilderment.

However, a moment later, everything became clear. Outside the palace, hurried footsteps sounded, and a palace guard rushed in with a look of panic, knelt down, and said in a trembling voice, "Your Majesty, General Chiwen has an urgent report: about five thousand cavalrymen from the Northern Protectorate are approaching Zhengding Prefecture. General Chiwen has already ordered the city gates to be closed. General Chiwen requests Your Majesty's authorization to urgently mobilize the entire city, conscript able-bodied men, and prepare for battle!"

Princess Chang Le looked up to the sky and sighed, for the Tiele were ultimately powerless to reverse the tide!
(End of this chapter)