Longzang

Chapter 247 Traditional Skills

The three thousand warriors were all made of solid muscle, each one tall and strong, marching in neat rows with incredible speed. Around the ranks were dozens of captains at the Foundation Establishment stage, responsible for constantly replenishing their speed-enhancing spells.

With the blessing of Taoist magic, the army moved at a very fast speed, covering a hundred miles in an hour. The march also followed a set pattern: they would march for an hour, rest for a moment, and then march for another hour.

The target of this raid is 800 li away from the border. The army will not arrive until the next day. It will need to camp along the way and cross the military fortifications and defenses painstakingly built by Yuan Qingyan.

As Wei Yuan rode his horse, watching the rapidly advancing troops in the distance, he felt a pang of longing for Fang Hetong.

Bao Yun's Seven Wonders Tree also possesses a secret technique for rapidly advancing a large army. However, Wei Yuan doesn't yet have such talent under his command, nor is he wealthy enough to provide every warrior with a warhorse. Currently, the realm can only guarantee one horse for each Dao Foundation Establishment cultivator.

As the army marched on, a military fortress came into view in the distance at dawn the following day.

This is a flat area, about a hundred miles wide, between two mountains. This military fortress was built in the middle of the flat land, guarding the east-west passage. Large armies had to pass right under the nose of the fortress to pass through.

As the troops came into view, bugles sounded from the camp. The camp immediately erupted in excitement, and moments later, a lieutenant general led several captains atop the city wall. Seeing the troops marching in with resounding, perfectly synchronized steps, the lieutenant general gasped in astonishment.

Such a military formation was definitely not a rabble. The adjutant's first thought was that the witch army was attacking, and his face turned pale. Fortunately, when they got closer and he saw that the entire Chu army was human, the adjutant breathed a sigh of relief.

If it's not the Witch Army, then things are much easier! He was secretly relieved, but then he thought, if they came from the west and they're not the Witch Army, then they must be from that place.
His face, which had just regained some color, instantly turned pale again.

At this moment, Wei Yuan sat on his horse, gazing at the military fortress dozens of miles away, and could clearly see everyone on the city wall. The commander of this fortress was named Liu Yang, a general from the Western Jin Dynasty.

His troops did not belong to Yue Jinshan's northern border army, nor were they considered Yuan Qingyan's direct subordinates, so Yuan Qingyan sent them out to garrison this place far away.

Of the six military fortifications from north to south, four were heavily fortified and were traps set by Yue Jinshan. This fortification was one of the remaining two.

Originally, this military fortress was in a very important location, but Yue Jinshan deliberately did not set up any traps here, demonstrating a deep understanding of the military principle of using feints to appear real and real to appear feints.

However, Wei Yuan was also a master of military strategy, deeply understanding the essence of subduing the enemy without fighting. He caused trouble in Yue Jinshan's backyard, and his own nephew sold out the entire defense plan. Thus, he avoided the strong enemy and struck the vital point.

On the ramparts, a captain asked, "General Liu, the enemy is already within range of the ballistae. Should we fire?"

General Liu's face darkened: "They're still two miles away, how could they possibly hit them?"

The captain was taken aback for a moment, then said, "If we raise the front of the ballista by two feet and three inches, we can shoot two more miles. If we don't need that much precision, we can use five large blue bricks as a base."

The captain was well-versed in military affairs, and he immediately recited roughly the correct figures. However, Lieutenant General Liu's expression was as ugly as could be.

At this moment, a captain behind him said, "Isn't this ballista broken? I just checked it this morning, and it's unusable now."

"I maintained it myself, how is it broken?" the captain argued, his face flushed.

General Liu suddenly leaned closer to him, sniffed hard, and then said coldly, "How dare you drink alcohol in the army and come to the city wall drunk! Guards, take him away and lock him up for three days!"

The captain was taken aback again, and cried out his innocence: "I drank the wine when I was on my day off the day before yesterday..."

General Liu had no intention of listening to his explanation. With a glance, several captains personally took action, some binding the captain and others gagging him, finally managing to take him away.

So, just ten miles away, the thousands of troops marched past without slowing down or even deploying a detachment to monitor the movements of the fortified camp.

One of the captains couldn't hold back any longer and cursed, "This is too disrespectful! Right now, I'll lead two hundred cavalrymen in a charge, then launch a surprise attack from behind and wipe them out! General Liu, why don't we give him a piece of our minds?" General Liu glared at him and shouted, "What do you know? This is a trap, there must be a backup plan! Hmph, he may fool others, but he won't fool me!"

Several captains secretly rolled their eyes; they naturally knew what kind of person Commander Liu was. This man was nothing like a famous general; his only skill was his swift movement, which allowed him to escape death several times.

However, all the captains were shrewd and tactful, and none of them spoke out.

Seeing that all the troops had passed through the fortress safely, Wei Yuan waved his hand, and nearly a hundred masked knights filed out, making no attempt to conceal their presence. Their warhorses trotted along, passing through the valley in front of the fortress.

All the generals on the city wall gasped in shock. These masked knights were actually Dao Foundation cultivators! And there were only twelve Dao Foundation cultivators in the entire fortress, less than half of the opposing force.

One of the captains immediately began counting the masked knights, "Fifty, sixty... eighty-seven. They really are the Fifty Great Thieves of Zhan Tian!"

Another captain asked in confusion, "Weren't they supposed to be fifty bandits? There are almost a hundred now!"

General Liu's face was already ashen. Suddenly, a knight wearing a jade-colored mask turned and glanced in their direction. General Liu was instantly frozen in place, as if doused with a bucket of ice water!

Fortunately, the knight only glanced at it before galloping away surrounded by other knights.

The generals on the city wall remained silent. Suddenly, a captain shouted, "That Yuan fellow is up to no good! Sending us here to defend is practically sending us to our deaths!"

Another experienced captain said, "General Liu is truly a prophet."

The officers then realized that this time the flattery was genuine.

General Liu's hands and feet were still cold, and he had no interest in such flattery. He said, "I am a little weak. I will go back to my tent to rest for a while. Remember to call me when they return. Under no circumstances should they act rashly! Whoever dares to fire the first arrow will be executed!"

After giving his instructions, he went down to the city to rest.

Just as evening approached, the army returned.

This time, they towed hundreds of large carts, fully loaded with grain and supplies, and escorted hundreds of dejected government troops, passing by the military camp in a grand procession. This time it was even more outrageous, coming within only two miles of the camp.

Upon receiving the news, General Liu rushed to the city wall and immediately gasped in shock. So much grain and supplies—the rear granary must have been looted!

At that moment, a garrison soldier drew his bow and aimed at a masked knight below. General Liu reacted swiftly, kicking the soldier off the city wall, where he coughed up blood and could not rise again.

General Liu broke out in a cold sweat, and when he looked down at the city again, he saw the jade-faced knight once more.

The jade-faced knight seemed to remember something, casually hailed a large cart, and then thrust his spear into the cart's load of sacks, spilling out large amounts of white rice. The knight then immediately brandished his spear, staring at the city walls, and surprisingly, stopped moving.

Cold sweat poured down Liu Canjiang's back. In this life-or-death situation, his years of honed skills in reading his superiors' intentions finally came in handy. A flash of inspiration struck him, and he shouted, "Bring all the grain out of the granary, load it onto carts, and send it outside! Quickly, very quickly! All of you go! Don't leave a single grain behind!"

A captain asked in astonishment, "What... what if the higher-ups investigate?"

Lieutenant General Liu glared at him and said, "You've been in the army for over ten years, how come you don't even know this basic common sense? Burn down the granary tonight!"

(End of this chapter)