Daqin Zhentiansi

Chapter 572 My visit to Donghan County wasn't just to change the situation there.

Yushui County, ten miles outside Guotai Town.

Sunset Valley.

These isolated mountains block the passageways.

The history of bandits gathering in Luoxia Ridge can be traced back more than a hundred years.

The mountain stronghold of the Righteous Gathering Hall.

"Brother, the caravan we robbed yesterday was half full of gold ingots!" The one-eyed burly man grabbed a wine jar and gulped down a mouthful, his shiny scar twisting with a savage grin. "If we slaughter two more villages and gather three thousand able-bodied men, we brothers can easily become guerrilla generals if we surrender to the Wei Kingdom!"

The one-eyed strongman exuded the aura of the Innate Realm, but this aura was somewhat dark, clearly a symptom of forcibly breaking through after consuming the Blood Burning Pill.

Not only him, but the other innate realm cultivators in the hall all appeared to have unstable auras.

Upon hearing the one-eyed strong man mention the position of guerrilla general, everyone's eyes lit up.

A year and a half ago, the Wei Kingdom's Zhen Dong Army sent people to the village, and this was one of the benefits they promised.

The burly man with a thick beard at the head of the table rested his legs on a wooden box still stained with blood, his fingertips tracing the gold ingots: "I heard that the Eastern Wei's Zhen Dong Army is short-handed. Let's send all the refugees from Luoxia Ravine to smelt iron. Once we hand over the weapons and provisions, hehe..."

The sinister scholar wiping the crossbow in the corner suddenly looked up: "Three days later, launch a surprise attack on Yushui County, slaughter those peasants, and use their corpses to frame the Black Ice Guard."

"With this merit, let alone a guerrilla general, even—"

Before the scholar could finish speaking, a piercing shriek suddenly came from outside the cliff.

"call out--"

The three-pronged, armor-piercing arrow pierced through the window frame and embedded itself in the wooden pillar beside the burly, bearded man, its tail feathers trembling like the buzzing of bees.

"Enemy attack!" The sinister scholar flicked his sleeves, overturned the wine jar, and aimed the crossbow at the window.

Outside the stockade walls, a sheer cliff hundreds of feet high stands as if carved by a knife and axe, with only a narrow, winding plank road leading up to it. The wooden stockade gate hangs in mid-air, raised and lowered by an iron cable winch.

At that moment, a rain of arrows poured down from the opposite cliff, the black iron arrows striking the blue granite and sparking, turning the cliff face into a honeycomb!

"It's the Black Ice Guard's Cloud Piercing Crossbow!" The burly man with a bushy beard's eyes widened in fury. He cleaved the arrows with his nine-ringed saber, only to see sparks fly as he pierced the iron chains of the gate—

The heavy crossbows concentrated their fire, and the thick iron chains snapped inch by inch.

Those are chains made of Xuan Iron that even a mid-stage Innate Realm cultivator couldn't handle!

On the mountain road, the wooden carriage was parked quietly.

Zhang Yuan lightly tapped the scabbard with his fingertips, and the sunlight filtering through the gap in the carriage curtain made the mountain walls of Luoxia Ravine appear as red as fresh blood.

"boom--"

Amidst the deafening crash of the gate falling, Cao Xuan, his face clad in black armor, leaped onto a protruding rock on the cliff face, his dragon-patterned shoulder armor shattering the rolling logs.

Below, three hundred black-clad riders drew their bows to full length, and the arcs of their arrows covered the crenellations of the stockade wall with perfect precision.

"Form a cone formation!" Chen Wu roared like thunder, cleaving open a jar of scalding hot oil with his long-handled sword.

Five hundred Xuanjia guards, their shoulder armor pressed together, their heavy shields overlapping like the scales of a giant python, charged against the rain of arrows onto the plank road.

The boulders thrown by the bandits struck the shield formation, only to be shattered into dust by the force of the attack.

Although these five hundred Xuanjia soldiers were a newly formed army, their battle formations were already beginning to take shape.

Lu Changwu gripped the reins tightly, watching the Xuanjia Guards step across the three-zhang-wide cliff—

These soldiers actually used their shields as bridges, carving a bloody path across the abyss!
"This, this is a combined attack formation technique unique to border troops..."

Cao Jiada's official robe was soaked with cold sweat.

He had seen county troops suppressing mountain bandits, but he had never seen any army that could solidify its blood and qi into a tangible substance—

The fierce winds stirred up by the Xuanjia Guards' charge actually shredded the corpses hanging on the stockade wall into a bloody mist!
He turned his head slightly and looked at the soldiers and armor that were standing still beside the wooden carriage.

At this moment, the troops attacking the mountain were not the generals of the Zhen Tian Si army who came with the Marquis of Qingyang, but soldiers from the Black Ice Terrace of Donghan County.

How strong are the soldiers under the command of Marquis Qingyang?
In the distance, the civilians who had come with the army all looked up, their faces tense as they watched the battle raging on the cliff.

"Lord Qingyang is truly a man of great righteousness. I never expected that he would actually come directly to suppress the bandits..." The old man's lips trembled as he spoke, and tears of emotion welled up in his eyes.

He couldn't believe that just as he was telling the story of how all seven able-bodied members of his family had been kidnapped by bandits in Luoxia Ravine, the Marquis of Qingyang personally led troops to suppress the bandits without the slightest delay.

"The sky over Donghan County is about to brighten." A young man standing to the side, clenching his fists, gritted his teeth and looked up at the sky.

On the precipice, the sinister scholar had just peeked out to fire his crossbow bolt when his throat was pierced by the Black Rider's throat-locking arrow.

The burly man with a bushy beard swung his sword, deflecting seven arrows, but was forced back three steps by Chen Wu's long-handled saber, the bluestone beneath his feet shattering like a spiderweb. "Kill!"

The Xuanjia Guard's shield formation suddenly dispersed, and seventeen hook-and-sickle spears coiled like venomous snakes toward the bandit leader's lower body.

Just as the one-eyed man was about to leap, his feet were already chained together.

Feng Cheng led his guards up the cliff and precisely severed Achilles tendons with poisoned daggers.

The mountain wind, carrying the stench of blood, wafted into the carriage curtains. Zhang Yuan lowered his eyes and gently stroked the scabbard.

His expression softened slightly.

"These lads are capable of making things happen." Young Master Tao, who was holding a teacup, looked on with a sigh.

Chen Wu, Feng Cheng, Huang Sanliang, and the other young leaders who charged ahead were all from Luyang Prefecture and had studied literature and martial arts at Yulin Academy.

Unbeknownst to us, the talents we cultivated back then are now in use.

Turning to look at Zhang Yuan, Young Master Tao shook his head: "He's not a kid anymore. Chen Wu's son is old enough to run errands for him."

When will you marry the princess?

Zhang Yuan remained expressionless, pretending not to hear, and only looked at the scenery outside the car window.

Master Tao grinned.

"By the way, how did you figure out that Cao Jiada has some skills?"

“These are words that an ordinary county magistrate would not dare to say, nor could he say them.”

Zhang Yuan glanced at Cao Jiada, who looked tense not far from the carriage, then looked at the cliff in front of him.

"The one recommended by Mr. Hengqu is an essay on politics that I read at the Imperial Academy back then, and it was quite good."

"The Qin Dynasty treats its people harshly; such words can only be uttered when facing death."

Zhang Yuan's eyes shone with a deep light as he gently stroked the scabbard of Qiu Han's sword.

“I came to Donghan County not just to change the situation there.”

"Furthermore, we must change the situation where the people of the Great Qin are treated like dirt..."

His words were spoken softly, drowned out by the sounds of battle outside the car window, and even Young Master Tao couldn't hear them clearly.

As Lu Changwu stepped onto the cliff, he gripped the hilt of his sword tightly. He watched as Chen Wu swung his broadsword horizontally, and the burly man with the bushy beard smashed through the pillars of the Hall of Righteousness like a broken bag.

Peak of the Innate Realm.

He hadn't expected that even an ordinary captain under Zhang Yuan's command could possess such combat prowess.

Within the mountain stronghold, a torrent of black armored soldiers surged forth, tearing apart anything that stood in their way.

Cao Xuan's heavy shield shattered the dungeon's iron locks, and the captured civilians surged out like a tide.

The black-clad cavalry led by Wen Liu wielded their goose-feather sabers, and the Wei-style military equipment stockpiled in the camp became visible in the firelight...

……

As the flames rose over the mountain stronghold, the weapons, gold and silver piled up in front of the cliff, and the densely packed civilians and able-bodied men released from the dungeon were all illuminated by the crimson light of the flames.

"Many thanks to Marquis Qingyang for saving my life—"

Some people shouted and prostrated themselves on the ground.

They never imagined they would have a chance to be rescued.

"Thank you, Marquis Qingyang!"

The continuous shouts caused all the people to kneel down.

Inside the carriage, Zhang Yuan waved his hand and said calmly, "Go to Xuanwei Temple."

As the army marched forward, the smoke and dust mingled with the aura of bloodlust, transforming into a phoenix rising from the ashes, spreading its wings and soaring into the sky.

Beside the mountain path, Cao Jiada's expression shifted. He gritted his teeth and shouted in a low voice, "Register all gold, silver, and valuables, as well as weapons and equipment. Record all the names of the people and send them back to their hometowns."

He grabbed the horse's reins from a servant beside him, leaped onto the horse, and chased after Zhang Yuan's carriage.

"I, Cao Jiada, will give it another shot."

"At worst, it's just death."

(End of this chapter)