Zongwu: Aspiring to be the mastermind behind the scenes

Chapter 347 The Road Ahead is Difficult, Breaking Out of the City

Everyone fell silent.

No one expected that the gap in strength between the two sides would be so great.

In terms of military strength alone, the Guizi Kingdom's military strength is more than ten times that of the Tianxiang Kingdom.

With such a huge disparity in troop strength, unless Liu Xiu were alive and summoned a meteorite attack, it would be impossible to defeat the enemy.

As for the story of a powerful figure leading hundreds of soldiers in a surprise attack, although it has happened occasionally in history, it only occurred when the enemy did not have a powerful figure.

At present, Shi Guanyin is a three-flower grandmaster, Liu Xi is a two-flower grandmaster, Wu Hua is also a grandmaster, Gui Ziguo plus the East Factory, and there are more than thirty innate masters in football.

There are more and stronger people out there!
In comparison, the Tianxiang Kingdom only has three grandmasters: Lu Xiaofeng, Li Xunhuan, and Chu Liuxiang.

Perhaps they are young, geniuses, and have great potential for the future.

But conversely, it also means that their current strength is slightly weaker.

Faced with a powerful, strong, and numerous formidable enemy, our side has no advantage whatsoever.

There wasn't even the slightest possibility of victory!

"So, our best course of action now is... to abandon the city and flee?"

Lu Xiaofeng hesitated for a moment, then said, "It would be best to inform King Tianxiang immediately before the troops of Guizi Kingdom arrive, and have him lead his people to escape through the west gate."

Li Xunhuan nodded in agreement: "If we abandon the city now and flee, the people inside might still have a sliver of hope for survival. But if we hold out and defend the city, we'll likely only be slaughtered after the gates are breached!"

Chu Liuxiang was shocked: "Slaughtered them all? Is the Kingdom of Guizi really that brutal?"

He followed along, knowing only that the goal of the Guizi Kingdom was the Tianxiang Kingdom, but he was unaware of the reasons behind it.

The initial purpose of coming here was to inform the King of Tianxiang and warn him of this matter.

Lu Xiaofeng said, "Li Tanhua, this matter should be handled sooner rather than later. Please go and inform the King of Tianxiang."

"it is good."

Li Xunhuan did not hesitate and turned to leave.

The group stayed there to await the results, and Lu Xiaofeng also took the opportunity to tell Chu Liuxiang the reason for their visit.

Chu Liuxiang couldn't help but rub his nose: "I thought I had caused enough trouble, but I didn't expect the trouble you two have caused to be even greater than mine!"

Indeed, he directly intervened in the most important matter at present in the Ming Dynasty court—the bribery case of the Iron-Blooded Marquis—and even triggered a war between two countries and tens of thousands of troops in the Western Regions.

This trouble is far greater than the commotion he caused when he exposed the conspiracy of the Seven Wonders Monk Wuhua and the new Beggar Clan leader Nangong Ling.

Ultimately, that matter was nothing more than a matter concerning a Ming Dynasty gang.

The Beggars' Sect exists in many countries, but it is most powerful in the Song Dynasty, where it is known as the number one sect in the world.

However, in the Ming Dynasty, all the major martial arts forces were weakened by the suppression of the imperial court, let alone the Beggars' Sect.

Previously, they could still ride on the coattails of the Song Dynasty's Beggars' Sect's reputation as the number one gang in the world, but with the rise of the Giant Whale Gang, the Giant Whale Gang has become the de facto number one gang in the world during the Ming Dynasty.

If the Beggars' Sect were to try and capitalize on this trend again, they might face the iron fist of the Giant Whale Gang, so they dared not say anything more.

Lu Xiaofeng was speechless: "This war was started by the Eastern Depot, and we were just dragged into it. If the Eastern Depot hadn't set its sights on Tianxiang Kingdom, we probably would have left long ago."

The only reason they stayed here was to prevent the people of Tianxiang Kingdom from being harmed by the Black Lama.

However, with the approaching army of the Guizi Kingdom, they are unlikely to have the ability to protect the Tianxiang Kingdom under such circumstances.

Li Xunhuan returned very soon.

“I have informed King Tianxiang of this matter, and he has agreed to lead all the people of the city away. He even invited us to join him, but I refused.”

Lu Xiaofeng nodded: "Li Tanhua is right. We are all under the enemy's hatred. If we stay with them, it will only bring trouble to the people of the city. It is better to leave alone, which may cause the enemy to divide their forces."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

This makes sense.

Especially Chu Liuxiang, who not only bears the hatred of Shi Guanyin and Wuhua, but also wants to rescue Ji Bingyan and Hu Tiehua from the enemy army, it is absolutely impossible for him to leave.

"So what should we do now?"

Li Xunhuan said, "I discussed it with the king. When they leave the city, we will also attack from the east gate to draw the attention of the bandits. This way, we can buy some more time for the people of the city."

However, the real trouble begins after we break through. Right now, none of us have any exotic horses, so the chances of them catching up are quite high.

Chu Liuxiang thought for a moment and said, "On my way here, I saw a cavalry force of about a thousand men. I inquired and learned that they were subordinates of the Desert King. They were traveling slowly, but for some reason, their destination also seemed to be this Tianxiang Kingdom. Now that I think about it, could they be looking for the Black Pearl?"

Upon hearing this, Black Pearl exclaimed with delight, "I left many marks along the way to guide them, hoping they would find us. I didn't expect them to actually come!"

Chu Liuxiang shook his head: "However, they are quite far from here, at least a day's journey away. If we rely on them, I'm afraid they won't even arrive by the time the troops from the Guizi Kingdom arrive!"

Black Pearl's joy instantly turned to anger: "These useless trash, why are they so slow!"

Lu Xiaofeng thought for a moment and said, "If all of the Desert King's men are cavalry, even if the distance is a bit far, they should be able to arrive before the Kingdom of Guizi."

If we can get them to come quickly, and we can meet them at the same time, then after we meet up, we can immediately escape and perhaps escape this calamity.

However, Brother Chu, we still need to save two people..."

Chu Liuxiang quickly waved his hand and said, "I don't want to get involved in such a big problem for you. I'll go and rescue my two friends myself. I'll be very grateful if you can help me get Rongrong and the others away safely."

“Brother Chu…” Su Rongrong and the other two women were both worried and touched, but they also knew that the three of them would probably only be a burden to Chu Liuxiang if they were here.

Although Chu Liuxiang may not be as strong as those veteran masters in terms of pure strength, few can match his lightness skill.

Previously, when dealing with Shi Guanyin, the Eastern Depot suddenly intervened.

At that time, he had to face Shi Guanyin, a master of the Three Flowers, and Liu Xi, a master of the Two Flowers, yet he was still able to escape successfully.

That alone is enough to demonstrate his ability.

Unfortunately, his two friends did not possess his extraordinary lightness skill.

"That's...ok."

Lu Xiaofeng and Li Xunhuan exchanged a glance and nodded.

Although they knew Chu Liuxiang was saying that on purpose, they were barely able to protect themselves, let alone help Chu Liuxiang save people.

Moreover, Black Pearl, Su Rongrong, and the others do indeed need to be sent away first.

If there were only three Grandmasters in the city at this moment, they would not be afraid to escape, let alone risk fighting the army of the Guizi Kingdom!
The group then continued their discussion.

The plan was revised. The new plan was to send one person to contact the Desert King's subordinates, have most of them wait and ambush in a nearby idle place, and have a small number of elite troops come to the rescue.

After the two sides met up, they immediately headed towards the ambush site.

If someone pursues you, you might be able to use this opportunity to strike back at them; if no one pursues you, you can simply run away.

Chu Liuxiang took on the task of making the contact himself, as a way of thanking them for protecting and saving Su Rongrong and the other two women.

Moreover, in reality, Li Xunhuan, Lu Xiaofeng, and the others were all registered with Liu Xi outside the city. If they did not show up when leaving the city, they would probably be immediately questioned by Liu Xi.

In contrast, Chu Liuxiang appeared mysteriously, unknown to anyone. He was the perfect candidate for this task.

So, Chu Liuxiang took the token and letter given to him by Black Pearl and immediately left the city.

Within the city, King Tianxiang also quickly mobilized all his subjects.

This kind of thing might be difficult in the Central Plains, since people there value the idea that one should never leave one's homeland.

In the Western Regions, migration was a common occurrence due to climate issues.

Moreover, the people of Tianxiang Kingdom actually migrated here from other places only a dozen years ago.

Therefore, the entire country was quickly mobilized, gathering at the west gate of the city and leaving the city.

Of course, there were also a few who completely ignored the advice and were easily abandoned by the king.

Lu Xiaofeng and the others did not hesitate.

You can't reason with a damned ghost. You've explained everything clearly, but he still won't leave. What can you do?
Suddenly, the east gate opened wide, and a group of eight people rode out.

The Black Lama was also aware of what was happening in the city.

They had already gathered outside the city, preparing to take advantage of the opportunity to attack.

Upon seeing the eight figures, the scene of their indiscriminate slaughter a few days ago immediately flooded their minds, filling them with fear and preventing them from moving forward.

After two days of fighting, the number of bandits has been greatly reduced, leaving only about 1,500.

The eight men broke into the army formation with almost no resistance.

Liu Xi and his men had anticipated this, and they hid in the crowd before suddenly attacking.

However, Lu Xiaofeng and the others had already guessed that they might do this, and they reacted immediately the moment the other party attacked.

Li Xunhuan threw a flying knife, and although he hadn't prepared much, its power was still extremely terrifying.

A flash of white light streaked past, and the flying knife shot straight at Liu Xi's neck.

Liu Xi was no ordinary person. He practiced the Absorption Technique and absorbed the power of countless people. Although his utilization rate was low, the depth of his power surpassed that of many others at the same level.

He was prepared for Little Li's Flying Dagger, and when he made his move, he was in a state of condensed true qi.

His skill was profound, and his inner energy was naturally also profound and strong.

The flying knife was blocked by his internal energy for a split second.

In that instant, Liu Xi quickly twisted his neck, causing the flying knife to break through the protective aura and glide past the side of his neck.

Although it left a bloody mark, it did not pierce the neck.

Even so, Liu Xi felt the warm blood flowing down his neck quickly turn cold, and cold sweat broke out on his back.

"How terrifying... a throwing knife!"

Looking at that figure, a sense of fear welled up in his heart.

He should have seized the opportunity to strike immediately, but he stopped in his tracks and missed this golden chance to attack.

At the same time, Iron Claw Flying Eagle and others attacked Lu Xiaofeng and his group.

However, even though they are both innate, there are differences.

Ironclad armor was refined like steel, and he had followed Li Xunhuan for over ten years, witnessing countless battles.

Ah Fei is a young genius; even if he is only one level below him, he can still win against all odds.

Not to mention the existence of another grandmaster, Lu Xiaofeng.

They easily overwhelmed the attack of several people.

The eight men broke through this most difficult obstacle, charged out of the entire army formation, and rode away triumphantly.

"Steward, this..." Iron Claw Flying Eagle and the others gathered helplessly around Liu Xi.

Liu Xi, recovering from his earlier fear, clenched his fist and said, "Don't worry about them. They can't go back to Ming. The most important thing right now is to destroy all the evidence!"

Having said that, he turned around and looked towards the Kingdom of Heavenly Fragrance.

His eyes revealed boundless killing intent.

Without Li Xunhuan and his group, what can the Tianxiang Kingdom use to stop them?

Although the number of these bandits had been reduced by more than half after the losses in the previous two days, the Tianxiang Kingdom was almost completely unharmed and its troops were intact.

Indeed, a portion of the soldiers were left behind to cover the retreat.

However, their biggest weakness is the lack of skilled players!

Liu Xi immediately charged up the city wall. Without using any martial arts, every punch and kick carried immense power, and he smashed more than a dozen people to death with his fists.

It was as if he was venting the fear he had just felt, in order to wash away the shame.

However, once they entered the city, they discovered that almost all the residents had left.

Those who remained were naturally all killed by them.

Subsequently, under Liu Xi's orders, numerous bandits looted all the wealth in the city that had not yet been taken, and then set the entire Tianxiang Kingdom ablaze, reducing it to ashes.

Under these circumstances, it would be virtually impossible to find any evidence in the city to prove what Iron-Blooded Marquis had done here.

At the same time, Liu Xi also sent a message by carrier pigeon to inform Shi Guanyin that Li Xunhuan and his men had escaped, and asked her to send troops to capture them.

Although the Eastern Depot had already made preparations near the border.

However, in order to reach an agreement with Shi Guanyin, the Eastern Depot had to ask her to send troops from the Kingdom of Guizi to Tianxiang Kingdom to annihilate the kingdom. The Eastern Depot had paid a heavy price for this.

The agreement has already been signed, and there's no way to back out now.

After all, Shi Guanyin is a master of the Three Flowers.

If Cao Zhengchun were here, there might still be a possibility of him changing his mind.

But he wasn't there.

Therefore, in order to make the price paid more worthwhile, Liu Xi naturally wanted them to contribute their efforts in hunting down Li Xunhuan and the others.

Otherwise, wouldn't all the costs that the Eastern Depot was required to pay under the agreement be wasted in vain?
Of course, as a eunuch who had been in the palace for so many years and was now the chief eunuch, Liu Xi was also well-versed in human nature and knew very well that if he forced his way in, the other party would likely ignore him.

Therefore, he played a trick, specifically mentioning in the legend that Li Xunhuan and Chu Liuxiang were friends, and that perhaps the missing Chu Liuxiang was among that group of people.

Although, according to the intelligence from the Eastern Depot, the two had only met once and traveled together for a few days on their way to Wudang.

But this did not stop Liu Xi from embellishing the story.

Shi Guanyin and Wuhua may not be interested in Li Xunhuan, but they are definitely very interested in Chu Liuxiang.

With this information added, there's no need to worry about Shi Guanyin not taking action!
What he didn't know was that this embellished description, unintentionally, actually reflected the truth.

(End of this chapter)