Supreme Golden Palace

Chapter 182 Divine General (Part 2)

"Sound the retreat! Sound the retreat now!"

Ji An roared, and the infantry of the Fifth Brigade of the E State had been routed.

Moreover, it wasn't just a physical breakdown; the mental state collapsed as well.

Even if he doesn't die, it will be difficult for him to take up arms again and fight on the battlefield.

"Sound the retreat, withdraw the troops!"

Ji Shi's four-horse carriage from Nan Yan spun around in the chaos of the army, its four warhorses galloping wildly through the soldiers.

The shaman behind the carriage was smashed to pieces, and the twenty-eight flying banners were trampled into rags.

"We've lost, we've lost!"

The carriages of the Qi Kingdom envoys were overturned by the fleeing soldiers, and the iron torrent of three hundred chariots became a deadlock of trampling on each other.

This is a war chariot, a symbol of a nation's power; the war chariot represents national strength.

Since ancient times, there has been a saying that the emperor has ten thousand chariots, a large country has a thousand chariots, and a small state has a hundred chariots. Therefore, the emperor is also called the emperor with ten thousand chariots.

It can be said that every chariot was a deadly weapon on the battlefield. Warriors driving chariots were invincible. When thousands or tens of thousands of chariots charged at the same time, the earth cracked and mountains collapsed.

Lu Shang leaned on his two clubs, quietly watching the allied forces flee in all directions.

Eight thousand armored soldiers were utterly defeated; at least two thousand died under Lü Shang's iron rod, and the rest were terrified.

As the morning mist dissipated, Lü Shang stood amidst the mountain of corpses and sea of ​​blood, leaning on his two clubs. Blood droplets dripped continuously from his armor, pooling into a small pool of blood at his feet.

Only after a long while did the Xu Kingdom soldiers on the city wall dare to let out a deafening cheer.

Gazing at the defeated figures of the four kingdoms, Lü Shang muttered to himself, "As expected, the four kingdoms have no generals to command their armies."

Lu Shang had previously told his ministers that eight thousand armored soldiers were indeed an invincible force.

However, without a general in command, its power cannot be fully unleashed. No matter how many soldiers there are, they are just a disorganized mess and nothing to fear.

If it were a true god-like commander, Lü Shang would rely on his thick skin and tough flesh to be fearless of being surrounded and killed by armored soldiers. But to imagine that he could single-handedly form an army and kill eight thousand armored soldiers who would all bow their heads is impossible.

"However, the four-nation alliance has four different intentions, and impure motives are a major taboo!"

When the defeated army retreated like a tide to the banks of the Ying River, Ebo Ji'an's chariot finally came to a stop amidst the chaos.

He gripped the blood-stained command flag, his knuckles turning bluish-white from the excessive force.

Ji An slammed the command flag onto the carriage, splinters of wood from the flagpole piercing her palm. Gritting her teeth, she said, "That scoundrel Lü Shang actually possesses such martial prowess!"

"How old is he? He's already become a perfect being. It's truly, truly hateful."

Ji An was also a ruler of a country and held an imperial edict. He naturally knew what it meant to have the power of a sage by borrowing the imperial edict, and what it meant to be a sage by not borrowing the imperial edict.

Therefore, after seeing Lü Shang make a move, Ji An was surprised to realize that this Xu Boshang had actually cultivated to the level of a perfect person.

Although Lü Shang's martial prowess seemed to exceed the realm of a sage, Ji An preferred to believe that Lü Shang was a genius of unparalleled talent and invincible among his peers rather than believe that Lü Shang had attained the status of a god at such a young age.

It's already astonishing that someone has become a Perfected Person before the age of twenty; if he were to become a God, it would be as if he possessed the potential of a young Heavenly Emperor.

The magnificent carriage of Nan Yan Bo Ji Shi followed closely behind, its four warhorses, covered in sweat and foaming at the mouth, kneeling on the riverbank.

He stood up, leaning on the carriage railing, and sighed, "Brother An, please calm down. This time, we underestimated our enemy!"

"We underestimated them,"

Ji An clutched her chest and said, "We were originally going to teach that brat Lu a lesson, but now we've become the ones being taught a lesson."

"After this battle, our nation will have no face left at all."

Ji Shi sighed, "Yes, from now on, the situation in the eastern region will change." In the past, the eastern region of Henan was led by the four major Ji clan states. Although the Xu state was also a regional power, it was always somewhat weak.

The battle in Xu has now thwarted the four-nation coalition. Although the four nations did not exert their full strength or suffer any fundamental damage, a defeat is a defeat.

The defeat of the four-nation coalition by a single nation will naturally alter the situation of the eastern states.

------

Xudu,

Lü Shang, leaning on his two clubs, slowly walked into Xudu, the iron spikes dragging on the stone slabs with a piercing, sharp sound.

The Xu Kingdom's armored soldiers in the city had already opened the city gates, and thousands of people lined up to welcome them, their bronze spears and halberds forming a golden archway in the sunlight.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"

The shouts first erupted from the ranks of armored soldiers, spreading outwards like rolling thunder.

When Lü Shang stepped through the city gate, the entire city of Xudu erupted in excitement. People flocked to him, some raising earthenware bowls filled with wine above their heads, others removing their headscarves and tossing them into the air.

Prince Chong led his ministers to kneel and welcome Lü Shang beneath the city gate. Baili Ming, holding a bronze ewer filled with water, knelt on one knee to wash the bloodstains off Lü Shang's armor.

On the long street leading into the city, the people spontaneously paved the ground with newly harvested wheat ears.

Lü Shang removed his blood-stained armor and handed it to his attendant to be stored in the armory, revealing the black inner garment beneath. He then stepped into the main hall of the palace.

"give a feast!"

He raised his arms and shouted, "Today, we won't leave until we're drunk!"

"promise,"

A thunderous roar of response erupted from inside the hall. Prince Chong personally brought over a ceramic vessel and filled it with rich black bean wine for Lü Shang. The wine was poured onto the bronze table, and the rising aroma mingled with the stench of blood.

"Your Majesty, this is Ebo Ji'an's command flag,"

A soldier presented a blood-stained flagpole, the character "鄂" (E) on the flag torn to dust by Lü Shang's club.

Lu Shang took the flagpole, a sinister smile on his face, and said, "Issue my decree to cut this flagpole into four pieces, stain them with the blood of the envoys of the four kingdoms, and send them to the ancestral temples of the four kingdoms of Nan Yan, E, Qi, and Yin. Tell them that I am borrowing their flags to offer sacrifices to the weapons of my Xu Kingdom."

That night, most of the wine in Xudu was drunk up, and the aroma of roasted meat wafted for miles.

As the first rays of dawn shone on the palace walls, Lü Shang climbed the city tower alone, gazing at the still-unrecovered remains of the allied forces on the banks of the Ying River in the distance.

A gentle breeze brushed his bangs, bringing with it the faint sound of horses' hooves. It was a military report delivered urgently by scouts; envoys from the eastern states were carrying a letter of state, rushing to Xuchang under the cover of night.

In this battle, Lü Shang single-handedly broke through the enemy's army, shaking Henan and even most of Yuzhou.

"Let the envoys from the four countries wait."

Lü Shang said in a low voice, "I want them to see how the chariots of Xu will crush the threshold of their ancestral temple."

"It's a pity we didn't capture the envoys from the four countries alive. I really want to see their expressions then."

Outside Xuchang City, the allied forces had already withdrawn, and the Ying River, like a pale golden ribbon, meandered eastward under the rising sun.

The wild grass on the riverbank was covered with undried dew, shimmering with a bluish-white light, and interspersed among it were broken spears and shattered armor pieces.

Further out on the plains, scattered were the war chariots left behind by the defeated Allied forces.

Some of the wheels were tilted and stuck in the mud, while the bronze chariot wheels gleamed coldly among the grass.

Lü Shang leaned against the low wall of the city tower, his gaze sweeping across the wilderness after the great battle.

(End of this chapter)