Distant Mountain Battle Song

Chapter 206 God of Slaughter or Demon God?
Yun Ce moved his neck, and his cervical bones made a series of cracking sounds, like a rusty machine slowly waking up.

The brutal chestnut horse raised its hind legs and kicked away the carcass of a thunderbeast that was even thicker than itself.

The Thunder Smoke Beast's corpse was something it had created itself. It just so happened that the Thunder Smoke Beast had the audacity to walk ahead of it, and then it chased after it, opened its mouth wide, and bit down on the Thunder Smoke Beast's neck…

Riding on the back of that thunder-smoke beast was a cavalry commander named Cao Hui. Although Cao Kun had instructed him to be careful with Yun Ce, he didn't take it to heart and still thought that Yun Ce was a henchman that the Cao family had recruited this time.

His mount, the Thunder Smoke Beast, died, and naturally, Cao Hui couldn't survive either. It wasn't that he had any secret pact with the Thunder Smoke Beast; such a pact was one-sided against the Thunder Smoke Beast. The reason he died was because Yun Ce made a move. If he hadn't drawn his sword to cut the chestnut horse, he might not have died. But because he made a move, Yun Ce pierced his throat with a horse spear, and he became a corpse as well.

The two cavalrymen at the back of the column turned their horses around and ran away. The chestnut horse quickly chased after them, and the two cavalrymen were killed.

Yun Ce spoke very little along the way. He killed deserters four times, killing six people in total.

Every time he killed someone, he would bring back the deserter's head to show the group, which instantly fueled the hatred in the hearts of the five hundred cavalrymen. They all put their hands on their weapons, and if one of them took the lead, they would attack Yun Ce en masse.

"Don't be impulsive, he's just forcing us to take action." A shrewd centurion saw the mockery in Yun Ce's eyes and immediately stopped his subordinates.

Seeing that the cavalry had gradually quieted down, Yun Ce looked at the leading centurions and said, "Killing Yan Fei and taking Xiangcheng is my promise to Cao Kun. I have neither the mood nor the time to manage you, so you'd better manage yourselves well."

I admire brave warriors and despise cowards. On the battlefield, the brave will receive my protection, while cowards are destined to die in the chaos of battle.

Therefore, whether you can return home with military merit and enjoy wealth and honor, or be stuffed in someone's pocket and dragged back, depends on your choice.

A centurion clasped his hands and said, “General, you may not know this, but Yan Fei recently captured Flying Elephant City and personally killed two thousand-man generals from Lingzhou. I heard that he killed them almost instantly. We have heard of your bravery, General, but we don’t know if you can be as quick as you were when you killed your own men when facing Yan Fei.”

Yun Ce laughed and said, "Leave Yan Fei to me, you guys follow behind me. Do you have the guts to charge into battle?"

The leader of the hundred men said, "As long as the general charges ahead, he will surely see us when he turns around."

"Alright, enough of the pleasantries. Let's march immediately and challenge Yanfei to battle tomorrow morning."

The centurion responded and led five hundred cavalrymen in a mighty charge towards Xiangcheng.

"How could you be so cruel this time? Those people ran away to go back and report the news, how could you kill them?"

The dog clearly saw what Yun Ce had just done, but it didn't understand his motives.

"What do I have?" Yun Ce asked in a chilling tone.

"You have an enhanced Dragon Ball, a folk firework, a powerful artificial intelligence, an incomprehensible star map, fifty giant bombs inside the Dragon Ball, a horse more terrifying than a monster, skin and flesh invulnerable to swords and spears, and your left arm can transform into an indestructible dragon claw at any time. You also have a clingy wife and a concubine whose butt glows."

"anything else?"

"Stop joking, what else do you have besides these?"

Oh, you mean those five hundred cavalrymen, more than forty thousand women and children, a few strategists who didn't even pass the minimum requirement, and a few warriors who couldn't even defeat a thousand-man general?

These things are liabilities, not assets, for you.

Yun Ce asked, "How should I manage these liabilities?"

The dog laughed and said, "Extend your strengths as much as possible, let the shadow cast by your strengths overshadow your liabilities, so that everyone only sees your strengths and ignores your liabilities, let your strengths have enough deterrent power to prevent them from plotting against your liabilities, until your liabilities become real assets."

"Where do I truly excel?"

"Your martial arts skills are now so impressive that even I have to admit they are truly formidable. As long as you don't encounter a monster like Yu Sang, you should be able to roam freely in this world."

Oh, I see. You can't stand Cao Kun and his men's endless scheming, so you're planning to use the upcoming war to portray yourself as a vengeful and ruthless killer?
How can you make others afraid to plot against you or bully you?
If that's the case, I think being a demon god would be better. Throughout history, gods of slaughter have never met a good end. People like Bai Qi and Ran Min didn't have good endings, but several people with the title of demon god have lived quite well.

However, to achieve this goal, you must create a few truly shocking scenes. Scenes like tearing apart Japanese soldiers with bare hands are just the bare minimum. You have to grab an enemy, bite their throat, drink their blood, or smash their skull to eat their brains. You have to make yourself look inhuman. That way, when others are scheming against your assets, they'll seriously consider whether it's worth the cost of offending you for those few assets.

"Drinking blood and eating flesh is fine, but let's tear a few enemies apart alive later."

"Actually, I can help you suck blood and absorb their inner essence. When that happens, everyone who comes into contact with you will turn into a dried-up corpse or ashes. That will definitely be very shocking."

The dog is being sarcastic. If it were revealed that the dog can suck blood and absorb the essence of a warrior's inner energy, Yun Ce would not only be unable to establish himself north of the Great Wall, but would instantly become a great demon whom everyone wants to kill.

Even if they fled to the Guifang, the outcome would be the same. After all, both the Han and Guifang people acknowledged that they were human. The struggles over thousands of years were nothing more than a debate over who was a barbarian and who was the legitimate ruler.

"Forget it, we'll just have to play it by ear. Cao Kun has really dug a huge pit for me this time. Yan Fei was originally sent by Tan Shou to stabilize the rear."

He didn't expect me to kill Yan Fei; he only hoped we could hold him off. Judging from the five hundred cavalrymen he gave me, they were just sent as cannon fodder. Even if I ultimately lost, Cao Kun and the rest of his men would have already eaten their fill, leaving me alone to huddle in a corner eating pickled vegetables.

Five hundred cavalrymen attacking a city with walls, a moat, and a powerful general with six thousand soldiers is clearly impossible. But because of Cao Kun's saying that extraordinary people can accomplish extraordinary things, Yun Ce came.

Upon arriving at the city of Xiangcheng, Yun Ce realized that Yan Fei truly didn't take him seriously. The cavalry rushed over, and by the time they saw the city gates wide open, the soldiers guarding the city only began to slowly close them. By the time Yun Ce's horse got close, the drawbridge over the moat had just been raised.

As they got closer, arrows rained down from the city walls, forcing Yun Ce to lead his troops to retreat.

The fact that they didn't engage in battle immediately suggests that Yan Fei is not a reckless person. Judging from the timing of raising the drawbridge, he was also trying to provoke Yun Ce into dismounting and attacking the city.

A general who abandons the city's defenses to engage in open battle is clearly an idiot. An attacker who only brings cavalry and then dismounts to attack the city on foot is undoubtedly a general who should be killed.

The problem lies in the specific circumstances and considerations. Currently, the defending troops outnumber the attacking troops by more than ten times, so it is understandable that the defending general would go out of the city to fight again.

Cao Kun's tactic of using a small force to keep the well-equipped Xiangcheng stationary and unable to move, forcing it to watch helplessly as he conquered other weaker cities.

He had considered everything except whether Yun Ce could withstand Yan Fei's powerful attacks.

From this perspective, Cao Kun's targeting of Yun Ce was extremely effective.

Five hundred cavalrymen ran from the east gate to the south gate, then to the west gate and the north gate, making a complete circle. After that, everyone in Xiangcheng knew that a cavalry force had arrived and was preparing to attack Xiangcheng.

Since Yan Fei was being very cautious and not coming out, Yun Ce had no choice but to execute Cao Kun's second plan: to besiege the city.

At night, Yun Ce's men camped outside the East Gate. Since there were only 500 men, they were not able to set up a stockade, so they could only strengthen their scouting. Camping for cavalry was troublesome, mainly because the warhorses needed to be completely relaxed. They had to unsaddle and unbridle the horses to let them eat, drink, and rest.

It would take at least the time it takes for an incense stick to burn to arm a relaxed cavalry unit into a fighting force in a short period of time.

Yun Ce cleverly set up camp 15 li away from Xiangcheng. This way, when the enemy left the city, the scouts guarding outside the city would immediately send out an alarm, and the cavalry would have enough time to prepare their equipment. When the enemy arrived, they would be ready to fight.

The arrangements were quite thorough, but Yan Fei refused to follow Yun Ce's plan. After dark, two thousand cavalrymen secretly slipped into the wilderness from the north gate, the furthest point from Yun Ce's camp, taking advantage of the clouds obscuring the moon.

Yan Fei was not in the group. He personally escorted his deputy general Zhou Cheng out of the city before going back to sleep.

In fact, during the day, the deputy general had already requested to fight several times, but Yan Fei did not agree. He was not worried that his troops could not defeat the cavalry, but rather that he was worried that he could not capture the cavalry in one fell swoop.

Two thousand to five hundred, the advantage is in my hands.

Cavalry rarely launches attacks at night. Even under a full moon, a seasoned general seldom uses cavalry, because the moon's shadow creates many illusory images of light and shadow on the ground. If a warhorse makes a wrong step, it can cause great losses.

Under the watchful eyes of the hundred generals, Yun Ce slowly and methodically put on his armor, and even took out a cooked baby bean from his pocket and put it into the mouth of the chestnut horse.

While stroking the head of the chestnut horse, he said to the cavalrymen standing behind him, "The time has come for us to make our mark."

(End of this chapter)