Starting as pearl divers, they have endless jobs.

Chapter 76 Unstoppable
"What did you say?" Cao Xun stared intently at the kneeling messenger, his young and handsome face contorted with rage.

"Say it again!"

The messenger trembled as he repeated, his voice trembling with sobs, "Your Majesty, Shuozhou City has fallen! Chen Ye's army captured Shuozhou City in just... just two days."

Two days!

An impregnable city lasted only two days!

Cao Xun's face turned ashen; he hadn't expected Chen Ye to act so quickly and ruthlessly!

The hall was completely silent; no one dared to speak.

After a moment, Cao Xun took a deep breath and then looked at an old general with half-white hair and beard at the back of the formation.

"General Li, what do you think?"

The veteran general Li Xian, whose name was called, stepped forward, bowed, and said, "Your Majesty, I have heard of Chen Ye. He has been training troops in Daliang for five years, and his troops are all battle-hardened elites who should not be underestimated. Although the defeat in Shuozhou was partly due to the element of surprise, it also demonstrates the strength of his army."

He paused, then continued, "However, the rebels are ultimately rebels, with limited forces and no backup. I believe the most urgent task is to immediately dispatch an elite force to guard the key route to the Central Plains, trapping Chen Ye in the Shuozhou area. At the same time, we should gather heavy troops from various places to form an encirclement and decide the outcome in one battle!"

These words were spoken with maturity and composure, and were clearly logical.

Cao Xun's cold expression softened slightly, and he nodded: "General Li is right. In your opinion, who is suitable for the position of vanguard?"

Li Xian raised his head, a glint of shrewdness flashing in his eyes, and said in a firm and powerful voice: "This old minister is not talented, but I am willing to share Your Majesty's worries. I only need 30,000 elite soldiers from the capital garrison, and I will surely stop Chen Ye at Shuozhou!"

Although he spoke highly of Chen Ye, his inherent pride as a veteran general prevented him from truly taking this traitorous general from humble origins seriously.

In his view, Chen Ye was just lucky and had won a few battles with favorable circumstances.

"Very well!" Cao Xun immediately approved. "I will give you 50,000 troops. Set out immediately!"

……

Meanwhile, in Shuozhou City.

"Your Majesty, our morale is high right now. Why not strike while the iron is hot, march all the way to the capital, and overthrow that dog emperor's throne!" Wang Xing said, spittle flying from his mouth.

Chen Ye simply took a piece of cloth and slowly wiped the giant weapon in his hand, which was nearly half the length of an ordinary lance, and said without looking up, "What's the rush? The guests will be here soon."

"Guests?" Wang Xing was taken aback.

Chen Ye placed the gleaming, polished lance aside, walked to the sand table, and lightly tapped a narrow valley outside Shuozhou City with his finger.

“Cao Xun isn’t stupid. He knows how powerful we are, so the next one will definitely be the court’s elite troops. Rather than waiting to be besieged in the city, we should take the initiative to go out and prepare a big gift for them.”

He raised his head, looked around at the generals, and spoke in a cold voice.

"This time, I want them, and they will not return."

Five days later, smoke and dust billowed outside Shuozhou City.

A large banner bearing the character "Li" fluttered in the wind, and the 50,000-strong Yongjing Camp, in perfect uniform and gleaming armor, marched steadily toward Shuozhou City.

At the central command post, veteran general Li Xian looked at the outline of Shuozhou City in the distance, a hint of murderous intent on his face.

But at this moment, a sudden change occurred!

Woo!
A desolate bugle call echoed from the mountains and forests on both sides.

"There's an ambush!" Li Xian's expression changed, but he didn't panic.

He was well aware that the terrain here made it easy to be ambushed, so he had taken precautions long ago.

In an instant, countless soldiers clad in black armor surged forth from both sides of the hillside like a tidal wave. They made no shouts, no roars, only the silent, orderly sound of their footsteps, like a legion of death crawling out of hell. The next moment, arrows rained down!

"Raise your shields! Hold your ground!" Li Xian roared.

The Beijing garrison, as expected of an elite force, remained calm despite the initial shock, quickly raising their shields and forming a tortoise-shell formation.

However, when the two torrents of steel actually collided, the confidence on Li Xian's face instantly froze.

His soldiers were the elite of the Dayong army, well-trained and well-equipped.

But those so-called rebels on the other side seemed to be inhuman.

A near-mad flame burned in the eyes of each of them, making them fearless of death.

When ordinary soldiers are stabbed, their first reaction is to scream and retreat, but they seem to feel no pain. Even when their bodies are pierced by spears, they will still plunge their steel swords into the enemy's chest before they die.

With the blessing of the Dragon Commander talent, Chen Ye's soldiers not only saw their combat power soar, but also gained an indomitable will to fight to the death.

They were like a group of tireless, fearless war machines, frantically tearing apart the Beijing garrison's lines.

Li Xian, standing in the central army, was horrified. In his entire life of fighting, he had never seen such a fierce and almost bizarre army!
Just then, with a loud bang, a burly figure nearly three meters tall, riding an equally magnificent warhorse, crashed into the densest formation of the Beijing garrison like a moving mountain.

Every swing of the massive lance in his hand brought forth a storm of blood and gore; the steel armor before him was as fragile as paper.

Both men and horses were annihilated!

That's a power that no mortal should possess!

Chen Ye was like a giant god descended to earth, rampaging through the army. No one could stop him wherever he went, and he tore a huge hole in the capital garrison's formation.

"kill!"

Seeing this, the morale of Chen Ye's soldiers soared to its peak, and they roared furiously, launching an even more frenzied attack.

It’s over.

Looking at the hellish scene before him, Li Xian had only two words in his mind.

The Beijing garrison's lines finally collapsed, and the soldiers threw down their weapons, crying and fleeing in all directions.

Li Xian, protected by his personal guards, tried to break through the encirclement, but Chen Ye had already spotted him. So, before he could retreat, Chen Ye roared and hurled his lance.

The lance hurtled towards them with the force of a thunderbolt. Li Xian's personal guards tried to stop it, but the immense impact shattered them. As for Li Xian, he only had time to let out a scream before the lance pierced his body and pinned him to the ground.

The last thought that flashed through Li Xian's mind was, what kind of monster is this?

Li Xian was killed in battle, and the remaining 50,000 soldiers either died or surrendered, resulting in the complete annihilation of the army.

When the news reached Kyoto, the entire court and the public fell into a deathly silence.

After hearing the news, Meng Yi remained silent for a long time before sighing and saying, "Li Xian was too arrogant. He thought Chen Ye was a reckless man, so he volunteered to be the vanguard officer, but ended up losing his life."

"Father, is Chen Ye really that powerful?" Meng Xu asked, somewhat shocked.

Meng Yi chuckled, "Hehe... His prowess is secondary; the key is that this kid's growth rate is simply too fast."

After saying that, he turned to Meng Xu and said, "From now on, I will never see any outsiders again. If anyone asks, just tell them that I am seriously ill and will not live much longer."

Upon hearing this, Meng Xu was initially startled, but then he understood the implications and finally bowed his head, saying, "Yes."

(End of this chapter)