Chapter 196

They had come after all. General General Nanke said solemnly: "How many enemy troops are there?" "I couldn't get close enough to count carefully, but there are at least seven thousand!"

"Seven thousand!" Everyone turned pale at the news, and General General Nanke was also shocked, "How is that possible! The total number of Baling troops stationed in Weicheng is only a little over two thousand! Did you see wrong?"

The scout was resolute: "No less than that! If I misjudged, I am willing to be punished by military law!"

At this moment, a sparrowhawk flew down from the sky, landed on General General Nanke's shoulder, and spoke in human language: "I came from the northeast direction and saw dust flying on the ground, with nearly ten thousand enemy troops approaching!"

Even the hawks in the sky said so, so it was certain there was no mistake. The adjutants looked longingly at General General Nanke, and the latter's thoughts raced.

He had predicted the enemy raid, but he had miscalculated the number of troops.

Seven thousand enemy troops could easily rewrite the outcome of the battle.

What to do now? The opponent was aggressive and would arrive in the blink of an eye, while the Panlongcheng army was carrying hundreds of cargo carts and couldn't even run fast.

No matter how brave the Panlongcheng army was, it wasn't good to fight an enemy six or seven times their size on an open plain, not to mention they had to protect the merchant caravan and the cargo carts. Let alone him, even if General Hong came in person, he might not have the confidence to retreat unscathed.

General General Nanke didn't hesitate anymore, turned around, and pointed at the Ghost Needle Shi Lin: "Turn the troop around, enter the Shi Lin immediately!"

There were still some dim-witted adjutants who were startled: "General, there might be an ambush inside."

"Nonsense, don't I know that?" General General Nanke said coldly, "Only there can we maneuver with all our might! Even if it's a trap, we have to bite the bullet and jump in now!"

There was no time to lose, and military orders were passed down one by one. The entire troop immediately changed direction and ran swiftly toward the Ghost Needle Shi Lin.

At the same time, General General Nanke fed the sparrowhawk a small piece of beef jerky, whispered a few words to it, and then patted its head: "I'm sorry to trouble you to make another trip."

The sparrowhawk flapped its wings and rose.

It had brown-red spotted feathers and was larger than ordinary members of its kind; after taking off, it streaked toward the due north like a meteor, its speed more than a notch faster than ordinary falcons, truly deserving the description of lightning-fast.

However, no one noticed that two large eagles circling high in the sky changed direction and quietly followed it.

Puxiegou.

Like other cities on the Panlong Wasteland, Puxiegou didn't occupy much land and didn't have many people, but it had been ground down by years of war into high walls and deep moats. The Baling people had attacked it several times, but hadn't been able to take it down.

Today, the city gates of Puxiegou were tightly shut, and no one was allowed in or out, but many unfamiliar faces had emerged in the city, all clad in sturdy armor and sharp weapons, looking murderous.

They neither made noise nor caused trouble, and didn't even talk to the local residents, just staying in the open space under the city walls of Puxiegou, sharpening their swords, watering their horses, and closing their eyes to rest.

This army had a peculiar temperament—standing like pines and sinking like abysses, yet seeming to contain a ball of raging fire that could explode at any moment to hurt people. The bright red armor they wore drew respectful gazes from the civilians.

The Great Wind Army.

No one expected that while General General Nanke was still escorting the merchant caravan two or three hundred li away on the wasteland, the Great Wind Army had quietly moved into Puxiegou.

Xiao Captain Xiao Maoliang Maoliang was adjusting the saddle and bridle for his beloved horse when he suddenly heard the sound of flapping wings from above.

He looked up and saw a sparrowhawk that looked very familiar fold its wings and descend from mid-air, landing on the city wall.

It had come.

Xiao Captain Xiao Maoliang Maoliang's heart tightened; he ran up the city wall in three steps, just in time to hear this avian demon open its mouth:

"Report, General General Nanke has encountered an enemy raid in the Ghost Needle Shi Lin!"

The master it was reporting to was standing on the city wall facing the southern wasteland; apart from the bright red military attire, others could only see the fluttering cloak.

Behind him were good generals who had been through many battles and could break the enemy while laughing, but standing here with their hands respectfully lowered and their expressions reverent, it was as if they didn't dare to breathe too heavily.

The falcon demon continued to report: "The Baling enemy troops number nearly ten thousand; General General Nanke has retreated into the Ghost Needle Shi Lin and sent me to ask you for reinforcements!"

Nearly ten thousand? Xiao Captain Xiao Maoliang Maoliang and the other adjutants looked at each other in dismay.

The total number of Baling troops in the entire Weicheng was less than three thousand; even if they came out in full force, where did the other six or seven thousand come from?

After the falcon demon finished speaking, the man tilted his head slightly, and the wind on the city wall suddenly stopped; the air stagnated, and the fluttering cloak immediately lay flat.

He could influence the surrounding environment with ease.

But this strange phenomenon only lasted for a moment; the man raised his hand and pointed to the west, and a cold voice sounded directly in everyone's hearts: "Prepare to attack."

The soldiers on the city wall five feet away didn't hear him speak at all.

The adjutants were slightly surprised: "General, are we not splitting our troops to go to the Ghost Needle Shi Lin?"

"General General Nanke can hold on." A single understated sentence determined the life-and-death struggle of the patrol guards in the south for the next few hours.

Fortunately, the sparrowhawk received another instruction from its master: "You fly back to Panlongcheng now and go fetch reinforcements for General General Nanke."

It was about three hundred li from Panlongcheng to the Ghost Needle Shi Lin; even at a gallop, it would take three or four hours, and the roads on the Panlong Wasteland weren't all flat, and it would be dark in another hour or so.

This didn't even count the time it would take for the sparrowhawk to fly back to Panlongcheng.

A rough calculation showed that if the reinforcements arrived by dawn, they would be thanking the heavens; General General Nanke's troop would have to hold out alone for at least four or five hours.

"Yes!" The sparrowhawk reported again, "On the way here, I was tailed by two giant eagles high in the sky, and I had to fly eighty li before I shook them off."

"Do you recognize them?"

"I don't recognize them, and they don't look like monsters from the wasteland."

Six or seven thousand enemy troops descending from the sky, and avian demons of unknown origin. With such variables appearing, several adjutants felt that things were not looking good.

"Shaking them off is useless." The man said to the sparrowhawk, "Panlongcheng is in the southeast direction; you didn't fly there, but came straight to the north. This has already indicated to the enemy that General General Nanke's reinforcements are in the north. The north... is only Puxiegou."

The sparrowhawk immediately lowered its head.

Having received General General Nanke's request for reinforcements, it had of course rushed over with all its might; how could it have considered things so comprehensively?

The man waved his hand, and the sparrowhawk had no choice but to flap its wings and rise, flying toward Panlongcheng.

If it arrived a step earlier, General General Nanke could receive assistance a little sooner.

"In other words, the newly joined enemies will soon know we are in Puxiegou, and it's not hard to infer our goal is Weicheng." After all, this place was only a few dozen li away from Weicheng, and the cavalry could reach it just by lifting their legs.

To the Baling people, the Panlong army was using troops in two directions, and one route was hidden in Puxiegou—the intention was very clear, right?

Therefore, "our attack now can no longer be considered a surprise attack."

Only by catching the enemy off guard could one have a chance of winning.

Their original combat plan was to lure Hua Hua Mucuo, who was anxious about his brother, into attacking General General Nanke and the merchant caravan with all his might, while the Great Wind Army hidden in Puxiegou would take the opportunity to recover Weicheng and remove this thorn in their side in one fell swoop.

Puxiegou couldn't accommodate an army of several thousand for a long-term stationing, but it was no problem to hold out for a few days.

It sounded like the plan was a bit crude, but combat had always been about keeping plans simple, executing them in detail, and combining them with the way of reality and illusion to achieve miraculous results. After Hua Hua Mucuo took Weicheng, he had generally been at a disadvantage in his exchanges with Panlongcheng and had long been holding back a breath of anger; three days ago, his brother died tragically...

When a close relative is murdered, who dares to say "I can endure it, I won't be angry, I won't send troops, I won't take revenge"? When a person's blood and qi attack the heart, they are most prone to making mistakes and not listening to advice.

Conversely, if Hua Hua Mucuo responded calmly and didn't take the bait, then at most the Great Wind Army would return to Panlongcheng, and General General Nanke successfully escorting the merchant caravan back to Puxiegou would be a great thing in itself; as for retaking Weicheng, that could be done next time—it was only a matter of time.

However, the seven thousand-plus Baling troops that dropped from the sky disrupted this plan.

General General Nanke and the merchant goods acting as bait were in imminent danger; if the Great Wind Army sat idly by and still followed the original plan to steal Weicheng, there would be two problems: first, with General General Nanke leading over a thousand men and hundreds of cargo carts, how long could they hold out against seven thousand opponents?

Second, could the Great Wind Army definitely take Weicheng?

Xiao Captain Xiao Maoliang Maoliang frowned: "The opponent can send nearly ten thousand troops to intercept General General Nanke and the merchant caravan; perhaps there are also troops stationed in Weicheng, so it's no longer an empty city."

This operation shouldn't end up being a case of fishing for a catch only to be swallowed by the bait, which would be a laughingstock.

The man in front asked them: "If you were the new commander of the Baling people, knowing that General General Nanke's reinforcements are in Puxiegou, what would you plan to do next?"

Xiao Captain Xiao Maoliang Maoliang was startled: "New commander?" He immediately realized, "That's right, Hua Hua Mucuo only has two thousand men under his command; this newly appeared Baling army must be led by someone else." Otherwise, they wouldn't have caught General General Nanke off guard.

The generals thought about it and expressed their views, but generally speaking, if they were the Baling commander, they would have to see how many men were left; if there were many, they would attack Puxiegou, and if there were few, they would hold Weicheng firmly and not let the Great Wind Army succeed.

"Where do you think this troop came from?"

"From within Baling territory!" This time the generals didn't need to discuss it, their views were unanimous: "The western wasteland has poor soil and scarce water sources, and simply cannot support so many troops, so this army must come from within Baling territory."

Was it that the Baling Nation didn't want to send more troops to the wasteland during normal times? Not so.

The several strongholds the Baling Nation had on the western wasteland could only support less than five or six thousand elite troops in total, and Weicheng was already considered relatively wealthy.

Unlike Panlongcheng, which was backed by the Chipa Plateau and was uniquely endowed by nature, with thousands of miles of fertile land all belonging to one family, allowing them to train strong soldiers and sturdy horses.

For so many Baling people to suddenly appear on the wasteland, they must have been temporarily dispatched from the country.

"Do you think the new Baling commander came with such fanfare, catching General General Nanke off guard, just to hold Weicheng, to avenge Hua Hua Mucuo, or to covet those few merchant goods in Puxiegou?"

There must be a reason for sending troops; if the commander's goal isn't clear and firm, how can he command thousands of troops? Xiao Captain Xiao Maoliang Maoliang took a light breath and understood: "His goal is Puxiegou, and more likely, it's us!"

They were calculating against Weicheng, but weren't the Baling people also calculating against them? "Perhaps he also wants to meet me." The man said lightly, "Since the opponent has ambitions, how could he be willing to hide in Weicheng like a tortoise? Whether we split our forces to reinforce General General Nanke or sneak attack Weicheng, they won't be absent; perhaps his plan is the same as mine—to go around the back and take the city."

"Fortunately, the opponent doesn't know our troop strength either."

(End of chapter)