Chapter 438: Capturing Longhou Pass

The military horses had all been brushed, fed with fine feed, and rested, just as spirited as the people. Each person was equipped with three days of dry rations, three days of clear water, and two horses, with the army traveling light without supplies.

Not only did they have to run hundreds of miles, but they also had to raid the capital of Xi Ji and capture the monarch.

There was no other way, only speed.

The crown prince of Xi Ji was inspecting the new robes he would wear for his coronation.

An old minister came to advise that the beacons at Longhou Pass had ignited by themselves twice, fearing that there might be enemies secretly invading, plotting mischief during the new King's ceremony.

Huyan Zhao asked him: "Then what do you say we should do?"

"The ceremony should be postponed." This one was also straightforward.

Huyan Zhao's face darkened immediately.

Who didn't know that long nights bring many dreams? After his father passed away, he had been looking forward to his coronation tomorrow, but this old thing wanted him to postpone it?

"Then tell me, postpone until when?"

The old minister hesitated: "Postpone for... a few days, until the west is safe."

"If I postpone for a few days, and the beacons ignite by themselves again when I am about to be crowned, what do you say we should do?" Huyan Zhao said coldly, "Do I postpone again?"

"Because a few wild monkeys at Longhou Pass lit a fire, I have to postpone my ascension? Hmm?"

If you say to any crown prince that he should be crowned a few days late, see if he agrees?

"It doesn't matter how many days Xi Ji Nation has no King, as long as the beacons in the west don't rise, right?"

A series of questions choked the old minister until he crawled on the ground.

"This servant's meaning is to send more people to Longhou Pass..."

"Granted, send more people to Longhou Pass." Huyan Zhao waved his hand to dismiss him. These people only knew how to add trouble, none of them knew how to share his worries, "Come, pass the order! Tomorrow, inside and outside the city, inside and outside the palace, be strictly guarded! If there is any mistake, bring your heads to see me!"

The guards outside responded, and the order was passed down layer by layer.

The Guard Commander called his Langguan: "Tomorrow, inside and outside the city, inside and outside the palace, double the vigilance, otherwise you will be held responsible!"

The Langguan also called his subordinates: "Strictly control entry and exit for the ceremony, send more people, and you will be held responsible for any dereliction of duty!"

It went all the way to the City Gate Lang, who was also told by his superior: "... otherwise you will be held responsible!" Then he left.

However, with the ceremony imminent, the security had originally been planned very strictly, and all manpower had places to go. Where could they double it? The City Gate Lang thought and thought, and added a patrol of soldiers.

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The next day, the coronation ceremony was held as scheduled.

From beginning to end, it went smoothly, without any trouble.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

The night of the new moon, windy without a moon.

After being frightened for the past few days, the attention of the sentries at Longhou Pass was all on the beacon tower, almost looking back every few steps, fearing that something would go wrong again.

Human energy is limited, and paying too much attention to the back led to negligence in the front. The three of them didn't notice a team slowly approaching under the cover of night.

And the two outposts more than a hundred feet away from Longhou Pass didn't issue any warning at all.

A startled bird flew past in the night, and a sentry on the pass wall poked his head out to check, only to have an arrow fly from the darkness on the side, hitting him right in the throat.

At the same time, He Lingchuan and the others also flipped down from above the pass tower, silently slitting the throats of the other two.

The one hit in the throat by an arrow swayed twice, about to fall off the high wall. He Lingchuan was quick-eyed and fast-handed, grabbing him and gently placing him on the ground.

Otherwise, this sound in the middle of the night would be too loud.

Two squads of the Great Wind Army acted in coordination, the other led by Deputy Commander Sun.

He Lingchuan made a gesture to him, meaning the sentries had been cleared.

Deputy Commander Sun nodded, glanced down twice, determined the position of the city gate winch, and threw down two palm-sized copper puppets.

These two things landed, turned into huge copper guards over a zhang tall with a "bang"!

They were covered in thick armor, and after crawling up, the first thing they did was push the winch to open the city gate!

Longhou Pass was the first gateway of Xi Ji Nation facing Panlongcheng, and also the most important one, having put a lot of effort into the city gate. It was four feet thick, built with multiple composites of iron wood, refined iron, and rhinoceros skin, and was usually controlled by a winch to open and close.

This winch required eight strong men or four horses to barely push, but how could the strength of the copper guards be matched by humans? They exerted their strength, and the winch started with a creak, obviously not having been oiled for maintenance for a while. It turned from slow to fast, and the city gate, which was inserted into the ground, also slowly lifted up amidst the mechanical creaking.

The garrison at Longhou Pass wasn't dead either. Who could be deceived by this dull sound and vibration?

Amidst the shrill shouts of "Enemy attack" and whistles, the garrison rushed out of the camp to resist the enemy, and a rain of arrows suddenly fell from the mountain peak.

The Great Wind Army guards who had been lying in ambush for a long time finally made their move.

At this time, the door of the room above the city pass was kicked away from the inside. If someone happened to be standing outside the door, they would inevitably be hit in the face by the door panel.

The garrison commander rushed out holding a wolf-tooth club, shouting: "Seize the winch, go up to the gate tower!"

Seizing the winch meant keeping the pass, and clearing the enemy soldiers on the gate tower would allow the garrison to deal with the army outside calmly.

Menban was right there, hitting him with a shield strike.

The garrison commander wasn't afraid, swung the wolf-tooth club and smashed it, and it was three consecutive strikes, directly shaking Menban two feet away.

But Menban's mission was originally to attract firepower.

The garrison commander was smashing vigorously, when a string of consecutive arrows flew from the darkness, one aiming for his throat, two for his ribs, and three for his knees and legs—it was Liutiao who made the move.

This garrison commander's reaction was also quite remarkable, raising his hand to knock away two arrows, lifting his leg, and the one shooting at his knee hit his calf instead.

He groaned, but had meta-power protection around his body, so this arrow entered the flesh by two points, failing to cause an open wound.

Liutiao divided the power of one arrow into three, and the penetrating power was naturally limited.

But her three arrows were also feints.

The real killer move was behind the garrison commander: He Lingchuan drew his blade silently.

On the battlefield, when it comes to victory or defeat, who would talk to you about one-on-one duels?

The garrison commander only felt his back crawl, as if a terrifying object was attacking, so he fell to the side without thinking, and the wolf-tooth club smashed out backhanded.

He didn't dodge slowly, but he was still a step slower than He Lingchuan. The blade light changed, grabbing the lead and sweeping across the garrison commander's arm holding the club.

He only felt a chill and pain in his wrist.

This arm was broken at the wrist, and the cut was smooth.

The palm and the wolf-tooth club fell to the ground, and the garrison commander felt the pain, couldn't help but scream. Several personal guards rushed up to protect him, one was shot by Liutiao, one was stabbed to death by Hu Min's dagger, and the last one was finished off by He Lingchuan.

The garrison commander had reached the wall and was about to jump down.

He Lingchuan raised his hand, and a sleeve arrow shot out, hooking into his shoulder and pulling him back.

Deputy Commander Sun on the side was controlling the copper guards, and seeing this, couldn't help but rush over and cut off the garrison commander's head with one blade.

"Hey hey hey, this isn't yours!" Hu Min couldn't help but shout, this guy was stealing credit! Deputy Commander Sun smiled at him, revealing a mouth of white teeth, and then held up the garrison commander's head and shouted to the pass below: "Hu Bin is dead, Hu Bin is dead!"

This garrison commander was called Hu Bin.

The Xi Ji garrison looked up and saw that their leader was dead, and their morale was in chaos.

Menban also shouted immediately: "Surrender and you won't be killed, open the gate and you won't be killed!"

The Xi Ji garrison was attacking the two copper guards, who were burying their heads in pushing the winch, not resisting at all.

They were copper-skinned and iron-boned with steel armor, and also had meta-power protection, so weapons hitting them only sparked, and only attacking the joints had an effect.

There were still a few fierce people in the garrison, holding heavy weapons and smashing the copper guards' knee joints, and they really achieved some results.

At least the speed of the copper guards pushing was slowed down.

At the same time, the Xi Ji people also used camps and refusal stakes as cover to counterattack the archers on the mountain peak.

However, the city gate was already two feet off the ground, and the Panlongcheng soldiers outside were holding weapons and rolling inside.

The Xi Ji garrison was about to counterattack, but was shocked to see Hu Bin dead, and their morale leaked, allowing the Panlongcheng soldiers who had drilled in to stand firm.

Behind, the Xi Ji people retreated steadily, and the copper guards opened the pass gate to let the army in, which was a matter of course.

A quarter of an hour later, the Longhou Pass garrison surrendered.

In this battle, the beacon tower was never lit from beginning to end. Some soldiers wanted to move the sand cover to light the beacon, but this thing was smeared with mud ash and added sand, which was not only thick but also heavy, and definitely not something one or two people could move.

The archers on the mountain peak also focused on the beacon tower, and anyone who came here had to eat arrows.

Facing the rain of arrows, this layer of sand cover couldn't be removed.

General Hong walked to He Lingchuan and Deputy Commander Sun and nodded in praise: "Well done. At least you bought us two more hours."

The two teams executed their mission in place, allowing the Panlong Army to open the gate of Longhou Pass with the minimum cost.

Don't underestimate these two hours, the foundation of victory might have already been laid.

Longhou was open, what about the dragon's tail?

General Hong didn't waste time either, ordering the whole army to advance and quickly capture the last difficult pass in the mountainous area of Xi Ji Nation—Longji Ridge.

Because the elite squad of the Great Wind Army had already ambushed in advance, it was also an inside-outside coordination, and this battle took another half an hour, finally capturing it.

But Longji Pass lit the beacon tower!

The elite squad had muted the cannon barrels in advance, so the garrison didn't fire a single shot until the end.

Fighting a war couldn't be without any margin for error, and this mistake was already within General Hong's estimation. She didn't blame them much, only letting everyone rest in place for a quarter of an hour, and then pointed her sword at the Xi Ji capital on the eastern plains! Her declaration of attack was only four words: "This battle, must win!"

On the first night of the new King of Xi Ji's ascension, he favored two beauties.

He was sleeping soundly in the gentle village, when his close attendant rushed in to report urgently that the enemy army had attacked and had already broken into the city gate of the capital!

"What?" Huyan Zhao's brain buzzed, and he lost his voice, "How is this possible!"

Where did the enemy army come from, and where did they break in from! "The South First Gate and West Second Gate have already fallen, and the East First Gate is still suffering fierce attacks!" The attendant cried, "The beacon tower in the west is lit, that should be Panlongcheng attacking!"

Huyan Zhao kicked him down: "Then why is there no reaction!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, he remembered that someone had come to report a few hours ago that the beacons in the west had risen again.

After two nights of false alarms, and today being the great day of his ascension, Huyan Zhao hadn't taken this matter to heart, just ordering people to go and investigate the truth. Besides, although the beacons rose, the cannons didn't fire, so it was very likely still a false alarm.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 439 =====