Chapter 830: Coming by the Scent

He subconsciously glanced at He He Lingchuan, thankful that his eldest son had reminded him in time. He pointed at the city gate and said, "Go reinforce it, quickly!"

People immediately went to move sandbags and place them behind the gate.

As He He Chunhua climbed the city gate tower, he asked, "Where is the attack coming from?"

"It is not yet clear," Zhao Qinghe replied. "We came up to investigate after intercepting the thieves, and after firing a few signal arrows, we saw enemy troops two hundred paces away in the firelight!"

The sequence of events was clear then: the enemy had attacked under the cover of night, sending a small squad to infiltrate in advance and seize the city gate. When they were exposed by the signal arrows and their attempt to steal the home base failed, they stopped pretending and simply launched a full-scale assault.

Logically, their combination of moves—setting fire to the government office, assassinating the Prefect, and creating chaos—was executed perfectly, and they should have already breached the city.

Unfortunately, He He Chunhua happened to arrive at Heishuicheng at this exact critical juncture.

In terms of luck, the attackers had lost to Grand Manager He.

He He Chunhua climbed the gate to take a look; below was a vast, swarming mass of enemy troops, their torches like an ocean, and a rain of arrows flying toward the ramparts—the momentum was terrifying.

He drew his head back and looked at his eldest son:

"Chuan'er, what do you think?"

He He Lingchuan had already finished scanning the scene: "There are over a thousand enemy troops, attacking in light armor, with only two battering rams and no heavy siege equipment. It seems they came via the Red Cliff Road. The outposts ahead are all blind; they let an army through without even knowing it."

North of Heishuicheng, there was an outpost every twenty or thirty miles. That these enemies had reached the city walls without the outposts issuing any warning was truly a dereliction of duty.

"There are reinforcements, too." He He Chunhua pointed at the torches winding their way from afar. "It seems they broke their force into smaller units and arrived in separate batches."

"These are Andong people, my old adversaries," he added. "These fellows have been quiet for many years; you wouldn't recognize their armor."

"Hmm?" He He Lingchuan was startled. "These are the Andong people?"

"They want to take the city back and, incidentally, wash away their past shame."

Twenty years ago, Heishuicheng was still under Andong rule; it was He He Chunhua who fought several battles to annex it into the territory of the Kite Kingdom.

He had also been promoted to Prefect based on this achievement.

Now, the Andong people had returned for revenge.

"Why choose this time?"

"This is a good time," He He Chunhua said, his face as dark as water. "The Great Kite is tottering, and the Red Cliff Road has frequently shown anomalies."

He He Lingchuan noted the word "frequently," which indicated that his father had long known that the Panlong Desert was undergoing changes.

"Red Cliff Road?" He looked surprised. "The Andong people are also interested in the Red Cliff Road and the Panlong Desert?"

"They are interested in what is inside the Panlong Desert," He He Chunhua said casually. "Have you forgotten why Sun Sun Fuping and Nian Nian Songyu came to Heishuicheng in the first place?"

Naturally, it was for the Great Great Great Fanghu.

"To say nothing else, if the Three-Corpse Insects in the pot are released, the enemy army will fall into chaos on its own. For a military strategist, this is the secret to constant victory and a treasure for defeating enemies," He He Chunhua said in a low voice. "Now that there has been a change in the Panlong Desert, these fellows' minds have likely become active again, and they want to come and try their luck."

He He Lingchuan let out an "Oh": "So that's it!"

Was He He Chunhua also here with the same intention? The Andong people used battering rams to strike the gate, and the soldiers on the wall took out homemade bombs to throw down. This item was also known as a "melon mine"; its appearance was somewhat like a watermelon, and its explosive power was not small once ignited, though it was not very stable itself, and sometimes even stepping on it by mistake would...

Four or five were thrown down from the wall at once; none of the enemy dared to go and extinguish them, all of them covering their heads and scurrying away. With a few loud bangs, the wheels of the battering ram were blown to pieces.

It was already heavy to begin with, and with arrows raining down from the city gate, the enemy could not drag it back for the time being.

Seeing this, He He Chunhua walked back down to the ground.

At this time, Qiu Hu and the other three also returned, escorting two captives; one had both hands dislocated, and the other had his abdomen slashed open, bloody and gory.

He He Lingchuan recognized that one of them was the burly man who had argued with the cook at the Weicheng post station a few days ago.

Only now, he was covered in blood and looked dejected.

"What about the others?"

"Killed."

He He Lingchuan had said to leave one alive, and Qiu Hu had even left him an extra living person. "The one with the slashed belly is the leader. This bald man is the leader's younger brother."

Time was precious, and Qiu Hu stated the intelligence he had extracted directly: "The army outside the city gate comes from Nie City in Andong; part of it is city garrison, and part is the Western Prefecture Standing Army, totaling over three thousand, led by the Nie City Prefect, Liao Shan."

"Liao Shan sent two groups to infiltrate Heishuicheng: one group to assassinate Prefect Hu, and the other to secretly open the Heishuicheng gate to welcome the Andong people into the city. So far, only one group has succeeded."

"That group is still at large," He He Lingchuan nodded. "Anything else?"

"Last night, Liao Shan split off a hundred men to head toward the center of the Panlong Desert."

The center of the Panlong Desert? The He father and son exchanged a look; it was likely the Panlong Ruins.

He He Chunhua's guess was correct; the Andong people were also coveting the Great Great Great Fanghu.

This Liao Shan was sending troops to seize Heishuicheng while simultaneously sending people to seize the Great Great Great Fanghu. If they obtained the pot first, Heishuicheng could be easily broken; or if they obtained Heishuicheng first, the entire Red Cliff Road would fall under Andong control, giving them a greater advantage than others to slowly explore the Panlong Desert.

"What a clever calculation," He He Chunhua sneered. "But one cannot be too greedy; trying to do two things at once often leads to losing everything."

Qiu Hu had also extracted information about the assassin who attacked Prefect Hu. As for the rest, these two men did not know.

The bald man suddenly knelt before He He Chunhua: "My lord, save my brother's life, and we will be at your beck and call!"

His brother was bleeding non-stop; if this continued, he would breathe his last soon without needing the people of Heishuicheng to execute him.

He He Chunhua said indifferently, "What other use do you have?"

The bald man stared blankly.

He had already told all the intelligence he knew, and for a moment, he could not come up with anything else.

*Sigh*, if only he had kept an ace up his sleeve! Qiu Hu pressed his small knife against the man's neck, slowly drawing it across, while looking at He He Lingchuan.

As fresh blood flowed to the base of his neck, He He Lingchuan waved his hand: "Wait, keep them for now, keep both of them."

A Other Rongshan disciple immediately stepped forward to treat the other captive's wounds.

He gave good elixirs and used good medicine; the bald man could tell at a glance, because the bleeding from his brother's wound stopped very quickly.

He He Chunhua glanced at his eldest son but said nothing. The bald man, however, said gratefully, "Thank you, Young Master!"

"What is your name?"

"My surname is Zhou, Zhou Peng!" The bald man pointed at his unconscious brother. "This is my brother, Zhou Yao!"

He He Lingchuan immediately said, "Find a clean cell for Zhou Yao. As for the assassin who killed Prefect Hu, Zhou Peng, go help find and identify them. If you can redeem yourselves through service, both of you brothers can live."

Zhou Peng agreed immediately, and Qiu Hu stepped forward, snapping his wrists back into place with two clicks.

Thus, Zhao Qinghe dispatched another thirty men to return to the city with Zhou Peng to hunt down the assassin.

He He Lingchuan felt a stir in his heart.

He He Chunhua's goal for this westward journey was significant, no less than suppressing the rebellion in the south, yet he only brought Zhao Qinghe along, leaving Wu Wu Shaoyi, Zeng Zeng Feixiong, Uncle Hao, and others behind.

It was evident that Zhao Qinghe was the confidant He He Chunhua trusted most.

(End of chapter)