Chapter 835: Crossing the Border in Secret

This charity cemetery originally belonged to the Li clan and included public housing, farmland, granaries, and schools; it was not a place specifically for coffins. Later, the Li family declined, and after the descendants sold the farmland and moved out of Heishuicheng, the place became vacant. After several years of wind and rain, the "Li Family" characters on the plaque fell off, leaving only "Charity Cemetery." When He Chunhua saw it, he thought it was heaven's will, so it became Heishuicheng's public charity cemetery—that is, a mortuary.

Places where the dead are kept often have the heaviest yin energy. People had long suggested moving it outside the city, but during He Chunhua's tenure as Prefect, Heishuicheng had been slow to start construction.

Later, Prefect Hu took over, and he didn't move it either.

So the charity cemetery was still in the west of the city, less than a hundred paces from the southwest corner wall.

Such a place was deserted, and usually, no one came. For the sake of caution, He Lingchuan and the others still looked around to make sure no one was nearby before quietly slipping inside.

This charity cemetery was large and still retained the layout from when the Li clan was glorious. He Lingchuan led Qiu Hu and the others through many twists and turns, drilling in from an inconspicuous dark alley behind the old granary.

Because it hadn't seen the sun for years, the brick walls here were covered in moss.

It was fortunate that he often came here to play as a child; otherwise, he really wouldn't have known where the location He Chunhua indicated was.

The seventy people following him included both Rongshan disciples like Qiu Hu and the elite personal guards brought by He Chunhua.

In this important battle, he still chose to trust his son, allocating all his most elite subordinates to him.

He Lingchuan was curious: did this old man trust his eldest son's luck, or his eldest son's strength? At the end of the alley was a dilapidated woodshed, looking at most six or seven square meters, with its doors and windows nailed shut.

He Lingchuan pried it with his hand, and with a "crack," he tore the wooden door open.

Inside, some wood was piled haphazardly; some were growing green mold, some were growing mushrooms, and the whole room was covered in spiderwebs. It was unknown how long it had been since anyone had come.

Young Master He wouldn't do the hard labor himself. He pointed into the room: "Move it!"

Six or seven people went in and started moving out the wood.

They were all strong, sturdy young men, and within a dozen breaths, they cleared the wooden house without a single person panting heavily.

Suddenly, a hunting falcon descended and landed in front of He Lingchuan, speaking in human language:

"There's no one over there."

Only then did He Lingchuan enter the wooden house, knocking and tapping on the two walls everywhere to listen for echoes.

Before he finished knocking, Qiu Hu pointed to two wooden boards and said: "There's wind coming from behind here, and a damp, moldy smell."

He Lingchuan glanced at him. Where in this whole room wasn't there a moldy smell? How could he distinguish between the difference in moldy smells? Since Fu Shanyue, he hadn't met anyone with such a keen sense of smell.

"Why be polite? Tear it down!"

With a few more "cracks," the wooden boards were torn down, and sure enough, there was a pitch-black hole behind them.

The hole was seven feet high and one and a half people wide, allowing everyone to enter one by one.

"Impressive." When Qiu Hu saw this hole, he understood why his suggestion to send a small team out of the city in advance had been rejected by He Chunhua—

Heishuicheng had a secret passage leading outside the city!

Chief He could send people out whenever he wanted.

In the evening, when He Chunhua taught his eldest son how to escape the city through the secret passage, He Lingchuan also applauded.

This was truly unexpected, yet within reason.

Heishuicheng had been fought over several times, and it was also where He Chunhua had established himself in his early years. Even a cunning rabbit has three burrows; with He Chunhua's temperament, how could he not leave himself a way out? Now, this way out had become a surprise force.

He Chunhua told his eldest son that the other end of the secret passage was in the old riverbed two li west of the city.

That river had long since changed course; there was no water in the old riverbed, only overgrown weeds.

Now the hunting falcon had also flown out to scout, and the exit of the secret passage was outside the Andong people's encirclement, with no one around.

He Lingchuan looked up and saw that it was already dark. Tonight, the sky was overcast, with no stars or moon.

"Truly a good night for killing." He tilted his head toward the crowd. "Let's go!"

The Andong people's offensive was all during the day, and they rested at night.

However, halfway through the night, the war drums in Heishuicheng suddenly sounded like thunder, the city gates opened wide, and a team of over three hundred people rushed out.

The Andong people were alarmed and quickly raised their flags to meet the battle.

Both sides went back and forth on the open ground east of the city, both being extremely cautious.

He Chunhua watched from the wall, deeply agreeing with what his eldest son had said. Against the Heishuicheng army, the strength of both sides was truly evenly matched.

It was clear that the Andong people hadn't sent out their main force, still guarding against Heishuicheng.

A quarter of an hour later, the Beimen of Heishuicheng opened quietly, and three hundred troops also rushed out.

Both teams exiting from these two gates had a large number of newly recruited soldiers.

The Andong people had long since sent troops there and, seeing this, stepped forward to meet them.

By the time the East and North Gates were in the heat of battle, the Nanmen of Heishuicheng opened quietly again, and over five hundred people circled to the rear to strike, attempting to raid the Andong people's Mount Hulu main camp.

This included dozens of foreign reinforcements, including Zhang Lianhai.

If they wanted to go to the Panlong Desert, they had to go north, and the northern battlefield was already blocked by both sides. Other than taking Mount Hulu, they had no way to bypass it.

Although everyone had cultivation, there was almost no Yuan power support in the Yuan Nation. On a battlefield of four or five thousand people, it was difficult for them to stroll freely.

He Lingchuan had a sharp eye and had long seen that their cultivation was not weak, but they were not soldiers and had little experience on the battlefield.

The combat strength of new recruits and veterans on the battlefield was worlds apart.

Originally, everything went smoothly; everyone quickly slaughtered the Andong team in front of the Nanmen, and the opponent only had time to fire two signal arrows.

Subsequently, the Nanmen team continued to advance east, but after running four li, they encountered the enemy troops guarding the main camp! The Andong people's main camp was not defenseless.

Judging from the past methods of the Andong commander Liao Shan, he was a person who paid attention to tactics, having used schemes to kill Prefect Hu and seize the opening of the Heishuicheng gates.

He certainly knew the importance of the logistics camp and had left his most loyal confidants and elites to guard it to the death before the battle.

Liao Shan was very clear that the Heishuicheng army was far inferior in number to his own. As long as the logistics didn't fall and the main army didn't fall into chaos, the victory would ultimately belong to him.

Since the sneak attack had turned into an encounter, what else was there to say? Fight! The Nanmen team and Liao Shan's elite army of over 1,200 people engaged in a fierce battle! At this time, it could be seen that although Zhang Lianhai and the others didn't have much battlefield experience, their skills were truly hard. Zhang Lianhai's attendant could fight five people alone, and the Jianyang Sect disciples were like wind with their blades, quickly harvesting lives.

The most ruthless was Zhang Lianhai's lamp spirit, which was unpredictable and had no physical form; other than fearing Yuan power, it didn't fear blades, spears, or clubs at all.

Everyone also understood that in a narrow road, the brave wins. Since it had come to this, they could only swallow their broken teeth with blood and fight to the end.

The Nanmen team fought many with few, and the battle line actually pushed eastward.

In less than half a cup of tea, the Andong people suffered over 140 casualties.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 836 =====