Chapter 537

The Great King was bolder than Yu Kuang; he rode forward a stretch, and his personal guards followed him, rushing ahead in a clatter.

I said I would never take the initiative to go south! Now someone is plotting to usurp the throne, killing my elder brother!

I came south to aid the state! The Central Plains are in chaos, the South Border has declared independence, my father's rivers and mountains are about to fall; with everything in this state, if I do nothing, I would be unworthy as a son. Don't spread rumors, you across from me!

Yu Kuang: ……

The Great King didn't wait for him to speak, raising the Little Bee again and shouting: 'Soldiers of the thirty thousand across, listen! Baili Jun simply cannot hold the Establish Chapter Palace, and you cannot resist the Northern Border's twenty thousand iron cavalry!'

Do you think I love going south? Every time war flames rise, behind it lie the bones of countless peasants' sons, the treasury's funds draining like water, and the backs of the common folk bent under tax!

I am saving you! You cannot hold Everlasting Peace, surrender! Our enemies are years of drought, the Xiongnu and Western Regions; wouldn't it be better to let the strongest cavalry protect this myriad miles of land?!

'Nonsense!' Yu Kuang roared, yet those who should hear have heard.

The hired troops behind prick up their ears to listen, something stirring in their eyes, while the regular troops ahead remain steady.

'Does the Northern Border have two hundred thousand cavalry?'

'Surely there are; it stretches beyond sight, and I don't know if they've all arrived……'

'I heard the squad leader say there are only fifty thousand cavalry……'

'Never mind the numbers, can we really beat them?'

'Even from this distance we can feel it: when the Northern Border's warhorses run, the earth shakes and mountains tremble, their heads fitted with iron spikes; to think they'd field two hundred thousand of them? Not mentioning the frontline cavalry, we infantry are the most endangered—I reckon ten thousand could trample us into minced meat.'

They whispered behind, and as soon as those words were spoken, the surroundings fell silent.

They were all tall and sturdy, chosen to be at the front, the first echelon of the newly hired troops' vanguard, able to see the Northern Border army's front line more clearly than the rear bulk.

Right now my heart feels a bit cold!

Before, I thought sheer numbers could stop the Northern Border army, full of confidence that after victory I'd take the new emperor's reward silver home to let my family eat their fill; now this dream is shattered to pieces.

The Great King shouted; Yu Kuang several times tried to interrupt him from undermining morale, but his voice was completely drowned out by the Great King's, and he hadn't resolved to launch a direct attack. Hesitating, the Great King finished speaking.

Now his astonishment need not be mentioned—how dare the Northern Border King bring a force this far, surely he must have some reliance? Though out of arrow range, if he suddenly charged, wouldn't his position be dangerous? A gentleman does not stand beneath a crumbling wall; if the Northern Border King slips, what talk is there of unifying the realm!?

Yu Kuang always felt something was off in his heart, and the shouts of that little brat from the Northern Border still rang in his ears, which he heard crystal clear. He turned back to observe the soldiers in the distance, as if they could hear it too?

The King halted, and he immediately shouted loudly: "King of the Northern Border, what a big mouth! As long as you retreat to Luo River Pass, what war is there? You speak nicely, but it's not for anything else but to stir up war for the throne!"

The King sighed: "Obstinate and insensible!" He looked as if he himself were very mature, making the Marquis of Dongdu want to laugh.

"Looks like this battle is unavoidable; convey my decree: surrender and you will not be killed."

Yes!

Unable to be persuaded, the King began to get serious.

He raised the Great Exalted Sword to his chest, "Northern Border troops, follow me to attack Long Peace, uphold the state and ancestral altars, unify the Great Jin!"

Your Highness will surely win!

Your Highness will surely win!

Your Highness will surely win!

The war horses neighed in unison, and the shouts shook the heavens.

The King drew the Great Exalted Sword, "Attack Long Peace!"

Hum—!

The Sword of the King's Way, a divine weapon manifests.

Everyone felt the oppressive atmosphere at Five Passes Plain stir up a sudden gale, as if some unseen blade were slicing through Five Passes Plain.

The Black Armor Cavalry's fighting spirit was strong; at this moment they only felt their weapons vibrate, a humming sound reached their ears, their fervor surged, and morale soared sky-high. Seeing the signal flags, they had no time to think, already following the Marquis of Dongdu's earlier deployment, they changed formation and split into three routes to launch the attack.

Beside, Wei Shen gripped his weapon tightly and muttered: "Here it comes, here it comes, I said this sword had a problem!" The King usually kept it hidden and never drew it lightly.

The King squeezed his horse's belly, "What problem? Just extra handsome!"

Hehe.

The enemy side was even more dazed; when the King drew his sword, they saw the front rank's own military flag fluttering, and in their ears it sounded like an ancient bell tolling. Before they could figure out why the opposing cavalry hadn't moved, their weapons began to tremble? An earthquake? No, it wasn't that!

No time to think, they saw the opposing masses of iron cavalry already launch, a steel torrent rolling forward!

Not even a beat on the war drums, and they're already charging?

The Northern Border doesn't play by the rules at all!

On the Long Peace side, they don't know if the cavalry ahead is afraid or not, but the newly hired mercenaries behind only hear their own hearts pounding like thunder, their legs trembling; those Black Armor Cavalry, armored to reveal only their eyes, could flesh and blood really withstand them? It seemed as if someone shouted in their ears: 'Deserters will be slain!' and as if someone roared loudly: 'Charge……'

Seeing the ten-thousand-jun thunder launch its charge, compared to fear, they were now more dazed, actually more of a blankness; their legs seemed not to obey, mechanically following the soldiers ahead in raising their weapons, yet instinctively blocking in front of their chests……

The King was already at the front of the formation; there was no reason for him to retreat to the rear of the vanguard camp now. He led the charge from the center, with his White Dragon even running a position faster than the surrounding guards' Black Wind Horses.

Feng Xiang, also in the central route, was quite dazed; it was the first time he saw the whole village's hope from the Northern Border charging at the very front!

Is this reasonable?!

Wasn't it said that the Northern Border's court strategists are unmatched, with the most learned Xie and Lu clans of the world all in their ranks? They don't realize that if the King suffers a mishap, what's there to talk about grand plans and hegemony, unifying the world?! Everything reset—how to deal with that?! Acting like this, can it still work?!

It's a pity that raising objections now is too late; he can only spur his horse desperately to chase after the King, letting the King rush ahead of him—where can he put his face as the commander of the central army?

What the hell is all this!

★

★

★

——————————————

Nonsense unrelated to the main text:

{Actually I'm a bit stuck, trying hard to adjust to daily updates or even twice daily. I'm typing each character manually, pure human work; sometimes my condition is poor, but it will get better.

Please everyone, point some urges for updates, vote on rankings, try to have some 'vitality', so the big data sees this book.

Someone will recommend the book to help me push it, add some motivation (◦˙▽˙◦), and there's also an audible version for easy listening; lately the data's been terrible, I don't know what's going on……

Yang Shizi now is the world of a+i, I don't know why they don't reform but insist on dragging living people along toward destruction. People say this industry is over, now writing is like joining the 1949 country★army. I believe that. My word count is up, but my income is only a third of what it was at the 600,000-character period, traffic is very low. Today I saw a data statistic and was shocked; I'll share it with you.

Here there are over a thousand books with daily updates of 50,000 characters, and even over fifty books with daily updates of 500,000—can you believe it? Speechless. The audience here can't tell good from bad, they love those fifty-character a+i-generated expansions to 500,000 characters, right? Let it be destroyed!