Chapter 411: The Vacant Fuhan City

Dusk has already soaked the city walls, and the setting sun stretches the Tu Gu Hun army's shadow long.

Xiahou Shun no longer pays attention to Ni Luo Zhou, and leads his troops to charge through the city gate opening first.

The muffled clatter of hooves on Qingshi Shiban has not yet faded when the rein is suddenly tightened, the warhorse rears up and then crashes down heavily.

He lifts his hand to wipe the dust splashed on his cheek, as if recalling something, and immediately turns to the clustered commanders behind him, shouting roughly:

"Gentlemen, who is willing to go up to the city tower and cut down that pretentious fellow for the Crown Prince!"

As he says so, his fingertip points straight toward where the music continues to emanate.

Zhong Lifang flips and leaps down from the black horse. He pounds his right fist onto his chest armor, the armor plates clashing with a crisp sound: "Subordinate General will personally bring his head and present it to the Crown Prince!"

"Very well!"

Xiahou Shun gives him a sideways glance, lifts his hand and waves: "Then leave it to General Zhong!"

"At your command!"

Zhong Lifang springs to his feet, turns and gestures behind him; four sturdy bodyguards immediately draw their swords and follow, their boot soles thudding "deng deng" on the city bricks.

The party quickens up the stone steps along the inner side of the city wall.

Atop the city wall, Chen Yan, dressed in a moon‑white robe, remains seated before the desk, his hands gently gathering and twisting, the music flowing from the strings unable to hide the amusement in his eyes.

He lifts his gaze to the tide‑like surge of the Tu Gu Hun army pouring into the city gate, his eyes sweeping over the Tu Gu Hun Crown Prince who reins his horse, and a mocking smile curls his mouth: "What hopelessly stupid creatures!"

His voice is low, yet laced with unabashed contempt, drifting with the wind over the dim city walls.

A woman dressed as a maid behind him, a plain silver hairpin tucked at her side, steps forward half a pace and lowers her voice to remind: "Our first task is done; it's time to withdraw!"

As she speaks, her gaze sweeps over the city below, where Tu Gu Hun soldiers continue to pour in, and her fingertips unconsciously clutch the short dagger in her sleeve.

"Let's go!"

Chen Yan lifts his hand to smooth the hem of his moon‑white robe, gathers a few stray strands behind his ear, the mockery in his eyes fading as composure settles, and he nods: "We should prepare for the second task arranged by Lord Chen Yan…"

When the words finish, the two dart away in a flash, instantly slipping into the shadows behind, vanishing in an instant into the heavy dusk.

Only the lute remains, lying silently across the desk.

The strings still hold lingering vibrations, and the lotus‑vine carving at the instrument's tail glows with warm wood tones in the last ray of the setting sun.

Zhong Lifang, brandishing his curved blade, steps onto the city wall first, his boots treading the bricks still echoing the music's afterglow, his gaze instantly sweeping forward.

The ancient lute on the desk remains, but the young man in the moon‑white robe has vanished.

His eyebrows knit into a knot in an instant; he steps forward two paces and kicks the empty desk, shouting roughly: "Where are they?"

"Wasn't that fellow just playing the lute over there?"

"How did they disappear in an instant?"

Four bodyguards behind also circle in, one scratching his head and looking around, his face full of confusion: "Where did they run?"

Clearly, during the ascent, the music kept playing, growing clearer…

"Damn!"

Zhong Lifang roars, swings his curved blade back, a cold flash flashing, and with a "crack" he cleaves the fallen lute in two, wood shards and broken strings scattering.

He pants heavily, points his blade around and shouts: "You all, search every corner of this city tower!"

"Make sure you find that person!"

"At your command!" the four bodyguards reply in unison, immediately dispersing.

Dusk has completely enveloped Fuhan City, and torchlight flickers along both sides of the streets.

It stretches the Tu Gu Hun army's shadow thin and long.

Xiahou Shun reins his warhorse, his armor glinting coldly in the firelight, his gaze sweeping over the open crossroads at the city's center.

The surrounding adobe houses have doors and windows tightly shut, sunflowers, garlic, and watercress hanging under the eaves sway silently, not even a dog barks; only the army's horse hooves and clanking armor leaves echo through the empty alleys.

He turns his body sideways, his eyes landing on someone behind.

Ni Luo Zhou is clad in leather armor, dust from Outside City still clinging to his beard, his brows tightly knit as he surveys his surroundings.

Xiahou Shun suddenly scoffs, lifts his hand and waves toward the empty houses, his tone dripping with sarcasm and triumph: "The Crown Prince said Zhou State's empty‑city ruse is a desperate trick of a donkey with no plan, right?"

He turns the horse's head, makes the warhorse stamp two steps in place, kicking up dust, then raises his voice sharply so the surrounding soldiers hear clearly: "Look, there are no rear guards at all!"

Confident as he is, Xiahou Shun has actually been on guard all along…

Only upon arriving here did he finally relax his mind!

After all, if there had been rear guards along the way into the city, they would have been slain long ago.

"The Crown Prince truly is wise!"

Su Hegui immediately urges his horse forward a step, a flattering smile plastered on his face, and bows loudly: "Visionary!"

"Exactly!"

A commander on the other side quickly reins his horse forward, nodding repeatedly: "The Crown Prince strategizes with foresight, sees the situation down to the finest detail, wins battles from a thousand miles away, truly a famed general of the age!"

Another gaunt‑faced commander bursts forward on horseback, his facial wrinkles bunching, his eyes squinting as he laughs: "This battle will be a great victory for Tu Gu Hun, and our name will be recorded in history!"

He says this while nodding vigorously, as if victory were already in his grasp.

Xiahou Shun listens to the string of flattery, his chest beneath the armor slightly puffing, the smile at his mouth no longer restrained, rising straight upward.

Ni Luo Zhou pulls the horse rein, the callus on his knuckles stark in the torchlight, watching Xiahou Shun's unabashed pride, and finally can't help but urge his horse forward half a step, solemnly reminding: "Crown Prince, never be careless!"

He lifts his eyes, scanning the dead‑silent alleys, the adobe houses' doors and windows shut with abnormal neatness, not a single blade of thatch blown by wind, only the torch's "crackle" echoing in the emptiness.

He pauses, then continues: "Subordinate General always feels this city holds an unusual eeriness…"

At that moment, Ni Luo Zhou's uneasy feeling intensifies!

Logically, the fleeing civilians should be in chaos…

Yet the firewood stacks under the eaves are neatly arranged, and not a single grain lies at the wall's base.

It seems as if they were deliberately tidied.

Ni Luo Zhou turns the horse's head, his gaze fixed toward the dark interior city in the distance, his brows knotting into a lump.

He has served in the army for over forty years, and the battles he has fought number not a hundred, but about eighty.....

But he has never seen an empty city so "quiet".

This silence is not the deathly stillness after a defeat; rather it is like a spread net, waiting for them to crawl inside.

"Old nun, you're being a needless worry!"

Su Hegui raised his hand, waved the Horse Whip toward the empty streets, retorting: "If there truly were an ambush, it would have burst out already, killing someone caught off guard....."

He paused, then asked back: "How could we just sit by and watch us banter?"

The unusual aspects of this Fuhan City, Su Hegui naturally also noticed.....

Only if there truly were a problem, the Rear Guard would have acted already!

But now there is not even a rustle of wind or grass moving......

"This...."

Su Hegui opened his mouth, his hand gripping the Horse Rein trembling slightly, but he could find no words to refute.

He could only sigh heavily, his face burning as he stared at Xiahou Shun.

As he was about to speak another word of counsel, a rapid footstep sounded from the street corner.

"Crown Prince, the musician fled too quickly!"

Zhong Lifang, holding a dust‑stained curved blade, rushed over in great strides, dropping to one knee, his face full of annoyance, "Subordinate General failed to capture him, please punish me, Crown Prince!"

The four personal guards behind him also knelt, heads bowed, not daring to speak.

The armor still clung to grass clippings from the city walls, clearly searched in great haste.

"Never mind!"

Xiahou Shun waved his hand nonchalantly, the tassels on his armor swaying with the motion: "First, looting Fuhan is the priority!"

The moment the word "looting" fell, it seemed to trigger a keyword, and the surrounding air instantly boiled.

The generals who had been bowing their heads awaiting orders suddenly had their eyes flash, and Su Hegui was the first to rub his hands and laugh out loud.

The bearded general with a tangled beard went straight for it, drawing the curved blade at his waist.

The curved blades in the soldiers' hands clanged "clang" upon collision.

Many stood on tiptoe, looking toward the houses on either side, their eyes full of greed and anticipation.

The slight doubt that had arisen earlier because of Nilo's daytime admonition had long been cast far away by the thirst for treasure.

The torchlight reflected on the restless faces, and the entire crossroads was suffused with an impatient atmosphere.

Xiahou Shun suddenly drew the jade‑inlaid curved blade at his waist, the blade flashing a cold gleam in the torchlight, he raised his arm and shouted, his voice booming like thunder in the night sky: "My Tuyugun warriors, these days you have all labored!"

"All your sacrifices, I, the Crown Prince, have seen!"

He swung his arm forcefully, pointing at the tightly shut houses on both sides, his tone growing more fervent: "Tonight, the gold, silver, treasures, grain and fine wine of Fuhan City, seize them all!"

"Three Days No Sealing Blades! Anyone who obstructs shall be slain without mercy!"

Xiahou Shun knew clearly that after so much turmoil, the time had come to cash in the military merit, otherwise mutiny and desertion would easily arise....

Now that Fuhan's wealth is in hand, it both pacifies the army and establishes authority!

A soldier with a fleshy, swollen face gripped his sword hilt, standing on tiptoe to look at the stately brick houses by the street, his eyes blazing, "This Fuhan is, after all, the premier place of Hezhou in Zhou State!"

Fuhan wasn't taken before from those poor remote villages; this is the administrative seat of Hezhou, so good stuff is definitely abundant.....

"Got rich! Got rich!"

The short soldier beside him could no longer hold back, rubbing his hands as he stepped forward a couple of steps, his voice brimming with ecstatic joy: "Just knew that going out with the Crown Prince was definitely right!"

The Tuyugun soldiers around who learned of this news almost all shared the same thought.....

At this moment, the punishments suffered earlier seemed nothing at all!

All they wanted was to offer loyalty to the Crown Prince!

Xiahou Shun swung the jade‑inlaid curved blade forward with force, the cold light cutting across the torch‑lit night sky: "Go!"

At his command, the Tuyugun soldiers who had long been unable to hold back exploded into action.

They surged outward in all directions like unbridled wild horses.

Some kicked open the wooden doors of the houses, some climbed the courtyard walls to slip into the backyards, and others brandished their curved blades and rushed straight for the shops deep within the alleys.

The clatter of armor, shouts, and splintering doors blended together.

The once death‑silent center of Fuhan City was instantly filled with the chaos and frenzy of the raid.

Zhong Lifang, brandishing his curved blade, consecutively kicked open the wooden doors of seven or eight houses.

Each time he pushed a door open, all that met his eyes was an empty main hall.

The tables and benches were overturned on the floor, the stove bore no trace of fire, the inner rooms' boxes and cabinets were all opened, empty inside, not even a decent piece of clothing left.

"Empty, empty, this one is empty too?!" He slammed the torch onto the ground, sparks flaring then quickly extinguishing.

A coarse, hoarse roar echoed through the empty house.

"If there's nothing, that's fine, but why the hell there's not even a person!"

Blinded by fury, Zhong Lifang swung his curved blade, hacking wildly inside the house.

The door panels were split to splinters, and the clatter of broken pottery rang on continuously.

He kicked the grain jar at the corner of the wall over; inside were only a few scattered specks of dust.

Only after he smashed everything in the house to pieces did Zhong Lifang lean on his blade, panting heavily.

Zhong Lifang, leaning on his curved blade, walked out of the wrecked house.

His boots crunched over the wood shavings, his face still terrifyingly grim.

"Old Zhong, how are things over there?"

Su Hegui hurried forward, the earlier excitement long gone, his expression solemn, he seized Zhong Lifang's arm and asked anxiously, "Any gains?"

"Empty, nothing at all!"

"There's nothing!"

"Don't even mention people; we didn't even see a hair on the livestock!"

"Damned!"

Zhong Lifang's facial veins throbbed with anger, and he cursed.

"It's the same over there!"

Su Hegui nodded in agreement: "What a strange affair!"

The incident Su Hegui and Zhong Lifang encountered was almost exactly the same...

Every house is empty in a disconcerting, incomprehensible way!

"With Fuhan's wealth, the next step is to enter the two prefectures of Wei and Qin; perhaps we could even attack Chang'an..."

Xiahou Shun spurred his horse and stood at the crossroads in the city center, his jade-inlaid curved sword leaning against the saddle.

Staring at the dark silhouette of the inner city in the night, a satisfied smile curled at his mouth, his fingertips lightly tapped his armor, and his mind brimmed with boundless imagination.

"Why did you return so quickly?" he suddenly furrowed his brows, his gaze sweeping into the depths of the alleys, asking in confusion.

He saw his subordinate commanders hurrying back, the soldiers behind them hung their heads in dejection, and none held any plundered loot.

Su Hegui sighed, clasped his fists and replied: "Report to the Crown Prince, there is nothing at the Subordinate General's side!"

"The Subordinate General as well!" Zhong Lifang also clasped his fists and said.

The chorus of agreement continued without end.

All were the same encounter.

"All empty?"

"How could this be?"

Upon hearing this, Xiahou Shun furrowed his brows, muttered to himself, then suddenly seemed to realize something, his complexion changing abruptly: "Bad! We've been tricked!"

"Quickly head toward the city gate!"

Before the words finished, he turned his horse's head; the Warhorse, startled, lifted its front hooves and galloped toward the South City Gate.

"Quick, follow the Crown Prince!"

"Ride!"

Zhong Lifang and Su Hegui could not waste words, and scrambled onto their horses.

The curved swords at their waists clanged.

Over six thousand Tuyu Hun cavalry followed closely, their hoofbeats thundering through the streets like startled thunder.

The previously chaotic looting cries vanished, leaving only a rush of hurried fleeing sounds, surging toward the South City Gate.

The Tuyu Hun army surged to the foot of the South City Gate; Xiahou Shun tightened the Horse Rein, his Warhorse reared up, emitting a startled whinny.

The scene before them made everyone gasp coldly:

On the open ground Outside City, countless Zhou Army soldiers held torches in formation awaiting.

The torchlight stretched from the city gate into the darkness Outside City, extending endlessly.

The flickering flames reflected countless glittering spearheads, and the air was filled with a murderous aura.

"How many Zhou Army soldiers are there, given this countless number of torches?!" Xiahou Shun clenched his curved sword, his voice trembling with shock.

Looking out, the torchlight spread like a sea of stars.

One could not see the edge of the formation; the overwhelming pressure made it hard to breathe.