Chapter 1300

They rushed up from the staircases on both sides of the wall, relieving the deputy's pressure and letting out a breath. In truth, he had few darts left.

If the enemy didn't hesitate and surrounded him, he'd have to resort to his sword after exhausting his darts—he wasn't skilled in close combat; darts were his weapon, and ultimately, he was a strategist.

"Seize the wall quickly… kill every enemy! You! Come here, close the gate once all our brothers are inside!"

"Yes!"

"The rest of you, follow me to reinforce the General!"

At the other end of the wall, Lord Xuan Wuji needed support—by the time the deputy led his men there, most of the soldiers on the wall had already been killed; the few survivors fled in panic.

"Perfect timing, Yan Liu—you and some of the men stay behind to guard the gate!" Lord Xuan Wuji turned and gave the order to his deputy.

"Yes, Legion Commander."

Yan Liu was the deputy's name—he nodded swiftly.

Lord Xuan Wuji then led the other soldiers to deal with the gate commander here.

"The rest of you, follow me!"

The former governor's mansion in Colin Fortress had long become the exclusive residence of the gate commander. When he received reports from his soldiers that the Emperor Tianwu Empire had stealthily infiltrated the city and now breached the walls, seizing the ramparts, his expression turned grave—he was unsurprised, yet still startled.

He knew Emperor Tianwu would come, but he hadn't expected them to move so fast.

The emergency signal flares fired by the grain convoy earlier must have been the key to luring their cavalry out—once elite fighters slipped inside the walls, they could swiftly seize control of the gate, open it, and allow the main force to pour in, completing the invasion.

Yet, he couldn't understand one thing: why had his superiors secretly ordered him to do this? Deliberately withdrawing elite fighters from the walls, leaving no soldiers stationed in the gate passage, posting only minimal troops on the ramparts, and planting secret explosives throughout the fortress—these were all insane, irrational actions.

Had his superiors gone mad? Or were they deliberately letting the enemy seize Colin Fortress?

Even if one explosive had been left as a safeguard, this behavior was utterly irrational.

Colin Fortress was the only escape route for the Kingdom and Lei Dun Kingdom—how could he possibly understand this?

But his superiors must have had their reasons for doing this.

"General, if we…"

The aide knew the importance of Colin Fortress—if they detonated the explosives hidden throughout the fortress now, even if they couldn't retake it, they could destroy it and prevent it from blocking the Guolian Army's retreat.

"Retreat! Retreat immediately!" But the gate commander shook his head.

The aide's eyes widened in shock—he'd served the General for over a decade; had he not, he might have suspected the General had betrayed the Kingdom.

"No explanation—it's an order!"

The aide's words were cut off by the gate commander's grave expression.

How could he know why? He was ordered to do this—he himself was clueless.

Under the gate commander's forced retreat order, the aide and a portion of the Taji Kingdom soldiers, though deeply confused, had no choice but to immediately evacuate through the fortress's other gate!

By the time Lord Xuan Wuji and his men reached the governor's mansion, the gate commander had already fled—taking with him a large portion of the city's treasures. Even when they pursued to the fortress's other exit, the enemy was long gone.

· ·······Please give me flowers····· ·····

They had seized Colin Fortress without lifting a finger, cutting off the retreat route of the Taji and Lei Dun Kingdoms' combined army. The Yongye Legion soldiers danced with joy—but in Lord Xuan Wuji's heart, a nagging unease stirred.

Yet he couldn't pinpoint what felt wrong.

He voiced this doubt to the Third Imperial Prince Li Chun, who had just returned. Li Chun paused slightly, as if something occurred to him—but quickly shook his head.

"The enemy deliberately let us cut off their retreat—aren't they afraid we'll use this chance to annihilate their 300,000 troops from Taji and Lei Dun Kingdoms?"

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"If we destroy these 300,000 troops, we can set back the combined strength of both kingdoms by twenty years!"

A massive empire produces barely a million newborns annually; two kingdoms dozens of times smaller than the empire, if losing over 100,000 soldiers, would suffer catastrophic blows.

It could easily invite other kingdoms to covet and devour them!

"They gain nothing from this," said Third Imperial Prince Li Chun, considering the interests—he saw no logical reason.

"Unless…"

Lord Xuan Wuji suddenly realized something.

"Unless the Qierpeili Kingdom has acquired an unimaginable treasure, and the two kingdoms' combined army must obtain it—once they do, they won't fear our strength. Or perhaps this is a conspiracy—not aimed at Qierpeili Kingdom at all, but directly at our Emperor Tianwu Empire!"

"The two kingdoms' combined army is just bait?"

Third Imperial Prince Li Chun leaned toward the first possibility.