Chapter 1124

Chen Baojia led his army to a point twenty li east of San Du City as night was about to fall completely, and ordered the camp to be set up.

Pei Daqian sat dazedly on his horse, his gaze struggling to glance at his own subordinates.

Four hundred plus people, none looking spirited, all seeming to have lost half their lives.

My thousand elite troops, after this march, have lost over five hundred.

Loss over half!

Just marching and rushing the road, and over half the people are gone like that.

In contrast, Chen Baojia's troops: their horses look quite tired, each panting heavily, yet those soldiers in iron armor act as if nothing happened, still chatting and laughing when dismounting.

Could this be the difference in strength?

At this moment, Pei Daqian even had a terrifying thought.

They couldn't possibly all be martial artists, right? Only martial artists could have such vigorous qi and blood and stamina.

But this thought, as soon as it arose, was dismissed by Pei Daqian.

I know very well what the martial artists of Da Yu are like—those fellows wouldn't willingly suffer to become soldiers; even if Chen Wuji were more capable, he couldn't possibly forge a force of twenty or thirty thousand martial artist cavalry.

That's pure fantasy; only the imperial household, or perhaps those few in Jingcheng who now hold power, might have such capability.

"Pei Daqian, how will you handle tomorrow's battle?" Chen Baojia approached at some unknown time.

Pei Daqian hastily dismounted, "Reporting, General, I intend to deceive the gate of San Du City by claiming Wuxi City was breached. Your rapid march of nearly a hundred li means the news of Wuxi City's fall by your hand has surely not yet reached the ears of San Du City's garrison commander; once they see me, they will surely believe it."

Chen Baojia nodded slightly, "Set up camp!"

"Affirmation!"

……

Next day.

At the moment when heaven and earth just had a hint of light, Chen Baojia had already struck camp.

As the key figure in this battle, Pei Daqian felt……like wanting to die!

He never imagined these people's camp setup would be just laying mats on the ground and sleeping directly, no tents, no other things, just a mat.

Last night he slept less than an hour!

A group sleeping in the wild, surrounded by various beast sounds rising and falling, the night so dark it felt like something wanted to pounce on him at any moment.

After barely suppressing his inner fear, the surrounding cries and warhorses' snorts kept him from sleeping, even though he was already exhausted to the extreme.

He has fought quite a few battles, but this experience is his first.

His whole body felt as if struck by lightning.

He couldn't understand how, under such harsh conditions, these people could fight so fiercely; if it were his army, the soldiers would have already rebelled countless times.

He felt great pain, and also couldn't comprehend it at all.

Pei Daqian slapped himself hard several times, forced his spirits up, and found Chen Baojia.

"General, I will go ahead first to deceive the gate of San Du City." Pei Daqian said weakly, "To avoid the enemy detecting abnormality, I request the General to fall back about five li."

Chen Baojia had just finished washing up, he glanced at Pei Daqian, "Can you fight looking like this?"

"Yes!" Pei Daqian's mind trembled as he forced out a shout.

At this moment, how could he dare say he couldn't?

If he couldn't, they would have no value at all.

His future would vanish in an instant.

"Rest now, but I don't want to see you like this in the next city!" Chen Baojia said coldly, "Just marching and rapid marching has already taken half your lives, and where did the talk of elite troops come from? If you can't keep up with our pace in the next city, you don't need to follow!"

Pei Daqian's nerves instantly tensed, "General, just deceiving the gate, we can do it—our four hundred troops and our current listless state are just right."

"It's quite suitable, but your men can't even hold their weapons!" Chen Baojia said, "Like this, as the rear army, after capturing the city, you must swiftly maintain order within; if there's any mistake, behead!"

"……Affirmation!"

Pei Daqian dared not speak further, hastily obeyed the order.

He had just woken, hadn't even had time to wash up when he came to find Chen Baojia, and hadn't noticed his subordinates' condition at all.

When he returned to their campsite and saw them, Pei Daqian instantly felt the urge to die again.

He had ambition, but……alas, his subordinates were too embarrassing.

These people couldn't even lift their weapons; at this moment they looked like walking corpses, they were standing but each had a dazed expression, not knowing what they were doing.

Just this, fighting a fart of a battle!

Pei Daqian's anger burst forth, he suddenly became somewhat clear-headed, rushed over and kicked a soldier, "All of you wake up! With the great battle at hand, what are you doing? If you want to die, don't drag me down, and don't implicate your comrades!"

The soldiers finally mustered some spirits.

"General, we are really too exhausted……both sleepy and tired." A soldier said with a mournful face.

Pei Daqian gritted his teeth: "Then force yourselves to wake up! If you don't want to die, find a way!"

As he spoke, he slapped his own face several times, face fierce, "See me? You can wake up, you can wake up—I tell you plainly, this is my opportunity, and also yours; life or death, you decide for yourselves."

The soldiers looked at each other.

"Prepare horses, feed horses, eat meals!" Pei Daqian shouted, "Also, I warn you to put aside all those messy thoughts—we have no other choice."

……

At dawn, Chen Baojia led his army to arrive outside San Du City.

No horn sound, no urging war drums.

Chen Baojia only issued a military order, and thousands of soldiers abandoned their warhorses and charged toward the city.

As cavalry, they used the most plain and simple move.

Hand-to-hand climbing the city wall.

For ordinary military units, this is pure fantasy, yet they did it astonishingly smoothly, looking very relaxed.

The enemy troops on the city wall had just shouted the warning of enemy assault when countless Shocking Heaven Thunders and arrows came flying toward them.

In an instant, the city wall was lost.

Pei Daqian stood at the rear of the military formation, the whole person stunned.

This...

So many martial artists?!

He had thought that the number of martial artists under Chen Baojia's command, at around a thousand, was already the limit.

But just now, three or four thousand had rushed out all at once.

In a single encounter, the city wall was gone.

No wonder his Wuxi City fell so swiftly—the soldiers didn't even have a chance to report.

Truly, not the slightest bit unjust.

If a cavalry of thousands of martial artists could launch a sudden attack and still be reacted to in time, that would be the strange thing.

"Slaughter, Slaughter Army Not Disturb People!" Chen Baojia looked toward Pei Daqian's direction and issued the order in a cold voice.

Having a group of waste and burden is enough; there's no need to add more trouble for him.