Chapter 37: The Blades in Their Hands Smoked from Swinging

War drums boomed, battle cries shook the heavens.

The defenders on the city wall, seeing fires on all sides, were at their wits' end.

The city defenses were too broad, the troops too few, they simply could not cope.

"Great Danghu!"

The Thousand Chief, his hair and beard singed, stumbled over to report, "The Gluttonous Army soldiers are coming!"

The Great Danghu, high-nosed and deep-eyed with a mouth full of yellow teeth, roared, "Outside the city are Gluttonous Army soldiers everywhere!"

He was about to collapse too.

The Gluttonous Army attacking from all directions were actually all wearing armor.

He simply could not figure out where the Gluttonous Army got so much iron armor!

Did it grow out of the fields?

"Yongfeng Gate!"

The Thousand Chief shouted urgently, "The soldiers outside Yongfeng Gate are different."

"Great Danghu, please go take a look~~~"

When Shi Lei first founded his state, he implemented the old Han-Jin system.

The court, the localities, and the army all followed the Wei-Jin official system.

At the same time, they also implemented separate administration for Hu and Han, establishing the Chanyu Court to manage the Qianghu.

Among the Qianghu, they still used the old Xiongnu official titles.

The Qianghu were originally one of the nineteen Xiongnu tribes that entered the frontier.

The Qianghu Great Danghu defending Jianping City had only three or four thousand soldiers under his command.

At this moment, all four sides were reporting emergencies, and every available man had already gone up to the city wall, leaving only the last three hundred by his side.

All the Thousand Chiefs were shouting that their own defense zones were in crisis.

The Great Danghu had only three hundred men left, and no matter what, he dared not use them lightly.

This was only the first day of battle.

The reserve troops were all used up; how could they continue fighting afterward?

"Scram back and guard the city!"

"The Heavenly King's reinforcements will arrive within days."

"By then, all the Han outside the city will be slaughtered to the last!"

The Thousand Chief begged many times, but none were granted.

Helpless, he could only return to the city tower at Yongfeng Gate.

His forces under command were already few; besides guarding the city gate, he also had to defend a long stretch of city wall.

When he arrived at the city tower, all he saw were Han civilian laborers everywhere, with fewer than a hundred of his own tribesmen.

He shuddered.

If these Han civilian laborers rebelled~~~

The clamor suddenly surged, and cries of alarm rose on all sides: "The armored soldiers are up here!!"

At the battlements and parapets, a steel fortress clad in three layers of armor leaped onto the city tower, raising his shield.

He removed the ring-hilted blade he had been biting in his mouth, and as he waved it, he cleared a space.

The Thousand Chief panicked and immediately shouted loudly, "Hack him to death!"

But the civilian laborers on the city tower collapsed at that very moment.

They turned and ran, blocking the Qianghu who wanted to advance.

The Qianghu flew into a great rage, swinging their blades and hacking wildly, with screams ringing incessantly.

The civilian laborers were also driven desperate by the killing, taking up their weapons to resist.

Liu Hu, wearing a Ghost Mask, panted heavily.

More than ten arrows were stuck in his armor.

It was only because his armor was of excellent quality that he was able to press forward with an iron shield all the way to the city tower.

Of course, his luck was also quite good; rolling logs and stones and such did not hit him.

He had leaped onto the city tower with the resolve to die.

He had taken a stance, preparing for a great slaughter, but the defending troops before him retreated like a tide, even hacking at each other.

"Get out of the way!"

The roar of his companions behind him reached him, awakening Liu Hu.

He advanced with heavy steps.

But the civilian laborers shouted, "Surrendered~ surrendered~" and drowned the few remaining Qianghu.

Liu Hu raised his blade several times, but put it down again.

When the civilian laborers around dispersed, there were no Qianghu standing nearby anymore.

"Does this count as being first to scale the wall?"

Liu Hu behind the Copper Mask was furious: "No heads taken, what does it count as being first to scale the wall!"

Pushing aside the civilian laborers fighting over Qianghu heads, Liu Hu and his men charged into the city interior along the Horse Path (a sloping ramp inside the city wall), frantically searching for traces of Qianghu.

The Gluttonous Army that rushed into the city all went mad.

Seeing Qianghu, it was like Ximen Daguangren meeting Pan Jinlian, they pounced on them madly, the blades in their hands smoking from being swung so fast.

In their eyes, the Qianghu no longer had any of their former terror and ferocity.

Those were all white grain, thick cloth, and fragrant meat~~~

For the lord's reward, even if it were the Qianghu, even if Tailuo came, they'd have to bite off a piece of flesh!

Upon learning Yongfeng Gate had fallen, the Great Danghu, finally sensing something was wrong, hurriedly brought reinforcements to aid.

When this band of two or three hundred Qianghu appeared before the Gluttonous Army soldiers rushing into the city.

The scene instantly fell into an indescribable silence.

On the wide street, the armored soldiers on both sides faced each other.

For no reason, the Qianghu all felt an inexplicable panic.

The eyes beneath the copper masks opposite seemed to carry flames.

It was the fire of desire, greedy, wanting to use heads~~~

After a brief silence, Liu Hu, clad in heavy armor, let out a strange cry: "Kill the Hu~~~"

In an instant, everyone came alive.

On the street, hundreds of armored soldiers on both sides brandished various weapons, shouting as they collided.

Like the collision of two walls of the Silver Great Wall.

Clearly, the armor quality of the Gluttonous Army side was better.

The knives, spears, swords, and halberds in the Qianghu's hands could only leave sparks on the Gluttonous Army's lamellar armor.

Only Gu Du gourd hammers, great axes, and flails could cause injury.

The Gluttonous Army side was simpler.

All those wearing lamellar armor were strong elites.

They not only held iron shields, but were also equipped with dual weapons.

One ring-hilted blade for taking heads, and one long-handled hammer from the Modern World, swung with great force.

Don't underestimate the hammer.

This thing is a true armor-breaking heavy weapon.

Whoever gets hit on the body, smashed on the bone, will have broken bones.

No bone means internal bleeding.

Hit on the skull, needless to say, they'd drop dead on the spot.

Wearing armor and a helmet only provides some protection, so they won't be hammered to death on the spot.

But soon, the Qianghu discovered that those not hammered to death on the spot were even worse off.

Many Qianghu struck by hammers fell to the ground, losing the strength to resist, but weren't dead yet for a moment.

The Gluttonous Army soldiers, however, took their ring-hilted blades and just pounced on the Qianghu to cut off their heads.

The shrill howls before death made the Qianghu's legs go weak.

The Gluttonous Army cut off heads, skillfully tying the heads to their waists with hemp rope.

At the waists of quite a few Gluttonous Army soldiers, several heads were already hanging.

The Gluttonous Army soldiers, covered in fresh blood, stood up and still pounced at the Qianghu full of vigor.

The Qianghu, long renowned for their cruel methods, were all scared and collapsed by the Gluttonous Army pouncing at them like hellish asuras.

Under the impact of the fearless Gluttonous Army soldiers, they scattered and fled.

Following this street all the way to the end is the famous Taiwu Hall.

Taiwu Hall, the base is two zhang eight chi high, sixty-five bu long, seventy-five bu wide, its specifications even larger than Daqing Palace.

The entire hall's roof tiles were painted with lacquer, the end tiles decorated with gold, the pillars decorated with silver, pearl curtains and jade walls, exquisitely crafted.

Inside the palace was placed a White Jade Bed, hung with Tassel Curtains, and Golden Lotus Flowers made to cover the top of the curtain.

Around Taiwu Hall was the huge Palace Complex including Jian De Hall, Jian De Rear Hall, Zhengwen Hall, Chanyu Court, East Hall West Pavilion, Six Rear Palaces, Hundred Foot Tower, Chongxun Palace, Sheji Altar, Ancestral Temple, Ketou Office, Ice Storage Room, etc.

The advancing Gluttonous Army soldiers encountered strong resistance at Taiwu Hall.

Guarding Taiwu Hall were several hundred of Shi Hu's personal guard soldiers.

"If Louis XVI came here, he'd be overjoyed."

Lin Dao, riding a tricycle into the city, looked at the many headless Qianghu corpses on the street and said with a smile, "There are so many here, mindless companions."

Large numbers of soldiers guarded the surroundings, and civilian laborers from the Medical Office ran forward to clean the street.

The wounded of the Gluttonous Army were carried away to the Medical Office for treatment.

The dead were also carried away and gathered to prepare for burial.

The rest were only Qianghu corpses, which were casually dragged away and dumped on both sides of the street.

The Qianghu had no wounded, after all, without heads, they could only be corpses.

A head starts at ten shi of grain, how could there be wounded?

"They all say the various Hu are brave and good at fighting, that the Han cannot stop them."

"All fucking nonsense!"

"Under the corrupt system, military households who can't even eat their fill, of course they can't win."

"And even less willing to fight desperately for slave owners like the Sima Family and Aristocratic Clans."

"Like me, when the benefits are in place, weapons and equipment fully equipped, rewards reaching the price in my heart."

"Isn't it just fighting desperately? The Hu captives are nothing!"

In Lin Dao's understanding, the bounty he offered actually wasn't much.

Ten shi of grain is twelve hundred jin, over two thousand pieces of money.

In the Jin Dynasty, one bolt of cloth is four zhang long, converting to less than ten meters.

Purchased in the Modern World, forty bolts of Cotton Cloth, averaging five pieces of money per meter.

Five bolts of cloth is two hundred and fifty pieces?

Twenty jin of pork costs less than two hundred.

Cooking oil is even cheaper, dozens per bucket.

All costs added up, it's over two thousand but under three thousand.

Two thousand-odd coins to buy the life of a barbarian?

In Lin Dao's eyes, this cost was not merely low—it was as cheap as grass.

In the Modern World, offering such a price would get the client killed by the assassin organization first.

This is an insult to people.

This is the cognitive difference brought about by different productivity.

Supplies that Lin Dao found unremarkable, once transported to Yonghe Spacetime, have completely different value.

Not to mention anything else, carrying a bag of refined rice to propose marriage would surely win a wife to bring home.

When this standard was previously set, Lin Dao didn't understand this aspect very well.

But since the standard has been set, it can only rise, not fall.

Surrounded by numerous armored soldiers, the tricycle came to the end of the street.

Looking up at the magnificent Taiwu Hall in the distance, Lin Dao clicked his tongue: "Building such a huge house—how much manpower and resources would it consume?"

"Master~~~"

Liu Hu, with a string of Qianghu heads hanging at his waist, ran over to pay his respects.

Lin Dao looked at the dozen-plus arrows stuck in his lamellar armor and asked with concern: "Are you injured?"

Liu Hu hurriedly thanked him.

"The armor is extremely sturdy, no serious problem."

Lin Dao got off and stepped forward, reaching out to pull out the arrows.

Steel plates nearly two millimeters thick make it almost impossible for bows and arrows to shoot through.

The feathered arrows on Liu Hu's armor were all caught in the gaps of the lamellar armor leaves.

Crossbow bolts were similar; those hanging on his body were all stuck.

To shoot through, one would probably need a bed crossbow.

"Master."

Liu Hu spoke: "Inside the hall, several hundred armored soldiers are guarding."

"They have piled up firewood, sulfur, and such, threatening to burn the hall."

Lin Dao was stunned: "Isn't this seeking death? A fire attack!"

Liu Hu was somewhat hesitant.

"Master~~~" Qin Lang rode over on horseback, dismounted, and stepped forward to salute.

"Why not use a fire attack?" Lin Dao frowned slightly as he faced him.

The beard on Qin Lang's chin trembled slightly: "Replying to Master."

"This Taiwu Hall is meant for Master to reside in."

Put that way, it was clear.

They wanted to keep this magnificent hall as Lin Dao's sleeping palace.

Looking at the flustered Qin Lang, Lin Dao laughed helplessly: "What conditions do the guards inside have?"

"They want to ask Master to let them leave and return to Ye City."

"Pah!" Lin Dao spat: "Qianghu who commit every evil still want to live? Let them dream their spring and autumn dream!"

"Fire the rockets!"

PS: Thank you Book Friend Ah Dong Ge for the 100-point reward support, deeply grateful, thank you!

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