Chapter 17: The siege begins, eight thousand Lu Family Army

【The next day, news of Xie Guan's sudden death spread throughout Hulao Pass.】

【Unexpectedly, it did not stir up the anticipated waves or mutiny; Wang Yang personally stepped forward and quelled the unrest within the Xie Family Army.】

【Aside from a few volunteer armies on good terms with the Xie family initially denouncing it, everything remained calm in the end.】

【A power struggle began within the Xie Family Army, and no one cared about the culprit behind the scenes.】

【Several Jianghu Grandmasters within Hulao Pass examined Xie Guan's corpse, then all remained silent and shook their heads.】

【They knew in their hearts who it was, but were unwilling to expose it.】

【In the end, the Xie family camp and part of their military equipment were quietly swallowed up by other factions.】

【You and Lu Yu had long since planned this, and relying on the current momentum of the Lu Family Army, you absorbed over two thousand men.】

【Your father learned of Xie Guan's death and knew in his heart it was the work of you brothers, yet he was helpless and instead secretly covered your tracks.】

【You comforted your father, saying, "To achieve great things, one must not be bound by trifles."】

【Your father looked at you, seeing you organizing the recruited Xie family soldiers in an orderly fashion, while not lacking thunderous methods behind the scenes.】

【Just a suspicion, and you would eliminate them completely.】

【He could not help but think to himself that handing the Lu family over to you might be a very good choice.】

【At this moment, the burden in your heart finally lightened; the number of the Lu Family Army had grown to eight thousand.】

【You happily drank a few cups with your father and younger brother.】

【Lu Yu was somewhat puzzled, seeing an excited look on your face for the first time; it was only eight thousand men, after all, and one had to know that the Northern Profound Kingdom had a full one hundred thousand well-equipped troops.】

【You laughed, "Eight thousand against one hundred thousand, the advantage is with me."】

【Your father laughed: "Lu Chen actually has such spirit; that Sixth Prince of the Northern Wind, Tuoba Shuyi, only dared to boast of sweeping across the four seas after having one hundred thousand brave soldiers."】

【You laughed, "Troops should be elite, not numerous."】

【Time passed quietly.】

【The atmosphere inside the city became increasingly tense, permeated with a murderous aura.】

【You also saw those few martial arts masters in the city: the Spear King 'Yuan Chenghao', the Yangtze Wave Sword 'Li Li', and the Ground Dragon 'Cheng Baxian'.】

【The most formidable among them was the General Sword 'Ouyang Jingyu', who was also Wang Yang's personal guard.】

【Each of them had an extraordinary aura; if you were to face them in battle, you would definitely not be a match.】

【You asked Lu Yu about the strength of these Jianghu Grandmasters.】

【Lu Yu answered nonchalantly: "If they joined forces, I might need to go to some trouble."】

【This made you even more surprised; what realm had Lu Yu actually reached?】

【Your father drilled the Lu Family Army day and night in formations to counter the Iron Tie Futu.】

【Finally, the day for the Northern Wind to attack the city was approaching, and the Lu Family Army was in high spirits.】

【Wang Yang held a grand banquet to reward the three armies, signaling that the true decisive battle was about to unfold.】

【That day, the iron cavalry of the Northern Profound Kingdom surged in like a tide, and the true siege battle began.】

【Firearms roared, siege engines rumbled, and death squads charged... the cruelty of war was chilling.】

【Dense piles of corpses stacked up like mountains, incomparably tragic.】

【After four or five days of fierce fighting, more than half of the Hulao Pass defenders were dead or wounded, morale was low, and the situation was precarious.】

【However, most of the defenders were determined to die; even though the grain and medicine in the city were running low, they still held their ground.】

【Seeing that the city was about to fall, the West Gate guarded by the Lu Family Army was not the main target of the Northern Profound Kingdom's attack, with only sporadic feints.】

【The Nanmen became the focus of the battlefield, and Wang Yang had long since mobilized twenty thousand elite defenders.】

【However, several volunteer armies within Hulao Pass harbored thoughts of retreat, doing the bare minimum and preserving their own strength, leaving the defenders to struggle almost entirely on their own.】

【Lu Jiaxuan perceived all of this; he summoned you and Lu Yu to discuss countermeasures together.】

【The disloyalty of the various volunteer armies had long been noticed by those with ulterior motives, and with rumors spreading that abandoning the city and fleeing was becoming prevalent, the situation grew increasingly severe.】

【They probably could not hold on for many more days.】

【Your father looked at the battle situation at the Nanmen and had already made a decision in his heart; he intended to go and support the Nanmen. If the city were to fall, he would let you brothers leave on your own to leave a trace of blood for the Lu family. He told you to head south to find your mother.】

【For the Lu family, it was enough for him, Lu Jiaxuan, to die alone; the Lu family owed nothing to the Great Daqing.】

【Lu Yu heard this and quickly said: "Father, I can protect you and my elder brother to break out of the encirclement."】

【However, your father shook his head firmly.】

【Lu Yu's expression went silent, knowing his father's determination could not be shaken.】

【Lu Yu understood that based on his own strength alone, while he could fight one against a hundred, in the face of tens of thousands of troops, he would only end up exhausted and dead.】

【Faced with this scene, you decided to...】

1. Leave with Lu Yu; as long as the green hills remain, there is no need to worry about firewood.

2. Follow your father and fight the Northern Wind together.

3. Participate personally (1/3)

Yu Ke naturally chose 2: Follow your father and fight the Northern Wind together.

His choice to descend the mountain this time was to change the world's situation and explode with rewards.

If he were to desert now, it would be a waste of time.

He might as well have stayed on the mountain to cultivate.

He would gamble on it, trusting in history and the strategy of that Martial Saint whose name would live forever.

【You did not hesitate, gripping your father's and Lu Yu's hands tightly, saying firmly: "Since Father is not leaving, we three father and sons will live and die together."】

【Lu Yu also expressed without hesitation: "Wherever Father is, we are there."】

【Your father wept; this old general who had fought for years wanting to recover the mountains and rivers shed tears like rain. The words 'home' and 'country' seemed to be right in his heart.】

【Your father laughed loudly, "Good, we are father and son soldiers on the battlefield."】

【At this moment, you believed that supporting the defense was actually the wrong decision.】

【You should open the city gates to meet the enemy. The reason Hulao Pass had always been on the defensive was, first, the disparity in troop strength; Tuoba Shuyi had one hundred thousand iron cavalry, with another two hundred thousand Northern Wind troops behind him.】

【How many defenders did Hulao Pass have? And among them were volunteer armies with very weak combat effectiveness.】

【The Northern Wind soldiers were all elite and strong; one could match several others.】

【Second was the invincible Iron Tie Futu of the Northern Wind, which had long since terrified the Great Daqing, acting like a meat grinder on the battlefield.】

【Then, you would do the opposite.】

【As your strategy was spoken, your father and Lu Yu were shocked.】

【You decided to use the eight thousand Lu Family Army to face those thirty thousand Iron Pagodas directly, meeting the enemy with a dignified posture.】

【Once these words were spoken, your father and Lu Yu were both shocked.】

【After all, in past battles, thirty thousand Great Daqing troops had been slaughtered by three thousand Iron Pagodas.】

【The strategies you proposed, such as breaking horse legs and scattering formations, had never been tested in actual combat; no one could predict the risks and variables involved.】

【However, Lu Yu was willing to believe you.】

【Your father also went through careful consideration, and in the end, he chose to believe your judgment.】

【He understood that this was a high-stakes gamble.】

【Since his son was willing to accompany him to death, how could a father not believe in his own son?】

【You laughed, "Eight thousand breaking one hundred thousand, why not? The advantage is with me."】

【Lu Yu felt his heart surge after hearing this.】

Yu Ke saw this point.

Recalling when he participated personally, he had seen the discipline and fearlessness of the Lu Family Army.

This was an iron army that did not fear death.

Most of them had been persecuted by the Northern Profound Kingdom and held irreconcilable hatred.

Their families were killed, their homes occupied.

Even if there were several thousand newly joined men among the eight thousand, as long as the previous four thousand served as the vanguard, it was not impossible.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 18 =====