Chapter 513: Dark Night Raid

Zhao Prefecture City got a brief respite, but the danger was far from over.

The defeated Jin forces did not flee far; instead, they re‑encamped twenty li outside the city and joined with another larger Jin detachment, swelling their numbers to nearly five thousand, forming a pressing threat to the outskirts.

Like a wounded wolf pack, they licked their wounds, ready to pounce again and devour this small town together with the newly arrived Northward Aspiration Army inside.

Food stores inside the city were limited, reinforcements were still on the way, and a prolonged defense would surely fail.

"We cannot wait for them to recover their vital energy, nor wait for their main force to come to the rescue."

Inside the Zhao Prefecture Office, which served as a temporary command post, Lin Chong pointed at the rough city‑defense map, his tone firm and unyielding.

"We must strike while they are still reeling from their recent defeat, before they have steadied their footing, and deliver a heavy blow!"

"A night raid is our only option."

His gaze swept over Wu Yong, Ruan Xiaoer, Liu Tang and the other chiefs, finally settling on Chen Wen.

"After suffering a defeat in the daytime, the Jin army will certainly have night‑time defenses."

"Raiding their camp is extremely risky; we need a true elite assault team that can hit hard and sure, throw their core into chaos, and create an opportunity for our forces outside to maneuver."

Wu Yong pondered a moment, then lightly tapped the Jin army camp's core area on the map with his feather fan.

"The Jin camp's deployment looks strict, but after their daytime setback their morale is low, and coordination between units will surely break down."

"If we can send elite troops straight to their commander's tent, burn their supplies, and cut down their banners, the enemy will fall into disorder."

"But this mission is a nine‑deaths‑one‑life gamble."

Everyone's eyes turned to Chen Wen.

"This 'elite assault team' is no ordinary unit; it demands courage, strength, and tacit understanding beyond the norm."

"And Chen Wen's Dawn Technique is the key to achieving all of this."

Chen Wen felt the anticipation and resolve in the crowd's gazes, and also sensed the Jin army's Fortune Momentum outside the city, now re‑gathered with a savage, vengeful aura.

He spoke slowly:

"We can select a hundred death‑defying warriors."

"I will lead them myself."

His tone was calm, yet left no room for doubt.

Lin Chong was moved:

"Master Chen, your status is too exalted to risk yourself personally."

"No problem."

Chen Wen waved his hand.

"Only with me present can the Dawn Technique's effect be unleashed to its utmost in an instant."

"This battle decides whether the Northward Aspiration Army can truly gain a foothold here; there is no margin for loss."

He looked at Lin Chong.

"Instructor Lin must command the troops outside to provide support; once fire breaks out in the camp and chaos spreads, he shall lead the forces in to attack and expand our gains."

Personnel were quickly decided.

One hundred of the finest, fiercest, death‑defying soldiers were summoned; most were from Lin Chong's former unit, the Ruan Clan Navy's crack troops, and the core members brought by Chao Gai.

Everyone knew what this mission entailed, yet their faces showed no fear—only the honor of being chosen and the resolve to die alongside the enemy.

That night, the moon was dark and the wind high—truly a night for slaughter and arson.

At the third watch, the north wind howled, muffling every faint sound.

The Zhao Prefecture City gate opened a slit without a sound, and a hundred black shadows slipped out like ghosts, using terrain and darkness for cover as they crept silently toward the Jin army camp.

Chen Wen led the column; his Shi Yong ability came into play at this crucial moment, constantly steering the unit clear of the Jin patrols' routes and guiding them along an almost impossible safe path to the camp's edge.

The Jin camp's lights were scattered; night‑patrol soldiers' silhouettes stretched long by the fire, showing fatigue and laxity.

The daytime setback had clearly dulled their vigilance.

Yet the camp's anti‑cavalry obstacles and moat remained tightly laid out.

The unit halted in a depression within arrow's shot of the camp.

Chen Wen scanned the hundred resolute faces in the darkness.

No words were needed; the thought‑link system took over.

"Target: a hundred ahead."

"Endow them with fourfold effect—strength, speed, agility, five senses, stealth, coordination!"

"This endowment is finer, focusing on the abilities needed for stealth infiltration and assault."

A surge of intangible energy, more refined and penetrating than before, instantly enveloped the hundred‑person team.

In an instant, the world seemed different through their eyes.

Distant lights grew sharp; every sound on the wind—a soldier's yawn, a war horse's snort, a flag's flutter—was as if right at the ear.

Their bodies became light as swallows, strength surged in their muscles, and they gained an almost telepathic rapport with each other's positions and movements.

Chen Wen gave a low shout, like a command in the dark night.

The hundred‑person team moved!

They melted into the night's shadows, swift yet utterly silent.

Paired up, they used their strength‑enhanced arms to easily and quickly clear the outer anti‑cavalry obstacles.

Wading through the icy moat, their movements were as light as a wildcat's.

Occasionally the patrolling Jin soldiers thought they saw a black shadow flash before them, but when they focused, only empty darkness remained.

Like a hot knife through butter, the hundred‑person assault team slipped easily into the seemingly heavily guarded Jin camp.

According to the plan, they split into three groups.

One group, led by Ruan Xiaoer, charged straight at the supplies stockpile area.

A group led by Liu Tang, responsible for setting fires everywhere, creating maximum chaos;

Chen Wen personally led the core thirty, with a clear target—the commander's tent right in the middle of the camp!

The real battle broke out when they neared the commander's tent area.

The guards here were clearly much more elite, and they were on double posts with double sentries.

"Enemy attack——!"

A shrill Jin-language warning finally tore through the night sky.

But it was already too late.

"Kill!"

At Chen Wen's command, the thirty assault team members who had received fourfold Ability Granting erupted!

Their speed was such that only afterimages remained, and their strength was enough to slam the hastily advancing Jin soldiers, shields and all, breaking bones and tendons.

Blade light flickered in the darkness, each swing carrying deadly speed and precision.

Tragic cries rose and fell in an instant.

Chen Wen did not directly engage in the melee, but being at the center of the assault team, the effect of Ability Granting was like an invisible force field, precisely maintaining each member at peak condition.

He himself, relying on extraordinary senses and reflexes, weaved through the chaotic troops, always narrowly dodging cold arrows and sneak attacks, while pointing out the direction of the assault.

The commander's tent was within sight!

Several obviously elite Jin infantry—white polearm soldiers (the Jin army's elite personal guards)—burly men roared as they charged forward, trying to block.

One assault team member bellowed, showing no dodge or avoidance, and brought his battle knife down with fourfold strength!

"Clang!" A piercing metal-on-metal ring rang out; the heavy axe in the white polearm soldier's hand was actually split open, the blade's momentum undiminished, deeply embedding into his shoulder blade.

On the other side, two assault team members acted in perfect unison: one crouched and rolled to cut off a white polearm soldier's calf, while the other seized the moment to surge forward, his spear striking like a venomous snake from its hole, piercing the soldier's throat.

Thirty men, despite the blockade of dozens of elite personal guards, carved out a bloody path!

Chen Wen kicked open the tent flap of the commander's tent; inside, a Jin commander wearing fine leather armor was panicking, trying to draw his sword.

Before he could move, two team members at Chen Wen's side pounced like tigers; a flash of blade light, and blood spattered!

At the same time, flames shot up into the sky elsewhere in the camp!

Ruan Xiaoer led his team to successfully ignite the haystacks; the soaring flames lit up half the sky red;

Liu Tang and the others hurled firebrands onto tent after tent, and the entire Jin army camp quickly became a sea of fire.

Chaos spread like a plague; the startled Jin soldiers, not knowing how many enemies had arrived, trampled each other in the darkness, as wails, cries, and the sounds of battle blended into one.

"Withdraw!"

Seeing the objective achieved, Chen Wen showed no reluctance to linger and immediately gave the order.

The hundred-man assault team, just as they had come, swiftly broke contact and hurriedly retreated along the predetermined route.

They came and went like the wind; before the Jin army could fully descend into chaos and organize an effective encirclement, they had already vanished into the darkness outside the camp.

In the distance, the walls of Zhao Prefecture.

Lin Chong saw the Jin camp ablaze, heard the killing shake the heavens, and knew Chen Wen had succeeded.

He raised his spear high and bellowed the order:

"Northward Aspiration Army, all forces, advance!"

The main force, which had long been resting and gathering strength, surged forth like a flood breaking a dam, opened the gate, and launched a total assault on the Jin army camp plunged into chaos and panic.

That night became one of the most crushing defeats the Jin army had suffered since its southern invasion, in the region north of the river.

The five-thousand-strong army was utterly routed by a precise and deadly night raid, losing men and commanders, its supplies burned, its commander likely fallen in battle, and the remnants scattered in disarray before dawn.

And the name 'Northward Aspiration Army'—especially that hundred-man assault team, eerie as ghosts and shockingly powerful—truly became a nightmare that made the northern Jin forces tremble at the mere mention, accompanying this glorious night raid victory.

After this battle, the Northward Aspiration Army firmly established its foothold on the Zhao Prefecture front, gaining precious strategic initiative.