Chapter 209: Ghost City

"Stop!"

Liu Zheng ordered decisively.

An army of 150,000, plus the supply troops, totaled a full 160,000. At a time like this, one absolutely could not afford to be careless. Although the Yinzhou army was well-trained and strictly disciplined, if handled improperly, it would be a disaster if the morale of the troops fell into chaos.

"Young Master, what should we do?"

Qin Zhangfeng was anxious to the point of desperation.

As it turned out, they had already circled the same spot three times!

On a red willow tree nearby, the mark Jiang Xuan had left just moments ago was still carved into it.

A full hour had been wasted!

The compass had failed!

Remaiti was already crying: "Protector of the State, there are ghosts, there must be ghosts! The ghosts are causing trouble, it's the ghosts!"

"Shut your mouth!"

Liu Zheng kicked him to the side. It wasn't that he disliked the fellow, but at a time like this, if you stood here shouting about ghosts and spirits, were you trying to disrupt the morale of his army? What would the soldiers think!

"Listen to me, keep your mouth shut. From now on, you answer only what I ask. If you dare to say one more word of nonsense, watch out for your life!"

Remaiti closed his mouth, but he was still so terrified that tears kept welling up.

Liu Zheng took a deep breath.

The compass failed for only one reason: the magnetic field was wrong! This Ghost City was actually this complex!

It was no wonder Xie Xuan had set this place as the only path for the eastward advance.

The only things that could affect a magnetic field were magnetic fields; moving charges would generate magnetic fields that affected other magnetic fields. This was the mutual influence and superposition of magnetic fields; this was the Lorentz Force in Physics.

Of course.

It was too complicated to talk about this now.

To put it simply, the Gobi Desert they were in before entering the Ghost City must be the location of a mineral deposit! Although Liu Zheng didn't know what kind of ore it was—it could be gold, silver, copper, manganese, or perhaps rare earth minerals...

In short.

The complex geological structure here caused magnetic field disturbances. A strong magnetic field environment, or even sandstorms in the desert, would cause the compass to fail.

And there were no major roads here.

In such a situation, in an endless Gobi desert, there were naturally no landmarks. Getting lost and circling back to the same spot was perfectly normal. If you got lost in an ordinary place, walking in a straight line was fine, but in the desert, you must never walk in a straight line! You would exhaust yourself to death without ever walking out.

The first reason was that this sand was "dead sand"! This led to a phenomenon where, when a person walked, their steps were uneven in depth. The strength of the left leg and the right leg was unbalanced, which led to a phenomenon where you thought you were walking in a straight line, but in reality, you would involuntarily walk in a circle.

The second reason was that because sand had fluidity, the wind in the desert would create illusions for you.

The third reason was the lack of reference points. In this situation, the sun was also moving... using the sun as a reference point was also unrealistic.

"Calm down!"

"Pass the order down: rest where we are. Absolutely do not say we are lost; just say we are about to enter the desert and are taking a temporary rest!"

Liu Zheng took a deep breath, trying hard to calm himself down.

"Yes!"

Qin Zhangfeng replied.

The entire army rested in place. Seeing that the morale of the 150,000 troops was still relatively stable, Liu Zheng breathed a sigh of relief and said to Qin Zhangfeng and Jiang Xuan: "Follow me, and bring a squad of a thousand men!"

Liu Zheng glanced at his surroundings, his eyes narrowing slightly.

He suddenly had a premonition.

At this moment, quite a few people were staring at him from somewhere unknown.

A Ghost Army?

He sneered. Did they think they could scare him with such petty tricks?

Liu Zheng instructed Qin Zhangfeng to take out an extra-long rope he had prepared. Then he looked around, pointed to a hill over there, and said: "Head toward the sand mountain, and remember to walk on the windward side! Walk for one mile, stop, and so on. Everyone must be connected by the rope!"

"Yes!"

Following Liu Zheng's Method, sure enough, as people walked, they would suddenly veer off course, and then they would be reminded by the person behind them; the front would remind the back, and the back would remind the front.

One thousand men...

One thousand ropes.

Although this Method was rather clumsy, in Liu Zheng's view, it was the best way to maintain a straight line.

Soon.

"Young Master, Young Master, we've walked out!"

Qin Zhangfeng rode over on a camel, running over excitedly.

Liu Zheng smiled slightly: "The whole army, move out!"

Remaiti, on the ground, was already stunned.

There was such a Method?

Could it really be that there were no ghosts? He wanted to speak, but remembering Liu Zheng's terrifying gaze from earlier, his whole body trembled, and he didn't dare say another word.

However...

As the army finally walked out of this desert.

He still couldn't help it; his legs trembled as he looked in horror at a distance of five hundred meters ahead. Over there, several sand dunes rose and fell, looking like a city in this desert that had long weathered the wind and sand. At a glance, one could see some unknown bones beside the sand and stone, and on the Gobi, a few pitch-black, giant crows were standing.

These crows stared at the Yinzhou army with cold, piercing eyes, seemingly unafraid.

In the desert, crows were equivalent to overlords.

This added a few more layers of terror to the Ghost City.

"Ghost City, Ghost City! That is the Ghost City!"

Everyone looked over at the sound.

At this moment, the sun was nearing dusk.

As if to match this terrifying atmosphere, there were several vultures soaring high in the sky.

Liu Zheng suddenly looked up: "Qin Zhangfeng!"

"Present!"

"Shoot those vultures down for me!"

Qin Zhangfeng responded, holding his bow and arrow.

With a *whoosh*, the arrow flew out and struck a vulture squarely; with a miserable shriek, the vulture fell from the sky, and the entire army cheered, their morale greatly boosted.

Liu Zheng ran over, grabbed the vulture, and chuckled: "This thing is a scout for the Dayuan Kingdom!"

The crowd was in an uproar.

It was the first time they had ever heard of using vultures as scouts.

"It is not late yet, let's go in."

Liu Zheng chuckled.

Remaiti went mad: "Protector of the State, absolutely not, Protector of the State! It is night, we absolutely cannot enter, absolutely cannot enter!"

Even in broad daylight, people did not dare to enter.

It was almost night, and you want to go in?

Liu Zheng, however, laughed heartily: "Not only are we going in, but tonight, we are going to set up camp and spend the night in this Ghost City, right brothers!"

The entire army laughed along.

Remaiti's legs went weak.

These Longyan people really are not afraid of ghosts!

……

Look over here.

The fifty-thousand-strong Loulan army was also already on the march.

Reguli was not bragging; she led the army in person, and that gorgeous military attire worn on her graceful body added a touch of unusual charm and an unusual heroic spirit, making her a sight to behold.

"Empress Dowager, haha, guess what kind of expression Qiuci will have when they learn our army is attacking?"

"They will definitely be scared out of their wits; perhaps they will open the gates and surrender immediately!"

The generals laughed.

One person sneered: "That Protector of the State likes to alarm people with exaggerations; how could the Northern Western Regions be unified? These Qiuci and Cheshi are mortal enemies."

The group roared with laughter.

Reguli could not bear to hear anyone speak ill of Liu Zheng, and she gave a cold huff: "Do not be overconfident; Qiuci has strong national power with eighty thousand armored soldiers. This time we are only making a feint, understand? Everything must be based on the Protector of the State's orders. We just wait to break into the Northern Western Regions and pick up the spoils!"

A general sneered: "Empress Dowager, give me thirty thousand troops, and I will surely take that Qiuci city!"

"What feint? Only those hypocritical Longyan people would make a feint. We Loulan men, since we have come, are here to fight!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the whole room echoed in agreement.

Reguli rolled her eyes.

These people were still so brainless.

Full of vigor and spirit.

The fifty-thousand-strong Loulan army was neat and uniform; at a glance, their combat power was strong.

Who would have thought.

These confident generals would likely be crying their hearts out next.

Before they even reached the foot of Qiuci city, they encountered an ambush.

The location of the ambush was actually a small village.

"Kill!"

"Charge!"

The Qiuci army, covering the mountains and plains, suddenly appeared.

Reguli was startled.

The generals under her command had their eyes widened like copper bells.

"The Qiuci army!"

"At least one hundred thousand!"

"Empress Dowager, retreat, retreat immediately!"

The Loulan army, which had been arrogant just a moment ago, collapsed immediately.

What happened to the surprise attack on Qiuci?

What happened to Qiuci being weak?

What happened to laying siege to the city? As it turned out, a small village was enough for them to be ambushed. The Qiuci Cavalry, riding those Dayuan Warhorse, had extremely strong combat power.

"Run!"

Reguli's expression changed.

At this time, what was there to hesitate about?

Seeing these tens of thousands of warhorses, she knew that the Protector of the State, Young Master Liu, had guessed correctly!

This Northern Western Regions……

Had it truly been unified by that Dayuan Kingdom?

Otherwise, where did these Qiuci cavalry's Dayuan Warhorse come from?

Startled in her heart, she stopped wasting words and immediately gave the order to retreat. The group of generals who had been spouting wild words just moments ago were instantly killed and fled in panic; a few who were a bit late lost their lives directly in Qiuci.

The state of the battle...

No, it should be called a slaughter; the scene was quite tragic.

This was almost a one-sided massacre.

In the end, of the fifty thousand Loulan Army soldiers dressed in very colorful and gorgeous attire, only thirty thousand escaped the sudden appearance of the Qiuci Army.

Morale was scattered.

Fortunately, Reguli was clever enough; her eyes lit up: "Lads, do not be discouraged. We are only feinting; this shows that the Protector of the State must have already made progress. Let's go, rendezvous with the Protector of the State!"

Only then did the morale stabilize a little.

Longyan Dynasty.

The Northeast border.

This is Ji Province, the place closest to the Qi.

A barren land, hot in summer, cold in winter... and frequently harassed by the Qi.

At this moment.

In this Taishoufu of Ji Province, there was still singing and dancing.

"Drink! Dance for Mandarin, dance well!"

"Hahahaha, good, beautiful!"

A pot-bellied fellow sat in the very center at this time, watching a group of beauties dance, with a crowd of sycophants fawning over him on the side.

"His Highness, no, Your Highness, yesterday I acquired a new concubine; tsk tsk tsk, that flavor is truly stunning. I will have someone send her over immediately!"

A sycophant laughed.

The fat man clapped his hands and said: "Good, good, good. Little Zhang is sensible. Later, the salt transport of this Taishoufu will be handed over to your family!"

That sycophant was overjoyed and knelt to thank him.

The crowd exchanged glances, all with treacherous thoughts in their eyes.

This fat man.

Was the second biological son of the current Emperor.

Song Prince!

The famous Second Prince!

The notorious fool, the Second Prince, Xie Ping!

Because the Emperor did not like him, he was exiled to this Ji Province since childhood. After arriving here, he turned his territory into a mess; the people's livelihood was miserable and complaints were everywhere. In just a few years, he had reduced a province that once had a population of one million to only two hundred thousand. This speed was indeed very fast.

Soon.

He was forgotten by the world.

He had already been truly removed from the center of power struggles.

That stunning concubine was sent over immediately. Seeing Song Prince, she deliberately acted coy and shy: "Your Highness, this servant is not a casual person..."

Song Prince drooled, picked her up, and ran toward his bedroom, chanting as he went: "Mandarin is not a casual person either, no, not at all..."

The crowd roared with laughter, leaving behind mocking and contemptuous looks.

Who would have known.

As soon as Song Prince returned to the room, he threw the stunning concubine in his arms heavily onto the bed. The Xie Ping who had just been acting like a lecher suddenly became cold and stern.

The concubine went limp all over, thinking this Song Prince liked to play some unique games, and immediately looked pitiful: "Song Prince, you hurt me..."

"Then die, and it won't hurt anymore, okay?"

Song Prince smiled faintly, walked over, and used his hand to fiercely choke the concubine's neck.

At first, the concubine thought it was a game, but in the end, she slowly couldn't breathe, looking at Song Prince with terrified and desperate eyes...

She kicked her feet a few times.

Then, everything returned to silence.

She died with her eyes wide open!

Song Prince panted, sat on the bed, and a sharp light flashed in his eyes: "Want to assassinate Mandarin? Want to assassinate Mandarin? You are still too green, too green!"

He shouted it out almost at the top of his lungs.

"Where is he?"

Behind him, a black shadow appeared and chuckled: "Your Highness, the Grand Chief of the Qi has promised that if Your Highness helps him open the gateway to Zhongyuan, one day when his million-strong army marches south, this Longyan imperial court will be Your Highness's!"

Xie Ping trembled all over upon hearing this, extremely excited: "Good, good! Report to the Grand Chief, my Ji Province can bypass Qingzhou to enter Zhongyuan, bypassing the Wei Prince, and then he can do whatever he wants, hahahaha!"

"Your Highness, the Grand Chief intends to adopt Your Highness as his foster son. What does Your Highness think?"

Xie Ping was furious upon hearing this. He was the dignified Second Prince of Longyan, to become the foster son of a barbarian? And he was already over twenty years old this year, while he heard that the Qi Grand Chief was only seventeen and had just ascended the throne this year!

That person continued: "The Grand Chief is helping you seize the throne, Your Highness..."

"Good, good, report to my foster father: if Mandarin ascends the throne, I am willing to give the Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures to the Qi!"

That person in the darkness smiled coldly and then disappeared.