Chapter 101

  Border town. Talking about reading,

  The barbarian army attacking the border city indeed had 50,000 troops. Standing on the city wall and looking out, all one could see was a sea of people, with no way to distinguish their numbers. The barbarians did not emphasize coordination between each other on the battlefield; they valued individual combat ability more. Gathered together, they didn't have any formation to speak of. From afar, it looked like a chaotic mess.

  It was precisely the barbarian army's unorthodox and lawless combat style that gave the Feng army a hard time, resulting in countless casualties and losses.

  Qiu Zhen stood on the top of the tower, although his face was calm, but his heart was undulating. To be strict, this was his first time as the main general, yet he had to face such a strong opponent, saying that he wasn't nervous would be absolutely deceiving.

  Standing with him were Xiao Miaoqing, who had just been promoted by Tang Yin, and the battalion commanders and chiliarchs of two battalions.

  Xiao Muqing was much more calm and composed than Qiu Zhen, he was a veteran of the army, also known as an old slicker, having seen too many big scenes, the barbarian soldiers in front of him were numerous, but he had no fear in his heart.

  He glanced at Qiu Zhen, whose face was expressionless but with a deep gaze, and Xiao Muqing stepped forward, saying in a low voice: "Lord Qiu, the barbarian troops have arrived outside the city. If nothing unexpected happens, they will soon send someone to challenge us. You should make arrangements early!"

  Qiu Zhen had been appointed by Tang Yin as the deputy county governor of Pingyuan County, in charge of military affairs. In terms of position, he was a big step higher than Xiao Muzheng. Even though he felt that Qiu Zhen had hostile intentions towards him, Xiao Muzheng's attitude towards Qiu Zhen was still very polite.

  "Attack the city?" Qiu Zhen, who had never fought against barbarian soldiers before, was surprised and turned to ask: "The barbarian troops have just arrived and haven't even formed a battle formation, are they going to attack the city in such a disorganized manner?"

  In Qiu Zhen's view, whether it is a positive battle or a siege, formation is very important.

  Xiao Muqing smiled secretly in his heart, but didn't show it on his face. He nodded and said, "That's right, barbarian soldiers have never fought with any rules!"

  Qiu Zhen raised an eyebrow and looked at Xiao Muqing suspiciously, but didn't say anything else.

  Soon, more than 50,000 barbarian soldiers gathered outside the city of Biancheng. As Xiao Mucang said, tens of thousands of barbarian soldiers were simply standing together in disarray, without any formation to speak of. At this time, the barbarian soldiers in front parted to the left and right, and a burly man emerged from the crowd, walking briskly. This man was nearly two meters tall, with only a piece of animal hide draped over his shoulder, and below that were steel greaves and boots, holding a chain hammer in his hand.

  The big Han walked out of the barbarian army camp, stopped at a place one arrow away from the city wall, and then raised his head to shout loudly towards the city head. The Fengjun guarding the city did not understand what he was shouting about, but also knew that he was calling for an array.

  Qiu Zhen took a deep breath on the tower, turned his body halfway around, looked at the group of generals behind him and asked: "Who is willing to go out and fight against the barbarian general?" Before anyone could respond, he continued: "The first battle is crucial. If we can win, we can greatly destroy the morale of the barbarian army, boost our own military prestige, and also delay the barbarian army's attack on the city!"

  Hearing him say this, the thousand husbands who were originally somewhat timid all became eager to try, and if they could win the first battle, it would undoubtedly be a great achievement, and no one would not want to strive for such merit.

  Qiu Zhen's words had barely fallen when a thousand-year-old man under Gu Yue stepped forward, cupped his hands and bowed: "Lord Qiu, I, a humble general, am willing to go out of the city to meet with the enemy general!"

  Qiu Zhen did not know about Yu Da Peng's strength, so he turned his head to look at Gu Yue and asked for his opinion.

  Yu Dapeng was one of the top ten centurions of the Fourth Legion, and his strength was almost as good as Gu Yue's. He thought it would be suitable for him to test the enemy general first. Gu Yue also nodded slightly in agreement, indicating that Yu Dapeng could go into battle.

  Jian Gu Yue nodded in agreement. Qiu Zhen didn't hesitate any longer and nodded, saying: "Yu Zhenchang, the first battle is yours!"

  Overjoyed in his heart, Dapeng took the order and hastily departed with swift steps.

  He dismounted from the city wall without bringing a single soldier or guard, and let the soldiers guarding the gate open a gap in the gate, and he rushed out on horseback.

  The barbarian's language was unintelligible, and Dapeng swiftly rode his horse forward, charging to the front of the barbarian general. Without even a greeting, he shook his hand and shot an arrow, directly piercing the other's throat.

  Don't look at the barbarian general's sturdy physique, but his movements are extremely agile. He only saw him slightly sideways, with a relaxed expression, avoiding the sharp edge. When Yu Dapeng rode his horse through his side, the barbarian general swung the chain hammer in his hand, directly aiming at Yu Dapeng's back.

  It speaks slowly but acts extremely fast; by the time the Roc realizes something is amiss, the opponent's iron hammer has already arrived right in front of it.

  No time to dodge, no time to draw a gun to block, Yu Dapeng instinctively released his spiritual energy, raised his spiritual armor, and planned to use the spiritual armor to protect himself from the opponent's fatal blow.

  In the ear, only a crisp sound was heard, that palm-sized iron hammer heavily smashed onto Lingkai's back, which was behind Daya. Although Lingkai had dodged this powerful and heavy blow, he couldn't dodge the huge impact force generated by the iron hammer.

  At Da Peng's loud cry, his body uncontrollably leaned forward, and he sat unsteadily on the warhorse, only to see him tumble down from the horseback. With a dull thud, his body heavily fell to the ground, sending dust flying everywhere.

  That barbarian let out a cold laugh and took two big strides to get close to Yu Dapeng. Before the latter could react, the iron hammer in his hand swung out again, but it wasn't to attack Yu Dapeng. Instead, with a clever use of force, he wrapped the chain hammer around Yu Dapeng's neck. Then, with a sudden burst of strength, he pulled backwards, causing Yu Dapeng's head to involuntarily tilt back. He tried to struggle free from the iron chain, but the chain infused with spiritual energy was exceptionally resilient. No matter how hard he struggled, he couldn't budge it by even a fraction of an inch. On the contrary, it only got tighter and tighter, even causing the Ling Qi on his neck to become distorted and deeply indented.

  It wasn't long before Yu Dapeng was gasping for breath, his struggles growing weaker and weaker.

  Who would have thought that the most valued Qianfu Zhang of Gu Yue, once on the battlefield, couldn't even withstand a single move from the enemy and fell into such a desperate situation. For a moment, the city walls were silent, and the people watched helplessly as Yu Dapeng's life slipped away bit by bit in the hands of the barbarian general.

  On the other side, the barbarian army erupted in cheers, with tens of thousands of barbarian soldiers, like savages, holding up their weapons and waving them wildly, their shrill cries shaking people's souls.

  On one side was silence, on the other cheers, the two sides of the battlefield formed a stark contrast.

  That barbarian dragged the dying Yu Dapeng, walked a few steps towards the city gate, then provocatively raised his head and laughed loudly at the Wind Army on the city wall. He grabbed the iron hammer at the other end of the chain hammer and violently stabbed it into Yu Dapeng's brain from behind.

  Crack!

  The iron hammer was sharp and instantly shattered Lingkai, deeply piercing the brain of Dapeng. The latter did not make a sound, and died on the spot.

  Kill Yu Dapeng, the barbarian general laughed three times in a row, and then swung the chain hammer in his hand. Without seeing how he used his strength, Yu Dapeng's corpse had already flown into the air and fell far away at the gate of the border city.

  "Huh?"

  At the sight, a burst of exclamations and gasps rose from the city wall of Biancheng. Just now still lively and jumping people, in the blink of an eye turned into cold corpses. The cruelty and unpredictability of the battlefield stimulated the deepest part of every soldier's heart.

  On the tower, Qiu Zhen's face was ugly, Gu Yue's face was even uglier. One was because of the loss at the first stop, and the other was because he was heartbroken about Da Peng. Originally, his most valued Thousand Husband had been brutally killed by the enemy, Gu Yue was anxious and angry, his heart burning like fire.

  Gu Yue was the first to break the silence. He stepped forward and walked directly to Qiu Zhen's back. Chen Sheng said, "Lord Qiu, let me go into battle!"

  "This... H2 Se..." Qiu Zhenhui's eyes flashed with a hint of surprise as he gazed at Gu Yue, whose eyes were blazing with fury. He shook his head silently, still aware of Gu Yue's true strength. Although Gu Yue was stronger than Yu Dapeng, the difference wasn't significant. Yet, their opponent had defeated Yu Dapeng with just one move, so sending Gu Yue out to fight would likely be a futile sacrifice.

  Seeing Qiu Zhen's embarrassed expression, Gu Yue understood his concerns despite being straightforward. He took a deep breath and said seriously: "Lord Qiu, I will go to battle. If I don't win, I'll return with my head chopped off!"

  If it were someone else, Qiu Zhen wouldn't have so many worries, but Gu Yue was different. He could be considered one of the first batch of confidants who followed Tang Yin, and he also had a deep private relationship with Qiu Zhen. Moreover, if Gu Yue really had an accident, how would he explain it to Tang Yin?!

  Just as Qiu Zhen was in a difficult situation, someone suddenly spoke up from the crowd and said: "Lord Qiu, let me go out and fight the barbarian general!"

  Unexpectedly, there was still someone who would take the initiative to ask for battle. The crowd in the field looked around and saw that the speaker was Jiang Mo, one of the dark spiritual cultivators who had just defected to Tang Yin.

  Qiu Zhen's spirit was shaken, and he asked: "Jiang Mo, are you confident of winning?"

  Jiang Mo smiled indifferently and said, "The battlefield is unpredictable, changing in an instant, no one can guarantee a stable victory. However, I think that even if I don't win against the opponent, at least I won't lose too badly."

  Qiu Zhen sank into thought for a moment, looking at Jiang Mo and then glancing at Gu Yue. After some deliberation, he still felt that having Jiang Mo take the field was the safer choice. Emotionally speaking, Jiang Mo couldn't compare to Gu Yue, but in terms of spiritual martial arts, although it was unclear whether Jiang Mo could surpass Gu Yue, he was an expert in stealth and concealment, so perhaps on the battlefield, he might be able to achieve a surprise victory after all!

  Qiu Zhen's expression turned serious, and he said to Gu Yue: "General Gu, you stay behind and hold down the fort. Let Jiang Mo lead the vanguard in this battle first. If Jiang Mo is at a disadvantage, it won't be too late for you to go afterwards!"

  Qiu was indeed the commander-in-chief, and his words were military orders. No matter how good their private relationship was, Gu did not dare to say anything more at this time. He could only lower his head and accept the order.

  Jiang Mo rushed towards Qiu Zhen, nodded and was about to leave. Qiu Zhen hastily called him back, anxiously instructing: "The barbarian general is formidable, you must be careful. If you can fight, then fight; if not, immediately retreat into the city. Under no circumstances should you entangle with the barbarian general!"

  "I understand!" Jiang Mo nodded with a hint of a smile and quickly descended the city wall, not even bothering to mount his horse, and walked out of the city gate.

  He arrived at the outskirts of the city and brought back the body of Da Peng into the city, then headed towards the direction of the barbarian army.

  The barbarian general's footwork was nothing new, but a foot soldier from the Wind Army side came out and surprised everyone.

  That barbarian general saw Jiang Mo slowly walking towards him, curiously sizing him up from head to toe.

  It wasn't long before Jiang Mo had walked up close to the barbarian general, with only five steps between them.

  Jiang Mo's stature was not particularly tall or large, but nor was it short. However, standing next to the barbarian general, he formed a stark contrast. The other man was more than a head taller and several times thicker, with a cold gaze that made him look like a giant ape standing next to a monkey.