Chapter Thirty-Two

  "From Yancheng to Tongmen, a swift march would only take five days, by rights, the reinforcements led by Liang Qi should have arrived long ago." Mei Xiu's eyebrows were tightly knitted as she said in a low tone.

  "Indeed! It's about time!" Zhong Zhengguang let out a bitter smile and sighed, "General Liang had set out from Yancheng seven days ago, but until now, he is still on the road. I've sent people to urge him several times, but General Liang always has some reason or another - either the supplies are too heavy and the march is slow, or it's pouring rain and not conducive to marching... all sorts of strange excuses. It's understandable, the Liang family wants to preserve the ten battalions in their hands and doesn't want to come to Tongmen to fight with Ningguo prematurely."

  "Traitor!" Wu Mei's face was icy, her teeth clenched, as she hissed in a low voice. "If there is no reinforcement, Tongmen will surely be lost, and General Zong Zheng should also make arrangements early."

  Zong Zhengguang shook his head and smiled bitterly without speaking.

  The mansion of Tongmen is very simple, a simple courtyard with one wing room on each side and the main house is a two-story small wooden building.

  Tang Yin's room is just next to Wu Mei's.

  This was his first time in a room of the Imperial Court, feeling both familiar and strange. The room had only one bed, one table, one cabinet, and four chairs, nothing else. If it were moved to modern times, it could only be described as "bare walls". Fortunately, Tang Yin's daily life was very simple and casual, so he didn't need to adapt or feel uncomfortable. At this time, he was really tired, and he fell onto the bed with his head down, too lazy to even take off his clothes, planning to sleep for a while first.

  He had just closed his eyes when he heard someone knocking at the door outside.

  "Come in!" Tang Yin said with a frown.

  The door opened and Qiu Zhen and a middle-aged man in his forties walked over.

  Tang Yin looked at Qiu Zhen with a puzzled expression, silently inquiring.

  Qiu Zhenyi smiled and said, "This is the doctor General Zong Zheng has brought."

  "Oh!" Tang Yin nodded calmly and said to the doctor: "I only suffered some minor injuries, nothing serious."

  The middle-aged man seemed to have not heard his words, pulled a chair and sat down beside the bed, looked at Tang Yan's ribs and said: "General can't be careless, minor injuries if not handled in time will also become fatal injuries, and I see that General Tang's injury is not like a minor one!" He said while untying the cloth strip tied around Tang Yan's waist.

  Tang Yin was used to coming and going alone, and wasn't accustomed to physical contact with others, which made him feel unsafe.

  The middle-aged man's hand had just touched the cloth strip when a sharp light flashed in his eyes, and with a "click" sound, he handcuffed the doctor's wrist, his face sinking like water, coldly staring at him.

  His own strength was not small, and now he also possessed spiritual energy cultivation. The gripping force of his palm was extremely great, the middle-aged man was caught by him and cried out in pain, his face twisted, sitting unsteadily on the chair, his body swaying, almost falling to the ground.

  Qiu Zhen, who was standing beside him, jumped in fright and hastily grabbed Tang Yin's arm, smiling awkwardly as he said: "Brother Tang, the doctor didn't mean any harm, he just wants to take a look at your wound. Besides, the Ning army of several tens of thousands outside don't know when they'll start attacking the city, if you don't take care of your body, you might be unable to fight properly!"

  After hearing Qiu Zhen's words, Tang Yin thought for a moment before slowly releasing his hand.

  He put his hands behind his head, closed his eyes and said: "Doctor, take a look!"

  Tang Yin is indeed stubborn, but he's not someone who can't listen to advice. He just needs to see if the other person has been accepted by him. Qiu Zhen is the first person in this world to have close contact with him, and Tang Yin can truly feel Qiu Zhen's sincerity towards him. Even though he doesn't say it out loud, in his heart, he has gradually accepted Qiu Zhen.

  The middle-aged man's face looked unpleasant, he shook his wrist again and it hurt and felt numb, he lowered his head to take a look, well, both of his wrists were bruised in a circle, as if he was wearing two handcuffs.

  If it were someone else, he would have turned against him long ago. But Tang Yin was a person valued by Zong Zhenguo for his filial piety and was also a 'close minister' beside Wu Mei. He didn't dare offend him, so he could only suppress his anger to help him heal his wounds.

  In Tang Yin's eyes, the two wounds under his ribs were nothing. If really necessary, he could also consume his own spiritual energy to heal them. However, in the eyes of others, these two wounds were simply fatal injuries.

  In war, weapons like guns and spears are more terrifying than knives and swords because they make wounds that are hard to heal. Once stabbed, a blood hole is left behind, often causing the injured person to bleed to death. Tang Yin's two wounds were both deep and large, but strangely, the bleeding stopped miraculously.

  The middle-aged husband helped him apply medicine while marveling at his unusual body, unaware that Tang Yin was a cultivator of the Dark Arts.

  No matter how good the middle-aged doctor's medical skills were, the medicine he applied to the wound was quite effective, making Tang Yin feel much more comfortable. The wound no longer throbbed with pain, but instead had a cool sensation.

  After the middle-aged doctor finished treating the wound and re-bandaging it properly, Tang Yin nodded in gratitude. The white and handsome face had a thick smile on it, which was completely different from the ferocious and sinister look just now.

  The middle-aged doctor sighed and said, "General Tang's injury is not light, it's best not to move recklessly within half a month, otherwise the injury will worsen, even if a divine doctor treats him, there will be no magical power to revive him!"

  "Thank you for your advice, sir, I've taken note of it." Tang Yin responded with a good attitude on the surface, but in reality, he wasn't taking it to heart.

  "General Tang, I'll take my leave first!"

  "Go slowly, sir."

  After the middle-aged doctor left, Qiu Zhen stood beside the bed with a serious expression, looking at Tang Yin, and didn't say a word.

  Seeing this, Tang Yin smiled and waved his hand, saying: "Find a chair to sit on, don't stand next to me like a wooden stake."

  Tang Yin rarely made jokes, but now Qiu Zhenke was in no mood for joking.

  "He said faintly: 'The doctor says your injury is very serious.'"

  Tang Yin said with a careless tone: "The most skilled thing about doctors is exaggerating."

  Qiu Zhen knocked on his forehead and said in a low voice, "Tang Da Ge, the battle of Tongmen has nothing to do with us. Why don't you go talk to General Wu and let her leave Tongmen and return to Yancheng as soon as possible?"

  He wasn't too concerned about the Battle of Tongmen, as it didn't involve him, but asking him to find Yuemei and avoid the battle was something he couldn't bring himself to say. He rolled his eyes, chuckled, and said leisurely: "Yuemei's courage won't be greater than ours, if Tongmen can't really hold on, she will choose to leave at the first time."

  "I'm afraid..." Qiu Zhen murmured, "General Zong Zheng won't leave, and General Wu will accompany him to the death. You should know that the relationship between General Zong Zheng and the Wu family is not ordinary, he was able to become the guardian of Tongmen also has a lot to do with the Wu family's strong support."

  Upon hearing this, Tang Yin suddenly became interested and said: "Some things don't require our attention. Whether or not to stay in Tongmen will be decided by others. What I'm curious about now is the internal affairs of Wang Ting's household. It seems that there are also contradictions among the powerful people. Qiu Zhen, if you understand, tell me about it."

  Qiu Zhen scratched his hair and sighed: "It's a long story..."

  The four major powers of Fengguo are the Zi Yang family, the Liang family, the Wu family and the Zhong family. These four families control almost half of Fengguo's military power.

  The Zi Yang family controls 15 legions, with more than 150,000 people. The head of the family, Zi Yang Hao Chun Gui, is the Grand General of Feng Guo, with a title of Marquis; The Liang family controls 10 legions, and the head of the family, Liang Xing, serves as the Left Prime Minister, also with a title of Marquis; The Wu family controls 8 legions, including the second and third legions of Feng Guo. The head of the family, Wu Yu, serves as the Right Prime Minister, with a title of Marquis; The Zhong family controls 6 legions, and the head of the family, Zhong Tian, is the Supreme General of Feng Guo, also with a title of Marquis.

  The four major powers alone have more than 400,000 troops under their control. In addition, the royal family has 200,000 troops directly under its command, and there are also about 200,000 local troops in each county and prefecture, which is roughly the total military strength of Fengguo.

  This time in the expedition against Ningguo, the Ziyang family mobilized ten legions, the royal family's direct legions mobilized six, and the Wu family also sent four legions to participate.

  Two hundred thousand men, attacking the Hedong area, was another surprise attack, catching them off guard. They thought they could win easily, but it seemed that Ningguo had anticipated this and secretly gathered a large army of 400,000 in the Hedong area, setting up a heaven-and-earth net, like an open-mouthed pocket, surrounding the Fengguo army that entered the Hedong area.

  Both sides launched the final battle in Jieling Grassland, Hedong area. The 200,000-strong army of Fengguo was thoroughly defeated. What followed was what Tang Yan encountered. The remnants of Fengguo's defeated troops retreated to Tongmen, but were pursued and intercepted by Ningjun all the way, and only a handful truly escaped back to Tongmen.

  Tang Yin was relatively lucky. Whether or not he was taken advantage of by Wu Mei, without meeting her, it would have been difficult for him to return to Tongmen. Now, he's probably still hiding in the Hedong area.

  For Feng Guo, the losses in this war were indeed heavy, but Feng Guo's vitality was still there. What was truly affected was the status and relationship between the four major powers.

  The Zi Yang family suffered the greatest loss, with all ten legions being completely annihilated. Even if they were to scatter their entire fortune, it would be difficult for them to rebuild again. The Zi Yang family would undoubtedly go from being one of the strongest among the four major powers to the weakest. More importantly, the Wind King would never trust the Zi Yang family as he had before.

  The losses of the Wu family were also heavy, but the reconstruction of the four legions was relatively easier. Moreover, the Wu family was not the initiator of the war, and the Wind King's punishment would not be too severe.

  After this battle, Liang's family, who was initially anti-war, will inevitably be praised and reused by the Wind King. Now that Liang's family has ten legions in hand, they have become the most powerful among the four major powers. As for the Zhong family, they have always been without desire or demand, but with the decline of the Zi Yang family, they will naturally rise with the tide.

  After listening to Qiu Zhen's narration and analysis, Tang Yin finally had a general understanding of the situation in Feng Guo.

  His eyes shone brightly as he stared at Qiu Zhen, smiling but saying nothing.

  Qiu Zhen felt a bit uneasy under his gaze and subconsciously touched her face, asking: "What's wrong?"

  Tang Yin smiled and said: "I suddenly thought of your prediction at the beginning which was very accurate."

  "Prediction?"

  "You said that Ning Guo would definitely not let go of this opportunity and would take advantage of the victory to attack Tongmen. In fact, you were right, Ning Guo did come to attack."

  "Haha!" Qiu Zhen chuckled and said with a deep gaze, "Ning Guo obviously came prepared. Annihilating our 200,000-strong army is just the first step, occupying Tongmen is the second step, and next, they'll probably take Salt City directly." He paused for a moment, then lowered his voice and whispered in Tang Yin's ear, "I dare to say that there must be Ning Guo's spies within Wang Ting's ranks, at least someone is colluding with Ning Guo!"

  P.S: Seeking recommendations, collections, and freebies! ^_^