Chapter Ten Conspiracy

  At three o'clock in the afternoon, more than ten miles behind the Cloud City, at the mouth of a mountain valley, the atmosphere was extremely tense. Rows and rows of heavily armed Winterland soldiers stood quietly under the scorching sun.

  "General Ma, everything is ready."

  Ma Tianyuan heard this sentence and immediately waved his hand without hesitation: "Attack."

  "Kill! Kill! Kill!" The cries of killing shook the sky and earth, and in an instant, the Dongguo soldiers at the foot of the mountain surged towards the mouth of the valley like a tide.

  In the middle of the mountain, Zhang Huaming saw this scene and slightly moved his eyebrows. He then instructed Wang Xiong beside him: "Let Qian Duoduo and others prepare, attack when the enemy enters halfway into the valley."

  "Yes, sir." Wang Xiong heard that his superior had finally given the order and was overjoyed. He quickly crouched down and ran towards the direction of the mountain valley mouth.

  One hundred meters...

  Fifty meters...

  Ten meters...

  The soldiers of Dongguo charged at an extremely fast speed, and in less than a hundred breaths, the charging troops had already entered the mountain pass. There were thousands of them. At this moment, suddenly, a shower of stones fell from above on both sides of the mountain pass.

  "Ah! Ah! Ah!" The miserable cries rose with the sound of "stone rain", and the Dongguo soldiers who had rushed into the mountain valley were beaten by the falling stone rain, covering their heads and running wildly.

  "What's going on?" Ma Tianyuan's expression turned gloomy as he saw his subordinate fleeing out of the valley.

  "Report!" A messenger ran quickly to the front of Ma Tianyuan and the others, kneeling on one knee: "Reporting to the general, the enemy has set up an ambush at the mountain pass, our army has suffered heavy losses."

  "Halt the charge." Ma Tianyuan waved his hand and scanned the surrounding area at the mouth of the valley, then thought for a moment before giving orders to Leng: "General Leng, lead four battalions up the left side of the mountain, General Nian, lead four battalions up the right side of the mountain. The rest of you, follow me and stand by."

  "Yes."

  "Follow me." With a cold laugh, he waved his big hand and the three squadrons of cavalry followed him from the left side of the mountain pass.

  "You, you, you, come with me." Nian Geng also nodded to the leaders of the three squads behind him and led the three large teams in a charge towards the right side of the mountain valley entrance.

  At the mountain pass, halfway up the hill, Zhang Huaming saw this scene, a faint smile appeared on his face, he raised his hand and made a gesture, the soldiers who were quietly hiding in the mountainside stood up one after another, stretched out their hands and leaned against the huge rocks in front of them.

  One hundred meters...

  Fifty meters...

  Ten meters...

  When Zhang Huaming saw the Dongguo soldiers only ten meters away from the middle of the mountain, he raised his hand and waved it. In an instant, the entire mountain peak began to shake, and huge rocks rolled down rapidly from the middle of the mountain, bringing a whistling sound with them.

  "Hurl!" The soldiers of Xia Guo, under the command of their captain, first pushed forward the giant boulder that had been prepared in front of them, and then stood up, picked up the stones already prepared on the ground, and smashed them down at the enemy crowd below.

  "Ahh!! Ahhh!!! Ahh!!!" The winter country soldiers, who were about to rush up the middle of the mountain, were suddenly stunned by the summer country soldiers' surprise attack. However, they didn't have time to react as stones came hurtling down at them. Instantly, a series of miserable cries rang out, and figures began tumbling down from the middle of the mountain.

  After seeing the scene that appeared on both sides of the valley below, Ma Tianyuan's face turned gloomy to the extreme. Based on the number of Xia Kingdom soldiers he saw, the opponent had left only a thousand people behind to cut off their retreat, which was like slapping him in the face, and they actually looked down on him so much.

  "Adjutant." Ma Tianyuan's voice was cold and stern, the general standing behind him couldn't help but shudder at his tone, because from years of experience with his general, he knew that his general was about to go mad.

  "Belonging to the lower class."

  "Pass on my orders, no matter what cost, take down those two hills."

  "Yes, General."

  "Wooooo!!!", a series of bugle calls came from the big camp at the foot of the mountain where the Dongguo soldiers were stationed.

  The soldiers of Dongguo, who were still attacking and defending on the mountain slope, rolling down huge rocks and falling stones, heard the sound of the horn and rushed towards the mountain slope like crazy.

  At the waist of the mountain, Zhang Huaming saw this scene while directing the battle, his eyebrows suddenly furrowed, and his facial expression changed several times before revealing a reluctant look, waving his hand.

  "Withdraw." The ten squad leaders, who were directing the battle with their middle fingers, gave the order to retreat after seeing their commander's hand gesture, and retreated in an orderly manner while fighting according to the previous plan.

  "Oh! Oh! Oh!" A moment later, the Winter Country soldiers occupying the middle of the mountain let out a victorious cheer, completely forgetting the embarrassing situation just before.

  At the foot of the mountain, Ma Tianyuan's face was gloomy as he listened to the casualties reported by his deputy officer. The more he heard, the colder his expression became. In just half an hour of attacking time, they had already suffered nearly a battalion's worth of casualties. This was indeed a heavy loss, considering that the enemy only numbered in the thousands. Unfortunately, Ma Tianyuan had no idea that his previous decision would have saved him at least two battalions' worth of losses.

  "Deputy officer, order the troops at the foot of the mountain to continue pursuing and annihilate these defeated soldiers." Ma Tianyuan gave a new command, his tone filled with murderous intent.

  "Yes, General." The deputy officer heard his general's words and couldn't help but shudder all over, immediately feeling a sense of foreboding for this small squad that had been left behind. What were they doing to make their general so furious? It seemed that this small squad would become history.

  A day passed, in the dense forest, dozens of men covered in blood gathered together and formed a small circle to secretly discuss.

  "Alright, does anyone else have any doubts?" Zhang Huaming asked with a glint in his eyes, his entire body radiating intense killing intent, completely unlike the refined and elegant demeanor he had just a few days ago.

  "I understand." Qian Duoduo and others' eyes were filled with excitement, knowing that although their side was in a defeated position, the achievements of each small team on this day were quite astonishing. They had also been following their chief of staff for the first time in this kind of tactical battle. At first, they still had some reservations in their hearts, even though they knew their chief of staff was a high-ranking martial artist. But now it's different, now they are determined to follow their chief of staff. They gradually began to understand what their chief of staff meant by his words back then. This is what makes life exciting!

  "Everyone dispersed, act according to plan. One day later, you must arrive at the destination within the time we planned. If you don't come on time, then follow the second plan."

  "Yes, Chief of Staff." The ten small team captains led by Duoduo Qian responded in unison, and the next moment, the ten people disappeared into the forest like magical beasts.

  "Haha, Zhang Sheng, what are we going to do next?" Wang Xiong asked with an excited expression.

  "What's going on?" Zhang Huaming smiled and said with a hint of mischief: "We're going to give those generals in Dongguo some gifts."

  Wang Xiong heard Zhang Huaming's words, his eyes lit up instantly, and a look of excitement appeared on his face: "Good, Zhang Canmou, I'm a rough man, you say it, what should I do."

  "Come over, and we'll be like this later..." Zhang Huaming whispered in Wang Xiong's ear for a while, but the latter's expression was wonderful, first surprised, then shocked, and finally stunned.

  "Do you understand?"

  "Uh-huh, I see, oh, got it."

  Zhang Huaming saw Wang Xiong's dazed expression, and secretly smiled to himself. He stretched out his palm and patted Wang Xiong's shoulder, saying: "Then I'll go first, you remember that when the time is almost up, you should come to meet me."

  "Madman, this is simply the act of a madman. No way, we can't let Zhang Sheng go on an adventure." Wang Xiong came to his senses and wanted to persuade Zhang Huaming, only to find that he had already gone missing.