C9

Chapter 9 - Intermediate Venture

Li Xiong and the others had led the troops past Shi Xie's heavily fortified metropolis and arrived at the Elephant Forest County. Zanda stood at the top of the city and looked at Li Xiong and the others' troops. He laughed out loud and said, "Heh, heh … I had originally thought that from how many people the imperial government would send to attack me, it seemed that there were roughly a thousand of them. "In terms of military strategy, the forces attacking the city are at least twice as strong as the ones defending the city. How can this small number of people be enough to fight my two thousand strong army!?"

The deputy general beside Zanda said, "The King is indeed wise! But the enemy will definitely not have enough food from a distance. As long as we can't hold on and come out, the enemy will not fight and will not fall. If we take them down again, wouldn't that increase our strength? " Zanda nodded and said, "Good plan! Let's do it this way then! "

Li Xiong's right hand held the treasured sword tightly, while his left hand clenched into a fist. Li Xiong's palms were already sweating profusely as he nervously stared at the city gate. Xiong said to me, "Fourth brother, tell all the brothers to gather at the point of the gate and prepare their weapons for the charge! "Fourth brother, are you ready for battle?" "This..." I hesitated. Although Liu Jian has relieved me a lot, I am still afraid of war.

He looked at me steadily. "Fourth brother …" I looked at Xiong and then looked at Elephant Forest County who tightly shut the city gates. I knew that my third brother Zhang Tie was hiding inside and wanted to take advantage of the enemy's unforeseen circumstances to open the city gates. So I nodded and said, "Don't worry! I'm ready to fight! We will win! " Xiong nodded and said, "Okay! Wait, I'll shoot Zanda first! This way, when the enemy is powerless, we will launch a total attack! " I agreed. "Uh-huh!"

Chen Zhi shouted loudly, "Look! The city gate is open! " Zhang Tie then shouted out, "Brothers, charge! To contribute to the country! " Over a thousand soldiers rushed towards the city gate!

Zanda shouted, "What is going on? How did the city gates open? " The deputy general replied: "My lord! If a general were to charge out from the city, he would be invincible! Hundreds of people surrounded him, but instead got him to kill more than ten people and open the city gate! " Zanda: "Well. How is this possible!? It doesn't matter! The enemy force only has a little more than a thousand people, but we still have a few thousand! Even if they were to invade the city, they can still be defeated! " As soon as Zanda finished his words, an arrow pierced through his throat. Zanda immediately died! When Qu Da died, his eyes widened. After a while, his blood had already solidified into a brown colored blood clot.

Li Xiong shouted, "I've already killed the bandit leader! You are all burly people, do you want to die together with the rebels? Hurry up and surrender, you'll be spared death! " At the bottom of the city, I saw the unsightly and disconsolate Zanda in the distance. I felt nauseous in my heart, and I froze on the spot, on the verge of vomiting. Xiong saw me like this and could not help but shake his head.

The soldiers of the prefectural army did not have a leader, and since Li Xiong's army had attacked the city, the soldiers of the prefectural army had no choice but to surrender to Li Xiong's army. Just like that, Li Xiong and the rest took down Elephant Forest County.

Chen Zhi said happily: "Alright! Now that we have laid down the Elephant Forest County, we should figure out the next step of our plan! " I spoke out the thoughts in my heart: "We will declare to the citizens of the Jiao Prefecture that we will eliminate the harm on our part and see if Shi Xie will continue to harm us." The three of them answered in unison, "That's all we can do!"

Chen Zhi stared at me intently, and then said: "Since that's the case, then let Fourth Brother take over!" When I heard Chen Zhi's words, I was so shocked that my jaw dropped. Me? Second Brother, stop joking around! " Zhang Tie said in a serious tone, "I agree!" Li Xiong said in a serious tone: "I agree too!" I panicked. "Well. Are you kidding? How can I be the leader? " The three of them nodded, and I looked flustered.

I quickly declined, "No way! Why should I? I am an impotent person, and I am the youngest of the four brothers. Why do you want me to be your brother? This was definitely not possible! I'm not suitable! " The three of them said in unison, "You are the most suitable!"

Li Xiong, Chen Zhi, and Zhang Tie were looking at me expectantly. Chen Zhi looked at me. Chen Zhi seemed a little unwilling, maybe Chen Zhi wants to be the leader as well, but being the leader isn't easy! It was a big tree that caught the wind!

At this point, my mind was racing. "Whoever becomes the leader will become the target of public criticism. In a situation like this where our forces are so weak, those who become leaders are nothing more than dealing with death! However, if I don't do it myself, then I might as well put all of my pain and suffering on the line and push the other three brothers onto this path of no return! I'm dead, but what about my family? This brother will be sorry for his family! How annoying! Sigh! It would be better to just take it step by step! Besides, being a leader isn't necessarily a dead end! Let's agree! I will care about the future matters in the future! "

Chen Zhi could not hold it in anymore, and asked anxiously: "How is it? "Fourth brother!" I agreed because I had the thought: "All right! I'll be the leader for now! When all my brothers have chosen a suitable candidate, I will relinquish my position to yours! " Li Xiong and Zhang Tie immediately paid their respects, "Greetings, Master!" Chen Zhi reacted after a moment: "Greetings, Master!" I hurriedly said, "My three brothers, please don't do this! Who would pay their respects to a little brother! No matter what happens, we will always be brothers! " As I spoke, I went to help the three of them up.

Liu Jian walked in and said: "Shi Xie sent an envoy here. The envoy is already outside the door! " After Zhi heard Liu Jian's words, he muttered: "Shi Xie sent an envoy? Shi Xie sent an envoy, what exactly is the matter? " I said to Liu Jian: "I'll have to trouble you to go and invite the envoys in!" "Alright!" Liu Jian turned and left.

After a while, Liu Jian led a person in. That person cupped his hands towards us and said, "Greetings, heroes! I am Huan Yue, a Prefecture Magistrate, under the orders of the Jiao Prefecture, I have come to comfort all of you heroes who have suppressed the traitors and traitors of the prefectural region! Last time, when you killed the Leader's County Command and ambushed Yu Lin, it was all because of the traitor Zhe Da. Jiao Prefecture had already figured out the truth of the matter, so she spared the heroes! Let the heroes go to the Feeble County and receive their rewards! "

"Really?" I asked Huan Huan happily. "Hmm!" Huan Luan nodded. I'm so excited, I'm so glad I won't get caught up in the war again.

Zhi looked at my excitement and sighed secretly. Zhi said to Huan: "You've come far and hard! "Please go to the Bishops' House and rest!" understood what was going on and extended his hand out to his neighbour: "Honorable envoy, please follow me!" Huan Yue followed Liu Jian and left.

Zhi sneered and said, "I think there is a conspiracy in here! Maybe Shi Xie is trying to lure us to exchange pointers so that he can kill us all! " "Very likely!" he interrupted. Tie Zheng also said, "I think Shi Xie is obviously trying to lure us to the front of the line to capture us and kill us!"

"But if we don't go, wouldn't that give Shi Xie a reason to disobey us and come to suppress us? We have so little forces, and we just attacked the Elephant Forest County, I'm afraid we won't be able to defend here! Furthermore, I believe that we have already announced to the entire Jiao Prefecture that we have killed the traitor, Qu Da. If Shi Xie wants to kill us, he should have some scruples right! Plus our soldiers are homesick! Let's go back! " I, on the other hand, disagree with my three brothers. After hearing my words, Xiong and Tie also nodded their heads to indicate that what I said was possible.

Wisdom saw the situation and adopted a compromise method: "Do not have the heart to harm others, do not lack the mind to guard against people! We might as well send an emissary to Sioux County! But let us all return to our home in Ankang! It would be best if we could bring the soldiers of the Elephant Forest County along. If Shi Xie really wants to put us to death, we would have a certain level of strength to contend against him! "

"Alright!" Xiong and Tie agreed to Zhi's proposal in unison. I thought about it, and there was really no other way, "Alright! The most dangerous place is definitely the safest place. I think that Shi Xie would never think that we would be able to return to Ankang County after travelling for hundreds of miles! " I agreed.

So we led the troops and set off for Ankang County.

I have already stepped onto the boundaries of Ankang County, I am very happy in my heart, "Great! My hometown, I'm back! Sigh! Shi Xie, stop pushing me! Let us live in peace in our hometown! We don't want to fight over the Jiao Prefecture with you! I just want to live on! "

Looking at my happy expression, Chen Zhi thought worriedly, "Although we have already walked through the terrain to avoid being ambushed, there are still a lot of soldiers on Shi Xie's side! Even if he had set up an ambush on the plains or on the slopes of the hills, it would still have cost our army a great deal! Sigh! I really hope that nothing will happen to him! "

Just then, a shout came out, all the soldiers from Shi Xie's army had arrived. Shi Wu shouted from the hillside: "You bunch of disorderly people have already been surrounded by my twenty thousand strong army! If you are smart enough to surrender quickly, you can avoid death! "

I was shocked and looked around to see that they were all Shi Xie Army troops. Gritting my teeth, I said, "Damn it! What should I do!? " I thought in my heart: "Didn't Shi Xie say he would not mind us? Are they waiting for us again? "This, this …" Chen Zhi galloped his horse to my side and said, "Fourth brother, let's talk after we break out of this encirclement!" Because of Chen Zhi's warning, I yelled: "Everyone break out of my encirclement!"

When we were about to break out of the encirclement, it was already too late! Shi Wu's men had cut more than three thousand Establishment people in half and started to encircle them. The Establishment was in a critical situation! The two thousand Linyi County soldiers fell or fled in all directions without a fight. Shi Xie's army had encircled Fan Li's army layer after layer. It was easier said than done to Fan Li and the others to escape!

….

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[Note 1]: Huan Yue is the descendant of the Three Kingdoms in Chen Shou, a figure that appeared in the tradition of Liu Yao, the Tisch. He is Shi Xie's official. He was killed by Shi Xie's son emblem.

The next chapter's interesting content: Shi Yi looked at me coldly. He is telling me that he will not show me any mercy! Shi Yi sat on the war horse and roared, the horse's mouth kept breathing heavily, its hooves trampled on the ground, and it and its master glared at me hatefully. Shi Yi rode his horse and flew up into the sky. I crouched down and suddenly, Shi Yi's spear stabbed down fiercely towards my vitals. I parried the spear with my sword. Shi Yi's warhorse ruthlessly trampled on my body with its thick and strong hooves …

Just at that moment, I threw my sword forward and lowered my body, dodging the foot of the horse. I used my momentum to punch the horse in the stomach. The horse was in pain, its front two legs kicked out nonstop in the air, causing Shi Yi to fall onto the ground. I wanted to catch Shi Yi quickly, and there was a rider behind me that wanted to ambush me. That rider dashed towards me. I abruptly turned around and tightly gripped the incoming spear. With a loud shout, I forcefully pulled the cavalry from the horse. My eyes were sharp. Just as the cavalry soldiers were about to land on the ground, I pulled out my sword from the cavalry soldier's waist and swiped it towards the cavalry soldier's neck, exterminating him.