It had to start two months ago.
Most of the outer city wall that Zhao Handong had constructed had been repaired, and the rest of the Profound Handle that had been staying at the Phoenix City Pass had suggested to leave as well. Even though it was more important to flatter the governor, he could not simply throw away his position in the province.
Shi Keren pulled Zhao Handong along, although he was no longer there, the wall was more or less built, and with the rest of the members of Phoenix City Pass present, it would not be good for him to drag the few of them to contribute anymore. Thus, with Shi Keren's tacit approval, Zhao Handong pulled Ling Zilu and a few other officers of Phoenix City Border Army along as he carried the title of Phoenix City Pass as the deputy commander and sent them off with wine.
In the banquet, Zhao Handong was continuously toasted by several people, and it was quite a large number of them. When the people of the north spoke openly, and he had a carefree temper, he waved his hand, signalling all the food rations of the reinforcements that returned to the northern province to be sent over!
After the feast ended, Ling Zilu was not too happy, but he secretly went to find Zhao Handong to have a talk. What he meant was that although his Phoenix City Pass did not lack money nor food, but he could not send them in such a way.
Normally, there was nothing wrong with Ling Zilu's suggestion, but with Zhao Handong's alcohol, he smacked his lips towards Ling Zilu for a while, telling him that Kong Sheng was not present, and that he, Zhao Handong, was the one in charge, and did not take up any of your Red Camp's rations, you, Old Ling, should not mix in too much.
Ling Zilu had been a martial artist for many years, and he did not have a good temper, but he was, after all, born with Aristocratic Family, so he did not need to curse at this boss, and turned around to leave. On the third day, he did not participate in the send-off assembly either. He directly brought along his Red Camp and left the southern gate in the name of practice. In other words, the actions of the two people who were infuriated, surprisingly saved their Phoenix City Pass.
Early in the morning on the third day, a welcoming meeting for the northern province brothers was held outside the southern gate. Commander Shi Keren, the commander of the northern war zone, was the first to speak. From a high point of view, he looked forward to the bright future of the northern war zone and the empire. Then, all the provincial officials expressed their support for the establishment of the northern war zone. In the end, it was the final stage of the Conference. As the host, Zhao Handong took the stage and made a speech, thanking the various provinces for their support. After the rations have been distributed, the people's militia teams of each province can set off.
But just as Zhao Handong was about to finish speaking, before he even finished reading the names and titles of the northern province s, he heard a tsunami like cry. Initially, Zhao Handong thought that they were setting up an army camp to cause trouble. After knitting his eyebrows together, he decided to finish reading the script.
However, the cries of alarm grew louder and louder as they got closer and closer. Following them were the sounds of footsteps and screams. Zhao Handong's face finally changed, this was not nonsense, this was an explosion!
Shi Keren and the others also realized that something was amiss. Everyone was born into the same line of descent, and they knew the consequences of raiding a camp. If one of them did not deal with the situation well, the entire city would collapse or even mutate. The several officers immediately ignored everything else and began to arrange their own troops in order to guard against the chaos.
In this way, the most awkward thing was Zhao Handong who was a landlord. At the moment, other than the ten-odd guards around him, there was not a single person left. They could only stick together with Shi Keren and hide within the people's militia formations of other provinces to watch the city's gate. At the same time, the captain of the southern gate was frantically running towards the city gate. He had to hurry up and inform his subordinates to close the gate, because if it was really chaotic, then he definitely couldn't let them rush out from the city gate.
However, just as the captain of the city gates ran out of the city, not even a few breaths of time, an even louder noise rang out. The city gates that were already half closed suddenly opened, and a large number of people's militia surged out from within like a sealed bottle, rushing out at an extremely fast speed.
"Those who escape, fall into chaos, or disobey orders, die!"
Under the lead of their respective straps, the people's militia soldiers shouted in unison. They fiercely thrust the shields in their hands into the ground, causing "thump" sounds that caused even the ground to slightly shake.
The people's militia soldiers who had escaped from the Phoenix City Pass were stunned for a moment. Some of them even began to flee in other directions, while others directly waved their hands and shouted, "Brothers, run! The monster had entered the city! If you don't run now, you'll lose your life! " Before he could even close his mouth to shout, an arrow more than a foot long pierced into his mouth. The arrow pierced through his throat and emerged from the back of his neck. This person's face was filled with fear and shock as he fell to the ground.
Zhao Handong put down his bow decked with horn of an animal with a cold face, his single eye flashed with a cold ray of light, and he roared out loud, "Those who escape, make a mess, and disobey orders, die!"
When some people were killed by the arrow, the people's militia soldiers calmed down for a moment, but after a while, they let out another boom, and once again rushed towards the northern province army formation with long swords held, their movements becoming even more orderly. It was obvious that they would rather fight their way through here with their robes than return to the Phoenix City Pass itself.
"Support!"
The provincial people's militia Soldiers obviously did not plan to kill this group of comrades. The provincial people's militia Soldiers clearly did not plan to kill this group, and the provincial people's militia Soldiers evidently did not plan to kill this group of comrades.
It was at this time that Phoenix City Border Army appeared at the city gate. Compared to people's militia, their retreat was much more orderly. There were many soldiers in the front lines who would run to the back of the troop to rest for a while, then raise their shields and raise their weapons as they waited.
Even so, their actions caused Zhao Handong to be extremely shocked. Phoenix City Border Army relied on defense, so it was important not to retreat. If the Border Army s do not retreat, then the city wall will not lose; if the city wall does not lose, then the Phoenix City can be preserved. Once Border Army was withdrawn, what about Phoenix City Pass? What about the northern province behind the Phoenix City Pass?
Zhao Handong looked in the direction of the Border Army. Finally, he saw a nightmarish scene through the crack between the Border Army Soldier s: A group of weird-looking "soldiers" chasing after his Border Army brothers. Their movements were nimble and their strength was incomparable. They would often be able to knock Border Army Soldier, who was wielding a pair of heavy shields, back a few meters with a single punch or leap one to two Zhang high up in the air to surprise the Border Army team.
"What exactly is this thing?" Zhao Handong and Shi Keren looked at each other, and saw panic and helplessness in each other's eyes. However, this was not the time for discussion. The only thing he could do was to quickly form a team and rearrange his formation to fight the enemy!
Under the desperate resistance of the Phoenix City Border Army, the province people's militia s that were prepared to move back home rearranged themselves in a formation, and encircled the southern gate of the Phoenix City Pass. Even the Phoenix City Pass s who escaped with a panicked look on their faces slightly calmed down, and panted behind the province people's militia, finally no longer had any thoughts of escaping.
When Phoenix City Border Army was pushed out of the city gate step by step, exposing those strange soldiers to the daylight, Shi Keren, Zhao Handong and the tens of thousands of provincial people's militia soldiers simultaneously sucked in a cold breath.
"What exactly is this thing?"
This group of soldiers were dressed in heavy armor clothes, they were tall and big, and under their helmets, their appearance was intimidating. Some had long, pointed beaks, long ears, and protruding canine teeth. They looked like wolves, some had round eyes, and some were lying on their face with their beaks three times. They were clearly a tiger. As for the last one hundred soldiers, they were at least 10 feet tall. Their entire bodies were covered with black fur, and the only difference was that there was a white fur on their chest – this was like a bear!
Some of them were unarmed, some held heavy hammers, and some held a stone. In a fight, there was no such thing as plan or strategy. It was a battle that relied solely on superhuman strength and jumping to achieve victory. Under the circumstances of one's strength being reduced by ten, it was simply impossible for ordinary Border Army to withstand a single blow from them. In addition to that, with a palm as sharp as a tiger's claw, anyone who came into contact with it would die. Furthermore, they had thick fur and wore heavy armor s. Even if they were slightly weaker, if their swords or sabers were not sharp enough, they would not be able to harm them at all. In this situation, this group of eccentric soldiers could be said to be invincible.
It had to be said that the fact that Phoenix City Border Army was able to resist to such a degree when faced with such a group of suddenly strange soldiers was already considered to be beyond ordinary.
Zhao Handong suppressed the panic in his heart, while commanding his Border Army to retreat, he ordered his people's militia to be attacked with arrows. Although the bow decked with horn of an animal's lethality wasn't too great, it was superior in numbers. It was able to suppress the enemy for a while, allowing the Border Army a breather. Although the enemies had extraordinary fighting strength, they had a large number of people's militia s, and most of them had Imperial Military Academy s or battle experience. They could strengthen each other, fill in the gaps, and still be able to hold on somewhat.
After a few rounds, Zhao Handong found out his enemy's weakness. Their battle strength far exceeded that of ordinary people, and was not even inferior to Demonic Beast s. However, they also had their own ailment, which was that they were impulsive and not easy to command. Although there were a few 'people' who looked like military officers who were constantly roaring, there were still some soldiers who wantonly broke away from the group and charged into the people's militia formation. In the end, they were either killed by random arrows or by long spears. If he could gather the superior forces to attack it, it wouldn't be difficult to do so!
However, just because they found out the problem, didn't mean they could solve it. What Zhao Handong lacked the most now was a way to solve this problem. In Phoenix City Pass Third Battalion, only battalion had been withdrawn. The whereabouts of the other two battalions were unknown, and they did not even know if they were dead or alive. All that was left were scattered people's militia. Tens of thousands of people's militia s were barely enough to tie with the less than one thousand enemies in front of them, and they had to rely on them to assault their enemies, the consequences could be imagined.
Just as Zhao Handong was hopping up and down in a rush, the sound of horse hooves came from the south. Hearing this voice, Zhao Handong laughed so hard that his mouth almost reached the back of his head.
When Ling Zilu brought his Red Camp out, he originally wanted to relax, and didn't want to get angry with Zhao Handong. However, after wandering around for a long time, he still hadn't seen any of the province's people's militia past, and felt that something was amiss. After finding out that a few frantic Phoenix City Pass s were fleeing in the direction of Huai Lai County, he ordered some people to capture them. After questioning them, he found out that there were monsters attacking the city and it was a mess outside the southern gate.
The Phoenix City Pass brought Ling Zilu with it, and he immediately made a decision. He ordered the entire camp of Fire Phoenix Army to gather, and used the battle queues to assault the Phoenix City Pass! This act, which was normally seen as outrageous, had now saved Phoenix City Pass.
The Fire Phoenix Man-at-arms was like a flowing flame as it cut in from the east side of the people's militia and exited from the west. Under the assistance of the war horses, the 20 feet long javelins pierced through the bodies of those strange soldiers like giant bolt s. Whether it was the tiger, leopard, bear, or wolf, none of them were able to escape from the thunderbolt. After three rounds of attacks, there were no longer any soldiers left standing.
Ling Zilu did not wait for the cheers from people's militia to finish, he immediately ordered the Red Camp Knight to reorganize his troops, and the entire camp was split into two after entering the city, they would first go to the Border Army encampment, and then expel the remaining enemy troops.
At this time, Zhao Handong also made his decision on the spot. He led Border Army and leading them into the trial in a tight formation, pressing down the foot of the Red Camp, preparing to surround them at any time. However, Shi Keren pulled down his old face, and ordered the five provinces to immediately gather their troops. Without his order, not a single soldier is allowed to leave the Phoenix City Pass!
After entering the pass again, the scene inside was appalling. There were broken walls everywhere, corpses strewn across the fields. Most of the corpses were missing parts. There were organs and bits of flesh everywhere. The only thing worth celebrating was that the other two battalions' Border Army wasn't too heavy. Although they were ambushed, the good thing was that the living quarters had their backs against the city wall, and with the Border Army warriors doing their best to resist, they managed to forcefully hold on until the arrival of the Red Camp Knight. Furthermore, there was another unexpected harvest. They had discovered that these strange soldiers were afraid of fire.
A frantic Border Army soldier was surrounded by three soldiers in a corner. In his panic, he had pulled out a burning firewood from the kitchen to use as a weapon to defend himself. This firewood that wasn't even three feet long became his life saver, and none of the three soldiers dared to come within ten feet of him.
It was also precisely because of this fortuitous discovery that this entire battalion had been endured by this Border Army Soldier. When Ling Zilu discovered them, this Border Army Soldier did not lose more than fifty people, so far, other than the Red Camp, they had suffered the least.
However, after entering the city, new problems started to arise. The roads of the city were crisscrossed, and the Red Camp s were no longer able to unleash the advantage of heavy cavalry charging. In a one-on-one fight, no soldier was a match for those monstrous soldiers. Although the officers and soldiers who had entered the city were already inside, they had no way to deal with these strange soldiers who were using their houses and roads as cover.
Finally, Shi Keren glared and waved his hand: Burning City!
The knights of Red Camp recklessly sprinkled the kerosene at the places where the strange soldiers came from. Then, they lit the arrows and shot them into the house with a 'pa' sound. Along with the rising fire, those soldiers rushed out of the house screaming, flinging out the flames on their bodies while dashing towards the Knights as if they were crazy. However, the Knights would not give them any chance, so they used their spears and bow decked with horn of an animal s to end their suffering.
Following the large number of houses being set ablaze, the strange soldiers retreated out of the Phoenix City Pass like tidewaters. They constantly let out miserable howls, as if this flame was their nemesis that they couldn't afford to offend.
Red Camp led the soldiers in the front and ran away while people's militia ran in the back and extinguished the fire. Even though a huge fire had chased away all the soldiers, it had still burned away half of their Phoenix City Pass. Countless houses were burnt and the newly built city walls were completely black. Even half of the Castellan Mansion had collapsed. What was most intolerable was the stench of burnt corpses after being burned by the flames.
After counting the corpses, the result of the battle was hopeless. This time, only five thousand of the strange soldiers had snuck into the city, and the losses of their Phoenix City Pass s were as high as 1: 15! These five thousand strange soldiers had almost completely annihilated the Phoenix City Pass, and almost seized the mountain pass. If Ling Zilu did not bring his Red Camp out in time, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
What made them even more despairing was the news brought back from the Red Camp. When the Demonic King Valley neared the Phoenix City Pass, they discovered signs of the Moqiu Army moving along with the Tiger King flag. Based on the judgement of the flag, the second dispatch of Moqiu State this time round, meant that the vanguard strength should not be less than one hundred thousand! The percentage of the soldiers was unknown.
In just half a year, the main trial of the three phoenix trials, Phoenix City Pass, had welcomed its second attack and defense. It was just that this time around, the enemy's strength had already far surpassed their imagination, and the fate of Phoenix City Pass had changed from the moment the Tiger King's flag was inserted into them.
Appearing in front of Kong Sheng and the Xiu'er was a Phoenix City Pass that was half burnt and filled with the stench of burnt corpses. The two of them also didn't know that their fates would change along with the Phoenix City Pass.
It could even be said that from this day onwards, the entire world had changed.