#787 - Kill the thief!!
At the end of Hai hour, south of Fengyuan City.
The battlefield echoed with the sound of war drums, and the array of soldiers stirred up dust.
The cold steel reflected a faint light, filled with a palpable killing intent, and the drums that permeated the wilderness were inexplicably mournful.
The resounding "dong, dong, dong" echoed through the night, the entire Fengyuan City resonating with the oppressive sound, as if the whole world was responding in song.
As soon as two hours had passed, the 330,000-strong Ning-Shu allied forces began to slowly advance, inching towards the distant Qian-Hui camp.
All 700,000 men had left their camp, forming several layers of tight defense lines facing Fengyuan, the banners with the characters "Qian" and "Hui" fluttering in the night.
In such a battle on open ground, there was little room for tactics; it was a contest of courage where the brave would win when meeting on a narrow road.
Precisely because of this, and at least for the moment, the Qian-Hui army, lacking a commander, showed no sign of fear, each soldier's face displaying only a resolute determination to fight to the death.
Fighting in a foreign land, coupled with the current situation, they had no retreat.
If they could not win this battle, everyone knew what awaited them.
Therefore, no matter how mentally and physically exhausted the 700,000 men were after the repeated harassment by the Sky Dog Army, they could only brace themselves to face the enemy.
Even though, until this very moment, their reinforcements had not arrived.
"Chieftain!"
"Young Master Chu has sent a letter!"
In the Qian-Hui army's camp, just as the two armies outside the camp were only a few miles apart, a man inside one of the few still-lit military tents suddenly stood up with a "whoosh", holding up a piece of linked jade in his hand.
He took two quick steps, handed the jade to Zhuang Zhiming, who had a serious expression on his face, and then, along with the others, nervously watched the latter, not daring to breathe loudly.
Since that night's successful ambush on Wei Changtian, this was the first time Chu Xianping had sent a message, and it would probably be the last before the end of the New Feng battle.
And without a doubt, the "instructions" in this message would likely affect, or even determine, the outcome of this battle.
...
A deathly silence filled the military tent, and outside the tent, there was no wind or sound.
Perhaps it was the "calm before the storm"; just as this destined bloody and cruel battle was imminent, everything from the night sky to the earth became silent, even the wild grass remained still.
From nervousness to surprise, to astonishment, to excitement, to doubt.
Zhuang Zhiming held the linked jade in his hand, his expression changing several times in a short span of a few dozen breaths.
After a few more breaths, he finally put down the jade, which was no longer warm, and raised his head to scan the people in the tent who were staring intently at him.
"Everyone, if we succeed tonight, we may finally be able to glimpse the secret of that First Grade..."
The calm voice slowly rang out, and with just one sentence, everyone's eyes widened and their breathing became rapid.
It had been mentioned before that Zhuang Zhiming and Chu Xianping were not in a "superior-subordinate" relationship, but rather a cooperative one.
And the only thing he sought in his willingness to obey Chu Xianping's orders was the Moon Picking Sword.
What specific deal Zhuang Zhiming made with Chu Xianping, and how he was certain that Chu Xianping would fulfill his promise, remained unknown and unimportant.
What was important was that after tonight, Chu Xianping would give him the Moon Picking Sword manual.
As for the last thing he had to do for this...
"Old Zhang, Old Liu, Old Yang, you stay behind."
"Remember, after the battle begins, you will..."
...
Turning to look at the three men, Zhuang Zhiming said a few words with a serious expression.
Then, under the increasingly astonished gazes of the others, he said in a deep voice to the remaining six people:
"You, come with me!"
...
"Huff!"
Like a gust of cold wind sweeping past, the seven people, including Zhuang Zhiming, disappeared after a few breaths, leaving only the three men with the lowest cultivation levels still standing in the tent.
The three men looked at each other, each seeing a trace of shock from the bottom of their hearts in the other's eyes.
Because only at this moment did they finally understand just how grand Chu Xianping's scheme was...
Dark clouds covered the moon, blotting out the sky and pressing down on the earth.
At the sixth刻 of Hai hour, there were still two刻 before the decisive battle.
"Rumble!"
Surrounded by black armor, as the military formation stretching for several miles slowly came to a halt, the golden commander's flag in the center of the army also slowly stopped waving.
Looking past the heads of countless soldiers, and glancing at the endless flames on the opposite side, Han Zhao focused his gaze on Wei Changtian beside him.
It was clear that he was waiting for the latter to issue the final order to attack.
The moon was dim, the wind stopped, and the sand settled.
At this moment, the entire battlefield was silent, with only the occasional neighing of horses.
Standing on this extremely oppressive battlefield, Wei Changtian suddenly felt that everything was somewhat surreal.
Two years ago, he was just an ordinary person struggling to survive.
And now...
To be honest, this was the first time Wei Changtian had experienced such a scene.
He did not participate in the entire Feng-Ning war in the beginning.
During the Shu Prefecture battle, Guanghan County was a defensive city battle, and the Niutou Mountain ambush was a one-sided massacre.
And in the recent Liang Prefecture battle, he did not go to the surprise attack on Xianchi, and the subsequent battles never even started.
Therefore, although he had been involved in every battle to some extent, he had never really witnessed a large-scale war scene.
Especially not this kind of most tragic plain large army group battle.
...
Taking a deep breath, Wei Changtian felt as if the air around him was becoming more and more viscous, and every breath was filled with a heroic flavor.
Black clouds pressed down on the city, threatening to crush it.
At this moment, he finally understood what extreme oppression was.
This was a silence of millions holding their breath, a tremor of millions of hearts beating.
For Wei Changtian, for Xu Sui, for Chu Xianping, for Lü Hongji, this battle involved too many conflicts of interest and conspiracies.
But for the millions of ordinary soldiers standing on the battlefield at this moment, they were not fighting for themselves, but for their ruler and for their country.
An inch of land for an inch of blood, a hundred thousand youths for a hundred thousand soldiers.
A hundred thousand people united in loyalty and righteousness, fighting for thousands of miles of rivers and mountains.
Without a doubt, countless people would die tonight.
But just like Wei Changtian's heroic act of breaking into the enemy camp alone a few days ago, even if this battle was so magnificent and turbulent, only a small note would be left in the history books.
Huff!
A gust of wind swept past, and the True Dragon appeared.
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Wei Changtian stepped onto the dragon's head, and a great golden light shone around him.
Normally, at this time, he should say some exciting words to boost morale.
However, he just slowly drew out the Dragon Spring Sword, pointed it forward, and after a few breaths, roared out two earth-shattering four-character phrases.
...
"Rise, wind!!!!"
"Kill, Traitors!!!!!"
