The Glory After Rebirth [ɇÇ”Ÿä¹‹Å°Šè£] Chapter 535- 537

Chapter 535: Unapproachable Ramparts

Just at this time, an urgent intelligence report was delivered to the tent, which said that enemy reinforcements were only half a day’s march away from Lishan City.

“So soon?” Ling Zhang furrowed his brows. It seemed that the reinforcements of the Luohai Kingdom were also aware of the strategic importance of Lishan City and had been traveling day and night.

“Is it doable to take Lishan City within half a day?” inquired Ling Zhang.

“Lishan City’s defenses are about to give way. We can take it within half a day if we go all out,” replied Yuwen Jin.

Xiao Jiangyue shook his head. “We’ll need some time to get prepared after taking Lishan City, in case enemy reinforcements attack us when our troops are tired.”

Xiao Jiangyue, an experienced general, covered all the bases.

Yuwen Tong had the same opinion.

Ling Zhang thought about it for a moment and then said, “I’ll sneak into the city and figure out a way to open the gates.”

“How are you going to get in there?” asked Xiao Jiangyue.

Ling Zhang said, “My Lightness Skills are pretty good. I’ll climb over the ramparts when the defenders’ attention is drawn to you guys.”

“That would be great!” said Yuwen Jin excitedly.

Yuwen Tong cast him a warning look and observed, “That’s too dangerous.”

Yuwen Jin, taken aback by his second cousin, recalled Ling Zhang’s identity and hastened to agree, “Sire is right. You should not do that, Brother Zhang.”

Ling Zhang said, “I’ll be careful, and I’ll take Jiang Xi Yao Yi and some others with me. Even if I can’t open the city gates, I’ll kill as many enemies as possible to distract them.”

Xiao Jiangyue and the others looked at Yuwen Tong.

Yuwen Tong inclined his head eventually. “You must be very cautious.”

Having got Yuwen Tong’s consent, Ling Zhang, along with Jiang Xi, Yao Yi, Wang Dashan and some others, immediately blended in with the crowd of soldiers attacking the city, sneaked to the foot of the ramparts and, while the defenders were distracted by the troops, secretly found a spot where they soundlessly climbed to the top of the ramparts before entering the city while no one was watching.

The moment they gained entry into the city, Ling Zhang noticed that the city gates were blocked by a giant rock the size of a mound.

“Holy shit. What a huge rock,” exclaimed Qiu Bing in a muted voice.

“They must’ve transported the rock there with chariots, given the deep ruts in the ground,” remarked Ling Zhang.

They were now hiding in a secluded corner nearby, observing the situation at the city gates.

“If we are to open the city gates, we’ll have to figure out a way to remove that rock, but even with all our strength combined, moving a rock that size will take a lot of doing, and there’s no way we could do it quietly enough not to be spotted. The soldiers will definitely attack us. This is tricky,” said Jiang Xi.

“Enormous as the rock is, it’s not really immovable,” observed Ling Zhang. With his powerful internal energy, he could remove the rock single-handed, but it would take some time. After this thought occurred to him, he said, “Dashan and the others are to adopt a defensive formation and hold the enemy soldiers at bay. I’ll take care of the rock.”

“Let us help,” said Yao Yi.

Fortunately all of them were top-notch kung fu masters with superb internal energy.

Ling Zhang nodded, quickly made some arrangements and then, while none of the defenders had noticed their intrusion, sprinted at the city gates with the others.

Jiang Xi, brandishing his spear with wicked gleams, charged into the crowd of enemy soldiers and instantly attracted all their attention. Wang Dashan and the others, taking advantage of the chaotic situation, streaked into the short passageway behind the blocked city gates, quickly killed all the soldiers inside, turned around and formed into a defensive formation, holding the other defenders back.

Ling Zhang, Yao Yi and some others stood beside the giant rock. Ling Zhang scrutinized it for a moment and said, “This rock is not very solid.”

They could break it where it was, but the large pile of broken rock would still make it inconvenient for the city gates to be opened, so they decided to remove it.

Ling Zhang, who had reached the sixth layer of his cultivation method, had long since developed a high proficiency in his palm technique, and his internal energy was more than enough for him to halve a rock the size of a mound.

He immediately mobilized all his internal energy and gave the rock a stupendous push with his palms.

The gigantic rock jolted and then started moving backwards, grating violently across the ground.

Yao Yi and the others were also straining every sinew, trying to help Ling Zhang remove the immense rock. At first the rock was edging along, but after a few moments, when they had more space and could better exert their power, the rock moved a lot faster.

“Don’t let them remove the rock! Shoot them!” someone bellowed outside.

Ling Zhang frowned but was still pushing with all his might, teeth clenched.

BOOM!

When the rock was about to be pushed out of the passageway, Ling Zhang yelled at Wang Dashan and the others, “Step aside!”

Wang Dashan and the others rapidly backed deeper into the passageway as the enormous rock toppled forward to the ground with a great crash!

With that Ling Zhang gave a palm strike and the next moment elemental internal energy exploded inside the mound-sized rock which was instantly reduced to numerous flying pieces.

All the defenders in the vicinity were hit by the shooting pieces.

“Open the gates!” shouted Ling Zhang.

Yao Yi and the others spun around and lunged at the gates as a hail of arrows arrived.

Ling Zhang, who had just taken a breath, whipped out his sword and, mobilizing his powerful internal energy, wielded the sword in a fluid circular motion at the broken rocks on the ground and with that they flew up into mid-air before shooting towards the incoming arrows.

A flurry of clinks rang out as more than half of the volley of arrows were downed by the flying rubble, the remnants of them blocked by Ling Zhang’s sword. Two or three arrows whizzed past Ling Zhang but were then parried by those behind him.

At the same time, Yao Yi had quickly removed the long iron bolt, unlatching the city gates …

…

No sooner had the gates been unbolted than troops of the Great Wen flooded into the city and engaged the defenders.

Ling Zhang, when exiting the city, suddenly sensed that there was something dangerous in the east and promptly went in that direction.

His bodyguards hastened to follow in his wake. Yao Yi and the others, unable to extricate themselves from the fight with the defenders for the time being, couldn’t go with them, looking apprehensive as they saw Ling Zhang swoosh off and quickly disappear from view.

Ling Zhang hurtled all the way to the east city gates, his bodyguards on his heels.

“What’s this about, Young Master?” asked Liu Yi.

The east city gates were wide open and it was very quiet outside. The enemy reinforcements had not arrived yet. Most of the enemy soldiers had gone to the west city gates to help, leaving only a small number of them standing guard.

Compared with the sparse soldiers guarding the gates, the panic-stricken residents trying to flee the city were in much greater numbers.

Ling Zhang couldn’t spare a thought for that matter. He had a hunch that the reinforcements of the Luohai Kingdom were not far away and would soon arrive.

The city gates must be closed.

Ling Zhang’s eyes swept through the steady stream of civilians exiting the city. “Get into a formation and stop them,” he said to his bodyguards.

Slaughtering these civilians was not an option, so he could only hold them back.

His bodyguards, also aware of it, raised no objection and promptly followed Ling Zhang’s orders, forming into a formation and holding the civilians back.

Ling Zhang, after allowing the residents who were already at the gates to get through, quickly killed the enemy soldiers standing guard and shut the gates.

“Let us out!”

“They are from the Great Wen!”

“Are they here to kill us?”

“Let us out!”

The civilians were thrown into confusion.

BANG! All of a sudden, a Luohai soldier was knocked off his feet by a spear, which then penetrated his chest and pinned him to the ground in front of the crowd of shouting citizens, a violent shock wave of internal energy forcing many in the vicinity back several paces.

“I’m not going to kill you,” said Ling Zhang, emerging from behind his bodyguards, his cold eyes raking the crowds who found his voice striking fear into their hearts. “None of the Great-Wen soldiers would kill any innocent civilians in this city or plunder any of your houses, but if anybody puts up a resistance, they’ll end up like this man!”

He was emanating that commanding air at full stretch, which served as such a deterrent to the residents in the vicinity none of them dared utter a word. Some of them, gazing at the dead body on the ground, were shaking from head to foot.

Ling Zhang instructed Wang Dashan and the others to stand guard where they were and kill anybody who walked past that dead body.

The residents, who were trying to flee the city because they didn’t want to die, were scared by Ling Zhang’s brutal act and the murderous air about his bodyguards, not daring do anything rash.

Ling Zhang glanced at the body on the ground, withdrew his eyes and then walked up the flight of steps to the top of the ramparts.

The reinforcements of the Luohai Kingdom would soon arrive, but the defenders inside the city had not been wiped out yet, and the streets were still blocked. Yuwen Tong’s men wouldn’t be able to come any time soon. He must figure out a way to hold back the Luohai reinforcements.

After giving it some thought, he believed that the only way was to deploy a deceptive Formation outside the city.

…

In order to reach Lishan City before the Great-Wen army did so that they could keep the Great-Wen army out, the Luohai reinforcements had been traveling day and night. As the ramparts of Lishan City came into view in the distance, all of them felt a sense of relief.

Though all the troops were rather weary, the commander still decided to enter the city immediately in case anything unexpected happened.

The large army progressed towards the east city gates of Lishan City along the national road.

After quite a while, an officer suddenly perceived that something was wrong.

“General, do the ramparts strike you as unchanged, or is it just me?”

The commander did not cotton on to what the officer meant. “There’s nothing wrong with the ramparts,” he said, looking in that direction.

“That’s not what I mean, General. What I’m trying to say is that the ramparts seem to be just as distant as they were a quarter of an hour ago. Theoretically we should have approached the outside of the city by now. How come it still appears to be that far away?”

The commander jumped at the words and then found that the officer was telling the truth. The ramparts seemed just as distant as they had been when he had first seen them, which obviously didn’t make any sense.

But surely the ramparts had not been moving away from them as though they had feet?

“Don’t be ridiculous. Hurry up, all of you! We’ll be inside the city in less than an hour!” yelled the commander.

Though it struck him that there was something fishy at work, he was unable to find a plausible explanation for it, so he could only instruct his men to pick up speed, believing that they would find out the reason when they reached the city gates.

The reinforcements of the Luohai Kingdom quickened their pace. The soldiers had been traveling non-stop for days, their feet blistered, their lips pallid, mingled tiredness and numbness etched in every line of their faces. The commander ordered them to hurry up, so they numbly walked faster.

Gradually, an hour passed.

The ramparts still seemed to be as distant as they had been an hour ago.

The commander gave the order to cease proceeding, swallowed hard and muttered, “This can’t be happening. Why haven’t we got any closer to it?”

“It’s daytime. Surely there are not any ghostly presences at play?” Another officer began to make speculations, appearing faintly unnerved. Having been journeying day and night for such a long time, not only the soldiers traveling on foot but also the officers riding horseback were weary and somewhat listless.

“That’s impossible! No ghostly presence dares show up in broad daylight! Stop undermining our troops’ morale with this kind of nonsense!” reprimanded the commander.

The officer instantly fell silent, not daring utter another word, but as he looked in the direction of the ramparts again, the expression in his eyes was now different, his bearing vigilant.

“We’ll have two hours’ rest in this place. Send the vanguard ahead to scout out the lay of the land,” said the commander.

Chapter 536: Triumphant Advance

When the reinforcements of the Luohai Kingdom, having traveled in circles outside the city for hours, began to panic, the fighting between the army of the Great Wen and the garrison of Lishan City had lasted almost two hours in the city and was coming to an end.

Xiao Jiangyue and He Xiao had taken some men to the east city gates and made some defensive arrangements.

“I just deployed an Illusion Formation. It’ll trap them in there for two hours at the most,” Ling Zhang said to Yuwen Tong.

The two of them were also on the ramparts, looking at the enemy reinforcements that could be vaguely seen outside the city and their approaching vanguard.

“Increase the guards by twenty percent. Tell the archers to get ready,” Yuwen Tong said to Xiao Jiangyue. “The enemy reinforcements must be exhausted after such a long journey. When they find out we’ve taken the city, they won’t attack immediately, but we must not give them the impression that the defense of this city is weak, lest they change their mind and stage an offensive.”

After all, the army of the Great Wen had just been through a battle and were now also fatigued.

Xiao Jiangyue soon carried out the orders. There were now more soldiers standing guard on the ramparts than there had been a moment ago. Also, some cheval-de-frise had been positioned outside the city gates and were heavily guarded.

…

The vanguard of the Luohai army reached the outside of the city and were startled as they saw that Lishan City had been taken by a Great-Wen army and was now well defended. They hurriedly returned to the place where the Luohai army was temporarily staying.

“General, Lishan City has fallen. There are Great-Wen soldiers everywhere near the city gates. Their defense is very strong.”

The commander’s countenance changed drastically. Looking at Lishan City in the distance, he asked through gritted teeth, “Are you sure of what you saw?”

“A hundred percent. Those Great-Wen soldiers are vigorous and vigilant and there seems to be no weakness in their defense. I’m afraid we’ll suffer heavy casualties if we launch a frontal attack on the city right away.”

The commander angrily threw his helmet to the ground. “Fuck! We traveled day and night but still failed to make it in time. The commander of the garrison is such a good-for-nothing. With all the strategic advantages they had, they didn’t even hold the city long enough for us to arrive!”

None of the other officers dared say a word.

Consumed with anger, the commander cursed loudly for a long moment before he eventually huffed, “Make camp right here. We’ll attack after some rest and take the city back!”

“Yes, General!”

…

In Lishan City.

The Luohai army deterred, Yuwen Tong immediately gave the order for the troops to rest and regroup.

“Tonight we’ll raid the encampment of the Luohai army out there.”

Yuwen Tong’s decision amazed all the officers, for they had just been through a battle, and their troops were all tired. Raiding the Luohai encampment outside the city in these circumstances would be a very stressful task for the soldiers.

“The Luohai army have been traveling day and night and all their soldiers are drained, their feet blistered. Since this is their first time stopping to rest, their soldiers would drop their guard and be sleeping deeply at night, which would be a golden opportunity for us to launch a sneak attack,” said Yuwen Tong.

Ling Zhang immediately came to understand what Yuwen Tong meant. The Luohai soldiers were even more tired than Great-Wen soldiers.

Xiao Jiangyue agreed, “Sire is right. When they regain strength, we’ll be faced with an army with well-trained soldiers and sturdy horses, and defeating it will take a lot of doing. This is indeed a good opportunity to deal them a heavy blow.”

“But they have already come to know our defenses are strong, and I’m afraid they would be guarding against a night-time surprise attack,” said He Xiao.

Jiang Ke shook his head and said, “Even if they’re guarding against it, there’s no way they could stay on full alert. They’ve traveled non-stop for days, and that’s the deadliest blow to them. There’s no way their soldiers could stay sharp tonight, even if their commander repeat the orders again and again, because they’re only human.”

He Xiao gave it some thought and said, “How about we put out feelers first?”

“We’ll take them down in one fell swoop. There’s no need to risk alerting them,” said Yuwen Tong. “We got four hours before sunset. Send word for all the soldiers to rest in the city, except for those responsible for clearing the battlefield and those guarding the city gates. Tell the cooks to prepare enough meat dishes for the troops as a treat so that they can sleep with their bellies full. We’ll depart at the end of Zi Hour (23:00-00:59).”

This would guarantee that the soldiers had enough time to rest and recharge. Even if they couldn’t regain all their strength, their level of combat readiness would be far higher than that of the Luohai army!

Nobody raised any objections. The officers immediately set off to carry out Yuwen Tong’s orders.

Soon, apart from army cooks, some local cooks in the city were also summoned. Under close supervision of some soldiers, the cooks quickly prepared a hearty meal. All the fresh meat was provided by caravans that had been following in the army’s wake.

For troops of the Great Wen who had been fighting at the front, Jiahe Chamber of Commerce dutifully providing them with sufficient supplies was no doubt an enjoyable, exclusive, special treatment.

After the army had their fill of food and drink, officers of all descriptions received the order to raid the Luohai encampment after midnight and with that they instructed the soldiers to find places to rest.

Soon, before sunset, silence reigned over the city.

The soldiers who were still clearing the battlefield were keeping their voices down when talking, trying not to make any noises.

The citizens were unaware of what was going on, baffled as to why the city had suddenly quieted down. However, because the atmosphere in the city was too weird and there had just been a battle, everybody was infected by the mood, not daring speak aloud, all their front doors tightly shut.

High-ranking officials of Lishan City were temporarily locked up in cells. Those low-ranking ones were too afraid to do anything and, just like the commoners, were hiding in their respective houses and trembling all over with their doors shut.

Soon night fell.

The commander of the Luohai army had indeed given the order for his men to stay alert and made arrangements for teams of soldiers to patrol the perimeter according to a strict schedule, but the rest of the soldiers, who could finally have some rest, soon drifted into sleep so deep their officers were having trouble waking them up to relieve the sentries.

…

At midnight.

The soldiers sound asleep on the ground in Lishan City suddenly awoke and rose to their feet one after another. They silently rearranged their armor and checked their weapons, their eyes glinting dauntingly.

Beneath the inky night sky, by the light from the torches on the ramparts in the distance and the sparse street lanterns, the troops mustered soundlessly.

When Zi Hour was almost over, the east city gates were quietly opened.

Under the cloak of darkness, the army of the Great Wen were progressing, staring in the direction of the Luohai encampment in the distance, their eyes as ferocious as those of wolves.

…

Ling Zhang, wearing hauberk under his black night-suit, along with his bodyguards, blended in with the vanguard and were the first to approach the Luohai encampment.

He listened hard for a while before he said to He Xiao and Jiang Xi flanking him, “It’s very quiet in there. Most soldiers were fast asleep, considering their even breathing.”

Ling Zhang possessed very powerful internal energy and was capable of hearing faint sounds from very far away. He Xiao and Jiang Xi had long since come to know about this, so they naturally believed him.

“He Xiao, you and His Highness may take some men and get rid of the cheval-de-frise. I’ll take care of the sentries on the two watchtowers,” said Jiang Xi.

They both nodded and, after the order to attack was given, immediately charged at the encampment with the soldiers.

At the same time, Jiang Xi, along with a row of consummate archers, aimed their bows in the direction of the watchtowers and loosed their arrows, which flew straight towards the Luohai soldiers on the watchtowers like shooting stars and went into their eyes, shoulders, etc. The sentries were either directly killed or sent flying off the watchtowers by the great force of the impact and none of them had the chance to beat any of the big drums.

Ling Zhang and the others reached the watchtowers shortly after the volley of arrows. They lunged at those that had just fallen from the towers and finished them off.

He Xiao and his men sprinted towards the cheval-de-frise!

“WE’RE UNDER ATTACK! WE’RE UNDER ATTACK!”

An army patrol started yelling, but since nobody beat any of the big drums, the alarm only reached the ears of a limited number of soldiers. Most were still deep asleep. Only a small number of men woke up.

Flaming arrows rained down on the Luohai encampment like a meteor shower, igniting tents and everything else flammable.

When Great-Wen troops ferociously flooded into the Luohai encampment, Ling Zhang had found the location where food supplies and fodder of the Luohai army were stored. He also found some oil in that place and started pouring it over the tents, which soon turned into a blazing inferno in which those food supplies and fodder were reduced to ashes.

“Kill them!”

Battle cry filled the whole encampment. Many Luohai soldiers were stabbed to death in their sleep; some awoke to find themselves afire and writhed around on the ground. All was chaos and confusion in the encampment, Luohai soldiers resisting and fleeing hurry scurry.

Yuwen Tong, leading a group of crack troops, sped into the encampment and encountered the Luohai general, who hated Yuwen Tong’s guts and galloped towards Yuwen Tong, face bloodstained, a long knife in his hand. “Yuwen Tong, you despicable bastard actually stooped to sneak attack! I’ll kill you!”

Ling Zhang arrived just in time to see this and spot a Luohai archer hidden in the shadows, who was about to fire an arrow at Yuwen Tong whose attention was drawn to the Luohai general.

The look in his eyes turned cold and with that he hurled his sword at the archer.

With a puff, the blade of Ling Zhang’s sword penetrated the archer’s chest before he could loose the arrow.

Ling Zhang leapt down, retrieved his sword and joined the fight.

…

This battle lasted a whole night. Raging flames could be seen everywhere in the Luohai encampment. There was no telling whether weapons or flames took more Luohai soldiers’ lives.

By dawn, except for a group of soldiers who had fled the battlefield helter-skelter, the whole Luohai army had been annihilated in the night-time raid.

…

Yuwen Tong did not order his men to pursue the remnants of the Luohai force on the run.

“We’ve certainly demoralized the Luohai Kingdom greatly in this battle. Now there’s only one prefecture standing between us and the Luohai capital. It’ll take the Luohai Kingdom quite some time to muster another army strong enough to defend against us without summoning the troops stationed in that prefecture,” said Ling Zhang.

And the army of the Great Wen would not stop advancing in the interim.

The whole army were quite excited about this great victory.

Yuwen Tong gave the order for the troops to have three days’ rest before departure.

Apart from handsome rewards, the soldiers could also use a good rest. They were in no fit state to enter another battle immediately.

Though the Luohai Kingdom would not be able to send any more reinforcements any time soon, it was unwise to let their guard down.

Thus the army made Lishan City a stronghold and spent three days resting and regrouping in it. Meanwhile, news of the Luohai reinforcements being routed spread through all nearby cities. Many officials who had been waiting for the outcome of this battle panicked. Some even gave the order for the city gates to be sealed, though there was no sign of enemy coming yet; officials of the nearest city packed their valuables and directly fled. With nobody organizing the defense, the citizens had no choice but to make their escape as well, and the prosperous city became deserted in less than two days.

…

After that, the advance of the Great-Wen army grew even more inexorable as Luohai cities fell one after another.

When the army closed in on the Luohai capital, Ling Zhang received an urgent letter from Lian Hai.

Dugu Shan was dead.

Chapter 537: The Surrender of a Leaderless Country

It had been the young monarch who had succeeded to the throne with Dugu Shan’s assistance that had taken Dugu Shan’s life.

This unexpected occurrence had come as a surprise to not only Lian Hai and Han Shu but also the whole Luohai court.

Clearly the young monarch had harbored a grudge against Dugu Shan after being informed that the latter had planned to take the throne in his stead, which was why he had killed Dugu Shan after the latter entered the palace.

Dugu Miao, after coming to know that the young monarch had murdered his father, had realized that the Dugu family was faced with the fate of being wiped out. Filled with indignation, he had led all his house guards and the half of the troops stationed in the city to the royal palace and forced entry.

Lian Hai had just finished writing this letter when, from the royal palace, had come news that the young monarch and Dugu Miao had both died during the fight.

The scouts planted in the royal palace by Lian Hai had confirmed the young monarch’s and Dugu Miao’s deaths. There were not many members in the royal household. Nian Feng had killed many of them when trying to usurp the throne, and Dugu Shan, in order to make sure that nobody made another prince a puppet monarch, had killed the last few sons of Mu Hengtian’s not long ago. Now that the young monarch was dead, the royal household had actually been exterminated.

The Luohai capital was now in a state of anarchy.

Ling Zhang was shocked and speechless at the message. The Luohai Kingdom had really brought about its own destruction.

The others were also astounded at the news.

“S–So the Luohai Kingdom has perished without us launching an attack.” Yuwen Jin was so amazed he was stuttering.

Everybody was feeling as though they had just hit pay dirt. Though shocked, they could barely keep from laughing.

“All members of the Mu family are dead, and none of the courtiers could make the others come to heel. Who do you think still stands a chance of becoming the Luohai monarch?”

“Nobody. Even if they have someone act as a regent, it wouldn’t make much difference.”

After a few moments’ silence, the officers were seized by great enthusiasm.

“Sire, should we take advantage of this golden opportunity and have our troops set off right away?”

“Yeah. We should fight our way to the Luohai capital and take it. It’s almost defenseless now.”

The Luohai Kingdom was now leaderless, its people panic-stricken, so there would hardly be any resistance.

Yuwen Tong glanced at them and said, “Calm down. Do not underestimate the enemy.”

On hearing these words, the thrilled officers recovered themselves.

“You’re right, Sire. I was being reckless.”

“Still, we can’t stand by and do nothing.”

“I think many people in this country are still unaware of it. We should spread the news for them.”

Ling Zhang said, “I’ll handle it.”

There were still many hard-core members of Jiahe Chamber of Commerce hidden in the cities and towns near the Luohai capital.

…

The news spread very fast. Two days later, everybody in the cities and towns near the Luohai capital had come to know about it.

When the Great-Wen army staged an assault, the Luohai troops stationed in a city chose to surrender themselves. The army took the city without suffering any casualties and then pushed squarely towards the Luohai capital.

When they reached the suburbs of the Luohai capital, Yuwen Tong gave the order to encamp instead of mounting an immediate offensive on the city.

Though the Luohai Kingdom was in anarchy, the defense of its capital was stronger than that of any provincial city, and breaching it would take a lot of doing, so Yuwen Tong planned to adopt another strategy to achieve his ends. He had his troops make camp outside the city, half surrounding it.

The sea of tents put the people inside the city under great emotional stress. The citizens turned restless, and there were several strands of opinions among the officials, who were having heated arguments.

Some advocated defending the city to the last breath.

Some believed they should sue for peace.

Some suggested they capitulate.

Only a couple of hidebound courtiers advocated defending the city. Those intending to sue for peace accounted for one third of the courtiers, still having the fond hope of helping the Luohai capital – or the Luohai regime – survive this crisis, despite the fact that the city was besieged by the army of the Great Wen. Most people were inclined to surrender, but not many had made public their stand on the matter; they were observing quietly, making no remarks, and would not say anything until the last moment.

Lian Hai and Han Shu had been staying in Jiahe Chamber of Commerce all along. Lian Hai, after Dugu Shan had helped the young prince succeed to the throne, had believed that his life was in danger and been on full alert, in case Dugu Shan made an attempt to kill him, but unexpectedly, Dugu Shan had at first been too occupied to find any time to kill him, and then been murdered by the young monarch. Afterward, Dugu Miao had taken some men and forced entry into the royal palace where he and the young monarch had died together during a fight. Lian Hai and Han Shu had both been caught flat-footed by the sudden change of the situation but also felt greatly relieved because of it.

The patriarch of the Dugu family and his heir were both dead. The rest of them were either worrying about the eventual fate of the Luohai Kingdom or busy dividing up family property. None of them knew about the relations between Lian Hai and Dugu Shan, so nobody would make trouble for him.

Thus, Lian Hai and Han Shu survived the upheavals.

The men they had planted in the royal palace, in a timely manner, sent them some messages about the arguments among the courtiers in the audience hall. After coming to know about it, Lian Hai and Han Shu both started thinking.

“The couple of geriatrics advocating defending the city are small in number, but they carry a lot of weight with the courtiers. If they keep doing this, it’ll waste a lot of our time. I think we should stir things up a little in the Luohai court one last time. By doing that, we’ll be getting revenge for our previous sufferings and at the same time assisting our master. What do you say?” said Han Shu.

Lian Hai said, “I couldn’t agree more. Tell me how you think we should do it.”

“We kill those geriatrics. If they die, those intending to sue for peace will know what it means. Considering the panic in the city, things will go the way we want once somebody suggests surrender,” said Han Shu.

Lian Hai gave it some thought and then nodded. “All right. Let’s do it your way. Our master is right outside the city. I’ll send him a letter first. You may start making arrangements straight away.”

Han Shu smiled, “You may rest assured that I’ll get the job done.”

Soon, Lian Hai’s letter was delivered to Ling Zhang.

Ling Zhang, after being informed of what Lian Hai and Han Shu were planning to do, immediately told Yuwen Tong about it.

“If they succeed, it won’t be long before we see those Luohai courtiers coming out of the city to surrender themselves,” said Ling Zhang.

Yuwen Tong looked at him and smiled, “These two subordinates of yours turn out to be quite audacious, but actually I’ve been thinking about the same thing.”

Yuwen Tong had chosen to lay siege to the city instead of attacking it because he wanted to wait for the people inside to capitulate. Of course, at first these people would want to sue for peace, but eventually they would no doubt yield.

However, Lian Hai and Han Shu’s action would shorten the process by having the courtiers skip the step of suing for peace.

…

The couple of old courtiers advocating defending the city to the last breath did not live in the palace. They returned home to sleep at night, though there was no telling whether they could get to sleep or not.

Lian Hai and Han Shu’s method was brutal and simple – assassination.

Presently most troops were stationed at the city gates, and there were barely any soldiers guarding courtiers’ abodes, which made it easier for Lian Hai and Han Shu to carry out their plan.

On the night of that very day.

Dozens of assassins showed up in the couple of courtiers’ abodes one after another.

“AAARGH!”

“Assassins! Assassins!”

“Master! Master!”

Successive screams of horror rang out, breaking the silence of the late night.

The couple of courtiers advocating defending the capital to the last breath were all killed at home late at night. Every one of them took a single blow, a fatal one.

Before daybreak, the officials of the capital assembled in the audience hall in the royal palace. At first they cursed the murderers loudly and sent some men to hunt for the culprits, but gradually they lapsed into silence and the mood in the hall became terribly subdued.

“All the victims were among those who advocated defending the capital. I think everybody in this hall knows what this means. I suggest we express our opinions one more time and make a final decision by the end of the day.”

Someone spoke, his voice resounding through the whole audience hall.

Some had suggested they defend the city to the last breath, and some had said they should sue for peace, and some others had implied they should surrender, but none of them had ever voiced their opinions outside this audience hall, but now all those who had advocated defending the city were dead, which was too much of a coincidence.

If the one responsible for the murder of the couple of courtiers was in this hall, then they would be able to make a decision soon, given that those present at this moment either wanted to sue for peace or intended to surrender, and these two strands of opinion were more or less the same; if the culprit was from outside the city, then it would mean that the capital city was no longer safe; if they couldn’t even talk freely in the audience hall without having to worry about someone disclosing their words to people they didn’t want the words heard by, where else could they deem a safe place to talk? In that case, it would mean that those outside the city were forcing them to make their positions clear, that it was high time they made a decision.

Suddenly someone let out a long sigh and said, “Are we still in a position to sue for peace? Is it possible we’ll be killed as well tonight?”

At these words, the hall fell silent once again.

It was another long moment before someone said, “Let’s surrender then.”

The atmosphere in the hall seemed to change at this remark.

“The Wan Kingdom has been subjugated. Right now we don’t have a monarch, and our capital is under siege. The way I see it, our country is bound to be annexed as well.”

The one who had suggested surrender, as though having fully regained his power of speech after expressing his opinion, continued, “As things stand, Yuwen Tong reunifying the three countries is an inexorable trend. The Fangcun Kingdom is on the other side of the sea and thus spared from the tragic fate, but we are mired in this situation and there’s no way we could extricate ourselves. It’s impossible for us to hold the city. As regards suing for peace … do any of you think we’re still in a position to negotiate with Yuwen Tong? Let’s face it – we’re just unwilling to admit our country is to be subjugated. If we submit, we’ll be able to ensure the safety of the citizens. I failed to protect His Majesty, and I failed to protect his son too. It’d be unbelievably shameless of me to risk the citizens’ lives to maintain my ridiculous dignity.”

After he made these remarks, the atmosphere in the audience hall became quite weird. Some wanted to speak but appeared to have difficulty opening their mouths; some pressed their lips tightly together; some were just panic-stricken.

Eventually, one of those scared ones was the first to second the proposal. “I agree with your decision, Your Lordship. Let’s just surrender. My mother, my wife and my children are all in the city. I really can’t bring myself to have them die with me.”

“Our young monarch has passed away, and there’s nobody left in the royal household. Whose kingdom are we supposed to be defending exactly? Besides, the kingdom has already fallen.”

More and more people expressed similar opinions and eventually more than half of the people present were talking about capitulation. The rest were keeping silent, raising no objections, but their stand on the matter was fairly clear.

Their only option was to surrender.

“Let’s ballot. If over seventy percent of us agree to surrender, then we surrender, and the others shall keep their opinions to themselves,” suggested someone finally.

Holding a ballot on it wouldn’t take long.

It was a secret ballot, so they did not have to worry about their face.

The results soon came out. Over ninety percent of the courtiers had chosen to surrender.

Many who had kept silent or advocated suing for peace had chosen to submit in the end.

Most people were secretly relieved as they heard the results.

“Send word for the city gates to be opened in two hours!”

“Let’s go there together, everybody.”