Chapter 723: Deserters
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Shangguan Ru did not know how far forever went, but she firmly believed that she would remember this moment forever.
The great strangeness in the Dragon King was melting like an ice cube in the scorching sun. His hard arms grew softer yet stronger, and the pa.s.sion in his lips was as fiery as the hatred in his heart.
The Dragon King would also remember this moment forever.
Shangguan Ru wanted to laugh, but also cry at the same time. Then she bit her lip hard, gathered all her strength, and struck out with a serious blow.
A bit of the killer’s instinct still remained in Gu Shenwei. He felt the movements of the body in his arms and had a premonition of danger, but couldn’t avoid it.
His belly was punched, causing a strong wave of ambivalence and churning pain to roll out, which also knocked him out of his infatuation. Gu Shenwei bent over and covered his stomach with his hands. Instead of crying out, he let out a m.u.f.fled grunt. But in contrast, the scars and pain on his lips were nothing.
The power of the punch was far beyond his imagination, and the contrast between this woman’s att.i.tude before and after the punch made him feel bewildered and even a bit exasperated.
Shangguan Ru jumped a few steps away. She hadn’t planned to, but when it happened she believed that it was the best choice. “You’re a coward. You are not afraid of the Unique King, the saber and sword, or even ghosts. But you’re afraid of yourself. You are afraid of throwing away that pathetic hatred. Then keep it why don’t you. But you’ll never forget me either.”
She ran away, crying and laughing just like a madwoman of the Waning Moon Hall.
The pain in his lower abdomen gradually subsided. Gu Shenwei touched the bloodstains on his lips, thinking that this was really troublesome.
His thoughts were like a prayer that was immediately answered. The real trouble was coming.
A group of hors.e.m.e.n came from the southeast, and Gu Shenwei was sure that they were not Shulitu’s soldiers.
The deserters were thrown into confusion. They got onto their horses and tried to run away, but soon returned to the camp. There was also cavalry coming from the northwest. This was a cla.s.sic siege strategy of the Norland.
“Court Attendants Army, it’s the Court Attendants Army.” Someone recognized the hors.e.m.e.n through the darkness.
Three Court Attendants rode into the camp and faced the crowd without fear as if the other side were merely a pa.s.sive herd of cattle and sheep. The one in the lead cried out, “The Khan has issued a decree from Heaven that no army of more than a hundred men is allowed to leave the Royal Court in a thirty miles radius. You almost overstepped the boundary.”
Both the Court Attendants Army and the Khan were a powerful deterrent to the people of the Norland. Those two or three hundred people really did quiet down like cattle and sheep. However, someone argued back in a low voice, “We are not soldiers.”
The horseman shot a cold glance at him and said, “It’s the same to us. Turn back now. The Court Attendants Army will overrun this place within a quarter of an hour.”
The three hors.e.m.e.n turned around and left, leaving behind a panic-stricken crowd.
“Let’s go back. There are at least a thousand soldiers of the Court Attendants Army, and we are no match for them.”
“Alas, if I knew it would be like this, I would have not stayed here for the night in the first place.”
“We have weapons. Why not rush out? They are the Court Attendants, but so what?”
…
Mo Lin walked to the Dragon King, not seeming to notice the small wounds on his lips, and whispered, “Something isn’t right.”
Something was indeed not right. One of the main reasons why Mo Lin had chosen this camp was because it was at the back of Shulitu’s main army and was quite safe. He was really surprised that the Court Attendants Army could ride straight through the army and come here.
“They don’t seem to know that I’m here.”
“I hope so.” Mo Lin was very cautious. “What will the Dragon King do?”
Shangguan Ru ran back with a serious expression as if the one who had been crying and laughing earlier wasn’t her. “There are not too many soldiers. I don’t know about the northwest side, but there are only a hundred or so hors.e.m.e.n on the southeast side.”
Gu Shenwei thought for a while and said, “I want to talk to everybody.”
Mo Lin nodded, raised his arm, and loudly said, “Quiet. The Dragon King has something to say.”
As the noise died down, the crowd gathered and looked quizzically at the Dragon King. Some people noticed that his lips were injured, but they were not in the mood to read too deeply into it.
“Do you want to leave the Royal Court?” asked Gu Shenwei. His lips still hurt, but it did not affect his speech.
The crowd nodded with some hesitation. One veteran said, “I don’t even know who I’m fighting for. Staying in the Royal Court is the same as waiting to die. Besides, the Khan won’t want a soldier like me. All he wants are the elite soldiers.”
The deserters nodded and echoed, “The Khan doesn’t want us.”
This was a group of timid soldiers who were tired of war and the ones who stood beside them were civilians who regarded war as being for tigers. Most of them were people that merely did small business in the Royal Court.
Mo Lin turned around to look at the Dragon King, thinking that the best choice was to mingle with the crowd and then find a chance to escape. With the Dragon King’s martial arts skills combined with the speed of the Flame Foal, it shouldn’t be too difficult for him.
The two or three hundred people also looked at the Dragon King, not knowing what he would say next.
“Are you willing to fight to escape?”
The question was a bit odd, especially the word ‘escape.’ It might not matter to the common people, but to the nearly a hundred soldiers, it was tantamount to throwing their faults into their face.
No one uttered a sound.
“Aren’t you ashamed of running away? If yes, then follow their orders and lay down your arms and become a prisoner. If you think that the war of the Royal Court is wrong and that escaping is justified, then pick up your bow and arrows to defend your right to escape. At least this battle will be meaningful.”
“But that is the Court Attendants Army,” someone said in a low voice. “They are the best cavalry force in the Prairie. We’ll definitely die trying to confront them.”
“So you’d rather go back to the Royal Court and die in another war than resist now and fight desperately for your own benefits?”
The deserters did seem to have been moved. One officer cried out, “Fight! Brothers, we are gonna die if we go back. Even if the Court Attendants Army don’t kill us right now, they will place us in the front lines and force us to charge into the enemy ranks. Either way, it’ll end in death.”
A young peddler’s face paled. He was not a man of the Norland and hadn’t played with bow and arrow since his childhood. “I’m a businessman and don’t know how to fight. It’s better if I go back to the Royal Court.”
The veteran near him loudly scolded, “What’s the point in going back? The Royal Court is gone, so where are you even going to do business? You’ll become a slave of the Court Attendants Army. I heard that the Great Shaman burns people every day to sacrifice to the Khan. Do you want to sign up for that?”
The opinions of the crowd were still not unified. Some people were eager to try escaping while others seemed to be ready to grin and bear the weight of the Court Attendants Army.
A teenager suddenly said, “The Dragon King has a Devil Bird. It can defeat the Court Attendants Army and save us all simply by flapping its wings.”
Hope rose in people’s heart like manna falling from the heavens, and all the previous efforts Gu Shenwei had made to restore the original image of the roc failed. Looking at the expectant eyes, he had no choice but to say, “I told you that the roc won’t kill and that it’s very proud so do not expect it to help too much.”
And that was enough. All of the people looked up into the sky. Many even put their hands together to pray. Their fear of the bird had suddenly transformed into awe.
“Take up arms and follow the Dragon King’s order,” said Mo Lin, who took the lead in drawing his scimitar.”
The soldiers of the Norland always had bows in their hands. The hundred or so soldiers immediately mounted their horses and formed a small cavalry. The Norland people wors.h.i.+pped warriors and most ordinary people also had various weapons like a saber, sword, bow, spear, axe, whip, and so on.
Gu Shenwei began to issue orders. “Women, children, and old men will go with Instructor Shangguan to hide north of the camp. The archers will go forth to attack the enemies on the southeast, and withdraw to the camp after a few rounds of arrows shots. The rest of you will come with me.”
Luring the enemy into a pursuit and then turning around to shoot them was one of the most common tactics used by the Norland Army. The deserters immediately understood the Dragon King’s plan and said yes in unison. A group of soldiers voluntarily followed an officer to the southeast.
The remaining eighty or so soldiers nervously looked at the Dragon King and up into the sky now and then, hoping that the Devil Bird could come sooner.
Gu Shenwei ordered them to dismount, put out the torches, and hide behind the tents.
Mo Lin stood by the Dragon King and said in a low voice, “If it doesn’t go as well as planned, I hope that the Dragon King will withdraw on his own.”
Surprised, Gu Shenwei glanced at Mo Lin. The wing guard of the Khan turned his head to look ahead and said, “If the Dragon King dies here, everyone will say that I betrayed you.”
“A lot of people are going to die here today, but not me. Do you want to bet? I’ll kill more people than you too.”
Mo Lin didn’t have much desire for killing but the pride he heard in the Dragon King’s tone stung him. “What’s the bet?” he asked.
“A bowl of wine.”
Mo Lin paused a bit as the bet was too small. Then he nodded and said, “Okay.”
The distinctive whistling of the Norland people rang out, which was slightly sharp but ceaseless like a whirlwind flying straight up into the sky.
The deserters had made contact with the Court Attendants Army.
Soon after, the deserters retreated to the camp. Their formation was disorganized and no one whistled, and very few people shot back. They were still too afraid to confront the Court Attendants Army directly.
Over a hundred hors.e.m.e.n of the Court Attendants Army were running behind leisurely but they acted in a unified way when shooting. It was indeed a well-trained army. They didn’t have to be in a hurry. This was basically a hunt for them where their task was to drive the prey into the snare, and then the friendly force from another direction would take care of these daring deserters themselves.
“Mount your horses!” Gu Shenwei loudly ordered this, jumped onto his own horse, and rushed at the hors.e.m.e.n of the Court Attendants Army a dozen or so paces away.
Mo Lin was the second to get onto his horse, and he whistled and created a momentum worth hundreds of people. The whistling sound was more effective than the Dragon King’s order. The eight or so civilians got on their horses, roared, and made a surprise attack on the flank of their powerful enemy.
The Dragon King had already rushed into the enemy lines when the crowd had just started urging their horses to move forward.
The Court Attendants Army wasn’t an army that would scatter and flee at the slightest fright. Although the n.o.ble officers had all been purged, the soldiers were still able to deal with the accident in a methodical manner.
As soon as Gu Shenwei made a sound, more than a hundred bows turned to aim at him and the arrows fell like raindrops in a fierce storm when the horse rounded the tent. The mount had become a hedgehog in a twinkling of an eye.
Gu Shenwei leaped high and flew over the rain of arrows, landing in the middle of the army.
Their bows and arrows were useless now, but the hors.e.m.e.n remained calm. Several of them drew their scimitars while the others remained on guard with their bows.
But they soon understood that the attacker was unstoppable with only a few of them.
Gu Shenwei kept jumping in different directions. Each time, he would land accurately on a horse and each time he jumped up, a head would fly up.
When Mo Lin stormed into the enemy, he found himself falling behind by at least five heads.
As the heads flew in the dim starlight, the Court Attendants began to panic, while the civilians armed with various weapons grew more murderous.
Shangguan Ru heard screams from afar and vaguely saw something like heads soaring into the sky. She knew that it was the Dragon King who was proving to her that he had not changed.