Chapter 395 - My Intent DoneUnder the escort of the Chuxi River,
Everyone safely entered the formation, and the soldiers inside immediately opened the gates to welcome them!
At the same time, on top of the city wall mountain, because of the arrival of more than a dozen formation masters, the cracks in the formation were finally repaired and the Cloud Beast was once again kept out of the formation.
After several hours of intense bombardment and the rain of arrows, as well as the injuries of the Golden-Back Mantis, the beast tide finally retreated temporarily. The civilians and soldiers of the Western Lion Country finally had another chance to catch their breath.At this moment, within the County Governor"s Estate in Western Liuzhou, Xiang Yun was sitting high up in a hall. On both sides were the Northern Good County"s Supreme Guard, Bi Hongzhang, the East Ascent County"s Supreme Guard, Chu Xihe, and also the Western Liangfeng, Meng Yuzhang, who had just returned from commanding the frontlines. The three of them were all important officials from the northwest who had come to Silver City to congratulate Xiang Ling Tian on his birthday.
Seated on the other side was the Snow Wolf Horse, Zhu Kai, and the commander of the Black Tortoise Cavalry, Qi Haowei.
Everyone sat in the great hall, watching Xiang Yun as his heroic, bloodstained face rose from his body. Chu Xihe and Meng Yuzhang couldn"t help but look at each other, their eyes filled with disbelief. The current Xiang Yun was like a completely different person compared to the crown prince they had met back at Silver City"s Duke"s mansion.
This was especially true for Chu Xihe. Having witnessed Xiang Yun"s imposing manner when he stood alone outside the city and facing off against ten thousand enemies, as well as that palm strike that was ready to strike, he gained a deeper understanding of Xiang Yun"s strength.
When they heard that Xiang Yun had led the Snow Wolf Cavalry and the PaG.o.da Armoured Cavalry all the way to the northwest, their eyes widened even more in shock.
They naturally knew about the current situation in the Northwest. The rampage of the Cloud Beasts was extremely dangerous, and Xiang Yun"s group had actually been able to come all the way from the southeast. The difficulty in doing so could be imagined.
Then, when he talked about the destruction of the Beishan County City and the fact that there were only a few hundred thousand civilians and soldiers in the city, Chu Xihe couldn"t help but sigh and comfort her.
"Old man Bi, don"t be sad. No one wants to see the Beishan County being breached. However, the arrival of this beast tide is strange and dangerous. Even we are unable to guard against it. Since someone is still alive, we are fortunate!"
Bi Hongzhang smiled wryly as he nodded his head, looking at Xiang Yun as he spoke with sincere grat.i.tude."I, Bi Hongzhang, have come here alive with the remnants of the military and people of the county, all thanks to His Highness the crown prince. I have to thank His Highness and the rest of the soldiers for taking good care of me along the way!"
As Bi Hongzhang spoke, he stood up once more and bowed deeply towards Xiang Yun. Seeing this, Xiang Yun hurriedly sat down and helped this Lord Grand Guard up."Bi Tai Shou, what is the meaning of this? We have come together through life and death together. We are all close friends who have lived our lives, there is no need for you to thank us." From Xiang Yun"s point of view, helping Bi Hongzhang and the rest was his duty.
"Your Highness is right, but I, Bi Hongzhang, am a man who pleases death. Your Highness is willing to risk his life to save us for the sake of my people in the Beishan County. From today onwards, my life belongs to Your Highness, and I, Bi Hongzhang, am willing to do anything as you say!"
The moment these words came out, Chu Xihe and Meng Yuechan, who were standing to the side, both revealed surprised expressions. The two of them looked at each other, their eyes revealing a deeper meaning.
A promise like this made by a stately County Official was of extraordinary significance. More importantly, Bi Hongzhang was saying that he had given his life to Xiang Yun rather than to Windcloud Nation. The two of them were elites, so they naturally understood what he meant.Afterwards, Xiang Yun found out about the casualties in the process of entering the city through Ma Ying and a few other high-ranking officers. Although it had only been a short while since they had charged outside the city, the casualties in the army were much heavier than before.
The loss of more than twenty Snow Wolf Knights wasn"t considered a big sacrifice. After all, they were the ones leading the charge and should be the most dangerous. From this, one could see the tyrannical fighting strength of the Snow Wolf Cavalry.
After understanding the casualties of the army, Xiang Yun looked toward Meng Yuzhang and Chu Xihe, inquiring about the current situation of the two of them in the Western Lion Country. It could be seen that there were worries lingering between their brows; it was obvious that the situation was not as good as he had imagined.
Meng Yuezhang was the first to speak.
He replied, "Reporting to Your Highness, right now, our Western Lion County, together with the civilian and military, as well as the county officials, yamen runners, and public officials, has a total of over two million and eight hundred thousand people. Among them, there are over seven hundred thousand registered soldiers and militia."
Hearing such a large number of people, Xiang Yun was somewhat surprised. A prefectural city actually had around three million people within it. This number was indeed not small. Chang An City was known as the number one city in the world back then, but it was only a million people.However, thinking about the beast tide outbreak, the citizens would definitely rush to the county city to seek shelter. Moreover, there were two counties" military and civilians gathered here, so naturally, there would be a large number of people.
Bi Hongzhang, on the other hand, had a look of envy on his face. "Chu Dalang, you actually have seven hundred thousand soldiers. No wonder the West Leung County is so well-fortified!"
"Hey, in front of His Highness the crown prince, can you not call me by my nickname?" Chu Xihe was a bit angry, Bi Hongzhang kept shouting "a man of honor", which made him panic.Meng Yuzhan smiled wryly, "You"re wrong, Bi Taigao. Against this endless beast tide, no matter how many people there are, what use is it? Once these beasts attack the city, then no matter how many people there are, they will only be their food."
"Up until now, the only reason why my Western Lion Country City has been able to defend itself is because of the many years of stocks of Cloud Crystal Cannons, Deicide Bow, Meteor Crossbows, and the great defensive formation that the King himself had set up."
Ever since the establishment of the Wind Cloud Country, the West Cold Prefecture had been an important area on the northwest border. After all, the invisible threat of the Silvermoon Forest had always been there.Therefore, since the founding of the Windcloud Nation, the emperor Xiang Mingyuan had acc.u.mulated quite a few Cloud Beast Crystals and Cloud Crystals in the Western Lion Country, as well as a large number of heavy city defense weapons. Thus, when the beast tide broke out, even though the Western Lion Country was at the heart of the conflict, the county city was still able to stand firmly.
"Grand Guard Meng, how long do you think the County City of West Leong will be able to hold out for?" Xiang Yun directly asked the most important question.
Meng Yuzhang and Chu Xihe glanced at each other, and after a brief estimate, Meng Yuzhang replied, "Seven days. At most seven days!""What!" Bi Hongzhang was taken aback. "You have so many weapons in the West Leeward Prefecture. How can you only hold out for seven days?"
Chu Xihe sighed and said, "You don"t know, these Cloud Beasts have been invading the County City endlessly, day and night. No matter how much resources they have, it"s not enough, and the biggest problem is not the combat preparation resources, but more importantly, the city is filled with more than two million people.
"Don"t we still have more Cloud Beasts? We can just use them as foodstuffs when we kill them." Bi Hongzhang asked.
"Humph, these Cloud Beasts are very cunning, once the war ends, they will take away the corpses of their own kind, how could they leave them for us." Humph, these Cloud Beasts are very cunning, once the war ends, they will take away the corpses of their own kind, how would they leave us."This …" Bi Hongzhang"s complexion turned slightly pale. He had originally thought that he would be able to obtain protection once he brought the people of the Northern Good County to the Western Lion Country. He hadn"t expected that the Western Lion Country city would almost be unable to hold on.
"Sigh …" Everyone repeatedly sighed, and the atmosphere in the hall immediately became solemn.
After Xiang Yun understood the situation in the Western Lion Country, he was also worried, but he still asked the question he was most concerned about, "Grand Guard Meng, do you know how the situation in the Qin Feng City is right now?"
"Qin Feng city!" Upon hearing these three words, everyone immediately came to their senses. Xiang Yun was the City Lord of Qin Feng City.Meng Yuzhan had an ugly expression on her face as she said, "Your Highness, I really don"t know much about the situation in the Blue Wind City."
"Oh? You are the County Governor of the Western Lion Country. How could you not know the situation in the Qin Feng City? "Meng Yuzhan said somewhat helplessly, "Your Highness, have you forgotten that when the Prince bestowed Qin Feng City upon you to be your fiefdom, Qin Feng City went off on its own from our West Liangzhou? And this is your request as well. After that, I have withdrawn all my informants from Qin Feng City."
"This …" Xiang Yun felt a little awkward for a moment.Meng Yuzhang continued, "After the beast tide broke out, this official had sent someone to the Blue Wind City to investigate the situation. However, all of them were swallowed up by the beast tide. Not a single one returned. Not even a single one of the released Cloud Beast Eagles have returned."
Meng Yuzhan did not continue speaking, but looking at his heavy expression, one could guess what he was thinking about. Such a huge beast tide was something that would make it difficult for even a huge city like the Western Lion Country to defend themselves. Furthermore, a small Qin Feng City might have already been engulfed by the beast tide!
"No, it"s impossible for the Qin Feng City to be destroyed!" Xiang Yun resolutely said!Everyone looked at each other in dismay. Meng Taizhen comforted, "Your Highness, this official knows that Your Highness has put in a lot of effort for the Qinfeng City. However, if a disaster strikes today, a city"s fall would be inevitable."
Xiang Yun shook his head firmly. Although this beast tide had erupted in an unprecedented manner, with Old Liang at Qin Feng City and the black clothed woman he had met in the tavern back then, both of them had stood on the side of the Wind Cloud Nation.
Seeing this, everyone revealed helpless expressions. They thought that Xiang Yun was still stubborn. However, the moment Xiang Yun said those words, the three county lords were immediately given a fright.
Xiang Yun said to the three of them, "My three great protectors, I"ll set off for Qin Feng City tomorrow morning!""AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" When the three of them heard this, they thought that something was wrong with their ears.
Bi Hongzhang tried to dissuade him, "Your Highness, you mustn"t do this!"
"That"s right, Your Highness. Right now, the entire northwestern border is in the middle of a beast tide. If you were to head north, wouldn"t you have …" Meng Yuzhan also tried hard to persuade him.
Chu Xihe shook his head and said, "I can"t, I can"t, this is equivalent to seeking death!"
Seeing the three opposing parties, Xiang Yun smiled and turned to the three of them, saying, "Milords, do you think that if we stay here and fight against the horde of Cloud Beasts, we"ll have a good chance of winning?"
"This …"Even Chu Xihe, who was an Earth Cloud Realm expert, was unable to open his mouth. Everyone knew that if the current situation continued without any material resources or reinforcements, the county city would only end up in ruins.
Xiang Yun continued: "Rather than just sitting there and waiting for death, why not just give it your all? On this trip to Qin Feng City, I"ll need to investigate the source of this beast tide outbreak. If we"re lucky enough to turn the tides, that would be great fortune.
"It"s just death!" The three county lords were astonished by this simple sentence.
"But …" The three of them still wanted to persuade him, but Xiang Yun said resolutely, "Sirs, there"s no need to persuade me anymore. I"ve already made up my mind!"
The three could not persuade her. Seeing that Xiang Yun was adamant, Meng Yuzhang finally suggested sending an army of one hundred thousand to escort him along with the earth cloud expert, Chu Xihe. However, he firmly refused.
"You don"t need to send anyone to me. I only need to bring more than two hundred Snow Wolf riders with me."Seeing that the crowd was about to raise an objection, Xiang Yun explained, "Right now, there are so many civilians and soldiers in the Western Lion Country, their survival is the most important thing. You must not draw out the troops from the city as you wish, and you are the only one in the city who has to guard this place."
"As for the envoys, you can lead your brothers from the Black Armored Army and help guard the Western Lion Country!"
After all, the Buddha Armoured Cavalry could not be compared to the Snow Wolf Cavalry. Along the way, more than thirty percent of them had died and they clearly could not continue charging. Xiang Yun chose to keep them within the city.
He had made up his mind long ago that the journey from the Western Lion Country to the Qin Feng City would be more difficult and dangerous than any of the previous journeys. No matter how big the army was, how could it withstand the devouring of beasts?
In the end, Xiang Yun"s strength had overshadowed the rest of the crowd, and he had decided on this matter!