Chapter 67: Re-arming and Returning to Battle

  After the successful assassination, Di Lie did not return to the northern stronghold to reunite with the Tianping Village crowd, but instead let A Shu inform Guan Zhongyong and others to withdraw from Luan City at the fastest speed. He himself took a step ahead and left the city first.

  Meng De, Guan Zhongyong and others were also seasoned veterans, so they still had a sense of crisis awareness. When A Shi arrived at the northern stronghold, everyone was already ready to go, having packed up their belongings.

  At the end of the fourth watch, just as the crowd from Tianping Barracks had barely left the East Gate in three batches, a company of imperial guards rushed up and shouted an order, whereupon all four gates were slammed shut. A massive manhunt then began.

  Originally, the main general should have been assassinated. At the first moment, the city gate should be closed and the assassin arrested. If the Jin army reacted quickly enough, Di Lie, the real assassin, might have been able to escape safely one step ahead, but Meng De and Guan Zhongyong and others might not have been so lucky.

  Jin Jun's reaction was slow because the guards at that time did not understand how their general had died.

  A person under heavy guard was walking fine, when suddenly his head just exploded. All around were empty fields, with no possibility of an ambush. How could the guards present at the time have thought of assassins? And if there really was a surprise attack, how could there be a weapon in this world that would make someone's helmet and head explode together, without leaving any trace?

  Because Ah Luan's army left Bianjing in mid-March and arrived at Luancheng by the end of March, they have been staying there until now. Therefore, his soldiers had hardly heard any rumors about "evil spirits" until the arrival of the military shaman.

  This shaman also learned of the existence of this evil spirit from the mouth of the great shaman during the recent return of the Golden Army to the north through Luan City. Moreover, the great shaman also warned him that the last chicken bone divination showed that this evil spirit is likely to bring disaster to this rear guard army.

  The shaman reported the bad news to Ah Lang, but unfortunately Ah Lang had just washed away Taihang with blood and was still in a state of high alert, so he didn't raise enough vigilance.

  Since Dili arrived in this era, starting with the first golden man's head being blown up, the list of Jin army officers and soldiers who were shot in the head by his sniper rifle has been long. The mysterious and wonderful headshot technique has already become synonymous with his "Killer" name. So, when the shaman saw Ah Lang's strange and cruel death, he immediately thought of the great priest's warning. He immediately reported to Ah Lang's deputy, Mouke Tuoji.

  He immediately ordered the city gates to be closed, but unfortunately, it was already too late.

  Meng De originally wanted to pay his respects to the new leader of Tianping Fort, to see what kind of hero he was. At the same time, he also wanted to figure out what kind of mysterious abilities he had, that allowed him to kill Ah Lan and then retreat unscathed. It's worth noting that among the over 100 large and small forts in Taihang, the acknowledged strongest leader with both bravery and strategy was Fu Xuan, the leader of Baima Mountain Fort. After many days of planning and sacrificing over 20 elite members, he still couldn't accomplish what this person did with ease. This was truly a blow to people...

  Unfortunately, after Di Lie left the city, he did not stay long at Fenglong Mountain Wang Li Village. Instead, he joined forces with Zhang Rong and others, retrieved their horses and belongings, turned back south, and went to meet up with his main troops.

  Meng De waited for two days, but didn't see Di Lie return. He himself couldn't stay here too long either, after all he still had a big camp to take care of. Meng De had already been away from the main camp for quite some time, and really couldn't delay any further. With no other choice, he made an appointment with Guan Zhongyong and the others at Tianping Camp to meet again later, and then returned to Cheyuan Ridge Camp first.

  Before Di Lie set out from Wang Ren Mountain, the original task was to meet with the leader of Tianping Village in advance, negotiate and finalize the merger or transfer of Tianping Village. As a result, he became the leader of Tianping Village, which solved all the problems. So he naturally wanted to hurry back to respond to his troops, after all, this family business is too big and too important. Can't afford to make any mistakes, as for Tianping Village, Di Lie believed that Guan Zhongyong and Gao Liang would handle it well for him. Now things are going in the direction they both hoped for, even better than their expected results. With such a good momentum, how could they miss it?

  On May 9, Di Lie merged with the main force led by Yang Zhechong, Hou Fangjing, Fang Hong, Shi Zhihe and others outside Gaocheng City. Then, it took one day to set up a floating bridge and cross the Huai River. Afterwards, he turned to Yuanshi and merged with Guan Zhongyong and other Tianpingzhai crowds at Fenglong Mountain on May 11.

  When Guan Zhongyong, Liu Erping, Gao Liang and the crowd of Tianping Village saw Yang Zhechong leading the vanguard of 500 infantrymen, they couldn't help but take a cold breath: Is this still the mountain bandits who occupy the mountains as kings?

  Those uniform armor, snow-bright helmets, waist-hung ceremonial daggers, cowhide-wrapped iron rectangular shields with pointed bottoms, and obliquely-held 2-zhang-long hardwood spears with iron heads and large axes... Such exquisite and neat equipment, even the Imperial Guards of the Great Song Dynasty are no more than this.

  And the row of archers behind, holding black lacquered bows, yellow crossbows, and even divine arm crossbows, made the crowd at Tianping Stockade break out in cold sweat.

  Originally, Liu Erping and the others in Tianping Village still had some reservations. For them, Di Lie was a young man who had only seen a few times, but somehow became the leader of the village because he took advantage of the oath of the crowd - this ideological hurdle could not be turned around for the time being. If it weren't for Guan Zhongyong and Gao Liang's support, Liu Erping and others would have been bound by their oaths again, and Di Lie disappeared after a successful strike, the old men in Tianping Village really wanted to regret it. However, now they are very glad that they didn't do so.

  In the Taihang Mountains, the so-called righteous armies in the Mixed Mountain Stronghold are actually very pragmatic. Want to be the leader? Okay, as long as you have the ability; want to suppress us? Also okay, as long as you have the strength.

  In this chaotic world, strength decides everything. This point is equally effective whether in the imperial court, in the military, or even in a den of thieves.

  Seeing the timid and submissive attitude of the people of Tianping Village, Yang Zhe was very satisfied. Only Di Lie frowned and shook his head, not because he was dissatisfied with the attitude of the people of Tianping Village, but because he was not pleased with the quality of these soldiers under him.

  To intimidate the people of Tianping Village, Di Lie chose 500 strong and robust soldiers to form a vanguard team after passing by Yuanshi, still 20 miles away from Fenglong Mountain.

  Di Lie had a large number of the best defensive armor, the highest quality swords and guns, tough iron-plated shields, and top-notch crossbows... However, he didn't have the best soldiers, no, not even average ones.

  Di Lie's newly formed army was mostly composed of town civilians, artisans, peddlers and farmers. Although they had good innate conditions and had been nurtured for a period of time, they were only roughly trained for a few days. They looked decent when dressed up, but as soon as they marched, their true nature was exposed.

  Marching is the touchstone for testing the quality of an army.

  In ancient times, it was believed that an army could march thirty miles a day without stragglers, maintain its formation, and still deploy for battle when encountering the enemy, making it a crack troop.

  In Di Lie's view, this was just the most basic quality of an army. If this was considered elite, then what was slightly inferior? Di Lie had now seen it, and that was the new recruits under his command who had only worn their armor for a few days.

  At the beginning of the march, they were still in good order, with their uniform armor and weapons giving off a stern and intimidating air that could awe people. But after marching for five miles, the troops began to scatter; after ten miles, stragglers appeared, and the farther they marched, the more stragglers there were, with the troops completely losing formation and rushing forward like a swarm of bees. Those with strong physiques ran ahead to the front, while those who were weaker fell behind by several miles.

  Seeing Di Lie's face getting uglier, Yang Zhechong was also very annoyed. His subordinates, Wu Chang and Shi Jiang, kept complaining that it was because the armor was too heavy and there were too many weapons...

  Di Lie didn't get angry, what more can you ask for from a newly formed army that's only been established for over a dozen days? He could only secretly make up his mind to wait until the big migration was complete and the entire camp had settled down before he personally took charge of the military training work. It must be known that in this chaotic world, the army is the foundation of one's standing!

  It wasn't until they were only about five miles away from Wang Li Village that Di Lie gathered his troops and rested for half a time before continuing to advance. Only then did they have the appearance of an army, which intimidated the Tianping Fort crowd who didn't know the inside story but was dazzled by their luxurious equipment.

  Di Lie didn't dismount, using the whip handle to point at Yang Zhe and Guan Zhongyong: "No need for me to introduce anything else, you two are more familiar with each other than I am. From now on, follow my instructions and complete all relocation and settlement work within this month. Any questions?"

  Yang and Guan both bowed in unison: "Your Excellency (General), rest assured, we will certainly work together with one heart and not betray the trust placed in us."

  Di Lie reminded again: "You must pay close attention to the movements of Wan Cheng, although due to the death of General A Lan, the Jin army is in disarray and will not come looking for trouble in the short term. But you can't be careless, you must speed up transportation and let the cavalry increase their reconnaissance efforts. I don't want these hard-won gains to suffer unexpected losses just as we're about to reach home."

  "I will be careful and never dare to be careless."

  Di Lie nodded, turned back to Zhang Rong and smiled: "Now we can finally free our hands, let them do the porter's job of crossing mountains and rivers, we go hunting. How about it?"

  Zhang Rong burst out laughing: "Your Highness is absolutely right about my husband's temper. Two days ago, you killed a wolf, but I didn't get any share, this time I won't miss it."

  "Alright then, brothers of Liangshan, let's go!"

  As Di Lie and his party had just turned around from Fenglong Mountain, preparing to head north, they saw a long procession coming from the south in the distance.

  Di Lie, A Shu, Zhang Rong, Jia Hu, Meng Wei and fifteen other Liangshan brothers reined in their horses and stood still. Judging from the current situation, it was most likely that the large number of people and horses coming from this direction were their migrating army. As they waited for the troops to approach, it turned out to be true.

  At this time, a man rode over on horseback. It was Hou Fangjing. He handed over twenty spare horses, two horses loaded with explosives and a small box to Di Lie, saying: "This is something that Lu La'er has presented to Your Highness."

  Di Lie handed the box to Jia Hu, who opened it and found a row of seventeen shiny bullets neatly arranged inside. Di Lie smiled: "Not bad, it seems that these craftsmen have improved their skills over this period of time, and they didn't even fall behind with their work during the migration."

  Hou Fangjing said naturally, "These craftsmen have received the favor of Your Highness, and thus they have such a situation. And what Your Highness requires of them is only to make some explosive devices and these metal bullets, how dare they not do their best?"

  Di Lie put away the pistol and instructed Hou Fangjing again, just as he was about to turn his horse's head. Suddenly, he caught sight of a long procession with a row of brand new, luxurious carriages moving slowly by. The first carriage in line suddenly came to a stop, and a slender figure lifted her skirt and jumped down from the carriage, running quickly towards him with small steps.

  Butterfly!

  Di Lie's face broke into a warm smile. Seeing this scene, Hou Fangjing hastily retreated, and Zhang Rong and the other Liangshan brothers also dispersed in all directions.

  The butterfly ran up front, her pretty face was red and puffy, her full chest heaved like waves.

  Di Lie simply narrowed his eyes to appreciate, and didn't speak. Ye Die'er bit her red lips, hesitated for a moment, before softly saying: "Your Highness, are you leaving again?"

  Di Lie sighed softly: "Yes, I have to leave again. Since I came here, I haven't had a few good days..."

  "But Butterfly had unforgettable good days." Ye Die'er bravely stared into Di Lie's eyes, word by word, "Those days were thrilling, but Butterfly was deeply etched..."

  Even if Di Lie was a hundred-refined steel, at this moment he had become gentle and soft. He couldn't help but stretch out his index finger to hook up Ye Die'er's tender chin, and said softly: "You can rest assured, I promise you that from now on you will have more unforgettable days, but there won't be any more dangers..."

  Di Lie said this, feeling the strange gaze coming from behind the curtain of the distant carriage. Di Lie raised his head and smiled slightly in the direction of the gaze, then lowered his head to say to Ye Die'er: "Get along well with that princess, I'm leaving."

  "Where are we going this time?"

  Di Lie raised his eyes and gazed northward, lost in thought for a moment, then smiled suddenly: "I have an appointment with Zong Wang."