Chapter 9: The Bloody Winter Night

  The person speaking was the leader of the group of black-clothed men from earlier. Dark Shadow immediately bowed and paid his respects, with a hint of fear in his eyes. Blood Demon's pupils constricted, knowing that today he would definitely die, and laughed loudly: "Soul Arrow, you've also become a watchdog, I really should mock you well, you're indeed both muddled and despicable".

  "Hmph", the black-robed leader, known as Soul Arrow by Blood Demon, coldly snorted and said faintly: "Wait till I capture your young master later, torture that little girl a bit, and see if you still have the mood to mock me.

  "You dare." The Blood Demon said in anger.

  "I wouldn't bother doing it myself, but with these underlings of mine, I just can't control them." Soul Arrow said with a faint smile.

  "I've heard that Wu Caiyun is a famous beauty in the capital, and my brothers have been yearning for her for a long time. Tonight, we can finally have a good chat with this proud beauty." The dark figure walked forward and said with a lewd tone.

  The Blood Demon suddenly raised its knife and moved forward, the blade's shadow lightly sweeping across the five people surrounding it. The five people around the Blood Demon were beheaded in an instant, their eyes filled with incredulity. The remaining person managed to dodge the blade, but a large chunk of flesh was torn from his abdomen, revealing his internal organs and white bones. He rolled on the ground in agony. The Blood Demon didn't stop, its blade scraping towards Soul Arrow. Soul Arrow watched as the blade approached, not even moving an eyebrow. With a "thud", Soul Arrow pinched the Blood Demon's blade between two fingers.

  The dark figure on the other side was also extremely shocked, and no one remembered how long it had been since the Soul Arrow had last made a move. The Blood Demon was equally shocked and couldn't speak, wondering if this Soul Arrow was still human. With a calm and forceful motion, the Soul Arrow snapped the blade in two with his fingers, then tossed it aside. With a swift whooshing sound, the blade plunged into the Blood Demon's chest, and he stared at the deeply embedded blade as his pupils gradually dilated. The once-renowned Blood Demon ultimately died by his own weapon, perhaps a great irony.

  "Soul Arrow pointed at the black-clad man with a severed arm and said to Dark Shadow in a faint tone, 'He's no longer useful, you know the rules. And you'd better complete your task quickly, or else you'll be next.' The subordinate who was injured but not dead was abandoned so quickly, even Dark Shadow, who was used to killing people like flies, couldn't help but feel a sense of being a rabbit that had been cooked and eaten by a dog. But upon hearing the last sentence, he suddenly let out a cold sweat."

  A man in black suddenly appeared and reported to Soul Arrow: "Sir, a forbidden army of hundreds has appeared ahead. How should we respond?"

  The soul arrow was also stunned, and unexpectedly, a Cheng Yaojin appeared halfway. They were not afraid of being ten times the enemy in a one-on-one battle, but when facing a strict and well-disciplined army, they would be at a great disadvantage unless it was an alley fight or a dense forest with favorable terrain.

  In the "New Book of Effective Disciplines" by Qi Jiguang, in the chapter "On Asking About Various Sayings", it is clearly stated: "Someone asked: 'Can the methods of flower spears, flower knives, and flower staves used in front of government offices during peacetime be used against enemies? Are these also part of what I teach?' Qi said: 'In a large formation, facing a large enemy, it's different from competing in a martial arts arena or capturing small bandits. In a grand formation, with thousands of people lined up and advancing, the brave cannot advance first, and the timid cannot retreat last. When the dense spears thrust forward and backward, and the chaotic knives slash back and forth, it's all just a chaotic mess, and it's difficult to move left or right! If one person turns their head, the whole crowd will be suspicious; if one person moves an inch, the whole crowd will lose heart. How can you accommodate advancing or retreating? Even if you have excellent martial arts skills in peacetime, using only 50% of them in battle is enough to succeed, and using 80% makes you invincible. There has never been a case where someone uses their full 100% of their usual abilities on the battlefield and remains calm and composed.' The so-called 'heroes' from the jianghu world who appear on the battlefield are like a mob, untrained in peacetime, not understanding battle formations or military discipline, rushing forward and scattering in disarray, having no effect whatsoever, but instead causing chaos, disrupting their own formation, disturbing the morale of their troops, and causing their own army to collapse. Therefore, famous generals throughout history have never liked using so-called 'jianghu heroes' or 'martial arts masters', and would rather spend effort training ordinary villagers who are simple and honest. The same principle applies even to top-notch experts like Blood Demon and Soul Arrow - if they were caught in a hail of arrows, they would definitely be shot full of holes.

  Ling Jian's eyes were slightly cold, and he whispered two sentences to the dark shadow before making a gesture of retreat to the remaining black-clad men. They quickly disappeared into the vast night, just as Ling Jian spat out a mouthful of blood. Earlier, it seemed easy, but in fact, Blood Demon was first injured by the poisonous smoke blown into the room, and after fighting for a long time, despite this, Blood Demon's counterattack before death was also impressive, causing Ling Jian to be injured. A clear knife wound appeared on Ling Jian's chest, and he sprinkled some golden medicine on his body, quickly leaving the guest house that was engulfed in flames.

  Zhao Yun saw the flames rising high from a distance, and his heart skipped a beat. Although he had only met Wu Zhiyuan once, they were like old friends. When a friend is in trouble, one cannot just sit back and do nothing. However, Zhao Yun did not act rashly, instead having Xue Yue lead three hundred cavalrymen to advance cautiously, while the remaining two hundred men prepared materials to put out the fire.

  Xue Yue led the army forward for a while, and sure enough, a wave of hidden weapons flew out from the darkness. Except for two soldiers who were unfortunately scratched, the remaining hidden weapons were all blocked by the cavalry shields. To say that those two injured men were unlucky, they held their shields too high and were stabbed in the calf and ankle.

  There was a leading small school road: "Report to the general, we were attacked, how should we respond."

  "Need you ask? Of course they were beaten back."

  After receiving the order, three hundred cavalrymen skillfully took out their bows and arrows, and instantly a hail of arrows shot towards the darkness. A few muffled groans sounded, and then there was silence. When Xue Yue led his troops to the place where the arrow tips were, there were only four corpses that had been set up as hedgehogs and hundreds of arrows on the ground. Xue Yue went forward and used his knife to lift open the veil over the dead men's faces, and then searched their bodies but found nothing to prove their identities. In fact, this was normal, if they had anything it would probably be a frame-up. At this time, someone came forward and said: "Big Brother Xue, those two brothers are dead, there is poison on the hidden weapons." Xue Yue nodded in response, and then said: "Bury the corpses, don't set up tombstones, let others disturb the souls of our brothers."

  "Yes, General."

  These men were all veterans of the Western Army (the border defense army that had been fighting with the Western Xia army for years). This time, they were transferred back to the capital and didn't expect that along the way, two brothers would die. They didn't die in a blaze of glory on the battlefield, but rather died so ingloriously. However, as soldiers, death is also a kind of fate.

  Zhao Kui had already seen the distant enemy preparing an ambush through a thermal imager, so he let Xue Yue lead the men to advance with shields. As soon as the battle was over on this side, they immediately led the men to rush to the scene from the other side. These soldiers were quite familiar with putting out fires, and it wasn't until later that Zhao Kui learned that these soldiers had been fighting against the Western Xia army for many years and often experienced being ambushed by Western Xia cavalry and burning grain depots. As elite soldiers, they were naturally very skilled at putting out fires, which also indirectly saved the lives of many Wu family members.

  The big fire was gradually extinguished, and the Wu family's children were rescued from the fire scene one after another. However, the injured Wu family children did not rest to recover from their injuries, but instead continued to join the ranks of firefighters, which also earned them the respect of the Imperial Army officers. The fire had been extinguished, and Wu Zhiyuan was frowning and hugging the dead Blood Demon. Wu Caixia was originally weak in body, and after experiencing this huge change, she was already exhausted physically and mentally, and was resting on a horse-drawn carriage sent by Zhao Jiong.

  Zhao Kan brought Xue Yue to stand quietly not far from Wu Zhiyuan, who let out a sigh and put his coat over the Blood Demon's body, covering its face. Several of the Wu family's younger generation came forward and placed the Blood Demon's corpse on a stretcher, while the other deceased members of the Wu family had already been put into bags to be transported back to Lingyun Castle together. Wu Zhiyuan walked over and clasped his fists in respect towards Zhao Kan, saying: "Many thanks to Brother Zhao for lending a helping hand; I won't say any more polite words, but from now on, if there's anything you need help with, I definitely won't decline."

  "Wu brother is too polite, you and I are like old times, besides it's still me who owes you a favor for lending me the horse." Zhao Yan said with a smile.

  "This horse is a gift for Brother Zhao, don't be polite with me, or it would mean you look down on me." He said as soon as he saw Zhao Yun wanting to decline.

  "That's enough, Brother Wu will have a plan later, and we'll know who the attacker is." Zhao Yi changed the subject, but in fact, he had already made up his mind.

  "I believe Brother Zhao has also noticed that the government officials have not yet arrived, despite the distance between this place and the Imperial Guard's barracks. The fact that there is still no response suggests that someone has already made arrangements. Given the circumstances, it must be someone with real power, combined with the elite and ferocious dead soldiers, they are certainly not ordinary people. I estimate that several major families will not be able to escape involvement, and there is also someone in the imperial court who holds real power. Brother Zhao's extraordinary demeanor suggests that he is definitely a person from the palace. Today, he helped me, but we must be careful as there may be revenge." Wu Zhiyuan said solemnly.

  "Brother Wu doesn't need to worry about me, but rather Brother Wu should be more careful himself." Zhao Yan smiled and said.

  "I wish I were as optimistic as Brother Zhao. This time being ambushed is all my fault, I was too careless in my command, thinking that once we reached the vicinity of the capital it would be safe. I'm extremely ashamed. This time, I won't invite Brother Zhao, let's meet again another day."

  "See you again someday." Zhao Jiong also bid farewell with a fist bump.

  As they saw Wu Zhiyuan and others off in the distance, Zhao Jiong suddenly remembered that he wanted to tell Wu Zhiyuan to move away from the vicinity of the capital earlier. "Forget it, I can only find an opportunity to go to Xishu Castle."

  "General Xue, do you know where the best training grounds for the Imperial Guards are?"

  "Your Highness, naturally the best place to go is the Jinlin Barracks of the Imperial Guard's elite Golden Scales Regiment. The Jinlin Barracks not only has all kinds of weapons and equipment, but also has many imperial physicians on standby, with fortifications as strong as a fortress, it's the safest place." Xue Yue replied.

  "Who is in command of this Golden Scales Guard?" Zhao Yan asked.

  "Nature belongs to the emperor himself, and there is a poem that says, 'A thousand golden scales, iron blood galloping, breaking through ten thousand people.' The Golden Scales Guard has only a thousand men, but their combat strength is extremely strong. Taking someone else's territory would naturally offend them, and it's not worth the cost. Your Highness, let's consider somewhere else instead. The training grounds of the Baoding Army are also worth considering."

  "Which one is better, Baoding campus or Jinlin campus?"

  "Nature is indeed a good teacher." Xue Yue said affirmatively.

  "Assemble the troops and set out for Jinlin Field."

  "Yes sir." Xue Yue then went to gather his troops.

  Zhao Kan and others left Jinlin barracks and arrived at Jinlin barracks in less than half a day.

  The school grounds looked majestic and grand from afar, with walls three zhang high, and the city's defenses fully open. Dozens of golden-scaled warriors patrolled around the school grounds, forming a battle defense formation as soon as they saw Zhao Ye and others in the distance, their bodies filled with a stern and murderous aura, also being seasoned veterans.

  Zhao Kuo roughly estimated that if he were to launch a strong attack on the fortress, he would need at least five times as many elite troops as the defenders. This shows how difficult it is to attack and defend.

  Xue Yue patted his horse and shouted: "Prince Changsun, under the imperial order to inspect Jinlin barracks, why haven't you come to greet us yet?" It wasn't that Zhao Yan wanted to show off, but if he didn't reveal his royal identity, they probably wouldn't even be able to get through the front gate.

  Before long, a team of 500 people slowly emerged from the school field, and Zhao Yi couldn't help but shine in front of his eyes.