Chapter Thirty-Three: Mysterious Phoenix City

  "I wonder why the two fairies suddenly appeared here?" Tian Yi suddenly interjected, her tone carrying a hint of sourness. Although there was no unusual expression on her face, Saint Lan immediately understood the implication and smiled wryly.

  Luo Xiang's eyes also flashed with a hint of relief. With his understanding of Tian Yi, he knew that Tian Yi wasn't being petty. Anyone who had stayed in the River Suite would understand Tian Yi's position in Huang Tian's heart, and Tian Yi was an extremely intelligent woman who didn't need to be jealous over such a small matter. Her purpose for saying this was solely to figure out the real reason why Sheng Lan and the others had appeared here.

  Sheng Lan Xin said, "I noticed that the Ji Le Sheng Jiao has been making unusual movements in the capital today. Although I don't understand their goal, the Ji Le Sheng Jiao has always had ulterior motives, and the object of their attention must be the loyal and righteous scholars of the imperial court. Out of curiosity, I followed them all the way here. However, the other party was very vigilant, so I didn't dare to get too close. Fortunately, Master Hou's good fortune is extraordinary, and he did not encounter any accidents."

  "I also thought so," Xian Lian continued, "but I didn't expect this group of people to be so skilled, and actually gave the young master a fright."

  Hao Tian furrowed his brow and said, "This is no trivial matter. I didn't expect these people to be so arrogant, actually daring to assassinate a high-ranking official in the capital. If these people are being used by an external enemy, ordered to assassinate our dynasty's important ministers in the capital, then wouldn't my life be in danger?"

  As soon as this was said, Sheng Lanxin's face changed instantly, as if she had thought of something, and then hastily bid farewell and floated away. Xian Lianchen just smiled slightly, lowered her voice and said "I'll come to visit again another day" before also floating away. Only Haotian remained, quietly pondering her words. As for the corpse on the ground, neither of them paid any attention to it.

  "Master, who exactly killed this person? This person has a huge strength, and the arrow didn't even penetrate the wall." Zhan Shu-tang asked curiously as he walked forward. He pointed to the black-clad leader who had been shot dead, saying that when he was cleaning up the battlefield earlier, he found that the black-clad man had already died, but the three-foot-long long arrow had only half penetrated the wall.

  "I don't know." Haotian shook his head and said. He really didn't recognize who the woman was, but being able to shoot such a powerful arrow from 100 meters away, she must not be an ordinary person. And when Saint Lan Xin and the other two saw the arrow, they didn't show any surprise, it's clear that they knew this woman. However, he didn't dwell on this matter too much, since the other party had lent a helping hand, they were likely to be friends rather than enemies, and there would definitely be another chance to meet in the future. After some thought, he asked: "Mr. Luo, why did Saint Lan Xin leave in such a hurry?"

  Luo Xiang smiled and said, "Isn't it the master's words that awakened her? If the Extreme Joy Sect can organize people to assassinate the master, it's hard to say they won't assassinate other high-ranking officials of the imperial court. The three major families and the national teacher are all attending this banquet. If I were them, I would choose this time to carry out the assassination."

  "What did Xian Lianchen mean by saying he would come back to visit another day?" Haotian continued to ask.

  "Doesn't the master think that she appeared too suddenly? It's barely acceptable for Sheng Lan to be concerned about the master's safety, after all, given their relationship with the imperial court, the royal family is now weak and vulnerable. But Xian Lian and we have no connection whatsoever, they and the imperial court are also sworn enemies for hundreds of years, she had no need to come and rescue us on purpose. Therefore, the only possibility is that they hope to cooperate with us." Lu Xiang analyzed carefully.

  "Cooperation? But I wonder what Tian Wu Xing He can bring to us?" Hao Tian said with a smile. While Luo Xiang originally wanted to say that at least there was a romantic relationship between the dust and the person, thinking of Tian Yi standing beside Hao Tian, he dispelled this idea.

  Just as Haotian was assassinated in Tiandu Shengjing, the 80,000 cavalrymen who were wandering around Mandan's abdomen also encountered trouble.

  On the day of the Battle of Fenglingdu, Jing and Xue Sha led 800,000 cavalrymen to take advantage of the weakened defenses of the Mandan front line and launched a surprise attack on the Mandan kingdom. With the idea of making a name for themselves in one battle, the three men coincidentally set their sights on Mifen City, which had a population of 300,000. Before the Mandan dynasty broke through the Great Wall defense line, Mifen City was an important stronghold in southern Mandan and the most important logistics supply base for the Mandan army's southward advance. It is only 120 miles away from the Qingfeng Great Wall defense line, and cavalrymen can reach the Great Wall defense line in just two hours of raiding. Therefore, this is also an important gateway to southern Mandan. However, since breaking through the Great Wall, Mifen's status has clearly declined, and due to its location in the hinterland, the local garrison has been reduced to 20,000. Nevertheless, it remains one of Mandan's important logistics bases.

  Because they didn't expect the Qingfeng army to have the ability to launch a surprise attack on Mifeng City, the local garrison's vigilance was relatively low, and it was easy for Fengjing to deceive them into opening the city gate. Under the sweep of 80,000 cavalrymen, all 20,000 garrison troops were killed in battle. After occupying Mifeng City, Fengjing directly plundered all the gold, silver, jade, and precious stones that could be found in the city, considering that carrying these things would greatly reduce the mobility of his army. He simply buried them in a place he had found. If there was another chance to come here in the future, they could be dug up. If not, then so be it.

  Blood Kill was responsible for rescuing the 50,000 robust and vigorous Qingfeng from the city who were forced into hard labor. He also scoured the city and its surroundings to plunder horses, armor, and other equipment in order to quickly assemble them into a cavalry unit. Fortunately, these robust men were mostly from the northern regions and had some foundation in horseback riding and archery, so although it was somewhat troublesome, under Blood Kill's efforts, they were still able to complete their assembly quickly. However, after more than half a year of hard labor, the physical quality of these robust men had severely deteriorated. At this time, there was no other choice, and Blood Kill could only make do for now.

  Xin Ke led 10,000 cavalrymen in Mifeng City, causing as much destruction as possible. Everything that could be burned was set on fire, and everything that couldn't be burned was smashed to pieces. Even the city walls were destroyed by Xin Ke's men, who drove out the people of Mifeng. As for the military supplies stored in Mifeng City, aside from a small portion that was kept for their own use, the rest was completely incinerated.

  On these points, the views of Xue Shaohui and the three men were identical, but on the disposal of the 300,000 civilians in Miao City, Xue Shaohui and Feng Jing had different opinions.

  "Blood General, before departing, Mr. Hao specially instructed someone to exhaust the national strength of Manda as much as possible during the march, so that person thinks it's better to kill them all." Feng Jing emphasized and said.

  Xue Sha smiled slightly: "But there are three million people in the city, if they fight back to the death, relying on the complex terrain of the city, it can cause serious damage to our 800,000 cavalry."

  He took a big step forward and said with a grin, "That's easy. As long as we occupy the city walls on all four sides, close the gates and set fire to the inside, they'll all be burned to death within a day."

  Xue Sha smiled again: "Just now I observed the heavenly signs, tonight there will be a heavy snowfall. Our top priority is to find a place to take shelter from the snow, rather than wasting too much energy on these things. Moreover, the city walls all around have been dismantled by you, and a fire has already been set in the city, so setting fires won't be very effective."

  The robust leader Chun Jian, who had just been rescued, plucked up the courage to step forward and say: "I have a suggestion, that is, to drive all these residents out of the city. Then use cavalry to repeatedly attack and kill them. Outside the city, it's flat and open, which is suitable for our cavalry to exert their strength, and can also serve as a training exercise for horsemanship. I believe that in no time at all, these three million civilians will be annihilated." He was originally a deputy general of the Northern Military Region of the Empire, but because he was too straightforward, he was dismissed and returned to his hometown in Donghai. When the three countries outside the Great Wall invaded, he was also captured and taken as a slave. Fortunately, Xue Sha and others broke through Mifeng City, which rescued him. However, for this emerging group, he still seemed to be somewhat unaccustomed.

  Shin Koku burst out laughing: "This idea isn't bad, I didn't think you had such skills." Meanwhile, Haru Tsurugi quickly bowed his head. Although the two currently held the same position as commanders, Haru Tsurugi understood that there was still a huge gap between him and Shin Koku.

  With a slight raise of his respectful eyebrows, he patted Chun Jian's shoulder and said: "Brother Chun, there's no need to be so polite. We're all serving the same master, and among us, there's no distinction between superior and inferior. Xun is a straightforward person, he appreciates your character and treats you like a brother, that's why he's being so generous."

  "Thank you, General Gong. I understand now." Chun Jian Xiang bowed again, but this time he was obviously more sincere, and even Blood Kill could see the tears welling up in his eyes.

  "While this may be able to vent some anger for the time being, it cannot bring the greatest harm to Mandan." Blood Kill brought the topic back, saying in a low voice: "The purpose of war is to destroy the enemy's war potential to the greatest extent. Killing people is an extremely important aspect, but not all."

  "Does Marshal Blood have a better proposal?" Feng Jing said respectfully. As the personal disciple of Ying Wu, Blood Kill's talent and qualifications were extremely outstanding. Although Feng Jing was proud and arrogant, he had never underestimated this middle-aged man who was prone to killing. Moreover, Blood Kill was also the godfather appointed by heaven, and for this reason alone, Feng Jing had enough reason to show respect.

  "We're not here to annihilate them, just to weaken their national strength," he said with a faint smile, but the bloodthirsty glint in his eyes grew thicker. "Our focus should be on other aspects. I think the best approach is to drive these people out of the city, thoroughly destroy all facilities within, and disperse them completely. In this freezing weather, they'll have no food, no clothes, and nowhere to take shelter from the wind and rain. If the garrison or civilians around Mifu don't provide aid, their only option will be to freeze or starve to death. Yelü Changhai will inevitably bear the blame for neglecting his people's livelihoods if he doesn't take action. But if they do provide aid, these three million people are no small number. Their military actions will undoubtedly be delayed, which would be even more advantageous for our own actions."

  Everyone's eyes lit up, and the blood-killing move was indeed sinister and ruthless. Compared to other people's suggestions for massacring the city, this move's deterrent power was undoubtedly more terrifying. It seems that ginger is still spicy when it's old.

  "We won't stop until we've finished the job. After driving them out of town, let's have our cavalry charge and hurt as many of them as possible without killing them, that way they'll be even more troubled." Feng Jing said with a cruel tone.

  His face was also extremely ferocious: "It's better to strip off their clothes and burn them when letting them out of the city, isn't it going to snow tonight? Let's see how they get through."

  After a simple negotiation, the matter was settled. The destructive work was naturally done by Xue Sha personally, while Chun Jian led his newly formed 50,000 cavalry to slaughter tens of thousands of civilians. These people were originally laborers brought back from outside the Great Wall after being kidnapped by foreign tribes, and not only had their families been destroyed, but they had also suffered greatly outside the Great Wall. Now that they could avenge themselves, they naturally showed no mercy.