Chapter 89: The Garrison is Destroyed

  "What happened at the barracks?"

  Zayn said: "Not clear, soldiers came and told me. I'm telling you at the first time."

  "Let's go and take a look."

  Li Xie strode out of the study and into the garden, only to see a thick black smoke billowing up towards the western sky. His heart skipped a beat as he shouted: "Ze En, fly!"

  Li Xie tore off his upper body clothes, the sword blade's wings opened, and he immediately took to the air, charging into the sky, with Ze Ennarde close behind.

  In the air, the view is broad and open, and one can see that three miles outside the west gate of Chrysanthemum City, flames are soaring into the sky, and black smoke is piling up like foam in the sky. That's where the barracks are located!

  "Is the barracks on fire?"

  Li Xie hastily flew quickly and soon landed near the barracks with Zeenath, looking at the flames that reached the sky. The barracks, which could accommodate 100,000 people, were likely to be completely destroyed by fire.

  Kano and a dozen soldiers knelt in front of the barracks, some beating their chests and others wailing. With such a fierce fire, it's likely that only a few soldiers inside the barracks could have escaped.

  Two more figures flew in, one was Vandy Sel with golden light surrounding him, the other was Jack Rothschild who had transformed into a golden-plumed war chicken with golden wings on his back.

  Jack's face was filled with anger as soon as he landed. Without even greeting Li Xie, he immediately roared: "Kano, what's going on!"

  Kano turned around, and saw Li Xie and Jack among others. With a tear-stained face, he rushed to Li Xie's front, heavily kneeling: "Sir, Kano is guilty! Kano deserves death! The barracks are gone! More than 20,000 brothers inside haven't come out! Sir! Kano deserves death!"

  The dozen or so soldiers who were kneeling outside also rushed over and knelt on the ground, each crying bitterly. They did not rejoice that they could escape with their lives, but mourned for the soldiers who had perished in the sea of flames.

  Li Ye's face had already turned gloomy like black smoke, and he coldly said: "What's going on? Speak!"

  Kano choked and said: "Kano led the soldiers to practice in the school field, suddenly felt a strong magical fluctuation, immediately saw flames filling the sky. The fire came from the sky and surrounded us from all sides, it was impossible to extinguish. More than 20,000 soldiers, only a dozen of us escaped. Sir, it must be a magician! It must be a ninth-level natural system magician who ambushed our camp!"

  "A 9th-tier magician? Who is that?!" Li Xie's words squeezed out from between his teeth, revealing just how furious he was at this moment.

  The newly built barracks, with more than 20,000 soldiers, were all burned down by a single fire. How could he not be enraged?

  "Sir, I didn't see clearly who ambushed us," Kano shook his head.

  "Sir," Jack said in a cold voice, "the Sunflower City's Cheetah Legion has three 9th-level natural system mages."

  "Very good, excellent!" Li Xie's gaze was icy cold to the extreme: "Burn my barracks and kill my soldiers! If I, Li Xie, don't wipe out the Pan family, I won't be called Li Xie, Jack!"

  "Yes, sir!"

  "Tell me, why can a 9th-tier magician easily burn down our barracks without us knowing anything! You tell me, how did you become the commander of this evil army!"

  Li Xie's furious roar startled Jack into hastily kneeling down: "Your Excellency, this humble officer knows his fault!"

  Li glared at Jack: "Whether you are guilty or not, it's not up to you to say, nor is it up to me. It's the more than 20,000 dead soldiers who have the final say! What I want to know now is why our barracks were burned down and why we didn't know a thing! If they can burn down our barracks today, can they burn down the city lord's mansion tomorrow? You tell me! Why!"

  "Sir, our barracks has just been established and we don't have any emergency defense mechanisms in place. Our soldiers are too weak and would be completely helpless against a 9th-tier fire magic attack. Our scouts have only just been deployed and aren't yet operational, so if someone were to sneak in, we wouldn't even know about it. We also lack mages in our army, so we can't immediately put out the fire or defend against magic attacks. And... it's all my fault! If I had been at the barracks, they would never have been able to burn it down. Please, sir, punish me!"

  "No! Sir!" Kano knelt beside Jack: "It's not the Commander-in-Chief's fault, it's Kano! Kano couldn't rescue the brothers! The Commander-in-Chief is busy with affairs, he can't always be in the military camp!"

  "Get up, all of you." Li Xie sighed and knew that everything he had just established was as fragile as a newborn baby, weak and vulnerable to the wind. If someone with ill intentions made even the slightest move, today's situation would be ruined. "I know none of this is your fault, I was too harsh in my tone just now, sorry."

  "Sir, I know you're upset, and so am I," Jack said with a cold glint in his eyes.

  Isn't it unbearable? It must be unbearable!

  Laozi's barracks, Laozi's soldiers!

  Pangsen family! You just wait!

  Li Xie suppressed his anger and patted Jack's shoulder: "You are the commander-in-chief of the evil army, no matter what time it is, don't blame yourself for your mistakes, but think about how to avenge your brothers in the army, think about how to make your brothers in the army live better. The barracks were destroyed, rebuild! Soldiers died, recruit again! Do a good job with the consolation work. Besides, this revenge, what do you think should be done?"

  "Kill!" Kano shouted angrily: "Even if it's the Leopard Corps, sir! I'll take the lead, even if I die in battle, I must kill him!"

  Li glared at him: "You only know how to kill! Revenge, must be avenged. But what we should think about is not letting our hatred deepen. We are currently unable to avenge ourselves and can only endure! Protect what we have now, don't lose more, and when we have the power, we'll get it back with interest! Jack, announce to the outside that the barracks has been flooded."

  "Yes, sir! I know what to do."

  "Hmm, Kano, leave someone to put out the fire. Zain, you work a bit harder and search the whole city for high-ranking mages, bring them back alive. Jack, Vandy, you two follow me back to the manor."

  Upon arriving at the city lord's council hall, the three of them sat down in order of seniority. Li Xie narrowed his eyes and spoke coldly: "It seems that the Pan family is aware of Your Majesty's intention to appoint me as the City Lord of this Chrysanthemum City. Hmph! They took advantage of my new army and gave me a knife! Can I tolerate it? In a direct battle, I am no match for them. However...Hmph! You two, plus Ze En, three people going to their barracks, how many people can you kill for me? On the premise that all of you return safely."

  "Sir, the Leopard Troop is different from us. They have been operating in Sunflower City for a long time and have experts in the city who can inform them. Even if we sneak into the barracks, we won't be able to get close. All mature barracks must be visible within a mile, with soldiers standing guard at all times, and any movement must be known. Whether above or below ground, sneaking into the barracks will result in being killed. With our three-man combat power, we can only shout outside the barracks."

  "What's wrong with them? They're just a little too arrogant. We can't even get close to them, are we supposed to just sit back and do nothing?" Li Xie was extremely displeased.

  Jack sneered, "Although the Leopard Legion is a regular army of the dynasty, it's actually Pan Sen's private army. The generals in the army are all from the Pan Sen family. If we can kill all the generals, the 100,000-strong Leopard Legion in Sunflower City will collapse without a fight."

  "Ah, this point, I've thought of it before. For example, in Chrysanthemum City, if you were to die and I were to die, those soldiers would disperse as well. The same goes for the Leopard Army Unit - their soldiers wouldn't take the initiative to avenge their generals on their own accord. The question is, how can we kill off all of their generals?"

  "Moreover, we can't let them get wind of it, or else our Chrysanthemum City will be in danger!"

  "Uh, annihilating the Sunflower City's Cheetah Army is always an option. You guys have time to think about how to capture their leader in one fell swoop. Sooner or later, we'll come up with a plan, or seize the opportunity. Also, Jack, for now, our top priority is to do a good job as scouts and absolutely cannot let something like today happen again. We must always be aware of the situation on Sunflower City's side, only then can we have opportunities!"

  A servant came over and said: "Master, there are soldiers who want to see Mr. Rothschild."

  "Tell him to come in." After seeing the servant off, Li Xie thought that he should also hire more servants. The large city master's mansion only had a few servants responsible for the small living quarters, and sometimes they couldn't even find anyone to pass on messages.

  The soldier quickly entered the council chamber, paid his respects one by one, and said: "A thousand troops were found ten miles outside the east gate, judging from the flags, they should be people from the Hunting Leopard Army, and are currently advancing. Please decide, sir."

  "What?!?" Li Xie slammed his hand on the armrest: "A thousand of them think they can come and attack our Chrysanthemum City? Jack, Vandy! Take some men and make sure not a single one of those thousand is left alive!"

  "Desist, sir." Jack hastily said: "They can't possibly attack Chrysanthemum City directly, it's probably something else. Moreover, we cannot engage the Leopard Troop in a frontal battle without being certain first. They are the imperial regular army, while your troop is a private one. Once we engage in a frontal battle, they can immediately accuse us of rebellion and dispatch troops to annihilate us. Chrysanthemum City is too far from the Imperial Capital, I fear that by the time they find out, we will have been wiped out."

  Li's eyebrows jumped in surprise and he exclaimed, "You're saying that they only need an excuse to attack us? Then if they come up with any old excuse, won't our Chrysanthemum City be in great danger?"

  "This... " You think everyone is like you, strong enough to kill without considering the consequences? Even daring to kill in the imperial court? Jack said with a frown: "Don't worry, Your Majesty, there must be your spies in Chrysanthemum City, and also in Sunflower City. Unless we have an irrefutable excuse, such as unprovoked fighting with them, they won't launch a large-scale attack on Chrysanthemum City. Because if they do so, the Leopard Army will have no convincing excuse, and they will face either being suppressed by Your Majesty or immediately rebelling."

  "Hmm, that's good!" Li Xie asked again: "What if they come to provoke us?"

  Jack smiled wryly: "If we can tolerate it, we will. As long as they don't launch a surprise attack on us, any troop deployments against them would be considered rebellion. After all, they are nominally the regular army of the dynasty."

  "Ah, why do I feel so constrained everywhere? When can I finally vent my anger!" Li Xie let out a rather self-mocking laugh and stood up, saying: "Let's go take a look at the east gate. I'm afraid they're here to provoke us!"