ChangNing’s Imperial Army - Chapter 97 - You Cannot Enter!
The 52 cavalry managed to force at least 500 cavalry to retreat. After he had just completed such an impressive feat, Meng Changan did not seem to be excited. In contrast with his excited subordinates, he appeared to be too numb and apathetic.
“Let’s go.”
Meng Changan turned his horse around. “The Xiong troops wanted to stall us.”
At a distance away, the Xiong cavalry realized that Meng Changan did not chase after them. They made one big round and went back. The sound of the hooves was akin to a muffled thunder.
He glanced over and looked; the Lang Jue people who had been running frantically had not reached a distance that was safe enough. If the Xiong troops at the back were to pursue them, it would not take them long before they caught up. The Lang Jue people were defenseless and unable to fight. Being massacred would be their only fate.
“Military officer, what if we can’t protect those Lang Jue people?”
“Then so be it. But before that, we need to do our best.”
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It was rare that Meng Changan spoke a little more than usual, but he was too lazy to elaborate.
The soldiers heaved a sigh of relief. They would not reflect on things at a deeper level, and would not understand that the military officer not only wanted to save the hundreds of Lang Jue people by taking them away, but rather, the significance of the matter itself.
If he managed to bring all of them safely into Feng Yan Tai, and if the great general was able to get there in time to provide support, when His Majesty got to know about it, he would definitely send a decree to summon Meng Changan, as well as the Lang Jue people. This would be an achievement!
It was not only Meng Changan’s achievement, but the whole of Great Ning’s achievement, as well as the emperor’s!
This would sway the hearts of the Heiwu’s common folks towards Great Ning, allowing the border military forces to delve deeper into Heiwu to bring more people out. This was Great Ning’s stance and attitude. This was Great Ning’s power!
If this matter were to spread to the rest of the world, the small and big countries around Great Ning would revere her.
The scouts would not think about all these things. The scope and line of thought were things that restricted them.
However, Meng Changan did not think that such a significant and meaningful matter was more important than his subordinates’ lives. He would try his very best to bring those people back, but if ultimately, it was not possible, he could only give up. But if it were someone else, what would they do?
The Xiong troops at the back started to pick up speed. They still had a lot, a lot more people on their side, compared to Meng Changan’s.
“Seems like someone hopes that they would keep me here.”
Meng Changan looked far into the distance. Earlier on, he could already judge that the Da Wei Tian Lang cavalry were chasing at the back. However, they were heavily armed forces, hence their speed was not fast. A thousand heavily armed cavalry needed twice as many auxiliary soldiers and horsekeepers to accompany them. They also needed the same number of horses to carry supplies.
During the last time, for the sake of chasing him, that fella went so far as to order the cavalry to remove their armor. Only a crazy person could do such a crazy thing.
It had not been long since their last fight. When Liao Shalang was chasing Meng Changan, he fired his arrows from 150 meters away. Just as he saw that the arrow was about to pierce Meng Changan in the nape, unexpectedly, the latter turned around and caught the iron arrow. His hand was like a boulder.
If he merely dodged it, Liao Shalang would not be that furious. By catching his arrow, he viewed it as a challenge. He could not tolerate challenges as such – even Wu Xinyu did not dare to catch his arrows!
Four hundred odd Xiong cavalry increased their speed and continued chasing them. The time that Meng Changan and his men fought for with their lives was gone because of the wide disparity in their speed.
The Xiong troops were less than 93 miles away from them. Meng Changan tugged on the reins of his horse; the other scouts were still charging forward and did not react. Meng Changan turned around and charged back on his own. When he lifted his long lance, the light reflected off it was piercing to the eye.
Heiwu’s Xiong cavalry were evidently laughing at Meng Changan for charging back alone. They were mocking him.
Meng Changan stabbed the incoming Heiwu cavalry to death. He swung his long lance, sending the two people behind, along with the corpse, flying. He held the long lance with his left hand and drew out his black cord sword with his right. As he blocked their attack, at the same time, he stabbed another person to death.
The horse he was riding on could sense how fearless his master was; it was solely engrossed in charging forward.
Meng Changan forcefully charged through few hundred troops. This unleashed the hatred within those Heiwu troops. They stopped pursuing the Lang Jue people in front. Instead, they turned around and chased Meng Changan.
Meng Changan hung his long lance back onto the saddle and whipped his horse, as he charged forward. He took down his bow and started firing. The closest Heiwu cavalry were shot and they fell to the ground.
Few hundred troops pursued him at the back. Meng Changan led them farther and farther away. Qu Xiong and the rest finally understood what the military officer was doing. Their eyes reddened as they continued to hurry the Lang Jue people to run faster.
At a distance away, the black line became more and more apparent. When they were nearer, they seemed like the crest of a flood.
Da Wei Tian Lang was here.
When 1,000 heavily armed forces advanced, they gave off the aura akin to that of black clouds shrouding a city. Almost every single Tian Lang cavalry was at least 1.9 meters tall. They were strong and muscular like bulls. Their weapons were very heavy as well, and ordinary daggers or swords were unable to pierce through their armor.
A sea of black cavalry charged over; they were only less than 2,000 to 3,000 meters away from Meng Changan.
Liao Shalang sat slantingly on the horse. He lifted his field glasses and saw Meng Changan smile. “A character indeed. Good. Very good.”
He put down his field glasses. “Kill all the Lang Jue people. That Ning man is mine.”
He sat upright and whipped his horse, charging towards Meng Changan…Liao Shalang was Da Wei Tian Lang Zhen Zi camp’s general. He was also a special one, because he never wore any armor.
The well-known colt, Bo Ta Wu, that he was riding on neighed and charged at full speed.
At this moment, the hundreds of Xiong cavalry pulled on the reins of their horses when they saw Da Wei Tian Lang. Everyone knew Liao Shalang’s temperament. Nobody could not snatch anything he set his eyes on. Hence, those cavalry started to chase after the Lang Jue people instead.
Even though the horse that Meng Changan was riding on was rather impressive, it was way beneath that of a Bo Ta Wu. The distance between them became closer and closer.
At this moment, some Ning cavalry came attacking from the side. There were only about 300 odd of them. However, their horses were extremely fast. The formation was sharp and powerful like thunder.
Before the few hundred Heiwu cavalry could react, the 300 odd Great Ning cavalry came charging at them from the side. They fired their crossbows at them; at least a hundred Heiwu cavalry got shot down. After that, the Great Ning cavalry headed in the direction of where the Lang Jue people were at. One by one, he pulled them up onto the horses. They did not care about anything else and headed straight for Feng Yan Tai.
When Meng Changan saw that the Ning cavalry had the military banner with the word ‘Pei’ on it, he laughed coldly, before whipping his horse to go faster.
Meng Changan’s subordinates saved the rest of the Lang Jue people, following the Ning cavalry in front, and charged into Feng Yan Tai city.
It was a good thing they were fast enough, or else the city gate would close on them.
Qu Xiong saw that their comrades actually wanted to close the city gate, his eyes went red. He jumped off his horse and kicked one of them. “Military officer is still outside!”
“Tie him up!” bellowed someone, who was nearby.
A few of the troops went over and held Qu Xiong down. One of the soldiers slapped him a few times.
Pei Xiao, who was sitting on the horse, looked at the scouts. “Anybody who disobeys my orders will be beheaded.”
Amidst the creaking sounds, Pei Xiao’s subordinates shut the city gate tight, and even added a wooden crossbar. Qu Xiong struggled and yelled. He did not care about the fact that his mouth was full of blood.
Pei Xiao frowned. “All the noise. Hit him.”
Dozens of scouts were about to draw their swords, however, they were surrounded by a group of people. They were already holding onto their repeating crossbows. If they took another step forward, the arrows would be fired.
“Confiscate their weapons and take off their armor. Tie them up and toss them into the abandoned house.”
Pei Xiao whipped his horse and turned around. “After all, I cannot directly kill my fellow Great Ning comrades. I can’t bear to do that. After we leave, if they starve to death, it has nothing to do with me.”
Pei Xiao’s subordinates charged forth. Taking advantage of the fact that they outnumbered them by a lot, they removed the scouts’ armor and weapons, before tying them up. They looked for a few abandoned houses and shoved them in. After that, they looked for chains to lock those houses up.
The group of Lang Jue people went pale with fright. They just escaped death from the pursuit of Heiwu forces, and now, there was conflict amongst the Ning people. Nobody dared to say anything. They squeezed together like a herd of frightened sheep.
“Ahem ahem…”
Pei Xiao forced out a hoarse laugh. “You don’t have to be alarmed. I am Great Ning’s Fourth pin Weiyang general. I was the one who saved all of you. I will send you to somewhere safe.”
Ye Kuotai stood up and pointed to the outside while saying a bunch of words. Pei Xiao had a cold look on his face. “What is he saying?”
One of his subordinates who understood Lang Jue people’s language explained to him, “He said that their benefactor is still outside, and asked why did you close the city gate. He wants…he requests that you open the city gate to let their benefactor in.”
“I am the one who’s your benefactor!”
Pei Xiao’s face went pale. “You tell them that if they want to continue staying alive, they better remember one thing…once they enter Great Ning, regardless of who asks, they have to say that I am the one who saved them. When I entered Heiwu to complete the map, I saved them! I will cut whoever who doesn’t remember that.”
His subordinate spoke in Lang Jue’s language and repeated what he said. Ye Kuotai was dumbfounded.
“The other general was the one who saved us!”
“Shut up!”
His father quickly pulled him aside and squatted. He used all his might to cover Ye Kuotai’s mouth.
Pei Xiao jumped off his horse and walked towards the city walls. “That benefactor of yours is about to die. Hence I brought you people back. This is a god-given luck…not only will I be able to claim credit for his map, I will be able to claim the credit of saving hundreds of Lang Jue people too. This is an unprecedented feat since the founding of Great Ning. His Majesty will commend me personally!“
He waved his hand, “Ask them whether or not they remember my words. If they remember, they can stay. If not, they will be beheaded. Besides, it wouldn’t change a thing bringing back 300 people instead of 500. His Majesty only cares about the significance of this, and not the small details.”
He scaled up the city wall and thought to himself: Meng Changan, I want to witness your death with my own eyes. Aren’t you very strong? Aren’t you unafraid of the Heiwu people? There are a thousand of Tian Lang cavalry outside waiting to kill you. I’d like to see how you survive that.
At this time, Meng Changan had already approached the city wall. He saw them close the city gate with his own eyes.
Behind him, Liao Shalang, who was very close to him, laughed out loud. “You Ning people are still the same, fighting amongst yourselves. From the looks of it, that person is going to claim credit for your work. Ning man…you can surrender. I will give you a high post and a generous salary. WIth your abilities, follow me back. I guarantee that you will achieve meteoric success!”
Meng Changan turned his head around and started laughing suddenly. “I will go to Heiwu, but when I get there, I will be with my troops and we will trample all over your capital.”
After he said that, he suddenly took down his long lance. There was a rope hanging on the side of his saddle. He tied the rope to his long lance. After that, he lifted his long lance with one hand and tossed it.
That long lance flew up the city wall. Pei Xiao happened to get up there; the long lance flew over his head and pierced one of the pillars.
Meng Changan grabbed the rope with both hands and swung himself over. His feet stepped on the wall and he swiftly scaled up the wall.
Pei Xiao who was in shock suddenly reacted. He drew his sword and started cutting the rope!
