The imperial court is ceding territory from our northern border? Then we'll rebel!

Zang Chong sensed that something was wrong.

It's too quiet.

After leaving Black Wind Valley, we walked for nearly twenty miles, and along the way, we didn't hear a single bird call or insect chirp.

The entire world was eerily silent.

The only sounds were the friction of armor and the pounding of hooves as their 100,000-strong army marched forward.

As a seasoned veteran, this unusual silence made him wary.

"stop!"

He suddenly raised his hand, and the entire team stopped instantly.

"Send out scouts to investigate both flanks! Expand the search area to fifty li!" he ordered in a deep voice.

"yes!"

A dozen of the most elite scouts vanished into the darkness in an instant, like arrows released from a bow.

Zang Chong reined in his horse and waited quietly in place.

His adjutant, somewhat puzzled, approached him.

"General, why have we stopped? Ancheng is just ahead. Let's charge in one fell swoop and catch them off guard!"

"Don't you think things are going too smoothly?" Zang Chong asked instead of answering his question.

"Successfully?" The lieutenant was taken aback. "Isn't success a good thing? It means that idiot Xiao Jingchen never expected this move!"

Zang Chong shook his head.

He remembered his uncle Zang Baiyuan's words of advice to him before he went to war.

"Chong'er, remember, never underestimate Xiao Jingchen. He was able to carve out a place for himself in the Northern Frontier, and that's not just because of his martial prowess."

"When fighting him, you have to treat all the impossible things as possible."

At the time, Zang Chong did not take it seriously.

Now, however, he felt as if his uncle's words were echoing in his ears.

It went too smoothly, so smoothly that it felt like... a trap.

Time passed little by little.

None of the scouts sent out returned.

Like a stone sinking into the sea, there has been no news of them.

Zang Chong's heart sank little by little.

He knew something was wrong.

"General, the scouts haven't returned yet, is it...?" The lieutenant also sensed something was wrong, and his voice trembled slightly.

"withdraw!"

Zang Chong made a decisive decision without the slightest hesitation.

"All troops, turn around and retreat to Black Wind Valley immediately!"

He didn't know where the enemy was lying in ambush, nor how many enemies there were.

But he knew that staying here would definitely lead to his death.

However, his order came a step too late.

The moment he ordered the retreat.

"boom--!"

A deafening roar came from the direction they had come from.

Immediately afterwards, flames shot into the sky!

Countless fireballs rained down from the sky, landing behind their ranks and forming an insurmountable wall of fire.

It was a grass ball soaked in grease, launched by a catapult.

Our escape route has been cut off!

"Enemy attack!!"

A piercing cry echoed through the night sky.

Zang Chong's face turned deathly pale instantly.

His worst fears came true.

They were ambushed!

"Form ranks! All troops, form a circular formation! Shield bearers on the outside, archers on the inside! Prepare to engage the enemy!"

After his initial shock, Zang Chong quickly regained his composure and loudly issued the orders.

As expected of the Imperial Guards, even when trapped in dire straits, their reaction was much faster than that of the Yunzhou Army.

Under the command of generals at all levels, the 100,000-strong army quickly contracted and soon formed a huge circular formation, like a hedgehog covered in thorns.

"Don't panic! We have 100,000 men! Even if they have an ambush, their numbers definitely won't outnumber us!" Zang Chong shouted, boosting morale. "As long as we hold our formation, dawn will break, and that's when we'll counterattack!"

His words calmed the restless soldiers somewhat.

Just then.

"Thump—thump—thump—"

The deep, rhythmic sound of war drums came from all directions.

The sound of the drums seemed to strike directly on everyone's heart, making their chests feel tight and their breath catch in their throats.

Immediately afterwards, rows of torches appeared in front of their army formation on the dark wilderness.

The flames stretched out in a continuous line, like a winding fire dragon that stretched as far as the eye could see.

In the firelight, countless figures slowly approached.

They were clad in black armor, wielding long swords, their steps perfectly synchronized, each step causing the earth to tremble.

An atmosphere of impending doom swept over everything.

The leader rode a tall warhorse, carrying two uniquely shaped scimitars.

He grinned, revealing a set of gleaming white teeth, as if he were looking at a group of interesting prey.

"Imperial Guards? The Emperor's precious darlings?"

Zhao Wu's voice, in the quiet night, clearly reached the ears of every imperial guard.

"I am Zhao Wu, the commander-in-chief of the Northern Frontier Green Army!"

"We have been waiting here for a long time on the orders of our lord!"

"Welcome to Hell!"

The moment he finished speaking, Zhao Wu suddenly raised the two swords in his hands.

"kill--!"

At a command.

The tens of thousands of Qing soldiers behind him charged forward like tigers released from their gates.

On the left and right sides of the Imperial Guard formation, torches were lit all over the mountains.

Wang Meng's Fifth Legion and Cang Jia's First Legion also emerged from the darkness, like two giant pincers clamping down hard.

Encircled from three sides!

As Zang Chong watched the Zhenbei Army surge in from three directions like a tidal wave, and saw the endless torches covering the mountains and fields, his mind went blank with a "buzz".

He finally realized how terribly wrong he had been.

What? Ancheng is empty?

What kind of surprise attack?

It was a scam from beginning to end!

They weren't unprepared for their arrival; they had already dug a pit and laid a net, just waiting for these silly roe deer to crawl right in!

"No...this is impossible..."

He muttered to himself, his eyes unfocused.

They thought they were hunters, but little did they know that in the eyes of a true hunter, they weren't even prey.

They were just a bunch of... pigs lured to the slaughterhouse.

"General! We can't hold on! The east flank... the east flank has been breached!"

"General! The enemy from the west has also broken in! It's Cang Jia! It's Cang Jia's troops!"

"General! We must break through now! It will be too late if we don't leave now!"

Desperate cries came from all directions.

The Imperial Guards' circular formation was as fragile as paper under the combined attack of the three legions of the Zhenbei Army.

In just one encounter, countless wounds were torn open.

The soldiers of the Zhenbei Army easily cut through the enemy lines, like steel knives slicing through butter.

street fighting?

No, this is a massacre!

The Imperial Guards were indeed very strong individually, but they were facing the Zhenbei Army, who had been fighting on the brink of death for years.

It is a war machine accustomed to coordinated operations in small squads.

One Imperial Guard could defeat one Zhenbei Army soldier.

But three Imperial Guards are no match for a three-man Zhenbei Army combat team.

This is the overwhelming power of a system.

Zang Chong watched as his soldiers fell in droves, his once arrogant colleagues being slaughtered like vegetables.

His heart was bleeding.

He suddenly drew his sword, his eyes bloodshot, looking like a madman.

"Xiao Jingchen! I'll fight you to the death!"

He spurred his warhorse and launched a suicidal charge toward Zhao Wu.

Zhao Wu glanced at the enemy general charging towards him and curled his lip in disdain.

"Still want to fight? Too late!"

He swayed and leaped off his horse, tracing a strange arc in the air as he headed towards Zang Chong.

The blades clashed.

"clang!"

A crisp sound.

The long sword in Zang Chong's hand broke in two.

He looked down at the two intersecting bloodstains on his chest, his eyes filled with disbelief.

"Wow... such a fast knife..."

These were his last words in this world.

Zhao Wu landed on both feet, not even glancing at him, and flicked his twin swords to wipe the blood off them.

"Next!"

He continued his slaughter like a tiger charging into a flock of sheep.

With their commander killed, the last shred of resistance from the Imperial Guards completely collapsed.

They threw down their weapons and fled in all directions.

But where can they escape to?

Behind him was a wall of fire, and on three sides were enemies.

Death awaited them.

That night, blood flowed like a river before Luofeng Slope.

Of the 100,000 imperial guards, except for a few who surrendered, the rest were all annihilated.

When the first rays of morning sunlight illuminate this battlefield...

Cang Jia, Zhao Wu, and Wang Meng, three great generals of the northern frontier, stood side by side amidst this mountain of corpses and sea of ​​blood.

Zhao Wu wiped the blood from his face and grinned, "All done. Now, those two old bastards, Tian Kui and Zang Baiyuan, should finally give up, right?"

Cang Jia gazed in the direction of Ancheng, his eyes deep and thoughtful.

"No."

"This isn't over yet."

"The real show is just beginning."