May I seek good fortune and avoid misfortune, and live a long and prosperous life.

Two months later, Li Heng received important news from the teahouse.

After more than two years, the bandits in the northwest finally captured Luoyan City in Chongzhou.

Prior to this, the three major prefectures in the Northwest—Xuezhou, Liangzhou, and Suzhou—had all fallen into the hands of bandits.

This news can be said to have shocked the world.

Emperor Xiangqing of the Chu Kingdom could no longer sit still.

Luoyan City is an extremely important place!

Luoyan City, with its treacherous terrain, is easy to defend and difficult to attack. It can be described as a place where one man can hold off ten thousand, guarding the throat of the northwest and known as a city that even wild geese cannot pass through.

If this place is not lost, no matter how the bandits roam, they can only stay in that remote corner of the northwest and cannot enter the Central Plains.

However, once Luoyan City falls, Yangcheng, Kangcheng, Fengcheng, and Yuncheng behind it will all be in danger.

Among them, Yuncheng is the most important, as it is the only way for the Northwest to advance into the Central Plains and connect the North and South.

If Yuncheng falls, the area behind it will be a flat plain, allowing the bandits to advance unimpeded and penetrate deep into the heart of Chu.

This had such a huge impact that Emperor Xiangqing had no choice but to take it seriously.

If this band of outlaws is not handled properly, it could shake the very foundations of the nation.

With the fall of Luoyan City, other cities in Chongzhou may be in danger in the short term.

Li Heng frowned deeply. His hometown, Yuncheng, might not be able to hold out for long either.

A few days later, Li Heng noticed that people were coming to Yuncheng with their families.

Many of these people were refugees who had fled from Luoyan City.

According to them, Luoyan City is now like a living hell.

The bandits and starving people, regardless of age or gender, killed anyone they saw and looted anything they could find.

Furthermore, more atrocities were spawned, and the dark side of humanity was completely unleashed in Luoyan City.

In just a few days, the once prosperous Luoyan City was reduced to a place where nine out of ten houses were empty, the moat was already stained red with blood, corpses were scattered all over the mountains and fields, and the stench of blood and goat meat filled the air.

It's so heartbreaking that anyone who hears about it will be saddened, and anyone who sees it will be moved to tears.

There are also rumors that Luoyan City fell because a general in the city colluded with bandits to trick them into opening the city gates and letting them in.

This made the people of Chongzhou hate these traitors who betrayed their own people, and they wished they could devour them alive.

The governor of Luoyan City refused to surrender, so his head was cut off and hung at the city gate, and his entire family was exterminated and displayed to the public.

In recent days, many people from other places have come to Li Heng's hometown, Li Family Village, pleading for a place to stay and some food.

Li Heng would help whenever he could, but he would not hesitate to break the legs of refugees who engaged in moral blackmail, unreasonable behavior, or deliberately caused trouble, and would expel them from Li Family Village.

Soon, more and more refugees came to Yuncheng. The governor of Yuncheng immediately arranged for troops to be stationed around the city to prevent refugees from entering. The refugees had no choice but to settle down around the city.

A month later, Yangcheng, the second city of Chongzhou, fell.

The people of Yangcheng fled frantically to the remaining unconquered cities of Chongzhou.

This led to an increasing number of refugees coming to Yuncheng. If this continued, Yuncheng would eventually be overcrowded. Therefore, the governor of Yuncheng ordered the opening of the eastern passage, allowing these refugees to flood into other cities.

Although the people and governors of other regions hated the governor of Yuncheng, this was a helpless move, because it was foreseeable that more refugees would flock into Yuncheng in the coming months.

During these months, the bandits also elected a common leader, nicknamed Chen Tianwang, and established the Great Liang regime.

Under Chen Tianwang's leadership, these originally disorganized bandits became more organized.

Chen Tianwang also recruited many gangs and martial arts masters to join their ranks.

However, most of these gangs and martial arts masters are notorious.

For example, the Blood Lotus Sect, whose crimes are too numerous to list and whose power to stop children from crying at night, is among them.

The leader of the Blood Lotus Sect even became their national advisor.

The leader of the Blood Lotus Sect is said to be a Grandmaster-level expert at the peak.

Grandmaster is a realm above the Innate level.

The realm below the Innate level is divided into nine realms, ranging from the ninth rank to the first rank.

The innate realm can be divided into two realms.

Grandmaster, great grandmaster.

Above the Innate Realm is the Celestial Realm.

Among them, grandmaster-level martial artists can already be considered legendary figures in the martial arts world.

Grandmasters are said to be extremely rare, appearing only briefly and never actually appearing. They generally do not interfere in the affairs of the martial world, and sometimes only one may appear in a hundred years, making them legendary figures.

As for the Celestial Realm, it is said to be an ethereal realm, and almost no one has ever seen a Celestial Realm expert. Whether this realm even exists is another matter.

Therefore, in the martial arts world, a grandmaster-level martial artist can establish a sect and dominate a region.

Currently, the top combat power on the surface is the Grandmaster level martial artist.

Chen Tianwang gathered these martial arts experts together with the aim of using them as outposts for the Liang army, responsible for activities such as infiltration, assassination, propaganda, defection, and reconnaissance.

The destruction caused by these warriors was in no way inferior to that of an army.

However, most of the martial artists who are willing to join Chen Tianwang's ranks are notorious heretics and evil sects. There are currently no well-known righteous martial artists who have joined Chen Tianwang's camp.

This reassured many martial artists in Chongzhou.

A month later, Fengcheng, the third city in Chongzhou, also fell.

Large numbers of ordinary people and righteous martial artists fled Maple City, heading straight for Kang City and Cloud City.

At this time, the 50,000-strong Tiger Legion sent by the State of Chu had just arrived in Yun City, led by the Third Prince.

The Tiger Legion was the elite force of the Chu Kingdom, known as the Ever-Victorious Legion, and was the mainstay of the Chu Kingdom. It was personally created by the founding king of Chu.

Meanwhile, various states in the Chu state also organized their troops to transport grain and fodder to Yuncheng.

Yuncheng has been a strategic location fought over by military strategists since ancient times, and its strategic value is immense.

Yuncheng is the last line of defense guarding the northwest and a vital transportation route between the north and south.

South of Yuncheng lies a plain, a prosperous region in the southeast, from which one-third of the Chu Kingdom's tax revenue comes.

North of Yuncheng lies a plain, beyond which lies the capital of the Chu Kingdom, an ancient capital of seven kingdoms, a place where royal aura converges.

After the bandits occupy Yuncheng, whether they go south or north, they will cause great disaster to the Chu Kingdom and greatly shake the foundation of the country.

Therefore, Emperor Xiangqing of Chu has given a death order that Yuncheng must be defended no matter what.

The Third Prince led 50,000 Tiger Warriors to garrison Yun City, which greatly boosted the morale of all the soldiers and civilians in Yun City.

Moreover, Yuncheng also has its geographical advantages, with towering peaks rising thousands of feet on both sides, making it almost impossible to bypass Yuncheng and advance into the heart of the Chu Kingdom.

Yuncheng covers a vast area with a population of three million and a radius of two hundred li, surrounded by high city walls on all four sides.

The city wall was built from a very strong local rock, so tightly that it could not be penetrated by a knife, split by an axe, or melted by fire.

Moreover, after being continuously built and fortified by seven dynasties, it has now become a tall and majestic city that can be said to pierce the clouds! It is even more difficult to attack than Luoyan City, which is known as a place where one man can hold off ten thousand.

Therefore, the people of Yuncheng are still confident that the Third Prince's side can defend Yuncheng.

The Third Prince was quite decisive; upon arriving in Yun City, he immediately began issuing various decrees.

First, they mobilized the military and civilians to build many defensive facilities, repair and reinforce the old city walls, and gather all the weapons in the city.

Iron ore, copper ore, timber, stone ore, coal ore, grain, and drinking water from the vicinity of Yuncheng should be transported into the city as much as possible. A scorched-earth policy should be implemented to prepare for a long-term defense of the city.

After the resources were gathered, multiple weapon battalions were urgently established to manufacture strategic materials such as weapons, bows, arrows, and armor.

Secondly, it was to win over the remaining sects and martial artists in Chongzhou to fight against the martial arts forces under Chen Tianwang.

Third, some refugees were absorbed to supplement the army, while the remaining refugees were used for work relief, allowing them to participate in the construction of multiple projects.

Fourth, select veteran soldiers as instructors and seize the time to train reserve soldiers.

These measures are being carried out in an orderly manner, and the originally complex and severe situation has been calmed down in an instant.

This gave Li Heng a sense of security for the time being, and he was not in a hurry to leave Yuncheng.

A little over a month later, Kangcheng also fell, bringing the total number of cities under Chongzhou's jurisdiction to four.

Half a month after the fall of Kangcheng, King Chen was full of pride and sharpened his sword, gathering an army of 200,000 men and heading straight for Yuncheng!