Late Ming Dynasty: Summoning players from Liaodong to support the Ming Dynasty

On the rocky beach of the river valley, the biting north wind stung people's faces.

Wu Jingjing suddenly kicked a pebble at her feet. The pebble hit the ice, sending shards of ice flying everywhere.

"Brother Chong, are we really going back to the main camp like this?" Feng Zhongzhuifeng was shivering from the cold, and the mud on his face had dried into clumps, which kept falling off as he spoke.

"Go back my ass!" Wu Jingjing gritted his teeth, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the ridge to the north. This hour of playing dead had completely exhausted his last bit of patience.

He'd rolled around in mud and fought with his brothers for this hidden quest, almost losing his underwear in the process. Now, slinking back, he not only wouldn't get the [Lightning Chaser] spear, but he'd also be laughed at by Long Shuo and the rest of the guild.

He couldn't swallow this insult.

"They definitely haven't gone far!" Wu Jingjing whirled around, her chapped lips twisting into a frenzied smile. "No matter how advanced this game's AI is, it still has its own logic. The commotion we caused just now would have attracted any Later Jin scouts nearby. They're not showing themselves now; they're definitely observing us from the shadows!"

He grabbed a half-dried branch from the ground and used it as a walking stick.

"Damn it, if the mountain won't come to me, I'll go to the mountain! If they won't come, we'll take the initiative and climb up!" Wu Jingjing waved his hand, pointing to the bare mountain ridge to the north. "Keep acting! Pretend you're unbearably thirsty and go up the mountain to find water! As long as we run into the Tartars, we've won this round!"

The remaining players exchanged bewildered glances, but had no choice but to grit their teeth and follow. The six of them supported each other, limping as they moved towards the ridge.

In a hidden depression behind the ridge to the north.

Hu Yongqiang lay on the frozen mud, his blood almost frozen solid.

Half an hour ago, Turgh, that stupid bear, felt increasingly humiliated. The elite troops of the mighty Great Jin Plain Yellow Banner had actually been frightened back five miles by a few Ming dogs lying on the ground waiting to die. If this got back to the camp, where would Turgh put his face?

Turgh forced Hu Yongqiang to draw his saber and quietly sneak back to the ridge with a few fast scouts.

As soon as he poked his head out, Hu Yongqiang saw a scene that terrified him.

Those "human bombs" who had been lying on the riverbank pretending to be dead actually got up and were stumbling and rushing straight towards the ridge where they were hiding!

"Master!" Hu Yongqiang lowered his shrill voice, his throat trembling violently, "They're coming for us! That little bastard Chu Ze has definitely spotted us! These assassins are just stepping on a landmine!"

Turgh's massive body jolted violently, and two puffs of white vapor spewed from his large nostrils. He drew a heavy saber from his waist, his face contorted with fury.

"What's there to be afraid of! A few half-dead infantrymen, I'll go down there and chop them into mincemeat!"

"No!" Hu Yongqiang reacted swiftly, grabbing Turg's thick arm tightly, practically clinging to him. His eyes were practically bulging out of their sockets, spittle flying everywhere. "They're definitely covered in divine fire oil! If you strike, a spark will ignite, and we'll all be torn to pieces!"

Turgh froze in mid-air. The earth-shattering explosion beneath Guangning City echoed in his mind once more. The muscles in his jaw twitched a few times as he forcefully shoved the half-drawn saber back into its sheath.

"Then what do you suggest we do?! Just watch these barrels of explosives roll right under our feet?"

Hu Yongqiang's mind raced. These assassins were moving slowly, clearly trying to close the distance before detonating the explosives. If they didn't have a chance to detonate, capturing them alive would be an incredible achievement delivered right to his doorstep!

"Use nets!" Hu Yongqiang gritted his teeth, his eyes flashing with an extremely sinister and ferocious light. "Have the brothers spread out and flank them from both sides of the woods! Use tripwires and fishing nets to trap them tightly! Don't use knives, and don't let them touch the fire! As long as their hands and feet are tied, they're just meat on the chopping block!"

Turgh immediately understood and waved his thick arm. Several Plain Yellow Banner scouts quickly scattered into the withered trees on both sides.

Wu Jingjing walked at the very front. He was panting heavily, his lungs gurgling.

The slope was steep, and the frozen ground was covered with loose stones, making it very slippery to walk on. He deliberately stomped his feet heavily, and every now and then he let out a dry howl.

"Brother... I really can't walk anymore..." Feng Zhongzhuifeng dragged his legs behind, his voice trembling with genuine sobs.

"Shut up! Just hang in there a little longer!" Wu Jingjing snapped in a low voice.

Just as they stepped into a relatively flat woodland halfway up the mountain.

Suddenly, several extremely muffled sounds of bowstrings being pulled rang out from the withered bushes on both sides.

Before Wu Jingjing could react, several large, rough hemp nets with barbs were laid down all at once!

Holy crap!

Wu Jingjing felt a sudden darkness engulf him as the rough netting tightened around his neck and shoulders. He instinctively tried to struggle, but his ankle was struck hard by a taut tripwire.

boom!

He lost his balance and crashed heavily onto the hard frozen ground. His chin hit the gravel, instantly filling his mouth with blood.

The wind-chasing player and several other players next to him also fell to the ground one after another, tightly wrapped in the fishing net like dumplings.

"Got them! Press their hands down!"

A dozen or so Later Jin soldiers rushed out of the woods. They gave Wu Jingjing and the others no chance to resist. Several men pinned one down, tightly binding their arms behind their backs, and slammed their knees into their backs.

Wu Jingjing was struggling to breathe under the weight, his ribs creaking under the strain. But inside, he was overjoyed!

It's done! It's finally fucking done!

The audience has entered! This elaborate act of feigning injury wasn't a waste of time!

He endured the excruciating pain and struggled to lift his head, trying to see who had captured them. He prepared to pour out the "surrender" rhetoric he had been holding back for days.

A burly Later Jin soldier strode over, carrying a heavy saber upside down in his hand.

Without a word, the Jin soldier swung his sword and smashed it hard against the back of Wu Jingjing's head.

boom!

A sudden wave of intense dizziness engulfed Wu Jingjing.

In the last second before losing consciousness, Wu Jingjing's lips curled into an extremely eerie, even satisfied smile.

Plans are in place. I'll soon be a loyal subject of the emperor.

Cold water was splashed on my face.

The biting cold instantly made Wu Jingjing shiver. He opened his eyes abruptly, gasping for breath.

Their gaze gradually focused. The surrounding light was dim, and several pine torches crackled and popped violently in the cold wind.

He found himself tightly bound to a thick, dead tree. The hemp ropes on his wrists and ankles dug into his flesh, causing excruciating pain with the slightest movement. His mouth was also stuffed with a rag that reeked of strong mutton.

Beside him, several teammates, including Feng Zhongzhuifeng, were also tied to a tree, their heads drooping, their fate unknown.

Wu Jingjing's brain was working quickly.

Very good, this is exactly the scene from Chairman Long Shuo's script. Captured, interrogated, then a shocking revelation is dropped, completing a desperate counterattack.

He raised his head and looked at the person standing in front of him.

He was a man dressed in the armor of a Later Jin general. But this man did not have the rugged beard of a Manchu; his face was fair, and his eyes held an extremely sinister cold light.

Hu Yongqiang.

Hu Yongqiang toyed with a Ming Dynasty-style officer's sword in his hand, the scabbard gleaming with a dark red luster in the firelight. He stared intently at Wu Jingjing, his eyes filled with a chilling wariness.

Wu Jingjing was overjoyed. He began to twist his body wildly, making whimpering sounds in his throat, signaling the other person to remove the rag from his mouth.

He couldn't wait to start his performance.

Hu Yongqiang sneered, stretched out his thin fingers, and ripped the rag out of Wu Jingjing's mouth.

Wu Jingjing coughed twice, immediately adopting an expression of extreme fear mixed with a pleading look. He even forced out two tears.

"Sir! Spare us, sir! We are not soldiers, we are merely auxiliary troops under Chu Ze! We have a grave secret to report to the Great Khan of the Jin Kingdom!"

Wu Jingjing spoke extremely fast, as if afraid the other party would chop him up with a knife. He poured out the rhetoric that Long Shuo had taught him, like beans spilling from a bamboo tube.

Hu Yongqiang remained silent. He simply stared at Wu Jingjing, the sinister smile on his fair face growing ever more pronounced.

Wu Jingjing felt uneasy under his gaze, and her voice unconsciously lowered.

This reaction is wrong. Upon hearing "a huge secret," shouldn't this NPC immediately be excitedly questioning them? Why is he acting like he's watching a monkey show?

Hu Yongqiang raised his sword and gently patted Wu Jingjing's mud-covered cheek with the cold tip of the scabbard.

"Keep acting." Hu Yongqiang's shrill voice sounded particularly jarring in the night wind. "Keep acting."

Wu Jingjing was stunned.

"Sir... what do you mean by that? We really had nowhere else to turn but to seek refuge with the Great Jin! That beast Chu Ze is plotting a rebellion, he has..."

"Shut up!"

Hu Yongqiang abruptly drew half of his sword, the cold blade pressed directly against Wu Jingjing's throat. The blade sliced ​​through the skin, and blood flowed down her neck.

Wu Jingjing's voice stopped abruptly, her Adam's apple bobbing violently.

Hu Yongqiang leaned closer, his fair face almost touching Wu Jingjing's nose. His breath carried a strong, fishy smell.

"That little beast Chu Ze, does he really think he's the only smart person in the world?" Hu Yongqiang gritted his teeth, each word seeming to be squeezed out from between rocks. "Sending you unkillable devils here to die, what are you trying to test?"

Wu Jingjing's mind went blank.

An unkillable ghost?

These seven words struck Wu Jingjing hard on the top of his head.

The fear and fawning on his face froze instantly, and his pupils contracted sharply.

"What...what did you say?" Wu Jingjing's voice cracked, dry and undisguised.

Hu Yongqiang slapped Wu Jingjing's face with the back of his sword, the force so great that half of Wu Jingjing's face instantly turned red and swollen.

"Don't play dumb with me!" Hu Yongqiang's shrill voice rose, filled with the rage of being mocked. "You bunch of monsters who jumped shirtless down the walls of Guangning! Do you really think that just because you've changed into tattered leather armor and rolled around in the mud a couple of times, I won't recognize the evil aura on you?"

He turned around abruptly and pointed at the several players who were still unconscious on the ground.

"Starting a fire in the open! Plotting a rebellion at the top of your lungs! You bunch of suicide bombers, just how much fire-making oil are you hiding on yourselves?!"

Hu Yongqiang sprayed saliva all over Wu Jingjing's face.

Wu Jingjing was completely dumbfounded.

He stared blankly at the enraged Hu Yongqiang, his logical thinking completely broken.

The wrong script was picked up.

President Long Shuo's flawless script completely collapsed from the very most basic premise!

They thought they were playing the roles of desperate Ming soldiers who had run away from home.

But in the eyes of the Later Jin NPCs, they were not human at all! They were Chu Ze's immortal "heavenly soldiers" who could self-destruct at any time!

The other side had no intention of listening to their secret surrender. They captured them simply to prevent them from self-destructing!

"No...no..." Wu Jingjing shook her head frantically, her words incoherent. "We're not heavenly soldiers! We're really defeated soldiers! We don't have divine fire oil! We have firearms blueprints..."

"Still being stubborn!"

Turgh's massive body strode out of the darkness. He kicked over the brazier beside him, sending sparks flying.

He grabbed Wu Jingjing's neck with his large, fan-like hand, slamming him and the tree trunk together, causing them to shake violently.

"Search! Strip them naked and search them!" Turgh roared. "Find all that evil gunpowder! I want to see if these monsters can still be killed without gunpowder!"

Several Later Jin soldiers immediately rushed up and roughly tore at Wu Jingjing's tattered leather armor.

"Don't dig! Don't dig! I really don't have any explosives!" Wu Jingjing screamed in despair.

He now finally understood why these Tartars used fishing nets to capture them and why they knocked them unconscious as soon as they arrived.

This is not some hidden plot about recruiting traitors or surrendering.

They were disarmed on the spot, treated as terrorists!

The Later Jin soldiers searched their bodies for a long time, but found nothing but a few shriveled water bags and a few broken copper coins; they couldn't even find a tinderbox.

Turgh looked at the ruins on the ground, his thick, dark eyebrows furrowed into a tight knot.

"Hu Yongqiang! Didn't you say they were covered in sacred oil? Where is it?!"

Hu Yongqiang was also stunned. His fair face flickered with uncertainty in the firelight. He stared intently at Wu Jingjing, who had been stripped naked, his eyes filled with growing doubt.

No gunpowder?

So why did these monsters come to us of their own accord?

Wu Jingjing was shirtless and tied to a tree. The cold wind blew, and his whole body turned purple from the cold.

Looking at the fierce faces of Hu Yongqiang and Turge, the grievances and despair in his heart finally erupted.

Long Shuo! You son of a bitch!

What kind of bullshit strategy is this?! These NPCs don't play by your rules at all!

Not only have I failed to become a loyal subject who helped the emperor rise to power, but I've also been stripped naked and tied to a tree to be exposed to the cold wind!

"Sir..." Wu Jingjing sniffled, her voice trembling with tears, making a final, desperate attempt, "Would you believe me if I said I really came to surrender?"

Hu Yongqiang stepped forward and pressed the sword directly against Wu Jingjing's thigh.

"What exactly is Chu Ze plotting? Why is your army stuck in this muddy mess?" Hu Yongqiang's shrill voice was filled with chilling murderous intent. "Say a single word, and I'll cut off a piece of your flesh!"

Wu Jingjing closed her eyes in despair.

We can't talk today.

These NPCs have even more outrageous imaginations than Long Shuo.

Even if he were to lay his heart out now, the other party would only think it was Chu Ze's new biological weapon.

This self-inflicted "victory" has completely turned into a dead end. Wu Jingjing just wants his opponent to finish him off quickly so he can return to town and respawn. This damn hidden quest, let whoever wants to do it do it!