After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

He looked up at Ma'erpo, his eyes gradually turning fierce. As the garrison soldiers and bandits roared at each other like a collision, he felt the blood in his body heat up. The battlefield always inspires people's ferocity, and even the most complex mind becomes primitive and bloodthirsty. He stomped his foot, bit his cheek, and forced himself to calm down.

Things don't always go as planned. Everyone was talking peacefully at the foot of the mountain, but about an hour ago, the three officers from the same command post, who were originally on good terms, started arguing at a place called Monkey Stone below. They were mostly talking about dividing up the credit and the final assault on Ma'er Slope.

Without wasting words, he pulled aside the three deputy commanders and the three head servants and had a private chat with each of them.

First, they promised each person two hundred taels of silver, and then they brought out the imperial tutor and governor, saying that Governor Gu's plan was flawed and that there was absolutely no room for error this time.

He even brought up the emperor's chief attendant, Eunuch Wang, saying that he had been instructed by his chief attendant that the emperor was furious and that Black Tiger Stronghold must be destroyed. If it wasn't destroyed, Ning would be in deep trouble, and the commanders of the various guard posts would probably be dealt with severely by Governor Gu.

Everyone knew how formidable the civil officials were, and with the unexpected windfall of two hundred taels of silver... their hearts sank, and their desire to claim credit gradually subsided.

Young Master Ning also made a promise, saying that he would never let the commander behind them suffer a loss... This was a rather clever way of putting it. As long as his superior didn't suffer a loss, then this time he could be considered to have done a good job.

Subsequently, after obtaining consent, Ningnan gathered all the generals, shuffled the generals, mixed the three guards, and continued the attack on the mountain.

This is how we came to have this rather good mountain-attacking formation.

Amidst roars, the team advanced to a third of the way up Ma'erpo, and Ning Nan's palms began to sweat.

Qin Yuanyao and the others also silently gripped the embroidered spring knives at their waists.

The garrison soldiers who were attacking shouted in unison, but their formation was in disarray, and several soldiers fell off the cliff and screamed in agony.

The bandits on the mountaintop celebrated loudly because the garrison troops had retreated a few steps as the logs came crashing down, but fortunately they managed to change formation in the end.

Ning Nan adjusted his strategy expressionlessly, ordering the shield bearers behind him to form groups of three, tie their ropes together in a tight knot, and move forward and backward together to prevent the soldiers on the side from falling off the cliff... The number of people tied together could not be too many, otherwise they would not be able to move forward and backward flexibly, but it could not be too few either. If there were only two people, it was very likely that the other soldier would fall down with them. Three people were just right.

After this adjustment, once the shield bearers, their hemp ropes tied, were on the front lines, morale soared once more! The garrison soldiers roared hoarsely again and charged forward in unison!

Spiked boots sank into the wet mud, but the slippery ground prevented the shield bearers from slipping. The spearmen continued to push logs and boulders down the cliff with a series of shouts, allowing the garrison troops to advance steadily upwards.

The roars of the bandits on the mountaintop began to weaken at a certain moment, while the shouts of the garrison soldiers gradually became more unified and energetic.

When the troops had advanced to halfway up Ma'erpo, the bandits could only force them to retreat a few steps, unable to push them back down the slope, and then sounded the retreat.

Even the logs and rolling stones weren't as powerful anymore, and the garrison soldiers' speed was not only unaffected, but seemed to have increased slightly.

At this moment, Ning Nan raised his chin, waved his hand, and ordered the troops to quickly change formation... from two rows of shield soldiers and one row of spearmen to one row of shield soldiers and two rows of spearmen.

Just then, logs from the top of the slope suddenly started rolling down one after another!

"Bang bang bang bang!!!"

The shield bearers in the front row were hit hard! Many of them coughed up blood and leaned back. If it weren't for the spearmen behind them holding them up, they probably wouldn't have been able to stand up.

The two rows of spearmen planted their spears diagonally in the ground beneath the logs, blocking the logs' relentless onslaught. They then cleared the area quickly, just as before. After raising their spears three times, they began to tire. At this point, the rear row came up to take over the position.

Qin Yuanyao drew her embroidered spring knife and stood protectively in front of Ning Nan, her voice icy as she said, "Those scoundrels have been driven mad!"

Ning Nan grinned: "They realized they couldn't escape, so they're about to throw out all their trump cards... Order the archers and servants to get ready!"

Logs and boulders rolled down the hilltop, and people even poured water on top. At one point, the thieves even smashed down a wooden bucket filled with boiling molten gold... The stench and scalding excrement enraged the garrison soldiers!

Yu Shuiwei's hook-nosed deputy commander roared from the middle of the ranks, "Kill! Kill! Charge forward—!"

The team's forward speed immediately increased.

When the team quickly advanced to two-thirds of the way up the mountain, there were far fewer logs left on the summit.

At this moment, the archers behind the garrison soldiers stepped forward, and a hail of arrows shot upwards, falling like a torrential rain. From the mountaintop, screams of terror and footsteps echoed.

At that moment, something happened on the mountaintop.

The screams of panicked fleeing stopped abruptly, replaced by deafening roars of wild beasts.

Immediately afterwards, thunderous footsteps echoed on the mountaintop.

Ning Nan squinted and looked up. On the mountaintop, several burly men dressed in simple armor, wielding shields and various weapons, roared as they charged down the mountain... These must be the leaders of the stronghold.

Behind the leaders, hundreds of bandits carrying planks and wielding machetes charged downhill, howling as they charged!

The bandits came out in full force.

Upwards were torrents clad in brown armor, while downwards were bandits dressed in various simple clothes. The two torrents collided violently at Ma'erpo!

In that instant, pure and utter killing intent erupted on the hillside that was already littered with corpses!

People against people, iron against iron, blood against blood, clashed together in this moment in the most primal way...

Warm blood splattered into some people's eyes, blurring their vision.

Someone fell off the cliff with a 'whoosh' sound.

Someone's head flew through the air, but they were still shouting.

Some people have already lost all sound in their throats, but they keep straining their larynx and opening their mouths wider...

Spear tips, spear tips... countless spear tips pierced countless throats. The spear was pulled back, the arms pressed down, and then it was thrust out again, piercing another person's abdomen.

Arrows rained down, piercing one man's eyes. Before he could even cry out in pain, several more arrows pierced his heart, splattering blood.

The shield-bearer's feet became sticky... Each step with his spiked boots produced a terrifying sound, the sound of stepping into something soft.

With another pull of the leg, it was like pulling out a radish and bringing out mud along with it. In this mud, there was some blood, some bits of flesh, and some yellowish-white stuff from someone's brain.

Two armed groups of wild beasts clashed and tore at each other... Ning Nan felt his heart stop beating the moment they collided, and his body also stopped moving.

A mountain wind howled, carrying with it the nauseating stench of blood and carrion from the long slope… He didn’t know how much time had passed; perhaps only a few dozen breaths, or perhaps a quarter of an hour… In any case, at some point, he saw the brown-clad garrison soldiers surge up Black Tiger Mountain like a school of fish swimming against the current, roaring and charging forward like wolves and tigers… The howls of wild beasts echoed across the mountaintop…

In an instant...

The tigers and wolves have trampled Black Tiger Mountain to the ground!

...

...

During this time, Ning Nan stood quietly, guarding the foot of Ma'er Slope with several Imperial Guards.

Qin Yuanyao led her men to attack... mainly to help Ningnan find Li Sanzhuang.

About an hour and a half passed.

As the sun gradually set in the west, its warm yellow light bathed Ningnan.

The screams from the mountaintop gradually subsided.

On Ma'erpo, Qin Yuanyao, bathed in orange light and covered in blood, walked down the slope, carrying a human head in her hand.

"Meng Hao... the chief of Black Tiger Stronghold." The female commander's face was also covered in blood.

She held out the severed head, identified it as belonging to someone, and handed it to the Imperial Guard guarding the area, ordering him to treat it with lime.

"Our spies said that Li Sanzhuang was taken away by Xiao Chun, along the path on the cliff."

"Did you catch up?" Ning Nan asked, squinting.

The female commander wiped the blood off her face, but this only made her wheat-colored face look even more eerie... At this moment, this woman really did look like a cold and beautiful female Asura... well... just a bit dark-skinned.

"We followed..." The wheat-colored female Asura nodded, then added, "Without alerting them."

Ning Nan hummed in agreement.

He turned and ordered a centurion to stay behind with several Imperial Guards to record the merits of the soldiers stationed on the mountaintop.

As mentioned before, all the spoils seized on the mountaintop were confiscated and handed over to Governor Gu for his decision. With the Embroidered Uniform Guard watching over them, no one dared to touch them.

Ning Nan added a word of advice, saying not to be too calculating, lest it discourage people... the number of people the garrison soldiers killed could be large or small... even if they killed two thousand people, the money would still be paid.

He then turned around and led Qin Yuanyao and the others down the mountain quickly, where horses had already been prepared.