Surprise Attack on Chong City

A Surprise Assault on Chong City—Speed Is the Soul of War.

Jiang Ziya personally led 150,000 Great Zhou troops, marching day and night with scarcely any rest or sleep. In just five days, they silently arrived outside Chong City.

Chong City still presented a scene of song, dance, luxury, and ease.

The entire city was utterly unprepared. No one had expected that Western Zhou, having only just founded its state, would dare send troops first before the Yin Shang allied forces could even assemble.

Chong Houhu remained within his marquis's residence, spending every day drunk on life and lost in pleasure, wholly unaware that danger had already reached the gates.

As it happened, Chong Houhu and Ji Chang shared a deep blood feud.

Back when the Nine Marquis and the Marquis of E had died miserably in the court, Ji Chang had privately sighed over their fate. Chong Houhu learned of it in secret and sent an urgent report to Di Xin overnight.

That single written report became one of the chief sparks that led to Ji Chang's seven-year imprisonment in Youli.

Over the years, Chong Houhu had also exhausted every trick of scheming and maneuvering. He had long colluded with Fei Zhong and You Hun, using the power of treacherous court officials to amass wealth on a grand scale, build factions for private gain, and firmly seize all military and political power along Great Shang's northern border. His influence ran deep and tangled, and his arrogance knew no bounds.

For such an enemy, Western Zhou was fully justified in launching a punitive campaign.

At dawn the next day, when the sky was only faintly brightening, came the deepest part of the night—the hour when people were most weary and least vigilant.

The whole of Chong City remained immersed in