Recently, the King of Haagen-Dazs had been feeling a little troubled.
He had just received orders from the Heaven Dou Empire to stop the Great Ming King, Xu Nian'an. The very next moment, his own border was surrounded.
Given the Great Ming Kingdom's brutal nature, the King of Haagen-Dazs didn't have to think twice. If he really went through with it, he'd end up just like the Galloping Wolf Kingdom, on the verge of being wiped off the map.
Faced with two choices—being destroyed or offending the Heaven Dou Empire—the King of Haagen-Dazs chose without the slightest hesitation to let Xu Nian'an pass.
Haagen-Dazs knew that he had, in effect, offended the Heaven Dou Empire.
But he had no choice.
Fortunately, the situation was precarious, and the Heaven Dou Empire didn't seem able to spare a hand to come after him.
Then... then he received another letter—a secret order!
At night, cooperate with the Heaven Dou army in a night raid on the Great Ming border. Take back the territory the Gulei Kingdom had lost and restore the Gulei royal house.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~!!!
The cold wind howled.
Just then, heavy snow came pouring down.
Should he... really do this?
If he did, the King of Haagen-Dazs might smooth things over with Heaven Dou.
But if the Heaven Dou Empire failed to destroy Great Ming in the end...
If Great Ming turned around and hit him with a lightning-fast campaign, could he take it?
He couldn't. His Haagen-Dazs Kingdom was even weaker than the Galloping Wolf Kingdom.
The Galloping Wolf Kingdom had had a hundred and seventy thousand troops and numerous tribes, with nearly two hundred thousand soldiers from the Star Luo Empire coming to its aid. And yet they'd still been wiped out.
Perhaps this was the helplessness of a small kingdom.
If he ever got the chance—if he ever got the chance—he swore he'd never again be placed in such a miserable position.
"Prepare the troops!"
Though he felt utterly helpless, he had no choice.
He didn't have the power of the Great Ming Kingdom, which dared to stand directly against the Heaven Dou Empire.
But he'd thought of a way out. He could put on a show at the border between the two sides. Surely, even if Great Ming struck back, they wouldn't make too much trouble for him if he returned the territory?
When the Haagen-Dazs Kingdom reached the Great Ming Kingdom's border, they froze.
They had marched through the blizzard. When they arrived, all they saw was an endless stretch of troops stationed along the Great Ming border, and row upon row of magnificent Sun and Moon Flags... It was... Great Ming!
Boom~!!!
The King of Haagen-Dazs' mind went blank. Why were they stationed here? Had the Great Ming King foreseen this all along?!
"Y-Your Majesty, Great Ming troops have appeared ahead! Their cavalry is estimated at... over... over two hundred thousand!"
Hearing the scout's report, the King of Haagen-Dazs' knees buckled, and his face turned pale.
The Haagen-Dazs Kingdom had only a hundred and fifty thousand troops in the entire country, and he'd brought just a hundred thousand this time.
"How much strength does the Great Ming Kingdom still have in reserve?!"
After all, Great Ming still had troops in the south, prepared for a Star Luo Empire surprise attack and to reclaim the Galloping Wolf Kingdom's territory.
"Retreat!!!"
The Haagen-Dazs Kingdom had come to take a look at the Great Ming border. But after seeing the mountains and plains covered in warhorses and Sun and Moon Flags, they fled in terror.
"General, they're leaving. Should we pursue them?"
A spotter from the Great Snow Dragon Cavalry rode back.
The general didn't even turn his head.
"Our orders are to cut off the Heaven Dou Empire's supply lines, surround the enemy troops that crossed the 38th Parallel, and slowly wear them down."
Bang~!!!
Meanwhile, in Gulei City, the Imperial Guard was desperately holding out against the Heaven Dou army's siege.
"Deputy Commander, we can't hold the city! The enemy is too fierce, and they're bombarding us with artillery. It won't be long before the gates fall!"
Chen Liang stood in the Gulei City governor's residence, staring fixedly toward the distant sounds of siege and slaughter outside the city.
"How much longer until the commander and the others arrive?"
At Chen Liang's question, an Imperial Guard soldier immediately replied.
"The messenger just returned. It'll take another hour—at least another hour before the army gets here."
"But we've already lost well over twenty thousand brothers in the Imperial Guard!"
Once, on Xu Nian'an's orders, the hundred thousand Imperial Guards had been split in two. Sixty thousand had gone to the territories ruled by the Gulei Kingdom.
The remaining forty thousand had stayed behind to defend the Great Ming Empire.
Who would've thought the Heaven Dou siege would cost the Imperial Guard twenty thousand men in such a short time?
They were one of the Great Ming Kingdom's main forces. When had Great Ming ever lost so many of its main troops?
"Are the dead supposed to keep guarding the city?"
"Great Ming is right behind us. Our families, our wives, our children—they're all there!"
"For this one hour, even if we fight down to the last man, I want this city held!"
Inside the Heaven Dou army's ranks.
A middle-aged man wore an expression of fury.
"A city defended by fewer than a hundred thousand men, and it's taking this long?"
"Bring out the empire's Royal Artillery Regiment! Let them see the might of the Heaven Dou Empire!"
Clatter, clatter~
At once, one ornate cannon after another was wheeled out.
Bang~!! Bang~!!
With a volley of cannon fire, the city walls and the bodies of the Great Ming Imperial Guards defending them were blown to pieces.
"Report! Deputy Commander, the city gate has fallen!"
Chen Liang's eyes turned bloodshot.
"Bastards! We'll fight them to the death! Brothers, fix bayonets!"
An hour and a half later—nearly two hours.
The Sun and Moon Flag flying from the highest point in Gulei City was cut down with a single stroke, and the Heaven Dou flag slowly rose in its place.
All sixty thousand Imperial Guards stationed in Gulei City were wiped out. They fought to the last man, and not a single one surrendered.
Fortunately, the civilians had been evacuated elsewhere before the siege began.
The Heaven Dou Empire's flag had been raised for less than three seconds when a black pillar of light flashed past in an instant.
Bang~!
The Heaven Dou Empire's flag exploded on the spot.
In the next instant, a figure appeared, nine Soul Rings—yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, black—floating around him, a cannon in his hands.
Bang~!
Gulei City was blasted open.
Clip-clop, clip-clop~!!
The thunder of hooves suddenly rang out. Across the vast white snowfield, a golden tide slowly appeared.
It was the Dragon Guard, arriving late.
The battle was about to erupt once more!
"Bastards! My Imperial Guard!"
Xu Yi roared in fury.
"Kill!!!"
The Dragon Guard's main force was made up of fighters who could each take on several opponents at once, with the Holy Spirit Cult providing support. The remaining forty thousand Imperial Guards and a hundred thousand militiamen were there as well.
The Heaven Dou army had taken several hours to capture Gulei City. The Dragon Guard took it back in just half an hour.
In the Heaven Dou army's ranks.
"We can't hold on, Commander! The enemy is too fierce, and our brothers are already exhausted from the siege... We can't hold them off!"
After several hours of fighting, the Heaven Dou marshal had also realized something was wrong. Their casualty ratio was too high. For every twenty or so of his men who died, they couldn't even kill one enemy wearing Golden Dragon Armor.
The enemy troops worked together with incredible coordination.
As soon as one of them was wounded, he'd be dragged to the rear. They never gave his men a chance to finish him off.
In just two short hours, his side had lost over a hundred thousand men. It was a meat grinder.
"Retreat!!! Retreat!!!"
At last, the Heaven Dou Empire chose to withdraw.
They headed north.
Along the Heaven Dou army's inevitable route back to Heaven Dou, warhorses raised their heads across the vast snowfield.
"Brothers, pay attention! Don't let a single one escape!"
"Kill, kill, kill!!!"
Deafening cries of battle rang out.
With the Great Snow Dragon Cavalry ahead and the Dragon Guard behind, over three hundred thousand Heaven Dou troops were surrounded!
One day later.
At the same time, battle reports arrived at both the Heaven Dou Empire and the Great Ming Empire.
Heaven Dou Empire: (The army has gone missing inside Great Ming territory!)
Great Ming Empire: (In the Battle of Gulei, our losses exceeded one hundred thousand. In Mingdou Canyon, three hundred and fifty thousand Heaven Dou troops are surrounded. We await Your Majesty's decision!!!)
Over a hundred thousand lost. Fortunately, most of them were Imperial Guards and militiamen.
If they'd been Dragon Guard or Great Snow Dragon Cavalry, there'd be no point fighting on. Xu Nian'an could surrender.
But those hundred thousand were still sons of the Great Ming Empire.
At the thought, a cold glint flashed in Xu Nian'an's eyes.
"Kill them all!"
I didn't pass the trial run, so they rushed me to put the book behind a paywall...