Kun Void Realm, Hulao Pass
Atop the South Gate's walls stood a proud middle-aged general. He was Xue Hai, the banner of the Hexi Rebel Army. He commanded over six thousand men and was among the finest of the rebels.
His ancestor had been the renowned General Who Subdues the Waves at Great Qing's founding. His Lineage was loyal and valiant, with three generations of grandfather and grandson earning military merit.
At this moment, Xue Hai's gaze pierced through layer upon layer of beacon fires.
The cries of battle below shook the heavens. The pass would be breached within half a day.
"We can't hold on any longer!"
Xue Hai's heart weighed heavily.
"Why hasn't the Lu Family Army arrived yet?"
"What about the others?"
He muttered under his breath, his voice revealing his anxiety.
Without timely support from reinforcements, Hulao Pass would likely be impossible to defend.
Standing behind Xue Hai was his only son, Xue Zhen. His young face was filled with panic and fear.
"Father, could Lu Jiaxuan have already..." Xue Zhen's voice trembled. He did not dare speak the word "fled."
Xue Hai turned and stared at his son.
"Impossible." He shook his head.
"I have known Lu Jiaxuan for many years and understand the kind of man he is. Even if he died, he would certainly die upon the battlefield. He would never abandon a city and flee."
However.
The North Wind Army surged in like a tidal flood beneath the walls, their dense figures climbing the ramparts like swarming locusts.
Every assault by the siege troops below made the sturdy gates tremble slightly, as though they could collapse at any moment.
Witnessing this, the panic in Xue Zhen's heart was ignited and became ever harder to contain.
He clenched his fists tightly, his voice trembling with a hint of tears. "Father, are we... are we really going to stay here and wait for death? I'm not even twenty-five yet!"
His eyes brimmed with fear and unwillingness.
Xue Hai fell silent for a moment.
He was already over fifty, considered advanced in years. Having endured countless storms and wars, he had long regarded life and death as things beyond concern.
However.
Facing his son's gaze.
As a father, bitterness filled his heart.
"Zhen'er." Xue Hai looked at Xue Zhen, who was kneeling on the ground, his tone full of helplessness.
"Father, I have yet to marry and establish myself. If I die here, the Xue Clan will have no heir. How could I face the Xue Clan's ancestors?"
"By now, we have already done all we could. Perhaps Hulao Pass's fate has truly run out..." Xue Zhen continued.
"The rebel forces from Pohu Lake had long planned to retreat. There is no need for us to be buried here alongside Wang Yang."
Xue Hai's once-straight back seemed to have been crushed beneath a great weight.
"But the century-old reputation of my Xue Clan cannot be stained. There can be no deserters in the Xue Clan, do you understand?"
"Father, don't worry. No one will know. Once Wang Yang dies in battle, who will still investigate where we went?"
Xue Zhen said urgently, "In these chaotic times, only victors become kings, while losers are branded bandits."
"As long as we survive, there will be hope to begin again. So long as the green hills remain, if we can rise again, great scholars of later generations will naturally argue our case and restore our name."
Xue Hai let out a long sigh, seeming to age many years in an instant.
With difficulty, he uttered,
"Fine."
At his father's agreement, a relieved smile appeared on Xue Zhen's face.
He hurriedly rose to his feet and looked beyond Hulao Pass.
Across the battlefield, corpses lay piled like mountains and blood flowed into rivers.
A fierce unwillingness and resentment rose in Xue Zhen's heart.
He was born a son of an aristocratic house, born amid treasures, raised among brocade and embroidery, roaming through splendor.
He should have had beautiful wives and concubines by his side, enjoying all the prosperity and beauty of the world.
How could he be buried beneath the wind and sand of the north?
He had no desire to be buried here alongside these so-called "mud-legged peasants."
At that moment.
The western gate suddenly swung wide open, its heavy iron doors rumbling thunderously.
The guards at the South Gate cried out in alarm.
This sudden change also stunned the North Wind soldiers who were attacking fiercely, causing their offensive to falter.
Seeing this, Xue Zhen at the South Gate burst into laughter.
"Father, did you see that? Lu Jiaxuan's Lu Family Army is nothing special after all."
"Aren't they running too?"
The Lu Clan had produced imperial graduates across two dynasties and was a powerful local family. Xue Zhen did not believe the Lu Clan would cast aside such wealth and glory.
"Let's go, Father." Xue Zhen urged.
Xue Hai still could not believe it. Lu Jiaxuan absolutely was not that sort of man.
But the gates were wide open!
The facts lay before him. The Lu Family Army had actually run.
One stone stirred up a thousand waves.
When the news arrived, the defending general Wang Yang could not believe it.
"No... he wouldn't!"
He had doubted Xue Hai. He had doubted everyone. Yet he had never doubted Lu Jiaxuan.
This news dealt him a crushing blow, and Wang Yang nearly lost his footing.
Who would have thought!
The first to flee would actually be the Lu Family Army.
The rebel forces at the other gates were likewise aghast. Some burned with fury, while others sneered again and again.
Yet without exception, all were shocked and puzzled by the Lu Family Army's flight.
This directly caused the morale at several gates to waver.
Even!
Tuoba Shuyi, directing the battle from afar, was taken aback. They had chosen the South Gate as their main assault and the Western Gate as a feint precisely because the Lu Family Army at the Western Gate feared neither death nor battle and possessed the strongest fighting power.
They were the hardest bone to gnaw.
The South Gate had the most rebels and was the easiest place to breach, with the weakest resolve.
Unexpectedly!
The Western Gate had opened wide, and the Lu Family Army had been the first to abandon the city and flee.
In Tuoba Shuyi's eyes, Lu Jiaxuan was a man who regarded death as home.
After luring the enemy last time, Lu Jiaxuan had once again exceeded his expectations.
Inside the main tent, the former atmosphere shattered, and mocking voices rose one after another.
"What Lu Family Army? They're nothing but cowards greedy for life and afraid of death."
"Hahaha, Great Qing men truly have soft bones."
Tuoba Shuyi rose to his feet, a sharp gleam flashing through his eyes.
"No." He said in a deep voice.
Before them!
Outside the Western Gate, the Lu Family Army began deploying its forces, carrying an aura of grim slaughter.
Eight thousand Lu Family soldiers poured forth like a raging torrent, their banners snapping in the cold wind.
The banners flew high, each emblazoned openly and proudly with the character Lu.
Three riders came forward.
Lu Jiaxuan rode in the center, with Lu Yu and Lu Chen at his sides.
Mounted on horseback, Lu Jiaxuan looked back at his eight thousand soldiers. Every face was resolute, without the slightest trace of fear.
"Good!"
They were all fine men who feared neither life nor death.
He shouted,
"Brothers, the time to win merit and establish glory has come!"
"Twenty years of humiliation and fallen lands, twenty years of shattered mountains and rivers."
"A man's heart is iron until death. I, Lu Jiaxuan, will never retreat again."
The eight thousand Lu Family soldiers answered as one, their momentum shaking the heavens.
Seeing this sight, all doubt in Tuoba Shuyi's heart vanished.
He secretly shook his head.
Mocking voices rose within the tent once more.
"Lu Jiaxuan is nothing but a mediocre fool. Infantry leaving the city to face our grassland warriors—and the Iron Pagoda Cavalry personally trained by His Highness?"
"Isn't that seeking death? Abandoning the city instead of defending it, hahaha."
Tuoba Shuyi flicked his riding whip.
"Iron Pagoda Cavalry, heed my command. Begin the charge from the Western Gate."
"It is time to end this. Take Hulao Pass, then head south to seize the dragon."
Cheers erupted within the tent, and everyone's eyes shone with blazing light.
Heading south to seize the dragon—this was the highest honor for North Wind men.
They still remembered breaking through the capital twenty years ago. Now, they too would head south like their fathers had.
They would go to the watery towns of Jiangnan and savor gentle, graceful women.
"Has Lu Jiaxuan gone mad? Isn't this delivering himself to death?" Xue Hai said in fury.
Xue Hai could not help looking toward the eight thousand Lu Family soldiers, whose momentum surged like a vast tide. His eyes shook.
The Lu Clan had actually left the city to meet the enemy!
North Wind's Iron Pagoda Cavalry was simply not something human strength could contend against.
Xue Hai sneered. "This Lu Jiaxuan, acting like this is no different from courting his own destruction."
Xue Zhen said softly, "Father, this is a heaven-sent opportunity. We should take this chance to leave."
Xue Hai sighed again.
Lu Yu stared at the Iron Pagoda Cavalry surging ahead like a tide of black iron.
His gaze then turned toward Hulao Pass's South Gate.
There!
The Xue Clan rebels were fleeing in panic, and many others took this opportunity to escape the battlefield as well.
"Brother, you truly saw it all in advance. These rebel forces cannot be relied upon."
Lu Yu nodded slightly. "No matter. It is only eight thousand against one hundred thousand!"
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