Storming the City

At first glance, Wei Yuan seemed to have given him the power to choose between two options, but in reality, he had no choice; he couldn't possibly return to Qianlong City to provide reinforcements.

Xu Pingfeng's thinking was very clear. Compared to the elite troops of Yunzhou, the loss of Qianlong City was regrettable, but the elite troops were the most important.

After making the choice to abandon Qianlong City, two paths lay before them. First, they could protect the Yunzhou army and retreat to Yongzhou or Qingzhou, turning the initiative into a passive one, allowing Great Feng to attack and capture the city while the Yunzhou army defended it.

The advantage of this strategy is that the heavily damaged Great Feng currently lacks the military strength to retake Yongzhou and Qingzhou, and will choose to recuperate and fight again after the autumn harvest.

However, in terms of extraordinary combat power, Yunzhou is in the same predicament as Great Feng was before, and is destined to lose.

Furthermore, it remains to be seen whether Gara Tree and the White Emperor, currently in the Northern Territory, can escape unscathed from the siege of the Great Feng's extraordinary experts.

If the Garuda Tree and the White Emperor are utterly defeated at this moment, then retreating to Qingzhou will only mean certain death.

Secondly, he disregarded everything to capture the capital and support Ji Xuan to become emperor, then took the opportunity to forcefully challenge the Heavenly Mandate Master.

Currently, he has only refined the fortune of Yunzhou, Qingzhou, and Yongzhou; the fortune of these three states is insufficient to make a Heavenly Fate Master.

If he were to capture the capital of the Great Feng Capital, kill the Empress, and support Ji Xuan's ascension to the throne, he would have a chance to become a Heavenly Fate Master.

If we consider the Heavenly Fate Masters who have refined the entire Central Plains as the peak of the first rank, then I, who am forcibly trying to break through to the Heavenly Fate Master level, am probably at the initial stage.

He had no choice; he had to take a gamble. There was no turning back.

Amid the drumbeats, Xu Pingfeng clasped his hands together and then suddenly pulled them open, revealing small flags the size of his palm, in various colors such as black, white, red, blue, and yellow.

He had prepared for this siege for twenty years, considering every single detail. How could he have overlooked the capital's defensive formations?

These small flags are engraved with different battle formations, and each flag symbolizes a weakness in the city's defensive formation.

"Ding ding."

Two small flags shot out, their flagpoles pointed at the ends, easily embedding themselves in the city wall.

Crack! The corresponding section of the city wall cracked, and the cracks spread like a spider web.

The protective array covering the city walls weakened instantly.

Buzz!

From the space beside Xu Pingfeng, a powerful blade of energy that distorted the air shot out, swiftly cleaving him in two.

The white-clad figure appeared like a dream, several dozen feet away, and once again flung out two small flags.

Knock knock!

Amidst the sound of steel nails piercing the wall, small flags embedded themselves in the city wall bricks, creating cracks and destroying the corresponding area's array.

The all-consuming sword intent couldn't catch up with the white-robed Warlock could teleport at will, so it immediately changed its strategy and slashed at the dark mass of Yunzhou's army.

"Snort!"

Xu Pingfeng let out a cold snort.

Kou Yangzhou was taking advantage of the fact that the Yunzhou army was not protected by a large formation. Under normal circumstances, extraordinary experts are quite restrained and rarely attack ordinary soldiers. A mutually destructive fighting style would not benefit anyone.

Only when one side is at its wit's end and about to be wiped out will they recklessly kill ordinary armored soldiers.

Until the very last moment, everyone believed they could win, so they were unwilling to use a mutually destructive fighting style.

Now, the capital is protected by a formidable defensive array, making it invincible until the array breaks. In contrast, the Yunzhou army is completely barren and has nothing.

This gave Kou Yangzhou the confidence to adopt a "lose-lose" strategy, even though he was not at his wit's end.

Xu Pingfeng decisively abandoned the attempt to break the formation, teleported back to the Yunzhou army formation, stood in front of the sword energy, stretched out one hand with the palm facing outward, and supported a series of gray earth-based defensive formations. As the sword energy shattered the formations, he raised his other hand and gently wiped it away.

The terrifying blade energy, which distorted the air, seemed to lose its support and slowly "extinguished."

In that instant, Xu Pingfeng shielded the "sword energy," causing Kou Yangzhou to forget for a moment that he had unleashed sword intent. Since sword energy has no physical form, it is the condensation of the master's will. When Kou Yangzhou forgot about it, he naturally had no power to maintain it.

In front of a large audience, the technique of shielding the secrets of heaven would immediately lose its effect as soon as it took hold, but this momentary shielding was enough against the intangible sword intent.

After neutralizing the second-rank martial artist's sword intent, Xu Pingfeng flicked his fingers repeatedly, sending small flags shooting out and disappearing. The next second, they reappeared on the wall, embedding themselves in the wall and breaking the formation in the corresponding area.

He's really mastered the art of teleportation.

How could a crude brute who only knows how to destroy with brute force possibly stop him from breaking the formation?

With a series of "thump-thump-thump" sounds, the protective array surrounding the capital city finally collapsed, unable to continue any longer.

Xu Pingfeng appeared high in the sky, his thumbs and forefingers touching to encompass the city wall below.

The twelve circular arrays of flames overlapped one another, their fire elemental power converging wildly.

Buzz!

A shockwave rippled through the air, and a blinding pillar of fire shot down from the sky, seemingly about to burn the Great Feng soldiers on the city wall to ashes.

Sun Xuanji raised his hands to the sky and erected twelve gray circular arrays. The city wall beneath his feet quickly turned to sand, and a wave of earth rose against the sky, colliding head-on with the descending pillar of fire.

Earth overcomes Fire!

The second and third disciples of the Bureau of Astronomy were the first to complete a wave counterattack.

Knock knock knock!

As the drums sounded, the Yunzhou army, carrying siege equipment, launched their charge. Just as they approached the city wall, a sudden murderous intent arose, and explosions rang out incessantly. Before the soldiers, who were rushing forward, could even understand what was happening, their bodies were blown to pieces, and the world spun around them.

Some of the soldiers who were lucky enough to survive were also contaminated by the white phosphorus sprayed up from the underground explosion. Instantly, flames raged and could not be extinguished, and they were burned alive into skeletons.

Song Qing's landmines dealt a heavy blow to the attacking soldiers.

Yunzhou, Qianlong City.

Blood stained his armor. Nangong Qianrou stood atop the mountain, sword in hand, overlooking the city engulfed in smoke. His usually gentle demeanor was now tinged with a rare air of iron-blooded heroism.

Everywhere you looked, people were fleeing in panic, screaming and running for their lives. Just yesterday, they were dreaming of being the nobles of the capital.

Today they were brutally slaughtered, dying a gruesome death at the hands of the enemy.

The five thousand armored soldiers in Qianlong City, led by the city's best warriors, gradually became outmatched after half an hour of fierce fighting and turned to street fighting.

By this time, the main force had been wiped out by the heavy armored troops of the Great Feng, leaving only a few remnants stubbornly resisting by taking advantage of the terrain.

Behind Nangong Qianrou lay the corpses, all dressed in fine clothes. They were members of the royal family from five hundred years ago. After five hundred years of growth and reproduction, this lineage had grown to a large population. In the mountaintop courtyard alone, there were hundreds of Ji clan members.

He had no intention of leaving any survivors and issued an order to kill without mercy.

This was the dignity that Nangong Qianrou preserved for the royal family; otherwise, not to mention the male members, these delicate golden branches and jade leaves would have been destined to become playthings.

The soldiers had been in the abandoned military town for five months, and they were all starving and thirsty. They even found a sow attractive.

At this moment, a general with blood-stained armor strode out of the courtyard, came up behind Nangong Qianrou, and clasped his hands in greeting:

"Nangong Jinluo, brothers, we found two women in the basement."

Nangong Qianrou said calmly:

"Just kill him, there's no need to report it."

The general's expression was strange, and he said:

"She... she claims to be Xu Yinluo's biological mother."

Upon hearing this, Nangong Qianrou raised an eyebrow. He had already learned about Xu Qi'an's background from the head guard of Huaiqing.

After Xu Pingfeng officially took the stage, the officials in the court remembered him and naturally learned about his relationship with Xu Qi'an.

This matter was not a secret among the high-ranking officials, but out of the same tacit understanding, they blocked the news and prohibited anyone from spreading information about the relationship between Xu Qi'an and Xu Pingfeng.

Of course, the officials were not trying to cover up the Xu Household's misdeeds, but Xu Qi'an's prestige was too important to the court to tolerate any blemishes.

As a close advisor to the emperor, the head guard was among the high-ranking officials. That night, he told Nangong Qianrou everything in detail, big and small.

When Nangong Qianrou learned Xu Qi'an's identity, she was both gloating and feeling sorry for the kid.

"Kill them!"

He issued the order in a cold tone.

What use are parents who are worse than pigs and dogs?

"Yes!"

The general clasped his hands in greeting, accepted the order, and withdrew. He had only taken two steps when Nangong Qianrou called him back, changing her words:

"Bring her here."

Upon careful consideration, Nangong Qianrou felt that it was inappropriate to overstep her bounds and take the matter back to Xu Qi'an to handle himself, which would also earn her some favors.

Before long, two armored soldiers brought over two women. Nangong Qianrou ignored the maid and scrutinized the beautiful and elegant woman. She remained calm and composed, without any panic or fear.

His steps were light and graceful, clearly indicating that he possessed considerable cultivation.

Of course, this is not weak; it's compared to the average person.

"Are you Xu Qi'an's biological mother?" Nangong Qianrou asked coldly.

The elegantly dressed woman looked around and asked:

"Where is my child?"

Her voice was gentle and soft, revealing the composed and unhurried demeanor of a noblewoman.

The maidservant trembled with fear, her face deathly pale.

"So eager to die?" Nangong Qianrou laughed.

He believed that this woman, seeing that disaster was imminent, was trying to appeal to Xu Qi'an's family ties to get through this ordeal.

But based on Nangong Qianrou's understanding of Xu Qi'an, although the boy wasn't exactly ruthless, he was still a decisive and ruthless person. The blood ties between them were probably useless.

The woman's eyes dimmed, she took a breath, and asked again:

"What's the situation in the Central Plains? Did Xu Pingfeng lose?"

Nangong Qianrou said calmly:

"Whether he loses or not, I don't know, but you're all doomed. When you decided to use him as a pawn back then, did you ever imagine this day would come?"

The woman smiled bitterly:

"My elder brother and the clansmen are filled with remorse. As for Xu Pingfeng, knowing him as I do, he'd rather kill me."

Nangong Qianrou scrutinized her:

"Kill you?"

The woman said nothing more.

At this moment, a figure leaped up from the foot of the mountain and crashed down beside Nangong Qianrou with a loud bang. It was Yang Yan, who was carrying a silver spear.

Yang Yan, his expression as cold and hard as a sculpture, glanced at the corpse behind Nangong Qianrou, then at the beautiful woman, and finally looked at Nangong Qianrou.

Having worked alongside Wei Yuan for many years, the two had developed a tacit understanding. Nangong Qianrou read his gaze and said:

"We haven't found the Lord of Qianlong City; he's most likely in Baidi City. Since Xu Pingfeng hasn't returned yet, it means he's abandoned Yunzhou. Once we've cleared out the forces here, we'll march on Baidi City."

After storming the mountaintop, Nangong Qianrou only captured a group of royal family members, but failed to find the city lord who had declared himself emperor.

I wasn't too disappointed. It would be strange if the other party didn't have a life-saving method like a teleportation talisman.

Yang Yan nodded slightly:

Ignore him.

The mission to decapitate wasn't just about taking down the city lord; it was about wiping out the entire rebel stronghold.

Once the main camp is wiped out, even if the city lord survives, he won't amount to anything.

Yang Yan said:

"They slaughtered all the skilled warriors and armored soldiers in the city, then dispersed the civilians and set the city on fire."

After Nangong Qianrou nodded, he looked at the beautiful woman again:

Why not kill this woman?

"She is Xu Qi'an's biological mother," Nangong Qianrou explained.

Yang Yan suddenly realized.

Bang bang bang!

Muskets spewed flames, bowstrings crackled, and slingshots and arrows reaped wave after wave of enemy soldiers attempting to charge.

On the streets of the outer city, sandbags and debris were piled up to form defensive fortifications, blocking the cavalry's charge. Zhu Guangxiao and Song Tingfeng led the Nightwatchers and fifty Imperial Saber Guard, hiding behind the fortifications.

The bodies of civilians and enemy soldiers lay strewn across the road.

They have repelled the third wave of attacks, and their arrows and bullets are almost exhausted.

Zhu Guangxiao leaned towards Song Tingfeng and said in a deep voice:

"We're almost out of arrows and bullets. We can hold out for one more wave at most, then it'll be a fight to the death with these rebels."

"What are you risking your life for? What are you risking your life for?" Song Tingfeng turned his head and spat in his face, cursing:

"You pig-brain! Fighting like that, you wouldn't even have ten lives. When you run out of arrows and bullets, of course you retreat! Duke Wei has set up nine lines of defense outside the city; we'll fight and retreat as we go."

The city wall is only the first line of defense. Behind the city wall is the outer city, and behind the outer city is the inner city wall. Even if the rebels reach the inner city, they will still have to face the more heavily defended imperial city.

Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao were in charge of the second line of defense in the southern part of the outer city. Of the four city gates of the capital, only the southern gate had fallen, and the rebel army had swarmed in.

That's just... unlucky!

Although Song Tingfeng had never read any military books, he was quick-witted. Even when the city gates fell, he remained calm. The capital city had sufficient strategic depth and multiple lines of defense, making it perfectly capable of waging a war of attrition against the Yunzhou army.

I scoff at Zhu Guangxiao's simplistic, unwavering approach of believing that as long as the tower stands, he will perish if it collapses.

On the battlefield, the most important thing is not to kill the enemy, but to survive.

The Imperial Palace.

In the underground palace of Xiyuan, the imperial concubines and the families of officials were housed in this refuge.

This place is six zhang below the ground, and magical Law Artifact have been set up to shield the aura. Even a high-level Warlock would find it difficult to detect the anomalies here in a short time.

Like the other women, my aunt was terrified, her face pale and her beautiful features filled with fear and unease.

Xu Lingyue silently stayed by her mother's side, holding her hand and comforting her.

"Mother, don't be afraid, we'll be alright."

My aunt has never experienced hardship; she's just an ordinary woman. How could she not be afraid?

"The rebels have already reached the capital; they might storm the palace any minute now." The more her aunt thought about it, the more frightened she became.

Mu Nanzhi waved her hand:

"Wei Yuan is alive, isn't he? With him around, we won't lose the battle."

She remained calm and said:

"Besides, the capital is teeming with experts, and it's a vast city. It won't be easy for the rebels to reach the palace. And even if we are in danger, half of it will come from Xu Pingfeng."

The aunt thought to herself, "That bastard is the most cold-blooded and ruthless person. He only kills his own family. It seems I'm doomed today."

"Where is Ningyan? Is Ningyan in the capital?" The aunt grabbed her daughter's hand and said:

"If Ningyan comes, Mother won't be afraid."

The concubines and female relatives of officials standing nearby brightened up upon hearing this, and felt inexplicably more at ease.

They had grown accustomed to hearing the legends of Xu Qi'an, a man who single-handedly annihilated the 300,000-strong army of the Witch God Cult.

He is the strongest person in the Great Feng today, and a pillar of the nation.

With him around, no matter how fierce the rebels are, they will be wiped out sooner or later.

On the high-rise building, Huaiqing, dressed in a dragon robe, gazed into the distance and vaguely saw Kou Yangzhou and Xu Pingfeng chasing and fighting in the air. She never let go of the jade talisman in her hand for a moment.

From her position, she couldn't actually hear the gunfire outside the city, but she knew that a fierce battle was taking place there.

Duke Wei said that the rebel army in Yunzhou was initially vigorous, but then weakened and eventually exhausted.

When the rebels storm the city, that will be the time for the Great Feng to trap and defeat them. However, that will come at an extremely heavy cost.

Huaiqing turned sideways and looked towards the northern border.

Today is the last day of the tribulation battle, and she is waiting for Xu Qi'an.

The fate of the Great Feng Dynasty rests on his shoulders.

The rebels have not yet been able to breach the inner city, and even in the outer city, only the south section has fallen.

The Twelve Guards of the Capital, along with the Imperial Guards, Nightwatchers, and other forces, are engaged in street fighting and guerrilla warfare with the rebels, and the situation remains undecided for the foreseeable future.

But panic spread among the people.

They couldn't see the situation clearly, nor did they understand strategic analysis. Their most direct feeling was that the rebels were attacking the capital, and judging from the booming sound of cannons, they might have already entered the city.

This led me to panic among the common people.

For six hundred years, the Great Feng Dynasty had never experienced war, except for the time when Emperor Wuzong purged corrupt officials from the court.

In fact, most ordinary people are unaware of the history of Emperor Wuzong's purge of corrupt officials from the court, and even if they are aware, it is something that happened hundreds of years ago.

They were born and raised in the capital. The most dangerous battle in their memory was the Battle of Shanhai Pass, Great Feng won.

Therefore, the people of the capital were proud, and the more proud they were, the more intense the fear they would feel when their confidence was shattered.

A few days ago, the imperial court ordered the deployment of defenses, and the entire capital city entered a state of war preparedness. They began to worry, as it seemed that the rebel army from Yunzhou was likely to invade the capital.

As expected, it really came.

The inner city streets were deserted, with rows of soldiers patrolling and on guard. A curfew was in effect, and no one was allowed to leave their homes without permission.

This ban effectively prevented riots caused by public panic.

It was impossible for all the troops in the capital to be deployed to the front lines; some had to remain to maintain order.

With two to three million people left unattended, if they were to riot, the damage and impact would be far more severe than that caused by the rebels.

"The rebels are really going to attack."

"I now suspect that the victory at Xunzhou was a hoax, and that Xu Yinluo didn't actually win at Yunzhou."

"Yes, if he had won, how could the rebels have reached the capital?"

"What should we do? What should we do?"

"Father, don't be afraid, Xu Yinluo will drive the enemy away."

"Silly boy, sigh!"

Families discussed the matter behind closed doors, living in fear and apprehension.

They both longed for the court to end the war as soon as possible and secretly cursed the court for being incompetent and corrupt.

On the contrary, the children were very innocent, believing that Xu Yinluo would drive away the enemy, and were full of confidence.

P. S.: This is only 5000 words, so the update is a little late. Please vote with your monthly tickets!