Guo Jiwang shook his head. "Xu Rong must have arranged cavalry to guard outside the city; they can't escape."
If only a few riders escape the city alone, they will easily be caught.
As for leading a large group of people out of the city on foot, that would be a certain death!
"What should we do then?"
Zhou Zhengqing was truly anxious. "You have a bright future ahead of you; you absolutely cannot die here!"
He was more worried about Guo Jiwang's safety than his own.
Guo Jiwang smiled, picked up his wine gourd, took another swig, and turned to give the order:
"Pass down the order: all Militia Private are to assemble in the city center. Retreat in large units to the alleys surrounding the government offices. Push the carts to block the street corners, linking them together with iron chains. Set up barricades at every alley entrance..."
One order after another was issued.
Orders that are too complex to be conveyed by flag signals must be sent by personal guards to notify each person individually.
After giving the order, Guo Jiwang led all the guards at the north gate toward the government office in the city center without hesitation!
Although he and Wu Shuangren disagreed on many points of view, they were completely compatible on one thing—
The word "give up" isn't even in the dictionary!
Moments later, on several main streets near the Rong Province government office, rows of large carts were parked across the street corners, their planks facing outwards, strung together with iron chains to form temporary wooden walls.
Behind the vehicle stood Militia Private of Yi Province Militia soldiers, and people were also lying on the rooftops on both sides of the street, holding powerful crossbows.
Xu Rong led a large cavalry force into the city through the south gate. After entering the city, he did not rush to advance further into the interior, but first sent out several groups of scouts to explore in different directions.
Cavalry can gallop freely outside the city, but once inside, they must be extremely cautious.
The scouts quickly brought back news—
Large carts and barricades were set up on several streets near the government office, and crossbowmen were lying in ambush on the rooftops.
After hearing this, Xu Rong laughed, "They want to fight me in street battles, huh?"
He is becoming increasingly interested in the person in charge that Wu Shuangren left in the city.
"Xue Ting, I'm giving you three hundred men. Take care of them within half an hour!"
Xu Rong gave the order.
"Yes!"
Xue Ting responded and led a group of men away on horseback.
He was the first First Rate expert to scale the city wall, a fierce general under Xu Rong!
Xue Ting led more than 300 cavalrymen to the vicinity of the government office in the city center, where the street intersection ahead was blocked by three large carts.
"Dismount!"
Xue Ting shouted, and the three hundred cavalrymen jumped off their horses and regrouped at the street corner.
The enemy used large carts to block the streets, which effectively prevented the cavalry from charging; they were certainly knowledgeable.
However, cavalrymen are equally formidable when dismounted and fighting on foot!
Fifty bodyguards in full armor stood at the front, followed by the rest in light lamellar armor.
Xue Ting stood in the middle of the group, holding a long sword, exuding a murderous aura.
"Kill!"
The group advanced in formation, the sound of armor scraping against each other echoing through the streets and alleys, dull and dense.
The Militia Private on the rooftops on both sides poked their heads out to shoot arrows, but were immediately suppressed by dozens of archers at the rear of the column.
The few Militia Private who had made their way out were hit by several arrows and fell off the roof!
After clearing the crossbowmen from the rooftops, the archers on the Shannan Army side began to hurl arrows forward.
The Militia Private standing in formation behind the cart raised their shields to block the arrows, which struck the shields repeatedly with muffled thuds.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Xue Ting led his men closer to the several large carts in front, where his personal guards, dressed in infantry armor, climbed up the cart shafts and planks.
Wearing heavy armor weighing dozens of kilograms, their movements were inevitably less agile. Before they could even climb over the cart, spears were already thrusting at them.
These thrusting spears were not intended to injure the enemy; they merely pierced and knocked the enemies climbing onto the chariot off.
During this process, several guards wearing armor were stabbed in the face or wounded by spears that pierced through the gaps in their armor.
But soon, several skilled guards used their explosive power to leap over the wall of carts in front of them.
Upon landing, these guards grabbed their weapons and charged into the crowd!
With the rear Militia Private tied down like this, they could only watch helplessly as more and more heavily armored guards scaled the ramparts.
The scene that followed was not much different from what had happened at the South Gate; the Militia Private arrayed behind the wagon wall were quickly routed!
However, Guo Jiwang's defenses were not limited to one line. After crossing this street, at the next intersection, several large trucks were still locked together, forming a wall of trucks.
Xue Ting could only lead his men to continue charging forward...
He charged through three streets and broke through three lines of defense.
Suddenly, dozens of crossbow bolts shot out from the windows of the houses on both sides, including bolts fired from the Divine Arm Crossbow!
This attack finally inflicted considerable damage on Xue Ting's troops, with even his personal guards, clad in infantry armor, suffering casualties.
That wasn't all. Simultaneously, shouts of battle erupted from both the front and rear of the street as two large Militia Private charged in, one after the other, towards Xue Ting and his men, who were trapped in the long street...
On the official road, Lu Yulin was leading more than 2,700 people back towards Rong Province City.
At dusk, the scouts returned to report—
About five hundred soldiers from the Shannan Army were escorting more than three thousand laborers along the official road toward Rong Province City.
When Wu Shuangren and Shannan Army set off from Rong Province City, they were followed by a grain transport team of more than 6,000 people.
Later, the two sides split up to pursue the Mount Liang forces, Wu Shuangren divided the grain transport team in two. He himself led the grain transport team composed of 3,000 people from Linwen County, while the remaining 3,000 grain transport team composed of Mount Liang prisoners was handed over to the Shannan Army.
The Shannan Army has now turned back to Rong Province City, leaving the grain transport team at the very back.
Lu Yulin listened to the scout's report from horseback and found it very strange.
This Shannan Army must have come to pursue us, so why did they suddenly turn around?
After a moment's thought, he decisively issued the order:
"Cavalry, follow me; infantry, follow behind!"
Regardless, the supplies are just ahead, and so is the path to survival for everyone!
Soon, more than seven hundred riders broke away from the main force and galloped forward.
The dust kicked up by the horses' hooves resembled a rolling earth dragon in the twilight!
Upon noticing the commotion behind them, the 500 infantrymen from the Shannan Army responsible for escorting the supplies immediately formed ranks and blocked the official road.
"Kill--"
Lu Yulin took the lead, pointing his spear forward.
This time, instead of leading his cavalry to harass the enemy from the outside, he charged directly into their ranks!
Arrows came flying from the opposite side first, but Lu Yulin trembled his spear and deflected several arrows aimed at him.
The front ranks of the Shannan Army consisted of large shields pieced together to form a shield wall, with long spears extending from behind it like steel thorns.
Lu Yulin did not slow down at all and crashed straight into it!
The two were ten paces apart. Lu Yulin brandished his spear, which emitted a deep hum, like the roar of a dragon.
Snap! Snap! Snap!
A series of crisp cracking sounds followed as the wooden spear shafts snapped.
Lu Yulin swept away the spear that was thrusting at him from the front, and then pierced a shield with his spear, creating a large hole in it!
He flicked his wrist upwards, sending the shield flying, and rode his horse into the crowd.
Wherever the spear passed, soldiers were either swept away or pierced through the body!
The formation, consisting of only a few rows, was easily breached by Lu Yulin.
His left wrist injury had not yet fully healed, but the power he was unleashing at this moment was even stronger than when he was at his peak!
A martial artist's breakthrough is not instantaneous, but a process. The enhancement of Mental Power will subtly and gradually change the physique.
After Lu Yulin's state of mind changed, his internal Internal Skill and physique gradually broke through bottlenecks and reached new peaks!
He broke through the infantry formation of the Shannan Army, and the cavalry behind him continued to break through the gap he had created.
With Lin Qian and Liang An, two top -First Rate experts, acting as the 'spearhead', the group quickly and completely broke apart the formation of the five hundred Shannan Army.
What followed was a one-sided massacre!
On flat ground, infantrymen whose formation has been disrupted are almost powerless against cavalry.
These Shannan Army quickly chose to surrender.
The laborers behind them scattered and fled, but some recognized Lu Yulin and his group and shouted with joy.
These laborers were originally soldiers from Mount Liang.
The battle started abruptly and ended just as quickly.
By the time Zhigang arrived with more than two thousand infantrymen, Lu Yulin and his cavalry had already brought the situation under control.
Seeing the large amount of grain and provisions, the morale of the troops soared!
When Lu Yulin decided to lead everyone to turn around and fight back, many people were prepared to fight to the death.
I never expected that we could get our hands on the supplies so easily!
Lu Yulin quickly convened another meeting with the leaders.
"Something's strange. I just interrogated a commander from the Shannan Army who was leading the group."
Lu Yulin said, "They said they only received orders early this morning to stop pursuing us and turn back to Rong Province City. Not only that, more than a thousand of their cavalrymen went to Rong Province City last night."
"Could something have happened in Rong Province City?"
Liang An guessed.
"What could possibly happen?"
"Could it be that the Grand Commander... could it be that Song Hai is leading an army to attack Rong Province City?"
"Song Hai wants to be granted amnesty, so why would he attack Rong Province City at this time?"
"..."
Everyone started speculating.
"If you ask me, regardless of what happened in Rong Province City, we now have the supplies in hand. Shouldn't we take a longer-term view?"
Liang An spoke up.
The crowd quieted down and all looked at Lu Yulin.
Lu Yulin's expression was resolute as he said in a deep voice, "I think this is a good opportunity. There are still several thousand infantrymen from the Shannan Army ahead. Their infantry and cavalry are separated, and their commander has already left with his elite troops. We can wipe them all out in one fell swoop!"
Liang An frowned. "Brother Lu, is this really necessary?"
Although he initially supported Lu Yulin, he was willing to turn back and give it a shot.
But now that he has secured enough supplies and has more reliable options, he is less inclined to take risks.
"Of course it's necessary!"
Lu Yulin said decisively, "These three thousand-plus laborers were almost all soldiers from Mount Liang before, and now they can be used by us. But these men have no armor, no weapons, and no morale. If we lead them to wipe out that Shannan Army ahead, we'll have everything!"
"This..."
Liang An was speechless.
In fact, everyone present knew perfectly well that the main reason Lu Yulin was unwilling to leave with the provisions was probably because he had not yet fought Wu Shuangren.
"Then let's keep moving forward!"
The group quickly reached a consensus again.