Book 11: Chapter 20: Baiting

Book 11: Chapter 20: Baiting

Sometimes, living was indeed easier than death.

No one knew what happened that day after Thousand Sunset Mountain’s Thousand Leaf Pass was taken over by Wenren Cangyue, what kind of things happened by this giant golden war chariot that represented the dignity and might of Thousand Sunset Mountain.

It was because this day, Hu Piyi lived. Meanwhile, some of the most loyal subordinates and those Spiritual Sacrifice Priests who originally weren’t under the military’s jurisdiction who knew what happened, instead left in the darkness, walking towards death.

Day after day, the people of Yunqin Empire only continued to hear bad news from the southern border pass.

Even if it was most people in Yunqin Empire, they didn’t expect Yunqin to suffer a great defeat in the south this quickly, even more so not such a thorough defeat.

After taking down Thousand Leaf Pass, a Great Mang army of around ten thousand men that was extremely weary from rapidly advancing quickly arrived at Thousand Leaf Pass.

Under Hu Piyi’s command, the retreating Yunqin troops changed their path, making a detour towards Excellent Leaf Pass, and thus avoiding the complete encirclement of Great Mang’s troops. However, this weary Great Mang army who had just experienced several days of continuous marching, by relying on Thousand Leaf Pass’ Stone Catapult Carts, the remaining Meteor Crossbows and other powerful military equipment, under Wenren Cangyue’s command, stopped Yunqin’s thirty thousand reinforcement troops and Thousand Sunset Mountain’ pincer attack, holding out until Great Mang’s rear reinforcements arrived.

Meanwhile, the Great Mang army that was pursuing Hu Piyi only sent out thirty thousand men to continue chasing Hu Piyi, while the remaining forty thousand entered Thousand Leaf Pass according to the previously set itinerary.

After this Great Mang main army entered Thousand Leaf Pass, after just three days, Thousand Abundance and Eye Coast, these two mountain passes closest to Thousand Leaf Pass, were completely broken through by Great Mang.

The day Thousand Leaf Pass was taken down, Great Mang’s seventy thousand chasing main army was only five days from Thousand Sunset Mountain.

That was why in the predictions of most of Yunqin royal court people, Wenren Cangyue would use a bit of time to reorganize. Only after two weeks or so, would he then launch an attack on Thousand Sunset Mountain.

However, there were only eight days of time taken, and then Great Mang’s army already continuously broke through three passes. Great Mang’s vanguard troops already invaded Yunqin’s territory!

Hu Piyi brought a total of forty thousand Yunqin troops back to Thousand Sunset Mountain’ Excellent Leaf Pass. Together with the fifty thousand troops spread throughout Thousand Sunset Mountain, under Yunqin Empire’s urgent deployment, there was another hundred and seventy thousand troops hurrying towards Thousand Sunset Mountain.

Meanwhile, at this time, the total number of troops Great Mang had in Thousand Sunset Mountain’ three passes and those approaching Thousand Sunset Mountain was also only around a hundred and fifty thousand.

Yunqin Empire’s common people naturally didn’t think things that thoroughly, nor did they understand that there was a difference between the arrival time of these reinforcements, and that Great Mang army’s speed of advance was far greater than Yunqin’s predictions. They didn’t know that at this time, even if it was the empire’s other most powerful general, Dragon Snake’s Commander-In-Chief Gu Yunjing, there was no way he could prevent Great Mang’s army from breaking into Yunqin’s territory.

They only knew that the previous more than four hundred thousand Yunqin great army under Hu Piyi’s command was beaten until only this small number remained.

They only knew that even after so many reinforcements were rushing over, Thousand Sunset Mountain was actually still broken through by Great Mang’s troops.

Their territory was invaded by the enemy country, the residents of some towns starting to flee, becoming destitute and homeless; this was something that had never happened since Yunqin Empire was founded, something almost no Yunqin commoners had ever thought of before!

Yunqin’s common people began to feel a bit of panic, starting to feel extreme anger and resentment. They demanded for the dismissal and replacement of Hu Piyi as the Commander-In-Chief, demanding for Hu Piyi to be tried for his crimes.

…

Lin Xi was hiding within a brush that wasn’t that tall, not moving at all.

He wore green robes, around him was a rather crude grass blanket that was casually fastened together with some long grass, but was instead extremely great for hiding.

Not far in front of him was a large expanse of scorched ruins.

In Yunqin’s territory, this place was originally called Sunset Radiance Town. Not only could the gorgeous glow of Thousand Sunset Mountain be seen here, there was also a type of locally brewed Scarlet Sunset Wine where just a single bowl was enough to make one’s face more red than a sunset glow.

There were many wine breweries here before, a lot of sorghum used to brew wine planted in the fields around here. Normally, this was a town that was even more lively than East Port and Swallow Descent Town. However now, there was only an expanse of scorched ruins.

Lin Xi knew that Wenren Cangue was definitely going to attack Thousand Sunset Mountain, drag Yunqin into the swamp of war. Even without doing anything, as long as the war continued until this year’s fall and winter, Yunqin’s situation would become even worse. However, not even Lin Xi expected Wenren Cangyue’s army to have broken through Thousand Sunset Mountain this quickly, moreover, it was already stationed in those Thousand Sunset Mountain passes.

The moment he rushed to Thousand Sunset Pass, Great Mang’s army already broke through three passes. Behind Thousand Sunset Mountain, half of South Tomb Province already became a battlefield.

In a distant mixed forest, the howls of wild wolves sounded.

Even without a Brass Hawkeye, Lin Xi’s eyes already locked onto the gray specks moving through the trees.

Originally, there was no chance of wild wolves appearing in this region. However, it hadn’t been many days since the town here was destroyed. Once human traces vanished, these wild wolves that would normally only appear around the foot of Thousand Sunset Mountain actually already traversed hundreds of li, appearing here.

Lin Xi’s eyes didn’t stop over these wild wolves, his gaze continuing towards those town ruins.

Right now, there was a twenty something membered Great Mang cavalry troop currently patrolling nearby that town.

This Great Mang cavalry army’s horses were all wrapped under cotton cloth. Lin Xi already followed this troop for two days, so he was sure that this cavalry troop was definitely a Great Mang scouting troop that had already invaded South Tomb Province for some time.

Xu Qiubai’s traces were hidden extremely well. According to some news Zhantai Qiantang found before, Xu Qiubai wandered about like a lone wolf, carrying out assassinations again and again without orders from anyone.

This meant that the task he was given was just to kill as many Yunqin officers as possible, there were no restrictions on where and when he carried out these assassinations  at all.

In this type of situation, even if it was the entire Yunqin military, it would still be hard to pinpoint Xu Qiubai’s exact whereabouts. Lin Xi was one person, so there was even less of a chance for him to find the whereabouts of Xu Qiubai, this type of archery master who had participated in the most battles in Jadefall Border Army.

However, when he set his resolution to head to Thousand Sunset Border Army, Lin Xi already understood some of Vice Principal Xia’s intentions, also thinking through what he needed to do.

Xu Qiubai was continuously assassinating Yunqin officers.

He decided to do the same as Xu Qiubai, continuously focus on taking the heads of Great Mang commanders.

For him, this was a type of cultivation. Moreover, he was sure that Xu Qiubai would definitely notice his existence. This type of method might make it so that Xu Qiubai will take the initiative to appear before him.

…

Lin Xi calmly and patiently watched this Great Mang scouting troop.

In the past two days of tracking, he already observed some of this scouting army’s customs.

Meanwhile, this scouting army’s movements today were quite different from normal. Not only was their speed of advance extremely slow, they remained in the same region for an especially long time.

The various traces made him come to the judgment that there would be a Great Mang army who would follow some of the secret marks left behind by this scouting troop, pass through this place and return to Thousand Sunset Mountain.

That was why after this scouting troop left this scorched town and headed towards Thousand Sunset Mountain Region, he didn’t continue to chase after this scouting army, instead slowing down. He entered a canal that was full of weeds and some accumulated water.