Chapter 267: If You Can’t Kill Him, Hold Him Back
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
Xiao Jin headed to the training ground and gathered his men while Su Ying walked towards the entrance.
The black-robed men and the gray-robed men were already standing by for orders at the entrance. The wild beasts in the forest were also alarmed into a state of agitation.
Boom! The thunderous, violent sound made people’s hearts shudder.
Su Ying ran up to the city wall and took out her night-vision binoculars to look down. Good heavens. These people had gotten several large logs from somewhere and were actually using them to try and break open their city entrance.
Su Ying was wondering why there was such a big commotion. So it turned out the noise was caused by the logs.
The Nan State’s soldiers carried logs and rammed them against the wall again and again. Other than that, there were also people setting up ladders. As the city wall was too high, they simply climbed to the top of the ladders and tried to throw the grappling hooks over the city wall. However, the city wall was still too high. Even if they stood on the ladders, their grappling hooks still could not reach the top.
The entrance was operated with a mechanism. No matter how strong the stone wall was, the mechanism would still come loose if they kept ramming into it.
Su Ying stood on the city wall and stretched out her hand to feel the wind’s direction.
“Set all the medicinal herbs that we prepared earlier on fire and throw them down from the southwest direction.”
The black-robed men carried sacks of herbs to the city wall and lit them with torches. After the herbs were completely set on fire and emitting thick white smoke, Su Ying instructed them to throw the flaming sacks down.
With dull thuds, the herb sacks smashed viciously at the people near the foot of the city wall.
However, this was not the end. As the thick white smoke spread, the Nan State’s soldiers felt their throats itching, and tears flowed out subconsciously. Before long, some of them began to retch.
The Nan State’s general who was leading the troops noticed that something was wrong and immediately ordered his men to retreat and take cover at the headwind location. “This smoke is poisonous. Avoid it quickly.”
“Open the city gate and let the big kitties out.”
Clack! The entrance slowly opened, and the ferocious beasts which had been restless for quite some time now rushed out impatiently.
The wild beasts left the city and the entrance closed.
Su Ying stood on the city wall watching the soldiers of the Nan State fight violently with the ferocious beasts.
In the pitch-black darkness, visibility was low, to begin with. The humans’ range of vision was more limited than those of wild beasts. Wild beasts could bite their prey without missing, whereas those soldiers were unable to counterattack.
The general of the Nan State was extremely shocked. Xiao Jin and the others had not even appeared, but they were already losing badly. If this continued, all these 5,000 people were likely to perish at this general’s hands.
“Retreat! Everyone retreat! Quickly!” The general shouted from his horse. Even if he didn’t shout out his order, the other generals were already fleeing madly.
Su Ying took out a conch and blew on it. The ferocious beasts that were chasing the soldiers relentlessly suddenly stopped. The entrance opened again, and the wild beasts returned to the city.
The Nan State’s general led his soldiers to retreat all the way. Just when they thought they were in a safe place and were about to take a breather, rays of moonlight suddenly pierced the clouds and illuminated the snowy terrain.
The general sitting on the horse felt a chill run down his spine. He slowly turned his head stiffly and saw Xiao Jin appear behind him with a group of people.
The general got a shock and immediately tightened his grip on the spear in his hand. “Xiao Jin, it’s really you!”
Xiao Jin slowly put on his helmet, and a furious roar imbued with killing intent tore through the brutal cold and struck the hearts of the Nan State’s soldiers. “Kill!”
The Nan State’s soldiers, who had yet to catch their breath, could only grit their teeth and fight.
The cries from the bloodbath ripped apart the silence of the night.
By the time the sky began to brighten slightly, the blood on Xiao Jin’s spear had already frozen solid. He had only brought 500 people out last night, but his group had killed thousands of enemies.
“Don’t go after those who escaped. Take care of the injured and bring back whatever you can from the bodies of these people.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Xiao Jin glanced at the corpses on the ground without any emotion, turned his horse toward the city, and galloped back.
The Nan State’s army had been thoroughly defeated in Sky Alpha City, but during the battle with the Chu State, there were continuous reports of victory for the Nan State.
The morale of the Nan State’s army was greatly boosted.
“Sure enough, without Xiao Jin and his troops, these trash from the Chu State are not able to withstand a single blow.” This time, the Nan State would take back what they had lost previously no matter what happened.
“General, bad news. Deputy General Li and the others are almost completely wiped out!”
The smile on General Wei Wu’s face did not linger for long before it disappeared.
Deputy General Li was the general he had sent to the northern wilderness. He was also the deputy general who had fought with Xiao Jin before. How many men had Xiao Jin hidden in the northern wilderness? The Nan State’s general had brought 5,000 people with him. How could all of them be completely wiped out?
“Where are the survivors? Bring them in. I want to ask them in detail.”
“General, he was too seriously injured. He had been sent to the military doctor at the infirmary as soon as he came back.”
General Wei Wu felt uneasy somehow, so he personally went to the infirmary.
The military doctor had just treated the soldier’s injuries, and thankfully, his life was saved.
When General Wei Wu arrived, the soldier had just regained consciousness.
“Gen… General…”
“Tell me clearly what’s going on over there.”
“That, that side… There’s a city full of ferocious beasts. There’s also Xiao Jin. He almost wiped out all of our people… Deputy General Li has also died under Xiao Jin’s spear. They had planned this long ago…”
General Wei Wu had thought that the situation there might be dangerous and that was why he sent Deputy General Li there. However, he didn’t realize that Deputy General Li and his troops were so weak against Xiao Jin and his men.
“Rest and recuperate well. Don’t think too much.”
General Wei Wu’s expression clouded over the moment he left the infirmary.
After returning to the main tent, General Wei Wu summoned all the capable generals in the army and explained the situation to them.
“General, why don’t 1 bring more troops there?”
“That’s right. I don’t believe that Xiao Jin has tens of thousands of troops hiding there. It’s impossible that we didn’t receive any news of such a huge commotion if he really brought so many troops there.”
“That’s right, General. Haven’t we gone there to investigate before? There can’t possibly be tens of thousands of soldiers inside.”
Everyone kept talking animatedly, and they generally wanted to fight Xiao Jin again.
However, General Wei Wu felt that fighting on both ends was not beneficial to their army.
“You guys have to be clear about what our goal is,” General Wei Wu looked at them and said vaguely.
“Of course, it’s to win the battle.”
General Wei Wu looked at the generals. “Win the battle against who?”
“The Chu State.”
“You’re talking about the Chu State, not Xiao Jin. Now, we all know that Xiao Jin is in the northern wilderness and did not participate in the war between us and the Chu State. Without Xiao Jin, we have already won several battles. Is there any necessity for us to spread ourselves so thin to go and deal with Xiao Jin at this juncture?”
“General, I don’t understand what you mean.”
General Wei Wu clasped his hands behind his back and knitted his frosty brows as he said, “Previously, we speculated that Xiao Jin was lying in ambush in the northern wilderness to attack our Nan State in a pincer attack with the army at the border of the Chu State. But now, we have been at war with the Chu State for half a month. Do you see any movement on Xiao Jin’s end?”
The generals in the tent shook their heads.
“Is there a possibility that Xiao Jin has really been exiled from the Chu State? As long as he doesn’t get involved, why should we waste our troops to deal with him?”
“But what if he returns to the Chu State?”
General Wei Wu said with an ominous expression, “If we can’t kill him, then we’ll hold him back. We won’t let him leave the city.. We’ll speed up the attack on this side and end the battle as soon as possible! After we take down the cities of the Chu State, what can Xiao Jin do even if he returns?”