Chapter 660 - Unifying Wanzhou (XIII)
Chapter 660: Unifying Wanzhou (XIII)
After the Deputy Chief went to the latrine to relieve himself, he secretly ordered his trusted aide to have the troops silently surround the main hall. The troops also had to avoid the 2,000 pairs of eyes and ears of the Red Lotus Group. Finally, he pretended as if nothing had happened and returned to the main hall, where he continued to drink and make merry with everyone.
The people were still drinking in the main hall, no one realizing that they had become the targets of countless arrows. They were surrounded by murderous intent from all directions.
The Deputy Chief was still persuading them to drink more. The Red Lotus scholar was sprawled over the table from all the drinking. His clothes were in disarray.
At the same time, some dark shadows glided toward a remote house in the city.
“Sir…”
Wei Ci came out of the house with an indifferent expression. “I’m here.”
“Your subordinate is late. You must have been frightened.”
These men, clad in black peasant clothes, were the bodyguards who had followed Wei Ci into the city.
Wei Ci let them do their own thing after they entered the city. They were to hide in Qiuyu County without any concern for his safety. They would then find opportunities to meet in the future.
“What’s the situation outside?”
One of them said, “They spread the news of your killing and threw the bones bitten by dogs in front of our camp. The lord stationed men outside the camp to call for a battle for an entire afternoon, but the Red Lotus Group in the city refused to come out. At noon, 2,000 troops entered the city and were treated with hospitality. ”
Wei Ci tucked both hands into his sleeves and looked at the moonlight above him. He asked, “Do you know where the 2,000 people are being temporarily housed?”
One person replied, “The situation is tense in the city. We’ve investigated this several times and found out the specific location.”
Wei Ci laughed. His lips quirked slightly, revealing a hint of an apathetic smile. “You guys did very well. Now, listen to my order – go and inform those people that the second leader of the Red Lotus Group harbors ill intentions. He lured them into the city to encircle and kill them. This will cause them to quickly rescue those in the city. ”
The bodyguards felt rather bewildered but still nodded in agreement.
Wei Ci added, “The terrain is remote, so I’ll be fine hiding here. Just complete your tasks.”
It was not safe for Wei Ci to hide inside the Deputy Chief’s residence, so he had him moved here.
This place was remote and quiet; human activity was rare. It was indeed a good hiding place where he could conceal his identity.
The bodyguards agreed before dispersing.
It was midnight. The wind blustered and the night was pitch-black. It was the perfect time for murder.
Jiang Pengji led all the soldiers the entire way to the Red Lotus Group’s camp.
The Red Lotus camp was very ugly and disgusting. Torches were scarce and the camp was a mess. There were only a few guards on patrol.
In this awful weather, the temperature in the middle of the night was unbearable. Most people could not stand the chill. To avoid the cold, they got lazy and found places to squat down.
The internal discipline of the Red Lotus Group was rather lax. The soldiers who were sent on patrol slacked off whenever they could.
Most of their superiors had left during the day, so the guards were even more laid-back than usual.
When Jiang Pengji arrived at the camp with her troops, there wasn’t even a single guard waiting at the fence.
Yang Si was so cold that he shivered. “Is this a trick?”
Jiang Pengji scoffed and said scornfully, “If the Red Lotus Group had the brains to trick us, they would not have been duped by Zixiao and An Cui.”
Yang Si shut up.
He was not stupid, but he had also been deceived by Wei Ci, that black-hearted fellow, on a few occasions.
He did not want to comment much about An Cui, that three-faced spy and actor extraordinaire.
With her developed mind, Jiang Pengji concluded that there were people in the camp. It was not an ambush.
“Get the archers to prepare the ‘rockets.’”
Everyone held their breath as hundreds of archers ignited the oil-drenched arrowheads. They drew their bows at a diagonal angle in mid-air.
Once the order was given, arrows shot out across the sky with orange-red tails trailing behind them. They fell over the camp like rain.
The soldiers in the camp were still roaming freely in their dreamland while the men standing vigil outside were yawning non-stop, hugging their weapons as they slept against the fence.
By the time the second wave of “rockets” had fallen, the tents were already burning. Only then did someone notice something amiss.
He shouted with all his strength, “Enemy attack! Enemy attack!”
The men were simply too tired. Even though the shouting was so loud, not many were awakened.
They were flustered. By the time someone had sounded the horn to signal the presence of enemies, the fire had spread from one tent to another. The night wind was helping the fire to burn even more intensely.
“Enemy attack!”
“Hurry, wake up!”
The chaotic yelling and the pell-mell footsteps… The crashing movements wove themselves into a song of the dead.
As the sound of hooves approached, they could hear the horses screaming as the gates of the camp were violently broken through.
The soldiers who were standing guard on both sides of the gate were about to come forward to ward off the attack when a silver light flashed and two splashes of blood bloomed like flowers.
No one could have imagined that Liu Xi’s army, which had been yelling the entire afternoon, would actually launch a surprise attack on the Red Lotus Group’s camp outside the city in the middle of the night.
Dian Yan’s horse was not as fast as Jiang Pengji’s. The horse under him lowered its head and cantered at a steady pace. This horse may not have been fast, but its breathing was very stable as it followed Jiang Pengji into the camp at a close distance. On horseback, Dian Yan killed everyone that he saw. His double axes condemned many to death. In addition, he had been born with great strength. He could split a person in half with one swing of an ax, spilling twisted and curling intestines all over the ground.
The shouts to kill were akin to a boulder being thrown into the calm waters of a lake. The “bang” it made caused huge ripples in the water.
The flames grew fiercer, dying the entire camp a fascinating shade of orange.
“Kill!”
Most of the Red Lotus soldiers were still in dreamland. Awakened by the noise and the fire outside, they bolted out of their tents with an instinctive need to survive. They carried no weapons at all. There were powerful enemies outside, watching them like tigers watching their prey…
Even though they had 30,000 men, they found themselves utterly defeated by Jiang Pengji’s forces. Their only concern was to survive. They offered no resistance.
Inside the city…
According to Wei Ci’s request, his bodyguards transformed themselves into Red Lotus members and spread the news.
Some didn’t believe it until they saw the fire spreading outside the city. There were also some vague sounds of crying and shouting to kill. Their faces suddenly changed.
Having achieved their goal, the bodyguards slipped away, waiting for the show to begin.
Just then, someone in the hall got up in a confused state, wanting to pee. He had just opened the door when he saw abnormalities in the pitch-black night.
The orange-red flames had dyed half the sky red. It was like a cloud of fire.
“What’s that?”
He was confused, then hit by a realization as he took a step forward. He immediately remembered.
Wasn’t that where they had set up camp?
Most of his alcohol-induced stupor receded as his back broke out in a cold sweat.
It was not over yet. With the help of the candlelight outside, his eyes could faintly make out some unusual figures in the distance.
The sense of crisis hit him hard. He was so agitated that his scalp felt numb. He was shivering all over.
He retracted his foot, for a moment at a loss for how to react.
What to do? What to do? What to do?
He was so anxious that he lost his wits. He hurried back and tried to wake everyone up.
Halfway through his shouting, he noticed that there were a pair of eyes glaring at him with malice.
The second leader harrumphed in disdain. He got up and strode away.
As soon as he stepped out, the door immediately shut.
“Kill!”
The sound of the second leader drifted by indistinctively.
After a while, countless arrows penetrated the paper windows and shot into the room indiscriminately. The arrows even carried fire.
The arrows landed on the wine, spreading the fire instantly.
“Hel— help!”
The flames swept through the house. The blood-curdling screams inside gradually became weaker and shorter. The second leader sneered. He put his arms around his back and strode away.
But he had not gone far when he heard hurried footsteps coming from outside. They were accompanied by shouts to kill which were getting closer and closer.
His face turned white as dozens of people rushed through the heavy vermilion gates. It turned out to be the 2,000 men brought along by the Red Lotus Group!
He was just about to break into a run, but it was too late. Several large knives fell onto his back. After a few breaths, he was no more.