Jiang Hao was somewhat surprised to see the excited Nok Legion Commander.

"What the city lord of Jinling City said himself must be true. If you don't believe it, the legion commander can check it first."

"Okay, okay, I'll go take a look, I'll go take a look."

A moment later, the Nok Legion Commander ran back. He then gave instructions to the guards around him.

"Quickly issue an order to have all the loading and unloading soldiers resting in the city tower come out and help load and unload this ship as soon as possible. Also, assemble the city defense weapons as quickly as possible."

"yes!"

The guards obeyed and rushed off. Moments later, a swarm of soldiers arrived from one end of the city wall and began helping to unload cargo from the second Jinling airship. This activity attracted the attention of the Zhenyuan Legion.

"The commander is right to do it this way; it will allow us to dock as soon as possible."

Commander Nok ignored the words of the Zhenyuan Legion and watched as his soldiers unloaded crates of goods, his face beaming with joy.

"Um, do you have any cannonballs or arrows? How many?"

Jiang Hao pointed to the second spaceship parked on the east side and said.

"1,000 boxes of cannonballs and 800 boxes of arrows, all on that ship."

Jiang Hao handed a white cloth bag to Nok.

"There's another bag of these; the city lord asked me to deliver it to you personally."

Nock's body trembled, and he looked at Jiang Hao in disbelief.

"This...this is...a bronze-grade energy crystal fragment?"

Jiang Hao smiled slightly.

"Didn't we already give you the bronze-grade one? This is the silver-grade one."

After saying that, the Nok Legion Commander's expression became quite interesting.

There was confusion, bewilderment, shock, doubt, excitement, and exhilaration.

"Commander Jiang, don't joke around. When have you ever given me a bronze-level weapon?"

"Why?"

Jiang Hao remembered clearly that after news of the fall of Qianfeng Pass reached Jinling City, the city lord of Jinling City personally handed a bag of bronze-grade energy crystal fragments to the then-commander of his personal guards.

Jiang Hao was somewhat puzzled.

"The commander of the Imperial Guard didn't send the energy crystal?"

"No, I don't know, I've never seen it."

Holy crap, how could this be snatched away?

Jiang Hao didn't know which of these NPCs he could trust.

"Oh no! The commander of the Imperial Guard is trying to run away with the energy crystals. You must contact the city lord of Jinling City immediately and have him send people to chase after them."

"Okay, okay, okay."

The Nok Legion Commander spoke to the guard beside him.

"Did you hear that? Immediately send a special envoy at full speed to personally inform the Lord of Jinling City of this situation."

"Yes, I will arrange it immediately."

As the guard walked away, Nock handed the white cloth bag to Jiang Hao.

"Is this really a silver-grade energy crystal?"

"Why don't you open it and see?"

Nock then realized what was happening and immediately opened the bag. Seeing the tiny, glittering energy crystal particles the size of rice grains inside, Nock cautiously glanced around, then quickly closed the bag and stuffed it into his arms. He then pulled Jiang Hao into a tight embrace.

"Commander Jiang, do you know that Qiongfeng Pass has not received any energy crystal support from Jinling City for a year?"

Nock's voice was tinged with a sob, and Jiang Hao could feel his body trembling.

The awkwardness of being hugged by a male NPC vanished instantly.

Nock straightened up and said.

"Please rest assured, City Lord and Commander Jiang, with the support from Jinling, we can hold Zhongfeng Pass for another 5 days without any problem."

Jiang Hao wasn't interested in how to defend; he just wanted to be able to stop the attack. Now that everything was clear, Jiang Hao felt a sense of relief and recalled how Nok had mocked him and the city lord of Jinling when he first arrived.

"When I first arrived, I heard someone say that what Jinling City sent was garbage?"

That's right, Jiang Hao holds a grudge.

Nock's smug expression instantly crumbled.

"I also heard someone say that the city lord of Jinling is a complete idiot?"

Nock's embarrassment was so palpable that sweat was practically streaming down his face.

"No, absolutely not! Which bastard is slandering Jinling City and the city lord? I'll fight him to the death!"

Am I a goofball?

Nock shook his head vigorously, like a rattle-drum.

"No, no, of course not! Either you misheard, or the person who said that suffered a stroke. Listen to this, is that something a human being should say? Anyone who spouts such nonsense again, I swear I'll never forgive them..."

Looking at the once arrogant Nok, now he's all smiles and carefully playing the big brother.

You know what, it actually feels pretty good!

Jiang Hao decided not to make things difficult for him anymore and asked the question that concerned him most.

"Commander Nok, how confident are you in recapturing the Forward Pass?"

"This...this...this is an order given to me by the city lord of Jinling?"

It seems he misunderstood.

"No, I'm just curious if it's possible for us to recapture Qianfeng Pass."

Nock's expression changed several times, from doubt to confusion, and then to composure.

Finally, he smiled and said to Jiang Hao.

"Commander Jiang, before you asked me about the Vanguard Pass, what question did you ask me?"

Jiang Hao didn't know what he meant, so he thought about it seriously for a moment, and then spoke as he recalled what he had said.

"Am I... a goofball?"

Nock thought for a moment, then hesitated to answer directly.

"Then...what about the previous question?"

Jiang Hao didn't know what he was trying to do, so he spoke again while recalling the events.

"I...I also heard someone say that the city lord of Jinling is...a complete idiot?"

Nock grabbed Jiang Hao's hand.

"Yes, yes, that's the problem. Yes, the city lord is a complete idiot. Yes, I was the one who cursed him. I request Commander Jiang to punish me. I voluntarily request that the commander dismiss me from my post and imprison me so that I can never lead troops into battle again."

Holy crap, he changed his expression so quickly?

Jiang Hao realized the difficulty of recapturing the Qianfeng Pass.

Ignoring his rudeness, Jiang Hao continued to ask seriously.

"What do I need to do to recapture Qianfeng Pass?"

"Are you serious?"

Jiang Hao nodded.

"Find a comfortable place, lie down and dream. If you're afraid of light, I also have a room with blackout lighting."

God the hell, where can I even dream?!

Jiang Hao felt that Commander Nok was simply unreasonable.

They can't understand human speech at all.

Jiang Hao turned his head directly and asked Nok's personal guard.

"Is there any way I can see the front peak pass?"

The guard pointed to the cliffs on the east and west sides and said.

"Commander, have you seen the plank road on the cliff?"

Jiang Hao nodded.

“From the ends of the city walls on both sides, you can go up to the plank road on the cliff. Follow the plank road to the end, and you will see the front peak pass. Although the end of the plank road is a bit far from the front peak pass, this is the safest way.”

"Is there any other way?"

"Yes, Commander. You can take a small airship from the flight point at the end of the city walls on both sides."

"However, since the fall of the Qianfeng Pass, it has become quite dangerous to travel by airship."

Jiang Hao asked, frowning.

Why is that?

"Because the pass at the front peak has fallen, the skeleton army has captured several giant crossbows. If we fly too low, they can easily shoot us down."