The mighty army marched out of the city and engaged in a fight with the iron golems. The shouts of killing mixed with the sound of war drums resounded through the sky.
The army followed Yuwen Ran and had no fear of death. They rushed out of the city gate and rushed straight into the iron puppets that were besieging the city.
The iron golems under the city moved accordingly. This terrifying armored cavalry was incredibly fierce. Even if the front man fell off his horse, the back man would immediately take his place and rumble forward, carrying the force of wind and thunder, crushing the struggling army.
Yuwen Ran completely abandoned his front and rear defenses, his spear recklessly slashing at the oncoming Iron Golem, each strike bloodthirsty. Every soldier fought to the death, and when one fell, three or four more would take his place.
"Yuwen Ran."
Tuoba Chen reined in his horse and stared at Yuwen Ran, who looked like a killing god, with a cold glint in his eyes: "He hasn't been on the battlefield for a long time, right?"
"It's been several years."
The military advisor beside him said, "I didn't expect his skills to remain the same, and he's even more courageous than before..."
"Brave?" Yuwen Ran shook his head. "Even if he is brave, so what? No one has been able to break the Iron Golem in the Western Regions yet. That being said, the battle situation has become tense with his participation."
The military advisor was silent.
"He's a good commander, but if the Western Regions want to quickly capture Shuo City, he can't be allowed to fight again." Tuoba Chen watched from a distance for a while, then said to the crossbowman beside him, "Watch your aim, don't kill him, just make sure he can't lift any weapon again for a while."
The crossbowman responded and aimed from a distance at Yuwen Ran, who would kill any god or Buddha who stood in his way.
Yuwen Ran slashed his spear across the face of an Iron Golem and was about to kill the next one when he heard the soldiers' anxious cries. Looking back, his eyes suddenly fixed, and he subconsciously jumped off his horse, thus escaping the disaster.
"His Majesty--"
The soldiers' eyes were bloodshot and they rushed forward desperately, wanting to rescue, but they were blocked by the iron golem in front of them.
Tuoba Chen narrowed his eyes, raised his hand and said: "Another arrow, this time it will definitely -"
Before he could finish his words, the fierce shouting and screaming that started again made him frown and turn around to look.
Yuwen Ran, who fell off his horse, took out a strange long-barreled weapon from somewhere, and with a "bang", a hole was opened in the middle of the iron puppet's forehead.
Yuwen Ran had practiced archery, and even his first time firing a musket, his aim was incredibly accurate. He struck him squarely between the eyebrows, causing even his own men to gasp. Although the soldier didn't know what Yuwen Ran was holding, he exclaimed in amazement, "Your Majesty, what a shot!"
Looking at the iron puppet again, with a blood hole between its eyebrows, the whole person seemed to be fixed at first, then shook twice, and suddenly fell backwards.
Yuwen Ran climbed back onto his horse, took aim at the lieutenant general who was leading the iron golems to strangle the army in the distance, and gently pressed the trigger. The lieutenant general suddenly stopped and fell silently from his horse.
In order to enable Yuwen Ran to quickly press the trigger, Gu Yanyue put a lot of effort into studying the appearance of the musket. The musket she finally made was based on the appearance of a modern pistol. Although it was not as convenient to carry as a pistol, it was much better than the musket made by Bai Youjin, which was not so easy to carry.
An iron bullet penetrated the black iron armor and hit the lieutenant's neck firmly.
The second shot, the third shot.
Yuwen Ran fired his shots while riding his horse at high speed. No trace could be found for each shot, and only when the Iron Golem fell to the ground with its head thrown off its horse could a trace of its trajectory be found.
Kill a general with one shot.
After three shots, the iron golem lost the direction of its general's guidance, and its screams of surprise echoed in the blood-stained desert.
"not good!"
Beside Tuoba Chen, the lieutenant general muttered, "Yuwen Ran's weapon is probably the fire musket that Bai Youjin hadn't yet fully developed back then—"
A big part of the reason why Bai Youjin chose to live in seclusion was because he had developed the musket. At that time, it was just a semi-finished product that could easily hurt people without any effort. People in the martial arts world would do anything to snatch this musket, and some even came to kidnap Bai Youjin.
"As far as I know, Bai Youjin has been in seclusion for many years. Where did Yuwen Ran get the musket?"
Tuoba Chen looked at the military advisor beside him and said in a deep voice, "Didn't you say that besides Bai Youjin, there is no one else in the Central Plains who can make this fire gun?"
The military advisor frowned, also somewhat confused: "It shouldn't be..."
"Forget it." Tuoba Chen didn't want to say more. "Tell our troops to retreat back to Fangcheng first. We'll attack the city again once we figure out a way to avoid that weapon."
The lieutenant general shook his head and whispered, "If our army retreats and the Central Plains army seizes the opportunity to pursue us, I'm afraid the iron puppets left behind in Fangcheng won't be able to withstand the Central Plains army's encirclement..."
Tuoba Chen said coldly: "Even retreating into the city is not an option?!"
"Retreating into the city is not an option."
The lieutenant general said, "Their cavalry is keeping an eye on them. Once our men retreat into the city, we can pursue them and break through the gate."
Tuoba Chen met Yuwen Ran's gaze from a distance and suddenly laughed, frightening the generals and military advisors beside him. "They won't pursue us. Pass on my order: all iron puppets retreat to Fangcheng!"
At Tuoba Chen's command, the Iron Golem stopped fighting, quickly withdrew from the battlefield, and retreated back to the city.
Seeing the Iron Golem retreat, Du Yuhou rode up to Yuwen Ran and asked, "Your Majesty, should we chase after them?"
Yuwen Ran made a gesture. He was always cautious and stopped the army. "No need. It's not the right time to chase them now. There's a high possibility that Tuoba Chen will bite us back."
Yuwen Ran watched the iron puppets penetrate Yingzhou City, the gates firmly shut, and the army retreated to Shuo City in an orderly manner. Still uneasy, fearing Tuoba Chen was plotting a trick, he ordered his troops to guard the city gates for a while. Only after he realized that Tuoba Chen hadn't pursued or launched a surprise attack, and hadn't deployed his crossbows on the gates even after entering the city, did he allow the army to enter and rest.
The wind and sand were everywhere, melting into the moonlight tonight.
In the pitch-black night, the gates of Shuocheng were firmly shut. Within Fangcheng, the Iron Golems were preparing something, while archers and sentries piled up on the city walls.
The army silently carried the remaining soldiers back to the camp in the city, applied medicine and bandaged their wounds. The soldiers who stayed in the city first lit a bonfire and burned the enemy flags that were accidentally brought back from the battlefield to ashes. The sparks drifted away in the wind and landed on the blood-stained sand.
The military doctor was busy running back and forth between the military tents without stopping.
Although Yuwen Ran was not seriously injured, the arrow shot by the Iron Golem slid across his shoulder. In addition, he had been holding up the musket with one hand for a long time. When he returned to the king's tent and took off his armor, his shoulder was swollen badly.
Yu Wenran did not call a military doctor over. Instead, he asked Gu Yanyue to get some herbal remedies to reduce swelling from the military doctor. After applying them, he left it alone.
News spread quickly in the military camp. Just moments after the army returned to the camp, Gu Yanyue developed the musket, which led to a change in the situation on the battlefield. After severely destroying the morale of the Western Region Army, the soldiers' prejudice against Gu Yanyue became less and less, and the change was accompanied by their immense respect for Gu Yanyue.
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