The horses' hooves rumbled, the mountains and rivers changed color, and countless rockets were shot out, covering the sky and the moon, as if bringing the raging fire of hell to the world.

In less than a moment, the overwhelming black cavalry broke through the border and entered the city, shaking the ground with their footsteps. The Xiao family army and the Yanzhou army were in a standoff, but they were caught off guard by the rockets that fell from the sky, leaving them stunned and in disarray. With flying sand and flames all over the sky, the neatly lined up black cavalry suddenly rushed in. Several teams had no time to defend themselves and were immediately defeated. Luo Yuan, Zheng Long and others who were not far away were even more shocked when they heard the news that the black cavalry had entered the city. Zheng Long tightened his horse and was about to lead his troops to fight, but Luo Yuan hurriedly chased after him, shouting: "Pingdu Pass has been breached, this battle is doomed to fail! Please quickly withdraw the Xiao family army to Qingzhou City, otherwise there will be no one to stop the black cavalry!"

Although Zheng Long was extremely anxious, he also understood that Luo Yuan's words were the best strategy. Thinking of the soldiers being slaughtered in front of him, he gritted his teeth and rode his horse as fast as he could, leading the other generals to rush forward desperately.

At this time, the fire was blazing beside the tents, and the corpses were piled up like a mountain. The bloody stench rushed to the sky, making the moonlight dim. The black cavalry was like a ferocious jackal, holding a shiny long knife and slashing all the way. Broken limbs and corpses were everywhere, and blood and internal organs were mixed all over the ground. Although the Xiao family army was beaten to pieces, no one retreated, and they fought the enemy to the death with their blood. But in the end, they could not resist the well-prepared black cavalry, and fell one by one under the enemy's brutal butcher knife.

Just when everyone felt hopeless, they suddenly heard familiar trumpets and drums. Not far away, they saw a "Xiao" flag flying high. Zheng Long and others rushed into the battlefield holding the flag, attacking left and right with curved swords, and knocked down several black cavalry vanguards in a blink of an eye. The morale of the Xiao family army was greatly boosted, and they quickly gathered into formations with the drums. The shieldmen rushed to the front, charging into the black cavalry with their flesh and blood, covering the archers behind them who kept shooting arrows, and finally slowed down the black cavalry's attack temporarily.

At this moment, the drumbeats suddenly changed. Xiao's army could tell that it was the drumbeat for retreat. Although the soldiers were unwilling to give up, they knew that if they continued the battle, their entire army would be annihilated. So they immediately changed the front wing into the rear wing, fighting and retreating outside the city.

However, under the relentless pressure of the Black Cavalry, the retreat became extremely difficult. It was not until dawn that Zheng Long and his men, with only 40,000 remaining Xiao Family Troops and 20,000 Yanzhou Troops, fought a desperate battle with the Black Cavalry on the banks of the Weishui River. With a desperate determination and will, they used the terrain around the Weishui River and managed to block the fierce attack of the Black Cavalry of more than 100,000 troops with only 60,000 men, defending the last line of defense of Qingzhou City.

The Black Cavalry saw that they had already taken the most difficult Pingdu Pass, and the remnants in front of them were too stubborn, so they had no intention of fighting too long. In their view, Qingzhou City was completely undefendable and would sooner or later be theirs. Without the leadership of Marquis Xuanyuan, how could the mere 60,000 remnants fight against the hundreds of thousands of elite Black Cavalry? So the Black Cavalry commander gave an order to withdraw his troops and return to the city to rest, waiting for the right time to capture Qingzhou in one fell swoop.

Luo Yuan, Yuan Xi and others waited anxiously outside Qingzhou City for a long time, and finally received the news that the Great Mu Army had suffered heavy casualties and had lost the Peace Crossing Pass. Overnight, the Great Mu Army lost many brothers who had fought side by side with them, and also lost the most important pass. The army was filled with a strong atmosphere of depression. The soldiers numbly wiped off the blood stains on their faces that were mixed with someone else's, and stared blankly at the bottomless night in front of them. When the army finally withdrew into Qingzhou City, Yuan Xi settled Xiao Yunjing and others, and then he dived into the medical account. The medical records were full of wounded soldiers with bloody holes all over their bodies. Some soldiers who lost their legs or arms were crying and groaning in pain. Yuan Xi saw that the military doctors were too busy to handle the situation, so she took the initiative to help bandage and apply medicine to the wounded soldiers. Fortunately, she had practiced many times in the capital. At first, she was a little timid when she saw the bloody scenes, but with the help of the doctors, she quickly became proficient in handling them. Many doctors in the medical records did not know the wife of Xuanyuan Hou. They just thought she was a citizen from the city who came to help, and they didn't even have time to say a few words of thanks. Yuan Xi was busy until noon, and she couldn't stand it anymore, so she returned to the main account exhausted.

In the main account, Xiao Yunjing and Zheng Long were discussing the next plan. The Black Cavalry had already occupied Pingdu Pass. As long as they held the pass and continued to attack the Central Plains, the whole situation would be extremely unfavorable to Da Mu. What was even more dangerous was that Xiao Du had not returned to the city with 30,000 Xiao Family Troops. If they faced the Black Cavalry in the city, they would most likely be annihilated. Now, with Pingdu Pass between them, they had no way of joining forces with Xiao Du's troops.

The more they talked, the more difficult it became. They couldn't think of a solution for a while. At this time, Luo Yuan frowned and said, "Tell me, how did the Black Knights get in?"

Zheng Long clenched his fist and slammed it hard on the table, cursing: "It must be some bastard who colluded with the enemy, otherwise how could it be such a coincidence! The Xiao family army and the Yanzhou army just had an internal conflict here, and then the Black Cavalry entered the city. Someone must have opened the city gate to let them in. I will let me know who it is and I will never let him go!"

Luo Yuan was still thinking, and suddenly asked: "Have you seen Lieutenant General Yue?"

Zheng Long hated Yue Kewei to the core and said disdainfully: "He didn't leave the city with us. I don't know if he ran away or was captured."

Luo Yuan said, "I always feel that Yue Kewei's sudden attack this time is a bit strange. Even if he was ordered to deal with us today, the Black Cavalry is still outside the city, watching us covetously. Why is he so anxious? And why did he let the Black Cavalry into the city just after he captured you!"

There was already a hint of suspicion in his words, but Xiao Yunjing waved his hand and said, "Yue Kewei is the lieutenant general of two states. Although he is a little dull, he has always been loyal to Damu and would never do anything like treason."

Luo Yuan clenched his fist and tapped his palm lightly, saying, "If it's not him, then he is most likely being used by someone. But who could this person be?"

At the same time, the raging fire at Pingdu Pass was finally extinguished temporarily, the smell of burning and rolling black smoke swept everywhere, the walls were filled with blackened corpses, and blood kept seeping from the cracks in the walls. The people in the city had already closed their doors and dared not show their faces after encountering such a disaster, but what was waiting for them was another catastrophe.

The commander of the Black Cavalry quickly occupied the prefectural governor's mansion in the city. The commander of the Wuguo Army was the second prince Dianyun, who led the entire Black Cavalry together with the leader of the Murong, Ashina Heli. At this moment, the two were sitting high up in the government office, and in front of them was a man tied up, who was the former lieutenant general of two states, Yue Kewei. There was no intact flesh on his body, and the exposed joints could hardly hold flesh and blood, but he still held his head high and stared fiercely at Zou Wu who was standing next to the two men, almost wanting to eat him alive with his eyes.

Zou Wu turned his head uncomfortably and said, "Master Yue, he who knows current affairs is a hero. As long as you are willing to surrender to the king, we will have half of the country in our hands. We will make you a first-rank military officer, which is no different from guarding a small state."

Yue Kewei spat out a mouthful of blood and cursed: "Bah! It's all my fault that I was blind! I actually believed your slander. You eat the salary of Damu, but you don't care about the common people in the city and let the barbarians enter the pass. I will never associate with a villain like you. Even if I become a ghost today, I will not let you go!"

Zou Wu snorted coldly, twisted his sleeves and said, "Since Lord Yue is so stubborn, I can't protect you. My king, what do you think we should do?"

He turned to the direction of Ashina Heli, who waved his hand impatiently. Chong Yue Kewei said in stiff Chinese: "Are you going to surrender or not?"

Yue Kewei snorted coldly, straightened his back and raised his head, saying: "General Mu, you'd rather die than surrender!"

Ashina Heli's eyebrows flashed with coldness, and he said, "Okay! Then I will grant your wish. Come, peel off his skin and hang him on the city wall, so that everyone in the city can see how tough this Yue Lieutenant General is!"

Yue Kewei's face was full of hatred, but then he closed his eyes tightly, with tears streaming down his eyes, "I'm sorry to Damu, I'm sorry to the thousands of soldiers who died, my death does not deserve a pity!" Several black cavalrymen rushed in and dragged him away. Yue Kewei suddenly tilted his head and bit the hands that were holding his shoulders hard, and actually bit off a piece of meat. The person next to him screamed in pain, and kicked his back, which was beaten to the point of exposing bones, and kept hitting her with the scabbard. Yue Kewei had blood all over his mouth, but he smiled and cursed, "You thieves, someone will come to collect the blood debt you committed at Pingdu Pass. Just wait, hahahaha..." The voice was dragged farther and farther away, and finally only a scream was left.

Ashina Heli was a little dazed looking at the bloodstain on the ground. He had heard that the people of the Central Plains were hard to tame, and seeing it in person today still shocked him. At this time, Zou Wu walked to the hall, lifted his robe and knelt down and said, "Congratulations to the king and the second prince on their great victory today. After crossing the pass, there will be no danger to defend. Half of the territory of Damu will be in your hands soon!"

Dian Yun, who had been silent the whole time, glanced at the man on the ground with disdain and said calmly, "You have made great contributions in this battle. You will definitely benefit from it in the future."

Zou Wu happily stood up and thanked him. This time he secretly informed the Black Cavalry, passing off Xiao Du's 50,000 troops as elite soldiers, and then tricked Xiao Du, a good general from Dian, out of the pass. He also instigated Yue Kewei to detain the generals of Xiao's army, and then opened the city gate. I called Lin and the other two to give him some rewards and send him away. Ashina Heli looked at Zou Wu's back with a suspicious look in his eyes, and said to Dian Yun: "Do you think this man can really be trusted?"

Dian Yun smiled contemptuously and said, "Mu country has unbreakable loyal bones, and there are such villains who forget their loyalty for the sake of profit. Your Majesty, why should you worry?" He stood up and walked to the door. Looking at the black cavalry tents stationed inside the pass, he smiled and said, "Now it's time to reward these brothers. Pass the order down. The city will be looted for three days. Brothers can take whatever they want."

As soon as the order was passed down, cheers of joy rang out in the camp. The sound startled the vultures that were gnawing at the corpses inside and outside the city walls. They flew over the Wei River with sharp cries and landed in Qingzhou City.

Luo Yuan stood on the city wall with his hands behind his back, looking worriedly at the black smoke swirling over Pingdu Pass, wondering what he was thinking. Zheng Long settled all the soldiers, walked to Luo Yuan tiredly and said, "Mr. Luo, go back and rest first. I can't think of a solution for the time being. I have sent a spy to report to the Marquis. As long as the Marquis comes back, he will definitely find a way to take back Pingdu Pass."

Luo Yuan still shook his head and sighed, saying: "Even if Pingduguan can be recaptured, it will not be a matter of a day or two. I am worried whether the people in the city can survive."

Zheng Long thought of the unarmed people in the city, and his heart was suddenly torn. They had promised the Marquis that they would defend Pingdu Pass and the people in the city to the death. If the situation was not critical this time, how could they be willing to abandon the city and flee. Thinking of the fate that the familiar faces were about to face, this iron-blooded man who had been struggling for a day finally couldn't help but tear up and wiped his face fiercely.

Luo Yuan hesitated for a long time, and finally, as if he had made up his mind, he said to Zheng Long: "General Zheng, can you help me gather a battalion of short-sword soldiers? I want them to help me do something."

Luo Yuan stood in front of the city gate, his eyes fixed on the armored soldiers in front of him. The strong wind blew his white shirt. He drew out his curved sword from its sheath, pointed in the direction of Pingdu Pass and said loudly, "The barbarians have occupied our territory and bullied our people. Luo wants to lead a team of swordsmen to sneak into the city and rescue the people in the city. Is there anyone willing to go with me?"

The soldiers looked at the seemingly weak scholar in front of them. His eyes were firm and his voice was loud. A long shadow was cast behind him like a sharp sword guarding the direction of Pingdu Pass. Many people were inspired by him and stood up and shouted, "I am willing! I am willing!"

Luo Yuan looked at the young and resolute faces in front of him, his eyes warmed. They all knew that this was a group of warriors who would never return. He thrust the sharp knife in his hand into the ground and shouted, "Okay! We, the men of Da Mu, are not afraid of life or death. Let's go into the city and fight for the people!"

"Wait... I want to go too!" A weak voice came, and Luo Yuan turned around in surprise, only to see Yuan Xi wearing a coarse cloth and holding a makeshift package in his hand. He stepped forward and said anxiously, "Don't worry, I won't hold you back. I know a place that can hide some civilians. I will hide there and won't get in your way. I also brought medicine to help you treat the wounded soldiers."

"But..." Luo Yuan frowned and almost refused subconsciously. At this time, Yuan Xi showed a pleading look, with a gleam in his eyes, and said: "Young Master, please let me go. Pingduguan City is the place he guarded all his life. When he is not here, I will guard it for him! This is my responsibility!"