Chapter 1192: Blitzkrieg (Part 2) [Requesting Monthly Tickets]
Although Zhenguo is a small country, it is a legitimate nation with its own border defenses, and these defenses are not weak.
This is also thanks to the King of Zhenguo's fear of death.
Over the years, he has struggled to survive, often awakened by strange noises in the middle of the night, fearing most that when he looked up, his homeland would be lost. In order to preserve his life and status, he racked his brains to please the powerful neighboring country, and used the little national resources he had to strengthen the border defenses.
Over the past two decades, the border barrier has become quite robust.
This is also the masterpiece that the King of Zhen Kingdom is most proud of in his life!
It is not to say that it is impregnable, but it is certainly not something that can be broken by an invading force in a few moves. The heroic spirits guarding the border barrier are also strong and well-equipped.
Who would have thought that his pride would be so easily shattered!
"Is it—" The King of Zhen was both shocked and furious. He gripped the gilded and engraved handle of the table tightly, his knuckles trembling uncontrollably. His eyes were filled with terrifying bloodshot veins, and a chilling guess popped into his mind: "The general guarding the pass has surrendered?"
This is the only possible explanation for the fall of the important border town.
He preferred to believe that there were disloyal and unrighteous people on his side rather than that the enemy was too strong! The question posed by the King of Zhen made the soldier who had risked his life to deliver the message glare at him, jump up, and shout a blood-curdling curse, hurling insults at the king.
This soldier was a trusted confidant of the garrison commander. He had been entrusted with this critical mission, risking his life to deliver the message, his heart still filled with concern for his general, whose fate remained unknown. Yet, the very ruler to whom the general served questioned his loyalty! How could this not lead to utter despair and utter hopelessness?
When has a king ever been insulted like this?
Even though he felt guilty, he was unwilling to admit his mistake.
Enraged, he retorted, "If he didn't surrender, then he's incompetent! My border defenses are impregnable; even a seventeenth-rank general couldn't budge them with his full force! Let alone breach them!"
In addition to the border barrier, he also made a second preparation!
They hired a highly skilled and extraordinary person from their friendly neighbor! This person is proficient in the secret incantation to counter the strength of military generals! Even if the Kang Kingdom sends out a seventeenth-rank general, this person can still suppress their strength!
Despite double protection, how could three key towns be lost in just two hours?
The King of Zhenguo could not accept this reality!
However, his unrestrained speech was truly reckless!
"Tell me, is this even possible?"
Normally, even if he was emotionally charged, he wouldn't say it aloud; at most, he'd curse inwardly. But the current crisis had robbed him of the ability to calmly consider the situation and weigh the pros and cons. Zhen Kingdom had no decent defenses; even three important border towns had fallen within two hours, making it even more difficult for other cities to stop the enemy's advance.
Reinforcements?
Even if reinforcements could arrive, it would take time. The enemy's actions were as swift as lightning. Even if the reinforcements had wings, they could only arrive in time for the seventh day after the death of the emperor!
The heart of the garrison commander's confidant was not only cold, but also shattered.
As a certain string snapped in his mind, boundless rage surged within him! Driven by extreme emotion, despite his already depleted physical strength and martial energy, a power unexpectedly arose from nowhere. Violent martial energy surged in his palms, and his body charged towards the king like a cannonball, uttering a mournful roar like a beast on its deathbed, tears welling in his eyes, faintly tinged with blood: "Tyrant!"
This turn of events was something the ruler of Zhen Kingdom had not anticipated.
He screamed, "Protect the Emperor!"
Having lived a life of luxury and indulged in beautiful women for many years, he had long neglected his martial arts. Faced with a sudden life-or-death crisis, his first reaction was not to fight back, but to panic and hide behind others, shouting for the others to kill the traitor! He thought the guards could cut the traitor into mincemeat in a few moves, but he underestimated the determination of the guard's confidant, which allowed him to break through many obstacles!
They fought their way to the King of Zhen.
The King of Zhen was chased by him and fled in a disheveled and scrambled manner, his clothes were in disarray and his hair was disheveled, he was really in a sorry state!
He was nearly slashed several times by the garrison commander's henchmen.
This farce didn't last long, and it ended with the King of Zhen Kingdom suffering minor injuries and the garrison commander's confidant being cut into more than a dozen pieces.
The glaring blood stained the gold bricks red.
The King of Zhen sat on the ground, panting heavily, a lingering sense of relief at surviving the ordeal still in his eyes. After catching his breath, he staggered to his feet, using the table for support, his triangular eyes fixed on the pieces of corpse on the ground: "Someone, clean this up! Throw it out to feed the dogs!"
He calmed his wildly beating heart.
He slammed his eyes shut and then opened them again, then turned around and accused the culprit.
The garrison commander colluded with the enemy and betrayed the country, resulting in the loss of three key towns and fortresses. In the future, the country will truly be destroyed. This traitor will be the eternal sinner of Zhen Kingdom!
Haha, no treason or collusion with the enemy?
If he didn't betray his country, would his dog assassinate his lord?
It was clearly a premeditated scheme!
The King of Zhen Kingdom made no mention of his outspokenness! Everyone in the palace was his own people, and no one else would know about this!
Paper can never truly contain fire.
The Kang Kingdom's army arrived with overwhelming force, and three important fortresses fell within two hours. This devastating news spread like wildfire throughout the capital, throwing the entire city into chaos. Some families were still pondering countermeasures, while others had already begun packing their belongings to flee for their lives.
The first day was spent in chaos.
The King of Zhen Kingdom did not sleep all night.
He spent the entire night discussing countermeasures with his civil and military officials, attempting to turn the tide, but more and more bad news kept arriving. The Kang Kingdom's army was advancing at an astonishing speed! Under the pressure of these devastating reports, even those ministers who had previously vowed to live and die with Zhen Kingdom showed signs of distress and wavered in their resolve! The discussions continued into the late hours of the night, when palace servants brought in a midnight snack. No one had any appetite, and one by one, ministers got up to relieve themselves.
And then, that was it.
Gone forever!
The empty space is extremely conspicuous!
At first, the King of Zhen was able to suppress his anger, but as the number of people gradually increased and there were so many empty seats that he could no longer ignore it, his emotions completely spiraled out of control. He flicked his sleeve, sweeping the untouched, frozen pastries on the table onto the floor, the porcelain bowls shattering and stains splattering everywhere. He laughed angrily, "Good, good—everyone's running away when disaster strikes!"
He smashed the table with his fist.
He roared, "The Zhen Kingdom hasn't even fallen yet! They're all so eager to accept the status of subjugated slaves. Truly, they're my trusted and loyal ministers, whom I've favored and relied upon for so many years! If there's a future—"
He spared not a single member of their entire family!
The remaining ministers were stunned by the murderous intent that flashed in the king's eyes.
Before dawn, 30% of the country was already gone!
The Kang Kingdom's army slowed its march, a piece of news that finally allowed the Zhen Kingdom's king, whose nerves had been on edge for a day and a night, to breathe a sigh of relief. He dragged his weary body back to the inner palace, only to find it desolate and eerily quiet. Normally at this time, palace servants would be sweeping and cleaning, attending to the concubines as they rose and washed. While quiet then too, it was never as desolate as it was now.
As if overnight, the inner court had become a ghost town.
The King of Zhenguo frowned and strode quickly toward his favorite concubine's palace.
The place, which had been bustling with activity just days before, was now a mess, empty and deserted, as if it had been robbed. No, even a thief wouldn't have left it this clean. He stepped into the hall, and the first thing he looked for was the display shelf. Where were the rare treasures he had collected for his favorite concubine? Not to mention the rare treasures, even the brocade bedding in the room had vanished.
As for the whereabouts of the favored concubine?
The ghost has vanished.
After seeing this, what else is there to not know?
"Husbands and wives are like birds in the same forest; when disaster strikes, they fly away separately—ha, this disaster hasn't even struck yet, and these heartless and ungrateful wretches have already run away! All those years of loving and caring for them have turned out to be ungrateful wretches!" He laughed so hard he couldn't stand up straight, but a terrifying murderous intent flashed in his eyes, like a raging, trapped beast that had finally broken free of its shackles and was left only with the instinct to kill!
With a whoosh, he drew the longsword from the hand of the palace servant holding the sword!
Rage raged within him, and he hurried through the palace, sword in hand. Along the way, he saw many palace maids carrying huge bundles, preparing to flee. When had these maids ever seen a blood-soaked god of war?
Before he could even kneel down and beg for mercy, he was slit in the throat with a single sword strike.
Fresh blood flowed gushed from the wound, pooling into a pool of blood.
"You shameless woman!"
"You shameless woman!"
"You shameless woman!"
Hearing a strange noise from a side hall, the King of Zhen kicked open the palace door and caught a woman dressed as a commoner red-handed. The woman was terrified at the sight of the king, and just then, a pretty young girl ran out.
"Mother, get ready—" The girl's words trailed off, and she pulled back the foot she had stepped out with. As the King of Zhen Kingdom pressed closer, the two retreated step by step. The girl wasn't paying attention to her footing and tripped over the threshold while retreating, falling to the ground in a sorry state.
The pain helped her regain some of her rationality from her fear.
She looked at the king through teary eyes, her gaze filled with a silent plea for mercy.
The king, enraged, laughed: "You are truly my good wife and daughter! Pack your things, where are you planning to escape to?"
The two of them naturally dared not answer.
They had already seen the corpses of the palace servants lying behind the man.
How could they dare to anger the king?
"Even you betrayed me! You vile women!"
Having said that, he drew his sword and thrust it through the woman's heart amidst the girl's cries for mercy. Watching the woman fall to the ground, lifeless and with her eyes wide open in death, the king turned his gaze to his own daughter. He uttered words that filled him with despair: "Throughout history, women of fallen kingdoms have met with tragic ends. Rather than let you live in humiliation, clinging to life and ruining your reputation, disgracing your ancestors, it is better for you to die now and preserve your honor."
The girl clearly couldn't process what she was saying.
She couldn't believe that her biological father, after killing his wife, also wanted to kill his daughter.
In an instant, she was so frightened that tears and snot streamed down her face: "Father, Father, please calm down—I'm your daughter—"
As the sword drew closer, the girl sitting on the ground moved back, repeatedly calling out "Father," trying to evoke the warmth between father and daughter in the past, and to stir up a trace of pity and reluctance in him: "Daughter doesn't want to die, daughter doesn't want to die!"
The king coldly replied, "It was just one sword strike; it didn't hurt."
"Your daughter was wrong, Father, your daughter was really wrong!"
The king ignored her pleas for mercy and said angrily, "Since you are born into royalty, you should be prepared to live and die with the royal family! But your cowardice and fear of death have truly disappointed your father!"
Having said that, he raised his sword high.
The girl crossed her arms to shield her eyes and screamed in agony.
The common people in the city were filled with fear and unease.
They were completely isolated from the outside world, unaware that the enemy had attacked. They only knew that the atmosphere in the capital had been tense for the past two days, and continued with their daily lives as usual. It wasn't until the rarely seen dignitaries, and every household, were packing large sums of money and leaving the city, that they realized something was amiss.
Some were better informed, for example, those with relatives or friends working for influential people, who knew a little about the inside story, but not much. These people were quick-witted and packed their belongings early to leave the city.
The fact that all the important people are fleeing indicates that something big is about to happen!
As the last rays of sunlight faded, the earth beneath their feet tumbled over.
Just as everyone was screaming and running out of the house, someone with sharp eyes spotted a strange light on the dark horizon, and the loud noise and the sound of the earth churning also came from that direction: "What is that?"
If the common people can see it, then the ruler of Zhenguo can naturally see it as well.
The common people don't understand what it is, but he does!
At this moment, he was all alone; everyone had either escaped or been killed. He stood alone on the high building, gazing at the battle lights on the horizon. Even from this distance, he could clearly feel the violent martial energy emanating from the air, each strand exuding high morale and endless killing intent! The king's face was ashen, unable to comprehend how the Kang Kingdom's army had so quickly reached the city walls.
Is there really no resistance on the road?
Haha, not really.
This was also a joyous occasion that made Qian Yong grin from ear to ear.
If the King of Zhenguo hadn't stubbornly accused the garrison commander of colluding with Kangguo, they wouldn't have switched sides so readily.
Not only did they defect, but they also readily helped to stab Jeongguk in the back.
People who know each other well will strike quickly and accurately!
Qian Yong's troops didn't need to take a detour to attack the city, nor did they need to dismantle the military areas protecting the capital. They marched directly towards the capital of Zhen. From the start of the war until now, he, the commander, had been the most idle person in the entire army. Leading the charge and fighting was all left to a few generals like Gong Xi Chou, oh... and the surrendered generals from Zhen! If it weren't for the fact that he couldn't be too obviously slacking off and had to occasionally draw his sword and cut off a few heads to make up the numbers, he could have been eating, drinking, and watching the show all at the same time.
How wonderful!
"Sigh, this battle was the easiest one I've ever fought in my life. If only future battles could be this easy, I could easily collect military merits." He muttered regretfully, constantly complaining in his heart about the group of ambitious and ruthless individuals under Shen Tang's command, who were all fighting for military merits to the point of being cross-eyed, and were more eager to fight than anyone else, afraid that if they were late to the battle, they would miss out on kills.
He's different.
Be humble and open-minded, and remain unperturbed by honor or disgrace.
While shamelessly boasting, Qian Yong swiftly struck down several more headless corpses. The guards behind him hurried after him, fearing that the marshal would forget everything else once he got into the fray.
It was impossible for him to forget; Qian Yong remembered what he was supposed to do.
He led his troops all the way to the city walls.
The city gates of the capital were blasted open by the onslaught of dozens of ice dragons, revealing a clear path. As the ice and snow melted and green vines sprouted, a giant python darted through the city's tunnels, violently smashing aside any martial artists who tried to stop it. Wherever its cold, serpentine eyes passed, inanimate buildings decayed at a visible speed, and the effects on martial artists were even more pronounced—a dark green toxin, shrouded in deathly aura, rapidly traveled from their extremities to their hearts!
Within a quarter of an hour, all the city gates of the capital had fallen.
The King of Zhenguo has never suffered such a defeat in his life.
The enemy attacked too quickly, so quickly that he didn't even have time to negotiate or beg for mercy. They had reached his doorstep, held a knife to his throat, and could take everything he owned with a flick of their fingers. Why would they allow him to sacrifice even a small amount to save his family and his life?
In the chaos, Qian Yong spotted a figure leaping down from a height and immediately recognized the person. He leaped forward, transforming into a streak of light, and intercepted and rescued the person in full view of everyone.
"Damn, I haven't had enough fun yet!"
A rough male voice boomed in the king's ears.
Lacking the courage to commit suicide or hang himself, he chose to jump from a high place before the enemy army breached the royal court—a rather tragic way to die. However, the expected death did not come.
He was rescued by a righteous man.
Judging from the intensity of the martial energy emanating from the righteous man, his strength was neither particularly high nor low; he might be able to protect himself and escape in the chaos! Death requires courage, and he had just exhausted it.
"righteous--"
At this critical juncture, only righteous people will save me.
The rest of his words abruptly ceased the moment he saw Qian Yong's face, replaced by intense disbelief and a deep-seated fear. Amidst the flashing swords and the flames of war, Qian Yong grinned at him: "Long time no see! It's been a long time!"
Qian Yong had imagined this scene countless times when he was kicked out, but he only realized after experiencing it firsthand that no amount of fantasies could compare to the thrill of actually experiencing it! Seeing the people who had once arrogantly humiliated him now looking like quails with expressions of utter disbelief, he felt a surge of exhilaration that shot from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head.
My soul is about to fly away!
"Why are you running? Let's catch up!" Qian Yong subdued him without hesitation to prevent him from committing suicide and ruining the mood. He bent down and patted the greasy, fat face of the King of Zhen, frowning in disgust as he withdrew his hand and then vigorously wiped his hand on his skirt armor.
"Tsk! It's filthy. I'm telling you, you're the ruler of a country, even if it's just a tiny island, you shouldn't be so poor that you can't afford to wash your face. Look at yourself, your face is thick, greasy, and dirty. If I wiped your face with a knife, the oil and grime I scraped off could be used to maintain the blade." Qian Yong's words were as sarcastic and biting as ever.
With just a few words, he angered the King of Zhenguo to the point of fainting.
He said hoarsely, "Qian! Uncle! He!"
Qian Yong slowly removed his scale armor gauntlets, picked at his ears, and said, "I'm not deaf, I'm listening. Whatever nonsense you have to say, we'll talk about it when we get to your house! Oh no, this is my army's temporary camp, my lord's home, your house is gone!"
"A stray dog!"
"Slaves of a conquered nation!"
|ω`)
I've gotten my medicine.
When I looked in the mirror today and opened my mouth, I saw obvious redness and swelling on both sides of my throat. Ugh, it hurts so much to swallow. Yesterday it was so bad that I couldn't sleep and toss and turn all night.
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