Chapter 357: Sneak Attack on the Royal Court
On January 16, the 33rd year of the Nan Kingdom, the Lion Army marched through the small rice fields and launched a surprise attack on the Luojiang Royal Court.
One hundred and twenty thousand Lion Army cavalry and one million Luojiang soldiers.
The situation was originally very lopsided and there was no chance of winning, but because the Lion Army knew the location of the royal court, they took the initiative. Huo Gannian deployed his troops and attacked directly, and won victory after victory with his god-like military tactics.
Huo Gannian saw the opportunity that Luojiang had just established the Khanate and the small countries that had been annexed around it were not firmly obedient and were not very willing to contribute troops. On the one hand, he ordered people to infiltrate the surrounding small countries to lobby for rebellion, and on the other hand, he sent troops to cut off the fortresses on the left and right of the royal court.
Excluding the troops of the surrounding small countries, the royal court was instantly weakened and isolated with only 600,000 troops, but it was still an opponent that the Lion Army could hardly attack.
Therefore, Huo Gannian once again adopted the tactic of making a feint to the east and attacking in the west, leading the main force of the Lion Army to attack the main force of Luo Jiang head-on, and ordered Yun Chen to lead 30,000 elite cavalry to quickly attack the flank of the royal court.
This move indeed caused Luojiang's troops to disperse.
On this side, let’s not talk about how Huo Gannian led the main force to attack, and how the soldiers fought one against ten, facing the tall and strong Luojiang soldiers who were heavily armored and as tall as iron towers. The difficulties and hardships were beyond our imagination.
On the other side, Yun Chen took advantage of his light equipment and quick movements to launch three surprise attacks on the royal court, causing King Luo Jiang to become furious.
Once they entered the royal court, Yun Chen and his men lured the enemy away from the mountains, leading the Luojiang troops out of the city in pursuit. Rong Yi and his men immediately stormed the prisoner camp and rescued over 70,000 captured Northern Expedition soldiers.
Entering the royal court for the second time, the Luojiang soldiers vowed to defend the city to the death and were ready to never be fooled into pursuit again. However, Yun Chen and his men set fire to the royal court from the outside, forcing the Luojiang soldiers to leave the city to put out the fire. Yun Chen took the opportunity to break into the prisoner camp again and rescued more than 20,000 Northern Expedition soldiers.
After entering the royal court for the third time, King Luo Jiang was already furious. He directly sent out 200,000 troops to pursue Yun Chen, and ordered that he would pursue him to the ends of the earth and find him alive or dead.
Two hundred thousand Luojiang soldiers were chasing them relentlessly on the snowy plains. Yun Chen fought and advanced at the same time, sometimes luring the enemy deep into their territory, sometimes ambushing them. There were seven small-scale battles and two head-on blitzkriegs. Finally, he led the Luojiang soldiers in circles on the grassland for several days.
After a series of operations, not only were nearly 100,000 Northern Expedition prisoners rescued, but 60,000 troops in Luojiang were also severely damaged.
During this period, Buyan led fifty assassins to sneak into the royal court and search for Nan Lijun everywhere.
It’s a pity that after searching almost every corner of the royal court, there was no trace of Nan Lijun.
During the search, Bu Yan discovered that no one in the royal court seemed to have heard of the name Nan Lijun.
When he reported the news, Yun Chen felt it was very strange.
Nan Lijun is the crown prince of the Nan Kingdom. Given his status and position, even if the people of Luojiang do not treat him with courtesy, they would not secretly detain him and deny it, right?
You know, using Nanli Jun to hold the Nan Kingdom hostage is much easier than going to war.
Yun Chen began to suspect that Nan Lijun might not be in the royal court, or that he had not been captured by King Luo Jiang at all, but had fallen into the hands of someone else.
She decided to sneak into the royal court in person, but before that, she had to discuss it with Huo Gannian.
So, after Yun Chen got rid of Luo Jiang's soldiers, he led the cavalry back to the camp, just when Huo Gannian was returning with the main force of the Lion Power Army after a battle with Luo Jiang.
After the two men had withdrawn their troops and rested, they met in the main tent to discuss matters.
After hearing Yun Chen's suggestion, Huo Gannian refused without a second thought:
"No! You can't go!"
Yun Chen was helpless: "What's the reason? It's too dangerous? There is no such thing as a war without danger. Do you think I'll be safe just cooking in the back? We've encountered all kinds of dangers along the way. You weren't like this before, An Nian."
Huo Gannian's expression left no room for negotiation.
"If I say no, then you can't! I'm your superior now, and you must obey orders. Is this an acceptable excuse?"
This was the first time he used his level to suppress Yun Chen. She thought it was really annoying, but Ye Yan and Buyan next to him saw it clearly.
Apart from suppressing him with levels, Huo Gannian had no other choice.
As the commander-in-chief, how could he not know the dangers of the battlefield?
General Yun Chen is smart, loyal, skilled in martial arts, and brave. He is the sharpest trump card in his hand and the best candidate to go deep into the royal court to find Nan Lijun.
But since that avalanche, I have truly experienced the feeling of losing Yun Chen.
He was so scared.
If they fought side by side on the battlefield, he would still have the energy to take care of her. As long as he could see that Yun Chen was still alive and fighting hard, he would feel at ease.
Once Yun Chen was out of his sight, he felt a panic of being separated from her forever.
Fearing that the two would start arguing again, Ye Yan and Buyan hurried to smooth things over.
Bu Yan noticed a few people walking past the main tent and quickly greeted them:
"Hey! Northern Expedition Army! Come in and talk!"
With Bu Yan's forcible pulling, several Northern Expedition soldiers were dragged into the tent.
Now, the rescued captives, the soldiers who came to join after fleeing for a long time, and nearly 100,000 Northern Expedition troops have joined the Lion Army, and unfamiliar faces can be seen walking around in the camp everywhere.
Bu Yan's eyesight was very sharp. He immediately recognized the people he had let go when he was inspecting the grassland. He pushed them in front of Huo Gan Nian with a mixture of anger and laughter, and said with a smile:
"When I was looking after the pasture for Old Chabu, I met these guys." Then he turned to the others:
"You're such a jerk! I let you go, and right after, you started a fire in the woods and nearly burned my butt off! You have to pay me for two pairs of my pants!"
This topic indeed interrupted the argument between Huo Gannian and Yun Chen.
Huo Gannian walked back to the table to read the documents, and seemed not to want to pay attention. Yun Chen stepped forward and patted the shoulders of several Northern Expedition soldiers, comforting them:
"Don't listen to my nonsense. I don't blame you. Besides, I put out the fire."
When several Northern Expedition soldiers heard this, their eyes widened and they looked Yun Chen up and down, asking in surprise:
"General Yun, were you the one who caused the avalanche to extinguish the fire?"
"Yes, it's me." Yun Chen said.
Several Northern Expedition soldiers looked at each other, their faces flushed red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple for a long time. Finally, they gave Yun Chen a thumbs up and spoke with difficulty:
"General Yun, you are truly amazing and brave...you are incomparable to ordinary people!"
Yun Chen laughed out loud and was about to ask more questions when Duan Jie strode in from outside. He first slapped each of the Northern Expedition soldiers on the head, then kicked them out of the tent, cursing:
"A few of you who don't feel cold are afraid of the cold and are building a fire to keep warm. You don't even notice how many dead leaves and trees there are in the winter forest! Get out! Go brush your horses!"
After driving away the soldiers, Duan Jie saluted Yun Chen and said:
"General Yun, please accept my humble greeting. First, thank you for those foolish boys who started the fire, forcing you to risk your life to put it out. Second, thank you for rescuing us from captivity. Such a great favor is beyond my comprehension!"
Yun Chen quickly returned the greeting, first praising Duan Jiefu for his good fortune in surviving, and then said with a smile:
"When did you become so polite to me?"
Duan Jie glanced at Huo Gannian teasingly, put his shoulder close to Yun Chen, and said in a deliberately bad-mouthing tone:
"No, if I don't show some courtesy and thank you properly, I'm afraid your old Huo will tear a layer of skin off my body."
"Old Huo"? This word was new, and Yun Chen couldn't help laughing.
Huo Gannian's expression had relaxed a lot. She was thinking of getting Duan Jie to lobby for her, so she told Duan Jie about her plan to sneak into the royal court to look for the princess.
After hearing this, Duan Jie thought for a moment and said:
"Before you arrived, we had fought Luojiang many times. As far as I know, Luojiang today, while ostensibly vast and powerful, is actually plagued by fierce internal strife. There's a prince named 'Touman' who has always coveted the throne of Luojiang. He's a formidable figure, and the King of Luojiang is very wary of him. We were ambushed in the rear during the final battle, resulting in the disappearance of the princess and dozens of guards and maids. It was Prince Touman who attacked us."
After just a brief listen to the situation, Yun Chen immediately understood Duan Jie's guess:
"So, if the princess isn't in the hands of King Luojiang, then she's most likely in the hands of Prince Touman. He's probably hiding the princess, planning to negotiate peace with us, threaten King Luojiang, or have some other scheme. As long as he has the princess, he has a very high chance of success."
Apart from Prince Touman, no one could think of another place where Nanlijun might be trapped.
How to rescue them? This became the most troublesome problem.
At first, it was thought that Nan Lijun was imprisoned in the royal court, so Yun Chen made three surprise attacks on the royal court, going in and out three times, in order to buy the opportunity to search for him, and also angered King Luo Jiang.
The security around the royal court is now extremely tight, and it is impossible to launch a sneak attack.
Everyone turned their eyes to Huo Gannian, but he just sat quietly with his eyes lowered, and was hesitant to give any orders.
At this time, Duan Jie reminded:
"By the way, General Yan also disappeared with the princess."
Hearing this name, Huo Gannian's brows moved and he said coldly:
"Let him be, don't pay any attention to him."
It's just seven short words, but the meaning contained in them is intriguing.
Yun Chen thought Huo Gan Nian didn't like Yan Shijiu and wanted him to be captured. He looked at Huo Gan Nian with amusement, then clapped his hands, grasped the new sword sent by Wuyi Blood Guard, and said:
"Let's go find the princess and her husband!"
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