Chapter 324 - Under Xijie City
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
South of Xiyun Province, Xijie City region, snow was flying all about. It was close to the end of autumn and suddenly a snowstorm had arrived, causing the thousands of miles near this area to be dyed in a snow-white color.
Ren Bo brought a group of people and was traveling swiftly on this snow land, riding on the best grade 4 Windrider foals, their bodies covered in grade 6 fire bear leather. This was why when they traveled so quickly they still didn’t feel cold. In the intense chill, they still felt warm and comfortable.
However, after 5 consecutive days and nights of traveling, even with his Xuanwu ancestor cultivation he was unable to take it and felt exhausted.
The reason why he felt so bitter was mostly due to his ruler.
Ever since Zong Shou returned to shore with abundant gains on those thousand cloud ships, after docking in Rainbow City, he didn’t return to Gantian Mountain City. He brought Zong Yuan and the others down south, using a day to reach the large army at the border of Xijie City.
He directly moved in and took control of all the armies in Xiyun Province. In the following few days, he pretty much created a legend.
With just the 500 thousand troops at the border as well as the 300 thousand subordinate city troops they gathered from around, they wiped out Huanlong Province with an unstoppable aura. On the 5th day, he commanded 150 thousand elite cavalry and directly headed into Tianfang Province and Xiping Province which Taoyun City was deeply rooted in. 5 fights 5 wins, crushing the close to 3 million troops of Taoyun City and their subordinate cities, breaking them all into pieces. They either forced the 250 cities in these 2 provinces to either surrender or get wiped out. Where their army headed, no one could block.
With their crazy attacks, they just used 19 days to wipe out the 3 provinces of land belonging to Taoyun City.
Ren Bo was originally prepared to go forwards and report the latest administrative duties as well as the tabulation from the cloud ocean hunt as well as the split with the various races and cities.
His initial destination was one big city in Xiping Province-Haiyou City. The news he got before he set off was that Zong Shou was leading the troops to attack Taoyun City’s last base in Xiping Province.
In the end, when he arrived 2 days and 2 nights later, he realized that it was already conquered a day earlier. Which meant that Zong Shou only used 40 thousand following cavalries as well as the people he forcefully recruited along the way, or rather the 400 thousand subordinate city troops that were forced into surrendering to break down this famous huge city. Calculating the time he used just 2 days, he didn’t know how his ruler managed to achieve that.
When Ren Bo asked where Zong Shou was at now, he realized that Zong Shou had hurriedly left before Haiyou City was broken. After leaving Chaiyuan and Ling Fakong to take charge, he turned north, the direction was Xiyun Province.
It made him make a huge detour and wasted tens of thousands of miles of journey.
However, he didn’t feel annoyed. In his heart, he felt happy instead. When he stepped on the land of another country, looking at the scattered and crushed troops of various cities, he felt emotional.
The former ruler used a full year and a half and still wasn’t able to take down Tianfang and Xiping provinces. After the ruler inherited the throne, he used just a few months to merge them into Gantian Mountain City’s rule.
The former ruler’s son truly made one feel happy inside.
After rushing for a short while, his eyelids jumped. Tens of people were standing tall in the cold win like steel statues, not moving at all.
Without even getting close, Ren Bo felt that the leader’s body was familiar. However, the aura was different from his impression. His body stood tall like a spear, showing off a towering aura which was filled with killing intent.
“Hu Zhongyuan?”
Ren Bo was startled, the person who in the past was unrestrained and did what he wanted, looking old and experienced, having a gilded exterior but ruined on the inside became like this?
Leading his horse forwards and standing still beside Hu Zhongyuan, he realized that this fellow was different. The tiger energy from him was no weaker than his father. Although his face showed exhaustion, his spine was straight, and his eyes were still sharp.
“Looking at your situation, are you about to breakthrough?”
Hu Zhongyuan gave a mischievous smile, revealing his white teeth, “My father always said that I was useless but I am 7 years faster than him in getting to Xuanwu ancestor! In just 7 days I will breakthrough! If I follow the ruler and my progress is slow, wouldn’t it be losing his face?”
As he said that, Hu Zhongyuan suddenly remembered the important matters, “The ruler is commanding the army and can’t leave. He ordered me to come to fetch prime minister...”
historical
Ren Bo slightly nodded his head, traveling forwards along with Hu Zhongyuan. Apart from the cheers of the army he could hear from afar, he couldn’t help but feel slightly curious, “What’s the situation there?”
“We just completed gathering up this morning. Your arrival is right on time. You can see a good show!”
Hu Zhongyuan was excited, his brows dancing as he explained, “2 days ago when the ruler came back, he led the army to wipe out the tens of traitor cities. Xijie City is the last one. The ruler waited for 2 days to gather 200 thousand people here and he also invited all the city lords of surrounding cities. Along with the subordinate city troops, there were 600 thousand of them...”
As he said that, he was afraid that Ren Bo would misunderstand as he added one more sentence, “Just one Xijie, with just our 350 thousand people, we can just take it down. The ruler wants to use them to raise the prestige and spread his name. What did he say again? He wanted to spread a message, to let the people who have doubts take a look at the strength of our army, which was why he dragged until today!”
In this era, there still wasn’t a phrase called sending a message which was why although Hu Zhongyuan barely remembered the words he didn’t know what the meaning behind was.
Ren Bo smiled and he understood what Zong Shou meant.
He knew that at the start Zong Shou didn’t bother about all the traitors on their backlines, taking the chance that Yue Guanyun was dead and the people of Taoyun City being unsettled, to lead hundreds of thousands of troops to charge into Huanlong Province.
Following which as they advanced too quickly, the infantry couldn’t keep up. In the end, when they entered, the remaining 2 provinces they were only left with 150 thousand cavalry. Following which they split up to take down cities. In the end, the 800 thousand soldiers were all scattered in the vast area of 3 provinces.
When Zong Shou returned only 50 cavalry followed him. It should have been those hundreds of thousands of elites that went down the cloud ocean to hunt who followed him to conquer those traitor cities. They pretty much rushed nonstop but in the end was only able to participate in the cleanup, using these few traitor cities to vent their frustration.
It was already really difficult for Zong Shou to be able to gather 200 thousand Gantian soldiers from the region nearby.
Just as he was thinking about it, the outline of a giant city appeared in front of his eyes. As the horse under him continued to gallop, it became more and more clear.
It was a 300 feet high, 7 miles long, 6-mile wide city. Around it was covered in slow. Only this place, its atmosphere was like a burning flame.
Who knows how many spirit masters had to cast spells to make it such that the tens of miles area around here didn’t have any snow descending.
Based on what Hu Zhongyuan said, 600 thousand infantry and cavalry have already surrounded this Xijie City.
Looking out, killing intent did indeed charge up into the heavens. Rows of orderly armored soldiers lined up on the plains outside around the city. There were also many cavalry troops enveloped within. Most of them were arranged on the nearby hills. Seemingly able to feel the atmosphere from the formation, those foals all trampled on the ground in unease, neighing out loud.
Ren Bo passed through the camp under Hu Zhongyuan’s lead and not long after, arrived where the middle army as at.
He could feel that the Gantian Mountain soldiers were different from before. Since Zong Weiran had died, the sharpness and fighting spirit which was slowly dissipating had returned. It was still that tiger-like force, domineering spirit. The invincible iron army!
This was even more surprising to him than Zong Shou taking down 3 provinces of land in a row.
However, when he arrived at the front of the middle troop formation, he was furious. He saw 18 pure white Windrider foals pulling on a luxury carriage and were stopped on top of a hill.
The decoration of this carriage was luxurious. It was crafted by purple-red dragon metal, jewels embedded all around, white snow curtains hung all around. They were all made out of 300-year silk, not only could it keep one warm, but it could also block arrows.
At this moment Zong Shou was lying inside in a showy manner. Beside him was Ruo Shui and Chuxue, kneeling in a tame manner. That soft mattress also had a beast leather laid out on it.
Ren Bo’s eyes were sharp and could see that this leather came from one of the grade 7 beasts from those cloud ships.
At this moment, even he was envious of Zong Shou. He had a luxurious carriage with so many beauties.
He originally wanted to scold him, but when he arrived beside the carriage Ren Bo smiled bitterly, “Ruler, is this how you are trying to promote luxury and increase spending?”
Zong Shou was originally staring at Xijie City when he heard that he smiled, “This is called promoting. Didn’t I open an iron crafting shop not long ago? I hired tens of spiritual blacksmiths, in the end, they didn’t craft any good weapons but instead made such a carriage for me. Showing off this carriage in front of them. In the future, it would be easy to sell such carriages. Those fellows are just worrying about being unable to spend their money...”
Ren Bo was startled, thinking to himself so that was the reason! It was a novel thing. However, he still felt like he was unable to accept it. He knew Zong Shou was one that was unable to be persuaded, he was lazy to open his mouth and boarded the luxurious carriage.
The moment he got in he felt that the carriage was different. Not only was it as warm as spring, but it could also help calm down the spirit. His mood instantly became calm and gentle.
His brows raised as he looked at Zong Shou, “Is this carriage purposely designed for spirit masters?”
Zong Shou smiled and didn’t reply. The spiritual formations in this carriage was indeed a classic design 3 thousand years later. Enough for his newly built blacksmith shop to last for some time.
He temporarily left the shop to Ruo Shui and Lianfan to handle. It didn’t matter if they earned money or not. As long as they were able to develop enough spiritual blacksmiths, then they wouldn’t lose out.
Ren Bo was slightly surprised for a moment before he stopped paying much attention to that. Following which, he looked at the row of people not far away from the carriage. Which the various city lords that Zong Shou had gathered here!