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Chapter 836: Nobody Else

Gu Shenwei had once led his army and shattered a formation containing thousands of Norland cavalrymen, but Dugu Xian thought that that was nothing. “I heard about that feat, but you were actually just lucky, Dragon King. First of all, Duodun’s troops were arrogant and careless, and that was reflected in their decision to charge at you head-on. The effective striking range of their weapons was far shorter than your army’s, so their defeat was only natural. Second, your army numbered 10,000 strong, which outnumbered the enemies by several times. However, you were only able to capture a small number of enemy soldiers, so it technically shouldn’t even count as a victory at all. If Duodun had had more courage and reorganized his troops to launch another attack — as long as he maintained a certain distance from your army, he still stood a very good chance at defeating you.”

After disdaining the Dragon King’s “victory” as if it were nothing, Dugu Xian started talking about the advantages of this army. “Thanks to Duodun’s mistake, you now own an army that dares to fight — this kind of courage cannot be forged no matter how many years you train them for. Like what you have seen, once the spear cavalry manages to close in on their enemies, they’re invincible. By convention, the Norland cavalry’s strategy is to “pursue the enemies if they’re weaker, and to flee if they’re stronger.” Thus, if we can flank the enemies…”

It was almost impossible to flank the opponent on the flat grasslands. After contemplating for quite a long time, Gu Shenwei finally made a choice when dawn was about to break. After hearing several plans from Dugu Xian, Gu Shenwei said, “The weather is windy. If the wind blows up dust and obscures the air, it will act as a pretty good cover for us.”

“Um. Don’t rely too much on weather. It blocks the enemies’ view, but our troops will also easily get lost. In this case, you won’t be able to tell if your army of soldiers walking side by side divides into two or three parts, or even more.”

“I’ll take my chances. Even if I only have 3,000 or 4,000 men left at the end, it’s still worth a shot. More importantly, Luoluo won’t be able to anticipate this.”

“Luoluo has been through hundreds of battles. He won’t be tricked that easily,” Although he didn’t compare the two directly, Dugu Xian thought much higher of Luoluo than he did of Duodun. It seemed as if he would take Luoluo’s side without hesitation if he had the choice.

“Earlier, when you said that the only purpose of today’s fight was to raise morale and that we would withdraw as soon as we achieved this end — do you think that Duodun believed it?”

Dugu Xian thought for a while before answering, “Of course he believed it. And because he won’t send his own men, there won’t be a real showdown.”

“If he believed it, then so will Luoluo.”

When it came to conspiracies, Dugu Xian didn’t understand them very much. “Are you saying that Duodun will tell this to Luoluo? It’s… It’s very unlikely. The current situation is as if — he and you are on the same boat. Thus, no matter where he drills a hole in, both of you will sink.”

Though Gu Shenwei had found several clues, he still didn’t know anything about Duodun’s actual plans, so he could only rely on his instincts. “Duodun still wants to retreat to Heaven’s Pass and eliminate Shulitu and me, before vying with Luoluo for the throne. This has been his strategy this whole time, and it won’t change. In my opinion, he is making his best effort to have us suffer a crushing defeat during the first battle. That way, he can naturally enact his retreat plan afterwards.”

“Trying to directly attack the enemy’s headquarters is risky — too risky,” Dugu Xian was the one who had formulated the operational plan in detail, but even he wasn’t very confident that it would succeed. He preferred the other plan. “I think that you should wait until the Court Attendants Army throws the battleground into disorder, and then command the army to charge. With the advantage of your spears, we should be able to secure a moderate victory. After that, we can just wait for winter to come.”

Between dashing into the battlefield and directly attacking Luoluo’s main force, Gu Shenwei had been weighing the pros and cons between these two choices over and over again. “If Duodun’s really stupid enough to collude with Luoluo, we will never win on the battlefield. Luoluo will keep sending in more and more troops in until we are completely wiped out, and Duodun will stand by and watch it happen. I’ll take this risk.”

Having failed to convince the Dragon King, Dugu Xian formulated a new detailed plan for him. “Don’t charge at the enemy directly. It’s the fastest way, but the enemy will easily spot you. March northeast and maneuver through the battlefield on the edge. By doing this, you’ll be able to temporarily confuse the enemy. Once you circle around the battleground, no matter how many soldiers can catch up with you, you have to advance at full speed and attack Luoluo’s right wing directly. If possible, don’t get surrounded — once again, try to maneuver through the enemies from the periphery of the battle. Killing enemies is not the aim — it is to create chaos. After that, return as soon as possible. Don’t get caught in a prolonged engagement. Just keep moving west and lure Luoluo’s Right Corps to our left wing. I’d pay to see Duodun keep standing by under those circumstances…”

Dugu Xian had said a lot, and Gu Shenwei had imprinted all of his commands firmly into his mind. Even if the plan succeeded, it would only result in them forcing Duodun’s army to partake in the war. Whether they would ultimately win still remained unknown. When the occasion arose, Dugu Xian would force Mo Chu into dispatching all of Li Shun’s troops into the fight so that they would at least destroy Luoluo’s army’s victorious momentum if they couldn’t defeat them outright.

Gu Shenwei had also underestimated Duodun’s plan. It was not until the war was over that he finally understood the overall situation in its entirety. When the wind started blowing again on the battlefield and the air was filled with dust, he completely lost control of the rear armies. All he could do was calm the people around him and steadfastly march northeast.

The battlefield situation changed constantly and drastically. Even when the weather was clear and sunny, most of the troops on the battlefield would still get lost during the march, and they wouldn’t even be able to hear the sounds behind them or clearly see what was happening a dozen steps away in the front.

Also, the air was not dusty enough to cover everything. When the 10,000 Dragon Army troops passed by the edge of the battleground, they were only a mile away from the bloody carnage of the battle. If someone had turned their head around, they would have seen Norland cavalrymen falling off of their horses and whipping out their sabers to engage in a hand-to-hand fight.

But Gu Shenwei didn’t turn his head around. He blew the bugle for the first time, indicating that it was time for his army to accelerate. It was at this position that some soldiers broke rank and were involuntarily dragged into the nearby battles.

The battlefield was behind them and the shouts were getting fainter. Gu Shenwei suddenly panicked. It was as if he had entered a deserted region where gusts of wind and dust were everywhere, but people, enemies, and companions were completely absent.

He was eager to blow the bugle again to remind himself that this was not a dream, and he was even more eager to turn his head back and check if the soldiers behind him had disappeared long ago.

But he forced himself to focus on the front, even if there was nothing there.

Grains of sand kept pelting him in the face and faintly hurting him, which was the only proof of the real world left.

Then, he faintly saw an army ahead. They were preparing themselves for a fight — probably because they had been informed by their scouts.

Gu Shenwei’s senses instantly returned to normal. He realized that his bodyguards were still around him and he could see them from the corner of his eye.

Dugu Xian had said that they should rush past the enemies from the edge of their formation, but Gu Shenwei had no idea what kind of formation the enemies were in at all. He only knew one thing — that he should never slow down or stop.

Gu Shenwei blew the bugle for the second time. After a brief pause, he immediately blew it again, the third time — this was the order to attack.

Patches of upright spears tilted forward and pointed toward the front.

Gu Shenwei had learned some spearsmanship when he was young, and back then, he had learned it from his old servant Yang Zheng. Compared to sabersmanship, he had achieved far less in spearsmanship, and he barely recalled this unique family kung fu after reaching adulthood. At this moment, when he was tightly holding onton the hilt of a spear on the back of a warhorse, he suddenly realized that the Gu family spearsmanship had always been meant to be used on a battlefield.

Memories about his family spearsmanship flooded through his mind, and confusion filled it.

This was not Luoluo’s army, and there were only several thousand men in front of them. Upon facing an unexpected attack, they just resisted symbolically before they soon started fleeing.

Most soldiers hadn’t noticed anything out of the usual. They just felt that the enemies were too weak, which was completely different from what they had previously expected. So, some soldiers were tempted and started to pursue the enemy.

At this point, another group of soldiers broke rank.

Gu Shenwei quickly ordered the rest of the troops to fall in and found that he still had about 7,000 men left, which was better than he expected.

Judging from the time they had galloped for, they were undoubtedly at the position where Luoluo’s Right Corps had been deployed, but where were the enemies? Had Luoluo somehow anticipated the Dragon King’s plan and set a trap here in advance?

But if there had been any enemies lying in ambush here, then they would have launched an attack by now.

All the soldiers were watching the Dragon King. No matter what, the army couldn’t stay here. Gu Shenwei had to make an immediate decision, and he didn’t even have time to take a captive and interrogate them. He could never have anticipated that Luoluo’s Right Corps had actually been dispatched to attack the Naihang Tribe.

He blew the bugle for the fourth time, mounted his spear, and yelled loudly, “Follow me!”

Gu Shenwei ordered the army to change directions and advance south. He wanted to see what Luoluo looked like.

On the other side of the battlefield, Azheba had also made a decision — and it was a painful one, but he had to make it. He couldn’t keep wavering between loyalty and love. As a man of the grasslands, he only had one real choice.

Azheba raised his arms high, signaling the troops to listen to him, and then he turned his head around and glanced at Shangguan Ru. “The Dragon King… has betrayed His Highness. Raise your bows…”

Tie Linglong leaped upwards again.

Azheba was not only a superb archer, but also an excellent rider. He suddenly had his horse speed up, and Tie Linglong missed. Bending forward with his chest pressed against the horse’s back, he rushed towards the Second Consort’s army. If he managed to return to the army, he would be protected and Prince Duodun’s plan might still succeed.

Red Bat had loaded her bow with an arrow. Her archery was not very good, but from such a short distance, she could at least hit the horse.

But she was waiting for Instructor’s order.

Shangguan Ru took the bow and arrow from Red Bat’s hands.

Tie Linglong watched Shangguan Ru in disbelief. She had already identified that mysterious woman, who had killed a dozen man consecutively, was the very kung fu expert who had once knocked her out with the powder.

Shangguan Ru relaxed her fingers.

Azheba fell off of the horse and landed right beside Dugu Xian’s feet.

The Second Consort’s soldiers and the female soldiers of the Land of Fragrance started dashing towards the target simultaneously.

Shangguan Ru and Tie Linglong anticipated their movements. The latter stood in front of Dugu Xian’s horse and signaled him to back off. Shangguan Ru grabbed Azheba’s collar and yelled, “He’s still alive!”

But the Second Consort’s soldiers still rushed over and solidly surrounded these group that consisted of outsiders and a small group of Shulitu’s soldiers.

Azheba was indeed alive. The arrow had only pierced his left leg.

He raised his head and looked at that tenacious, beautiful face before saying, “I’m sorry. I’ll have no regrets if I can die in your hands.”

Red Bat did the same thing that the Instructor was doing, and tightly grabbed Azheba’s collar. “I never expected that you would be like this!”

Shangguan Ru shook her head as she replied, “I won’t kill anyone.”

She leaped onto the Flame Foal’s back, mobilized her internal energy, and loudly proclaimed, “You’re all soldiers. The battlefield is in front of us and the Dragon King’s there fighting with our enemies, but he — ” Shangguan Ru pointed at Azheba. “He’s been conspiring in the rear. Just who’s the traitor here?”

Azheba wanted to speak, but Tie Linglong struck him with a finger attack. Her Jueyin Finger Energy was not very good, but it was more than enough to make Azheba tremble constantly as if he were in mortal fear.

The soldiers were confused. They didn’t know whether or not they should believe this female outsider’s words.