PFC Chapter 120 Top-Tier Martial Power in the Age of Cold Weapons
Chapter 120 Top-Tier Martial Power in the Age of Cold Weapons
Li Feng turned around and immediately went out to make arrangements.
Li Sheng walked quickly to the corner, took down the armor hanging on the rack, and put it on one piece at a time.
The sound of the metal blades colliding was crisp and rapid, like the beating of war drums.
As he put on his armor, he made plans in his mind.
The lower part of the image cannot be lost.
If Xiaxiang is lost, Xiapi will lose its eastern shield, and Siwu will also be isolated. Once the unity of the three counties is broken, Que Xuan and Chen Gui will take advantage of the situation, and the foundation he has worked so hard to build may collapse overnight.
More importantly, if the powerful clans of Xiaxiang successfully restore their rule, the powerful clans of the other two counties will inevitably become restless. At that point, he won't even be able to stabilize his rear, let alone conquer the Central Plains.
Therefore, the person in the lower realm must be saved, and quickly.
He put on his armor, picked up his halberd, and strode out of the county government office.
Outside the gate, two thousand elite troops were already assembling.
Most of these soldiers were veterans who had fought alongside him all the way from Xiapi. They were fully armored, armed with swords and spears, and exuded a murderous aura.
Li Sheng mounted his horse and his gaze swept over the resolute faces.
"Brothers! The brothers in Xiaxiang are surrounded! Let's go and rescue them!"
"Victory!"
Two thousand people shouted in unison, their voices echoing across the fields.
Li Sheng spurred his horse, and the warhorse neighed loudly, its hooves thundering as it charged out of the city gate.
Behind them, two thousand elite troops followed closely, raising clouds of dust.
……
The official road stretched straight across the plain, like a gray-white ribbon.
Li Sheng galloped away on horseback, the whistling wind in his ears and the footsteps of two thousand men behind him.
Normally, traveling from Xiapi to Xiaxiang by official road would take a full day for a large army. But Li Sheng did not intend to take a day.
"Tell the brothers to hurry! We must reach Xiaxiang before noon!"
The messenger ran back and forth in the ranks, delivering the orders to everyone.
The team's speed improved even further.
Some people started to fall behind, but many more gritted their teeth and kept up.
Li Sheng knew he had to be quick.
Liu Wu said he could hold out for at most two days, but that was his estimate from his own perspective. However, the battlefield is ever-changing; perhaps Liu Wu is still struggling today, but the city gates will be breached tomorrow. Perhaps those powerful clans have hidden plans he doesn't know about, or perhaps the government troops have more reinforcements on their way.
Every second that gets faster increases the chances of getting a good shot.
Every moment of delay increased the danger for Liu Wu and his brothers defending the city.
"General! There's a situation ahead!"
The scout rode back from the front, his face covered in dust.
"explain."
"Five miles ahead, there are signs of an ambush on both sides of the official road. My subordinates saw flags waving in the woods by the roadside, and there are at least several hundred people."
Li Sheng sneered inwardly.
really.
Since those powerful local lords were able to collude with the government troops outside the city to coordinate their attacks from within and without, how could they not have imagined that he would send reinforcements from Xiapi? Setting up an ambush on the way to intercept and kill the reinforcements was a perfectly normal tactic.
"Order! Forwards halt their advance and form ranks!"
The procession slowly came to a stop.
Li Sheng rode forward, squinting at the distant grove of trees.
The forest wasn't large, but it was very dense, and the official road ran right through the middle of it. If someone were to lie in ambush in the forest, waiting for his troops to reach the halfway point before attacking from both sides simultaneously, they could indeed catch him completely off guard.
But now, the ambush has been exposed ahead of schedule.
Perhaps the scouts alerted them, or perhaps the ambushers lost their composure and revealed a flaw.
In any case, the ambush has become pointless.
Li Sheng didn't take a detour or wait. He led his vanguard directly towards the grove of trees.
A commotion broke out in the woods.
Some people started running away, and some tried to organize a resistance, but it was too late.
Li Sheng charged into the forest first, his halberd gleaming coldly.
With the first strike, the halberd swept across, knocking a soldier wielding a spear to the ground.
The second strike, the halberd tip like a venomous snake spitting its tongue, pierced the flag the enemy had just raised, pinning the flag and the man to the tree.
The third strike, the fourth strike, the fifth strike...
The halberd in his hands was like a living thing; thrusting, parrying, sweeping, and cleaving, each strike took a life. Wherever the halberd blade passed, blood splattered, and severed limbs littered the ground. Screams echoed through the forest, and the ambushers on both sides of the road fell in droves like wheat being harvested.
Some knelt down and begged for mercy, some dropped their weapons and ran away, and some hid behind trees, trembling with fear.
In the short time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the hundreds of ambushers were defeated.
Li Sheng, covered in blood, rode his horse out of the forest, blood still dripping from the tip of his halberd.
"keep going!"
The team resumed their journey, moving as fast as the wind.
Just past noon, the outline of Xiaxiangcheng came into view.
Looking into the distance, the flags of the Taiping Army were still flying atop the city walls, but the scene outside the city made Li Sheng's heart sink.
Outside the south gate of Xiaxiang City, a dense crowd of people had gathered.
There were at least several thousand people, completely blocking the south gate.
Some were attacking the city, with ladders erected on the walls and soldiers swarming up; others were shooting arrows, which flew like locusts towards the city walls; still others were ramming the gates, with thick battering rams striking the gates repeatedly with dull thuds.
On the city wall, Taiping soldiers were putting up a desperate resistance.
Li Sheng spotted the figure on the city wall at a glance.
Liu Wu.
He was covered in blood, with several arrows stuck in his armor, but he still stood behind the battlements, hacking down the enemies who climbed up with his sword.
"Liu Wu!"
Li Sheng roared, his voice like thunder.
Liu Wu, standing atop the city wall, suddenly looked up and saw the billowing dust rushing towards them in the distance, and the fluttering apricot-yellow flag.
His eyes instantly reddened.
"The general...the general is here!"
He shouted hoarsely, his voice trembling with sobs.
"Brothers! The general is here! Reinforcements have arrived!"
Upon hearing this shout, the Taiping soldiers on the city wall felt as if they had been given a shot of adrenaline, and new strength surged through their exhausted bodies.
"Victory!"
"Victory!"
"Victory!"
The shouts were deafening, greatly boosting morale.
The enemy forces attacking outside the city were also alerted by the shout.
Some people looked back and saw the approaching cloud of smoke and flags, and panicked.
"Reinforcements! The Taiping army's reinforcements have arrived!"
"Damn it, how did they get here so fast!"
The soldiers' attack formation became chaotic, some were trampled to the ground, and screams, cries, and curses mingled together.
Before his team could fully deploy, Li Sheng led the vanguard directly into the enemy ranks.
Led by Li Sheng, dozens of cavalrymen charged like tigers into a flock of sheep, unleashing a barrage of swords and spears, slaughtering the enemy until they cried out in terror.
Those who besieged Xiaxiang were mostly private soldiers and tenants of powerful local magnates. They were good at bullying ordinary people in normal times, but when it came to the battlefield, how could they be a match for the Taiping Army's elite troops? In addition, they had been besieging the city for a long time and were exhausted. Their retreat route had been cut off by Li Sheng, and their morale had long since collapsed.
In less than half an hour, the thousands of people besieging Xiaxiang were defeated.
On the open ground outside the city, corpses lay scattered about, their blood staining the yellow earth red. Several hundred people knelt in a dense, dark mass as they surrendered.