Chapter 506: Female soldiers

A group of women? Looking at the shocked sentry andthe string of corpses behind him, the people in the valley looked at each other.

“Has New Moon Hallcome to kill?” Some thought of Maid Lotus.

New Moon Hall had disappeared in the Western Regions for a long time andthe sentinel did not have clear conceptof this. He only muttered in the face of numerous inquiries, “Women, many women.”

If the sentinel had expressed delight, the people around him might not havefound it odd.

“Do you want the Cloud King alive or dead?” AskedXia Wenxiong. His mentor and brother had just died buthe still wasraring to achieve meritorious service.

“Do it at your own discretion,” Shangguan Yun said with a smile as hehad decided to take a step.

The women outside the valley had shot and killed more than a dozen sentries, which seemed to satisfy them. Hence, they did not immediately come in.

Shangguan Yun managed more than 700 people in the valley, where there were people like the three Xia brothers and other highly skilled killers who had been hired from all over the country, they included the black-masked assassin and killers from Fort Jin Peng. More people came from Wushan- they were the mine thieves and tribal children, who mostdid not know whom they were working for and all their decisions weremade by their ten leaders.

“Line up, line up, prepare for battle. Take up the fight, put in all in yourstrength, attack, capture the Cloud King and you’ll be rewarded. Capture him alive and you’ll already have your reward.” The leaders started joking as they addressed, and they quickly assembled their teams. They were no soldiers and did not care about military formation, loosely arranged in a few columns andall rubbing their hands like they were about to engage in mass fighting.

Shangguan Yun’s most trusted men winked, pretending to stay farther away from the battlefield andslowly walked toward the places they had prepared to flee to.

Keeping asaferetreat path was one of Shangguan Yun’s most basic principles of survival.

He would not escape from the seaside slopebecause this way, his cowardice would be known to everyone, including Shangguan Jianyi, who would use itto his advantage.Hehad arranged therefore another route.

There was a cliff to the east of the valley along which five large baskets connected with ropes were placed where by the plan was thepeople from below to shake the ropes slightly, thenthose from above pull up the baskets with each holding onlyfive.

This was set up by the men of Wu Zonghen,however the idea came from Shangguan Yun. Through the spies in the camp, he had delivered his ideas to the vice commander of the thousands. Watch posts could not set up on high to monitor everything around, including the battlefield.

Shangguan Yun did not immediately enter the basket, he had to look at this amazing women’s army.

Standing beside him were tenor morekillers among which hecould recognize the black-masked assassin and six other highly-skilled killers, including Xia Wenxiong. Hewanted to shout loudly but came over quickly instead and did not expect to take away his brother’s body upon seeing that the Cloud King had wanted to leave.

The number of people had exceeded the standard, whoeverwas tograb this bigbasket would have to prove theirskills. Shangguan Yun thought of defeat asa terrible thing. But how theDragonKing had been able to hidefrom so manyeyes and cross the sea was admirable truly.

However the battle, was not over yet. The final victory could cover up allprevious failure, the Dragon King would win this battle, and the greatest loser wouldn’t be Shangguan Yun. Itwould beShangguan Jianyi, who was outside the mountain.

Shangguan Yun gleaned asense of victory from his failure thenruminated on it and found it funny. Afterwards, he saw the army.

Even thoughfrom far away, the physiques and postures of the soldiers were definitely of women.

They looked like normal soldiers, wearing helmets and light armor, carrying crossbows in their hands though and only a few carrying swords.

In the valley, the leaders whostood in the last row smiled to their followers saying, “don’t fight, one for each person is enough.”

They had overrestimated the women’s army, itdid not strike immediately after coming in. Instead theylined upinto two rows, formingan encircling formation andstreamed in without stopping. The men’s expressions changed after about two thousand of them came in. They had wanted to attack them alittlewhile back but this time started to retreat involuntarily.

Doubtsarose in Shangguan Yun’s mind and made him stepquickly into the big basket, shaking the string to sound a signal.

The others began to scramble for the four other big baskets, the impatient ones scufflingfor their ropes and climbing to higher ground. Few fell down because of their good martial arts skills.

When the big basket had risen to four or five feet, Shangguan Yun saw that the women soldiers had started to work.

The arrows covered the sky like a huge fishing net, capturing miserable prey. These men only wore crude armour and werearmed with a few shields. They didn’t have a trump card and were defenseless against the attacks from the sky.

Many people made a ridiculous gesture, raising their left hand to block their hands, as if holding an invisible iron shield in their hands.

The people who had responded faster turned around and fled. Some fled to the south, where there were simple ladder roads that had been built with thick ropes and wooden stakes and others climbed to the top of the hill and escaped along the seaside slope.

Shangguan Yun had risen to the top of the cliff and looked downat the scene below, confirming that he was right to escape in time and realising that this women’s army was not sentby the Dragon King at the last minute. They seemed to havea discpline, to havetrained for a long time, shooting and chasing.

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“Why had Fort Jin Pengsent its most valuable soldiers?” Shangguan Yun thought, and blamed the situation on the Dragon King.

“Hail to the Dragon King.” Shangguan Yun said to the people around him, his face lit up with smiles. He would not be defeated by a single unfortunate event.”Hail to my sister, you will soon see that those that that defeated the Fort Jin Pengwereof the Shangguan family.” He continued.

Few understood Shangguan Yun’s words and when the Dragon King turned to leave for the mountains, no one stayed to watch “the Shangguan family”.

No one in the valley would escape from the arrows. Only a few hid in the nearby caves to save their lives, surrendering their weapons and kneeling on the ground.

The women seemed to have a plan, marching towards and standing by the southern slope to await orders while others searched every hole to capture prisoners.

The troops from the mineshaft were already in a mess, Wu Zongheng and Long Fanyun could not hold them back at all. They rushed out of the exit and suddenly shouted, “quick, hear, hear, a battle has started outside.”

When the people outside had started to move the stones, those inside weptwith joy, never wishing to enter another cave even though being held for less than two days.

The biggest stones had not been moved away yet. A few rays of sunshine penetrated from the outside asa voice rang, a female voice,”people inside, say who you’ll be loyal to.”

“The Dragon King, the Dragon King,” everyone shouted, notdoubting their loyalty.

Han Xuan was so surprised that she could not stay quiet. Han Fen only smiled, asthough this was within her expectation.

Outside, spearmen of Fort Jin Peng waited sternly. This was a battle. There was no distinction between men and women, toeach ofthemit was onlyhim and the enemy.

More and more people noticed thata new band ofsoldiers had appeared on the top of the seaside slope. Even the soldiers who had been slaying on the battlefield had stopped their fighting and looked doubtfully above them.

No one was more surprised than the Commander of the Dragon Army, Dugu Xian. These werenot the tribal soldiers that the Dragon King had promised but female soldiers whose origins no one knew of. He wondered whetherthese soldierswould turn the tables.

The Prime Minister Zong Heng had first received the hint and prepared to leave after sending the Dragon King off but he hesitated and moved closer towards Dugu Xian, seeking his advice. He said,”General Left…”

Dugu Xian made his decision quickly and could not reveal howshocked he wasor any hint of hesitation. The red flag was erected at the top of the slope meaning these men were clearly sent by the Dragon King, he had only to cooperate. He could not trust these women soldiers, but he had to believe in the Dragon King. He ordered, “Send the command. Launch a general attack.”

Dugu Xian pulled outhis sabre with his otherarm. Even though unable tofight, he had to go to the battlefield.

The Dragon army had only five thousand troopsleft andhearing the order, they marched for the frontline in synchrony. After this, Dugu Xian had no option of retreat. He would either emerge victorious or lose the battle.

Zong Heng used to be a military official but was now a Prime Minister anddid not have to go to the battlefield. He hesitated slightly, before asking fora soldier’s sword, thenurged the horse to move forward.

This was a big gamble indeed, allchips had been played,there wasno harm thus in losing another life. After all, loyalty has nothing to do with the heart butproven by actions, especially in momentsmost critical. That day, those thatwere the most enthusiastic would win the Dragon King’s greatest trust.

The Queen was seated in the tent, putting on an indifferent expression to mask the uneasiness in her heart. The curse of her family would never end. Of what good would she, the Princess of the Stone Kingdom be, if she had left the Xiaoyao Lake?

Shangguan Hong ran in panting, saying, “The Dragon King’s reinforcements are coming andare all female soldiers.” It was hard to say fromhis look,whether he was happy or disappointed.

The Princess froze. Xu Yanwei, who was beside her, asked: “Where did they come from?”

“I don’t know. Tens of thousands of them, all standing on top of the hill andabout torush down now. The Left General has issuedthe orderto attack. Everyone has entered the war and even the Prime Minister has takenwith him hissword, to battle.” He answered.

“That’s right. Everyone is going to join the fight.” The Queen said, hereyes brightened, asshe stood up. “Including us.”

Since women could fight, she wondered why she couldn’t,afterallshe andher servants werein military uniform too that had originally though, just beenfor disguise and had now come in handy.

“Queen…” Xu Yanwei said with worry. Out of the many people, only Xu Yanwei knew her plan of retreat. Hence, she needed this reminder.

“No need,” The Queen replied,understanding Xu Yanwei’s thoughts. “The Dragon King will win,” she added.

The Queen did not have the ability to predict the future andhad not seen the realities of the battlefield either. She was able however,to discern changes in thesituation from everyone’s reactions. Zong Heng was a sly old prick, if he were willing to join the battle then they hada good chance.

On the other side of the battle, Shangguan Jianyi did not think he would lose. Fort Jin Pengstill held superiority in numbers despite being fighting on two fronts. The Dragon King seemed to have no options left, even asking the women to go into battle whose fighting capacity was weak even though their numbers were higher than expected.

The first wave of arrows onto the hilltop changed Shangguan Jianyi’s thinking. It caused the expression of the Left General, the advisors and staff to change.

Fort Jin Peng had prepared to face the surprise soldiers of the seaside slope but hadn’t expected to face so many archers and such dense arrows.

Shangguan Jianyi was able to keep his calm andwas about to order a change in the defence troops when he felt a chillthroughhim, his killer instinct reminding him of the danger that was at hand.