Chapter 710: Confrontation

“Tell me, why did you let yourself be caught on purpose? What are you trying to do?” As he rode on the galloping Flame Foal, Gu Shenwei asked Han Fen this without looking back at her.

Han Fen, who was sitting behind him and humming a strange tune, took awhile before puzzledly answering with a question. “Is the Dragon King talking to me?”

“Mmm.”

“Hee hee, I just wanted to experience the uniqueness of the little girl that you chose over the Master Commander.”

“What else?”

“And… I wanted to kill her to please the Master Commander.”

“But you didn’t do that.”

“How could I have made a move when you’re always keeping an eye on me and giving me a cold feeling in my back? Also… she’s cute. I’m a bit reluctant to sully that image.” It was precisely this occasional ‘reluctance,’ that had almost eliminated her from the Waning Moon Hall.

Gu Shenwei suddenly stopped the horse, dropped her off, and looked down into her eyes as he asked, “Is Lotus badly hurt?”

Han Fen’s eyes sparkled. “Dragon King, are you concerned about the Master Commander?”

“Tell me the truth.”

Han Fen would either keep silent or tell the truth. There was no such thing as a third option to her in this situation. And she liked talking to the Dragon King, so she said, “To tell you the truth, the Master Commander is dying. She was seriously injured by you. The Master Commander feels so cold that she’s always shaking as if she were poisoned. She took a Bone Shrivelling Pill, but that didn’t do much. She then took two Zombie Suppressing Pills, but they were also ineffective. Then she found someone to practice the Psychotic Divine Drain, which worked a bit. After that she…”

Han Fen wanted to explain the whole treatment method in detail, but Gu Shenwei hurriedly interrupted her. “Stop, stop. Where is she hiding now?”

“She’s hiding… Heehee, I can’t tell you. Dragon King, you are so bad, trying to sound out my secrets when I’m unaware. You know, I am the best at keeping secrets. Otherwise, why would the Master Commander trust me?”

Gu Shenwei tried ask again in another way, “Where are Han Xuan and Shangguan Shaomin? You promised to tell me where they were.”

“I only know that the two of them were still in King Shengri’s camp when I left yesterday.”

Gu Shenwei was a bit surprised that Han Fen would play such a trick in her answer. “Is Han Xuan still your friend?”

“Of course.” Han Fen appeared quite confused about why the Dragon King would ask this. She continued, explaining, “As the saying goes, ‘A lifetime of friends and a night of men.’ Friends will always be friends, how can they… not be friends?”

Gu Shenwei had never heard of this famous saying from the Waning Moon Hall, nor did he care about it. Time was urgent, and he had to wrap up the conversation as soon as possible. “Han Xuan may be Han Wuxian’s daughter.”

“The Hall Leader is lying.” Han Xuan was filled with indignation, on behalf of her friend rather than herself. “Han Xuan clearly told me that the person who went to see her every year was nothing like the Hall Leader.”

“She might have disguised herself.”

“Their temperaments were also different. The Master Commander had asked her in detail. Besides, the Hall Leader couldn’t have left the headquarters at that time.”

At that time, the Waning Moon Hall had been restricted by the truce agreement and its couldn’t have left the desert. Han Fen hummed and continued saying, “The Hall Leader wants to mislead everyone and have us believe that we can rest easy if Han Xuan is under control. Then she will kill us all when we are unprepared.”

These words were obviously from Lotus.

Gu Shenwei thought for a moment and said, “You can go now.”

“Really?”

But I won’t let you to touch any of my men, including those soldiers. Do you understand?”

“What if I already did?”

Gu Shenwei wanted to threaten her by answering ‘then I’ll kill you,’ but that was meaningless to Han Fen because the other side only cared about whether her corpse could be scattered far and wide. “I won’t care about you or talk to you anymore.”

Fortunately, there were no outsiders around; otherwise, the Dragon King’s reputation would likely be totally destroyed.

Han Fen, however, was startled, “Please don’t. I’ll try not to touch your subordinates. If the Master Commander orders me, then I’ll find an excuse and have someone else do it.”

Han Fen quickly ran away. She had already disappeared into the grass while Gu Shenwei was still thinking of a way to clarify what he meant by ‘touch.’

Lotus was hiding in the dark. And Han Fen was probably the only clue that Gu Shenwei could use to learn about the Waning Moon Hall’s movements. He had spared her life, but also greatly doubted the veracity of her words.

Han Fen wouldn’t lie, but she also interpreted everything Lotus had instilled in her mind as the truth and told it as such.

Gu Shenwei felt like he was fighting against himself when dealing with Lotus. They knew each other too well, which made him feel like it was nearly impossible to discern between the truth and lies.

Gu Shenwei met Shangguan Ru’s guards at the border of the patrolling area and ordered them to set off at once to meet their instructor.

Gu Shenwei finally ran back to the camp when the sun had risen high. From afar, he could see patches of troops which appeared miniscule in contrast to the vastness of the prairie. As the distance shortened, the crowd grew larger and the pressure of the sabers, spears, bows, and steeds pressed down upon him.

The battle hadn’t begun yet, which gave Gu Shenwei the chance to make a stop at a nearby hillock and finally observe how the Norland people conducted battle.

There were nearly 30,000 people on each side, stationed about a mile or so from each other. As they moved around each other very slowly in circles, it could clearly be seen that both sides wanted to flank the enemy while avoiding a siege.

Both sides had adopted the same tactic, but King Shengri’s side was slightly outnumbered.

Occasionally, someone would leave their battle formation and challenge the enemy. Just as Gu Shenwei was watching, two men fired arrows at each other and one of the two fell off of their horse after three exchanges.

The Norland Army had no strict battle formation, and outsiders who were not familiar with them might think that both armies were as disorganized as a rabble of militia, but Gu Shenwei knew that the Norland Army had very clear ranks. The soldiers followed the decanus, the decanus moved with the flag of the centurion, the centurion would follow the chiliarch, and so on and so forth; in the end, no one was allowed to act of their own accord.

The seemingly disorganized team actually had complicated rules guiding them internally. With proper gaps left between the horses, they could gather and separate in a very short amount of time.

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After annexing the forces of the other two kings, King Shengri’s army had expanded again, but he didn’t send out all his forces this time.

What surprised Gu Shenwei was that the three armies of King Riying, King Riyao, and the Second Consort seemed to have united and were under the command of a single general.

He clearly remembered that when he had set out last night, King Riyao’s army was still suspicious, King Riying Shulitu wanted to commit suicide, and the Second Consort had refused to hand over all her troops. It did not seem as if they were going to band together at all.

Could it be that the three sides had changed their stances at the same time in the face of a common enemy?”

A group of dozens of people galloped towards the hillock, and someone shouted from a distance, “Is it the Dragon King?”

The position where Gu Shenwei stood was under the control of King Riyao’s army, so he shouted back, “It’s me.”

The soldiers separated a little and Fang Wenshi rode forth. With sweat all over his face, the first thing he said after meeting the Dragon King was, “Please enter the battlefield at once, Dragon King.”

The counselor had always adhered to the principle that the king should not enter the battlefield in person. This was actually the first time he had made such a request on his own initiative.

Gu Shenwei rode towards the army and ordered Fang Wenshi, “Make it short.”

“To put it simply, the Second Consort agreed to hand over all her troops and only keep five hundred guards with her. King Riyao’s army accepted Shulitu as the new king and merged with King Riying’s army. Then King Shengri’s army arrived.”

This was more perfect than even the most optimistic of expectations. Gu Shenwei understood that there must be many reasons and deals behind the sudden unification, but he only had time to ask one question. “Who’s the commander in chief ?”

“Shulitu, the new king. But it will be the Dragon King when you arrive at the frontline.”

A twelve-year-old kid was surprisingly able to command an army of more than twenty thousand men and confront the enemy successfully enough that King Shengri did not dare attack rashly. Gu Shenwei was feeling more and more surprised.

The Norland Calvary had rules even when giving way. They moved to either the left or right sid,e but the same centuria would not be divided into both sides. Gu Shenwei had noticed that, but had never understood how they had formed that habit.

“Dragon King,” the crowd whispered.

“Dragon King!” someone shouted excitedly.

Gu Shenwei soon came to the forefront. Unlike the armies of the Western Regions and the Central Plains, the commander of the Norland Army had to be stationed at the very forefront of battle. Actually, there was no great danger because the soldiers around the commander were all cavalry of the highest caliber, and they would quickly form a tight circle of protection in an emergency.

By sitting on a tall steed, Shulitu appeared even thinner. And the barely worn armor dangled off of him awkwardly and seemed about to crush him at any moment.

Nie Zeng and Han Wuxian were on both sides of him, conscientiously playing the role of bodyguards. More than thirty other generals and officers surrounded them.

The teenage killer Nie Zeng felt quite relieved that he didn’t have to carry an eccentric woman with disheveled hair in front of tens of thousands of people anymore.

Han Wuxian seemed to finally understand what a normal person dressed like. She wore shoes this time and had even wrapped herself in simple leather armor like the female soldiers. But she was still very conspicuous because instead of wearing any kind of helmet, she had put on a beautiful wreath, with her long hair still draping behind her.

Shulitu turned to welcome the arrival of the Dragon King, so the whole army stopped moving, and so did the enemy on the other side.

“The Dragon King has come just in time,” Shulitu smilingly said as if the assassination had never happened.

“Isn’t King Shengri ready to fight?” Gu Shenwei slightly nodded to Shulitu. Although Fang Wenshi claimed that the Dragon King was the real commander, he knew very well that his power would only work through this kid.

Something must have happened last night that had changed Shulitu’s attitude. There was no animosity in his childish voice. “King Shengri made a mistake. He thought that the deaths of the former King Riying and King Riyao would cause the army to fall into disunity, but once he realized that our armies were united, he dared not attack.”

Fang Wenshi interrupted to explain, “King Shengri incited a few officers into mutiny but they were captured by His Highness in one stroke.”

“It’s all due to the counselor’s effort.”

The two courteously explained each other’s contribution.

Gu Shenwei thought that he must have missed a wonderful scene.

Just as they finished speaking, a rider from King Shengri’s side made a harsh whistling sound and set out to challenge this side.

One of the officers around Shulitu immediately rode forth to oppose the enemy. The surrounding soldiers all cheered loudly.

“Azheba is really a valiant general, it’s a pity that he was neglected in the Court Attendants Army,” Shulitu praised sincerely. “The Dragon King has sharp eyes and accepted such a good marksman.”

Nie Zeng excitedly added, “Azheba has already shot down seven enemy generals, and this will be his eighth.”

Gu Shenwei was unaware of Azheba’s archery skills so he watched carefully.

The Norland Army’s one on one match was also different from other places’. The two sides would stop moving forward after running a certain distance. Instead, they would circle each other in an oval so that they could pull the bow sideways.

In the middle of the battlefield, the enemy fired an arrow first, so Azheba ducked while on horseback to avoid it. But before the other side could pull the bowstring and release a second arrow, he suddenly straightened up and casually shot out an arrow without taking aim.

Without any further ado, the eighth enemy promptly fell from his horse.

Thunderous cheers rang out everywhere. Even many horsemen on King Shengri’s side gave a great shout of approval.

“The morale of our army is at its peak now. Please give the order, Dragon King,” Fang Wenshi urged in a low voice.

Gu Shenwei shook his head and said, “Please give the order, Your Highness.”

The Norland people worshiped heroes of the Prairie, which was an unalterable tradition. The Dragon King had to get used to pulling the strings behind the scene.

Fang Wenshi was a little surprised but he would soon be struck by disbelief by an ever bigger surprise.

A scout came galloping along from the edge of the battle formation and gasped for air before stopping his horse. “Court Attendants coming. There are many of them, probably fifty or sixty thousand, coming.”

There was a small commotion in King Shengri’s army. The opposite side had obviously received the same news.