Chapter 17: Entering The Fort
Hearing the screams from within the gate tower and seeing the drawbridge slowly lowering, the village guards were finally alerted. They hurriedly rushed over from various places to check the situation! Upon discovering that the gate tower had already been seized by the enemy, the village guards were both shocked and furious, immediately ringing the alarm bell while organizing manpower to retake the gate tower!
How could the government troops let the enemy have their way? They used their flesh and blood bodies to block the east and west small gates of the gate tower tightly, wielding weapons and fighting the enemy in close combat! More and more village guards arrived upon hearing the news, yet they still could not rush into the gate tower even one step!
As the drawbridge crashed down, Lu Xin waved his precious sword, and the army rolled in and killed into the city!
At this time, the people in the fortified village were also awakened by the alarm bell. Village Master Zhou Huang and his old father, former Southern Dynasties Minister of Works Zhou Sili, draped on their clothes and arrived in the hall of the Zhou Family ancestral hall.
The hall was brightly lit, and the clan members were like ants on a hot pan. Seeing the village master and old village master come out, they quickly surrounded them, chattering: “Village Master, this is bad!” “Old Village Master, someone is attacking the village!”
“What are you all panicking about!” The old village master had white hair and beard. Although he had already passed the position to his son, his majesty was undiminished from the past. “The Zhou Family has stood for five hundred years—what storms have we not seen?!”
Rebuked by the old village master, the crowd finally quieted down.
Village Master Zhou Huang spoke: “Everyone, no need to panic. Our Bai Liu Village is not so easy to attack. Please hurry back to your respective duties and jointly resist the external enemy!”
“Village Master, the ones attacking us are government troops!” An elder said in a trembling voice.
“Is there a difference?” Zhou Huang was over forty, burly and robust, with thick eyebrows and phoenix eyes, awe-inspiring without anger. “Anyone who offends Bai Liu Village is an enemy of the Zhou Family!”
“In any case, let’s meet the enemy first!” The old village master said in a deep voice.
“Defend Bai Liu Village!” The clan members responded in unison, turned, and left the ancestral hall, each going to their positions.
Only the village master and his son remained in the ancestral hall. Zhou Huang frowned and said: “Father, the government most likely knows about those people’s existence now…”
“Quickly arrange for them to leave.” The old village master nodded and said in a deep voice: “Once they leave, the clan members must also set out—save as many as we can!”
“Father, have things really come to this point?!” Zhou Huang’s expression shook. Was Bai Liu Village, where the Zhou Family had lived for generations, about to be destroyed?
The old village master said calmly: “From the day we took them in, everything was destined.” With that, he waved his hand: “No time to delay—go quickly…”
“Yes!” Zhou Huang nodded heavily and turned, disappearing from the old village master’s sight.
Only then did the old village master let out a hoarse voice sigh, turned to the memorial tablets of the ancestors, lit an incense stick, and then kowtowed three times respectfully. When he stood up, he was already tear-streaked, crying out in grief: “Loyalty and filial piety are hard to fulfill both—unfilial descendants have implicated the ancestors…”
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Lu Xin succeeded in the sneak attack and led the army into the fortified village, immediately commanding his subordinates to split into several teams and seize the key points inside the fort! He had already conveyed the intelligence from the blueprint to each colonel to memorize. The colonels led their respective retainers, navigating the fortified village’s numerous mechanisms like they were on home turf, heading straight for the vital areas!
They came too fast— so fast that the Zhou Family clan members had no time to get into position before the key points were seized! The government troops, by occupying just eight or nine intersections, blocked the Zhou Family clan members in various streets, leaving them unable to advance or retreat, unable to support each other.
Unlike ordinary cities with wide roads and connections in all directions, the fortified village had a strong military flavor. For ease of blocking enemies, the streets were very narrow, and among the numerous passages, many were dead ends, with usually only a few passable. When enemies attacked into the fort, they would often get lost due to unfamiliar terrain, trapped in maze-like streets, giving the defenders opportunities to divide, surround, annihilate, and win with fewer numbers.
But when the attackers knew the fort’s terrain like the back of their hand and preemptively seized the key points, the situation would reverse! They could instead tightly trap the defenders in different streets, dividing and surrounding them!
Of course, this required the attacking commanders to possess extremely high wisdom to find those fatal key points amid the spiderweb-like passages! Only then could they achieve the division and encirclement of the enemy with the minimal force!
Clearly, Lu Xin had this ability. Once the division was complete, he personally led the army in, sequentially encircling and annihilating the village guards split into segments! To defend their homeland, the village guards fought with their lives against the government troops, but helplessly, the government troops were well-trained, superbly equipped, several times their number, and even held the terrain advantage!
The village guards broke out time and again, only to be shot down in droves by strong bows and crossbows, their blood staining the streets and flowing into the roadside ditches, converging into red streams…
Even full of reluctance, the Zhou Family clan members could only watch helplessly as their retainer village guards were eaten up bit by bit by the government troops, with no way to stop it…
Lu Xin did not advance rashly, still methodically commanding his subordinates to push forward layer by layer, following the imperial envoy’s orders not to let anyone escape.
An hour later, the government troops had completely occupied the outer streets of the village, tightly besieging the Zhou Family in the inner fort.
Just as Lu Xin was about to order a simultaneous assault on the inner fort from all sides, Xiahou Lei and Xiahou Bupo appeared.
“Hahaha! Virtuous nephew, you truly command troops like a god—I’m greatly pleased!” In the firelight, Xiahou Lei excitedly slapped Lu Xin’s shoulder hard—this man had truly brought him great honor! He had discovered a great talent for the Xiahou Clan!
“Imperial Envoy, the battle isn’t over yet,” Lu Xin said solemnly: “There are still many Zhou Family retainers in the inner fort—they will surely resist to the bitter end!”
“Virtuous nephew, your mission is complete!” Xiahou Lei smiled mysteriously: “Next, you just need to tightly surround this place and not let anyone escape—the top merit this time will be yours!”
“What about the inner fort…” Lu Xin asked puzzled.
Xiahou Lei glanced at Xiahou Bupo, who smiled faintly: “Virtuous younger brother is already one of us, no need to hide it from you.” Pointing at the inner fort, he said leisurely: “Our Xiahou Clan experts have already entered—leave the inside to them.”
“Is that so?” Lu Xin looked at Xiahou Bupo in surprise. When did the Xiahou Clan men sneak into the fort? He had noticed nothing at all!
“Let’s watch quietly for changes.” Xiahou Bupo nodded with a smile, then coughed violently again.
“Yes.” Lu Xin lowered his head, but intense worry surged in his heart. He still hadn’t seen Lu Yun—the child had clearly gone in with the Xiahou Clan people. He must not act impulsively…
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Time went back to a little over half an hour earlier—the one who helped the vanguard troops open the way from the city wall was precisely Lu Yun.
Although he had changed his appearance today, smeared pot ash on his face, and even switched weapons to twin sabers, Lu Yun remained extremely cautious, constantly mobilizing his six senses to supervise all directions, fearing Xiahou Lei might peep from nearby and spot clues from his moves.
Lu Yun’s Imperial Extreme Profound Cave Skill was profound beyond profound, even allowing him at Earth Rank to possess some abilities of a Heavenly Rank Grandmaster. For example, he could direct true qi to any part of his body, greatly enhancing its function!
Lu Yun injected one tenth of his pure vital energy into the Jingming Acupoint. At this moment, a faint glow seemed to flicker in his eyes, his vision instantly enhanced several times, seeing as clear as day in the darkness, able to see very far.
When he led those troops near the gate tower, he suddenly had a premonition, looked up, and saw shadowy figures appearing on the distant western fort wall, filing into the fort, vanishing in an instant without a sound!
‘Xiahou Clan people!’ Lu Yun immediately thought of that civilian boat that appeared midway, didn’t even call out, and directly leaped down the wall top to chase those shadows.
