The first glimmer of light had just barely appeared in the sky, when the loud sound of a horn echoed inside the camp.
The originally sleeping Li Luo immediately woke up. Just like Qin Yu, who sat up and got out of the bed right after hearing the first sound of the horn. He quickly dressed, and left the tent with a sword in hand.
Li Luo also tidied himself up as quickly as possible, and followed behind Qin Yu.
The second Qin Yu left the tent, a thin and petite figure of a young scout rushed in front of him, "Reporting to great general, the enemy's troops and the commander from the Jing City are already advancing towards us and would soon arrived here."
Qin Yu listed to the whole report and then sped up the pace of his footsteps. He reached the stables and took out his black horse, immediately mounting it.
All of the soldiers were already well prepared. They had gathered in the open space in front of the camp and waited for Qin Yu's orders.
Streams of sunlight penetrated the dark clouds and illuminated the ground below. In distance, the huge amount of troops were clearly visible. Leading them was a white haired man covered in a layer of killing intent, whose sharp gaze was solely focused on Qin Yu. If gazes could kill, then Qin Yu's body would've been long ago stabbed into hundred holes and slice into thousand pieces.
By the time of one burning incense the troops on both sides were able to see each other.
Qi Cheng was riding on top of red-brown horse. His eyes were bloodshot and filled with killing intent, that made him look like a devil that climbed up from hell.
However, even though Qi Cheng stared at him with a vicious gaze, Qin Yu remained unmoved, his handsome face even had a touch of a shallow smile. His dark eyes flashed with a faint trace of vigilance.
Qi Cheng smiled widely, revealing his snow white teeth, "Are you the traitor and thief, Sixth Prince Qin Yu?"
Qin Yu's expression still didn't change, he only raised his fierce brow at that accusation. His black eyes revealed a hint of ridiculousness as he said "Who is the traitor and thief in the end, you the people that support the current emperor know very clearly. Before his succession, he was doing many dirty schemes to have his way, it's impossible for you to have forgoten this quickly."
At that Qi Cheng clenched the reins in his hand. He also knew there was something fishy regarding this matter, but since he had promised Jing Chun Empress Dowager, he could only stand on the Qin Yan's side.
"Stop talking nonsense. Do you have the guts to fight me one on one?" Qi Cheng didn't answer Qin Yu words, instead he took out the long spear on his back, and directly stabbed it in Qin Yu's direction.
Qin Yu immediately turned over and dodged Qi Cheng's attack. The two people exchanged a few blows in quick succession, before they fell from their horses. Taking that as a signal, the soldiers behind Qin Yu and Qi Cheng started to advancing towards each other, fighting with their life at stake.
The air quickly filled with a thick smell of blood. Every time someone fell, there would be another person to fill up the fallen person's position.
Qin Yu and Qi Cheng's fight was on-going. The side of Qi Cheng's waist was wounded by Qin Yu, but he hadn't been able to put a single scratch on Qin Yu's body. Seeing this Qi Cheng's face turned solemn—he didn't think this youth, who hadn't even grown his hair, was so good in martial arts.
Qin Yu's expression was still the same as before, with the same shallow smile on his face. The only change was the wrinkles on his clothes, it seemed as if their fight was nothing, but a warm-up for him.
Qi Cheng bloodshot eyes slightly narrowed, he flipped the long spear in his hands, and once again stabbed it toward Qin Yu's direction. This time, however, his movements were even more unpredictable, compared with before, the level of speed and flexibility had been greatly improved.
Qin Yu didn't despise this murderous-looking man in front of him. He carefully dealt with the attack, found a weak spot and give him a few blows. Qin Yu still had the upper hand, even though now his body also had a few bloodstains.
But compared to him, Qi Cheng's situation was even more miserable, his whole body was covered with a layer of blood. Qi Cheng was not a fool, knowing that he couldn't kill Qin Yu with his own ability, he no longer continued fighting.
Instead Qi Cheng shifted his gaze to the battlefield for a moment, and found that the troops he had brought had a slight advantage. For some reason, there were very few soldiers on the horseback in Qin Yu's troops, which made his own cavalry almost invincible. However, occasionally there would be a few infantry troops, who would rush to the cavalry. They were usually equipped with heavy and thick armor that difficult to penetrated, and surrounding by cavalry.
Qi Cheng suddenly felt alarmed and immediately announced a retreat. But at this moment a few dozens of horses rushed out from Xiang Bei Army's camp towards his cavalry and penetrated them. The soldiers that sat on top of them were dragging bags with unknown contents.
The sacks were cut open and big yellow particles in the size of palm started gushing out and tumbling down on the ground.
The originally obedient horses that were retreating suddenly stopped, they lowered their head and eat the yellow particles on the ground. Even if the soldiers riding on them repeatedly urged them to move, they would be unwilling to move even a little bit.
After this the situation quickly reversed. Every cavalry soldiers, who was unable to move was immediately stabbed into a hedgehog by Xiang Bei Army. The infantry that had originally rushed forward to take care of Xiang Bei Army cavalry, at this moment become a lamb to be slaughtered.
Qi Cheng's face became very ugly. He quickly give the retreat signal, however, it was too late. Most of his army soldiers have been killed by Xiang Bei Army's sword. The soldiers that managed to return safely to Jing City were only three-fifths of the original amount.
...
Qi Cheng brought back the remaining soldiers into Jing City and went on defense. But, the error had resulted in his forces dwindling to less than 150,000, which when compared to Qin Yu's more than 200,000 troops, put him in huge disadvantage.
In addition, after Qi Cheng returned to city, he fell ill and go a high fever, because his wounds were infected. Even Jing City's most capable doctor could not do anything about it.
Since Qi Cheng was ill and the vice commander thought he would have the opportunity to make meritorious service after he was given responsibility over the army. He immediately used his new authority to secretly dispatch the soldiers and initiate an attack.
He was very proud with himself, thinking that his command was spectacular. He had no idea that it was because of his foolish commands that Jing City, which originally could hold on for one or two months under Qi Cheng's command, was unable to hold on for much. Xiang Bei Army lead by Qin Yu immediately broke into the city.
The moment Qi Cheng heard the report of Qin Yu's break-in into Jing City, he killed the vice commander and escaped through a secret tunnel in his recuperated room.
By the time Qin Yu broke in Qi Cheng's room, the room had been deserted for a long time, the only thing remaining was the slightly opened bookshelf. Other than that he found splattered blood together with a bloody body on the ground. It was a middle aged man with a horror-stricken face. He had obviously died with grievances.
Qin Yu looked gloomily at the dark exposed entrance of the secret tunnel, his temples wrinkled as he thought deeply. He quickly sent a few scouts to examine the tunnel.
Hopefully Qi Cheng wouldn't return to Qin Yan's side. Because if that person insisted on staying by Qin Yan's side, he would certainly slow down his pace of taking back the country. He needed to be dealt with as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, the secret tunnel that Qi Cheng used had many roads and it was not the kind of tunnel that had only one exit. So, in the end, the people Qin Yu sent to find Qi Cheng, returned without any success. Qin Yu had no other choice, but to give up on the idea of directly killing Qi Cheng.
...
Bian Capital City, Royal Palace.
Qin Yan smashed his favorite glass cup. Suddenly he felt a sweet taste in his throat and almost vomited a mouthful of blood. He clutched his chest and sat down on the chair, his complexion was very white almost like a piece of paper.
Seeing this Jing Chun Empress Dowager anxiously stepped forward. She stretched out her hand, and stroked his chest to calm him down, "Huang'er [1], do not worry, Muhou has a solution that would certainly be successful."
"Muhou has a solution, what is it? Muhou, even Bei Da Great General that had never lost before was defeated. What solution could we possibly still have?" Qin Yan strocked his chest and felt out of breathe, so he opened his mouth and sucking in mouthful of air. His hands were trembling as he said, "We obtained this country with such difficulty. Could it be that in the end it would return to the hands of that little bastard?"
"It won't happen." Jing Chun Empress Dowager's beautiful face flashed with a trace of ruthlessness, before she affectionately stroked Qin Yan's head, "Bengong heard that, that little bastard has a close person that he favored a lot. He is so valued, that they are constantly together. So if Bengong finds a way to kidnap that person and bring him over here, we would make him our bargaining chip. Even if we encounter an unexpected result in the end, Bengong will drag that person to the grave as well! Bengong plans to make that little bastard have painful life, even if he seized your position, we won't let him have an easy life."
At this moment, Li Luo had no idea that the storyline had experienced a 180 degree change and that he now was the target of the villains in his own book. He was still boringly calculating how long it would take until Qin Yu seized the Qin Country and then calculating how long it would take him to return to his original world—this was what mattered the most to him, so he often thought about it while riding his horse on the road.
After all, a march of army in ancient times was not same like in modern times. There were no electronics that could be used for entertainment. That made the journey very boring, so he could only daydream and imagine things to pass the time.