Chapter 63 - Defending Zongcheng City
Shan Xiaohu and Fox Xiaxia overlooked Tuoba Xian, who was calling for battle in front of the city gates, with mixed emotions. Tuoba Xian had also seen them at different heights early on. However, Tuoba Xian acted more calmly. The days with them in Jinglu were short, but they were his life's happiest and most blissful days. But he was well aware of his identity and duty. He had to fight for his Dingling Clan, whether it was righteous or not. From a young age, his older brother Tuoba Cheng had told him that this world had no justice. There is only survival of the fittest and survival of the fittest. The result of being kind and soft-hearted is to be killed. To live in the grassland, you must wear wolf-like teeth to bite all the obstacles. This is the law of survival passed down from generation to generation of the Dingling tribe.
When Wei Kongji saw the young general Tuoba Xian, who had come to call for battle, he muttered in a low voice: "It seems to be fate that the Dingling will invade Zhongming. At age ten, the men of Zhongming are still playing with childish tantrums, and some are not even weaned yet! At the same age, Dingling's young prince can already skillfully lead troops to war."
Ouyang Zhong coughed quietly and reminded General Wei, "General, you must not grow others' ambition and destroy your own. Regardless of how old he is, he is an identity that is our enemy. At this moment, Dingling is about to threaten the people of my entire city and the entire Zhongming Kingdom, so we must not be merciful." Immediately after that, Ouyang Zhong drew an arrow, hitched his bow, and shot the arrow straight toward the swan feather on Tuoba Xian's helmet; the arrow fell to the ground, the arrowhead with half of the swan feather. This series of actions is smooth and incomparable, but the work of a blink of an eye.
Ouyang Zhong replied loudly to Tuoba Xian: "I am Left Guard General Ouyang Zhong, guarding Zongcheng by King Zhongming. You and other reckless men of the Dingling only kill, pillage, and plunder with a lot of evil. My men of Zhongming are open, honest, brave, and resourceful and will defend our country and people to death. Today, I'll let you see the thunderous measures of the righteous division!"
Tuoba Xian was upset at being shot off the feathers on top of his head, but he was not in a state to be intimidated. He glanced at Fox Xiaxia and Shan Xiaohu on the roof of the city wall, revealing a sinister and bizarre smile before turning his horse and leading his men back to the main force to prepare for the attack. Fox Xiaxia suddenly seemed to realize something hurriedly leaped down from the high place and ran straight to several lakes in the city, and the Nandu City people transferred from place to check. Fox Xiaxia was anxious and silently recited, "Never, never have anything happen!"
General Wei began to order the whole army: "Too strong is easy to break, too soft is rotten, and only by combining hardness and softness can we accomplish anything. Our people can be both civil and military; we are brave and strong, don't cause trouble, and are not afraid of trouble. Generals! For the sake of our country, our parents, wives, and children, and the sake of the dignity of Zhongming. Kill! Kill! Kill!" A great battle that had been postponed for months was finally fought. Facing the brutal Dingling army, no one of the Zhongming generals dared to take it lightly. Everyone hung on to their breath, followed General Wei's military orders, and started attacking round after round methodically.
The first round of 10,000 arrows. However, this move was bland to the Dingling Clan, who fought almost every day. They had long been fully prepared. Each general carried a shield on his back, and once the other side shot arrows, they quickly raised their shields in front of them, forming a shield formation, a shield wall, and the arrows that were shot down had little to no lethality. Wait until Zhongming's arrows are shot, almost when the arrows are not ready. This side of the Dingling tribe chose more ferocious crossbow arrows and thistles arrowheads; although the number of only Zhongming shots was 10%, the arrows were not false root hits. Even if the person did not die at that time, thistles shot into the body's flesh, and the person also directly lost combat power.
There is a saying in the art of war: a drum is a drum, and then it fails, and then it fails. If the morale just now were half doused in the first round of an archery duel like this, it would be even harder to fight later. Seeing the wrong situation, Ouyang Zhong immediately arched his hand and asked General Wei for an order, "General, I request an order to go out of the city to answer the enemy!" Wei Kongji patted his shoulder, "See what happens, be careful."
In the second round, the battlefield met with swords.
Ouyang Zhong flew onto his horse and led two thousand elite soldiers, ready to leave the city gate to meet the battle. Shan Xiaohu suddenly jumped above Ouyang Zhong's horse and said thoughtfully, "Take me with you!" Ouyang Zhong nodded gratefully, and a group of magnificent men ran to the battlefield.
This time, there was no interference from Yu Sun's sorcery or the spider army; there was a contest and competition for strength between soldiers and soldiers. Strictly speaking, this is Ouyang Zhong's first time as a left guard general to face the enemy army directly in the war; he grew up practicing martial arts and practicing the skills to get the actual battle finally. Ouyang Zhong knew very well that the strength of the Zhongming generals and the Dingling Humans differed, and every direct attack would be a no-return situation. But whether it was himself or all the soldiers and generals who participated in the battle, they all defended their country without hesitation.
When the two thousand generals exited the city gates, they engaged in a melee with the foreign enemies that rushed over. Swords and swords were clashing, and blood and flesh were splattered; it was very gruesome. Ouyang Zhong played beautifully with a red tasseled spear, riding a horse, a pick, and a pendulum, dry over five or six people. He rode his horse deep into the interior of the Dingling army, trying to capture the leader, Tuoba Xian, to make the battle a quick one and reduce the deaths and injuries of the Central Ming army. However, the young General was indeed still too eager and inexperienced, and he rode his horse alone for a long time, putting himself in danger.
Tuoba Xian deliberately lured Ouyang Zhong into his pre-set encirclement. Just waiting for Ouyang Zhong to rush in, Dingling's soldiers pulled out the rope buried in the Earth, which made Ouyang Zhong's horse. The horse's leg stumbled on the rope and directly tumbled over. Sitting on the horse, Ouyang Zhong rushed to jump up in the air, rolled on the ground a few times, and hurriedly raised his spear to prepare to meet the enemy.
Not far away from the Shan Xiaohusaw, Ouyang Zhong encountered trouble; he hurriedly carried his purple gold axe and rushed forward. Two people back to back, one raised the gun, the other holding the axe, see a kill a, come two kill a pair, all kill red eyes.
Ouyang Daqi shouted, "We have to find a way to kill our way out. There are too many of them."
Shan Xiaohu replied: "You know why too many people rushed in, ah? Are you sick? Fierce tigers don't fight with mad dogs, do you understand?"
Although the two people are not letting anyone on the mouth, the hands are not idle. They are continuing to unfold an eighteen-martial arts valiant fight.
Ouyang Zhong's body shape changed very quickly; one hand used the long spear, and the other used the short sword that Linghu Xian left him, freely switched, no matter the distance. Shan Xiaohu was very powerful last time; he only used 50% of his strength; this time, he used 70% of a pair of tomahawks to swing tiger wind. However, no matter how brave these two men were, Dingling's army wasn't a vegetarian, and the ever-changing rolling offense and man-to-man tactics made the two consume a considerable amount of physical energy.
The other generals who came out together were also exhausted and losing ground. The two thousand people who came out to meet the battle actually suffered heavy losses at the back, with only eight hundred people left. They were scattered in groups of three to five in all corners of the battlefield, and they could not form a sufficient offensive force.
At this time, there is a white shadow quickly rushes over; his speed is too fast, and people can not even see his appearance; however, wherever he goes, people have fallen to the ground, necks neatly knife marks; some people do not even feel the pain has been cut off. This person is Fox Xia Xia; he holds the Qing Feng double knife, and his clothes flutter with the wind flowing in absolute color.
When Shan Xiaohu saw that it was his senior brother, Fox Xiaxia, he shouted, "You stinking fox, why are you only here now? Hurry up and come over to help!"
"Come--la--! Isn't it that you miss me so much!" Fox Xiaxia remembered to play a flirt, then darted over to Shan Xiaohu and Ouyang Zhong's side to join the battle.
Reminiscing back then, under the Peach Blossom Tree in Feng Xi Jian, the three little ones were fighting and entangling each other, not fighting and not getting to know each other. These three people are still the only human form, each holding weapons together on the battlefield to kill the enemy, defending moral justice.
Originally, these three individual fighting strengths were powerful, but it was even more lethal after the team merged together. A moment ago, the state of micro quickly reversed. The three of them are like a whirlwind wheel, gradually absorbing the surviving Zhongming generals, forming a more robust and stronger array. The generals listen to Ouyang Zhong's command, holding shields to form a square array, the front and back of the left and right sides blocked tightly, and the outside of the Dingling's machete arrows can not be broken through. Then, this square array rhythmically retreated to the rear of the vertical city and finally returned to the town without any danger.
During this process, General Wei stood on top of the city wall overlooking the city while Tuoba Xian stood on a nearby hillock and watched from afar. He led 20,000 advance troops, this time a small test, but went up four or five thousand people. Roughly calculated, the battle loss was three thousand.
"A bit uneconomical!" Tuoba Xian muttered before signaling his entourage behind him, "Quickly report the battle to Father. Pass down the order to sound the retreat and retreat twenty miles back to set up camp." After saying this, he turned around and left.
Dingling's army retreated in this way, but it was not considered a victory for Zhongming. Because the two thousand men that went out returned with only eight hundred or so left, a loss of more than half. But this is the first time to fight with Dingling's army head-on, had to make sacrifices. After that, the battle plan will be more precise. War is so pathos and cold. Not only to the enemy cold, to their people can not be merciful.
Back in the city, Fox Xiaxia pulled Ouyang Zhong and Shan Xiaohu and ran to the nearest pond, letting them look closer. To solve the problem of food and clothing for the people of the whole city, the spirit seed that Fox Xiaxia had accidentally obtained had taken root and sprouted under Xiao Feifei's unique ability, and Ouyang Zhong had arranged for everyone to place the sprouted spirit seed in the large and small ponds, paddy fields, and small lakes inside and outside of Vertical City, where it had grown a variety of aquatic fruits. Because the spirit of the seed growth rate is swift, the fruit not only tastes fragrant but also can have a sense of satiety, and people are pleased. At that time, Ouyang Zhong was also happy for a while to finally solve a significant problem.
However, at that moment, the three of them looked at the plants in the pond; the surface did not look different, but the color of the flowers gradually out of the bizarre black purple, just like the time Zhongming ate the so-called magic potion poisoning, the color of the blood. Ouyang Zhong was shocked for a moment and shouted, ''Not good! Could this spirit seed have a demonic aura?"
Fox Xiaxia took a flower and also tasted the fruit. It had a faint fishy odor, and that was the taste of demonic spells mixed in. At that time, Tuoba Xian's drowning turned out to be faked. He said that he saw some seeds glowing with light from the water and swamp and gave them to himself; at that time, he and his elder brother did not pay too much attention to it; surprisingly, they just believed in it. Unexpectedly, he prepared this kind of seed beforehand. Fox Xiaxia couldn't help but suck in a breath of cool air. Human nature was getting increasingly incomprehensible; a tiny child had such a ruthless and gloomy mind, tricking him, a centuries-old fox spirit; it was really too scary.
Fox Xiaxia told Ouyang Zhong, ''This matter is not trivial, and my senior brother and I caused it. The two of us must do our best to find a way to deal with it. I will first find some existing herbs to make an antidote formula for the whole city to drink. Fortunately, the toxicity of these fruits isn't too great, but they can no longer be eaten, and they must all be burned. Only if these fruits are not to serve as rations won't this whole city's military and civilian population face the problem of starvation again ..."
"Isn't there any way to directly turn poisonous plants into non-toxic ones? Dingling's move is really insidious and poisonous; this is drinking hemlock to quench the thirst; it's not right to eat; it's not right not to eat." Ouyang Zhong was a bit annoyed and frustrated, but he still forced himself to instruct, "This matter is of great importance. I will quietly report to General Wei alone to make a decision, but other people must not know. I am afraid to cause chaos throughout the city; at this time, I can never shake the army's heart."
Fox Xiaxia arched her hand and saluted, saying, "As you command. My elder brother and I will be careful. Moreover, I have prepared an antidote soup that will be placed in the food and well water for everyone to drink in without knowing. Tonight, Elder Brother and I will carefully discuss how to solve the poison."
Fox Xiaxia and Shan Xiaohu bid a tentative farewell to Ouyang Zhong and found a hidden corner to start casting a spell to send a thousand-mile message to their senior. They reported their recent experiences to their Master and the two elder brothers, talking about the matter of the Populus Euphratica forset and the Spirit Seed and also about the poisoning of the two of them respectively to change back to half of their original form. Now, this Spirit Seed fruit contains demonic poison, putting the whole city of millions of people in danger.
Master Nanji Immortal Weng ordered the eldest disciple, He Yunfeng, to quickly take the antidote pills down to the world to help Shan Xiaohu Fox Xiaxia's two people and instructed: "Although the spider spirit Feisun has already been ambushed, she is not the main culprit, she must be behind a bigger behind the scenes but refused to show up, there must be a scam. It would help if you were still more careful on Earth and did not fall into the way. The two of you are still too uninitiated, too young, and naive; this time on Earth, you should also sharpen your minds and realize the way."
"Master?" Shan Xiaohu felt a little sad and aggrieved to ask, "Why is this Earth so sinister? A ten-year-old child can also be insidious and poisonous. Is not a demon better than a demon? All belong to the innocence of the child. Could it be that the Earth has turned into the Cultivator Road?"
The South Pole Immortal Weng sighed and said, "This world is in the last days of the Dharma; people's hearts are not ancient, demons are rampant, and will definitely go through great destruction. That's why you must rectify your hearts and minds to save the living. Although I have said that you are not allowed to use spells on Earth and you are not allowed to interfere too much with the destiny of humanity. But you can still do good deeds and help those innocent people. Do your best and listen to heaven's fate. You only need to do the right thing, and you cannot lose your heart and soul and hang your head in shame just because of individual people or things with a dead conscience. That kid has his own destiny. You don't have to be too upset. Go! There's still a lot for you to do."
He Yunfeng used only one incense stick of time to arrive at Fox Xiaxia and Shan Xiaohu's side. After handing over the cracking method and antidote to the two senior brothers, he softly instructed them for a long time before stealthily disappearing back to Kunlun Mountain to resume his duties.
The Master looked at the immortal peach tree that bloomed nonstop throughout the year in Feng Xi Jian, stroked his beard, and said lightly, "In a few more days, Xiao Xian will probably be able to come back as well. Xiangzi!"
The second disciple, Mei Xiangzi, respectfully arched his hand and replied, "Master."
"How is that furnace of elixir being refined?"
"Reporting to Master, it will take two more great weeks before it's ready."
"Well, I can make it in time. These few small children will definitely grow a lot after practicing in the mortal world. However, you and Yun Feng must watch in the shadows to protect them! Let's put in a long line to catch a big fish. The fish will soon take the bait."