C49 (2/2)
The centurion captain didn't spare him another glance as he turned around and waved his hand. A few soldiers raised their torches and waved them a few times. After a while, whoosh whoosh sounds of footsteps came from afar and Xu Keding led the main force of troops into the Sunset Ditch.
Fat Cui and the rest stood respectfully by the side of the road, not even daring to breathe loudly, much less raise their heads to look.
Xu Keding rode on his horse, looked at the dozen or so people by the side of the road, snorted with slight contempt, and then rode his horse into the Sunset Ditch. What he did not know was that these dozen or so people, other than Fat Cui, were all dressed in the attire of Wulian Border Army Warriors, which included the highest ranking military officer in the expedition team, Xiu'er. If the leader of the hundred men or Xu Keding had revealed a look of doubt, Xiu'er would kill him on the spot!
Along the way, they walked from east to west and went downhill. Adding to the cool and fragrant flowers in the air of the ditch, their speed became much faster and their moods became more cheerful, naturally, no one would deliberately size up the strong men who stood on ragged clothes by the side of the road. Aside from the two to three hundred soldiers who were assigned to guard the 'strong men', no one paid any more attention to them. The several hundred soldiers had also withdrawn their guards after the army had left, following the army. In Xu Keding's words, it was ”A great battle is approaching, there's no need to be distracted because of these village farmers.”
But one couldn't blame Xu Keding for not having this kind of thought. Before entering the Sunset Ditch, Han Zaixin had already sent someone to bring him the latest military intelligence. According to the boat man Han had intercepted at the Surging Waves River in the new location, the Fire Phoenix Disordered Army had already ambushed a pier and the relay stations and warehouses outside of the town. It was very likely that they would cross the river without entering the city, and directly seize the ship. Han Zaixin expressed that he would increase the speed of the entire army and try his best to force the Fire Phoenix Army into the Wolf Drinking Town or even the Surging Waves River down. He also hoped that Xu Keding would increase the speed of his army and complete the encirclement of the two sides, leaving the Fire Phoenix Army no chance of survival.
In fact, there was no suspense at all in this battle. The three generals had at least five thousand men under their command, while the Fire Phoenix Army only had around three hundred. Three hundred against five thousand was a number without hope of a comeback. But now, what was needed was not the result, but face. It was an honor to destroy the very first Fire Phoenix Army that dared to set foot on the Moqiu. As long as they destroyed this unorganized army, General Xu and General Han would be able to stand at the top of Wolf Drinking Town City and shout towards the people of the world, ”Those who offend me, Mo Qiu, kill them!”
Under this military situation and state of mind, a thousand and eight hundred strong men were simply unable to enter Xu Keding's eyes! However, he still underestimated a person, Bai Wusheng.
When Xu Keding took the lead and rushed out of the Sunset Ditch, he discovered that he had charged into a whole group of troops. Just as the two sides were about to fight, Xu Keding finally understood that this group was Bai Wusheng's rear, and his front line of over three thousand people had already passed through Sunset Ditch!
Xu Keding was enraged, he pointed at the officer under Bai Wusheng and asked: ”Didn't I inform your General Bai to get out of the way?”
”General Xu, this lowly official did not receive General Bai's order to make way for me. Instead, it was General Bai who repeatedly requested for the entire army to move faster.” ”Do you want me to send someone to the front to call General Bai and have a chat with him in person?”
This time, before Xu Keding could get angry, his subordinate officers were already rude, they reached out and pushed him away, ”With General Xu here, you guys aren't going to get out of the way yet!”
Once one person started it, the people in the crowd could no longer hold back. For a moment, both sides started to push each other, creating a mess. With the commotion happening on both sides, Xu Keding's team was split into two, one part being pushed around by the river, while the other was being pushed around by Bai Wusheng's team, waiting for the rest of the group to make way for him.
The officer under Bai Wusheng was also feeling bitter in his heart. He was the one that was left behind specifically to stop Xu Keding, with a total of a thousand people under his command. Right now, Xu Keding's team was increasing in number, so it would definitely be a disadvantageous situation. However, he didn't dare disobey Bai Wusheng's orders, so he could only bite the bullet and bear with it.
Just as the pushing and shoving got more intense and the cursing started to get louder and louder, sounds of people running and screaming came from the direction of Wolf Drinking Town. Everyone turned their heads to look and saw that the flames were already raging in the direction of the Wolf Drinking Town. Countless figures were rushing towards them under the illumination of the flames.
”What's going on up ahead?” Xu Keding reached out and grabbed the officer's collar: ”When General Bai went over, did you have any plans?”
”This lowly official doesn't know ~ ~ Bai, General Bai is just urging ~ ~ Hurry and run ~ ~ he doesn't know the specific strategy behind the battle.”
As they were speaking, soldiers had already run over. Each and every one of them looked flustered, abandoning their armors. As they ran, they looked back in horror, as if some ancient beast was trying to take their lives.
Xu Keding immediately ordered his subordinates to make way. These were random soldiers, they couldn't be stopped if they wanted to, if they lost their sense of reason, then he would have to pay a heavy price.
He jumped off the horse and stood at the side of the road. After he saw the opportunity, he stretched out his hand and pressed a random soldier to the ground. He placed his knee on the back of the soldier, pulled out a knife and placed it across his neck.
The soldier almost cried out, ”I'm not a deserter! It's not desertion! ”
”Then why are you running?!” Xu Keding asked angrily.
”We blew up the camp!” There was an explosion up ahead! General Bai was dead! No one cares about us anymore! ” The soldier almost cried.
Xu Keding was stunned. Although he did not have a good impression of Bai Wusheng, but he was after all, a capable subordinate of the Fourth Tiger King. He was someone who had been fighting beside the Tiger King for many years, and was not too big or small. Furthermore, according to what the previous officer said, Bai Wusheng was only an hour away from him, so how could he say that he would die just like that? Violent disease? Being ambushed? This doesn't make sense.
However, the truth was more eloquent than the truth. More and more soldiers appeared in front of him. Everyone's hair was disheveled and their faces were flustered, but there were no obvious traces of blood on their bodies. If what the soldier said was true, it should be an explosion.
Seeing that there were already more than two thousand people rushing towards him from all directions, Xu Keding frowned as he ordered his troops to return to the Sunset Ditch. He was so shocked that he was scared to death. The group of soldiers in front of him who had blown up the camp had no reason to be. If things went wrong, their troops might get thrown into disarray. Furthermore, this was Bai Wusheng's problem to begin with. If he had listened to his arrangements and honestly stepped aside, how could such a mess have occurred? No matter what happened before, it had nothing to do with Xu Keding now. Once the troops had passed, he once again pulled out his Sunset Ditch and set up a formation to exterminate the Fire Phoenix Army!
In his opinion, the decision that Xu Keding had made was not a problem, it was the only correct decision that he could have made at that time. But it was also because of this decision that he completely destroyed Bai Wusheng and his men, and achieved the heroic fame of Xiu'er, Chen Chu, Qu Feizhi and strong man!