C80 (1/2)
It was the early morning after Xiu'er left the Phoenix City Pass with Chen Chu, Qu Feizhi and more than three hundred other Apprentice Knight s. An urgent eight hundred kilometers worth of letter was sent out of the Phoenix City Pass, straight toward the imperial capital.
At that time, Kong Sheng and the others still did not know where Xiu'er and the others had gone to, but from the looks of it, it was a girl who was just dragged out from underneath His Majesty's guillotine. She brought two criminal troops who were imprisoned under Phoenix City Pass and more than three hundred Apprentice Knight s who were skilled in martial arts, leaving the Phoenix City Pass that they should have been guarding, and rushed towards the mainland.
At that time, there was no way to judge the nature of this matter. Should they believe in the Apprentice Knight defending the honor of the aristocratic families, or believe in the judgement of the right and wrong of the three 'thugs'? If such a group of people were to raise their spears and sabers towards the citizens of Fire Phoenix Empire, they would become thugs. If they were to turn their swords and spears towards Mo Qiu, they would become heroes. There was, of course, another possibility: rebellion.
As Kong Sheng reported the situation to the imperial city, he sent his men to unceasingly chase after the location of the army as if he was crazy. When he found out that they had dived into the Wulian Mountain Range and moved in the direction of the Wulian Border Army encampment, Kong Sheng heaved a sigh of relief in his heart. At least, the commoners in the Empire had managed to escape this calamity. As for deserters and rebels, Kong Sheng never believed that these three people, or rather, the three hundred people who were capable of doing so, could do it.
As he made contact with the Wulian Border Army, and obtained more information from the people who were originally planted in the Moqiu State, Kong Sheng's heart was finally at ease. Although this piece of information was not complete and was unable to piece together the route and objective of this expedition force, from the looks of the five hundred members of the team that Wulian Border Army had supported, as well as their initial few battles, this group of people took the initiative to become Elite Armaments, running to the rear of the Moqiu Army to cause trouble for them.
Kong Sheng wrote again and again, transferring all the information he knew, the sources of information and his own judgement to the imperial capital, hoping that the Empress would make a correct judgement based on all of these. If this group of people could make it back from the Moqiu State alive, at least they would have a chance of survival.
As for the other aspects, Kong Sheng did not think too much into it. Outside of Phoenix City Pass, there was a million level army. Take the terrifying Demonic Beast Soldier in front of their eyes for example, even though their strength could be said to be one against a hundred and their numbers were already over ten thousand, they were still unable to do anything with Phoenix City Pass. Other than the officers and soldiers of the Phoenix City Pass who had already thoroughly studied the weakness of this kind of Demonic Beast Soldier as well as the inherent defensive measures of the Phoenix City Pass, the rest had to be put down to numbers.
A single qualitative change could only affect a few individuals in the surroundings. This qualitative change was unable to affect the surrounding environment, and this qualitative change was not due to long-term accumulation, but because of the change in human control. Besides not being able to trigger a large number of qualitative changes, there were also many shortcomings and loopholes.
Kong Sheng firmly believed that there were two sides to everything. Demonic Beast Soldier had such a strong battle force, then they too would have a huge weakness. Once they grasped onto, they would no longer be afraid of Demonic Beast Soldier.
Just as they were constantly fighting the Demonic Beast Soldier and Moqiu Army, Kong Sheng and the Phoenix City Pass guards also discovered the phenomenon of the Moqiu Army's attack slowing down, frequency decreasing, and the fighting strength of the troops decreasing. However, this thought only flashed through everyone's mind. No one believed it, and no one believed it either. It could even be said that in everyone's hearts, they silently agreed that this group of people had sacrificed themselves.
It was at this moment that His Majesty's orders arrived. The order was concise and straightforward. Kong Sheng had to investigate this matter thoroughly until he completely grasped the whereabouts of this group of people. As for this matter, it was currently unqualified. Everything would be decided by the complete report that Kong Sheng provided. Speaking till here, this was already considered as a blessing from his Majesty. He did not investigate the cause of this group of people's imprisonment, and only dealt with it in the light of the consequences. But the last few words caused Kong Sheng to break out in a cold sweat, the orders were especially given to the Xiu'er, no matter how qualitative the matter was in the end, they could not be left to this woman. If he were to return to the Phoenix City Pass, Phoenix City Pass Commander, Lord Kong Sheng, would immediately pounce and kill him. If he has not returned to the Phoenix City Pass, Lord Kong Sheng should have grasped his exact whereabouts and reported it to the imperial city.
To put it simply, these few words only had one meaning: To Xiu'er, if they were alive, they have to see the body!
As to why His Majesty was targeting a mere commoner, Kong Sheng and the others did not know. Even someone like Shi Keren who had been in the palace for many years could not figure it out. However, an order was an order. Obeying an order was the duty of a soldier. There was no other reason for it.
After receiving the order, Kong Sheng was once very depressing. In addition to the recent lack of fighting, he even acted a little unrestrained. He talked a lot less every day, and other than his official business, he walked around the entire city walls randomly. Everyone knew that his relationship with Xiu'er was not ordinary. After sighing with emotion, as long as Kong Sheng wasn't too bad, no one would be able to say anything about him.
That night, Ling Zilu was on duty. He saw his old boss drinking from a corner of the city gate tower. Kong Sheng did not drink much, and only sipped from it each time, but he had never put the bottle down either. While drinking, he stared straight at the distant lights in the direction of Moqiu Army Town.
”Sir, this place is dangerous. Take a seat inside.” Ling Zilu did not advise him to stop drinking, but even ifhe knew, she could not persuade him. If there really was a sneak attack while it was night time, with the help of the handheld crossbow, they might really be able to make a huge contribution and take away the life of the Phoenix City Pass Lord Commander.
”Oh.” Kong Sheng did not say anything, he held onto the wall and slowly stood up, preparing to return. Just as he walked a few steps, or perhaps he was afraid of forgetting something, Kong Sheng turned around and glanced at the place where he sat previously.
Kong Sheng stared at that direction for a good while, then suddenly extended his hand and pulled Ling Zilu over, pointing at him with his finger, ”Old Ling, Old Ling, look over there, what happened?”
Ling Zilu was startled, he stared straight at where Kong Sheng was pointing, and his eyes became sore, then he replied, ”Master, is there anything wrong? is it that the campfire lit up a little more than before? ”
”No, no!” Kong Sheng argued loudly, ”The ordinary campfire is only about a foot or so from us, it's almost impossible to see. But look, this is no ordinary campfire. This is a bonfire! Big fire, do you understand? ”A huge fire!”
Ling Zilu laughed bitterly: ”Yes, master, it's a huge fire.”
”You! ”Old Ling!” Kong Sheng took a deep breath and said loudly, ”Do you think that Moqiu Army has nothing to do with a party? Leaving such a big fire in the middle of your formation, everyone started singing and dancing around the fire, eating barbecue and drinking wine, right?”
It was only then that Ling Zilu realized that something was amiss, but he couldn't confirm if what he said was true or false. He simply didn't nod his head or not, and just stood there with his head lowered.
Kong Sheng did not expect him to answer, he took a deep breath and continued, ”This is a matter for their camp! It was impossible for them to build a bonfire. The campfire would not be this big. There was only one answer, there was a fire inside the formation! No, someone had set the fire! Fire! Who wants to do it? Qu Feizhi! That bastard likes to play with fire, okay? , Chen Chu and the others have returned! ”