Chapter 1709: Chapter 1709: Pang Lu

"Kill! Drive the Rong bandit beasts out of Great Chu!"

"Kill the Rong bandit beasts and let their blood debts be paid with blood!"

The entire area outside Long’an Prefecture City was echoing with such shouting.

General Xu personally led hundreds of thousands of soldiers in pursuit, with tens of thousands of cavalry running at the forefront, followed by thousands of chariots.

The chariots, sharp like a herd of giant beasts, charged directly at the slower Rong infantry soldiers.

Slash, slash, slash!

The Rong infantry soldiers were sliced in half by the sharp blades on the sides of the chariots.

"Cavalry, release arrows, shoot these Rong bandits dead!" General Xu ordered, and the personal soldier immediately beat the drums, conveying the military order through the drumbeats.

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!

The rain of arrows covered the sky as they shot towards the Rong soldiers, killing a large group of the Rong soldiers at the back.

Again, they adjusted the strong bows!

Tie He saw this and was furious, wanting to regroup and fight back, but was stopped by Shu Tang and other confidants: "Heavenly Khan, the situation is lost, the Bastard Chu soldiers’ spirits are high now, let’s quickly leave Long’an Prefecture and head to Daokou Gully. Our troops are guarding there, we will be safe once we arrive."

"As long as we can hold Daokou Gully, we can maintain control of the three Great Chu cities we occupied, and it wouldn’t be too disgraceful~"

The last half of the sentence was said in a low voice, only audible to Tie He and a few nearby confidants.

Tie He looked at the aggressive Bastard Chu soldiers, giving him the illusion that the Duke Wei faction was in control of the Northwest Army again.

"Go! Defend Daokou Gully and hold the Bastard Chu’s three cities!" Tie He shouted and rode his Hanxue Treasure Horse, dashing towards Daokou Gully.

Tuogude followed closely with his own army. Although he could have overtaken Tie He or ridden alongside him, he was cautious and kept an eye on the Eagle Food Gang... Luo Ying of the Eagle Food Gang was truly from the Northwest Vanguard Army, and his bandits, mostly soldiers, deeply resented the Rong people. Seeing them retreating, he estimated they would set an ambush on the way.

"That beast Luo Ying loves ambushing our Rong soldiers."

Tuogude had guessed right; the fierce bandits of the Eagle Food Gang indeed set an ambush on the way... a very simple and uninspired one, throwing Rotworms along the inevitable path of the retreating Rong soldiers.

As the Rong infantry ran past, the Rotworms crawled onto them, but the soldiers, focused on fleeing, didn’t notice beneath their feet. Many became infected by the Rotworms unknowingly.

In the distant forests, on the tall trees, the bandits of the Eagle Food Gang clung to the branches like monkeys, watching the Rong soldiers pass through the Rotworm trap.

"Mr. Chi, the Rong bandits have run through our trap; we’ll surely harm these hundreds of thousands of beasts!" Ma Wu of the Eagle Food Gang was rubbing his fists, happily saying, "Once these beasts are mostly dead, our troops can advance and reclaim lost territory."

Reclaim lost territory?

Mr. Chi laughed, "Stop dreaming; we can make Insect Attractant, and the Rong bandits can too. Their Great Wizard is no pushover."

Besides...

"There’s also Daokou Gully; that place is the easiest to defend and hardest to attack, previously used to resist Rong bandits. Now occupied by the Rong bandits, they benefit from this strategic position. It might take years to break Daokou Gully, drive the Rong bandits from Great Chu, and reclaim lost territory."

Years would be good; the worst would be ending up like Qingma County in the Longshan Mountain Range.

Qingma County was land of the Great Zhou Dynasty but was taken by the Rong people for ranching at the end of the Great Zhou. The Rong wanted to attack the Northwest, but the Longshan Mountain Range was too large and deep, preventing them from advancing.

After the former dynasty was established, during its heyday, they did venture beyond the Longshan Mountain Range to reclaim Qingma County, but it was retaken at the end of the former dynasty.

This cycle repeated over centuries, with Qingma County still not recovered.

Upon hearing Mr. Chi bring up Qingma County, Ma Wu’s rough face turned sour, and he complained, "Mr. Chi, you sure know how to chat, bringing up sore spots."

Yet with a grin, he added, "But no worries, once the poisonous insect disease spreads among the Rong, the whole Rong will be devastated, then we can not only reclaim Qingma County but also conquer the Rong’s land."

Hearing this, some fierce bandits of the Eagle Food Gang were displeased and said, "We don’t care for the Rong bandits’ land; just reclaiming Qingma County is enough, so it’s not used for their cattle ranching and spoiling the land!"

Mr. Chi listened, speechless, and shouted angrily, "Shut every single one of you up! You’re here to fight, not to gossip with me!"

"Yes~" The fierce bandits of the Eagle Food Gang responded obediently, not daring to continue their chatter.

But...

"Mr. Chi, there’s an situation ahead; a large force is approaching... judging by the outfit, it looks like Pang Lu’s!" The fierce bandit scouting from the highest position shouted down.

"Pang Lu is here!" Mr. Chi was shocked. This Pang Lu was none other than the bandit leader of the Rongshan Gang, a mixed-blood of Rong and Great Chu parentage.

Because his mother was a southern beauty, he was named Lu, originally carrying a longing for his hometown.

Yet Pang Lu was a complete scoundrel, willing to become the bandit leader of the Rongshan Gang for recognition from his Rong father’s race, leading the gang to pillage within Great Chu.

Longshan Prefecture was broken all because of him!

"Mr. Chi, judging by the rolling dust, Pang Lu brought many people; what should we do? Fight or flee quickly?!"

One brother, angered by the tone, cursed, "Damn it, Hu Shier, what do you mean? Flee is flee; what’s the rush for? Are you thinking we’re inferior to those Rongshan Gang scum?!"

The scouting Hu Shier said, "If Lord Ying were here with all Eagle Food Gang brothers, I’d never say flee quickly. But since Lord Ying is absent and we only have a few hundred, if we don’t flee quickly, do you want to wait until those scum turn us into minced meat?"

The bandits of the Rongshan Gang are fiercer than us.

Ma Wu shouted, "Stop quarrelling, listen to what Mr. Chi says!"

He then looked at Mr. Chi, asking, "Mr. Chi, what should we do? They’re almost here, please give us advice."

Mr. Chi moved swiftly, climbing to the top branch of a tall tree, looked afar to see the positions of the Rong soldiers and Rongshan Gang clearly, then descended and shouted, "Bring up the strong crossbows, take all our poison—sedative or arsenic, any poison will do; send them our greetings, then we retreat!"

Look at Mr. Chi’s choice of words; "retreat" sounds much more dignified than "flee" or "run."

"Yes!" The bandits replied, climbing down the trees to push the hidden crossbows out from the forest.

Ma Wu remarked, "It’s a shame we scattered all the poisonous insects on the road. If we had saved some to shoot at Pang Lu, it would have been nice; that scoundrel is utterly depraved!"

Over the years, Pang Lu caused numerous atrocities in the Northwest, massacring dozens of villages and raiding county towns with bandits, committing all sorts of evils.

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