The Savage Lady Wants to Kill Me! Reborn on the Path of Cultivation

Duan Tianyang, who learned the bad news, was furious but also could not hide his shock.

Although our own grain transport team was small in number, there were still several hundred brothers. Where did the enemy come from and why did they slaughter hundreds of brothers and thousands of civilians?

He stood with his hands behind his back, clenched his fists, and asked Yan Bin and Dai Zong anxiously: "Have the bodies of our brothers been brought back properly?"

“Well… well…”

"Stop hesitating and answer me directly!" Duan Tianyang frowned, his voice unquestionable.

"We did bring back the bodies... but the heads of our brothers are missing. I'm afraid they have fallen into the hands of the enemy..."

Before he finished speaking, Duan Tianyang slammed the table beside him. The sound of the table cracking was deafening, and Yi Shuirou, who was standing beside him, was startled and her heart trembled. She rarely saw Duan Tianyang lose his composure like this.

Duan Tianyang's eyes seemed to be burning with blazing flames, and he asked solemnly: "Where did those rebels who attacked us come from?"

"This...this...your subordinate..." Yan Bin was speechless, with beads of sweat on his forehead.

Duan Tianyang's eyes were like torches, and he said in a deep voice, word by word, "Do you know or not?"

Yan Bin knelt on the ground and trembled as he answered: "Brother Tian, ​​none of our brothers survived, and we know nothing about the details of the enemy army..."

Duan Tianyang was furious when he heard this. Just as he was about to explode, Dai Zong interrupted him hastily: "Brother Tian, ​​there are many horse hoof prints left at the scene. The only thing we can be sure of is that the enemy is all cavalry!"

"Cavalry?" In Duan Tianyang's impression, Zhou Baiyuan didn't seem to have a cavalry regiment under his command.

He became even more confused and asked, "Where did these cavalry come from? As far as I know, there is no cavalry corps in Saint Luo City!"

Zhao Xuan suddenly remembered something. He stepped out quickly and reported to Duan Tianyang, "Sir, Zhou Baiyuan does have cavalry under his command, but they are not stationed in Shengluo City."

"Oh? General Zhao, where are those cavalrymen now?"

"All of them are stationed in Jinluo Town behind Shengluo City." Zhao Xuan further explained, "Jinluo Town is currently controlled by Deng Guang, who is proficient in cavalry tactics, especially long-range raids. Given that Jinluo Town is adjacent to Shengluo City, Deng Guang is very likely to send his cavalry to attack our army's food team. All of our soldiers who died were beheaded and abducted by the enemy, which is the usual method of Deng Guang's troops. Based on this, I believe that the enemy who attacked our army must be Deng Guang!"

Wen Daozun had already given Duan Tianyang a detailed account of the rebel situation in Jinluo Town.

Because of this, Duan Tianyang sent Fang Quan to lead an army of 60,000 to advance, intending to annihilate Deng Guang's 10,000 or 20,000 troops in one fell swoop.

However, Deng Guang took advantage of his cavalry and went around to the rear of his own side, causing such heavy losses.

He pondered for a moment and asked in a deep voice: "Where is Fang Quan now? Why didn't he notice the cavalry from Jinluo Town being dispatched?"

Yan Bin and Dai Zong looked at each other, then they lowered their heads in tacit understanding and remained silent.

Duan Tianyang was so angry that he could hardly hold back the urge to slap each of them. He shouted, "Just tell me the truth! What on earth is Fang Quan doing?"

Yan Bin licked his dry lips and responded cautiously: "General Fang is still staying in Qifeng Mountain."

"What?!" Duan Tianyang was so shocked that he almost doubted his ears.

It has been nearly half a month since our side set out from Xiguan City, but Fang Quan, who was in the advance force, not only failed to advance to Xiguan, but was stranded at Qifeng Mountain in Dongguan. After such a long time, even if they were crawling at a snail's pace, they should have climbed over the mountain long ago.

At this moment, even Chi Xun, who usually protected the other party, looked embarrassed, lowered his head even more, and was speechless.

Wen Daozun raised his head to the sky, let out a long sigh, and said sadly: "My lord, this is simply inviting a wolf into the house! Fang Quan's surrender to our army is probably not sincere. His intention is to establish himself as the king of Dongguan, which is obvious!"

It was useless to say these things now. It was also futile to blame Chi Xun for his past behavior of protecting Fang Quan.

The top priority is to deal with the huge threat posed by Deng Guang.

Li Jiu frowned and said worriedly: "If we allow Deng Guang's cavalry to move freely around Shengluo City without anyone to restrain them, it will become a hidden danger that our soldiers cannot predict!"

Duan Tianyang narrowed his eyes when he heard this, and turned to Lu Jingyuan: "Jingyuan, bring me paper and pen."

"Yes, Brother Tian!" Lu Jingyuan responded quickly and immediately prepared pen, ink, paper and inkstone.

Duan Tianyang held the pen and pondered for a moment, then took up his pen and wrote a personal letter to Fang Quan.

The letter was sharp in its words and clearly required Fang Quan to lead his troops to the West Gate and assemble at Jinluo Town within two days of receiving the letter.

Failure to arrive within the deadline will be regarded as disobeying military orders and will be severely punished according to law.

In the past, Duan Tianyang was grateful to Fang Quan Shangcun. It was because he led his troops to defect that Zhou Baiyuan's army was hindered from attacking the cities in Xiguan, reducing casualties on his own side.

However, the situation is different now. Fang Quan disobeyed military orders and refused to enter the West Gate, which not only caused the loss of food and grass, the deaths of hundreds of soldiers and thousands of civilians, but also put his side into a disadvantage before the war, which had a far-reaching impact on the overall situation.

No matter what Fang Quan's intentions were, his actions constituted rebellion.

At this moment, Duan Tianyang's gratitude towards Fang Quan had disappeared, and was replaced by a strong murderous intent.

The day after the letter was sent, Duan Tianyang led the Hongxing Army to the city of Shengluo, and then set up camp outside the city, forming an encirclement of Shengluo City with the imperial court's 100,000-strong army.

In the city of Saint Luo, Zhou Baiyuan was in a very anxious mood at the moment.

Faced with the double attack from the Hongxing Army from the west and the Imperial Army from the east, the City of Saint Luo was in chaos.

Residents in the city sought refuge one after another. At first, the rebels did not stop them, but as the number of refugees increased, Zhou Baiyuan had to order a complete blockade of the city gates and strictly prohibit people from leaving the city.

For Zhou Baiyuan, these people in the city are both a source of soldiers and bargaining chips.

When the war was at a stalemate, they could serve as additional troops to help the rebels defend the city, and they could also serve as hostages to force the Hongxing Army and the Imperial Army to withdraw.

Therefore, Zhou Baiyuan would never let these hundreds of thousands of people leave easily.

However, although Zhou Baiyuan's strategy of sealing off the city could temporarily trap the people, it was unable to stop the tide of escape within the rebel army.

It turned out that he had many rebels under his command who came for money and were not very loyal to Zhou Baiyuan.

Since the city of Saint-Lô had fallen into a desperate situation, these greedy rebels naturally did not want to be buried with it. So in the middle of the night, a large number of deserters often used ropes to slide down from the city walls and escape from this dangerous place.

That morning, in the Saint Luo City Lord's Mansion, Zhou Baiyuan sat in the hall, sipping tea leisurely.

At this time, a burly and dignified general strode in. He had broad shoulders and a big waist, sharp eyes, and his fleshy face revealed an aura of majesty without even being angry.

When he came in front of Zhou Baiyuan, he respectfully put his hands in front of him and saluted, calling out in a deep voice, "Sir!"

Zhou Baiyuan gently put down the teacup, glanced at the general, and asked slowly: "A Liao, you came to see me so early, is there something important?"

"Your Excellency, our army encountered another desertion incident last night, with more than 300 people escaping. Fortunately, most of them have been captured by my team." The general bowed and replied, with a hint of heaviness in his tone.

Hearing this, Zhou Baiyuan's face instantly turned gloomy. He waved his hand violently, and the teacup in his hand shattered, with fragments flying everywhere.

He stood up suddenly, his eyes wide open, and he angrily shouted with gnashing teeth: "These ungrateful people usually take my military pay, but they don't know how to be grateful! Now the enemy is just approaching the border and has not yet launched an attack on the city, but they are so greedy for life and afraid of death that they are fleeing one after another. This is simply unreasonable!"