Chapter 41: Soldiers Surge Like a Raging Tide

Pei Yunqu racked her brains trying to figure out where Xie Wan's batch of goods could possibly have been sent.

For a moment, she couldn't puzzle it out, feeling somewhat disheartened.

Yet, upon abruptly hearing these words spoken by Gu Liubai to Li Xizhi, she instinctively straightened her back once more.

What a rare commodity to be hoarded for higher value!

In Black Shawa, there is Xu Tuibei; in the East, there is Pei Yunqu.

It was just that in terms of tactical thinking, she truly could not keep pace with Gu Liubai.

At that moment, Gu Liubai had already exchanged a few words in a low voice with Yin Shiniang.

Shortly after, Yin Shiniang briskly vanished amidst the swirling smoke.

"Scoundrel!"

Catching sight of Yin Shiniang's physique at that moment, her face flushed with a burning heat once again. This wretch had previously put on a solemn front, pretending to overlook the details of Yin Shiniang's figure, only because Yin Shiniang herself possessed such a method for altering her bodily form.

"Were you already so familiar with these Yin Mountain bandits beforehand?" She glared fiercely at Gu Liubai and demanded, "Even Grand Swordsmen are at your beck and call?"

Gu Liubai was somewhat baffled as to why Pei Yunqu was suddenly glaring at him, but he still explained calmly, "It's not that I make them work for me; it's that this is what they intended to do all along."

"??"

Pei Yunqu stared at him in bewilderment, thinking, What is this scoundrel babbling about now? What kind of tricks is he playing again?

Gu Liubai seemed to have made up his mind, and he strode briskly toward the west. "To a nobleman like Xie Wan, this city is merely an abandoned chess piece. But they don't see it that way. As long as they are here, this place is the Yin Mountain, and they will never tolerate such impudence from those people."

Following closely behind him at a brisk pace, Pei Yunqu shuddered all over. "You scoundrel, why do I feel like you're scolding the locusts while pointing at the mulberry?"

"How could you possibly be compared to Xie Wan?" Gu Liubai smiled. "People across the world will eventually see the difference between you and the likes of Xie Wan."

This single remark from him immediately made Pei Yunqu feel immensely gratified.

"If I had wanted to flee from the very beginning, I certainly could have run away. But if I did, those Yin Mountain bandits would no longer consider themselves traveling the same path as me," Gu Liubai said earnestly. "As for you, you chose to stay here and fight the enemy alongside us; naturally, you are one of us, traveling the same path."

"Scoundrel, can you speak more directly from now on?" Pei Yunqu's nose felt a bit sore, and she was inexplicably moved.

"I'll take note of that in the future," Gu Liubai said seriously. "However, could you deliberately lower your voice next time, making it deeper and more robust? If it sounds like a man's voice, that would be ideal."

Pei Yunqu was taken aback. "What kind of strange quirk is this of yours?"

Gu Liubai explained, "Xie Wan must have offered sufficient sincerity, which is why these Tibetans chose to cooperate with him. But after all, Xie Wan is a Tang native, and a long-distance surprise attack by the Tibetans in winter is an immense risk in itself. Their paranoia must be extremely heavy."

"I don't know if you've ever read the case files regarding the battles between the Tibetan army and our Tang forces." After a brief pause, he listened intently to the commotion outside the city and continued, "Their leader, Zan Zhuo, is an exceptionally cautious man, yet his performance in past battles shows that at the slightest sign of disadvantage, he would rather retreat and try again. His paranoia is particularly severe."

Pei Yunqu remained silent for the space of a breath, then honestly replied, "I've read the detailed military reports of those campaigns, but my attention wasn't focused on this aspect."

Gu Liubai calmly stated, "Originally, their overwhelming numerical advantage made it hard for their paranoia to flare up, but right now we accidentally killed Mangbuzhi. As long as we can administer a few more heavy doses of deception, the situation will turn immensely in our favor. We must seize the moment while their vision is obscured and accomplish more tasks; otherwise, by sunrise, some of these tricks will no longer be usable."

Pei Yunqu's eyes instantly lit up. "Right, you speak the Tibetan language! You can go around spreading words that will make them suspicious."

Gu Liubai softly replied, "Fortunately, I not only speak Tibetan, but I also speak Uyghur and Arabic."

"Then what does that have to do with my voice getting deeper?"

"The effect of one person shouting blindly is far inferior to making them happen to overhear a conversation between two people. This smoke screen is useful in the dead of night, but loses its utility after sunrise. Taking advantage of the darkness, while you still have your strength, we must run to more places and let them overhear more conversations."

"Li Xizhi, get your ass over here! Your voice is deep."

Gu Liubai smiled. "He must be rather exhausted from following you around; let him rest for a bit. He can go kill some Tibetans around the granary, which will buy Chen Tu and the others more time."

"This is called resting for a bit?" Pei Yunqu was stunned.

Outside Black Shawa City, the cold wind ruffled Zan Zhuo's hair.

His gaze was somewhat disheveled as well.

Mangbuzhi's death had been confirmed, and his corpse was currently being transported out.

Moments earlier, he had removed his hat and taken off the purple and green intertwined plumes hanging from it.

In Tibetan legends, these were dyed with the blood of two kinds of demons, but he himself knew very well that they were dyed with pigments made from grinding two kinds of gemstones into powder.

Zan Zhuo Zanpo—this was the respectful title bestowed upon him by tens of thousands of troops.

Zan Zhuo Zanpo, undefeated in battle.

As the leader of these armies and the tribes that sustained them, over the past decade or so, he had never suffered a defeat.

Even when the fiercely courageous Tang army attempted to infringe upon his territory, they had been severely taught a lesson by him three times!

A full three times!

No matter where one looked, this was enough to strike terror into people's hearts.

He conducted himself with extreme caution and prudence, yet his past battle records and bold, humorous remarks could easily cause his subordinates to howl with excitement when facing the enemy.

With utmost humility, he attributed his past victories to good luck, but this good luck seemed to have come to an abrupt halt right before this small city of Black Shawa.

The exact casualties had not yet been tallied, but a rough estimate put the figure at no less than two thousand!

An army of thirty thousand to capture a city defended by a few thousand people—his original consideration had been to minimize losses as much as possible, but this scale of loss already exceeded his prior estimations.

In his view, this business venture had already resulted in a loss.

Not to mention that Mangbuzhi had fallen in battle.

He had never imagined that Mangbuzhi would die in a place like this.

In his opinion, even when facing an army of thirty thousand Tang troops, and even if it ended in mutual destruction, a powerhouse like Mangbuzhi would never be killed in battle.

He had repeatedly instructed them to be cautious, yet the successive great victories, the absolute superiority in troop numbers, and the unstoppable entry into the city had still inevitably plunged them into blind confidence and arrogance during the battle.

Judging from the military reports continuously sent back, these men had not employed any flexible tactics at all; they had simply relied blindly on numbers to charge forward, without even small-unit flanking maneuvers!

At this moment, the best solution was for him to enter the city personally to salvage the scattered morale of the troops and then make their combat methods somewhat more flexible.

However, Mangbuzhi's vanguard army was originally meant for breaking enemy formations; now that most of its commanders were lost, could they still be rallied and commanded?

Most crucially, was this city originally a trap set specifically for him?

Unable to defeat him and Mangbuzhi on the battlefield, the enemy had used an irresistible bait to lure him and Mangbuzhi in and assassinate them.

If he were the Emperor of the Great Tang Empire, trading the lives of a few thousand people in exchange for himself and Mangbuzhi, he would have considered it entirely worthwhile.

...

Rukun and Chizan also halted outside the city gates.

They looked toward Zan Zhuo's location, unaware of what Zan Zhuo might be thinking at this moment. Yet the military reports continuously transmitted from within the city seemed increasingly absurd, making one's scalp tingle with dread.

It was confirmed that there was a demonic youth with glowing green eyes inside the city, and anyone who met his gaze died instantly.

Several more martial arts experts had appeared near the granary, all wielding swords, and another wave of charging men had been completely wiped out.

A hunchbacked old ghost-hag had appeared within the city, flying back and forth across high places, leaving death in her wake wherever she passed.

In the deep alleys to the southwest, there seemed to be the roars of numerous fierce beasts; packs of wolves and tigers might be present.

Someone had overheard two Uyghurs conversing, talking about trading a single city for a permanent, once-and-for-all solution.

Other heavily wounded and surviving Tibetan warriors had heard the Tang people say that a massive number of reinforcements would arrive after sunrise.

There were also voices of Persians speaking...

How could these military reports possibly be conveyed to Zan Zhuo?

Would he think this was sheer utter nonsense and fly into a rage, executing the reporters on the spot?

Yet, as Rukun and Chizan harbored these very thoughts, their expressions changed simultaneously.

The roars of tigers and wolves distinctly echoed from within the city. Simultaneously, even in the distant wilderness, wolf packs seemed to begin howling.

For the third time, Xu Tuibei felt that he was finally going to die in a somewhat respectable manner.

Over a dozen arrows were already embedded in his body.

The Tibetans were not entirely stupid.

Upon discovering that Feng Shuqing was helping him swat away arrows with his sword, a continuous stream of Tibetans had charged toward Feng Shuqing.

Consequently, Feng Shuqing could no longer deflect every arrow that posed a threat to Xu Tuibei.

There were not many Tibetans left who had the courage to face Xu Tuibei in hand-to-hand combat, but far too many were shooting arrows from afar.

In truth, whether it was the arrow wounds on his back or his waist and abdomen, he didn't care; after all, his skin was thick and his flesh tough, and the infusion of true qi kept these arrows from penetrating deep into his flesh.

However, one particular arrow had happened to pierce a tendon on his left arm, making it extremely difficult for him to wield his Mo dao flexibly.

Yet right at that moment, Xu Tuibei, who had been preparing to welcome death, noticed that the Tibetans were rapidly diminishing in number.

The Tibetans were retreating!

The frontline Tang soldiers guarding the city gate tower, whose physical strength had long since been exhausted, also noticed this phenomenon.

Plunged into a bloody shambles where death could come at any second, people's perceptions at such moments were far keener than ordinary folk. As Xu Tuibei slumped down dejectedly to sit on the ground, he was certain that not just in the west, but throughout the entire city, the Tibetan soldiers were pouring out of the city gates like a receding tide.

He opened his mouth.

He desperately wanted to curse.

Yet, after a moment of thought, he restrained himself.

First, he was extremely fatigued right now; second, he was genuinely afraid that if he cursed too fiercely, these Tibetans might launch another counter-attack, and then he would truly be finished.

He had no idea what had happened.

However, when Gu Liubai, accompanied by Pei Yunqu, ascended the city wall and appeared before him, he knew instantly that this must be Gu Liubai's doing.

Before Gu Liubai could even speak, he looked straight at him and declared, "I owe you my life."

Gu Liubai gave a self-deprecating smile. "Whether I can even survive is still far from certain."

"When I say I owe you my life, I owe you my life," Xu Tuibei shook his head with a trace of pride, and said, "Even if I and all these brothers of mine die here, once we cross Yumen Pass, there will still be brothers beyond the Pass who will give you face and help me repay this debt."

"The crucial point is that I need to stay alive, and someone in this city needs to survive in the end so your brothers know you owe me this debt." Gu Liubai patted him on the shoulder and casually pulled out an arrow that had not penetrated deeply into his flesh.