Chapter 257 Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

　　“General, where are we headed to?”

　　Chu Qiao held the horse’s reins back and turned around. “To attack the northern gates, where Xiaoqi Camp is.”

　　He Xiao was stunned as he asked, “Aren’t we going to Rose Square to save Fourth Young Master?”

　　Chu Qiao smiled and declared confidently, “Don’t worry, he will meet us there.” Once she finished her words, she rode out of the building on her horse.

　　There were about 40,000 troops from Xiaoqi Camp in full body armor stationed at the northern gates. This army, previously led by Zhao Che, had become Zhao Yang’s, after fighting many battles under his leadership. Their loyalty to him did not lose out to that of Chu Qiao’s Xiuli army.

　　Presently, they looked on at the enemy forces of less than 1,000 people. The commander, He Qian, stood atop the city gates and laughed in disdain. “Kill them all.”

　　The city gates were tall and thick, reinforced with many tools of defense. In order to attack gates of this type successfully, enemy forces had to outnumber the defense forces by three to five times. However, Chu Qiao had less than 1,000 people with her, yet she dared to pit herself against tens of thousands of people at the city gates. It was akin to a suicide mission.

　　The Xia army sent out someone with a loud voice, advising Chu Qiao to surrender. After a long while, seeing that she did not respond, the person started to insult Zhuge Yue, saying that he was a rebel who colluded with Zhao Che to murder the Xia Emperor. Now that he was surrounded, he would surely meet his doom.

　　Chu Qiao continued to listen on in silence. However, after a while, seeing that the soldier started to go overboard, she felt a surge of anger. She reached out her hand and said to He Xiao, “Bow.”

　　He Xiao remained silent as he handed over a bow to Chu Qiao.

　　Chu Qiao loaded an arrow in the crossbow, releasing it with frightening speed. That soldier was alert as well due to his experience in carrying out tasks of a similar nature. He jumped off his horse as he saw Chu Qiao’s arrow approaching, but before he landed on the ground, the arrow appeared out of the blue and pierced through his mouth, protruding out of the back of his head.

　　He Qian flew into a rage as he gave the orders to attack. In that instant, the sky was filled with a flurry of arrows as the Xia troops let out their warcry.

　　The Xiuli army was relatively quiet compared to the Xia army, as they did not stand in the firing range of the arrows. The only arrows that infiltrated their territory were fired by a few stronger soldiers from the other side, but they had slowed down to the point where the soldiers of the Xiuli army were able to deflect the arrows aside with ease.

　　He Qian’s only task was to defend the city gates. However, Chu Qiao’s forces only surrounded them as they did not strike out. With this, the battle entered a stalemate. Were his soldiers supposed to take the initiative to attack instead? He saw his other comrades fighting at the frontline, helping Zhao Yang to attain victory. His enemies had finally approached, but he could only stay at his position, unable to attack. He felt angered by this fact. At this instant, a soldier from the opposite side rushed forward, holding a shield in his hand, and shouted out something that he did not manage to catch.

　　He Qian was stunned as he ordered his army to quieten down. As he was advanced in years, his hearing had deteriorated. He asked his bodyguard beside him, “What did that person say?”

　　The bodyguard answered him softly after a long while, with a troubled expression on his face. “General, that person is asking you if you’re willing to surrender. He says that if you continue to be stubborn, they will eliminate us.”

　　He Qian flew into a rage. Eliminate him? He had 40,000 soldiers, while the enemy had less than 1,000. Although he had heard of the Xiuli king’s prowess in warfare, able to attain victory despite being outnumbered, she had only achieved what she had when she had appropriate measures to defend a city. Now that she was about to attack a gate with less than 1,000 people, he started to write off her chances.

　　As He Qian raged on, a bright yellow firework streaked across the sky, exploding with a boom, giving off a majestic sight. Chu Qiao looked up towards the east. After a long while, she said calmly, “All right. Open the city gates.”

　　Pingan stood at the side, stunned. As he was about to speak, He Xiao asked, “Are we going to kill them all?”

　　Chu Qiao frowned and replied, “That depends on whether they dare to resist.”

　　Pingan was dumbfounded as he struggled to comprehend the madness of this plan. Suddenly, He Xiao let out a loud cry, as one group of 40 soldiers dressed in full body armor rode forward on their horses, forming two rows. Each soldier held a bow and arrows in their hands. The front row of soldiers had their arrows coated with oiled paper balls, while the back row of soldiers doused their arrows in fire.

　　“Target the northern gates. Team 1, fire at the upper left corner. Team 2, fire at the lower left corner. Team 3, fire at the upper right corner. Team 4, fire at the lower right corner. Team 5, fire at the center. Ready, one, two, fire!”

　　In that instant, the first wave of arrows flew towards the city gates, followed closely by the second wave of fire arrows. As the first wave of arrows landed on the city gates, each fire arrow landed on each ball of oiled paper. With the winds, the fire started to burn.

　　He Qian was initially stunned, but laughed in reply, “Is the king of Xiuli trying to burn my gates? Haha, that’s not enough!”

　　Boom! As he spoke, a loud explosion sounded out from the city gates, causing it to shake violently, as if it had experienced an earthquake. Black smoke started to rise up into the sky. He Qian could only watch on in amazement as the city gates, which he had defended for over 20 years, crumbled to dust along with half of the city walls.

　　The gates had been described as the pride of Xia, having been branded as an impenetrable fortress for over 300 years. However, at this moment, that record crumbled to dust as the city gates disintegrated.

　　“Team 6 to 10, prepare yourselves! Target, the eastern part of the city walls! Team 6, …” He Xiao’s voice sounded out yet again, followed by a series of intense explosions which destroyed the eastern part of the city walls. After three rounds of attacks, much of the northern gates had been bombed to smithereens; the Xiuli army could see flat land in front of their eyes.

　　“People on the opposite side, listen up!” Ten messenger troops rode forward on their horses, holding a sound amplifier in their hands as they continued to shout, “Put your weapons down! Put your weapons down! Put your hands on your head and squat on the ground! We will accept that you have surrendered, and we will spare your lives. People on the opposite side, listen up! Put your weapons down…”

　　He Qian was unbelievably frustrated. He could never comprehend how his army of 40,000 had lost with such minimal effort, without even engaging in close combat with the enemy. How had the enemy breached through their defense with a few explosives? Why did such terrifying explosives exist in this world? How had he not heard of it before?

　　Chu Qiao rode forward on her horse and looked at He Qian from above, who had fallen from the top of the city gates. She nodded plainly and muttered calmly, “General He, thanks for letting me win.”

　　That moment, He Qian vomited blood out of frustration.

　　Suddenly, a trail of dust appeared along the horizon to the east. Zhuge Yue, along with 3,000 soldiers, galloped towards them swiftly on their horses. As he saw the sight unfolding in front of him, he felt shocked as well. Only until he saw Chu Qiao did he heave a sigh of relief.

　　The two of them were separated by the mess on the battlefield, sitting on the backs of their horses as they looked at each other through the crowd.

　　Chu Qiao gave out a smile. She was still dressed in her exquisitely embroidered, red wedding outfit, with her crown and wreath still intact. Her hair had been pinned up; she looked as classy as a royal under the night sky.

　　Zhuge Yue rode forward on his horse and asked, “Are you alright?”

　　Chu Qiao laughed in reply, “I’m alright.”

　　Yes, I’m alright. Luckily, I received your hidden message, so I knew that someone would try something funny on this day. I just didn’t expect them to be so bold. There were no mistakes. I was just worried about you, but I had to restrain myself from doing anything. I was just a little worried. I’m not injured nor humiliated. Everything’s alright.

　　Zhuge Yue turned around and addressed He Qian and the 40,000 soldiers of the Green Army, “Your Majesty was not harmed by me nor Seventh Royal Highness. The real mastermind is the person that all of you are loyal to. Presently, the enemy is waiting outside the border, while we are internally unstable. We don’t want to worsen the situation. Go back and tell Zhao Yang that we don’t care about this city. We will give this city to him.” As he finished his words, he reached out his arm and helped Chu Qiao onto his horse, galloping outside the fallen city gates and away into the darkness along with his subordinates.

　　Zhuge Yue was not boasting. This city had indeed been gifted to Zhao Yang by Zhao Che and himself.

　　Before the wedding, they had anticipated that Zhao Yang would try something fishy. He bribed the troops at Yanming Pass and sent his troops to trifle Yan Xun in private. Then, he spread the rumors that Yan Bei was incapable of fighting a war, fanning the emotions of the people in the Elders’ Clan and the court of Xia. Thereafter, using the impending conflict with Yan Bei as an excuse, he used the Elders’ Clan to mobilize Zhuge Yue’s troops. Under the support of the Wei, Zhuge and other noble families, Zhao Che’s and Zhuge Yue’s military forces were redistributed to other areas for the purpose of training. This overlapped with the day of the wedding, which weakened their power.

　　Zhuge Yue had to return to the capital for his wedding. As the troops had not completed their training in the city of Ye, Zhao Che had to stay behind and watch over them. Zhao Yang’s plan was to capitalize on this opportunity to kill Zhuge Yue, then make Zhao Che a scapegoat. Then, Zhao Che would be powerless, and he would fall into the mercy of Zhao Yang.

　　However, Zhao Yang did not expect Zhuge Yue to ruin his plan, given that he had the backing of the Green Army, Xiaoqi Camp, the capital troops, and Zhuge Huai, who played his part in holding Chu Qiao as a hostage.

　　When Zhuge Yue and his people arrived in Dongyu City, the 110,000-strong Qinghai army stationed in Zhen Huang had arrived there. Combined with other armies who were loyal to Zhuge Yue and Zhao Che, their strength neared 250,000.

　　Presently, Zhao Che led the 170,000-strong Donghu Army, stationing himself in the city of Ye. With one party in the north and the other in the west, they held the city of Zhen Huang tightly in their clutches.

　　In less than three days, the rulers of various cities like Xuan, Xuanhua, Daliao, and Qing mobilized their troops and headed to the capital to fight Zhao Yang, proclaiming themselves to be the righteous who killed the rebels. These people were not loyal to Zhao Che nor Zhuge Yue; they had just wanted a share of the pie amidst the chaos. Naturally, Zhao Yang became the target of these people.

　　Some of the feudal lords, who possessed brawn but lacked brains, coveted after the throne as well. This was precisely the reason why Zhuge Yue gave up on Zhen Huang previously. He knew that the chaos within Xia was inevitable, hence he intended for all the greedy subjects to fight it out amongst each other until the most capable party prevailed.

　　The entire Xia Empire was thrown into disarray.

　　Zhuge Yue and Zhao Che took the chance to open up the borders leading to Qinghai and Donghu, sending out large groups of troops to step up the security along these places. The civilians who were embroiled in the chaos fled to the west and north upon hearing the news. In barely three days, an estimated 400,000 civilians had sought refuge at Qinghai Pass alone. Although the officials of Qinghai had spent more than three months preparing for this, they were still caught off-guard by this sudden influx of people.

　　The various feudal lords had ventured to the capital for the sole purpose of benefiting from the chaos. However, they realized that it was not going to happen. As they fought amongst each other for over ten days in the capital city, Zhao Yang took the chance to divert their attention to Zhao Che. The feudal lords turned on Zhao Che, hoping for a chance to impress their new ruler.