Daqin Zhentiansi

Chapter 1147 All Armies Obey the Command

In the distance, on the wasteland, the broken armor fragments lay scattered on the ground, gleaming dimly in the moonlight.

The morning light shone through the ridge to the east, illuminating the entire Canglang Plain.

The corpses of monsters lay piled up on the wasteland, their black blood soaking into the soil.

Suddenly, a tiny golden dot appeared in the eastern sky.

It was a golden communication symbol.

The light pierced through the morning mist and flew straight toward the camp, like a shooting star leaving a long golden tail.

It landed precisely in front of Zhang Yuan.

He reached out and caught it.

The talismanic light flickered a few times in his palm before dissipating into specks of gold.

An aged yet resolute voice echoed in the void.

"The General of the North's Mansion. Thirty thousand iron cavalry have already left the pass. They will arrive at Canglang Plain in three days."

After that sound dissipated, a second sound rang out in the void.

It was even more powerful than the first one, as if it came from the roar of a thousand horses galloping.

"Qingtian Pass. Fifty thousand border troops, carrying heavy weapons, will arrive in five days."

Then comes the third course.

Crisp and resolute, like the ringing sound of a sharp sword being drawn from its sheath:

"Canglang River. Eight thousand naval troops are heading north along the river, having already passed Sancha Port. They will arrive in four days."

The fourth one.

The fifth one.

The sixth one.

One after another, golden communication talismans flew in from the sky.

Like a meteor shower, it fell on the tallest rock in the center of the camp.

Some of those voices were old, some were young, some were hoarse, and some were loud.

But they are all saying the same thing.

Reinforcements have arrived and are on their way.

Yan Qing stood on the training ground, watching the golden runes fall like raindrops.

His eyes stung a little, but he didn't cry.

He simply gripped the knife at his waist, raised his head, and looked north.

Yan Laoshuan walked over to him, patted him on the shoulder, and said in a hoarse but amused voice, "Kid, did you hear that? The Zhenbei General's Mansion, Qingtian Pass, Canglang River... they're all here."

Yan Qing nodded vigorously and repeated in a low voice, "They're all here."

In the distance, Zhang Yuan stood on a rock, the last golden talisman in his hand slowly dissipating.

He didn't turn around, still gazing at the northern horizon.

But his words carried on the morning breeze throughout the entire camp.

"Form ranks."

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It wasn't until three days after the battle ended that the camp began to truly take stock of the losses.

Yan He sat at the tent entrance, holding a piece of animal skin covered in writing, and checked the names one by one.

His fingers slowly traced across the animal hide, pausing after each name he passed.

Fifteen hunting teams, totaling nearly 30,000 people, entered the Canglang Plain.

There are fewer than 20,000 still alive.

Nearly half of the people were left behind in this wasteland forever.

Some were devoured by monsters, some fell into the depths of the rift, and some could not even be found as remains.

Only one name remained, written on this piece of animal hide.

Yan He rolled up the animal hide and stuffed it into his clothes.

He sat there gazing at the camp being rebuilt in the distance, lost in thought for a long time.

Tuoba Shan sat at the entrance of the other tent, having an old soldier with some medical knowledge help him change his dressing.

The wound on his left arm, pierced by fangs, had begun to scab over, but it still hurt so much that he grimaced when he moved.

Amu's bow is completely broken.

During the final charge, it was struck by the horn of a rhinoceros and split open from the middle.

He held the broken bow in his hand, examining it over and over for a long time. Then, from the weapons he had brought back from the ruins, he found a new black longbow.

He pulled the bowstring.

"Om."

Deep and resonant.

He nodded in satisfaction, carefully removed the string from the old bow, and tucked it into his pocket.

Yan Qing practiced his sword on the training ground.

His injury hasn't fully healed yet; the stitches on his left leg have just been removed, and he still walks with a slight limp.

But he still insisted on practicing for an hour every day.

He was practicing with the bone-white short sword he brought back from the ruins.

The knife was very easy to handle, more so than any knife he had ever used before.

The sound of a blade cutting through the air is very soft, like the wind blowing through leaves.

On the evening of the fourth day, the last group of scouts returned.

They brought back news from Shiyan.

The siege of Kitakaniguchi was lifted much more smoothly than expected.

On the day Zhang Yuan led his undead army out of the rift to confront the Wolf King, the monster horde outside the North Valley suddenly panicked.

A huge gap has appeared in the encirclement.

Shi Yan seized the opportunity and led his remaining troops to break through the encirclement.

Of the 30,000 people who went in, less than 10,000 came out.

Shi Yan himself was seriously injured, and his left arm was corroded by demonic energy, turning his entire arm black like charcoal.

When Shi Yan was carried into the camp on a stretcher, Zhang Yuan walked out from the crowd and squatted down next to the stretcher.

Shi Yan looked at him, his lips twitching slightly, and said with difficulty, "Mr. Zhang, you really did drive back the magical beasts at the entrance of Beigu Pass."

Zhang Yuan handed him a water pouch and said calmly, "They weren't driven away by force, they were scared away."

Shi Yan took the water pouch and took a swig, coughing twice as he choked: "Even if it scared me away, it's fine. Anyway, I'm out."

On the fifth day, the first batch of reinforcements arrived.

When the 30,000 iron cavalry of the General of the North appeared on the horizon, everyone in the camp stopped what they were doing.

The general leading the group was in his early forties, with a weathered face.

He had a scar on his left cheek that ran diagonally from the corner of his eye to his chin, which gleamed a dark reddish-brown in the sunlight.

He reined in his horse at the camp gate and dismounted.

He glanced around the camp.

Those tattered tents, those wounded soldiers wrapped in bandages, those corpses piled up on the open ground, yet to be buried.

His gaze lingered on the corpses for a moment before turning to Zhang Yuan, who had come out to greet him, and he clasped his hands in a respectful greeting.

"Zhenbei General's Mansion, Commander of the Valiant Cavalry Battalion, Zhao Tiefeng. By order of the General, he is leading 30,000 cavalry to reinforce Canglang Plain. Mr. Zhang, we are late."

Zhang Yuan returned the greeting: "It's not late, just in time to wrap things up."

Next came the eight thousand sailors of the Canglang River naval force.

They followed the makeshift riverbed to the edge of the Canglang Plain.

Instead of entering the camp, they set up a water fortress on the eastern riverbank.

They lined up the heavy crossbows they carried with them, pointing them north.

Finally, the 50,000 border troops from Qingtian Pass arrived.

They arrived late at night, but the footsteps of those 50,000 people carried far into the darkness.

The general leading the team was an old general with gray hair named Qin Yue.

After dismounting, he didn't say many polite words, but went straight to Zhang Yuan's tent, lifted the curtain, and went inside.

He sat down at the table and spread a map out in front of Zhang Yuan.

His first words were: "How many of you have gone into the fissure beneath the Canglang Plain?"

Zhang Yuan placed the piece of iron on the table.

Qin Yue picked up the piece of iron and examined it under the light for a long time.

His fingers traced the character "岳" back and forth several times.

His voice suddenly became very soft: "The Yue Battalion. My great-great-grandfather heard their legends when he was still wearing open-crotch pants. I always thought it was just a legend." (End of Chapter)