Chapter 206: The Clan Coalition
Chapter 206: The Clan Coalition
September 25, 2017
The middle-aged scholar held Li Xiong in high regard, so when he noticed Li Xiong's awareness of the unusual situation and his decision to take action, he would not give Li Xiong a chance to escape.
This time, he brought along a historical warrior that Wang Haoxin had recently recruited. It was because of this warrior's presence that Li Xiong pessimistically concluded that he couldn't escape Qiangyin County.
However, despite his pessimism, he still had to take the risk.
"Stop him!"
After giving the order to the Mountain Bandit Bodyguards beside him, Li Xiong immediately turned and fled, showing no intention of engaging with the historical warrior.
Having interacted with Dian Wei for so long, Li Xiong had some understanding of his strength. The stocky warrior before him was absolutely no match for Dian Wei, but he was also not someone Li Xiong could handle.
The Mountain Bandit Bodyguards were originally Data NPCs, and their profession was to take the fall for their leaders. Therefore, they didn't hesitate for a moment when faced with Li Xiong's order that was almost sending them to their deaths. After Li Xiong left, ten of the bodyguards blocked his path.
"I didn't expect him to be so alert. In that case, General, it's up to you." The middle-aged scholar smiled faintly.
"Leave it to me!" The stocky historical warrior responded in a deep voice and then picked up a gate blade, chasing in the direction Li Xiong had fled.
As soon as the stocky historical warrior moved, the ten bodyguards immediately blocked his way.
"Earth Crumbling Dog, don't stop me!"
A flash of light appeared in the historical warrior's eyes as he charged forward, slashing down with the gate blade in his hand. The obstruction of the ten bodyguards, each with a strength of 30, was instantly broken.
In an instant, the blockade Li Xiong had hoped for completely dissipated, and the stocky historical warrior pursued him directly.
Despite his bulky build, the historical warrior was not slow at all. Even though Li Xiong had a head start and even managed to briefly delay the bodyguards, he was still easily caught up with.
Seeing that escape was impossible, Li Xiong gritted his teeth, turned around, and thrust his spear towards the stocky historical warrior.
This thrust was the fastest and most powerful spear attack Li Xiong could execute, surpassing the one that had taken down Kou Ming in both speed and power.
As Li Xiong thrust his spear, he even had the illusion that he could take down his opponent with a single strike. Unfortunately, it was just an illusion.
After Li Xiong's spear attack, within three moves, the once-daunting Li Xiong was knocked unconscious by the stocky historical warrior. He was picked up like a dead fish, the disparity between their strengths was immense, so much so that even their battle seemed dull.
Li Xiong's defeat also signaled the official commencement of the coalition's mission to eliminate Lu HaiKong, led by Wang Hao.
...
At the mountain camp, Lu HaiKong was still unaware of the sudden change in Qiangyin County.
After all, Li Xiong had been solely managing the affairs in Qiangyin County, and even he hadn't noticed the unusual situation there. How could Lu HaiKong possibly detect it in advance?
Moreover, before capturing Li Xiong, the middle-aged scholar had specifically arranged for Zhao Family's iron ore supply, not just to delay Li Xiong, but more importantly, to create the illusion for the mountain camp that everything was fine in Qiangyin County. They even planned to send a batch of much-needed supplies to lower Lu HaiKong's guard.
In truth, the middle-aged scholar had achieved this, and Lu HaiKong was delighted upon receiving the news from Li Xiong. He didn't notice any abnormalities and directly instructed Wang Jun to prepare for the upcoming trade.
Just as Lu HaiKong was preparing to welcome the next batch of iron ore, outside the mountain camp, a few thousand-strong force composed of private armies from several elite families and county troops was making its way under the cover of night.
Due to the camp's square shape and the open space within, Lu HaiKong hadn't set up many alert lines. The few that were there were easily cleared by the vanguard of this force.
Lu HaiKong seemed to be completely unaware of the impending danger.
Although this force was composed of troops from several elite families, their march was not chaotic at all. While they might not have been well-coordinated yet, they already exuded a sense of collective might.
To be able to integrate private armies from various elite families and county troops within a few days was no ordinary feat.
The commander of this force was none other than the man Wang Hao had recently recruited—the historical warrior who had defeated Li Xiong in three moves. However, this army wasn't formed by him; it was Gao Shun, temporarily assigned as his deputy, who had helped with the integration.
In all of Yanmen, or even Bingzhou, there were very few with such military talent, and among those who could be in the elite family alliance, who else could it be but Gao Shun?
The middle-aged scholar held Gao Shun in high regard. After the Zhang family joined, he began to slowly maneuver and successfully brought Gao Shun into this force, even promoting him directly to the second-in-command of this temporary army.
Not only that, but the middle-aged scholar and Wang Hao also constantly tried to win Gao Shun over. For some reason, Zhang Li witnessed all the actions of the middle-aged scholar, but this guy remained tight-lipped, as if he hadn't seen anything, allowing the middle-aged scholar to promote Gao Shun to his current position and continue to curry favor with him.
In this temporary alliance, almost everyone was under the control of the middle-aged scholar, except for Zhang Li, who was an exception.
It wasn't that Zhang Li was exceptionally talented, but that he was deep and especially patient, always keeping a low profile, making him an enigmatic figure.
However, the middle-aged scholar wasn't overly concerned. In his eyes, Gao Shun becoming a top general under Wang Hao was inevitable, no matter how formidable Zhang Li was. Gao Shun was someone he was determined to acquire.
As night fell, the army arrived three miles outside Lu HaiKong's mountain camp and set up camp.
Facing the fifteen-meter-high wall without any siege equipment, a frontal assault was out of the question. They needed to wait, until the appointed time agreed upon by Wang Hao and the masked man.
Meanwhile, inside Lu HaiKong's camp, a seemingly honest, slender man dressed in coarse cloth, with a pale yellow complexion, sat in a corner of the trading street.
His bright eyes watched as the night deepened, the crowd gradually dispersed, and the bustling street quieted down.
"Managing a mountain camp like this takes a lot of effort, but destroying it is rather simple..."
(Chapter End)
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