Yun Fei nodded in satisfaction after listening: "The strategist is indeed brilliant."
"We'll do as you say."
He turned to Grand Marshal Zhang Lieming: "Great Marshal, you will lead fifty thousand death warriors as the vanguard, departing at noon today."
"I and the strategist will follow with the rest of the troops to provide support."
Grand Marshal Zhang Lieming cupped his fists to accept the order, but couldn't help asking: "My Lord, there is one thing this subordinate does not understand... Where exactly did these soldiers come from?"
The air suddenly solidified.
The smile on Yun Fei's face vanished, and his eyes became unfathomable.
Liu Ming keenly noticed that the several guards around him had quietly gripped their sword hilts.
"Great Marshal," Yun Fei spoke slowly, "you only need to know that in twelve days, we will have an army of a million. As for where they came from..."
He suddenly smiled brightly: "Of course, righteous individuals from all over have come to join us."
Cold sweat seeped from Grand Marshal Zhang Lieming's forehead, and he immediately knelt: "This humble minister misspoke!"
"Go, prepare the army for battle." Yun Fei waved his hand, as if the threat just now had never happened.
It could even be said that if these death warriors weren't so simple-minded, he wouldn't even bother recruiting more people.
Recruiting people had two purposes: first, to act as a vanguard to prevent enemy sneak attacks and beheadings; second, to manage the death warriors' food distribution and other tasks, to prevent himself from getting too tired.
Only after Grand Marshal Zhang Lieming hurried away did Liu Ming ask in a low voice: "My Lord, I want to confirm one thing—do we need to consider the possibility of soldier casualties and army mutiny?"
Yun Fei glanced at him, the corner of his mouth slightly upturned: "You don't need to worry about that; my soldiers absolutely obey orders."
"You only need to capture Chang'an as quickly as possible."
Although Liu Ming had guessed this early on, hearing it firsthand still left him somewhat shocked.
However, what followed was an irrepressible excitement.
If it was truly as his Lord said, then he could go all out and no longer be burdened by worries.
So he immediately knelt and said: "Since that is the case, My Lord, we can adjust our strategy."
"In fact, an army of five hundred thousand would be enough to capture Chang'an."
"Of course, I know there are Wuxia masters in the imperial court, especially that marshal, who is an Innate expert of considerable strength."
"To be safe, with an army of eight hundred thousand, I have more than enough confidence to capture Chang'an."
"What do you think, My Lord?"
Yun Fei looked at Liu Ming kneeling on the ground, knowing that the other party had already guessed many things.
But he didn't care.
He had anticipated this when he recruited people.
His secret expansion of the army would be exposed sooner or later, especially to smart people like Liu Ming; it couldn't be hidden.
It's just, could Liu Ming speak out?
Did he really think the death warriors by his side were just bodyguards?
As for Liu Ming's mention of using an army of eight hundred thousand to attack Chang'an,
Yun Fei waved his hand grandly and said directly: "Since that is the case, then in ten days, I will order you to command an army of eight hundred thousand."
"If Chang'an is not captured, you alone will be held responsible."
...On the city wall of Tongbei Pass, the defending general Liu Wang, with blurred, drunken eyes, leaned against the parapet, while his seventh concubine giggled as she fed him grapes.
The dust rising on the distant horizon caught his attention.
"What is that?"
Liu Wang squinted and let out a burp.
Deputy General Wang Huan's face suddenly changed: "General! It's an enemy attack! A dense mass, at least tens of thousands of them!"
"Even more bizarre is that the several thousand enemies in front, each of them is carrying a huge stone at least half a person's height."
Liu Wang pushed his concubine away, sobering up considerably: "Nonsense! Unless the border has fallen, where would tens of thousands of troops come from?"
"And several thousand people carrying huge stones half a person's height, do you know how heavy that is? That's nearly a thousand jin of weight."
"There are no more than five people in our city who can lift that weight. Were you confused yesterday?"
Liu Wang grumbled and cursed, but he still walked out to take a look, intending to scold his deputy general a few more times.
However, when he personally saw the army surging like a tide, his legs began to tremble uncontrollably.
Each of those soldiers was over two meters tall, especially the several thousand at the very front who were carrying half-person-high boulders; the ground shook as they ran, and the most terrifying thing was that they made no battle cries whatsoever.
They just charged forward relentlessly.
"Close the city gates! Shoot arrows! Quickly, shoot arrows!"
Liu Wang roared, stumbling towards the city tower.
Arrows rained down, but with little effect.
The two-meter-tall strongmen merely staggered slightly when hit, then continued their charge.
Some were shot full of arrows, but as long as they weren't dead, they kept charging.
Not to mention they were all using the huge stones as shields, so not many arrows actually hit their bodies.
As for the moat, over 10 meters wide in front of them...
This was the reason why several thousand strongmen each carried a huge stone at least half a person's height.
As they rushed over, they all threw them down, and in less than 10 minutes, the moat was directly filled to create a wide, long path.
And the defenders on the city wall, seeing this violent scene of filling the river,
All gasped in cold air.
Liu Wang stared at the scene in disbelief; how was this possible? Each of those stones must have weighed at least nearly a thousand jin, right?
Are all of them on the other side born with Divine Power?
Where did these several thousand strongmen on the other side, capable of lifting nearly a thousand jin of stone, come from?
And they could run like the wind while carrying thousand-jin stones.
Could these be demons?
But the death warriors wouldn't think so much; they would only continue to charge.
Seeing this scene, Liu Wang had no time to ponder and immediately roared: "Quickly throw fire oil, stones, and long spears down there! We must stab all these monsters to death!"
"Don't let them come up!"
Following Liu Wang's command, scorching fire oil, massive rolling stones, and dense long spears poured down from the city top.
The death warriors at the very front were drenched in fire oil, instantly bursting into raging flames, but they still silently charged forward until they were burnt to charcoal and fell.
Rolling stones crashed down, crushing several death warriors into pulp, but the teams behind stepped over their comrades' corpses and continued to advance.
"Shoot arrows! Keep shooting arrows!"
Liu Wang roared, cold sweat seeping from his forehead.
However, the death warriors had already rushed to the foot of the city wall.
They did not use the siege ladders captured in Qingshan City, but instead climbed with their bare hands!
These monsters, over two meters tall, had fingers like iron hooks embedded in the brick seams, and their bulging muscular arms erupted with astonishing strength. In just a few breaths, dozens of death warriors had climbed onto the city wall!
"Stop them! Stop them!"
Liu Wang drew his sword and roared.
However, when the first death warrior leaped onto the city top, the morale of the defenders completely collapsed.
That death warrior was riddled with arrows, half his body charred black by fire oil, yet he still smashed a soldier's head with one punch!
Immediately after, he grabbed another defender's shoulder and brutally tore him in half!
"Monsters! They are monsters!"
The defenders screamed in terror, retreating in panic.
Liu Wang gritted his teeth and charged forward, slashing his sword at the death warrior's neck.
"Clang!"
The blade bit three fen deep into the flesh but failed to completely sever it.
That death warrior slowly turned his head, drew the great saber from his back, and slashed down.
"Puff!"
Liu Wang's chest was cut open with a huge bloody gash, he spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, and his entire body flew backward, crashing heavily onto the city tower.
If not for the robust physique of a third-rate Martial Artist, Liu Wang might have been cut in half by that single strike.
But even if he wasn't cut in half, it was close enough.
"General!"
Deputy General Wang Huan cried out in terror.
Liu Wang struggled to get up, blood oozing from the corner of his mouth, his eyes filled with disbelief: "What... what exactly are these things...?"
Just then, a huge crash came from below the city—
"Boom!"
The city gate was rammed open!
After all, this time, they had brought battering rams, combined with the death warriors' natural Divine Power.
In just under 10 impacts, they successfully rammed open the city gate.
Grand Marshal Zhang Lieming led fifty thousand death warriors surging into Tongbei Pass like a tide, the defenders completely routed, throwing down their weapons and fleeing for their lives...