Two days later, early in the morning, Jinzhou, Northeast China, Tiananmen Pass…
Long Feicheng stood solemnly on the city wall of Tianan Pass, gazing at the densely packed and endless Manchu army tents on the distant plain. He was like a frozen stone sculpture, motionless for a full half a quarter of an hour.
The biting north wind blew the scarlet cloak behind Long Feicheng into fluttering flutters. In just a moment, white ice flowers had already hung on Long Feicheng's thick eyebrows. However, he still squinted his eyes and looked at the military camp in the distance inch by inch with sharp eyes.
Even though Long Feicheng had been a soldier all his life, the number of enemies gathered in front of him this time was the largest he had ever seen in his life. However, now, the number of troops on the opposite side has exceeded one million. Not only that, the number of enemies outside Tianan Pass is increasing every day.
Just during the inspection, when Long Feicheng's sharp eagle-like eyes swept across the camp, he found that there seemed to be a lot of troops coming to the east of the camp. The flying eagle flag of the Qiangnu tribe had been raised in the direction of Tula Mountain to the east of the camp.
Of course, what attracted Long Feicheng the most was the tallest flag at the back of the middle of the alliance camp. On that flag was a golden snake with wings. This flag was the feathered serpent flag representing the Shaman people. Long Feicheng knew that under this flag was the central military tent of the opposing army. Gathered in that tent at the moment were his and the Fengyun Army's greatest opponents. Not only was the Shaman military genius Goli there, but also the Shaman emperor Monro Khan, Monro Khan's more than 20 princes, half of the court ministers, and countless Shaman generals and warriors.
This time, the Shamans are invading the entire country!
Now the Shaman people are still waiting, waiting for the army behind them to arrive continuously. Now outside Tianan Pass, due to the weather, both sides are still in the stage of small-scale fighting and testing each other. Only small groups of military scouts and some military masters are competing with each other. Once the spring of next year, when the weather warms up, the opponent's army will be completely assembled, and the real war will come. At that time, the whole Jinzhou will become a battlefield.
Long Feicheng didn't know what the outcome of this war would be, and he wouldn't even think about it deliberately, because the result would be too cruel for him, the Fengyun Army, and even the entire Han Empire.
The reason why the Shamans dared to invade the whole country this time was precisely because the Han Empire was in the midst of internal strife and turmoil. Once the Northeast was lost and the Fengyun Army was defeated, the entire Han Empire would be doomed.
Thinking of that result, the "川"-shaped wrinkle between Long Feicheng's brows suddenly became sharper and deeper, as if it were carved by a knife or an axe.
Long Feicheng knew very well that Tianan Pass could not stop the millions of Shaman troops. The only thing he thought of at this moment was to make the Shaman people shed enough blood at Tianan Pass before it was breached. Behind Tianan Pass, they had already started to fortify the city and clear the fields. After the Shaman army broke through Tianan Pass, every step forward would have to be exchanged for blood.
At this time, a group of core generals of the Fengyun Army were standing behind Long Feicheng with solemn expressions. Among these core generals, descendants and relatives of the Long family accounted for almost one-third. Long Tiezhou, who had met Yan Liqiang in the northwest last time and brought back the wool weaving method, was also wearing armor and had a layer of green stubble on his face. He stood in the crowd behind Long Feicheng, frowning, looking at the scene outside the pass.
The sound of clanging footsteps came quickly from the wall behind Tianan Pass. The person coming was Guan Jie, the scout commander of the Fengyun Army. Guan Jie came directly behind Long Feicheng, clasped his fists at Long Feicheng's back, and then said in a deep voice, "Reporting to the commander, the scouts have found out that yesterday, the leader of the Qiang Nu tribe, Puchili, led 60,000 elite warriors and 100,000 slave soldiers of the Qiang Nu tribe to the Shaman camp outside the pass. The soldiers of the Qiang Nu tribe were arranged on the left wing of the camp. The one who brought the Qiang Nu tribe here was the traitor General Shi Tao of Anbei. The traitor used the trick of using someone else as a substitute to deceive our pursuit last time. He has surrendered to Ge Li and is serving under Ge Li..."
Hearing the name Shi Tao, the generals of the Fengyun Army standing behind Long Feicheng all showed angry looks on their faces. If Long Feicheng had not been here, a lot of people would have probably started cursing.
After hearing the report behind him, Long Feicheng finally turned around, nodded slightly, and said calmly, "I know, you have worked hard these days!"
It was a simple military intelligence that could be expressed in just one sentence, but behind it, the scouts of the Fengyun Army might have paid for it with more than one life. Every word in the message was stained with the blood of the Fengyun Army soldiers.
The scout leader Guan Jie didn't say anything, just nodded, and quietly retreated into the crowd of generals behind him.
“I know what you are thinking. The enemy is powerful and unprecedented. The Han Empire may not encounter such a war once in hundreds of years, but this is the fate of my Fengyun Army and the fate of my Longfei City… “The voice of Longfei City roared like gold and iron, and rang out on the top of Tianan Pass,” This battle is not only for the Han Empire, but also for ourselves. As long as the Northeast is there, our Fengyun Army will be there. If the Northeast is gone, there will be no place for our Fengyun Army to stand in this vast world. Once the millions of soldiers and horses outside the pass occupy the Northeast and attack the Han Empire, what awaits the Han Empire is not just the question of whether the court can exist, but the destruction of the race, the people, and the world. Today is the time for the millions of men of my Fengyun Army to serve their country. If this war requires someone to die for the country, it will start from my Longfei City. My Longfei City swears to live and die with the Fengyun Army!”
Long Feicheng spoke passionately, and the group of Fengyun Army generals standing beside him were all excited, "We are willing to defend our country to the death, and live and die with the Fengyun Army..."
"Okay, Tiezhou, you stay and accompany me to inspect the pass again. The rest of the generals, return to your camps and perform your duties!"
"promise!"
A group of generals clasped their fists and retreated, only Long Tiezhou stayed and continued to patrol Tian'an Pass with Long Feicheng in the wind and snow.
"Have our people reached the northwest?" Long Feicheng asked as he walked.
"It should be almost there. I received a letter from my sixth brother a few days ago saying that we will be in Lanzhou soon. Although the chaos in the area delayed us a little, it was generally smooth sailing!" Long Tiezhou replied as he followed Long Feicheng on the Tianan Pass wall. After a slight hesitation, he asked, "But father, do you think that the King of Pingxi will give his treasures to my sixth brother to bring back this time? Will he still be so selfless to help our Fengyun Army? Last time we got the wool weaving method from him, but this time, father, you want the method of making the metal bow in his hand. I'm afraid..."
"You are afraid that the King of Pingxi will reject our request, right?"
"Isn't this human nature?" Long Tiezhou asked back, "The King of Pingxi relied on his archers to wipe out the seven tribes of Shatu and the Black Jie people. The reason why the archers were so powerful was that he could continuously produce the strongest metal bows in the shortest time. If we mastered this method, wouldn't he be worried..."
"Tiezhou, you just said something wrong!" Long Feicheng turned around, stopped, and shook his head seriously, "I asked King Pingxi for the method of making the metal bow, not for our Fengyun Army, but for the Han Empire. Others may not understand this principle, but King Pingxi must understand it. Others may not give it to me, but King Pingxi will definitely give it to me..."
Long Tiezhou looked at Long Feicheng curiously, wondering why his father had such great confidence in Yan Liqiang at this time, "Why does father think that the King of Pingxi will definitely give it?"
"Because if he didn't even have this vision and heart, he wouldn't have been able to wipe out the seven Shatu tribes and the Black Jie people and unify the six northwestern states in such a short time. Tiezhou, given the current situation of the Han Empire, who do you think will be the one in the Han Empire who can truly pacify the world and rule the world in the future? Do you think it will really be the emperor of Jinzhou? And the court of Jinzhou so readily appointed Yan Liqiang as the King of Pingxi and helped him unify the northwest. Why do you think this is for?"
The amount of information in Long Feicheng's words was too much and too shocking. Long Tiezhou was shocked. He opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but found that his throat was dry and he couldn't say anything.
"The problem now is that even if we have the method to manufacture the metal bow, I'm afraid the Sha Man people won't give our Fengyun Army more time. So, Tiezhou, remember, if Tian'an Pass is breached in the future, you can let Yuqing take Liansheng and his siblings to the northwest. Liansheng and his siblings are still young and don't know anything yet. They shouldn't die with me. I can die for the country, but our Long family can't be completely cut off. This would be unfair to our ancestors. Even if the Sha Man army can break into the Han Empire and sweep across the world in the future, the northwest is the only hope for the Han Empire. In the entire Han Empire, if there is anyone who can defeat the Sha Man, that person must be the King of Pingxi. If our Fengyun Army can hold back the Sha Man army in the northeast for three years and give the northwest three years, then after three years, even if our Fengyun Army is gone, the Han Empire will not perish, and our Long family will also be worthy of this world..."
"Father… "
"Just remember what I told you today!"
Long Tiezhou wanted to say something, but suddenly, he looked in the direction of the Shaman camp in the distance, his face full of astonishment, and pointed at the sky in the distance, "Ah, father, look, what is that?"
Long Feicheng turned around and looked in the direction that Long Tiezhou pointed. He saw a golden light piercing through the clouds and rushing down like an arrow towards the central army tent of the Shaman army in the distance...
Long Tiezhou's cultivation level was not high enough, so he couldn't see clearly, but Long Feicheng's cultivation level had allowed him to see clearly that the golden light that pierced through the clouds from the sky was an extremely majestic eagle. On the eagle, there was a person sitting. When the eagle was still three or four hundred meters away from the ground, the person on the eagle's back had already jumped off the eagle's back and fell towards the place where the feathered serpent flag was. While the person was still in the air, he suddenly had a sword in his hand, and then he slashed the sword at the ground...
In the freezing cold of that day, the dazzling sword light and the gushing sword energy were like a scorching sun rising over the snowy field, shining brightly!
The feathered serpent flag that the Shamans were flying high in the air instantly turned into ashes in the sword light...
(End of this chapter)