eurekapd Chapter 160 Solving the Five Tiger Stronghold
Chapter 160 Solving the Five Tiger Stronghold
The men of Five Tiger Stronghold, unaware of the approaching danger, were snoring loudly in their barracks. Xia Yichen whispered to Li Chuan, "Deputy General Li, that's Five Tiger Stronghold's barracks over there. Take some men and go... go light some sleeping incense."
Using sleeping potion against Xia Yanheng's elite troops was a difficult decision for Xia Yichen to make. However, remembering Wen Yuxia's words that soldiers should die on the battlefield, Xia Yichen still managed to utter the words "sleeping potion".
Lieutenant General Li was slightly taken aback. These people were still asleep; it would be better to just storm into the barracks and kill them. Using sleeping incense to knock them out was unnecessary.
Obedience is a soldier's duty. No matter how unwilling Li Chuan was, he had to obey Xia Yichen's orders. He took the incense and said firmly, "This subordinate obeys."
Seeing Li Chuan's confusion, Xia Yichen slowly explained, "They are soldiers, not bandits. It would be a disgrace for them to die in their sleep with the name of bandits. If they are to die, they should die on the battlefield fighting the enemy."
Li Chuan nodded and said, "The Crown Prince is right. Using sleeping potion is good. This subordinate will go and take care of the people in the barracks right away."
Li Chuan led a hundred soldiers quietly toward the barracks, followed by four hundred soldiers carrying ropes.
Tian Ke, who was among the first to arrive at the mountain, had already positioned his soldiers in various corners. His eyes were fixed on the direction of the barracks, and he had observed the actions of Li Chuan and the others.
He whispered to the person beside him, "Pass the word down: Lieutenant General Li's men should rush into the barracks and take action."
Xia Yichen only intended to incorporate the soldiers in the barracks. As for the leader of the Five Tiger Stronghold, the four deputy leaders, and the strategist, he planned to execute them on the spot.
Tian Ke's task was to deal with these six people, as well as any escapees who hadn't inhaled the sleeping potion.
"Mu Hua, you can go now," Xia Yichen called softly from where he stood after sending everyone out.
Wen Yuxia, who was lying on the sofa with her eyes closed, heard Xia Yichen's voice and instantly appeared in front of him. Xia Yichen smiled and said, "Go and take care of the lookout first."
An Yi and his team were assigned to assist Tian Ke, while Xia Yichen and Wen Yuxia were responsible for handling the lookout post and several checkpoints on the mountain road.
"Yes, sir," Wen Yuxia said solemnly, then she and Xia Yichen ran towards the watchtower.
After eliminating all the sentries, Wen Yuxia took out a large flag bearing the character "Xia" and planted it halfway up the mountain. Nan San and the others below, seeing the flag, knew that all the roadblocks at Five Tiger Stronghold had been cleared.
Nan San said in a low voice, "General Du, you take a hundred soldiers to guard the various checkpoints on the mountain road and the watchtower on the mountain, and surround any escapees who may have gotten away from General Tian and General Li. General Zhang, you take the other soldiers to keep watch at the foot of the mountain."
Before setting off, Xia Yichen did not assign any tasks to Du Yang and Zhang Xun, instructing Nan San to inform them of the action plan upon arrival at Five Tiger Stronghold.
Du Yang nodded slightly: "Understood," then turned to the soldiers behind him and said: "First squad, follow me. The other squads will follow General Zhang's orders."
Du Yang led his soldiers to quickly occupy the various checkpoints. Throughout the process, he heard no sounds of fighting from inside the village. Puzzled, Du Yang climbed the watchtower and looked into the village.
What's going on? The village is packed with soldiers from the military camp. Standing at the front are the Crown Prince and Young Master Wen, and behind them stand Tian Ke and the Crown Prince's four guards.
The Crown Prince waved his arm, and Tian Ke rushed forward, kicking open a door. His four guards followed, rushing into the adjacent rooms.
Du Yang also saw Nan San and the others who had gone up the mountain with him running quickly toward the direction where the Crown Prince and Young Master Wen were standing.
Du Yang, who had originally thought that the battle with the Five Tiger Stronghold would be earth-shattering, stared blankly at the ten people fighting from the room to the outside, and asked himself, "Is the Five Tiger Stronghold playing the Empty City Stratagem?"
Aside from the sentry guarding the checkpoint, only five people lived in the entire village. Seeing the pale-faced scholar pushed out of the room by Nan San, Du Yang increased the number of villagers from five to six.
Nan Si and his men surrounded the ten fighters. Xia Yichen then arranged for soldiers to form encirclements behind Nan Si and his men, ensuring that the leaders of the Five Tiger Strongholds would have no chance of escape.
Under the relentless attacks of Tian Ke and his group, as well as Nan Si and his group, the Five Tiger Stronghold chief and his four other leaders were exhausted. In the end, the heavily wounded leaders simply gave up, lying on the ground panting and ignoring the attacks from Tian Ke and his men.
The battle was over just like that. Du Yang, standing on the watchtower, rubbed his eyes in disbelief. He could say with certainty that this was the easiest battle he had ever participated in in his life.
"The leaders of the Five Tiger Stronghold have been captured. Please, Your Highness, decide their fate," Tian Ke said, leading his men to tie the leaders up like dumplings and drag them before Xia Yichen.
Looking at the Five Tiger Stronghold chief and deputy chief lying on the ground, Xia Yichen slowly asked, "Are you bandits or soldiers?"
Although he already knew that Xia Yanheng's elite troops were stationed at Five Tiger Stronghold, Xia Yichen still wanted to confirm it again because these elite troops were so undisciplined.
The chieftain of Wuhu Village gave a bitter smile: "We are the garrison of Zhuzhou. Prince Heng ordered us to come to Wuhu Village to impersonate bandits and mine gold."
From Tian Ke's conversation, it was learned that the person who came to suppress the bandits at Five Tiger Stronghold was the Crown Prince Xia Yichen. The leader of Five Tiger Stronghold did not hide anything and directly revealed the reason why he stationed troops at Five Tiger Stronghold.
Xia Yanheng was greedy but incompetent. He wiped out these so-called elite troops with ease. Xia Yichen said coldly, "The troops stationed in Zhuzhou are nothing special!"
The leader of Five Tiger Stronghold smiled bitterly. He had long since had enough of pretending to be a bandit, but he couldn't disobey military orders, so he could only live a life of debauchery here.
"The troops stationed in Zhuzhou are not as bad as the Crown Prince thinks; we are just the exceptions," the Five Tiger Stronghold leader said, his voice tinged with sadness.
When they first arrived at Five Tiger Stronghold, they trained regularly every day. But after a while, they became lax, and as the stronghold leader, he couldn't remember when they stopped training.
Xia Yichen was slightly taken aback upon hearing this, not expecting such a reason. Wen Yuxia laughed from the side, "Don't want to be a bandit? Surrender! Go to Jinji Pass to protect your home and country!"
One of the deputy chieftains sighed and said, "Our families are all in Zhuzhou. Even if the Crown Prince were willing to take us in, we wouldn't dare!"
Xia Yichen, who had initially decided to make an example of one to warn others, ultimately changed his mind. After a moment of contemplation, he slowly said, "Prince Heng is in dire straits himself. If you are willing to return to the right path, I can help you bring your families home."
Upon hearing this, the men hurriedly struggled to their feet. The chieftain spoke first: "Thank you, Crown Prince, for sparing our lives. Thank you for helping us bring our families home. We are willing to guard Jinji Pass for the rest of our lives."
"We are willing to garrison Jinji Pass," several deputy chieftains chimed in.
At this moment, the soldiers who had been drugged gradually regained consciousness. Hearing their chieftain expressing his determination, they shouted, "Your subordinates are willing to guard Jinji Pass!"