NCCnovel Chapter 231 The Defeat at Yanshan is Reported
Chapter 231 The Defeat at Yanshan is Reported
"Fourth...Fourth Brother, Yaojin, put the knife away first."
Xu Maogong's voice trembled as he looked at the long sword still dripping blood in Cheng Yaojin's hand.
He was somewhat shocked, and even felt a sense of unfamiliarity.
In his mind, Cheng Yaojin was always a simple-minded, carefree fat man.
He's always laughing and joking, but he doesn't know anything beyond his three tricks.
But today's performance was truly remarkable.
He killed without blinking an eye; his ruthlessness sent chills down even his spine.
"I'm the leader! Everyone has to listen to me!"
Cheng Yaojin held up his long knife, glared with his bull-like eyes, and fiercely surveyed his surroundings, looking exactly like a mountain bandit king.
"Alliance Leader, let's talk this out."
Du Fuwei subconsciously took two steps back to create distance between himself and Cheng Yaojin before cautiously speaking.
"snort."
Cheng Yaojin snorted coldly, then picked up his knife and swaggered back to the leader's seat, where he plopped down.
"We are here to fight against the Sui Dynasty, to unite as one, and to raise the banner of righteousness together."
You Junda hurriedly ran out from the side, pointed at the several leaders who were already dead on the ground, and said righteously.
"These individuals have openly defied the alliance leader's orders, instigated infighting, and are attempting to divide our alliance. Their intentions are clearly sinister!"
Since the person is already dead, there's no way to verify anything, so whatever he says is true.
"That's right!" Meng Haigong pondered for a moment, then stepped forward and sided with Cheng Yaojin, loudly echoing, "This is the fate of those who sow discord among us! Well done, Alliance Leader!"
He had his own plans in mind.
These people had such a great reputation for rebellion and caused such a commotion that the imperial court had long been keeping an eye on them.
Once the alliance falls into internal strife, everyone will scatter and go their separate ways, and they will die without a burial place. Sooner or later, they will be defeated one by one by the imperial court.
Although Cheng Yaojin acted rashly and even somewhat cruelly, his original intention was good; he wanted to maintain the stability of the alliance.
With such a powerful leader keeping things under control, at least everyone can still manage to stay together and stick together for warmth.
"In that case, everyone return to your camps and prepare for battle!" Cheng Yaojin glared at the crowd with his bull-like eyes and shouted loudly.
"Anyone who disobeys my orders again will be killed!"
"We will obey the leader's command."
The group exchanged bewildered glances, then bowed respectfully and filed out of the tent.
The bodies of the dead leaders were silently dragged away by their respective trusted soldiers.
In the blink of an eye, the tent returned to calm, leaving only Cheng Yaojin and You Junda.
"Old Cheng, you're amazing!"
Seeing that there was no one else in the tent, You Junda finally relaxed completely, gave a thumbs up, and sincerely praised.
He hadn't realized Cheng Yaojin had this ability before.
He killed to establish his authority, without even blinking an eye, and completely intimidated those people!
"Old You, these people have no backbone."
Cheng Yaojin's tense face relaxed completely, and he returned to his usual carefree demeanor.
He even scratched his head, looking somewhat confused.
His recklessness, his folly, and his indiscriminate killing were all intended to provoke the crowd and incite greater infighting.
It would be best if everyone just dispersed and broke up completely.
In this way, he wouldn't have to be the leader of the alliance, and Lü Xiao wouldn't have to go through the trouble of fighting.
But who would have thought that these people were all very weak? After he killed a few of them, they were frightened and became even more united.
"Perhaps you were too aggressive and scared them off."
Yu Junda analyzed.
"What are we going to do? We've only made them more united."
Cheng Yaojin stood up and paced back and forth in the tent with a worried expression.
As a spy, as an undercover agent, isn't he just creating more trouble for Lü Xiao?
"Let's just take it one step at a time," You Junda sighed helplessly. "We just need to keep messing with them, and eventually we'll break them up."
"Alright." Cheng Yaojin nodded; that was the only way.
Anyway, he's thick-skinned and not afraid of being scolded.
Night fell, enveloping Siping Mountain.
Today's battle has left a considerable psychological scar on many Allied soldiers.
They witnessed firsthand the horrific scene of Lei Dapeng having his intestines ripped out by Yuwen Chenglong, and also experienced the daytime defeat.
At this moment, fear spread like a plague throughout the military camp.
Under the cover of darkness, groups of soldiers quietly left the camp.
However, they were discovered by the leaders of the allied forces after taking only a few steps.
They mobilized their forces to intercept and capture the deserters.
A series of forceful measures, making an example of them, once again intimidated these people, who were driven back to their respective tents.
Although we managed to keep the people, we couldn't keep their hearts with us.
They were already terrified of the imperial army.
They saw absolutely no hope for the future of the coalition forces.
The entire allied camp was in chaos, with people filled with fear and there was no order whatsoever.
At this moment, Cheng Yaojin was sitting in his tent, with a letter of unknown origin on the table.
In the midst of the chaos, someone took advantage of the confusion to run into his tent and throw in a letter.
"Old Cheng, what's up so late?"
You Junda lifted a corner of the tent flap and crawled in from outside.
"Look, this is a letter sent by the imperial court."
Cheng Yaojin picked up the letter and handed it to You Junda.
You Junda opened the letter, glanced at it by the candlelight, and confirmed that it was written by Lü Xiao himself.
There's a pre-arranged code on here; it can't be wrong.
"Did Lü Xiao... get those people to declare themselves king?"
You Junda told Cheng Yaojin the contents of the letter, but he was also a little confused.
Logically speaking, the more people who claim the title of king, the less prestige the imperial court would have.
This is not a good thing for the imperial court, is it?
"Then weigh it!"
Cheng Yaojin made a decisive move, slammed his hand on the table, and said without hesitation.
They are spies, undercover agents, not the true leaders of the coalition.
They simply need to do what Lü Xiao says; there's no need to consider the reasons why.
"Okay, you take care of this."
You Junda nodded, held the letter up to the candlelight, and watched it burn to ashes.
When it comes to causing trouble for others, You Junda felt that he was truly inferior to Cheng Yaojin.
Cheng Yaojin's performance today was truly frightening.
One moment they're calling each other brothers, drinking and eating together, the next they can turn on each other and start slashing.
If he hadn't known him for a long time, he would have thought that this guy was a completely different person, possessed by some kind of demon or monster.
Just as Lü Xiao was waiting for Cheng Yaojin to persuade the rebels to declare themselves king, a group of uninvited guests arrived outside the imperial army camp at Siping Mountain.
The group of thirteen were all dressed in black armor, with black cloaks over them, and strangely shaped curved swords at their waists.
However, at this moment, they were all covered in dust and dirt, looking disheveled and injured, completely lacking their former imposing manner.
Yuwen Chenglong, who was on patrol, took them directly back to the main camp.