People from Great Zen Mountain didn't know if they should take these words seriously or not.
Huang Lie wanted Niu Youdao not to move to the prefectural city, but he felt that the other's words were said out of anger. He pressed down with his hands, "Little Brother, don't say things out of anger. I don't mean anything else. Inviting Little Brother to Great Zen Mountain is for Little Brother's safety. Do not be disturbed by rumors."
Niu Youdao: "Because it might be rumors, we cannot let people have their way. What I invited Great Zen Mountain to Southern State back then, I am willing to repeat it in front of everyone, Sect Leader Huang. Great Zen Mountain doesn't need to worry, the benefits of Southern State belong to Great Zen Mountain, I won't take any. I will only keep what I should have and won't push my luck in Southern State! "
Saying such words in front of everyone, no matter if it was the truth or not, the people from Great Zen Mountain felt comfortable when they heard it.
Huang Lie sighed, "Of course I believe Little Brother's words. There is no need to repeat it, I trust Little Brother."
Niu You said, "I am saying all this in hopes that Great Zen Mountain will keep their promise and not force me into a corner after taking an inch in South State!"
Huang Lie said seriously, "What do you mean by pushing my luck? Great Zen Mountain will keep its words, and will work with Little Brother to maintain Southern Prefecture's current situation. "
Even though everyone knew that Great Zen Mountain might not believe all of Niu Youdao's words, and Great Zen Mountain might not keep its word in the future, they were all compromising with the present situation. One mountain could not have two tigers, this was a famous saying. In the end, one side had to be the female, one side had to suppress the other for Southern Prefecture to calm down. But right now, both sides still had to listen to each other and appease each other.
… …
In the forest, Fei Changliu's expression was solemn as he looked at the disciples hiding in the forest according to their usual practice. The front line had actually shrunk to the last layer.
In the past, most of the practice was on the outskirts of this area. Now, they had shrunk their forces to the edge of the core area and gave up on the defense on the outskirts.
"There seems to be movement underground!" Wu Shaohuan suddenly gave a warning.
Bam! A layer of soil at the foot of the mountain suddenly collapsed, and a group of people rushed out. They were the troops of the outer defense army, causing everyone to be alarmed.
Before the Immortal Retaining Sect disciples could react to what was going on, loud banging sounds could be heard. At the foot of the mountain, layers of soil were constantly being pushed down. Holes appeared one after another, and groups of people rushed out. Like a tide, they gathered at the foot of the mountain.
Fei Changliu and the others were stunned. When had so many tunnels been dug underground? There seemed to be a lot more people.
More importantly, most of the people who rushed out were carrying all kinds of weapons.
As soon as the men and horses left, all kinds of broken weapons were quickly assembled. Siege crossbows the size of horse carriages were quickly assembled under the eyes of the Immortal Retaining Sect disciples. Their movements were extremely proficient.
The people that appeared later carried the steel spears and ran out, piling them up beside the siege crossbows. After assembling the siege crossbows, several people pulled the thick bowstrings, and five steel spears were strung together. Once they were fired, the five steel spears could be shot out at the same time.
Three siege crossbows were arranged in a group, front, middle, and back. With such a sequence, they were lined up densely at the foot of the mountain.
The Immortal Retaining Sect disciples had seen the defense army training these things before, but they didn't expect there to be so many siege crossbows hidden here. How much money did this cost? The rows of steel spears were strung and gleaming with a cold light, sending chills down one's spine.
These things could be shot through the city walls, and were heavy weapons used during sieges. They could suppress the defense army at the top of the city walls, and also allow the attacking soldiers to climb up the city walls with the help of the steel spears. If they were shot at a person, it would be disastrous.
Actually, the local defense army didn't know that there were so many siege crossbows hidden here. Yuan Gang had been secretly controlling them for a long time. He had drawn up the components and had the craftsmen make them strictly according to the specifications, then secretly stored them in a secret tunnel. Once they were needed, they could be taken out and put together at any time. Usually, he only gave a small number to the defense army for training.
Behind the siege crossbows, there were square formations of men and horses, all of which were archers. After lining up, they drew their arrows from their quivers and nocked their bowstrings. They didn't pull the arrows back yet, with the arrowheads pointing down. They faced the front and waited for military orders.
Several people flashed out of the forest. They were Yuan Gang and the others who had patrolled the area. Uncle Chen pulled Yuan Gang's arm and flew over.
When Fei Changliu saw Yuan Gang, he immediately asked, "What's going on here?"
"Someone is plotting against us," Yuan Gang said, then walked over to the commander in charge of the defense army, Su Jieren.
Su Jieren, who was directing the formation, immediately cupped his hands in greeting when he saw Yuan Gang. "Master Yuan."
The two of them were old acquaintances and had known each other for a long time. Back then, he was the one who accompanied Yuan Gang to Nanshan Temple to deliver the letter. Now, his status had risen along with Shang Chaozong, and he had become the commander of the army. It was also Yuan Gang's idea that Shang Chaozong had Su Jieren guard this place.
"Is everything ready?" Yuan Gang asked.
"Everything is ready. Don't worry, Master Yuan. Even if an army of a million came, with these guys here, they won't be able to break through our defense in a short time! " Su Jieren confidently pointed at the rows of siege crossbows, then said with a hint of regret, "It's a pity. It's a little troublesome to use them to accompany the army."
Yuan Gang understood what he meant. With so many siege crossbows, even if they were dismantled and transported, it would still be a heavy burden. Just the large number of steel spears alone was a heavy burden. It was fine to transport them over short distances, but it would be difficult to rely on manpower to transport them over long distances. It would greatly delay the speed of the army's advance.
Yuan Gang: "We didn't alert the enemy, did we?"
Su Jieren: "I don't think so. We left a few hundred people to patrol the area as usual. We couldn't see anything from the outside."
As soon as he received Yuan Gang's message, he didn't hesitate and immediately executed the plan according to the rehearsal plan.
Fei Changliu walked over and asked again, "Who's plotting against us?"
"We can't be sure yet. We're just taking precautions." Yuan Gang was telling the truth.
In truth, they didn't know the enemy's situation either. Niu Youdao's order to prepare was also a precaution.
Niu Youdao predicted that there were only three ways to kill him in this heavily guarded area.
First, they could assassinate him through secret means, such as poisoning him. This was almost impossible. His food and drink were carefully monitored by professionals.
Second, they could airdrop experts into the villa to kill him.
Third, they could send a large number of troops to attack. The current arrangement was for this. They had to use the outer defensive line to prevent any internal chaos.
As long as they could defend against the third possibility, they could relax a lot about the second one. The reason was simple. It was difficult to send too many flying mounts to airdrop too many experts at once.
Fei Changliu turned around and looked at the accompanying elders. Everyone looked at each other.
They weren't fools. They had guessed that the person making a move here was most likely the imperial court, and their target was likely Niu Youdao.
Yuan Gang continued, "Sect Master Fei, the number of soldiers here is limited. In order to maximize the effectiveness of our defense, I've removed the shield formation set up at the front, so I'd like to ask the disciples of the three sects to set up a defense in front of the siege crossbows. This is to prevent cultivators with strong arm strength from throwing sharp weapons to counterattack and prevent them from disrupting our offensive formation. Also, it takes a lot of effort to load the siege crossbows. I would like to invite the help of the disciples of the three sects to speed up the process. "
The Shang Dynasty actually had quite a number of troops. In order to protect Niu Youdao, the Shang Dynasty had directly set up this area as a strategic location for the troops. There were a total of fifty thousand men and horses. How could that be considered small?
At this point, how could Fei Changliu say no? He didn't know about this at all and didn't have any backup plans. He didn't dare to go against Niu Youdao at this critical juncture. He could only nod and order his subordinates.
He also knew that in terms of a large-scale battle formation, they were no match for these people.
The disciples of the Remaining Immortal Sect came down one after another and mixed into the attacking formation to cooperate.
Although they cooperated, they were in a mess and didn't have any order. Yuan Gang frowned slightly but didn't say anything. He knew that these people couldn't compare to an army that trained every day in this kind of situation.
"Go tell Daoye that the outer defensive line is ready." Yuan Gang turned around and said to Zhu Laoba. Zhu Laoba immediately went back.
…
On the top of the mountain opposite the official road, over a dozen large flying beasts gathered together with hundreds of cultivators. Gamiao Shui and Gao Shaoming stood together and watched as a large group of cultivators from the Flying Flower Pavilion rushed out from the forest below. They flew up and down one after another, crossed the official road, and rushed towards the defensive area of Thatched Cottage Villa.
The sentries on the watchtower noticed the sudden arrival of a large number of cultivators. Someone immediately pulled the rope under the watchtower's wall clock and rang it.
The patrol team below immediately turned around and ran, burrowing into the corners of the house to hide.
Before leaving, Su Renjie ordered that once they discovered an enemy attack, they just needed to call the police and hide immediately without resisting.
He also knew that those who dared to attack here would be courting death if they relied on the remaining people to resist.
The people from the Flying Flower Pavilion and the True Spiritual Institute attacked from all sides at the same time. Cao Yu 'er, who led a group of disciples to attack from the front, shouted, "Ignore them!"
A large group of cultivators flew across the sky, ignoring the soldiers running below. This wasn't their goal. They were here to attack Thatched Cottage Villa, not to tangle with these small soldiers.
Yuan Gang, who was standing on the top of the mountain and observing the front, noticed a large number of people flying over from afar. He said in a deep voice, "They're coming. Su Renjie, it's up to you now. Block them for me!"
Su Renjie, who was wearing a straight face, didn't say anything. He drew his sword out of its sheath and pointed it forward.
The trumpeter on the side immediately picked up the horn, puffed his cheeks, and blew a dull sound of the horn.
Creaking sounds came from the foot of the mountain. The archers all raised their bows and pulled the bowstrings, pointing the arrows at the sky.
Beside the large number of siege crossbows, the soldiers raised their wooden hammers, ready to strike at any time.
Fei Changliu and the others, who were standing beside Yuan Gang, had a gloomy expression on their faces. They could all see that there weren't just a few cultivators coming. Just by looking at them, they could probably see more than the number of disciples in the entire Staying Immortal Sect.
Cao Yu 'er, who was flying over, also noticed that something was wrong. She only saw some soldiers running and fleeing at the periphery, but when she went deeper in, she didn't see a single person.
Even though it was a surprise attack to catch the other party off guard, this heavily defended area didn't have much of a reaction, which made her feel that something was wrong.
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