100: Chapter 95: Suo Hanyi Bereft of Pride!
Suo Lun’s Soaring Fighting Spirit!
100: Chapter 95: Suo Hanyi Bereft of Pride!
Suo Lun’s Soaring Fighting Spirit!
“What a bunch of trash.
I spent nearly a hundred thousand Gold Coins to arm you with an army of thirty thousand, only for you to be utterly defeated by Suo Hanyi in a single day,” chided the graceful woman in a black cloak as she walked into the rebel camp of Tianshui City, her voice cold.
Despite her veiled face, her unique voice made it instantly recognizable that she was none other than Princess Zhining.
Normally, she would never directly meet with these rebellious high-ranking Samurai Lords.
However, the miracle performed by Suo Lun forced her to condescend and personally travel to Tianshui City.
Nurdan and the other high-ranking Samurai Lords were astonished, then instinctively started to kneel but were stopped by Zhi Ning.
“My lord, we truly didn’t know that Suo Hanyi still had a portion of his troops hidden.
Thirty thousand against his ten thousand, and he still dared to conceal his strength.
After several hours of fierce fighting during the day, we thought his army was already exhausted, so we relaxed our vigilance and were caught off guard by his surprise attack,” explained Nurdan.
“Incompetence is incompetence; don’t make excuses,” Zhi Ning responded coldly.
“This time, I have brought five thousand elite troops, truly elite, not like you lot of trash.
If you cannot take down Tianshui City within three days, then you don’t deserve to live.”
That very night, Zhi Ning’s five thousand secret elite troops were mixed into the ranks of Nurdan and the other high-ranking Samurai Lords’ rebel army.
Over twenty thousand rebels once again assembled and marched toward Tianshui City the following day, enveloping the city in a total siege once again.
However, three days had passed.
Heavenly Water Main City still stood unyielding.
Zhi Ning had brought her five thousand elites to blend into the rebels, attacking the city walls relentlessly regardless of the cost, desperately trying to break through with a sacrifice of lives.
Her secret elite troops were very powerful, managing to scale the city walls several times.
But Suo Hanyi and Yan Nu, the two Dragon Samurai leading the Daredevil Brigade, were too valiant.
The enemy’s elite forces reached the wall five times, only to be wholly slain each time by the few hundred Daredevils they commanded.
Initial success is followed by a decline, and then by exhaustion.
After three days of fighting, both sides had countless dead and wounded.
Suo Hanyi’s Tian Shui City Army was nearly spent, with almost half its numbers lost.
And on the rebels’ side, even including Zhi Ning’s five thousand elites, more than half were gone.
The rebel forces led by the high-ranking Samurai Lords barely numbered around ten thousand now, and of Zhi Ning’s secret elite, less than two thousand survived.
Both sides had nearly exhausted their last ounce of strength and shed their last drop of blood.
The rebels could no longer press the attack, and the defenders of Tian Shui City had no strength to take even one step outside the walls.
Thus, a stalemate ensued, with over ten thousand rebels, plus the second and third-rate troops each high-ranking Samurai Lord had drawn from their domains, amassing over twenty thousand men to thoroughly encircle Tian Shui City, hoping to force Suo Hanyi into compromising by laying siege.
In these two days, Zhi Ning had also sent out three bands of assassins to kill Suo Hanyi.
However, of the three bands of assassins, only one returned, with all the rest falling to the swords of Suo Hanyi and Yan Nu.
Assassinating a Dragon Samurai was already an extremely difficult task, let alone succeeding when he’s constantly guarded by another Dragon Samurai, Yan Nu, as well as numerous high-ranking Samurai.
Hence, even the cunning and scheming Commandery Princess Zhi Ning was completely at a loss for what to do next.
As Tianshui City was besieged once more, Suo Hanyi still paid no heed to the rebel forces outside the city.
Despite the disparity between the two armies, time was on our side, not the enemy’s.
The grain within Heavenly Water Main City was enough to last more than a year.
Furthermore, the soldiers and civilians within the city were united in heart, and despite their weariness, their morale was high.
Wherever Suo Hanyi went, the people’s hearts were with him, making it as easy to command his forces as moving his own limbs.
On the other hand, those outside in the rebel forces couldn’t afford such a long duration.
They did not have houses, only tents.
Their food supplies had to be transported from their own domains.
Nineteen high-ranking Samurai Lords could normally only sustain an army of ten thousand.
They had overfished their resources by mustering twenty thousand at the start, and now they had called up the militia from their domains to besiege the city, massively overextending their domain’s finances.
Therefore, even with the Commandery Princess Zhi Ning’s Gold Coins backing them, the rebels outside couldn’t hold out for much longer, and they would eventually either disperse or be defeated by Suo Hanyi once again.
Although he had not slept for two days and nights, Suo Hanyi felt no fatigue, but rather, he was extremely excited.
As always, he had just completed inspecting the troops and the city.
Wherever he went, countless citizens cheered, and all the soldiers saluted him, some even kneeling.
This feeling of unparalleled superiority was far too enjoyable.
After returning to the City Lord’s Mansion, Suo Hanyi took a bath and changed clothes before he sat down on the City Lord’s throne and closed his eyes to rest.
Without a doubt, he, Suo Hanyi, was now the sole ruler of Tianshui City.
That useless Suo Lun could come back, but it would serve no purpose.
Without his approval, not even a single soldier would budge.
No matter how often Suo Hanyi told himself that even if he became the City Lord, Tianshui City would still be under his control, he couldn’t suppress the resentment in his heart.
Even though he was the highest military commander of Tianshui City, he was not the City Lord.
The titles of Count Tianshui and City Lord of Tian Shui beckoned to him as if magic were infused within them.
“My lord, there’s someone outside who claims to be a friend asking to see you,” a guardsman’s voice interrupted Suo Hanyi’s daydreams.
Male or female, old or young?” Suo Hanyi asked.
“A woman, with her face covered,” replied the guard.