The Attack of the Wastrel

Hey guys, great news!  Two more top-performing sneak peek Chinese novels licensed from Zongheng have left VIP-only and are available for you to read, each with fifty chapters and a 2/day schedule!  These novels are Yama Rising, translated by Minotauruz (who did the great translation of Demoness' Art of Vengeance) and Star Odyssey, translated by OMA who did Warlock of the Magus World and City of Sin!  Both are veteran and highly capable translators, and I'm excited to bring this to y'all.

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Hearing this, the citizens of the Shixi County, who initially did not believe Rong Yuan was jolted awake as they reflected on what he said.

“Our prince is powerful and capable, how could he have been defeated so easily? You must be lying, everyone don’t be fooled by him!” But they themselves knew that their strong reactions were due to the frenzy they felt internally.

Rong Yuan laughed lightly, easily seeing the internal conflict that they were having within themselves. He asked back, “If your prince has not been defeated, why is he not the one returning?”

This sentence weighed heavily on them. That’s right…if their prince was still alive, why would Rong Yuan be the one who arrived here first?

Yuan Zheng, who had just chased up to Rong Yuan, muttered a silent prayer for the Dayin Kingdom’s citizens in Shixi County. Even he was confused and surprised by Rong Yuan.

They had agreed to attack Shixi County directly when the Dayin forces were attacking Sangbo Town. Since when did attacking turn to trying to take over? Since when did it become trying to trick someone into opening the city gates?/

Seeing the silhouettes of the Silver-Armored Troops slowly nearing, Rong Yuan estimated how long it would take Ding Wei to catch up with them. He then claimed in a cold voice, “I will count to a hundred and you will have to give me an answer. Surrender or get attacked. If we have to take down the city walls, I will not be able to hold my men back if they decide to vent their anger from the past few days of battle on you. I hope that you all will take the opportunity to make the decision before my Xia Kingdom troops arrive.”

Rong Yuan then glanced at Yuan Zheng. Yuan Zheng immediately raised his voice and started counting, “One, two, three, four…”

Yuan Zheng was counting neither fast nor slow, and his voice had a clear and crisp tone to it. Such a rhythmic counting made listening to him very enjoyable.

But the people in Shixi County had no mood to consider this. Their eyes widened as they stared at Yuan Zheng in horror, completely lost on what to choose.

Open the city gates? What if the Third Prince of the Xia Kingdom was tricking them? What if they didn’t open the city gates? What if their prince had really been defeated? Would they really be facing the fury of the Xia Kingdom soldiers?

Everyone’s thoughts and emotions were in a frenzy as they wished Yuan Zheng could slow down. It would be the best if he never ever counted to one hundred.

A pity that Yuan Zheng’s voice remained consistent as he continued to count, “Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen…”

In this time, Yuan Hang had also arrived with the second group of Silver-Armored Troops. In the next few moments, the other three groups of Silver-Armored Troops had also joined them. The last to reach was Wu Ming. Yuan Hang grabbed his reins and laughed at Wu Ming, whose face was red with indignance, “Skinny monkey, I am waiting for my alcohol.”

Rong Yuan remained unmoving as he said, “I want a jar.”

“I queued an entire day and only managed to buy two jars, how can you all be so shameless to take them all?” Wu Ming complained.

Rong Yuan glanced over him simply, “Admit defeat.” Wu Ming faltered as he looked bitterly at Rong Yuan, “Your Highness, you don’t have to join in my bet with them right?”

Rong Yuan snorted from his nose, “Observers have a part, who asked you to be so slow?”

At this moment, Yuan Zheng had already counted to fifty-nine. Wu Ming diverted the conversation, “Your Highness, why is he counting? Did he do something to anger you and is being punished right now?”

Rong Yuan chuckled softly as he retold the story in a low voice. Everyone who was listening to him was dumbfounded but had to maintain a neutral expression so that the people in the city did not realise something was off. It was extremely hard to maintain their expressions.

“Your Highness, you’re the best!” Wu Ming struck a thumbs up pose as he did not know how to describe Rong Yuan’s brazen ways. He suddenly turned over and played along with Rong Yuan, shouting at the city gate, “Bastards! Are you all still not going to open the gates? Do you need me to personally chop off your heads?”

Hearing Wu Ming’s demeaning tone, the guards on the city gates were furious but did not dare to show it.

Ding Wei had taken with him eighty percent of the city’s military might and only left a small number of guards to guard the city gates. If Rong Yuan were to attack, with their limited forces, they would not be able to resist for long.

Yuan Zheng continued to count and every number he said was like an additional stone weighing on their hearts, making it difficult for them to breathe.

All of a sudden, a group of people seem to appear, kicking up a dust storm in their wake. It was the Dayin’s soldiers catching up!

Rong Yuan’s eyes flashed as he shouted, “Silver-Armored Troops, listen up! When the majority of the Dayin’s troops are here, attack the city!”

“Understood!” The Silver-Armored Troops exclaimed in unity even without knowing the truth. They did not care whether they would be able to take down the city gates with just a few hundred of them. They knew what problems the Dayin’s soldiers would cause for them and had to listen to Rong Yuan’s orders. Even if they had to cross a mountain or an ocean, they would follow his orders blindly. These were the Silver-Armored Troops that were personally trained by Rong Yuan. He personally selected and built this troop to listen to his orders without question!

Lai Yanqing had never been so conflicted before. As the leader of the soldiers guarding the city gates, he had never been placed in a position where he had to make such a difficult decision.

On the outside, every count Yuan Zheng called out was like a hammer to his heart. He felt helpless and did not know what to do. He could not believe that the prince would be defeated so easily. That was an army consisting of three Martial Sages, how could they have been defeated so easily?

But Rong Yuan had a determined expression and did not seem like he was lying. He was lost on what to decide.

As a soldier, he should be willing to sacrifice his life and fight to the very end as an appreciation to his country, but as a border guard, he had to consider the citizens’ life behind these gates. His decision would have a great impact on the people behind the walls. What should he do?

“Leader, let’s open the city gates.” A soldier standing next to him tugged on his sleeve and pleaded. “The prince has already lost, even if we don’t open the gates, they are bound to enter. Why don’t we take the chance to surrender? Maybe they will take into consideration our ability to adapt to changing circumstances and let us continue guarding the city gates.”

“That’s right. Leader, I heard that the Third Prince is an honourable man and does not mistreat his subordinates. Since it has already come to this, why don’t…”

There were some that encouraged him to open the gates while others remained suspicious of Rong Yuan. Just as he was fluctuating and confused, there was an uproar behind him. Turning his head, his eyes widened. It was Shi Yang – the lord of Shixi County.

As the lord of Shixi County, Shi Yang wielded power equivalent to the king here. Maybe it was due to the fact that he was enjoying life too much, he had grown ridiculously fat. The mountain of fats swayed as he walked, causing the floor to tremble. He was wearing a fearful expression as his piercing voice shouted, even before he could reach the city gates, “Quick open the city gates, open the gates! Even if you all want to die, I want to live longer. A bunch of idiots! If even the prince lost, how will we be able to defend against them?”

At the same time, the two frantic voices could be heard from the guard tower, “This is not good. The large army of the Xia Kingdom is here. There are so many people…”

Rong Yuan’s voice ordering the Silver-Armored Troops to get ready to attack sounded at the same time. It was like a sword pointing towards everyone, forcing them to make their decision.

“Ninety-six, ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one…”

“Open the gates!” Before Yuan Zheng could count the last number, Lai Yanqing bellowed. His eyes were filled with indignance and impatience.

He had guarded the city for half his life and never thought that he would be opening them for the enemy…

Seeing the heavy iron gates slowly open before their very eyes, the Silver-Armored troops and Gu Lingzhi looked at Rong Yuan weirdly. It…actually worked!

Automatically taking the look Gu Lingzhi was giving him as admiration, Rong Yuan lifted his chin and said, “What are you all still standing here for? Are you waiting to be ambushed?” He then urged his wildebeest to enter the city.

Everyone was shocked as they watched the Dayin’s soldiers approaching them, rapidly entering the city on their wildebeests.

Although the Silver-Armored Troops were fast, there were only a few hundred of them. In the time they took to enter the city, it was sufficient for the guards to take a glance at the army that was heading towards Shixi County in the distance. The soldiers were wearing the Dayin Kingdom’s armor.

When the guard in the watchtower saw the armor that the army in the distance was wearing, he was in disbelief as he rubbed his eyes, thinking that he was imagining things. But after rubbing his eyes a few times, the army still appeared to be wearing the Dayin Kingdom’s armor. Especially the man being protected in the middle of the troop. If he did not remember wrongly, that was what their prince was wearing when he left today morning.

Could it be...?

The guard on the watchtower burst out in joy, but he soon froze. It did not matter if their prince had returned, they had…surrendered.

Realising that they could have been tricked by Rong Yuan, the guard lowered his head and wanted to tell everyone what he was seeing. Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly felt a heavy pressure on his breathing. An indescribable force was pressing onto him, causing him to fall to the ground in a kneel. He looked up at Rong Yuan’s warning eyes. Even his breathing had become difficult, much less trying to speak.

When the entire Silver-Armored Troops entered the city, a few smart soldiers immediately dismounted and closed the city gates without needing any instruction from Rong Yuan.

“What are you all doing?” Shi Yang blinked, not understanding why they had closed the gates. Wasn’t their army still behind?

Just as he said this, the guards that were still standing on the city gates suddenly shouted, “It’s His Highness, His Highness has returned!”

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