It was a rare good thing that it landed on their heads, but at this moment, the generals were extremely hesitant and did not dare to accept this job.
The plight of Commander Liu had really frightened them. They were afraid that they would follow in Commander Liu’s footsteps and be assassinated.
Although credit and appreciation were good, they had to be alive to benefit from it!
Seeing this, the An Zhou Magistrate was a little angry. He blustered, “Are my An Zhou Prefecture’s generals all cowards? You eat the king’s salary, but you can’t share his worries. Are you actually afraid of a mere herd?”
What nonsense. You’re not the one leading troops, you don’t know what this concept of silently assassinating inside a camp is. Of course you’re not afraid…
If even a thousand troops could not protect the general, where else was safe?
A general cursed inwardly and braced himself to speak out carefully,
“This Chen Feng is now active in An Zhou, and his madness has worsened. Many county officials have already died at his hands. In my opinion, we should let the troops guard the capital and wait for him to leave… Have you forgotten about what happened in An Lin Prefecture?”
He did not want to send troops, but he was afraid that the magistrate would order them, so he simply reminded him of a possible scenario.
— Don’t forget that Chen Feng has a criminal record of causing trouble in other state capitals. If we take the troops away and he wants to harm you, you can only pray for yourself.
The magistrate was stunned for a moment before his expression changed slightly. He coughed and changed his words, “What you said makes sense. Let’s think about this at length.”
He finally got terrified.
If he was as unlucky as the An Lin Magistrate and lost an arm, what was the point of successfully suppressing the bandits?
No matter how big the world was, one’s life was still the most important.
Seeing this, many of the generals present secretly heaved a sigh of relief.
In normal battles, they were not afraid of bandits, but when they encountered such an assassin who could come and go as he pleased, they were really terrified and did not feel safe.
…
On Red Cloud Mountain, many leaders were gathered. The atmosphere was solemn and tense.
“The Imperial Court has sent 30,000 troops to attack my Red Cloud Mountain. What should we do?”
Yu Feng spoke with a heavy tone.
The leaders looked at each other with similarly solemn expressions.
The four Lu River States did not hide their tracks. Every state sent out a troop of troops and marched with great fanfare. They were now known as the “30,000 Bandit-Suppressing Army”.
Red Cloud Mountain had also obtained the news. During this period of time, everyone on the mountain was in a panic, and the leaders were also a little flustered.
The three mountains were united in name, but they had yet to be fully integrated. The Imperial Court had indeed caught them off guard by sending troops at this juncture.
Yu Feng was originally thinking of a way to resolve the merger, but at this moment, he had no choice but to turn around to deal with the Imperial Court’s suppression of the bandits. If he could not defeat the soldiers, the stronghold would be wiped out.
Li Chun pondered for a moment before saying, “There are 30,000 troops on paper from the Lu River States, but in fact, there won’t be more than half of them.”
Lu Xinniang nodded, “Then let’s fight head-on and repel the soldiers so that the Imperial Court will know how powerful we are.”
“That’s still 15,000 people, and the soldiers’ weapons far exceed ours. How can we win head-on?”
Peng Jin immediately retorted.
He was unwilling to face the enemy head-on. After all, Tiger Head Mountain and Yellow Pond Mountain had the most people, so they would definitely be the main force. There would be heavy casualties, and in the end, his own faction would be weakened.
“Then what does leader Peng think about this?”
Yu Feng asked in a deep voice.
Peng Jin did not have any ideas either. He stammered, “In my opinion, we can only take the risk and defend.”
Xu Gui shook his head and said loudly, “It’s not feasible to defend against danger. The soldiers have supplies, and our stronghold’s supplies are limited. How can we outlast our opponent? If we want to win, we can only take the initiative to attack!”
He originally wanted to go against Yu Feng, but he also understood the logic that when the lips were gone, the teeth would feel the cold. If Red Cloud Mountain lost, Tiger Head Mountain and Yellow Pond Mountain would not be able to survive.
Xu Gui knew this very well, so he temporarily put away his thoughts of fighting for power and decided to come up with a plan to defeat the soldiers first.
Yu Feng’s eyes lit up as he hurriedly asked, “Leader Xu, what do you think?”
Xu Gui shook his head, “The officials are powerful. We can only gather slightly more than 10,000 troops at most. If we fight head-on, we will definitely not be a match for the officials. If we want to break through the enemy, we have to use the mountain’s terrain to make use of the geographical advantage. However, although Red Cloud Mountain is steep, it’s inferior to my Yellow Pond Mountain. It’s too late to temporarily modify the fortifications, so we have to win by surprise.”
“How do we win by surprise?” Yu Feng asked.
Xu Gui stroked his beard and pondered for a moment before saying, “Oh, we can feign defeat and obtain the trust of the soldiers to lure the enemy in. We can use the stronghold as a trap…”
He mentioned a few strategies, all feasible, but all of them were risky moves that could not be guaranteed.
When everyone heard this, they were a little hesitant.
At this moment, Xu Gui sighed and said,
“Unfortunately, if Chen Feng was here, we wouldn’t have to take such a risk. He can fight an army alone. With him around, our chances of winning this battle will be at least 20% higher.”
When Yu Feng heard this, he also sighed, “Sigh, I wonder if Brother Chen will rush over to help when he hears that my stronghold is in trouble.”
Lu Yunzhao shook his head in response,
“Most likely not. He doesn’t owe us anything anymore. Why would he come back to accompany us in danger?”
At this moment, a lackey rushed in with a pleasantly surprised expression.
“Report! Leaders, good news!”
Everyone was surprised at the talk of good news.
“Tell me quickly.” Yu Feng was a little surprised and waved his hand for the lackey to speak.
The messenger shouted excitedly,
“Before the 6,000 troops of An Zhou Prefecture could leave the state border, the leaders were assassinated by Second Master Chen. They retreated to the state capital and did not dare to come out! Of the four troops, one of them had already been frightened away by Second Master Chen!”
“What?!”
The expressions of the leaders changed drastically. They suddenly stood up and were overjoyed.
Li Chun was greatly moved, “Brother Chen is actually willing to help and take the risk to assassinate the commander of the troops?”
“Brother Chen is really a hero of the world. I think no one in the Green Forest can compare to him.” Lu Xinniang was extremely excited.
“We owe him a huge favor this time.”
Yu Feng sighed.
Xu Gui was also left in shock.
However, as the previous victim, his emotions were still quite stable.
“With Chen Feng taking action first, the hearts of the other three troops will definitely waver. We can do something to dampen the morale of these soldiers. Perhaps we can take advantage of…”
With Zhou Jing’s good news, the leaders seemed to have a Sea Calming Needle in their hearts. Their previous panic was swept away, and they were all re-energized.
…
The news of 30,000 troops coming out of Lu River to suppress the bandits spread like wildfire. Although not everyone had heard of it, there was not much difference at this point. Even the citizens of the nearby provinces had heard of it.
As for the encounter of the An Zhou Prefecture army, as soon as it spread, it caused a sensation.
Chen Feng had actually infiltrated the army alone and killed a large number of officers. In the end, he had even retreated unscathed, scaring the entire army back to the state capital. This matter shocked the Green Forest, and his reputation soared to unparalleled levels!
Those who heard about this exclaimed that there was indeed no wrong nickname in the world.
This “Death Beckoning Yama King” lived up to his name. No matter where his opponent was or how many troops were protecting him, if he wanted someone to die at night, they would not stay alive past dawn!
It was a real Yama King!
As for his other nickname of the “number one expert in the Green Forest”, it became more and more popular. Some people even felt that this Chen Feng was the strongest assassin since ancient times. Even if they flipped through the history books, they had never seen such a brave person.
At the same time, Chen Feng’s “Writ of Purging Evil” also spread, causing countless shock to arise from his deeds.
For a moment, he became the most frequently discussed topic in the town. All kinds of his deeds were repeatedly talked about.
Countless taverns and teahouses had storytellers embellishing Chen Feng’s deeds into stories, especially the recent “Single Spear Flattens Two Mountains” and “Walking Through Camp Alone At Night”. Every time they finished speaking, they would obtain an outstanding ovation from the audience.
While his reputation was spreading, Chen Feng did not stay idle. He had already left the Lu River and stepped into Jiangchun.