Chapter 1 An Unspeakable Feeling

Leading his three thousand elite Imperial Guards on a journey under the stars, Zhuo Xianchen felt an indescribable mixture of emotions. He had indeed landed a good assignment. Ye Tao had instructed him to enter Western Xia from another direction, attacking Su Bei Town. Although Dongping's history was filled with territorial expansion, which had led to its relatively vast land today, Dongping had not launched an offensive against Western Xia for decades. Even this small-scale raid, if executed well, could put Zhuo Xianchen on the radar of the military bigwigs, paving the way for a bright future, a future far smoother than the one he could achieve by relying on General Zhuo Mang's efforts to promote him.

However, this mission was not easy to carry out. Ye Tao required him to conceal the identity of the Dongping Imperial Guards, to create his Tian Wang stronghold, make it big and strong, disrupt Su Bei Town, a crucial town burdened with increasingly heavy logistics due to Jiang Xujing's deployment of a large army. He was to exacerbate the already strained relationship between the northern Western Xia officials, military, and civilians caused by the Zhen Bei Army's fundraising efforts. He was to give "hope" to the Western Xia people who had fled into the mountains to avoid taxes and become bandits… Ideally, he was to make Tian Wang stronghold a banner leading the Western Xia people in their anti-imperialist and anti-feudal struggle…

Zhuo Xianchen couldn't figure out if this mission was a reward or a punishment. In Ye Tao's later, private instructions, he mentioned that his code of conduct, besides not exposing the Dongping Imperial Guards' identity, must also be "mysterious, powerful, and inspiring." These requirements, if placed on a unit of the Blood Kirin Army, especially Chi Lei's scout cavalry, would be music to their ears. But placed on the usually calm, steady, and meticulous Zhuo Xianchen, they were not so pleasant.

Fortunately, Chi Lei was considerate of this unfortunate man he had known for years, and selected two extremely resourceful soldiers from his scouts, who were very skilled at feigning supernatural abilities, to advise Zhuo Xianchen. Speaking of feigning supernatural abilities, the scout cavalry camp had a tradition. Making strange noises and creating visual effects at night to startle their scouting targets, then observing their reactions to indirectly gauge their strength, morale, and the commanding general's temperament, was a tried-and-true secret skill of the scout cavalry camp. As their experience in this area grew, they even developed a complete method of using intimidation and creating an atmosphere of terror to demoralize the enemy, hinder their rapid advance, and assist the main force's frontal operations. Although this method was not compiled into a written form to become one of the army's training programs, everyone knew it well and enjoyed it.

The two men assigned to Zhuo Xianchen were masters of feigning supernatural abilities. The one named Chen Sanlang first "invented" a uniquely structured, lightweight whistle. When air flowed through this arm-thick whistle, it would emit a sound very similar to the imagined wails of ghosts. Chen Sanlang then invented a simple throwing glider that allowed this thing, named "Ghost Whistle," to fly back and forth in the air, creating a sound effect similar to ghosts howling and flying in the air. During the experiment near the Blood Kirin Army camp, it really startled the Blood Kirin Army. Later, when they found out that Chen Sanlang was playing tricks, he was beaten severely. But his reputation for being clever and strange in feigning supernatural abilities spread throughout the Blood Kirin Army.

The other one, known as Xiao Gu, was an elite among the Blood Kirin Army's sergeant-level officers. Other officers and sergeants would complain about the quality of the mission after receiving orders, but he never had any joy or complaint in this regard. Any mission in his hands, he could always find ways to complete it differently from others, and these differences were his source of fun. When Chi Lei led the scout squad to Benlang Plain for preliminary scouting, Xiao Gu took advantage of the loopholes in Chi Lei's vague orders, actually went deep into the grassland with his few men, worked hard for a long time, and produced a roster of the Northern Tribe Alliance and a brief list of their forces. In this process, their small scout team disguised themselves, kidnapped and extorted, and even "friendly" drank and ate meat with some coalition generals. Most exaggeratedly, they even met Western Xia officials stationed in the coalition to coordinate cooperation between the two sides… When they returned, even though they brought back invaluable intelligence, Chi Lei still scolded them severely. But throwing Xiao Gu to Zhuo Xianchen, in a situation where the surroundings were full of enemies and dangers, and required flexible responses, this guy should be able to perform miracles again.

Behind this cross-border operation, there was also the assistance of some arrangements in Western Xia that the Dai family had been operating for many years. For example, their ability to bypass a series of Western Xia border defenses and enter Western Xia silently was thanks to a young man named Shang Suixun sent by the Dai family, who led them through a road not marked on the map, directly through the mountains into Western Xia. Although this road was dangerous, it had been clearly built and well maintained. In the future, Zhuo Xianchen's three thousand men would largely depend on this path for supplies.

But Zhuo Xianchen never thought about getting any more supplies. They were going after the logistics of the Western Xia army. If they couldn't solve their own supply problem while carrying out this mission, it would be too strange.

Each of the three thousand Imperial Guards who entered Western Xia received two new pieces of equipment: a hooded cloak and a mask. It would be foolish for them to march like this in broad daylight, but when they traveled at night, the sinister and dignified aura created by this attire was quite impressive.

"General, we found something ahead…" Chen Sanlang suddenly ran back to report. The two scout cavalrymen who temporarily joined Zhuo Xianchen's unit were fully utilized. They now commanded Zhuo Xianchen's scouts, who were slightly inferior to them in professional skill.

Zhuo Xianchen waved his hand and said helplessly, "Let's do the whole act, don't call me General."

Chen Sanlang grinned and said, "Big Boss, there's a group of people ahead, looks like they're escorting someone. How about we do a hit?"

Zhuo Xianchen smiled wryly and said, "Look at you, do a hit… you really sound like you mean it. Who are they?"

"Not sure, but at this time, in Western Xia, although it's close to the border and the situation is a bit tense, it's still relatively peaceful. To have two hundred Western Xia soldiers escorting a large number of carts so slowly, they shouldn't be small characters, right?" Chen Sanlang stated truthfully. Chen Sanlang added, "And they're heading south, so many escorts are even more unusual."

Zhuo Xianchen didn't think much, no matter how careful they were, they wouldn't be afraid of two hundred soldiers. He immediately gave the order: "Leave one thousand people to rest in place, you take some people and spread out to get a grasp of the surrounding situation. I'll take five hundred people to intercept."

Chen Sanlang grinned and asked a bit impertinently, "Big Boss, are you still doing that trick from last time?"

Zhuo Xianchen sighed, "My men probably only know that trick, I know it's not professional enough… but, it'll have to do."

Although Zhuo Xianchen was not professional in the robbery business, after a carefully planned hijacking, everyone had some experience. More importantly, the attire of their group stunned the team of over three hundred people, including the carts themselves, as soon as they appeared. Five hundred cavalrymen were all wearing black and gray hooded cloaks, wearing different forms of masks, and silently surrounded the three hundred people in the middle. They were silent, seemingly because it was not easy to speak while wearing masks, but the metal-gloved hands and the gleaming long knives protruding from their cloaks fully showed that this was by no means an ordinary team.

A Western Xia officer spurred his horse forward and shouted, "Which unit are you from? This is the Tai Zhou Administration Commissioner's carriage, do not rush." The officer never expected this to be a team from Dongping. The bright armor and weapons made him think this was a Western Xia cavalry unit being transferred to the northern border. However, in the next moment, he knew how wrong he was. With a whoosh, a short crossbow bolt was nailed into his throat, and he fell off his horse in disbelief.

Zhuo Xianchen was also depressed that it was not convenient to speak with a mask on, of course, he was too lazy to speak in this situation. The Tai Zhou Administration Commissioner was a big fish. As the northernmost state capital in Western Xia with a complete administrative structure, Tai Zhou had a considerable area of jurisdiction and was responsible for supplying the Zhen Bei Army Division, a military administrative unit north of Tai Zhou. No matter who this group was, it seemed that there must be important figures from the Tai Zhou Administration Commissioner inside, and so many large carts, the wealth inside must be considerable… Zhuo Xianchen waved his long knife and rushed forward, taking the lead in the attack.

Zhuo Xianchen was indeed not very good at robbery, but when he encountered this relatively formal confrontation, Zhuo Xianchen and his men fully demonstrated their professional skills. Five hundred cavalrymen against two hundred infantrymen, who were hastily surrounded and panic-stricken, even if there were many courageous people in the carriages who joined the battle, they could not change the fact that this was a completely one-sided short battle. After rushing back and forth twice, and paying the price of several people injured, the battle was over. Before Zhuo Xianchen had time to inspect who was trembling in the carriage, a soldier suddenly came up and whispered, "Big Boss, the two carts in the back are full of gold and jewelry, and some valuable things."

Zhuo Xianchen was stunned. He immediately believed the judgment of his soldiers. They were Imperial Guards. Although there were many sons of noble families in the army, because they sometimes undertook the defense of important places such as the royal palace and Danyang, they had also received some training in how to appraise and protect things such as ritual objects and antiques, to avoid soldiers damaging good things with their clumsy hands. Although they did not have the valuation skills of senior appraisers and merchants, their vision was still good. Who exactly was this group? Zhuo Xianchen nodded, signaling that he understood, and then used the long knife in his hand to lift the curtain of a carriage.