Chapter 93: Strange and Unsettling Dreams

  Shi Jin sent off Shi Qian, and now another person sat down quietly. He didn't know how fast the government troops would move, but he knew that with Shi Qian's speed, it was enough to complete within an hour. Now, whether the ambush succeeded or not was actually unimportant. Even if Shi Jin didn't arrange for people to kill halfway, with the existing military strength and defense of the mountain stronghold, under the leadership of Zhu Wu, the Divine Mechanism General, they could still cope.

  But now Shi Jin is concerned not about how to consume the enemy's living forces, but rather who is sitting in the main camp at this moment. Is Director Meng really seriously injured and unable to get up, or is he using a minor injury to pretend to be a ghost, specifically numbing our side's vigilance?

  At this moment, Shi Jin couldn't accurately judge the outcome, but he believed that no matter whether the ambush succeeded or failed, when Shi Yan returned to report, he would bring back the answer he wanted to know. As long as Meng Zongwu, the old fox, was gone, the combat effectiveness and threat of his troops would be greatly reduced. At that time, not only would the city be defended, but it would also allow Shi Jin to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted.

  Shi Jin's hand tapped on the map where the large camp was marked, and a wry smile floated up. Shi Jin suddenly remembered something, stood up abruptly, and brought his entourage to stand on the west gate tower again, looking at the distant government army camp, which still had no major movement. But Shi Jin knew that the current battle situation had changed, regardless of whether Meng was seriously injured or pretending to be dead, last night's soldiers had revealed their trump card without reservation, enough to illustrate a problem, this is not just a show of force, but also conveying an important message, that is, it will no longer play down, the general attack is about to begin, and everything will end.

  Now Shi Jin stood on the city wall, but suddenly felt a little lonely for some reason. Although there were not many soldiers, there were still people like Chen Da and Wu San Gou who could stand alone in the army, but now, after several battles, only Shi Jin was left dead or wounded.

  Once the general attack begins, it will no longer be like before, playing cat and mouse, but a real-life confrontation with swords clashing and lives at stake. At that time, all four city gates of Huayin County will be attacked by government troops. If Director Meng is unscathed and leads this general attack, he will surely use cunning tactics, making it difficult for Shi Jin to defend both the front and back, and the consequences will be unbearable. Moreover, the current military strength is not sufficient, which is another headache.

  Shi Jin let out a sigh, and with his entourage, circled the city walls once, especially rearranging the defense deployments at each of the four city gates. Only then did he slightly catch his breath. At this time, Jin Jie had already distributed grain and fodder to the civilians after a night's hard work, and now set up cooking stoves according to Shi Jin's instructions to cook porridge, filling the bellies of the soldiers. After drinking a bowl of rice porridge, Shi Jin felt drowsiness creeping over him.

  When Deng Zilong returned to the top of the Western City Tower, he heard the brothers defending the city say that about half a column earlier, they vaguely saw a cavalry rushing in the opposite direction towards Lian Shan Kou.

  Shi Jin knew that was the light cavalry that attacked Shao Huashan, but with Meng Du's method, the troops shouldn't have been so slow, something must have gone wrong.

  Shi Jin nodded, although he was somewhat puzzled in his heart, but they left late, which was a good thing for Shi Yan and Yang Chun.

  Shi Jin thought to himself as he gazed far away at the western camp of the government troops. The two large gates of the camp were tightly closed, with no signs of any soldiers coming or going, as if each camp had become isolated and was fighting its own battle.

  This silence seemed to everyone like the calm before a storm, but in Shi Jing's eyes, he felt more and more that the impending storm had already begun within the official army. Perhaps Meng Dujuan was really not up to it. However, Shi Jing couldn't feel happy at all, he didn't know why, nor could he explain why, but deep down in his heart, the increasingly intense sense of oppression brought an extremely depressing atmosphere closer and closer... Shi Jing didn't know what he would face next, but he knew that before they arrived, he had to be prepared.

  Shi Jin arranged for the brothers guarding the city to take turns resting, and he himself sat back in the armchair in front of the map, before long, his eyes gradually sank, and he accidentally fell asleep.

  It was midnight when Shi Jin woke up again. He got up and rubbed his sleepy eyes, but the scene in front of him shocked all his senses. The cowhide map in front of him had been burned with large and small holes by sparks, and the entire west city castle tower was also smoked and burned to a mess. Even the most solid beam on the top of Chen's building was charred black, showing a weak and fragile appearance.

  Shi Jin didn't know what had happened here while he was asleep, why he hadn't noticed anything, and why he hadn't even seen a single person.

  "Golden footboard! Golden footboard!"

  Shi Jin called out several times, but no one came in, nor did anyone respond. Shi Jin felt something was amiss and quickly got up.

  But for some reason, Shi Jin's limbs were stiff and numb all over, as if thousands of fine needles were piercing his muscles and bones, unable to exert any strength. Shi Jin made a great effort to take the first step, but his feet felt like they were stepping on cotton, and he struggled to the door with one foot deep and one foot shallow, leaning against the wall for support.

  The moment Shi Jin stepped out of the gate, he was completely stunned. In the distance, the official army camp was engulfed in a sea of flames, with fierce fires raging and smoke billowing into the sky, like the fiery pits of hell. Amidst the inferno, the distorted silhouettes of the soldiers could be seen struggling and twisting, their anguished cries and screams filling the air as they were consumed by the intense flames.

  And all of this was not what truly shocked Shi Jin, those terrifying visual impacts were mostly from the front. Those brothers from Shao Hua Shan who were right in front of him, each with seven orifices bleeding, their eyes bulging due to excessive blood flow, were filled to the brim with fear.

  What they encountered before their death, Shi Jin still can't imagine. Now the ground is covered with a thin layer of blood plasma, all the brothers are scattered and killed in this bloody pool, their abdomens are split open, their internal organs are spilled all over the ground, but the swords they deserved are still intact in their scabbards.

  It seems that there is no sign of a fierce battle. Did they die without being able to resist? If so, what did they encounter and why didn't they have any consciousness at all?