Exiled to the Frontier, He Became the Empire’s Most Powerful Lord - Chapter 9

Zhou Lingfeng suddenly smiled and had Hong Jiuming push him onto the training ground.

The 30,000-strong army was now lined up neatly on the training ground, showing that Fan Liu was indeed quite capable.

Of course, it’s only a little, definitely not much.

“Your Highness, the army must be assembled within a quarter of an hour, otherwise it will be suspected of treason!”

Fan Liu then said in a sarcastic tone.

“Don’t worry, it won’t take that long!”

Zhou Lingfeng gestured for Hong Jiuming to step forward and speak.

“Soldiers, His Highness the Barbarian King is taking up his fiefdom today! By order of His Majesty, he has come to the western suburban camp to select one thousand personal guards! However, our Barbarian King is not one to accept just anyone, so he has come to choose them personally!”

Hong Jiuming said loudly.

Fan Liu’s face grew even more smug; with such words, no one was even more likely to be willing to become his personal guard.

“I will only say three sentences now. Anyone who disobeys my orders will be executed immediately.”

Hong Jiuming’s voice was filled with murderous intent.

Those aged 35 or older but under 16 should leave the training ground.

Hong Jiuming’s first words left less than half of the 30,000 soldiers.

“Those with parents at home must leave the training ground!”

After the second sentence, there were less than five thousand people left.

“Those who have never fought in a battle, leave the training ground!”

Hong Jiuming’s third statement was that fewer than three thousand people remained.

Fan Liu’s face was full of disdain. These people were indeed the elite of the Western Suburbs Camp, but how could they be taken away by the mere name of the Barbarian King?

The soldiers who had left the drill ground were now watching from a distance, and many of them were gloating.

If anyone is chosen to go to Python City, they’re really in trouble!

“Your Highness, you can’t force the brothers to go if they don’t want to!”

Fan Liu emphasized his words from the side.

“I never compromise my word!”

“Bring everything up!”

At Zhou Lingfeng’s word, the assassins immediately moved ten boxes to the training ground.

“What’s this?”

“The box looks quite heavy, could it contain silver?”

“Keep dreaming! If it’s money, I’ll swallow it all!”

No one believed that Zhou Lingfeng would spend money to recruit personal guards.

“If you are absolutely unwilling to go to Python City, you can withdraw now!”

Hong Jiuming then said something.

Of the less than three thousand people in the queue, a few hundred had already left! The remaining people were all robust, their eyes darting around with a sharp, shrewd light.

Without a doubt, this is a group of veterans, and also thugs!

They immediately found a loophole in what Hong Jiuming said.

“Great, let’s open the box!”

Hong Jiuming roared, and immediately someone opened all the boxes.

“Holy crap, it’s gold!”

“So much gold must be worth at least ten thousand taels!”

“My God, could all this gold belong to a barbarian king’s personal guard?!”

Many soldiers looked on with shining eyes and began to regret their actions.

“Here is ten thousand taels of gold. Anyone willing to become the prince’s personal guard will be rewarded with ten taels of gold as a settlement fee!”

Hong Jiuming said loudly.

The soldiers were instantly excited, their eyes fixed on the dazzling golden light!

Ten taels of gold, that’s a hundred taels of silver!

Twenty acres of the best fertile land can be bought.

Besides, these soldiers are all alone; they only need to eat their fill so their families don’t have to worry about them!

The allure of ten taels of gold is simply irresistible.

They would dare to fight and kill even if Zhou Lingfeng ordered them to do so in the next second!

The soldiers began to shout wildly, all wanting to receive ten taels of gold, but there were two thousand people on the drill ground.

Fan Liu was dumbfounded. Let alone ordinary soldiers!

The barbarian king is so generous, he even wants to go with him.

“Your Highness, two thousand people is too many!”

Hong Jiuming said with difficulty.

This time, Zhou Lingfeng exchanged all his possessions for gold, amounting to over ten thousand taels, but the problem was that Emperor Yuanwu only gave him a thousand personal guards.

“If there are too many people, let’s have a competition and pick out a thousand!”

Zhou Lingfeng said casually.

Fan Liu’s eyelids twitched, and he hurriedly said, “Your Highness is not suitable for this!”

If they choose like this, all the elite troops from his western suburban camp will be taken away.

“What? You were just mocking me before! With the imperial decree here, even if I kill you, it will be in vain!”

Zhou Lingfeng looked at him with a gloomy expression.

Fan Liu shuddered and immediately fell silent!

These princes who have been enfeoffed are the most difficult to deal with. If they really kill him, would His Majesty really uphold justice and punish his own family?

An hour later, Zhou Lingfeng left with a thousand elite troops, completely satisfied!

Fan Liu was left behind with a long face, along with the other soldiers who were filled with envy.

This barbarian king is really generous; when he said he would give ten taels of gold, he really meant it!

Moreover, he personally distributed them.

It’s truly worth risking your life for a master like that!

Unfortunately, I made the wrong choice.

Zhou Lingfeng was in a very good mood!

These thousand guards, the weakest of whom had reached the rank of 7, were all at least rank 7!

I never expected to find such a treasure in this western suburban camp.

He divided the thousand men into four battalions, including a personal guard battalion of one hundred men, all of whom were the youngest, with the intention of training them well in the future.

The remaining three battalions are designated as the Mountain Battalion, the Wind Battalion, and the Fire Battalion!

Three commanders were appointed, each with the strength of a seventh-rank martial artist.

Not long after leaving the western suburban camp, Zhou Lingfeng convened a meeting with his commanders and Hong Jiuming.

“I won’t hide it from you, the next few days may not be peaceful! Especially tonight, there will definitely be an army launching a night attack!”

Zhou Lingfeng immediately spoke up.

“Even if Your Highness doesn’t say it, your subordinates have already guessed it!”

The commander of the Mountain Battalion, Yang Wufeng, smiled and said confidently.

“Oh, then tell me how to deal with this next!”

Zhou Lingfeng was somewhat surprised; it seemed he had indeed recruited some talent.

“Your Highness, Brother Yang is our strategist, but he hasn’t been promoted because he doesn’t know how to flatter Commander Fan!”

“The commander of the Wind Battalion, Yue Peng, said with a loud laugh.”

“That’s right! When it comes to swindling people, I, Liu Yunfei, only admire Brother Yang!”

The commander of the Fire Battalion also spoke.

“Your Highness, please look, this is a map of the area within a hundred li outside Shengjing!”

Yang Wufeng opened a sheepskin map, which was drawn in quite a lot of detail.

“According to the prince’s normal schedule, we will usually set up camp by the Yunhe River, which is about 30 miles away, after nightfall! After all, the Yunhe River has clear water and a wide view, which is very convenient.”

Yang Wufeng speaks at a slow and steady pace, which easily inspires confidence in people.

Zhou Lingfeng didn’t speak, gesturing for him to continue!

Yang Wufeng was thrilled to see that a prince was so courteous to his subordinates.

“Under normal circumstances, this is no problem at all! But if a cavalry unit were to raid us at night, just two or three hundred cavalrymen could wipe us out!”

Yang Wufeng continued.

“There are no cavalry in the western suburbs camp! The only place in the entire Shengjing that can mobilize several hundred cavalry, and which is unknown to the public, is the Imperial Horse Administration!”

Yang Wufeng said slowly and deliberately.

“The Grand Eunuch of the Imperial Horse Stable is the Consort’s man, while Your Highness and the Fifth Prince have a bad relationship. Today, when you left the city, you even broke his brother-in-law’s limbs and hung him on the city wall.”

Yang Wufeng stopped there.

“It seems you’ve been waiting for me all this time!”

Zhou Lingfeng looked at Yang Wufeng and suddenly laughed.

This person is very interesting, and just from what he just said, it has already proven that he is a great talent, and may even be a polymath.

“Your Highness, please understand! You are the legitimate son of the Empress, the rightful heir of the Great Zhou Dynasty. The injustice you suffered back then must have been unjust! My parents received great kindness from the late Empress, and I, Yang Wufeng, will follow you to the death and serve you for the rest of my life!”

At this moment, Yang Wufeng actually knelt down and bowed to Zhou Lingfeng.

“Yang Wufeng, could you be the son of Imperial Censor Yang from back then?”

Hong Jiuming pondered for a moment and then asked.

“good!”

Yang Wufeng nodded, and Zhou Lingfeng also remembered the iron-willed censor who had died remonstrating with Emperor Yuanwu.

If it weren’t for my mother’s pleading back then, the entire Yang family might have been wiped out!

“It seems I have met a great talent!”

Zhou Lingfeng was naturally very happy.

The Yang family is a scholarly family, and Yang Wufeng actually has a seventh-grade martial arts cultivation level, which means that he abandoned his studies to pursue martial arts later.

“Therefore, all my men will be under your command on this mission!”

Zhou Lingfeng said decisively.

Now, in addition to being able to detect the true energy fluctuations of most martial artists, he can also sense their goodwill and malice.

Yang Wufeng’s kindness towards himself was so strong that it was impossible for him to fake it.

“Yes, sir!”

Yang Wufeng didn’t hesitate and accepted it directly.

As night fell, firelight flickered along the Yunhe River, and many figures sang, danced, and revelled!

The two scouts, lying in the grass, almost drooled as they smelled the aroma of roasted meat wafting through the air.

They carefully and slowly retreated, silently mounting their horses and riding away.

Twenty miles away, in a secluded thicket, three hundred knights were hiding, waiting for the night to fall.

Zhou Lingfeng had a thousand elite infantrymen under his command. If they were to fight head-on, even if the cavalry won, it would likely be a Pyrrhic victory.

If the losses are too great, we won’t be able to explain it when we get back!

Not to mention that if Emperor Yuanwu found out, everyone involved would be executed along with their entire family.

Which emperor could tolerate the assassination of a prince who was born into the family of the Empress?

They had Zhou Lingfeng and his group’s plan under control; all they had to do was wait for nightfall and launch a surprise attack to kill everyone!

Then set the body on fire to destroy the evidence, so no one can find out!

Until late at night, there was no longer a trace of barbecue smell in the air!

The fourth watch of the night is when people are at their most drowsy!

Even a third-grade grandmaster is a little slower than usual.

“Our target tonight is the Barbarian King!”

The cavalry commander gave a gesture, and all the cavalrymen moved slowly.

All the warhorses’ hooves were wrapped in cotton cloth, so they moved silently.

Three hundred meters ahead, hundreds of tents were set up in a continuous stretch, and soldiers sat guarding the campfire, looking drowsy.

“charge!”

The cavalry leader was overjoyed, and all the warhorses began to accelerate, charging towards the camps.

These makeshift tents could not withstand the impact of warhorses, and the soldiers sleeping inside would be trampled to death in their sleep.

The air was thick with the smell of alcohol. This barbarian king’s debauchery tonight was simply his fate.

The cavalry leader was already fantasizing about how the Fifth Prince would reward him!

His target was the central camp, where he would personally cut off the barbarian king’s head and use it as a football.

This was said by His Highness the Fifth Prince himself; the Barbarian King’s head would be rewarded with ten thousand taels of gold.