I started as an exile, and I relied on space to support my family of loyal heroes.

There was peace in Shuitian City. The soldiers had eaten and drunk their fill and lay down in their soft and warm beds.

The soldiers of Crescent City were on edge, hiding in their tents with empty stomachs, listening to the screams outside.

The soldiers brought by Shi Qiang were so scared when they saw their commander's tent being shot into a hedgehog.

Why did they suddenly start fighting among themselves out of nowhere?

The soldiers brought by Shi Qiang had no desire to protect Shi Qiang.

Seeing the commander's tent in such a terrible state, they all hid back in their own tents, huddled together and shivered.

At this moment, they were in a dilemma whether to run or not.

If you run, you will easily be shot to death by arrows. If you don't run, you will feel like you are waiting to die.

After half an hour of fighting, the area around Shi Qiang's tent finally became quiet.

"General, no one from our army was killed in this battle, but some soldiers suffered minor injuries."

"Very good." Cong Chongqiu stood at the door of the hedgehog-like tent, covered in blood. He listened to his subordinates' reports and finally let go of his worry.

"The soldiers have worked hard. After disposing of these bodies, let the cook prepare a meal for everyone."

"That's right." Cong Chongqiu stopped his men who were about to leave.

"Go and move all the fine food in Shi Qiang's tent to the wounded camp to feed the wounded soldiers."

The bloodstains on his body were all from those four assassins, and a lot from the old patriarch.

He used the old patriarch as a human shield, and no matter how quickly those assassins withdrew their hands, they would always accidentally hurt the old patriarch.

Every time those assassins injured the old patriarch and shocked him, he would take the opportunity to launch a sneak attack.

Just like this, after a few blows, when the old patriarch was covered with wounds and twitching in pain, the four assassins were also dealt with by him.

The old patriarch was also killed by him.

Things have come to this point, there is no need to leave anyone alive.

"Yes!!" The soldiers rushed into the tent excitedly, dragged the corpses out of the tent, and carried out all the fine grains hidden by Shi Qiang.

Cong Chongqiu looked at the corpses being carried out of the tents. When he saw Shi Qiang, his brows immediately frowned.

"Wait!"

The two soldiers carrying Shi Qiang's body paused and turned to look at Cong Chongqiu in confusion.

Cong Chongqiu walked up to Shi Qiang, whose face was pale, and placed his hand under his nose for a moment.

"Carry it away."

Cong Chongqiu didn't feel any breath and waved his hand to signal the soldiers to carry him away.

He just felt that Shi Qiang died too easily and was a little worried.

However, being stabbed in the heart would make it difficult to survive.

Cong Chongqiu pursed his lips and looked towards the direction of the imperial city.

From this moment on, he didn't know how long he could keep these soldiers safe.

The soldiers' retreat must be arranged before the news reaches the imperial city.

Cong Chongqiu took a deep breath and shifted his gaze to the deep dark mountains.

This huge mountain range can easily accommodate hundreds of thousands of people.

The problem is that it is winter now, and it is already difficult for the large wild animals in the mountains to survive, so they are more likely to attack humans than usual.

The beasts in the Dark Mountains are particularly ferocious.

If we only occupy a few mountains on the periphery, it will not be safe enough.

Cong Chongqiu frowned and felt annoyed as he looked at the bodies of the assassins being dragged away.

"General, is everything resolved?!"

The military advisor watched the soldiers dragging away the corpses, and looked towards Cong Chongqiu with a slightly relaxed expression.

When the sounds of fighting stopped, he felt extremely nervous.

He only felt relieved when he saw Cong Chongqiu's figure appear at the door of the hedgehog tent from afar.

I'm glad the general is okay.

"Yes." Cong Chongqiu nodded, "But the soldiers may have a hard time in the future."

When the old patriarch and Shi Qiang were preparing to kill him, this move was initiated and he had to make it.

He took action first, and his soldiers had some time to plan.

If he just sits there and waits for death, these soldiers will fall into Shi Qiang's hands and die even faster.

A general who does not take the lives of his soldiers seriously will not be able to defeat them no matter how many soldiers he has.

Shi Qiang's battle plans never took the lives of the soldiers into consideration, which was something he absolutely could not tolerate.

If there was a general who cared about his soldiers, he would not be so radical to this point.

"Ah~" the military advisor sighed, "This is already the best result."

"If they fall into Shi Qiang's hands, their lives will be even more miserable."

Cong Chongqiu shifted his gaze from the Dark Mountains to the direction of Shuitian City.

"It won't be long before we are attacked from both sides."

"We must take advantage of this time to arrange the retreat of the soldiers."

The military advisor followed Cong Chongqiu's gaze and looked towards Shuitian City.

Looking at the brightly lit walls of Shuitian City in the distance, a hint of envy flashed in his eyes.

The enemy troops were well fed and warmly clothed in the city, while their soldiers were sleeping in the open air and going hungry.

Given this comparison, it is really difficult to defeat the enemy.

Recently, the smell of meat has been constantly spreading in Shuitian City. The aroma wafts over all day long, making the soldiers very greedy.

He even suspected that Shuitian City had collected all the meat in the city and deliberately cooked the meat around the city walls every day to tempt their soldiers.

"Do you think the enemy's reinforcements have arrived?"

The military advisor frowned as he looked at the shadowy figure swaying on the city gate tower in the distance.

I always feel like there are more people on the gate tower of Shuitian City.

It's just too far away, so I can't see it clearly.

If it weren't for his good eyesight, he might not even be able to see the shaking black dot.

Cong Chongqiu squinted his eyes and saw only a blurry light and nothing else.

"It's hard to say. If their reinforcements have arrived, why don't we see the enemy launching an attack?"

The enemy reinforcements that Cong Chongqiu was hoping for did not arrive, otherwise his soldiers would not even have a chance to catch their breath.

The military advisor pulled the corner of his lips and glanced at the bloodstains on the ground.

"The strategy of sowing discord has already been used. The next step is either to attack or... to persuade the general to join them..."

The fighting on their side made quite a bit of noise, the enemy should have discovered it long ago.

Under normal circumstances, the enemy would take advantage of their internal strife to attack directly.

But the enemy obviously did not do so, which means that the enemy hoped that they would surrender to them.

Cong Chongqiu frowned and looked at Shui Tiancheng, his lips tightly pursed.

Surrender to the enemy...

Dark Mountains!!!

........