World-Ending Demon Emperor
Chapter 307 - 178: Take back the main city! Slaughter!_2

Chapter 307: 178: Take back the main city! Slaughter!_2

When the real battle began, he had actually abandoned the army of over ten thousand and entered the heartland of Tianshui City alone, bringing chaos to the city with his own strength, and in the end, even cunningly killed the undefeated commander Suo Hanyi.

No matter from which perspective, he was an extremely powerful ruler. Even though his martial skills were weak, for a lord, martial prowess was the least important.

Having such a lord, Tianshui City not only avoided being bullied, but it would’ve been a surprise if they didn’t bully others.

Facing such a lord, they weren’t close to him, but they were filled with dread.

But what should they do now? Draw their swords and fight to the death against Suo Lun?

Impossible, they had been loyal to the Suo Family for generations, and now that they knew the truth, were they really going to rebel and kill their lord?

So, what about retiring and returning to their homelands? That was also impossible, for they were professional samurai, professional knights; they knew nothing other than fighting. Leaving Tianshui City would make them wandering samurai, but would they really go to the great forests to hunt Barbarian Tribes’ heads for a living?

Thus, only one choice was left.

Loyalty to Suo Lun, loyalty to their true lord.

"What are you waiting for?" Yang Hongyi said coldly, "Don’t forget that your lord Suo Lun still has an army of fifteen thousand outside Tianlang Pass, hard-bitten mercenaries eying your positions greedily."

With those words, the two leaders of the thousand-man cavalry immediately removed their helmets and knelt on one knee.

"Tianshui City Guard, First Thousand Knight, Suo Danchen, pays his respects to the lord."

"Tianshui City Guard, Second Thousand Knight, Suo Danyu, pays his respects to the lord."

Like Suo Mu, both men had originally been longtime vassals of the Suo Family and had already changed their surnames to Suo.

One couldn’t be a thousand knight without being a high-ranking knight, nor could one be a ten thousand knight without being a Dragon Knight. Both of these thousand knights were high-ranking knights and the finest cavalry officers.

Suo Lun extended his sword diagonally, and the two thousand knights stepped forward to kiss its blade.

From then on, both of these thousand-knight units were completely loyal to Suo Lun.

"Two thousand knights, assemble your troops and return to Heavenly Water Main City," Suo Lun commanded, "Retake Heavenly Water Main City before dawn."

"Yes," the two thousand knights said.

...

Two quarters of an hour later, two thousand cavalrymen assembled and marched mightily back to Heavenly Water Main City, with Suo Lun and his people concealed among them.

The seaside was over three hundred miles from Heavenly Water Main City, and by the time they reached the city, it was completely dark.

At that moment outside the city, the ragtag army of over ten thousand had already fled without a trace, leaving behind corpses scattered everywhere.

"Open the gate," the First Thousand Knight, Suo Danchen, called out loudly.

At that time, a tall figure rode atop Suo Lun’s Lion-Tiger Beast, wearing Suo Hanyi’s golden armor and red robe, with a tiger mask.

Originally, the two thousand knights had wanted Suo Lun to pretend to be Suo Hanyi to enter the city, but Suo Lun refused, so they chose a robust man from among the cavalry, whose physique resembled Suo Hanyi, to impersonate him.

Looking down in the light of the fire, the guards at the city gates didn’t have the slightest suspicion and called out loudly, "City Lord Suo Hanyi returns in triumph, open the gates."

Boom, the massive gates opened.

Suo Lun, blending in with the two thousand cavalry, once again entered Heavenly Water Main City.

Immediately, countless refugees around him knelt and celebrated, congratulating Lord Suo Hanyi on his victorious return and successful defeat of the traitor Suo Lun.

This Suo Hanyi was indeed a complex contradiction, noble yet degenerate, strong yet weak.

After entering the City Lord’s mansion, Suo Lun had the First Thousand Knight take over the entire mansion’s defense while Suo Mu and a hundred other family samurai took charge of Suo Lun’s personal protection.

"Issue the order, all officers above the rank of centurion in Heavenly Water Main City must come to the City Lord’s mansion for a meeting."

"Yes!" said the two thousand knights.

Immediately after, the First Thousand Knight, Suo Danchen, hesitated and said, "My lord, the six thousand City Defense Army within Heavenly Water Main City are truly loyal to the Suo Family; should I offer a warning to the senior officers of the City Defense Army?"

"No need," Suo Lun shook his head, "We’ll discuss everything in a bit."

"Yes," Suo Danchen said respectfully, and then went out to issue the order, with Suo Lun’s family samurai following them to signify supervision.

...

Suddenly, only Ye Jingyu, Yan Nai’er, and Yang Hongyi were left in the room.

An excited Jingyu walked back and forth in the study, saying, "Master, we’re finally back in Heavenly Water Main City’s mansion once again, we’re truly home now."

Suo Lun smiled and said, "Not yet, we must secure control over all the military forces of Tianshui City and defeat Zhi Ning’s Allied Army before it’s truly considered taking back the Suo heritage."

Jingyu asked, "Once the military officers of Heavenly Water Main City arrive later, what do you plan to do?"

There were a total of ten thousand soldiers inside Heavenly Water Main City, meaning there were a hundred officers ranked centurion and above.

The ten thousand strong were divided into two factions; six thousand were the loyal Tianshui City Guard, all of whom had been personally trained by Suo Hanyi.

The other four thousand were Nurdan and others’ rebel troops.

Suo Lun said, "Execute all officers of Nurdan’s rebellion. For the officers of the Tianshui City Guard, those willing to pledge loyalty to me live, the rest shall be executed."

At those words, Jingyu trembled, saying, "Those rebel officers could’ve been made to swear loyalty to you."

"I don’t trust them," Suo Lun replied, "It’s understandable for the Tianshui City Guard to be loyal to Suo Hanyi, but Nurdan and other high-ranking samurai leading the troops are outright betrayers."