Ronald's fury erupted as he shouted, "Zhang Tie, you useless fool! If we don't seize the moment now, when will we? The treasury in East Mountain City holds hundreds of thousands of gold coins! How could you return empty-handed?"
After a moment's hesitation, he bellowed, "A-Qiang! Grab a few bundles of sacks, and take half the men to raid the treasury! Take whatever you can, and anyone who dares to interfere will be killed on the spot!"
"Yes!" A-Qiang responded with a loud shout, signaling half of the soldiers to charge toward the treasury.
As they rushed away, Ronald turned to the soldier still kneeling on the ground and snapped, "Get up! Go tell Liu Long and Zhang Tie to be quick about it—grab what they can and get out! We'll meet at the designated spot in half an hour!"
Half an hour later, a group of soldiers clad in sun-and-moon leather armor hurried to the city gates, only to find them tightly shut, with soldiers lining the walls.
The young commander at the forefront shouted, "We are General Murong's men! There's a rebellion in the city, and the general has sent us to scout the situation. Open the gates!"
The commanding officer on the walls, a tall and broad-shouldered man in armor, responded, "Isn't General Murong, the kingdom's greatest young warrior, stationed at the royal city to protect the emperor? Why are you here?"
The young commander replied, "The emperor ordered our general to pursue the fugitive. Upon seeing the chaos in the city, he sent us ahead to scout. Open the gates quickly, or you'll be responsible for delaying the mission!"
The wall commander furrowed his brow, hesitating. "Do you have proof?"
The young commander pulled out a wolf-headed token from his pocket and tossed it up to the walls, exclaiming, "Here's your proof—open the gates now!"
The wall commander caught the token and examined it closely. Seeing the fierce wolf head and the engraving of Murong, he nodded and called out, "This indeed belongs to General Murong. Wait a moment; I'll open the gates!"
With a wave of his hand, he signaled a soldier to come down from the wall.
Moments later, with a creaking sound, the heavy gates slowly opened. The wall commander shouted, "The gates are open—hurry out!"
Seeing this, the young commander exchanged a few quiet words with a plain-looking soldier wearing a hat. With a wave of his hand, he led the roughly two-hundred-strong team to sprint toward the open gates.
But just then, chaos erupted!
The wall commander suddenly shouted, "Archers, prepare! Fire!"
Immediately, rows of archers stood ready on the walls, and in an instant, arrows rained down like a storm!
However, the seemingly clumsy soldiers below reacted even faster. As the commander made his move, they scattered like startled birds, disappearing before the arrows could hit.
"Damn it, I expected this!" someone shouted from below. "Shoot!"
At that command, the soldiers swiftly drew their iron bows, ready to retaliate. These were no ordinary bows—crafted for elite warriors, their power was enough to pierce armor!
A series of sharp twangs filled the air as a wave of arrows shot up toward the walls, resulting in piercing screams from the defenders. In that single exchange, at least fifty soldiers fell.