Chapter 538: Jing Jue

Chapter 538: Jing Jue

Chapter 538: Jing Jue
In order to raid the Kingdom of Jingjue, kill the Queen of Jingjue, eliminate the influence and control of the Xiongnu over the Western Regions, and at the same time help lay the foundation for victory in next year's Battle of Mobei, Huo Qubing decided to disguise himself as a wedding party with the soldiers and escort Prince Gumo to the Kingdom of Jingjue to get married.

On the day of the wedding, the weather was very gloomy. The people of Gumo knew that their prince had made sacrifices for the country, and they lined the road to see him off.

Afterwards, the wedding procession, led by an old guide, followed the trace of the Zidu Dark River and went deep into the famous Black Desert.

This black desert is a Jedi in the Western Regions. Legend has it that it is extremely dangerous and ordinary people who enter it will often die. However, the Kingdom of Jingjue is located in this black desert.

Everyone was struggling to move forward in the barren desert. Huo Qubing, one hundred soldiers, and the Western Region mercenaries played by Matt Damon and his companions, as well as Princess Gumo who was discovered on the way, mixed into the team. The other elite cavalry troops followed the marks left by Huo Qubing and his companions and followed far behind.

The journey was certainly extremely difficult. The conditions in the desert were extremely harsh. Even though everyone had been prepared, brought enough water and food, and the team was large enough, they still suffered a lot.

Especially when they lost the trace of the Zidu Dark River in the vast black desert.

"Zi Du" means "shadow" in the local ancient language, which means that this underground river is as elusive as a shadow.

Without the guidance of the secret river, they could only rely on the guide.

It was also at this time that Huo Qubing began to truly pay attention to the Jingjue Kingdom and the Western Regions.

As a general who was well-versed in military books, he certainly knew the impact of geographical factors on war.

Fortunately, he planned before taking action and infiltrated the Gumo Kingdom's team. Otherwise, if he was really arrogant enough to launch an action rashly, I am afraid that this black desert would be the burial place of his own army.

After losing the guidance of the underground river, the team could only rely on the guide's experience and feeling to move forward.

Just when Huo Qubing and other Han soldiers were marching towards the Jingjue Kingdom, Yumen Pass was once again attacked by the coalition forces of the Xiongnu and the "Snake Puppet".

This time the Huns had obviously learned their lesson. They knew that Yumen Pass was tall and easy to defend but difficult to attack, so they took advantage of their swift mobility and began to harass the entire pass continuously day and night.

If there were no Great Wall blocking Yumen Pass, they might even send troops to attack the rear of the pass and besiege the entire Yumen Pass.

But even without the complete encirclement, the night attacks by the "Snake Puppet" still posed a considerable threat to the soldiers guarding Yumen Pass, and the movie featured several scenes of the night attacks.

In the dark night, the "snake puppets" twisted rapidly in the desert and sneaked quietly with extremely slight sounds. At the same time, their sharp claws and strong upper arms also allowed them to easily climb up the city walls.

Fortunately, Huo Qubing had made arrangements before he left. Not only were there people patrolling the wall day and night, but there was also a complete set of early warning measures. This prevented the "snake puppet" from successfully launching a sneak attack and breaking through the city.

But even so, many "snake puppets" sneaked into the city, causing certain casualties and damage.

The situation at Yumen Pass began to deteriorate. On the other side, after a dangerous journey, the exhausted wedding party finally arrived at the Jingjue Kingdom.

"Mount Lagzama! Mount Lagzama!"

In the early morning, not long after the team set out, the old guide suddenly pointed his hand into the distance and shouted excitedly.

Huo Qubing, the leader of the prince's personal guards, sat on a camel. With the help of the afterglow of the setting sun, he looked in the direction of his finger and saw a faint black line at the end of the sky and earth. However, the distance was too far and it was blurry and could not be seen clearly.

"Are you sure?" Huo Qubing subconsciously licked his cracked and peeling lips and questioned.

It was not that he did not believe the old guide, but he had seen the legendary mirage in the desert. Those strange sights were illusions that could lead people to the abyss of death, so he was a little skeptical about the various scenes that appeared in the distance.

"It can't be wrong!"

The old guide said with great certainty.

"There are many illusions in the desert, but I haven't seen any of them. But I have seen that black mountain several times, so it can't be wrong."

Since they were not far from the Jingjue Ancient City, the wedding party did not stop and set off in a hurry under the scorching sun.

As the distance got closer, the black shadow in the distance became clearer. I could see that it was a black mountain range, like a still black dragon in the vast yellow sand. The mountain range was cut off in the middle, and there should be a mountain pass in the middle.

However, as the saying goes, "A horse will die if it runs too far up the mountain", Huo Qubing and his companions found the right direction and walked until dusk before they reached the mountain pass.

At that time, the setting sun was as red as blood, dyeing the entire desert into a sea of ​​fire.

In this sea of ​​fire, two huge black mountains stood facing each other in the afterglow of the setting sun, like two ancient warriors in black armor, silently guarding the ancient secrets.

As the wedding procession got closer, the Nazagrama Mountains became clearer and clearer. The mountain was undulating and pitch black all over. It would be more appropriate to describe it as two oversized black stones rather than mountains.

These two black boulders are tens of kilometers in diameter each and appear here very abruptly, with only a shallow ridge showing in the sea of ​​sand. The larger part is buried underground. Perhaps underneath, the two boulders are connected as one, and the mountain pass may be just a crack in the boulders.

Huo Qubing and others arrived at the mountain pass, where of course there were soldiers from the Jingjue Kingdom guarding. They saw the wedding procession from afar, and the Gumo flag in the procession obviously made these Jingjue soldiers relax their vigilance.

However, the team was still stopped. It was not until the envoy from Gumo Kingdom came forward to explain his purpose and showed his identity documents that they were able to pass through the valley that was like a gate under the supervision and guidance of the Jingjue soldiers. Then a legendary city appeared before their eyes.

In the fiery red desert that looks like lava, the huge black city is crawling there like a monster.

Perhaps because of the natural dangers of the desert and the protection of two holy mountains, it has no city walls. There are countless towers in the city, and the houses built with black bricks and stones are full of exotic style. The roads are also very wide.

But the most eye-catching and prominent thing is the black stone tower located in the center of the city.

Dali is the most central point of the city and also the tallest building in the city, which is nearly 20 meters high. It can be said to stand out among the buildings that are only one or two stories high.

With the scale of this Jingjue City, it can accommodate 50,000 to 60,000 people.

The famous cities such as Loulan that Huo Qubing and his men saw after they went deep into the Western Regions had only a population of 10,000 to 20,000 and an army of more than 3,000 people in their heyday.

This point alone is enough to illustrate the magnificence of Jingjue City.

As a country located in the desert with inconvenient transportation and scarce resources, the fact that Jingjue could build such a magnificent city is enough to show how severely they oppressed the conquered small countries around them. No wonder Prince Gumo was willing to cooperate with Huo Qubing and his men. Gumo's wedding procession was naturally welcomed by Jingjue, and Huo Qubing and his men also sneaked into the city with them.

Walking on the broad avenue, the hard stone bricks under your feet looked like they were cut from the black mountains in the distance.

At this time, Huo Qubing also discovered another strange situation, that is, in the Jingjue City, except for some officials, guards and maids who came to greet them, there were no citizens of Jingjue gathered around to watch. This was completely different from the behavior of the citizens of Gumo when they set out before.

Even if they occasionally saw some local residents as they moved forward, these people looked at them with strange eyes and then hurriedly hid in their houses.

Such a strange atmosphere immediately made the wedding party, who already had ulterior motives, feel depressed and uneasy.

But now that things have come to this, they can only take things one step at a time.

The team was taken to their residence by officials from the Jingjue Kingdom, and then they said that the queen wanted to meet Prince Gumo.

Huo Qubing and others naturally did not want the prince and the Queen of Jingjue to meet alone, but facing the guards of Jingjue and the large Han army still outside, they had no choice.

Fortunately, the Queen of Jingjue really wanted to marry the prince, and there were no major problems during the meeting. Prince Gumo didn't even get to see the Queen of Jingjue in person, but only saw a silhouette of the Queen through a thick gauze curtain.

Afterwards, the wedding party stayed in the spacious courtyard of the residence, waiting for the wedding day in a few days.

During this process, there were of course soldiers from the Jingjue Kingdom guarding outside the courtyard, but Huo Qubing and others were all very skilled, and those Jingjue soldiers were poorly armed, so it was naturally difficult to prevent them from sneaking out of their residences under the cover of night, gathering news in the city, collecting intelligence, and understanding the terrain.

In the process, they met a girl who was half Loulan, and obtained more information about this country and the Queen of Jingjue from her.

According to the little girl, Jingjue Kingdom is a matriarchal society where women hold absolute power and men are required to do the vast majority of the work.

And once those men reach a certain age, they are often driven into temples to serve the gods.

As for where the temple is, it is naturally the tallest building in the city, and it is also the residence of the Queen of Jingjue, the supreme leader of the Jingjue Kingdom.

The Queen of Jingjue also possesses a magical power. It is said that she is not a human, but the incarnation of the Ghost Mother of the Netherworld in the human world. Her eyes can communicate with the underworld and exile those who disobey her and those who oppose her.

Huo Qubing and others were naturally skeptical about this and asked the girl about it, but she said that she had never seen the Queen of Jingjue exile people to the underworld and that she had only heard about it.

However, although the Han people kept their distance from the concepts of ghosts and gods, they did not completely disbelieve in them.

What's more, they had seen the weird and powerful snake puppet monster before. That creature really looked like a demon that escaped from the Nine Nether Hell.

So Huo Qubing quickly formulated two plans, "Plan A" and "Plan B".

The wedding day of Prince Gumo and Queen Jingjue arrived in the blink of an eye. Although it was a foreign country in the Western Regions, people here still took marriage seriously.

The wedding day was also very lively. Not only were the citizens in the city asked to leave their houses, but even some other vassal states of the Jingjue Kingdom sent envoys to celebrate the queen's wedding.

They all stood on both sides of the spacious central avenue, cheering for the Queen and Prince of Jingjue who passed by.

Just as the prince and the queen were sitting in the sedan chair and preparing to return to the palace, several assassins suddenly jumped out from the crowd and launched an assassination attack on the Queen of Jingjue.

These assassins were naturally disguised as Han soldiers, but facing this sudden assassination, the Queen of Jingjue was not panicked.

Even if an assassin was extremely powerful and broke through the guards' obstruction, the Queen of Jingjue would only lift the veil in front of her and look at the attacking assassin with her eyes.

Then the assassin's whole body was seen flickering, then gradually becoming ethereal, and finally disappearing into the air. Not only the man, but even the clothes and weapons on his body disappeared completely.

Such a horrifying and strange situation naturally surprised Huo Qubing who was observing in secret.

The legend turned out to be true!
The eyes of the Queen of Jingjue did have a strange magical power, and they made a living person disappear out of thin air.

"Protect the Queen!"

Seeing that Plan A was not working, Prince Gumo immediately implemented Plan B. He was the first to stand in front of the Queen of Jingjue, pretending to be loyal, and even prepared to help her block the hidden arrow.

Of course, with the Queen of Jingjue around, the hidden arrows could not reach Prince Gumo, but this also won him a little favor from the Queen of Jingjue.

The appearance of the assassin afterwards naturally made the Queen of Jingjue very angry, but no one was caught alive at the scene. Except for the assassin who disappeared because of the Queen of Jingjue's gaze, all the others escaped.

As a result, the entire Jingjue City was immediately placed under martial law, and the envoys from the Western Regions who came to celebrate were placed under strict surveillance, because these people were undoubtedly the most suspicious.

However, despite the martial law, the wedding was held as usual. At the same time, the husband, Prince Gumo, also prepared a dish of golden lamb for his wife, Queen Jingjue, which is a must-have for people in their country when they get married.

The Queen of Jingjue did not doubt her husband who had just helped her block the arrow, and ate the mutton out of respect.

At the same time, a celebratory dinner was started in the palace. The ministers of Jingjue Kingdom were happy for the queen's wedding and tasted delicious food and enjoyed fine wine.

As the prince's fellow townsmen, Huo Qubing and others who were wearing makeup were naturally allowed to participate in the banquet. When the wedding banquet became lively, they stood up one after another and began to toast the ministers of the Jingjue Kingdom around them, and even the soldiers on duty around them, saying that everyone should be happy on such a day.

As for the wine they used for toasting, that was naturally the dowry brought over by the wedding party from Gumo Kingdom.

The wine of Gumo Kingdom was naturally delicious and intoxicating, and soon a large number of ministers and soldiers of Jingjue Kingdom in the banquet hall fell down.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Huo Qubing shook off his drunken state, his eyes were like cold stars, he stood up straight, and began to give orders.

The final battle in the movie "The Great Wall" is about to begin at this point.

(End of this chapter)