Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

Chapter 915: Lowly Blood
"what!"

With a scream, the waiter was kicked down by King Sanabharma. King Sanabharma stepped over the waiter's body, pushed open the door of the temple and rushed in. The high priest who was kneeling in front of the shrine turned around and said in a calm voice: "Your Majesty, you should know that interrupting the recitation of the Vedic scriptures is an ominous sign. The gods will bring disaster!"

"The gods have brought disaster! No, it should be said that the gods are bringing disaster!" Sanabamo's eyes flashed with anger. He walked to the window, pulled down the curtains with force, pointed outside the window and shouted: "Look with your own eyes, the Tang people are using thunder and fire to burn our ships, then the docks, the city, and finally your temple! No one can escape!"

The high priest walked to the window. The original meaning of Shiva Bhadraishura is "the holy mountain belonging to Shiva". As the name suggests, this temple is located at the highest point in the entire city. Standing at the window, you can easily overlook the entire city and the nearby river. The high priest stood at the window, motionless like a stone statue. Outside the Ram Gate, across the ruins of the former fishing market and dock, the river was blazing with flames. The fleet of the Linyi people had almost all turned into torches, and many merchant ships docked on the shore and many bamboo and wooden houses on the shore were also burning. The kiss of the raging fire turned the once-mighty ships into funeral pyres and turned people into living torches. The air was full of smoke, burnt odors and screams.

On the river farther away, he could see several large gray-black ships moving slowly, with balls of fire spurting out from them from time to time, and the rumbling sound that followed was like the legendary Indra's war drum, which was chilling. At the northwest corner of the pier, several ships of various shapes had already docked at the pier, and men waving weapons rushed down the gangplank and rushed towards the nearby houses and merchant ships, shouting and killing to the sky.

"Where are our troops?" the high priest asked in a trembling voice.

"The fleet no longer exists!" The king pointed to the river in the distance. "Even if there are still some, no one dares to board the ship. There are not enough people to row the boats. The Tang people have mastered the power of thunder and fire. Before our ships get close, thunder and fire are sprayed from the Tang people's ships, destroying both the people and the ships. As for the infantry, I have sent people to guard the city walls, but most of the troops are in the fortresses on the border. No one thought that the Tang people could attack from the sea!"

"What about the war elephants and cavalry?" asked the high priest.

"War elephants?" The king laughed, his face full of sarcasm. "High priest, don't you know that these beasts are most afraid of fire and thunder? If you pull out the war elephants, they will be frightened and turn around and run away, trampling their own people into meat paste. As for the cavalry, what use are they when defending the city?"

The high priest opened his mouth. At this time, a river breeze blew, mixed with thick smoke. The wind blew up the curtains and lashed the high priest's face. He wanted to pull them apart, but his thick and long beard was tangled with the curtains and he couldn't pull them apart for a while. The high priest realized that he was in a mess, just like the Linyi Kingdom today.

"I am so stupid! My father is the same. He spent a full thirty years of his income on this stupid old man and his gods!" The king looked at the high priest who was struggling in pain in front of him with disdain. Only then did he realize how clumsy and weak the old man was. He waved his hand: "Forget it, I'm going to command the army. As for you, you can do whatever you want, pray, curse, rituals, anything! For this country, for this temple, the gods, and yourself! You should know, if the Tang people invade, what will happen to you and your gods!" After that, he left the high priest, turned around and walked quickly outside.

Heba Yun stood on the forecastle of the Longtail Whale. Not far away, an Arab merchant ship had lowered its sails and hoisted a white flag, a signal of surrender. On the distant dock, flames danced on the bamboo buildings, crackling and hissing, drowning out all the screams, and hundreds of people jumped into the river, either drowning, burning, or both.

"Did you hear those screams, King of Linyi? This is just the beginning! It is also the punishment for your conspiracy and intrigue!" Heba Yun looked at everything in front of him with a sneer. The merchant ships that followed him had all landed. The people who had been patient for a long time rushed to the dock. They waved spears and swords and rushed towards the warehouses and merchant ships on the shore, killing every man they saw and tying up every woman. And this is just the beginning, what follows will be even more exciting.

"General!" The captain's voice came from behind. Heba Yun turned around and saw the captain of the "Longtail Whale" and several officers on the ship next to him. Their faces were full of eager expressions. Heba Yun smiled and said, "What's wrong? Are you jealous?"

"General, the brothers are getting a little anxious!" said an officer, "We worked so hard to kill the prey, we can't let these guys eat all the meat, can we?"

"Eat meat?" Heba Yun laughed. "You call that stuff outside the city wall meat? It's just fur! Go tell the soldiers that the good stuff is in the city, especially the temples. The treasures of the Linyi people are there."

"There are quite a few here!" Someone said anxiously, "Why give these guys a bargain!"

"Don't be so stingy. They are leading the way for us. We can't just not give them any benefit, right?" Heba Yun said with a smile, "The Linyi people suffered on the water, so they will definitely want to get it back on the shore! Why should we suffer in the front? Let the soldiers be patient, the good things are still to come!"

Perhaps the gods also heard Heba Yun's prediction. The gate closest to the dock opened, and a large group of Linyi warriors poured out. They were holding weapons, and their armor was shining in the firelight. They looked dangerous and frightened. Faced with these new enemies, the attackers retreated, dropped the things they had robbed, and ran to their own ships. The Linyi warriors chased after them, and blood and shouts of killing suddenly rang out.

"Gugar, it seems that your people are really not very useful!" Heba Yun said with a smile.

"Of course they can't compare with the troops of the upper country!" Gu Jiaer said with a smile, "But at least they led the Linyi army out of the city, which can be regarded as making the best use of their resources!"

"Make the best use of everything?" Heba Yun laughed. "That's a good word. I'll remember your contribution. Tell the captain that we can launch the rowboat!"

With a series of neat calls, a rowing boat was lowered from each side of the Long-tailed Whale. There were two such rowing boats on the Long-tailed Whale. Each rowing boat had four pairs of long oars and could carry twelve fully armed soldiers, as well as a small cannon. When the soldiers boarded the rowing boats, they began to sail towards the shore.

About twenty minutes later, six rowboats headed for the shore. Smoke and flames obscured the sight of the people on the shore. In fact, when the rowboats approached the shore, the Linyi warriors discovered the enemies. Shotguns and volleys swept over like raindrops. Many people fell down in groups before they understood what was happening. Then the second time, the remaining people screamed and fled everywhere. The rowboats slowly approached the shore.

——————————————————————————————In the ruins, Zhanbo carefully kept his body close to the ground to avoid being discovered. Not far away, dozens of soldiers were coming ashore from the rowboat, most of them holding a strange short spear. The last few people carried a strange cart from the rowboat. There was a strange big copper bottle on the cart. Zhanbo didn't know what this strange thing was used for. After he saw the Tang ships beating the Linyi navy on the river, he hurried back to the dock, but he didn't expect the gatekeeper to see the battle on the river, and his first reaction was to close the city gate. Zhanbo, who had an old injury on his foot, moved slowly and was blocked outside the city. Fortunately, he was very familiar with the situation at the dock and found a secluded place to hide.

Zhanbo was thinking about how to get out of this situation when he suddenly saw a man who looked like an officer stand up and shout to the soldiers. Then four or five soldiers stood up and walked towards him. Every few steps, they poked the bushes with their short spears, obviously searching for any remaining enemies. Zhanbo could not help but secretly groan and pray to the gods and Buddhas to help him escape this situation.

While Zhanbo was praying, he suddenly heard a loud shout. Two Linyi warriors rushed out of the bushes not far away. One turned and ran away, while the other waved a scimitar and rushed towards the group of Tang soldiers. It was obvious that the latter wanted to cover the back of the man in front. The Tang man used the short spear in his hand very methodically. He blocked the slash of the Linyi warrior in two or three strokes, and stabbed the opponent through with a backhand thrust, killing him instantly. At this time, the man in front had already run fifteen or sixteen steps away. I saw several Tang soldiers next to him holding up their short spears and pointing the spear tips at the fleeing man's vest from a distance. With a loud bang, a ball of fire sprayed from the tip of the short spear. The fleeing man seemed to have been hit hard out of thin air and fell to the ground and did not move.

"These Tang people really have the power of thunder and fire!" Zhanbo, who was lying on the ground, could see clearly that the thunder and fire that could kill people at a distance were ejected from these short spears. The once arrogant Linyi warrior fell on the stone steps, his helmet fell to the side, and there was a big hole on his head, with blood and brains gushing out of it. Several Tang soldiers chased up and poked the corpse on the ground with the tip of their spears twice, and stopped only after confirming that it was dead.

Zhan Bo held his breath. Several Tang soldiers were just outside the ruins, only six or seven steps away from him. At this distance, he could clearly see their armor and the short spears that could spray lightning and fire. He hesitated for a moment, then slowly stood up, called out to the Tang soldiers, and raised his hands.

The Tang soldiers were startled when they saw a man suddenly appear beside them. The one who reacted the fastest raised his short spear and was about to stab, but was stopped by the officer next to him. The officer looked Zhanbo up and down and gestured for him to come closer. Zhanbo walked out obediently. The officer asked his men to search him from head to toe and confirmed that Zhanbo had no weapons, so he asked him to follow him back to the landing site.

At this time, the Tang army that had landed had more than 400 people and six cannons. They set up a small camp on the open space near the dock. In addition, there were about 700 to 800 vassal soldiers who had landed earlier and were moving the collected spoils into the camp. Zhanbo was brought to a young officer. There was an unusually fat guy next to the young officer. The young officer said a few words to the fat guy, and Zhanbo heard the fat guy ask him: "What's your name, why didn't you enter the city?"

"My name is Zhanbo. I have an old injury on one of my legs and can't walk fast. The city gate closed very quickly just now and I was locked outside before I could even get into the city!"

The young officer looked at Zhanbo's legs and nodded: "So you are a resident of the city?"

"Yes, I'm a fishmonger!"

"A fishmonger? Can a lame man do that?"

"Yes, I have a lot of children. I don't have to carry the fish myself. I just need to direct them to do it! In fact, every morning my children come here to sell and carry fish to the city. I may be the biggest fishmonger in this city!"

"How many children do you have?" the young officer asked curiously.

"Two hundred, or more, but less than three hundred!"

Zhanbo spent a lot of effort to make the young officer understand what he meant by "child". When Heba Yun found out that Zhanbo's "child" was actually his adopted illegitimate child, he couldn't help but laugh: "So that's how it is. It must be hard for you to raise so many children. I didn't expect that a cripple like you could be so chivalrous!"

This time, Gugar was stumped. He couldn't think of how to translate "renxiazhifeng" into Champa language. The best he could do was to translate it into "a generous and good person". Zhanbo was slightly stunned and bowed deeply to Heba Yun: "Thank you for your compliment. Actually, it's nothing. They are all good children. They can live well without me!"

"Really?" Heba Yun said with a smile, "These children have no father, so naturally they have no family to protect them. They don't have a good life, right?"

Zhanbo was stunned when he heard this. After thinking for a while, he replied, "It's not that bad actually. There are many opportunities in Sanghapura City. As long as we can stick together, it's not difficult to find a way to survive!"

"Have you ever thought about living a better life?" Heba Yun laughed, "For example, becoming a king or a general!"

"I don't quite understand what you mean!"

"My name is Heba Yun. I am the captain of the Great Tang Dynasty's shipbuilding division and the deputy general of Sutuo, the commander of all maritime military forces. I have been ordered to come and conquer the Linyi Kingdom. If you can help us break into the city, I can enthrone you as the king or general of the Linyi Kingdom! You have so many children, you must know some unknown path to get into the city, right?"

Zhan Bo was stunned. He didn't expect the other party to make such a suggestion. Heba Yun did not urge him, but looked at him with a smile and waited patiently.

"I do know such a way!" Zhanbo replied, "But I am afraid I can't be a king or a general. My father was just a soldier, and my father's father was just a beggar. They don't have any noble blood in them!"