Lin Mu already understood the strength of the Qinglong Fortress garrison: Legion Commander Liu Feng possessed the strength of a [Yellow-grade Martial General], the seven Legion Lieutenants were all High-grade Martial Generals, and the 27 Legion Captains were all Mid-grade Martial Generals.
After clearing the three outer camps, Lin Mu had captured 5 Qinglong Lieutenants and 15 Qinglong Captains. In the main fortress, there remained one Legion Commander, 2 Lieutenants, and 11 Captains!
According to standard configurations, the Qinglong Fortress assembly hall should have been occupied by one Legion Commander, 2 Lieutenants, 4 Captains, and 200 elite soldiers—these were the personal guards of Legion Commander Liu Feng. The other Captains were either guarding the training grounds or stationed elsewhere.
With Feng Zhong's strength, which was sufficient to kill a Moon-Howling Silver Wolf King of around the Black-grade Martial General level, Feng Zhong was very confident he could capture Liu Feng within three rounds.
Lin Mu did not know the situation on Feng Zhong's side, but he heard a furious roar, followed by the loud clashing of weapons. Soon, the roaring ceased...
Amidst the commotion, Lin Mu's group encountered trouble.
Lin Mu led his men, moving along the barracks and knocking out Qinglong soldiers one by one to bind them. They had cleared a row, but while sweeping the second row, they encountered one of the remaining seven Captains—a Mid-grade Martial General.
This was a heroic young Mid-grade Martial General, roughly twenty years old, with a strong build and imposing black armor. His dignified presence was matched by his skill with a saber, which he wielded with sweeping, powerful strokes. From Fan Shun, Lin Mu learned that this young general was named He Yuan.
Upon encountering Lin Mu's group, a startled and enraged He Yuan shouted, "You soldiers! Quick, follow me to repel the enemy! The other greenhorns have terrible military discipline; the enemy is already at our doorstep and they haven't even finished equipping themselves! Hmph! The Legion Commander in the assembly hall has met a formidable foe! He needs support, hurry~~"
Lin Mu and his men were stunned for a moment, but quickly realized that He Yuan had mistaken them for allies!
However, as Lin Mu's group approached He Yuan, the man suddenly realized the truth and roared in fury, "You are not soldiers of our Qinglong Fortress! Who are you! Hmph, it seems you are the invading enemy!"
He Yuan was extremely vigilant. As they drew near, he realized that although they wore the equipment of his faction, their faces were unfamiliar. Furthermore, they showed no signs of panic; instead, they were disciplined and efficient. This was not the level of discipline his own men possessed. Suspicious, he let out a roar, drew his gleaming saber, and slashed downward like a descending tiger.
Lin Mu remained unfazed and thrust his steel spear. *Clang!* A massive metallic collision rang out. Lin Mu was pushed back over a dozen steps, feeling a burning, tearing sensation in the webbing of his thumb. A Mid-grade Martial General was indeed formidable; this was without even applying internal energy to his weapon. If he had used internal energy, Lin Mu would have fared even worse.
Lin Mu could not defeat him; he had been forced back in a single strike, failing to even resist for a full round. Having no choice, he ordered his soldiers to surround and attack him.
Even with 100 elite soldiers of Grade 6 aptitude and Level 30+, a siege against a Mid-grade Martial General was merely a stalemate.
Fortunately, He Yuan lacked extensive combat experience and occasionally left openings, allowing the soldiers to barely hold him off. They fought together with unified effort to resist, but if the battle dragged on, it was uncertain who would prevail. He Yuan's combat experience would increase, but his stamina would deplete; it was a war of attrition.
In *Mythic Three Kingdoms*, there was a chasm between junior martial generals and ordinary soldiers, just as there was a chasm between ranked martial generals and high-grade martial generals.
The martial prowess of a junior martial general was generally much higher than that of ordinary soldiers with Grade 4 or 5 aptitude, capable of taking on a hundred men without issue.
However, Lin Mu's soldiers had high aptitude and decent levels; their martial prowess generally reached around 60 points, and with equipment, their combat power was approximately 7,000.
A junior martial general, bolstered by internal cultivation, typically had a combat power of around 8,000, while a Mid-grade Martial General's combat power was around 9,000. A difference of 1,000 combat power could be compensated for with superior equipment!
Combat power was merely an approximate metric; in actual combat, various factors would influence the final outcome!
But martial generals possessed a massive advantage: internal cultivation. The internal energy produced by such cultivation was a precious resource. Some skills could only be activated using internal energy, and the infinite variations of internal energy provided immense help in battle.
He Yuan's internal cultivation seemed to have only recently broken through; his application of internal energy was very immature and lacked structure. If such a general were trained by Feng Zhong for a period, his combat power would skyrocket, and he would likely have wiped out the soldiers before them.
Watching He Yuan fight, Lin Mu felt a sense of appreciation for the man's talent.
After observing for a while, Lin Mu led the remaining 600 soldiers to continue clearing the Qinglong Army, temporarily leaving the Mid-grade Martial General to be contained by the others.
He intended to make use of the time to deal with the Qinglong Army before they could react.
In the quiet, pitch-black night, the once peaceful Qinglong Fortress was now filled with the sounds of war cries and screams piercing the sky following Lin Mu's assault!
"Don't kill me! I've only been in the garrison for a few days, and now my life is at risk! Uncle Huang said being a soldier meant high pay, plenty of food, and good clothes—he never said it would be this dangerous! Waaaah..." Seeing such a soldier, Lin Mu struck him down with a spear without a second thought.
"Ahhh! My lord, please spare me! I have an eighty-year-old mother and small children to feed! Don't kill me!" *Thud!* Down he went!
"We are so isolated and hidden; how could such elite soldiers attack us? And their equipment is even better than our official troops; they don't look like ordinary bandits!"
...
After the clamor came the silence!
Feng Zhong quickly captured Legion Commander Liu Feng, and several thousand other Qinglong soldiers were slain, with blood dripping from the armor of some of Lin Mu's men.
Being brave, they did not recoil from killing; they had killed many soldiers in rebel camps before, and the sight of blood was normal to them.
The most elite Qinglong soldiers had been captured in the three outer camps. The remaining elites were Liu Feng's personal guards. With Feng Zhong providing support, none of the soldiers from Lin Mu's territory died, though some sustained heavy injuries.
In truth, the most intense fighting was not on Feng Zhong's or Lin Mu's side, but with Xiao Hu. Xiao Hu's task was to suppress the soldiers at the teleportation array and occupy it, a much more difficult mission.
The teleportation array was located in a small valley behind the fortress. In the valley sat a bluestone plaza, where mysterious runes were carved into purple stones, glowing with a mystical light!
The area was open, making a sneak attack impossible, and the soldiers guarding the array were highly vigilant and quite capable. Left with no choice, Xiao Hu led three hundred soldiers in a frontal assault after clearing some of the surrounding houses and patrols.
Since they couldn't sneak, they would fight head-on! Casualties began to mount. Xiao Hu acted as a fierce vanguard, like a sharp blade piercing the enemy's heart, striking terror into the hearts of the guards who had just reacted.
The strongest among the guards was a Mid-grade Martial General named Wang Sheng. Xiao Hu knew of him—a Mid-grade Martial General who used a unique weapon, a spiked mace. Hearing he had good aptitude, Xiao Hu approached with caution, but his heavy saber clashed fiercely against the mace, producing countless metallic clangs and sending shockwaves radiating in all directions.
This Mid-grade Martial General fought Xiao Hu, a High-grade Martial General, to a temporary standstill. They traded blows, and the ferocious swinging of the spiked mace vibrated the surrounding air with a whistling, oppressive sound! Perhaps because it was Xiao Hu's first time fighting a general with such a weapon, his combat was somewhat stiff at first, but gradually, he used his superior strength to turn the tide and began to suppress Wang Sheng.
Other soldiers were also engaged with the Qinglong elites. The fighting was merciless and focused, and casualties began to appear on both sides.
Some soldiers were cut down, others were pierced and heavily wounded, and some had arms or shoulders severed, flesh and blood flying everywhere! Compared to Feng Zhong and Lin Mu's sectors, this was a true, brutal battlefield!
The soldiers fought with increasing ferocity and intensity; on a battlefield, one could not survive without being fierce and ruthless!
However, the superior numbers of the True Dragon Village soldiers eventually gave them the advantage, and the battle began to tilt heavily in their favor.
Those guarding such an important teleportation array must have been the backbone of the Qinglong Army. The more courageous Qinglong soldiers were fierce and stubborn, swearing to fight to the death rather than surrender.
Left with no choice, Xiao Hu ordered them all to be executed.
After suffering some casualties, the hundreds of soldiers completely broke the Qinglong forces, leaving only Wang Sheng struggling to hold his ground.
Seeing his men fall, Wang Sheng was filled with terror. *Who are these people? They are so fierce; their combat power and awareness are as strong as the Governor's personal guards!* The teleportation array had activated once just moments ago to send a soldier to report the situation, and they hadn't had time to teleport reinforcements in. It was a tragedy; it seemed Qinglong Fortress had fallen today. There was no hope of escape. *Should I surrender...?*
Seeing Wang Sheng beginning to falter and hesitate, Xiao Hu shouted, "Enemy! You see it now—your men have all fallen! We are not bandits; we are a righteous army. We do not wish to cause unnecessary slaughter and hope you surrender soon! We will show leniency!" When holding the advantage, one could use words to explain the stakes and appeal to emotion to achieve remarkable results! These were all lessons taught by Lord Feng Zhong, and now they were being put to use...
"I... I surrender!" Faced with no other choice, Wang Sheng parried Xiao Hu's saber with his mace and shouted.
With that, the conquest of Qinglong Fortress was completed smoothly.
Many in the fortress were mere greenhorns with low military discipline and poor organizational skills; they could not respond to orders in time and, faced with Lin Mu's ferocious troops, they surrendered in hopes of survival.
After a night of fighting, dawn quietly arrived. As the sky brightened, the fires caused by combat in the camps were promptly extinguished.
Upon tallying the losses, Lin Mu's side had suffered casualties: 37 killed and 40 heavily wounded. Most of the dead were under Xiao Hu's command, and some had fallen while fighting Mid-grade Martial Generals.
However, considering they had captured a fortress capable of housing over 100,000 people, these losses were acceptable.
*Ding!*
"—System Prompt: Congratulations to Player Lin Mu for leading his troops to victory in the fourth battle. Special rewards: Prestige +20, Command +10, Morale +1."