Chapter 129: Unexpected Turns All Around
The perspective shifts to the other side, where Zhao Cheng synchronously maintains the offensive. Dozens of dragon horses that transmitted messages for him have all collapsed from exhaustion.
From the end of the sixth month to the beginning of the seventh month of the Shu Tian Calendar, Zhao Cheng’s southern camp continuously repelled three waves of Yao Army offensives in the Qu Wo area, completely seizing the initiative in that region. Because Emperor Shu beheaded several officials at the frontline for failing to deliver food and grass supplies, and pinned all the blame on the military lords who performed poorly in combat here, no other Yao Army fiefdoms were willing to take responsibility for the grain transport route to Qu Wo. They reported minute by minute on their engagements with the Hao Army on other battlefields.
This forced Emperor Shu of Da Yao to place the food and grass supply near the northern front; little did he know, this movement of food and grass was precisely moving Da Yao’s lifeline right to the mouth of the ambush troops that Zhao Cheng had prepared himself.
At the end of the sixth month, in the hidden mountains, the troops Zhao Cheng left in the north began to mobilize, and Zhao Cheng personally rushed to Northern Commandery to lead the operation to cut off the Yao Army’s great warehouse.
…Battle scene as follows…
On July 2nd, the Da Yao laborer troops guarding this granary were, as usual, lighting fires and cooking. Dried horse dung stuffed into the pot base emitted flames licking the blackened pot bottom.
These troops had stuffed the main garrison with money, so they could guard this “secure rear line.” Normally, this corps would hold spears, casually standing guard at the grain station entrance, and once crickets and cockfighting were ready, they would start playing around.
And today, while the brigadier general of this granary was holding the documents from the southern fiefdoms where Emperor Shu had rebuked them during combat and laughing heartily, and joking about the fun of “the elites in the military all going to the front to flatter the emperor.” Suddenly, the sky darkened.
A thick mass of dark clouds covered the entire sky above the great warehouse, and everyone wondered what this patch of cloud overhead was.
This mass of cloud quickly approached, densely packed like a pile of “sesame seeds.” After a few breaths, these “sesame seeds” suddenly emerged from the air, turning into a flock of winged crow people who dove down to kill without a word.
These crow people with wings of agate hue had just used their “concealment” ability for a surprise attack.
This ability allowed them to blend into the sky, leaving only a vague dark shadow. It was an optical phenomenon; just now, there were too many of them, turning into a dark cloud.
Even within fifty paces, the “stealth technique” theoretically fails, yet the crow people in the sky still appeared as tiny “sesame seed”-sized dots. Continuing to close within thirty paces, the crow people would suddenly reveal their true forms in the observer’s view.
In an instant, amid the sounds of the flock of crows striking and slaughtering, the already low-morale laborers panickedly dodged the sandstorm whipped up by the agate-colored wings; the crow people’s killing power wasn’t strong—even under powerful bows and crossbows, they couldn’t withstand one volley. But they excelled at surprise attacks.
In close combat, the crow people fought three against one, and they had this combat technique: when Da Yao soldiers encountered crow people, they would suddenly feel a gust of foul wind, fanned by the crow people’s wings; the strong wind mixed with sand blinded the eyes, making it hard to keep them open. Those engaging them were caught off guard, with tears streaming nonstop.
In an instant, after the crow people seized the crossbow towers and other high ground, the great warehouse descended into chaos, and the sound of vibrating wings echoed from the sky again.
A group of Hao State dragon horse troops wearing leather armor swooped down from the sky, their five-horse impact teams hammering like iron hammers, scattering the formations hastily assembled on the ground with knife shields. After the palace attendants of the Hao Army beheaded and eliminated the core soldiers in those formations, the great warehouse was completely thrown into disorder.
Then, nine Tai Yue Luan circled continuously in the sky, starting the Nine Crows Prayer for Clear Skies ritual at the center of the largest warehouse.
In that moment, the people below felt an autumn-like dry and arid wind, then the Tai Yue Luan’s wings suddenly froze, the sky’s light intensified dozens of times, and the flames under the cooking pot bases where the soldiers were making fires exploded, sending the rice pots flying and turning into a heatwave that swept the surroundings.
The pile of dry horse dung nearby was swept up by a force, sparking under the blazing sun, followed by the fuel stack in the kitchen rising into a flame storm. The flame storm twisted toward the great warehouse, igniting it with a fire dragon.
Five li away, Zhao Cheng rode on a Tai Yue Luan, watching the great warehouse below that could no longer be saved from the fire, ordered the gong sounded to retreat, and withdrew the troops.
What Zhao Cheng calculated was not only the Da Yao troops, but also driving the tiger to swallow the wolf. The wolf was Wei Guan.
Now that Da Yao had focused its attention on Wei Guan, Zhao Cheng, who had previously supported Wei Guan, believed that Prince Bo’s mission was complete.
Just like a fisherman—once the fish has bitten the hook, he no longer cares about the “bait’s” fate.
Wei Guan’s territory was Xingzhou and Yongzhou; Xingzhou was under strong assault by Da Yao troops, while Yongzhou had suffered major floods, leaving the people in panic, making self-reliance impossible.
Zhao Cheng: At that time, as long as we force back Emperor Shu’s military strength in Xingzhou, we can unify the north.
Why was Zhao Cheng confident that Emperor Shu couldn’t occupy Xingzhou? Because he lacked grain in the north, his subordinate armies plundered locally, losing the people’s hearts.
…Strategic map perspective pulled…
At the northwesternmost edge of Da Yao, the “cloth” formation of five corps was tightly besieging the capital city of Prince Bo’s Wei Guan in the west. And on July 2nd, Emperor Shu ordered the city breached.
Wei Guan’s capital was in a river valley, with lush water plants on both sides, a fine place for farming, but now all the villages here had been burned down.
Wei Guan’s citizens had all taken refuge in the capital city, outside which Da Yao corps surged like ocean waves. Salvos of cannonballs had battered the city battlement into a “battle-damaged” style.
And outside the city, ten-zhang-tall golden-armored giants wielding massive iron hammers continuously pounded the breach on the east side of the city.
Chunks of the city wall were being chipped away, while arrows shot from the city caused armor plates to continually fall from the golden-armored giants. Unlike Da Yao’s pottery figurines, these giants were human warriors nurtured by mountains and rivers aura; after waking for battle, one needed to eat a whole cow per meal.
On the evening of July 5th, just as the city was about to be breached, Emperor Shu received news that the rear supply route had been severed, dissipating his previously good mood of holding his rebellious son’s lifeline.
Emperor Shu was extremely furious inside but calmly said: “Breach the city within ten shichen, have Long Tao (a general of the Zhanlu Army) shoot a letter to that rebellious son.”
…Campaign perspective pulled to the city, passing over buildings inside, to the central palace…
Prince Bo watched the city walls crumbling, giants stepping on bricks and tiles approaching his last city wall; this prince, who had been high-spirited in Yao Capital ten years ago, looked at his crying children and sighed: “Alas, this is the end.”
Although he still had Cai and Heng’s two corps in the west, he knew these two forces would not come to save him.
After the outer city walls collapsed, the inner city continued defending, but the civilians hiding in the outer city became punching bags for the city-breaching Yao Army. Prince Bo snorted coldly: Father, where is your sacred name?
After the time for a cup of tea, Prince Bo watched his citizens begging for mercy under the drive of Da Yao officials’ army and was overcome with rage. It wasn’t that he was soft-hearted, but with the people’s hearts wavering, he felt that continuing resistance would lead his own subordinates to offer up his head. He sighed, instructing his attendants to properly prepare his head.
That evening, Prince Bo personally presented his head and surrendered. His family was brought to Emperor Shu by Da Yao generals.
As the surrendering procession knelt before him, Emperor Shu gazed at the head of this son who had rebelled for six years; with the major matter settled, an inexplicable sadness welled up.
Emperor Shu admitted this son was actually the most like himself. Seeing his head now was like recalling his own youthful misstep. He stroked his son’s head, then covered it with cloth.
Just as Emperor Shu was feeling sentimental, chaos erupted in the newly captured city. Due to some rumors, the city-breaching soldiers grew dissatisfied. The rumor was “some troops will withdraw from the city,” but which corps exactly? The Zhanlu Army soldiers said some very provocative words to the other armies.
On the streets, a Zhanlu Army general mediating shouted at the troops from Qi Land in the east: “What right do you have to make a fuss here? You can’t even enter Yao Capital’s gates.”
After these words were shouted, knives began piercing flesh, and in the shock, everyone went all in.
With a “ching” as knives were drawn from sheaths, followed by collective blade-drawing, they then hacked at each other hysterically.
Emperor Shu’s campaign this time assembled five corps, meaning several military leaders.
The Yao Army’s several corps had command systems that were mutually independent; outside the city in open areas, they could camp separately, with generals each controlling their own men, minding their own business; but crammed into one city, mutual grievances were hard to avoid, escalating into conflicts.
If Wu Fei were here, he would be keenly aware and arrange post-breach rewards and punishments in advance, at least recruiting the first assault troops into his camp and rewarding them promptly. These were the fiercest men.
The rewards for the first to ascend also serve as a weather vane for the soldiers below, watching how the superiors distribute rewards in this battle.
In this way, these men who have just tasted blood on their blades will focus their main attention on the upcoming merit award ceremony in the main tent. Even if small disturbances erupt in the city, they can be quickly suppressed.
However, Emperor Shu was immersed in his emotions with his rebellious son and failed to arrange matters early, or rather, he was old, lacking energy. With his son’s head placed before him, he needed to drink to regulate his emotions and didn’t have time to attend to the rising resentment among the soldiers in the city.
…Blue is leaping…
On the evening of July 6th, several Yao Army corps in the city began to mutiny in the palace. All wanted to transport those boxes of gold and silver to their own armies, resulting in mutual slaughter.
However, amid this frenzied chaos, Wei Guan’s bureaucrats, upon learning they had all been sentenced to death by Emperor Shu, lifelessly stayed in their prison cells.
And during the Yao Army’s mutual slaughter chaos, they were temporarily not guarded. Because it was known that even if they escaped, they couldn’t escape far.
In the midst of this stable wait for death, a mysterious power began to infiltrate, changing the outcome.
While the Yao Army were plundering gold, silver, and jewels from each other, these Wei Guan bureaucrats emerged from the prison cells with silly laughs. No one paid attention to these madmen, perhaps thinking that once everything stabilized, these harmless lunatics would naturally be recaptured into the prison cells.
These harmless madmen wandered the streets, clapping their hands every few steps, and eventually arrived at the inner city granary. They poured oil all over themselves and jumped into the granary. —Thus, the most critical Great Warehouse in the inner city caught fire. The self-immolators turned into smoke, and in the drifting smoke-filled sky, a blue Evil Moon faintly appeared.
Emperor Shu’s army was already short on grain at this time.
…Perspective shifts to another military strategist…
On July 7th, after Zhao Cheng completed the raid on the Northern Front granary and returned to the main camp in Qu Wo, he simultaneously received news from “agents” that Emperor Shu’s army had entered the city but failed to control the troops, leading to mutiny.
He immediately sat up and began examining the map, preparing to plan the cutting off of Da Yao’s western expedition army of 150,000 from their food and grass stockpiles and vital points.
Late at night, Zhao Cheng with dark circles under his eyes drew a series of marching diagrams on the map, setting up a massive trap to swallow Da Yao’s western route elites in one bite.
After issuing routine general’s orders, he entered the main tent to catch up on sleep. Flying back and forth between two fronts continuously was indeed quite physically draining.
However, he didn’t sleep well, as a chicken feather letter arrived from Bo Prefecture. After groggily reading it, he abruptly stood up but stumbled and fell off the bed.
The just-completed plan had to be scrapped; anyone would be full of anger.
After getting up, Zhao Cheng wrote to the Grand Tutor, asking if she had figured out who the Yao Army general in Bo Prefecture was!
After repeatedly wiping his face with a towel, Zhao Cheng deduced from the battle report that this was no “new general,” but the one from “south of Yongshui” two years ago. From the Bo Prefecture battle report, the method of attacking Su Dong and others was the same as the Chong Shui great infiltration.
In this under heaven, marching military strategy is each general’s unique skill. Even between father and son, habits in using troops differ, so~
He believed the guy who should have been in the west had now appeared in the east! Pu E had targeted the wrong person!
At that moment, the mirror began to ripple. Zhao Cheng twisted the white jade edge of the mirror and saw Pu E in it. After Zhao Cheng strictly questioned her, Pu E was stunned, as she had personally seen Wu Hengyu and even beaten up his bound partner Yu Li.
Pu E: How could that be?
Zhao Cheng almost roared: “How could it not be? The situation in Bo Prefecture is critical now!”
Pu E looked at Zhao Cheng, paused— she saw the system prompt “Loyalty declined.”
Pu E said: “I’ll go check.”
Zhao Cheng restrained his emotions and slowly said: “Grand Tutor, do not underestimate the Yao Army general in Bo Prefecture. You need to issue an order: there, only defend, do not attack.”
Zhao Cheng was somewhat annoyed at Pu E for committing a major mistake yet showing no alertness, but seeing Pu E and recalling his promise, he calmed down and offered a strategy.
Pu E paused, then nodded.
Zhao Cheng: “Over here, I have to let Emperor Shu return and end the battle. I need to hurry back.”
Pu E: “This?” —Feeling the undeniable gaze in Zhao Cheng’s eyes, she still nodded.
After the water mirror ended, the exhausted Zhao Cheng leaned on the bed, gazing leisurely at the mirror surface, muttering a sentence in an almost inaudible voice.
…Seeing you lives up to…
In the Yongshui region, due to massive flooding on the north bank, a tide of refugees began to appear; on the south bank, ships picked up the refugees, and after these fully loaded ships sailed into the center of the water marsh, they were engulfed by a mist and vanished.
This misty area was opened by Yu Li using the spiritual object “Dragon Blood Flower,” its effect being to shuttle through the great Grotto-Heaven, allowing refugees to safely travel to Da Yao’s eastern region.
However, in the great Grotto-Heaven, due to the Evil Moon’s pollution of the mountains and rivers, there were numerous demons and monsters. Wu Hengyu had to lead his troops through it, his army corps fighting dozens of battles inside the Grotto-Heaven against various ghosts, skeleton demons, and more.
Amid Da Yao’s current frequent warfare, large numbers of corpses were dumped into rivers and marshes. In the great Grotto-Heaven, these war-dead civilians turned into skeleton monsters, obese rotten corpses, and half-corpse monsters with rotting lower bodies crawling on two three-meter-long arms.
When refugees entered, these undead spirits sensed the vitality of the living and would swarm forward in droves.
Wu Hengyu thus fought again and again in the great Grotto-Heaven against these “respawning” ghosts and monsters to ensure the refugees could safely reach the eastern lake marsh.
Next is an utterly ordinary battle among the many.
The scene of Wu Hengyu’s army corps encountering the undead soldiers: surrounded by puddles, with a small island covered in dead trees in the center.
Wu Hengyu had his corps protect the refugees hiding in a side corner, while he himself charged onto the small island. The water monsters ambushing in the surrounding puddles swarmed like ants spotting candy, trying to tear into Wu Hengyu’s vigorous blood qi, but after gnawing for a long time, they couldn’t break through. Meanwhile, Zhu Yanming and Bai Renfeng had already prepared their magic.
Wu Hengyu swept back and forth repeatedly, confirming these monsters were gathered here. He formed the fire-avoidance mudra and plague-warding incantation, then roared fiercely, thunderous sound exploding among the ghosts.
The burst of killing intent immediately left these ghosts soulless and dazed, also signaling the immortal cultivating masters on the periphery.
Multiple spells began to erupt.
Under the flame storm, the evil ghosts gathered around him were sucked in like by a vacuum cleaner, popping and destroying in the flames; in the sword rain spell, white sharp raindrops fell from the sky, shattering the crawling ghosts under metal qi.
This method of killing proved the most efficient.
Hundreds of meters away, in the center protected by the army’s formation, the refugees gazed at Wu Hengyu and the five masters summoning heavenly might like they were gods.
And in the formation, Yu Li also gazed at her lover. Beneath her gauze robe, her waist wrapped in white cloth was visible— a wound from battling Pu E, not yet healed, preventing dragon transformation for a year.
Of course, for Wu Hengyu, the most important thing about Yu Li is her extensive knowledge!
It was she who persuaded Wu Hengyu to migrate the refugees from Yongzhou toward the eastern great lake region. This was not only to gather a reserve force, but more importantly to “coalesce the Dharma image”.
As the refugees worshiped and chanted praises, strands of power of incense and worship gathered toward Wu Hengyu. As living beings, they are mostly unable to utilize the “power of incense and worship”; this power is what allows ghosts to become gods. But Yu Li used a special Dharma Gate to let Wu Hengyu convert the power of incense and worship into magic power compatible with killing intent.
After Wu Hengyu swept away the horde of ghosts, a scholar in the crowd (a plant invited by Yu Li) shouted loudly: “The general is truly the overlord of the human world!”
Then others chimed in with this title one after another, and the officers and soldiers of the unparalleled Northern Army standing in the military formation, who had been staring intently at Wu Hengyu, also realized it was a good title, so they all raised their weapons and shouted, “Overlord, invincible”.
Although some scholars in the military camp knew that “claiming the title of king” like this was a transgression, everyone was now traversing a great Grotto-Heaven of ghostly things, and the Da Yao imperial way could not protect them, so they could only pin their hopes on this general willing to save them.
The thunderous roar of voices molded the power of incense and worship gathered beside Wu Hengyu into shape, like a statue.
The Dharma Gate Yu Li used for the power of incense and worship was that simple: “claiming the title of king” would do! In the Da Yao World, the one who could similarly utilize wish power was the Da Yao Emperor.
Bai Renfeng watched Wu Hengyu sweeping away the horde of ghosts, then looked at the refugees shouting in a thunderous roar, opened his mouth to say something, but felt himself also being shaped by wish power; no other reason—these Da Yao commoners had also taken them, who summoned flames to burn demons, as “heavenly officials”, so they had it too.
Qing Lin said slowly: It seems the one we are assisting is the chosen one for this Great Tribulation.
