Chapter 123: Emperor Shu’s Personal Expedition, Pu E Watches From Afar
In early April of the 36th year of the Shu Tian Calendar, while Wu Fei and a group of non-commissioned officers were plotting various cross-border great tribulation cases in the direction of Bo Prefecture, on the Shadow Mountain frontline five hundred kilometers away, Zhao Cheng led the fifteen thousand troops promised by King Hao and quietly stationed in the river bend area west of Sha Prefecture.
Inside the military tent, he stared at the position of Emperor Shu’s western hunt on the map. Further west in the direction of Yongzhou was the position where Pu E was leading the army.
Pu E was confirming the location of that noteworthy general in Yongzhou earlier. Zhao Cheng’s side lacked more information from “agents” and made corresponding deployments. Zhao City had Pu E lead the army to control multiple key routes, so even if that general launched an action of “multiple military groups rapidly advancing,” Pu E fighting interception battles could block the momentum of this martial surname general’s troops.
Zhao Cheng, focused on the front, was now proceeding methodically. Although King Hao had not granted excessive authority, fifteen thousand it was.
In the large tent, as he issued edict after edict, the city defense garrisons in various areas began expanding with laborers.
…Perspective switches to grand Da Yao…
After leaving the capital city, Emperor Shu immediately used the tiger tally to summon troops from three prefectures to march north, then proceeded west all the way. He also issued a proclamation questioning why his rebellious son was acting in such defiance of ethics.
The 140,000-strong army thus formed five columns centered around the royal banner. Actually, the core troops of each column were only one or two thousand, with laborers opening paths ahead and role farmers maintaining behind; there were even four or five thousand left in the original large camp, handling material transfers. —To send one or two thousand able-bodied soldiers on a long march required nearly ten thousand to serve them.
Emperor Shu was escorted by elite cavalry along the way and could see the vast ranks of over ten thousand role farmer spearmen, giving the rough impression of a “boundless military formation.”
In contrast to Wu Fei needing merchants at stations to precisely recover food and grass; as emperor, Emperor Shu always had a large retinue prepared for his travels, so at set times, after issuing demands to the armies to the prefectures along the way, the prefectures began mobilizing labor to levy food and grass to supply the army.
Such troop mobilization did not indicate that Emperor Shu’s military system was particularly strong, but rather embodied the emperor’s direct authority over the prefectures.
The monarch was the highest authority in the dynasty who could legally span both military and civil domains; his edicts did not need to consider any contradictions between military strategists and local powers, squeezing civilian labor to the utmost.
For example, Wu Fei still had to lure able-bodied men from various ferry crossings before grabbing them as able-bodied men; with one imperial decree from Emperor Shu, local officials could directly grab laborers from below.
Of course, the Son of Heaven doing this caused enormous damage to Under Heaven. The able-bodied men Wu Fei tricked were 99% landless, even some local short-term proletarians; grabbing them did not affect local production. But after local officials grabbed people, it might leave women and elders laboring in the fields, and when they could not, the fields would lie fallow and then be seized by powerful clans.
Pulling the perspective to the marching column. In most of Emperor Shu’s northward military formations, except for the squad leaders leading the first row and their escorting retainers, the rest were unarmored role farmer queues.
In the eyes of orthodox military strategists: such soldiers carried the “cannon fodder” attribute; holding spears to stubbornly defend a complete camp with deer antler towers was fine, or fighting a downwind battle after friendly cavalry broke the formation was acceptable, but having them form up, brave arrows to charge an enemy iron armor formation? They were dead weight.
Troops unafraid of being outnumbered, still gritting teeth to fight after blade contact, belonged to assault troops. The various military strategists cooperating with Emperor Shu did not hand over their core forces.
In Wu Fei’s blood reward formula: they needed generous rewards in peacetime to nurture, and honorary ranks held in reserve. A single prefecture could barely support one army (two thousand) . Because it was not just supporting this troop, but also elevating the families behind these two thousand into elite status.
Emperor Shu’s expedition, from every level, appeared as the vanity of old age. The ten imperial carriages he rode in during the march had enough transport capacity to support hundreds of armored soldiers on a long journey.
In a poor northern prefecture, the total population was at least 110,000 to 120,000, at most 400,000 to 500,000. The usable able-bodied rate was only tens of thousands; the army’s expedition drew one-third of the elites during the farming off-season to form an army of ten to twenty thousand.
Yet the pay these ten to twenty thousand troops got from battles was equivalent to 21st-century “neighborhood security guards”; no matter how intimidating their uniforms looked, do not expect them to do hard work.
21st-century troublemaker Xuan Chong instilling this into these conscripted role farmers: one or two thousand bucks a month, why should I, a dirt-digger, risk my life? I don’t believe it—if I run home, can the emperor’s men really catch me again?
Xuan Chong was quite clever in grabbing able-bodied men: after letting messengers go back, he deposited everyone’s money at stations, then partially exchanged it for batches of food and expenses, and moreover, credited a hundred cash to each able-bodied man’s family monthly. Do not underestimate this hundred cash; the living environment around able-bodied men was harsh, most could see the benefit of monthly hundred cash but not the frontline hardships; once an able-bodied man fled back, there were sure to be people unwilling to see this “hundred cash go to waste” and directly report to local officials.
However, it must also be considered that able-bodied men might refuse the hundred cash and flee back with their whole families.
Yet in this world, where was there a place to live in peace? Thus, the able-bodied men Wu Fei grabbed were now basically content to stay.
While the able-bodied men grabbed by Emperor Shu seemed gathered like a sea, they could not withstand any setback. Once “our army is defeated,” they would scatter and flee.
Although such crises always existed, around Emperor Shu’s imperial carriage were a group of false loyalists speaking true words of “dying in service,” and the gathered civil ministers all mouthed “loyalty and righteousness.”
This made it easy for the emperor to mistake the “fervent loyalty” around him for the true morale of these laborers.
…Da Yao’s blade edge under numerical advantage and high morale…
In June, Emperor Shu’s army encountered the western rebels at Mi City and won the first battle.
Over a thousand cavalry, raising sand and dust, had already terrified the garrison inside the city; Yellow Turban Warriors over ten feet tall, with the Son of Heaven’s banners on their backs, kicked open the less-than-three-zhang barrier with one leg. Soldiers trying to draw bows and shoot arrows from the barrier could not dodge, and with the city wall collapsing, fell into the rubble and died on the spot.
With the city wall breached, for the garrison, armored soldiers more terrifying than zombies swarmed in.
Though zombies were numerous, they could still be chopped down, but these armored soldiers wearing iron helmets and iron masks could not be cut by knives, nor would they foolishly let spears stab their bellies; instead, they blocked with saber shields, spear tips clanging on the beast heads on their shoulders, producing metallic pings and clangs.
So no street fighting occurred in the city; it was more like wildcats entering a mouse nest, beginning a frenzied chase and kill.
The original sounds of chickens and dogs in the city, with the killing arriving, left only echoes. Amid the frenzied howls of the entering troops, doors of houses were kicked open, dog barks abruptly stopped, basins shattered, and after a mess of feathers, came pleas for mercy and wails.
Frenzied Yao Army armored soldiers plundered and killed wantonly in the city.
The pseudo Guan garrison in the city shed their armor and, like laborers, sought cellars to hide in. —These people hiding in shelters listened to bursts of dying screams on the streets outside, and women’s shrill cries.
And outside the city wall, a few li away, under Emperor Shu’s ornate canopy, accompanying ministers were congratulating his benevolence, as if the soaring killing intent in the city no longer existed. No, it was not gone; it was just like firecrackers exploding in a dog basin—no need to feel the dog basin’s mood.
…Victors can sing and dance in peace, while losers may not even cry…
The perspective pierces the broken city wall once more, to the city now “maintaining order,” where the city breach killing would continue until afternoon.
Yes, even without the general issuing a “three days no sheathing of blades” reward, it was still tacitly allowed for the assault troops entering the city to run rampant. And all matters would abruptly end with the scholar-officials shouting “benevolence, righteousness, and morality” entering the city.
No histories would detail the half-day of disorder in this “city breach” process.
Even if histories recorded it, it would be mere fragments, such as “soldiers entered the city and robbed civilians of clothes; civilians smeared themselves with dirt and died.”
Although histories did not record it, there was always this detail: after the city breach and pacification notices posted, the city civilians all knelt on the ground waiting for the conquerors, rather than suddenly rising up! Such tameness seemed unreasonable; did one not see in the 21st century, a superpower bringing democratic ideals to “save” the people of the Two Rivers ruled by a “tyrant,” yet still had to add bulletproof glass to Humvees to prevent local troublemakers from slingshot ambushes!
And nowadays, after every city siege, as long as the conquerors proclaimed grace. The decree shone like Buddhist light over all city residents. The city was imprinted with thought imprints, suddenly willing to kneel and acclaim sacred virtue; not even those shrinking in corners shooting dark arrows.
Note that in the just-concluded “Mi City” attack and defense battle, this city’s able-bodied civilians had previously obeyed the garrison general to defend the city. They killed many imperial court people, and then many relatives were killed by the imperial court army—not lacking hatred.
Why? When records erased the crucial “process,” directly seeing the “result” would seem so awkward.
This “process” was right before the eyes: Da Yao battle soldiers whose armor was caked with blood gave the city civilians no chance for hatred; battle-hardened soldiers who fought into the city went door to door killing, with thick red bloodlight erupting on them.
Everyone in the city was waiting, waiting to endure until the general entered and issued the “pacification proclamation.”
The surviving populace, under the oppression of the frenzied city-breaching army, were victors at hide-and-seek, perhaps with fear engraved in their genes. To the point that hide-and-seek became a game for children to stimulate bloodline thrill.
“Morality” is the top-level ruling tool, existing only under the light of “the literary brilliance of the various officials in the Imperial Court.” In places where that light disdains to shine, it is a darkness free of all taboos.
…The long time inside the city, the short time outside the city, quickly passed…
The entry ceremony was proceeding. The eunuch dispatched by Emperor Shu entered Mi City together with the general. The common people on both sides of the streets knelt and sat, prostrating themselves to the Imperial Court’s imperial envoy as if worshiping the Buddha. It was just like kneeling before the glory of a Buddhist hall, only the blood on the vajra pestles on both sides was deliberately ignored, and the streetsides were left with a thick bloody smell, with flies buzzing chaotically.
After the army captured Mi City, Emperor Shu began to award merits and rewards, greatly boosting the morale of the entire army.
Emperor Shu’s widespread announcement was to send two signals to the whole army: first, the enemy did not seem that strong; second, the Emperor was not a stingy ruler but truly willing to bestow rewards.
The numerous generals were also greatly invigorated in morale and decided to perform well now while the Emperor was present, striving for a Marquis of Ten Thousand Households.
…The perspective shifts to Yongzhou…
At Wo Niu Pass, Wu Hanluan was supervising the logistics of his own route’s army.
Wu Hanluan saw the battle report from Emperor Shu’s side, frowned, but it was not the kind of displeasure from “missing out on military merit and being forcibly sidelined.” Rather, it was the hidden worry of seeing the leader fall into a pit while eating the leader’s melon.
Wu Hanluan said: “The army’s morale was originally low, but after a small victory, they are jubilant and loud, harboring the affliction of arrogant troops.”
The Daoist priest Wu Long at the side: “Currently, the fire star is guarding the star; the general needs to plan early.”
Wu Hanluan glanced at this Daoist priest but made no comment. This Daoist priest was a disciple recommended by Xian Daoren, whose supernatural power was said to be Hundred Eyes, rumored to be a disciple of the orthodox Northern Daoist Sect who had gone out into the world due to the destruction of their sect’s mountain gate.
Seeing no reaction from Wu Hanluan, Wu Long requested to go to Da Yao’s Dan Ding Pavilion to refine pills.
Wu Hanluan tried slightly to retain him but still gave him a letter of introduction.
…Off-field…
While weapons clashed under heaven. In the cultivation world, sects were also fighting; the two largest sects in the North, Jade Cauldron Sect and Zhanlu Sword Sect, had already begun to turn against each other.
Golden Core cultivators from both sects had already begun large-scale magic battles in remote famous mountains and great rivers far from mortal dust and sparse population, for the spiritual veins.
The reason for fighting in places with no human traces was that although Golden Core cultivators’ magic power, when suppressed, could move mountain tops, once a team of armored soldiers arrived, such supernatural powers and magic would very easily lose control and be possessed by strange things from heaven.
Wu Hanluan knew about the cultivation world but, as a military strategist, had no interest in sending troops to mediate the fight; because the places where immortal families fought were deep mountains, with difficult roads, and even food was hard to solve.
Wu Hanluan was not unconcerned with the Daoist Sect; the fact that more and more young Daoist Sect members were coming down the mountain precisely indicated great chaos under heaven.
Wu Hanluan invited this Daoist priest back to his own tent.
He then summoned his own palace attendant Wang Xi and had him deliver a letter to Wu Hengyu in the North, who was confronting the False Hao.
…South of Yongshui…
At Lu City, Wu Hengyu’s great flag was flying on the city battlement. The four thousand scions of military families he brought were garrisoned here, while on the north bank was one of the False Hao’s large camps.
In that large camp stood a special pottery figurine giant. This pottery figurine had a more ornate appearance, its pottery layer plated with a layer of gold, and inside it was always burning with flames, while behind it was a pair of enormous ceramic wings for heat dissipation, and in its hand it was drawing a fifty-foot-tall giant bow.
With the bowstring slightly drawn, on the south side of Yongshui, across a thousand paces, the Wu Family Northern Army’s cavalry could not dodge in time and were pierced by this spear-like giant arrow. The horse’s belly was run through from the middle, and the knight’s calf was broken.
The name of this special war construct was “Shu Wang” Chong Tang. This was a special weapon fired and cast by Pu E from her own large base camp. The internal driving core of this special pottery figurine was a wisp of mountains and rivers dragon qi, which the Hao Clan had condensed after successfully forming a pact with the heaven and earth of the Xi Ren Realm. Thus, there was only one “Shu Wang” Chong Tang.
Pu E was now also gazing at the floating dragon boat on the south bank. At this moment, that forty-zhang floating dragon boat was wandering at the edge of “Shu Wang” Chong Tang’s shooting range, clearly quite familiar with “Shu Wang” Chong Tang.
Below “Shu Wang” Chong Tang, Pu E, standing on cloud qi, stared deadly at the “feather” great flag on that side, as well as Yu Li’s flag.
Although she toyed with the human world, at this moment she couldn’t help but feel a sense of “being betrayed.”
Compared to the disobedient “Zhao Cheng,” Pu E’s obsession system for “Wu Hengyu” was one she had strategized quite familiarly, and that Yu Li was actually the matching obsession body paired to Wu Hengyu according to the save file of her strategy she left behind. She had never imagined that one day “her own save file” and the “character” she had strategized would stand on the opposing side against her.
On this side, Wu Hengyu, riding Wuzhui, looked at Pu E on the opposite bank, with armored soldiers behind him. At this moment, Wu Hengyu felt that this river-opposing standoff situation was very familiar to him.
And that thing holding the giant bow and shooting made him very unhappy. Wu Hengyu urged his mount war horse to charge toward Yongshui. Facing beams
As the bow and arrow shot out, Shu Wang’s Wind-Shaking Bow had its bowstring shot off, its energy accumulation destroyed, an explosive sound came from the air, and Pu E standing to the side was swept by the energy.
After a good while, with blood on her face and disheveled hair, she stood up from the original spot and locked eyes with Wu Hengyu two hundred paces away,
Yongshui surged turbulently, as Pu E, like a water goddess in the river, sighed: “Hengyu, it seems we must have a battle after all?”
