Chapter 194: Southern Journey: Slaying Demons And Exorcising Evils
Just as the two emperors appeared shining together within Da Yao, vassal lords from all routes were doing multiple choice questions.
However, the decision-making level of the Chong Land Lingnan Group did not waste any effort on the question of “love me or love her” between the two Da Yao royal courts.
Chong Land’s decision-making level was working overtime. In the Administrative Department reformed from the City Lord Mansion, there was no longer the comfort of literati and scholars; various meetings were being held in a tight and dense manner continuously. At each meeting, everyone laid out maps full of bamboo tallies on the table, chattering about “Can it be done?” “How long will it take?” “Who needs to cooperate?”
When Xuan Chong taught Wu Juwang and others how to govern prefectures back then, the method of using objects like “millet, beans” to digitize and mark different resource elements was now, as Wu Juwang began implementing new laws, applied to all levels of governance.
After confirmation in the meetings, each group took their tasks and immediately rushed to various work areas.
Some teams were responsible for reclaiming fields, some departments were responsible for supervising workshops to work overtime and produce related tools.
Under the coordination of this extremely populous Administrative Department, Lingnan localities prepared rural mobilization, supporting Wu Yuanchang’s plan to open up three thousand li of new territory for Da Yao.
Xuan Chong used the “performance theory” system to evaluate his team.
A governing team must have flowing water that does not stagnate. To avoid deterioration, its energy must be bound to proper matters like “education, public works, military.” If the team gets entangled in low-value things like “taking a side, speculation,” the team’s ability will decline in a “collapse-style.”
It was an era of contending for supremacy under heaven, but Xuan Chong’s side believed the timing was not right and strategic determination was necessary, but they also had to find things for the Group to do.
Thus, hundreds of thousands of people in Lingnan from top to bottom were mobilized, even in slave camps they eagerly pooled resources to support a brother, letting that brother enter military service, go out to earn merit to gain rank, and become their superior.
Note: Now most people in slave camps no longer want to leave group life; slave camps have food and drink, and exams are encouraged to remove slave status. Removing slave status means having salary, but also means deductions for poor performance, though no more whippings.
Xuan Chong: Cattle and horses that can read and recite rules and regulations are cattle and horses that cannot be beaten or scolded.
Even so, only one in ten in slave camps escaped slave status through exams, so now large numbers of slave camp people hope to support a brother to join the army to rescue themselves from sea of suffering.
…Cattle and horses that do not seek progress are not good cattle and horses…
Xuan Chong’s southern expedition troops had already advanced six hundred kilometers south across the horizontal river, and after several months of exploration in the endless Southern Region jungle, they had opened a southward road in the infinite sea of trees.
After nutrient blocks from Chi You Mountain were continuously transported to the Southern Route army, the vast forests became granaries available at any time.
After the energy barrier of cellulose, which terrestrial vertebrates struggle to break, was pierced by technology, Xuan Chong’s mixed cold and hot weapons troop experienced the boost of black technology.
One by one compressed biscuit blocks were stuffed into the mouths of livestock, and horses’ teeth even developed cavities from excessive sugar.
On the transport line, horses walked continuously without losing weight and even gained weight, because what they ate was proper grain.
Even during hunting while traversing the jungle in the army, after killing wild boars, the leftover piglets were all raised with grain. To the point of having over a thousand pigs following the army.
This group of penned pigs also did not run away, staying obediently in wooden fences.
The army of twenty thousand total advanced like a shield machine between mountain peaks, forcefully opening a road in the Southern Region. This road was five zhang wide, all trees completely felled, and padded with a layer of rammed earth.
For this road, during planning, Xuan Chong invited feng shui masters to calculate places suitable for building strongpoints, with key points being near rivers for boat access and flat terrain for farming.
During the southward process, Xuan Chong Group arranged all northern refugees hard to handle and generals with stains on this road, preparing to form natural villages in the future.
If this road was a rope hanging on the map, then these natural villages were the “nails” hammered in, fixing this route in place.
Even though Xuan Chong’s army had “nutrient blocks,” which was like cheating on logistics; maintaining a troop is not just armor and supplies—wounded need care, and goods sent home by the army need trading posts to handle.
Groups of internal affairs personnel were transferred from the rear, even disciples like Wu Juwang were called to rotate for internship.
Xuan Chong was very clear on what was most deadly during the southern expedition!
In the next two or three years, when rotating troops back or bringing rear troops forward; if no one was seen along this long southward road, those coming to serve would have shaken morale.
Whether the advance direction was a “foreign dead end”? This topic persisted among merchants.
Xuan Chong at this time used his prestige to endorse: now southward is to open trade routes with other countries. But this road was too distant.
Every hundred kilometers without encountering a village of a hundred people was a dead end.
Now Xuan Chong set up a village every ten kilometers; even if the village had few people, it let southward passing soldiers know their march had a “line” behind it. Even if there were demon realms ahead, after passing it would be “distant but surely territory.”
…Along this road, there were quite a few demon subjugations and monster exterminations…
In Camp No. 03 of the southern expedition troops.
Shen Wanqing, as the vanguard army corps scout, now had forty brothers under him, ten war horses, carrying homing pigeons and spiritual paper figures, advancing along the mountain road ahead.
After crossing four hundred li of the Far Southern Territory, they encountered many demon realms and monster lairs along the way. Calling them monster lairs was not exaggerated at all, because many incomprehensible species grew here, such as monsters with three goat heads, or tigers with a snake in their mouths.
They even found a human-headed tree, with a body existing, and it could speak, in the Southern Border language.
This fiend warned: This is the extreme demon realm.
As for Wu Family Army generals pushing this tree down and asking how it got its head on the tree, this head thought and thought, then the head exploded.
For Yao People, Southern Border people were already demon seed, but in Southern Border legends: even further south existed terrifying demons.
Rubber boots stepped on land covered with leaves; this was the invention the army felt most useful, because more than once, these rubber boots blocked venomous snakes in the shrubbery.
Shen Wanqing lightly sniffed, sensing a foul odor drifting ahead, nerves tensing, immediately ordering subordinates to adjust armor and load firearms.
The so-called “foul odor” was the smell left after large creatures’ activities in their range without burying excrement.
Taking human activity areas as example, in rural areas, looking out the window is idyllic scenery, but roll down the window and sniff, a smell of manure compost, following the smell leads to the dry toilet. This smell is the “foul odor” of human large creatures’ activities.
In the wild, lions, tigers, jackals naturally have no flush toilets, their own smells detectable from hundreds of meters.
And in Journey to the West, those equally powerful cultivated beings’ elegant dwellings had gardens with birdsong and flowers, their latrines separated by corridors, masked with osmanthus trees and other flowering shrubs.
Monkey King judged demons by whether they had “foul odor” or “immortal aura” to see if they had dao cultivation, thus if they had backing. Now Wu Family Army southern expedition troops did the same, judging opponents’ “aura” to see if sufficiently civilized.
Xuan Chong: Fought Dragon Descendants in the North for so many years, but cannot call them “stinky Tatars,” they have production capacity for firearms and armor.
At this time, in the jungle, leaves swayed in roars. “Stinky,” “fetid,” and a smell of rotting wood.
…Fight!…
After Shen Wanqing waved his hand, surrounding soldiers immediately gathered. Forty people equivalent to a primary or middle school class, gathered raising shields for perimeter defense, firearms rested on front row soldiers’ shoulders.
Roars in the jungle grew closer, a five-meter tall being roared running out. Body shedding unknown powdery dirt or dead skin flakes.
Soldiers saw, good grief, this thing had three arms, left arm thick holding heavy hammer; right two thin and long, raising wooden stakes as shields, asymmetrical.
The heavy hammer in this monster’s hand seemed to be this “species'” leg bone; jungle trees scraped by its huge body made rustling friction sounds, leaves and bugs of all sizes falling from treetops.
“Firearms ready!”
“Fire!”
After one round of gunpowder smoke, bullets only broke this monster’s shallow skin and flesh. Monster’s face showed bullet holes like freckles, but soon flesh fused visibly to the eye.
Of course all this was within Shen Wanqing’s expectations; these southern monsters had extremely tenacious life force, impossible to kill with firearms alone.
And his purpose for this volley was to confirm if this monster had reinforcements behind.
After confirming no enemies behind the monster, quickly four agile spear wielders and one hook scythe spear wielder charged forward.
These warriors holding red tassel spears began dodging front-back-left-right, footsteps extremely flexible. When monster looked left, spear soldier poked right, and when turning right, met left hook scythe piercing ankle.
Facing incoming large monsters, sword and shield cannot tangle, because blades too short, shields cannot withstand heavy smashes. But monsters’ clumsiness was perfectly countered by spear soldiers’ “one inch long, one inch strong.”
At this time, five spear soldiers effortlessly stalled the charge on the battlefield. Of course these spear soldiers not ordinary, from spear tip movement traces, their spear bodies carried spiral qi vigor.
Those cultivation methods under Wu Hengyu, Wu Fei side’s Southern Route army also had, now recorded in army secret codex.
While front spear soldiers entangled, in the formation, armor-piercing hand cannons at twenty meters were set up, black muzzles aimed at this monster.
With Shen Wanqing’s command, front line-holding spear soldiers immediately dodged. Half second later, blood flowers burst on the monster, monster in pain, ignoring spear soldiers’ obstruction, charged toward firearm team, beast momentum like a fierce tiger.
But the front hook scythe group in formation immediately arrived, hooking the monster’s foot sole, making it stumble.
Of course monster’s power enormous, these hook scythe soldiers not as strong as previous warriors. They not even at Houtian Realm first layer, these ordinary soldiers facing monster ignoring flesh piercing pain struggling, palms splitting, had to release and discard weapons.
At this critical moment of monster impacting remote troops, Shen Wanqing drew a gourd from waist, red light flew from gourd, giant monster stopped, blood line unfolded from brow center.
Shen Wanqing put away gourd, took deep breath, felt faint killing intent along his magic treasure entering meridians, shook head, looked at military order on body, accepted his current identity.
Shen Wanqing was originally a cultivator. He followed master’s orders, entered Xuan Chong’s tent.
After Xuan Chong used “fierce weapon” to shoot immortals, major immortal sects sought “fate” to counter this fierce weapon.
Specifically, this was Journey to the West Investiture of Gods routine. When a certain magic treasure really blocked sect cultivators these big shots’ plan advancement, find fate-countering person to solve “magic treasure” problem, during treasure holder’s laxity, steal or sabotage.
Thus, when heaven-defying person next used magic treasure, it suddenly failed, slain on battlefield.
For “villain” like Xuan Chong, these righteous path people dealing with him next would not care about martial world righteousness.
However righteous path overlooked a problem: Xuan Chong in Da Yao side avoided battle. Then sent their dispatched disciples to southern demon border areas for training.
Sure enough, Shen Wanqing gradually immersed in Wu Family Army’s reward-punishment system, forgetting his mission.
Half a shichen later, arriving military police inspected battle results, patted Shen Wanqing’s shoulder in surprised stutter: “Brother you, you earned another merit point!”
Along this road, Shen Wanqing earned merit this way, accumulating rank on body through killing. Rolling mortal world, fame and fortune, really that tempting? — Shen Wanqing found “really fragrant,” though killing intent entered body, his martial qi also climbing.
After getting merit rewards, Shen Wanqing saw only easily redeemable spirit stones, spirit jades, and demon blood — his martial qi consumed these cultivation resources heavily.
And Wu Family provided a brand new cultivation method “Mortal World Transfer.”
This method plants a pine, cypress etc. tree that can cultivate a wisp of spirituality, then transfers killing intent to this tree, allowing self to recover spiritual energy and recultivate immortality.
Of course normally, killing intent would make this big tree struck dead by thunder fire, killing intent rebounding to original host. Then original host backlashed in cultivation, scattered to smoke. But this big tree if kept enshrined with incense and fire, would not be struck by thunder tribulation.
And Wu Family Army for loyal martyrs in army all have incense and fire enshrinement, allocating a piece of fief for residents to enshrine community tree not infeasible. — This cultivation method provided by Yao San Gu, relayed by Ang Ri.
Thus Shen Wanqing felt increasingly “confused”: When leaving sect, sect elders taught carefully, Wu Xiao Que has huge ambition, lie low by his side, when he brings disaster under heaven, give him a fatal blow.
However, now great chaos under heaven, various warlords after “competing for freedom” in Da Yao, Xuan Chong did not bring disaster under heaven, but directly went south to sweep demons.
Shen Wanqing returned to following main army, looking at main tent under canopy clouds in center of ten thousand army, took deep breath. After gathering enough frontline merit points, he was to report situation in main camp.
…System: Fate is feudal superstition…
In lamplight, Xuan Chong was placing chess pieces one by one, in multiple battle reports, staff officers corrected combat data.
Xuan Chong was summarizing: Sword and shield soldiers good at close combat, extremely high flexibility in forest street fighting, but this world has many monsters, not just ordinary beasts like lions and tigers, also two-three zhang tall monsters, and five-six zhang giant monsters. Long weapons more useful. In this world where warriors have true qi (martial qi), holding spears, qi vigor on spear tip has spiral drill effect, possessing noble “anti-large” ability.
Now need to allocate soldier type ratios for each camp team.
In this jungle combat, short weapons mostly for opening mountains, sweeping shrubbery, chopping wood, while long weapons often main output.
Xuan Chong looked up at young non-commissioned officer Shen Wanqing. Xuan Chong gave him chance to report this encounter battle face-to-face.
Most battle reports follow normal flow, stamped by Xuan Chong then approved by Staff Department; this “redundant” face-to-face listening was necessary procedure before “promoting grassroots.”
After Xuan Chong listened to his verbatim recitation from battle report, seeing his awkwardness, patted him, told him: “Work well, resources and fiefs will come.”
Shen Wanqing stared at this general stunned, cupped hands in obeisance indicating loyalty. In heart silently recited: “I have no chance to uphold justice when Wu Fei this great demon king goes wild to extreme, settle matters under heaven, then with fame before and after, return to mountain to refine cultivation.”
Now instead fell into endless conquests, day after day in army accepting military orders, when getting rewards fell into mortal world, body spiritual energy inevitably turning to killing intent.
Shen Wanqing received a set of black iron forged armor, and a spear able to release electric current, left. At this time he was already a “special unit hero” in southern expedition army.
…Fall in…
Xuan Chong actually knew Shen Wanqing was disciple of some sect; when he several times used gourd to kill enemies, already on his list. Just Xuan Chong unclear what mission he bore! Only heard he came down mountain to subjugate demons, after settling human world matters, return to mountain cultivate.
Of course no need to know. Xuan Chong’s list including Shen Wanqing was actually “unreliable list.” Facing these unreliable elements, need “cleaning.”
This cleaning of course not “physical elimination,” but transfer contradictions via external wars. Then bind unreliable people to positions arranged for them.
This was meaning of taking this wave of troops for large-scale southern expedition. “Hero there oh, state elite oh. Hero holding battle axe, vanguard for king.”
Xuan Chong watched Shen Wanqing outside tent with increasingly heavy steps, bound by military drums.
In heart silently recited: Cultivate immortality? Come to me still want return to mountain avoid world? Laozi I wanted to cultivate immortality back then too, just work well in army. “— Xuan Chong fell into pond before, now wants to push others into manure pit.
Xuan Chong would properly promote Shen Wanqing, even if this sect disciple future might disdain staying in Southern Border, but his subordinates, Xuan Chong would lavishly reward women, fields, houses, slaves, let them settle in Southern Border. Then let Shen Wanqing represent his subordinates speak in Chong Land.
As for “killing intent grafting” spirit tree enshrinement, Xuan Chong cross-field as separated by mountain, unclear San Niang provided this method’s appeal to cultivators.
Shen Wanqing’s four spirits root aptitude, if not go through army wave of entering dao via martial, body spiritual energy not enough for foundation establishment. This sect laughable, let Shen Wanqing complete task but reward cultivation resources especially few.
Xuan Chong then bound Shen Wanqing to Southern Border interest chain. As for future northern warfare conflicts?
Xuan Chong: Northern warfare? He and those unreliable people stay out. Stabilize southern resources supply fine.
Like Liu Bei arranging Ma Chao! And when Ma Chao dies, next generation receiving grace from nation Xuan Chong builds, becomes reliable own people.
Similarly, now Shen Wanqing has strong rallying power over subordinates; but if these subordinates develop to second generation, after eaten interests highly stable, see if these forces can pay enough “rebellion” price.
Xuan Chong: Speaking of, after my southern expedition ends, Da Yao inside also went through round of high-intensity chaos; whether those ulterior motive forces’ old nests still there hard to say, let alone using chips to bribe my camp’s Southern Border expedition faction.
