Chapter 56: Chan And Jie, Counterattack And Retribution
Sha River, the first great river in the North, stretches ten thousand miles in full length. At the place where this winding river course turns to the northernmost point, the Haotian Clan is now building altars at three points respectively.
Guotai’s Monarch, a ten-year-old boy, began the ritual under the guidance of a crowd of ministers. Guotai’s Young Master was clearly absent-minded, seemingly very displeased with the constraints of such a ceremony, but after National Preceptor Pu E glared at him, he lowered his head and complied with the ritual official’s arrangements.
The “good habit” of sacrificing to Heaven was brought out of the Xi Ren Realm by the Dragon Descendants. Upon arriving in the Haotian Realm and establishing the so-called “Heavenly Dynasty,” it was because the Dragon Emperor and Moon Empress reached a covenant of mutual coordination between “Heaven, Earth, and Man” with that heaven and earth.
And upon returning to the Xi Ren Realm, they did not again proclaim themselves the Heavenly Dynasty because they dared not be arrogant.
This heaven and earth did not agree to be “bound together for good or ill” with them. But the most ancient Dragon Descendants all know their clan’s ancestral system.
With the strict sacrifice of the three sacrificial animals, as well as several high officials of Da Yao Prefecture. The river roared, and these Da Yao officials also turned their heads to roar and curse amid the shoving of the armored soldiers; words like “false dynasty” and “licentious sacrifices” could be heard.
These generals who did not surrender after being captured were thrown into the rolling yellow sands, and Guotai’s priests completed the invocation.
As streams of Yao Calculation power were input from the riverside boulders serving as the altar, the churning river water in the dozens of miles of river course became as thick as mercury, flowing calmly and rising.
And at the bottom of this turbid river, a massive “reef stone” moved; at what seemed to be its head, its newly awakened pupils flickered with a comfortable gaze, as if the barnacles parasitic on its body for a long time had been removed.
This giant beast is named Baxia; when the Sha River existed, this clan group had already taken this place as “River Earl.”
The Haotian Dragon Clan was still active in the Xi Ren Realm eight thousand years ago, hence they can summon it according to the ancient rites.
This is a tamed beast in the great river, but in the previous dynasty, they were spirit beasts, breeding and thriving in the rivers.
…Different paths, no plotting together…
In Yongji Pass, Wu Fei was further reading Daoist Arts. In the Dao as described by Da Yao, whether the “Way of Heaven” or the “Way of Man,” each school describes maintaining a balance.
However, the Way of Heaven of “take from the surplus and add to the deficit” is balanced stability; “take from the insufficient to give to the surplus” is maintaining unbalanced stability.
To give a detailed analogy, a seesaw: when there is no weight on either side of the seesaw, that is balanced stability.
But placing one hundred kilograms on the left side of the seesaw, to maintain balance, one hundred kilograms must also be placed on the right to sustain the balance. As time progresses, the left continuously “takes from the insufficient to give to the surplus” adding up to one thousand kilograms, and the right also adds up to one thousand kilograms; this is unbalanced stability.
As the Way of Man develops from eating raw meat and drinking blood to emphasizing clothing, food, and decorum, from fishing and hunting in jungles to fields crisscrossing, from mud-brick thatched houses to towering city walls. On Heaven’s seesaw, the Way of Man is adding more and more weight and strength to its own side.
Until the end of the Cheng Dynasty when the calamity appeared!
When the Way of Man develops to a certain extent, it has seriously affected the balance of mountains and rivers, not only causing the beings that have become monsters on some mountains and rivers to increasingly favor blood food, but also strange occurrences frequently happening in some remote villages.
Da Yao can currently see similar phenomena. In many prefectures, as lakes and marshes are developed, many households flee into even more remote mountains and forests due to lack of land, competing with the beings there; after many wild beasts fight with humans, they learn to suck human souls and awaken into monsters.
These fleeing households are unorganized; the Wu Family Army now first builds roads. From a Feng Shui perspective, this opens up the “communication of qi” between inside and outside the mountains, letting the Human Realm in, then kills all the various jackals, tiger leopards, and others in the mountains and forests that might awaken into monsters, replaces them with humans, forcibly composes a new balance, and the mountains and forests accept it.
Thus, at the end of the Cheng Dynasty then, there were two routes: one faction Jie, one faction Chan. The Jie Faction believed that since the Way of Man has developed too massively and is hard to maintain in balance, just cut off a portion. They advocated grand sacrifices! That is, resolve the excess population through consumption.
After seeing the Jie Faction’s propositions, Wu Fei was stunned for a moment, immediately connecting it to certain theories from his previous life: isn’t this just the “human culling” approach of certain Western countries in his previous life?
Certain guys who consider themselves God’s chosen people: what to do when nature is destroyed? Just clean up the trash population, maintain only five hundred million. A tiny minority can still luxuriate, riding various means of transportation, leaving villa faucets running twenty-four hours, because they consider themselves the chosen, while other non-chosen must constantly endure “indulgences” bombardment; even using a bit of resources is a sin.
Of course, the above is just Wu Fei’s one-sided view, because Wu Fei is human, so his likes and dislikes are human views.
Although in ancient times nine out of ten Military Strategists stood on the Jie Faction’s side. In the ancient Da Cheng Imperial Court, there were not only fox clan transformed demon consorts, but also human forms of descendants of various divine beast bloodlines. But the Military Strategists have always held that “truth is in the hands of the minority.”
Wu Fei: Humans and monsters cannot coexist; the current Military Strategists are all of the human system.
Regarding this Dao dispute of ancient times! The result was Chan Faction victory, Da Cheng destroyed, Da Yao established, Human Realm further developed to today.
The Chan Faction’s solution was to expound Heaven’s secrets to the people under Heaven. When the Human Realm becomes too massive, causing the Way of Heaven to tilt, the Human Realm must create artifacts to guard mountains and rivers, thereby maintaining a new balance on Heaven’s seesaw. According to this Chan Faction view, if in future industrial development one really needs to split mountains and blast roads, offending mountain spirits, it is also possible to use Human Realm power to complete massive iron tamed beasts on the mountains for reinforcement, rebalancing.
Wu Fei: Oh, this is easy to understand, similar to how in his previous life’s Spring and Autumn Period, forest coverage in the North China region was seventy percent. As human activity developed, turning this place into plains, the Yellow River began to flood, and humans had to continuously build water conservancy, actively participating in Heaven’s rebalancing. In this civilization development process, the people on this land were continuously taught that they are closely related to Heaven and Earth; as for dynasties that do not understand the principle, they will suffer the Yellow River Old Mother’s elbow strike.
Thus in his previous life, as industry developed and the global environment was destroyed, people in other regions were all led by the West into the “humans are guilty” theory, while only the East followed the “human activity rebalancing theory” (sustainable development).
…Back to here in the Xi Ren Realm…
Da Yao’s projects to regulate mountains and rivers are built around the Yao Calculation system. As governors mobilize the Human Realm for governance, mountains and rivers automatically rise and fall for adjustment, and the key to stabilizing the changes in mountains and rivers is the “tamed beast.”
The creation of “tamed beasts” is equivalent to projects on Earth like building water conservancy and shelterbelts.
However, as Da Yao’s tamed beast culture rose, those spirit beasts from ancient times gradually vanished without a trace.
In the current richest and most fertile Heluo Prefecture under Heaven, it is now fields crisscrossing everywhere, all grain fields, but in Da Cheng times, one could see elephants and Nine-Colored Deer and other auspicious beasts here. These auspicious beasts, after cultivating human form, could even enter the Da Cheng court as officials.
Hmm, just like Xiao Qing now working under Wu Fei as an external intelligence collector. From this, it can be seen that the Wu Family Army being called barbarizing by Da Yao’s Confucian Scholars makes sense. The Wu Family Army’s behavior of recruiting Xiao Qing and taking in foreign race vassal armies was very common in the Cheng Dynasty.
Where did the spirit beasts go? At this moment, the answer is clear.
The ancients said: I have heard that Chu has a divine turtle that died three thousand years ago; the king wrapped it in a cloth box and stored it above the imperial court. As for this turtle, would it rather die and have its bones preserved and valued, or live and drag its tail in the mud?
…Perspective back to this sacrifice in Northern Guotai…
In the Sha River, “Baxia” is slowly awakening. Under Da Yao’s rule, this tamed beast’s body exhibits petrification, forced to rest quietly at the river bottom; only during the spring and autumn changes of clear and turbid river water, when local officials host the mountains and rivers sacrifice, do the tamed beasts gain some loosening, arching at the river bottom to give the river flow vitality. And each time after the sacrifice, “Baxia” becomes larger and heavier.
In the ancient murals on the mountain ranges where these three altars are located, the situation of Baxia from very very long ago is recorded; at that time, Baxia was one or two zhang long, its shell not so thick, though its claws and teeth were sharp, its body was very small.
Especially in the ancient era when dragon clan rule was at its peak, with various pure-blood dragon clans flying all over the sky, this mixed-breed “Baxia,” facing other dragon clans of that time, often had its unstrengthened-by-incense shell shattered by powerful existences, and was thus preyed upon.
Now, as the sacrificial drumming grows more intense, the “islands” emerging from the river water become more powerful, until Baxia fully lifts its body and leans to shore, river water overflows the embankments, vast yellow waves submerging the boots of the priests on both banks. To the point that the Haotian Lions in the sky involuntarily dive to attempt protecting the emperor.
Yet Pu E confirmed from the aura of this moving island that this was exactly the thing she wanted to awaken.
When Baxia walks out from the river, Pu E and the other Dragon Descendants involuntarily retreat. They did not expect that this bloodline in the Sha River, not a top-tier “dragon son,” had become so enormous.
If the Haotian Dragon Clan-dominated Human Realm had continued for a few thousand years, Baxia would evolve toward another extreme.
In that extreme, though this giant beast would no longer have the hidden danger of becoming more sluggish after petrification, its armor would become thinner and thinner, its body smaller and smaller, encountering more and more enemies. Until ultimately degenerating to the level of competing for food with turtles, softshell turtles, and alligators in the river.
At this moment, the Haotian Dragon Descendants look at each other in bewilderment, just like anglers discovering a big catch in a wild pond long unvisited by anyone. Its thick stone armor is sufficient to defend against the current cannons’ attacks.
Even Pu E looked at the smooth spot on Baxia’s back and felt that a giant cannon should be placed there originally.
As the “Yao Calculation” in the sky changed, Baxia, who arrived at the shore, showed an expression of enjoyment, as if the giant shell on its back was too heavy, having carried it for too long to the point of numbness, so even when holes were drilled by Yin Yang Two Energies, ropes were threaded through, and a saddle was installed, it remained unmoved.
A few days later, after the bronze heavy cannon was installed on Baxia’s back, and a fine steel helmet was attached to its head, this extremely elite giant soldier was completed.
Under the test firing of Guotai’s army, with each cannon’s bombardment, it could cause armored soldiers within two hundred paces to feel the terror of their “hearts being gripped tight.”
Just as Guotai’s various generals tried to demand this giant beast, Pu E assigned Baxia to Zhao Cheng of Lu Prefecture at present.
…An interlude that no one cared about…
After the Haotian Clan liberated “Baxia,” the area lost the regulation of this tamed beast, and soon the rivers changed course. This riverbed turned into a shallow marsh, the phenomenon of the great river nourishing the four directions ceased to exist, and the region fell into drought. Meanwhile, downstream also suffered floods due to the river’s change.
A wisp of malice flowed through the mountains and rivers.
…One month later…
Year 29 of the Da Yao Dynasty, second month, downstream from where the tamed beast was taken, in Fengcheng within Da Yao territory.
Guotai troops flying the “Zhao” flag suddenly turned to the Western Region of Yan Prefecture, and at this moment, the Da Yao army that had just been reorganized was still preparing to impact Gu Shou Pass, which was very sudden for the Da Yao side.
Below Fengcheng, Haotian General Zhao Cheng had now switched to an ink jade qilin mount. This lingbi stone-crafted dao soldier mount was twice the height of an ordinary war horse.
This kind of “dao soldier” was first seen in the Bu Dynasty before the Cheng Dynasty, at a time when the dragon clan had just risen in the Xi Ren Realm. The dao soldier crafting technique using lingbi stone as material belonged to ancient technology. In the Da Yao era, jade was used, and the method of using this stone had been lost; now it was being recreated.
With the mount, Zhao Cheng became even more steadfast in the battle formation. The dao soldier mount, due to attuning to its master’s killing intent, could help its master ward off sabers and spears and arrows.
The sounds of killing followed the military formation’s advance impacting the city wall. Below Fengcheng, Zhao Cheng faced attacks from Da Yao garrison on the city battlement with crossbow bolts and cannons, but these projectiles veered aside when approaching.
After counting the firing positions on the city tower, Zhao Cheng flung out a flag order. After this yellow flag floated to the rear, their own artillery opened fire. Red meteors streaked over the heads of Guotai siege army formation, and as the projectiles landed on the city, fireworks erupted on the city tower flying Da Yao flags.
In the first round of cannon fire, smoke and dust rose from the hit sections on the city battlement where bricks and tiles structures were smashed. Then the second round, where the smoke and dust was from people fleeing in all directions like grasshoppers startled by beating grass. Then, when the garrison on the city awaited the third round, it became exceptionally long.
By noon, as the garrison on the city began to relax, cannonballs struck again, lifting everyone’s spirits. Moreover, elite cavalry and infantry below the city quickly approached the city wall, but soon after the gong to retreat sounded, these assault troops receded like the tide. This attack was just playing around.
In this way, the soldiers on the city went two days and two nights without closing their eyes.
Although the garrison in Fengcheng was numerous, they were all laborer troops newly recruited.
These laborer troops had lax discipline. If the general did not directly behead dozens of people during the chaos to establish military discipline with resolve, then these laborers’ obedience to orders was limited—they would obey at the beginning, but once they found orders ineffective, they would question them, and as doubts accumulated, they would scatter. This was the common ailment of all irregular troops.
The defending general on the city battlement was evidently at an “amateur nine-dan” level. He was repeatedly tricked by Zhao Cheng’s successive feint attacks into ten or so “full army alerts.” By the twelfth time, after the general issued the order, the garrison on the city wall responded sluggishly, sighing wearily as they rose slowly, picked up sabers and spears, and stood at their posts.
And after the second night passed, at dawn, Zhao Cheng’s total assault began.
This time, there was no “cannon fire” leading off; instead, elite troops silently approached the city wall and climbed up, easily seizing sections of the city battlement. Then, under the guidance of sky lanterns floating in the sky, the artillery bombarded the city segments crowded with Fengcheng garrison.
In the early morning hours, as Fengcheng’s defending general tried to retake the city wall, he panicked and issued orders to all camps below. However, this had already committed a military taboo. (Such an error was as severe as a certain commander in the 20th-century Northeast French-style drum retreat being stabbed, losing his head, and directly using clear-code telegraphy.)
When an army encounters an attack at night, the most prone issues arise: roads for entry and exit are likely to become blocked and congested, leading to maximum chaos.
The correct way is to select the nearest few queues to enter the barrier for defense, ensuring their roads do not conflict, while other camps are not permitted to exit and must await orders. Only after the situation on the city battlement is confirmed and the general understands which city segments can still accommodate troop strength can these reserves be committed.
The garrison’s flag orders were chaotic, great fires broke out in the buildings in the city, they wanted to draw personnel to suppress the fires on one side while colliding with firefighting teams inside the city on the other, predictably blocking the city passages.
At this time, Zhao Cheng, through command flags flung by Haotian Lion riders, immediately understood the situation. He had long set up artillery on the earth slopes outside the city, aimed at the streets inside crowded with soldiers, and opened fire.
The first projectile hit a building in the city, huge mortise-and-tenon structured pavilion debris smashed into the crowd, and before the people crammed on the market streets could brush off the dust on their bodies, they saw red projectiles landing directly in the crowd one after another. After shattering the first unlucky one, sparks splashed like boiling water over all occupied areas within two zhang, with iron pieces and red-hot coals causing a large number of deaths.
Meanwhile outside the city, Guotai artillerymen were using water flow talismans to clean the cannon bores. Supply soldiers transporting cannonballs filled coconut-shell-like shells with premium black charcoal, covered them with iron shells, inserted wooden wedges to secure, wrapped a layer of damp cloth, loaded into the bore, and pasted a fire rune. As the fire rune activated, the black charcoal inside the cannonball immediately turned red-hot.
Immediately after, this incendiary bomb streaked across the sky emitting red light, heading toward the most densely crowded area inside the city.
The Da Yao troops jammed on the city wall looked up at the red-glowing cannonball falling from outside, drawing ever closer, until all morale collapsed in the explosion.
Resistance on the city battlement completely vanished, and the camp inside Fengcheng erupted in chaos.
Thus, Zhao Cheng easily took down this strategic node once again.
This battle report transmitted to the Southern Region would again make the Da Yao Imperial Court rage impotently, along with Wu Xiao Que’s post-hoc Zhuge Liang nitpicking even further south about how the North were all good-for-nothings.
But why was Zhao Cheng always so “lucky” to encounter good-for-nothings every time?
…After capturing Fengcheng…
Outside the large camp in the city, Zhao Cheng personally received some captive Da Yao generals’ family members, exchanged something with them, and had boxes of pearls and jade carried out to them. Several days later, these captive generals were also released.
