Dawn's light first broke in the east as the belly-of-the-fish white of morning swept across the horizon.
The army of the State of Ji suddenly poured forth from its encampment in full force, dividing into multiple columns and charging toward Qingming's eastern defense line. Within the main camp, Xiao Jingyuan sat in the center tent, eyes closed in rest, while his adopted son stood behind him with indignation written across his face.
At this moment, the one sitting in the supreme commander's seat was a fair-skinned scholar of imposing appearance, clad in satin robes and looking to be around middle age. Yet with only a late Dharma Idol cultivation, his occupying the commander-in-chief's seat drew many sidelong glances.
Several pools of fresh blood still stained the ground inside the command tent.
A few soldiers were carrying a general outward. That general was drenched in blood, his flesh torn and lacerated from the beating, his breath already like gossamer. Eight young palace eunuchs also stood inside the tent, each possessing peak Dao Foundation cultivation, holding body-breaking vine staves whose tips dripped with flesh and blood.
These vine staves had been crafted from thousand-year-old vines—specialized instruments of punishment designed specifically to counter sturdy dharma bodies. Even a body-tempering Dharma Idol cultivator would be beaten half to death by several Dao Foundation cultivators wielding them.
The general had barely been carried outside when a chorus of weeping suddenly erupted. The general had been unable to endure the beating and died the moment he was borne past the tent flaps.
The scholar gave a soft sigh and said, "Truly foolish. Insisting on defying this official, refusing to yield even after being beaten unconscious. This official comes bearing the royal decree—defying me is defying the king. Such a traitorous rebel deserved to be beaten to death. But what do those people wailing outside the tent mean by this? Are they questioning my justice? Men, bring everyone who wept inside!"
In the blink of an eye, over a dozen colonels and soldiers were dragged into the tent and forced to their knees. One of the young generals among them suddenly lifted his head, grinding his teeth. "General Yu gave his entire life for the kingdom, loyal to the end! He did not die on the field of battle, only to fall to a dog official like you! I'll take you down with me!"
He suddenly sprang up and lunged at the scholar!
The young general was also of Dharma Idol cultivation. Throwing himself forward with full force, his momentum was ferocious, yet the numerous generals present stood motionless, as if caught unprepared.
Midway through the young general's leap, his head suddenly flew off, a fountain of hot blood spraying against the roof of the tent. The headless corpse flew forward a bit farther before crashing down right before the scholar, spattering a few drops of blood onto the hem of his official robes.
Only then did the silhouette of the governor of the Embroidered Uniform Office slowly materialize within the tent. He was seated to the side of the dais, yet none of the generals had been able to detect him.
The scholar said coldly, "You disrupt military morale. Drag them all outside and behead them."
The colonels and generals were dragged out by the eunuchs. Every commander present was seething with fury, yet none dared speak out.
Yet the scholar felt not the slightest unease. Looking at the many heavily armored generals throughout the tent, he made no attempt to conceal the contempt in his eyes. He barked in a deep voice, "General of the Left Army, Mao Xianzu!"
"Present!"
"Your detachment is to march forty li north immediately as reinforcements for the third column. Engage the enemy the moment you arrive. Without orders, you may not retreat. Do you understand?"
Mao Xianzu was a burly, stout man. Fury flashed in his eyes, but he still answered, "Understood."
The scholar issued order after order. Before long, most of the generals in the tent had departed, and the troops in the Ji main camp marched out one after another until almost none remained.
Xiao Jingyuan's adopted son's eyes blazed with fury. The forces deployed last were essentially Xiao Jingyuan's direct subordinates, some practically akin to private armies. Yet all of them had been shoved onto the battlefield by a single order from this scholar.
He could not help but speak up: "Lord Sun, Master Sun Chao'en! Many of these men were pulled from the battlefield only yesterday. To throw them back into combat without a moment of rest will drive casualties vastly higher! Furthermore, the main camp is now hollow. If Wei Yuan seizes the opportunity for a surprise assault, can you bear the responsibility, Lord Sun?"
The one seated high above was indeed Sun Chao'en. Arriving with the royal decree, he had already taken supreme authority from Xiao Jingyuan's hands.
Upon arrival, he had immediately sidelined Xiao Jingyuan and caned several generals who dared talk back to death on the spot. Sun Chao'en had not come alone, either; he was accompanied by numerous palace eunuchs tasked specifically with enforcing discipline and carrying out punishments.
Though the generals were furious, Sun Chao'en came holding the royal decree, carrying absolute legitimacy, and the governor of the Embroidered Uniform Office stood watching by his side. Thus, even though tensions reached the brink of explosion several times, before the bloody corpses they had no choice but to endure.
Facing the questioning from Xiao Jingyuan's adopted son, Sun Chao'en sneered, "Junior General Xiao, this official only refrained from sending you out on account of the Grand General's face. But if you think this official does not dare touch you, you are sorely mistaken! If you have grievances against this official, you may naturally impeach me at court in the future. But for now... endure it!"
At this point Xiao Jingyuan gave a cough. His adopted son could only swallow his anger and retreat behind him.
Right then, the ground began to tremble faintly. Xiao Jingyuan's half-closed eyes snapped open, his divine sense sweeping beyond the encampment. Far in the distance, vast clouds of dust rose as formation after formation of iron cavalry appeared, advancing at a trot. Their army qi blotted out the sky and sun, and an enormous force clearly followed in their rear.
Xiao Jingyuan was no stranger to this army's banners and armor; they were originally the legion defending the north against Southern Qi and the State of Wu. Who would have thought that, traversing hundreds of thousands of li, they would suddenly appear here in the west?
For such a massive army redeployment to occur without his knowledge made his heart sink. A maneuver on this scale was surely the combined handiwork of the Immortal and the King of Ji, and he had been shut out completely.
A moment later, Xiao Jingyuan's adopted son also spotted the approaching northern legion. A veteran of both battlefield and court, he too realized the gravity of the situation.
Only then did Sun Chao'en speak: "Junior General, there is no need to worry about the camp's safety. If we cannot win this battle, keeping this camp will be useless anyway."
The tent curtain was pulled aside, and several burly generals entered. Clad in dark yellow armor, they were top commanders of the northern legion. However, none of the generals Xiao Jingyuan had personally promoted were among them.
After the officers saluted, Sun Chao'en assigned their combat duties, committing all five hundred thousand men of the hurried northern legion into battle, granting them only half an hour to eat and drink.
In the vast encampment, fewer than ten thousand men remained.
Even the generals of the northern legion were taken aback by Sun Chao'en's deployments, but they obeyed the orders nonetheless.
Seated high beyond the heavens, Cangwu slowly opened his eyes and looked down, giving a slight nod. "This Sun Chao'en is quite capable. Clever and knows his place—no wonder the King of Ji is so fond of him."
Qingming's eastern front had already fallen into bitter combat. Its forces were thin, the main strength having been completely pulled north by Wei Yuan.
At Guantun New City, Feng Chutang and Cui Yu stood over the sand table, constantly adjusting troop deployments. In mere moments, more than half of the reserve forces in their hands had been dispatched.
"If this continues, we won't hold. We must act on multiple fronts." Feng Chutang's brows knit tight as he told Xu Yi, "Go to the rear and urgently muster the reserves. Arm them as fast as possible and send them to the front. Cui Yu and I will hold things down here."
Knowing how critical the situation was, Xu Yi departed at once. Feng Chutang then turned to Cui Yu: "You command here. I'll make a round of the frontline units to boost morale."
Cui Yu said, "Our soldiers know who they fight for; morale won't flag, will it?"
Feng Chutang said, "One person is enough for command. At a time like this, the men on the front line need to know that we will stand and fight beside them—death is all that awaits!"
Cui Yu slowly nodded. "Safe travels, Master Feng!"
Feng Chutang chuckled. "You make it sound like I'm marching to certain death. Rest assured, I have an ancestral treasure; ordinary Scenery Command cultivators cannot kill me."
With that, he pushed open the door and left.
Far to the north, Wei Yuan learned of the State of Ji's full-scale offensive at the earliest possible moment. The Ji army's move was completely unexpected; he had not foreseen that they would resume attacking without resting after the major battle, nor had he anticipated the sudden appearance of their northern legion.
At this time, along the eastern line, Cangwu began dropping Dao soldiers again to strike key targets. Yet Wei Yuan had prepared countermeasures. Aside from Guantun New City, his forces across the battlefield were dispersed everywhere, leaving virtually no critical strongpoints. Even heavy artillery was deployed in small clusters of two or three guns.
The moment any heavy artillery position encountered Dao soldiers, the defending officer would immediately call for the surrounding heavy artillery to fire on his own position. Xu Wenwu calling down artillery fire on himself had long been made known throughout the entire army. Now the officers and men followed his example. Many heavy artillery gunners aimed their barrels toward their comrades' coordinates with tears in their eyes and teeth clenched, then yanked the lanyards!
Artillery fire raged across the battlefield. Though Qingming was at an overwhelming disadvantage, they fought to the death without giving an inch. Cangwu's complexion grew pale once more; the speed at which his Dao soldiers were being lost had severely exceeded expectations again, rattling his Dao heart.
The eastern battlefield had become an Asura realm of slaughter, and the north was not one whit behind. Leading hundreds of thousands of elites, Wei Yuan pressed upstream against an ocean of Mountain Folk, leaving behind a corridor of flesh and blood paved with countless corpses.
Wei Yuan clamped down relentlessly onto the main Mountain Folk force. Seizing upon their lack of a fortified line and lack of time to resupply, he attacked without pause, like a millstone of flesh and blood grinding vast swathes of Mountain Folk to pieces.
Continuous fighting had pushed many ordinary Qingming soldiers to absolute exhaustion, making even a single step feel arduous. Yet captains charged ahead of the ranks, Dharma Idols fought in front of Dao Foundations, and Wei Yuan had long since plunged alone into the Mountain Folk ranks, locked in bloody combat against multiple giants while simultaneously directing the entire army.
Seeing Wei Yuan's figure crisscrossing through the air in the distance, sweeping and slaughtering in combat, countless Qingming soldiers somehow found strength anew. Raising arms that had long since gone numb, they struck off the heads of more Mountain Folk.
Chapter 1065