Wei Yuan's brazen invasion sent shockwaves through the entire State of Ji, driving Cangwu into a towering fury.
Yet, standing beneath the Immortal Heaven, Cangwu found himself utterly helpless against Wei Yuan, who remained veiled in the lower realm amidst the square, disciplined martial aura of his army.
At present, the martial aura of Qingming's advancing columns gathered tightly without dispersing, every formation squared and resolute. The sheer potency of this military qi surpassed even that of the Great Tang's Nine Armies.
Where Wei Yuan's central army marched, vast swathes of metallic luster glinted within the military qi, within which flames surged and countless monstrous silhouettes faintly drifted. A military qi so potent that it seemed poised to give birth to sapience was simply unheard of!
Within this unprecedented tide of martial qi, Cangwu suspected that even if he struck with the full might of an immortal, a blow would be diminished by forty percent.
Meanwhile, iridescent mists swirled around Wei Yuan, continually projecting visions of thriving prosperity—an unmistakable sign of karmic luck gracing his person and overflowing at its absolute zenith. Furthermore, the crystalline blue spear Wei Yuan held loosely in hand made Cangwu's eyelids twitch; even looking at it from afar felt like sharp needles piercing his eyes.
Cangwu could not help but recall that past event when Wei Yuan, bearing the mortal fortune of hundreds of millions, traversed karmic connections to cut down Liumiao with a single thrust. The Wei Yuan of today was noticeably far more formidable than back then. The might of that Counter-Slay thrust had grown progressively terrifying, to the point that even Cangwu had no desire to take it head-on. Moreover, the spear in Wei Yuan's hand was unmistakably bizarre; while its tier was not particularly high—likely not even reaching the threshold of an immortal artifact—Cangwu strongly suspected the weapon was a single-use expendable.
Thus, mortal and immortal remained locked in a standoff across the divide of heaven and earth, neither able to overcome the other. Below, Qingming's million-strong army rolled onward like an unstoppable tide, sweeping through a ten-thousand-li expanse of desolate, uninhabited territory.
Within the court of the State of Ji, the atmosphere was suffocatingly bleak.
The newly appointed Minister of War stepped forward from the ranks and reported, "Your Majesty, I have dispatched seven hundred thousand troops to garrison forward positions and intercept the rebel army. An additional three million soldiers are currently being mobilized. However, to fully arm and train them, I fear it will require at least three months."
"Three months? That Wei Yuan is advancing a thousand li a day! Three months from now, he will be knocking at the gates of the royal capital!" the King of Ji roared in fury.
The King of Ji slammed his hand violently onto the royal desk and barked, "What of the two hundred thousand border troops sent earlier to intercept them?"
Steeling himself, the Minister of War replied, "They should have already engaged the enemy, but... no word has returned from the front lines."
Every official present knew the truth in their hearts. Those two hundred thousand men had surely been wiped out down to the last man, which naturally meant no news would ever arrive.
The Minister of Rites stepped forward to submit his report. "The envoy sent to the Tang dynasty has sent word back; he is still awaiting an audience. He has stayed at the postal station for ten days, yet has seen neither Emperor Jing nor the Regent King. The civil and military officials of the court are likewise avoiding him."
The King of Ji narrowed his eyes slightly. This development was hardly unexpected. With the Tang dynasty in decline, even gaining an audience would amount to little more than securing an imperial edict to provide nominal moral justification.
Just as the court officials found themselves at their wits' end, an official hurried into the hall and reported, "Your Majesty, Wei Yuan has issued an official manifesto! He explicitly demands the enfeoffment of Xiang and Han Commanderies and has raised banners to purge the court of corrupt ministers, demanding the surrender of the chief culprit..."
The man stole a quick glance at Sun Chao'en before continuing, "He demands that Lord Sun and more than thirty others beneath him be handed over to his disposal."
The assembled officials were taken aback. Many exchanged complex looks, while quite a few struggled to conceal their schadenfreude.
The King of Ji's expression darkened. "What the traitor demands shall never be granted!"
Privately, many ministers muttered among themselves. With Wei Yuan's military might so overwhelming, it was likely only a matter of time before Sun Chao'en had to be offered up to avert catastrophe. Having arrived at this conclusion, they firmly resolved never to offend Sun Chao'en right now, lest a desperate cornered dog turn violent and drag them down as cushions on his way to death.
At this moment, the Minister of Works stepped forward and memorialized, "Your Majesty, the thousands of artisans currently constructing the Cloud Terrace Golden Palace also hail from Qingming. They are a grave threat lurking in our very heartland! They should immediately be arrested and thrown into prison, where they can serve as bargaining chips against Wei Yuan in the future—"
Before he could finish, the King of Ji's face fell completely, and he bellowed, "Drag him out and give him fifty strokes with the staff!"
The new Minister of Works had never imagined such disaster would strike out of nowhere. Crying foul the entire way, he was dragged outside. Several veteran ministers stepped forth to plead for leniency, but before they could utter more than two sentences, the King of Ji snapped, "Drag them all out! Fifty strokes each!"
The court froze in shock, though several civil officials suddenly looked eager to step forward and court martyrdom.
Seeing this, Sun Chao'en stepped out of line and memorialized, "Your Majesty, I have heard that the paternal uncle of Lord Du Zhifeng, Academician of the Hanlin Academy, recently passed away. Lord Du was raised by his uncle from childhood and treated as his very own son. Both by sentiment and propriety, Your Majesty ought to grant Lord Du leave to return to his ancestral home to observe three years of filial mourning."
Du Zhifeng was responsible for compiling the official histories, and his family had served as court historians for generations.
The moment Sun Chao'en made the proposal, the King of Ji granted it without hesitation. Helpless, Du Zhifeng could only bow and express his gratitude.
First, the King of Ji vented his fury by subjecting ministers to court floggings without cause, and immediately afterward, Sun Chao'en proposed replacing the historian. It was blatantly clear they intended to forcibly suppress the incident to keep the King of Ji's posthumous reputation untarnished.
By Great Tang tradition, historians across the nine states held a transcendent status, their positions largely hereditary, and their families closely connected. Attempting to suppress one family of historians to hide acts of tyranny was utterly futile; the historians of the other states would only record the atrocity with heightened severity. Many a cruel and tyrannical monarch among the nine states had been pinned to historical infamy in just this manner.
Now, the King of Ji was repeating those very mistakes, yet the ministers dared not speak out despite their anger. They were shrewd men; they understood that rulers in turbulent times shed blood like water. To admonish him now was simply seeking death.
Through this demonstration, the ministers also realized the depth of the King of Ji's resolve to build the eighty-li Cloud Terrace Golden Palace. None dared object any longer, and none dared follow the Minister of Works' example in trying to pocket personal gain from the project.
Ultimately, it was the Minister of Revenue who broke the deadlock, stepping forward to report, "The traitors have mobilized an army of one million, which appears immensely imposing on the surface. Yet in my humble view, their weakness is equally glaring. How could the expenses of a million-strong host of tigers and wolves be anything less than staggering fortunes? Every day that vast army moves consumes astronomical quantities of supplies. Qingming is, after all, but a single remote region; I wager his campaign cannot be sustained for long! So long as we strengthen our defenses and clear the fields, it will not be long before the rebel army is forced to retreat on its own."
The King of Ji nodded; there was some sense to those words.
The court continued deliberating for another half-day, and predictably, nothing was accomplished.
***
At the frontier, Wei Yuan presided over the central army while Cui Yu served as vice commander, coordinating the various columns as they divided and converged. Facing Qingming's steel torrent, the elite border troops of the State of Ji had originally hoped to hold out behind sturdy fortifications.
Yet before Qingming's artillery fire, the Ji border forces and their earthworks looked like nothing more than a joke.
When half a day of relentless bombardment finally ceased, the Ji border troops and their defensive lines had completely vanished. The Qingming army rolled straight forward, iron-clad war wagons grinding across the scorched earth. Whatever remained in the blackened soil—whether shredded banners or shattered flesh and bone—was pulverized into dust beneath heavy treads.
Ever since the bloody battle against the Mountain Folk five years ago, Wei Yuan had reflected deeply on the painful lessons. Over those five years, he had endured hardship to rebuild strength, driving the rapid development of the iron, steel, and gunpowder industries while massively bolstering heavy artillery firepower.
Under the standard army offensive doctrine now formulated by Qingming, a baseline requirement was one heavy cannon for every three zhang of frontage, with each heavy cannon stocked with a standard combat load of one hundred shells. Between the heavy guns, lighter cannons could be deployed to further thicken the density of fire.
Now engaged with the State of Ji, Qingming's new tactics proved remarkably effective; before the infantry even moved forward, the enemy positions had already been blasted into dust.
Only upon reaching designated positions did the Qingming units halt to rest and regroup. The army arranged their war wagons into an outer perimeter defense, erected march tents within, and cooks hauled barrels of canned military rations down from the transport wagons.
A few burly soldiers strolled past. One twitched his nose, let out a sigh, and grumbled, "Canned meat again. Can't they come up with anything new?"
The nearby soldiers sighed in sympathy. An older veteran remarked, "Maybe the dessert fruit will have some variety."
Another sergeant gave a dry chuckle. "There's only three or four kinds in total—what new stuff could there be? Just wait for sweets day!"
The older veteran suddenly remembered something and groaned, "Wait, we just had sweets yesterday. We've got three more days to wait!"
After they moved off, more soldiers walked past one after another, all letting out sighs at the monotonous daily diet.
At the rear of the central army, countless light orbs drifted around Wei Yuan, while Cui Yu manifested his heavenly soldiers to process military affairs.
Wei Yuan simply maintained his presence there, holding Cangwu at bay by his sole might to prevent the immortal from deploying Dao soldiers again. The vast majority of practical military matters were handled by Cui Yu.
Yet while Wei Yuan stood with ease and room to spare, Cui Yu was pushed to his absolute limits. Even with the twelve Night Heavenly Soldiers working frantically, they struggled to keep pace.
In a moment of urgency, a dark-skinned little child leading a black dog manifested beside Cui Yu and joined in the work.
Wei Yuan was thoroughly astonished, intensely curious about how this little heavenly soldier had come to be. He looked at the twelve Liuren Night Heavenly Soldiers, then at the small child, feeling more and more that the child's features bore a distinct resemblance to a certain few of the larger heavenly soldiers.
Cui Yu kept a deadpan expression, refusing to answer any questions on the matter. Regardless, with the addition of the little heavenly soldier and the dog, Cui Yu's dharma idol finally took another stride forward, officially stepping into the realm of a celestial idol.
Chapter 1083