In the eleventh month of the tenth year of Zhaoning, the first snowflakes drifted down. Only upon emerging from seclusion did Wei Yuan realize winter had already arrived.
Over the past half-year and more, he had remained in secluded cultivation dedicated to refining boundary stones. He had attempted the process three times, consumed three batches of materials, and failed three times. Although he had not succeeded once, his proficiency had reached nearly twenty percent. Having built up to this level of mastery, with Wei Yuan's luck, he might well succeed on the very next attempt.
Wei Yuan was in no hurry. Back in the Middle Ancient Era, Cang Xu had spent seven hundred years on this hurdle, and had subsequently set a target of five hundred years for future genius disciples.
Although most of those centuries were actually spent slowly gathering materials, and Cang Xu had only consumed a little over thirty batches before succeeding, Wei Yuan felt that in at most another year—at most two years total—he would be able to refine a new boundary stone. Thus, whenever he thought of this, his Dao heart felt exceptionally lucid and bright.
Cang Xu's heritage had been carefully preserved by Wei Yuan in the Nether Cold Realm to circumvent any contingencies left behind by the Martial Ancestor. When the Martial Ancestor's restrictions came to an end in the future, this ancient cultivator heritage would prove to posterity that what took senior immortals five hundred years to accomplish, Wei Yuan achieved in just two.
Humanity needed heritage and history, and safeguarding precious historical records was Wei Yuan's duty.
Just as winter set in, Li Zhi issued a proclamation to the realm, accusing the King of Ji of employing treacherous officials and plunging the common people into misery. Li Zhi declared that, in his capacity as Military Commissioner of Zhenshan of Great Tang and Royal Son-in-Law of the Golden Sword, he was launching an expedition against the scoundrels of the State of Ji to purge the court of corrupt councilors.
On the long list of treacherous officials, Sun Chao'en occupied the top spot, followed by Wang Zhi. Across the entire court, high and low, not a single member of the dozens from the clean-stream faction appeared on the list.
After Li Zhi issued the proclamation, a million-strong army surged forth from the four southern commanderies, splitting into columns to strike at the various mountain passes of Ji. The Ji army was as useless as ever; their first two defense lines collapsed almost on contact, and seven pass cities fell into Li Zhi's hands in the blink of an eye. The 1.5 million troops deployed along Ji's front line were utterly frail, routed in an instant.
At this critical juncture, Sun Chao'en and Wang Zhi joined forces, seizing total control of court affairs in one fell swoop. They ousted most of the clean-stream officials, flogging several defiant ones to death right in the court hall with rods, and then completely abolished the system of civil army inspectors.
Wang Zhi went even further, raiding the residences of more than a dozen high-ranking civil ministers in one breath. Astonishingly, they confiscated tens of millions of Qingyuan—enough to cover several months of military expenditures.
With this wealth in hand, Sun Chao'en threw open the state treasuries to pay off all the back pay owed to soldiers for years. He then recruited soldiers from among the populace, distributed weapons, and rallied the people across the State of Ji to take up arms against Li Zhi.
Simultaneously, Sun Chao'en personally visited over a dozen veteran generals who had been sidelined, and released dozens of military commanders from prison, reinstating them into various military posts.
This move bewildered not only the court and commoners, but even the King of Ji and Wang Zhi, who felt Sun Chao'en was taking far too great a gamble. After all, these commanders had suffered their misfortunes precisely because they had crossed Sun Chao'en in earlier years. The fortunate ones had been sidelined; the unfortunate had been imprisoned or exiled. And at least half of the crimes pinned on them were trumped-up charges.
Yet Sun Chao'en stubbornly had his way. The situation was truly desperate: the Ji army's combat strength was nowhere near the level of the Zhenshan Army. Even when outnumbering the enemy three or four to one, they were consistently routed. At this rate of collapse, it would not take half a year for Li Zhi to push straight to the capital of Ji. In these dire straits, the King of Ji had no choice but to clutch at any straw and acquiesce to Sun Chao'en's measures.
Sun Chao'en not only reinstated these old and disgraced commanders, but also entrusted them with the newly recruited troops and volunteer militias from across the realm, hurling them wholesale onto the battlefield.
Throngs of rabble, having eaten their fill and drunk their content, swarmed onto the front lines. To everyone's shock, when one of Li Zhi's generals led a hundred thousand elite troops to lay siege to a minor city defended by a mere forty thousand of this motley rabble, they suffered repeated setbacks. After fighting for months and losing over thirty thousand men, they still had not taken the city.
Dispatches of setbacks poured in from other fronts as well. The advance of Li Zhi's forces abruptly ground to a crawl. Cities and passes grew increasingly tough to crack; his battle-hardened elites and fierce, capable commanders suddenly seemed to have forgotten how to fight a war.
Li Zhi's temper flared hotter with each battle report. Finally, upon reading that one of his trusted confidants had taken four whole months and sacrificed thirteen thousand men just to breach a pass city defended by a meager five thousand, he could no longer contain himself. Ignoring his attendants' dissuasion, he personally rode to the pass city.
Per his orders, the pass city remained preserved just as it had been when it fell. In the biting cold, a thin layer of snow blanketed the town. Beneath the snow, the shapes of corpses were clearly visible, and blood had frozen into ice, paving the ground in dark red.
Li Zhi landed atop the pass walls and walked into the city. Virtually no building remained intact; scars of battle marked every surface, and bodies lay strewn in haphazard disarray, bearing testament to the savagery of the final assault.
The pass city was small, and Li Zhi soon reached the other end. Halting his steps, he asked, "How many prisoners were taken?"
"Thirteen," the general answered in a low voice.
"And the townsfolk? Why haven't I seen any commoners?"
"The townsfolk all took up positions on the walls to defend the city... and fought to the death."
Li Zhi's heart sank. An entire city of civilians, alongside the garrison, fighting down to the last person—Li Zhi knew all too well what that meant.
A voice echoed in his heart at that moment: *Am I so utterly devoid of the people's hearts?*
Naturally, those words were never spoken aloud.
In the palace of the State of Ji, the King of Ji had never expected the situation could actually be stabilized. Overjoyed, he hosted a private banquet in the palace, with only Sun Chao'en and Wang Zhi attending.
After several rounds of wine, the King of Ji, slightly tipsy, asked, "Beloved Minister Sun, those men you employed are either retired veterans or disgraced commanders. Some are completely illiterate, others are so aged their lifespans are near an end. And what is more, every one of them holds a grudge against you. How did you dare use them?"
Sun Chao'en first penalized himself with three cups of wine, then replied, "Your Majesty may have forgotten, but during those years when your humble servant promoted curbing the military through civil governance, every single one of those men was personally sent to prison, dismissed, or exiled by my own hand."
"Indeed," Wang Zhi concurred.
Sun Chao'en continued, "Using civil governance to curb the martial class was, of course, to prevent military officers from usurping power and endangering the realm. Therefore, my standard back then was simple: those who could fight were dismissed or exiled; those who were exceptionally skilled in war were locked away in prison, never permitted to loiter outside. Thus, your servant knows that these men are all exceedingly capable warriors, so naturally they should be used to repel external foes."
Wang Zhi had not expected Sun Chao'en to speak so bluntly without the slightest concealment. Pondering the words carefully, the more he reflected, the deeper his understanding grew, and the more he admired Sun Chao'en to the point of utter reverence.
Yet the King of Ji was somewhat curious: "Still, I recall that back then you cracked down on over a hundred generals, yet did not execute a single one. Why was that?"
Sun Chao'en replied, "Arresting them and dismissing them was for the stability of the state, to prevent regional warlordism. Sparing their lives was because they were talented men—should the country face a crisis, they could be put to use. Just as they are today."
The King of Ji sighed, "Beloved Minister, you are truly a loyal official for the ages!"
Yu Zhizhuo hurried into the room, laid two documents before Wei Yuan, and asked, "Both the State of Ji and Zhenshan Fief have placed massive new orders, but each demands that we supply no military goods to the other side. What should we do about this?"
Wei Yuan stood before the map and pondered for a long time before saying, "Then issue an announcement: we will not sell military supplies to either party."
Yu Zhizhuo was taken aback. "Is that really necessary?"
Wei Yuan chuckled. "I hear you have relatives in the military supply business?"
Yu Zhizhuo replied candidly, "They are mortal kinsmen from my secular clan. However, they conduct everything through official channels and only take the standard discounts entitled by regulation."
Wei Yuan said, "I'm not doubting you. What I mean is, you can tell them to buy up more military supplies."
Yu Zhizhuo caught on immediately and praised, "What a marvelous idea!"
Wei Yuan gave a slight smile. "Don't hog it all for yourself, either. Invite everyone to join in. For those who don't have relatives in the trade, make sure to set aside a share for them too."
Chapter 1353