Of the hundred and fifty thousand Zhao troops in this battle, thirty thousand fled, sixty thousand were killed or wounded, and sixty thousand surrendered. Qingming suffered eight thousand casualties—a complete, overwhelming victory.
Among the eight Zhao dharma idols, two fell in battle, one was captured, and the rest escaped. Taking advantage of the battlefield's chaos, Wei Yuan had struck with lethal force, personally slaying two dharma idol generals and discreetly collecting their dharma idols, convinced he had pulled it off without anyone noticing.
Offering up the two dharma idols shaved off another fraction of Wei Yuan's debt to the three-eyed bird head, leaving sixty-nine remaining. It seemed one dharma idol was worth three strands of otherworldly fortune. Regrettably, the three-eyed bird head looked down on the dharma idols of alien races and accepted only human ones, for reasons unknown.
Otherwise, Wei Yuan's debt would have been cleared long ago with plenty to spare.
Hanyang Pass was not far from Qingming, and with Wei Yuan personally present, many souls of the fallen Zhao soldiers were unable to reincarnate. Intercepted by Wei Yuan, they were transformed into mortals within the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World.
Wei Yuan left ten thousand men to garrison Hanyang Pass and clean up the battlefield, while he led the main army straight toward the hundred thousand Zhao troops in Huangping Commandery.
Wei Yuan moved swiftly. The Zhao forces had only just received the news when Qingming's vanguard was already at their gates.
This Zhao army was quite sensible, immediately sending an envoy to the Qingming camp to negotiate surrender terms with Wei Yuan. Wei Yuan naturally welcomed this, admitting the envoy into the central tent with an exceptionally pleasant and mild demeanor.
This envoy embodied the tall, spirited grace of Zhao women, yet her brow and eyes held a gentle charm. It was clear she was proud and haughty by nature, but having come to negotiate terms of surrender, she was forced to humble herself. Consequently, she glared venomously at Wei Yuan with murderous eyes while voicing the meekest, softest words. The resulting impression was exceedingly complex.
The terms of surrender amounted to little more than keeping their spoils of war, their captives, their armaments, and preserving the dignity of the commanding general. Except for the last item, everything else was open to concession.
Wei Yuan was in no hurry. He negotiated at a leisurely pace, watching the envoy repeatedly verge on violent rage—biting her lip until it nearly bled—only to be forced to swallow it, pleading bitterly in submissive tones. It filled him with an indescribable sense of relaxed delight.
Only now did Wei Yuan finally understand why demonic cultivators of the ancient era had loved playing such bizarre games, and why so many had indulged in their own grotto-heavens without being able to pull themselves out. The main appeal was that grotto-heavens had all sorts of scenarios one could stage to their heart's content.
Wei Yuan's thoughts drifted for a moment. In the Middle Antiquity, demonic cultivators had run rampant, but over the last ten thousand years they had sharply declined. Nowadays, almost none surfaced within the Great Tang, and no one knew where they had all gone.
Outside the Great Tang lay territory beyond the human domain; demonic cultivators hiding out there likely lived hard lives, even if they had attained Scenery Command. A mindscape world could alter the surrounding natural environment, so without a boundary stone, demonic cultivators were effectively forced to act as boundary stones themselves, eking out a truly miserable existence.
A boundary stone was a supreme treasure of the human race. Ordinary demonic cultivators were ignored, but any demonic cultivator in possession of a boundary stone would be hunted down and slain no matter how far they fled.
Wei Yuan sighed inwardly. Demonic cultivators losing their ambition to frivolous indulgences was a cautionary tale. Still, looking at this envoy—pure of face, hot of figure, fierce of temper, yet striving desperately to beg for mercy—it truly was splendid. No wonder so many prominent figures also toyed with distractions and lost their ambition.
Anyone capable of sending such an envoy was no ordinary character. Wei Yuan asked, "Who sent you? Tell me all about them. Leave nothing out, or you shall face harsh torture!"
The envoy's brows shot up in fury. "Go ahead and try it, you blockhead! See if I'm afraid of—"
Realizing her slip of the tongue, she gritted her teeth and said, "Forgive me, this humble woman forgot her place. I beg Your Excellency's pardon. My general's family name is Su, given name Ruyu, a scion of the Zhao state's Su clan. Hearing of Your Excellency's divine descent like soldiers from the heavens, General Su dispatched me to seek a path of survival for our troops. If you allow our army to return to Zhao, General Su is willing to serve you like a horse or ox in the future to repay Your Excellency's benevolence!"
As the girl spoke these meek words and heaped praise on Wei Yuan, her whole body squirmed, her toes curling into the ground so hard they could have dug a trench. It was not just Wei Yuan; all the generals in the tent were staring transfixed.
Yet the moment she finished speaking, someone suddenly rushed in to report: "Unusual movement in the Zhao camp! Our qi-scrying specialists noticed a sudden drop in their military qi. After sending scouts to inspect, they found only the old, weak, sick, and disabled remaining. The camp is deserted!"
Wei Yuan was taken aback. "Where is the Zhao main force?"
"Judging by the tracks outside the camp, they must have fled over an hour ago!"
Wei Yuan calculated the timing. The Zhao commander must have begun fleeing the instant their vanguard was spotted, masking their military qi while sending an envoy to buy time. The real issue was that this envoy had actually succeeded!
Although Wei Yuan cared little about capturing a few more or fewer men, being thoroughly duped by the enemy commander left him burning with humiliation and rage. He slammed his desk and bellowed, "What an insidious scoundrel!"
At the same time, Wei Yuan was secretly on guard. The envoy sent by this Zhao general was so exquisitely chosen that she catered precisely to his petty, hidden desires. How could such a coincidence happen in this world? It was definitely targeted! Wei Yuan began pondering deeply over who was secretly slandering his reputation behind his back.
Hearing that the Zhao main force had escaped, the female envoy was momentarily stunned, followed by ecstatic delight. "Finally, I don't have to play the meek little granddaughter anymore! Kill me or carve me up as you please! If this old lady makes a single peep, I'll take your turtle-bastard surname!"
This girl had the purest face, but the moment she opened her mouth, that refined aura vanished without a trace.
Wei Yuan was in no mood to tangle with her now. He commanded, "Take her away for now and immediately track the Zhao army's movements! Let's go inspect their camp."
A moment later, Wei Yuan stood in the middle of the Zhao camp, looking at the military provisions neatly stacked in rows and an entire cart laden with gold, silver, and valuables. He could not help feeling torn.
Cui Yu said beside him, "The money seems to all be here. Are we still pursuing? Or should we attend to our proper business first?"
Wei Yuan wrestled with himself for a second, then gritted his teeth. "We do the proper business, and we pursue! Deploy the mobile war wagon units; we'll hunt them down together. This Zhao general is so deceitful, I won't rest easy until he's eliminated!"
Cui Yu resonated deeply. "Indeed! Wait for me; I'll assemble the troops right now and we can depart in a quarter of an hour. For now, send out scout cavalry to track them. An army on the march leaves plenty of tracks."
Wei Yuan nodded, then turned to arrange their primary objective.
His purpose in coming to Huangping Commandery was merely to drive off the Zhao troops, so long as they did not get in his way. Of course, if they were truly blind to the situation—like Su Hongmei—Wei Yuan did not mind swallowing them whole either.
Returning to his camp, Wei Yuan immediately began issuing directives. The orders were relayed to the rear, where Dao Foundation warriors distributed them to individual squads.
Each squad, consisting of fifty light cavalry and several wagons, had its own assigned objective and departed at once. Over a hundred squads fanned out to the more than seventy counties across Huangping Commandery to relocate displaced refugees.
The wagons were fully loaded with dry rations, each squad carrying enough grain to feed several thousand people for a month. Once they reached their destinations, they would venture deep into the rural townships, seeking out displaced refugees and those willing to become refugees to transport back to Qingming.
Once the provisions were consumed, the emptied wagons could carry women and children, greatly speeding up their movement.
Huangping Commandery was suffering warfare for the first time in twenty years, and its population still stood at over ten million. Wei Yuan planned to take at least two million, ideally four million. Hanyang Commandery held only seven million, from which Wei Yuan intended to take another two million, handpicking the able-bodied.
This was Wei Yuan's true business on this campaign. Scraping the ground for three feet of dirt could never compare to taking the people. Moreover, every squad carried large posters depicting the wonderful life in Qingming: meat to eat, houses to live in, fields to farm, and books to study.
He was confident that once the posters were seen, the number of refugees in both commanderies would surge.
With the primary task arranged, Wei Yuan rendezvoused with the high-mobility war wagon unit that had already set out, pursuing Su Ruyu.
Half of this unit was mounted cavalry, while the other half consisted of specially built high-speed wagons capable of handling rough terrain. Each wagon was clad in steel armor plates and mounted with multi-barrel sword-cannons, packing formidable firepower. Over flat ground, they moved exceptionally fast, only slightly slower than pure light cavalry.
Along roadways, their speed could directly match that of light cavalry.
The full designation of this unit was High-Mobility Combat Wagons, referred to simply as war wagons.
Wei Yuan stood amidst the military qi, using its momentum to fly alongside Cui Yu. He remarked, "...So that's your taste!"
Cui Yu snorted. "A pure, sweet little tyrannosaur—what man wouldn't love that? Don't tell me you don't like it?"
Wei Yuan sighed. "I can't anymore. My hands are too full!"
Cui Yu shot Wei Yuan a glare. "Next month I have to return home to meet the marriage partner my family arranged. You must come with me to back me up and bolster my presence."
Wei Yuan was surprised. "Don't you already have a fiancée? Why another political marriage?"
"She hasn't crossed the threshold yet, so it doesn't count! This new one is supposedly even better—not only beautiful, but her family is of equal standing. Of course, this came straight from the Old Ancestor; I merely didn't object."
Wei Yuan took a long, searching look at Cui Yu. "Brother Cui, I truly never imagined that you were that kind of person as well!"
Just then, a scout cavalryman rode back from the front, reporting, "We've spotted the Zhao army's rearguard! However, something is rather strange. We request the general to inspect it in person."
Wei Yuan snorted and glanced at Cui Yu. "What could possibly be strange? Could they all be little tyrannosaurs?"
Chapter 774