The main problem was that morale and discipline were both lacking; after forced-marching to Longchuan, the army had nearly fallen apart. He Chunhua was also fortunate: the unit sent to ambush the enemy's main force had made a few blunders, yet somehow failed to alert the opposition. Moreover, with the element of surprise on their side, he had mobilized a great deal of ordnance in advance.
He Chunhua knew full well what kind of men he commanded: where combat prowess fell short, ordnance made up the difference.
As soon as the ambush began, arrows rained like locusts and cannon fire shook the earth. Two full rounds of concentrated bombardment sent the opposing rebels fleeing in disarray, discarding helmets and armor.
Half of the initial installment of military aid from Mount Rong Sect had been expended right here.
He Chunhua had truly staked everything on a single throw.
Even so, when two armies meet, victory goes to the bold. Once his troops saw how inept the enemy was, they rushed forward to seize merits and heads!
Morale soared, and with howling battle cries, they routed the enemy forces.
Listening up to this point, Prefect Hu led his subordinate officials in showering shameless flattery, exalting He Chunhua as the God of War reborn and a mastermind without equal.
Even Qiu Hu offered a rare word of praise: "Impressive."
He was not praising how well He Chunhua had trained the troops, nor how brilliant the tactics were, but rather how intimately the man understood his own army, knowing how to play to their strengths while masking their weaknesses.
Strong armies had their way of fighting, and weak soldiers had theirs; the two could never be treated as the same.
Adapting methods to the men at hand was not something someone who merely read military treatises by rote could ever accomplish.
After three rounds of wine, just as Prefect Hu was about to raise his cup again, a brilliant red light flared outside the window, casting a scarlet glow over half his face.
"Eh?" Startled, the crowd rushed outside to look. In the northern night sky, wisps and ribbons of red light had suddenly appeared, interweaving densely until they swiftly outlined hills, fields, city walls, and buildings...
Yet there was one peculiar thing: this vast panorama was upside down.
At least, so it appeared from their vantage point.
Prefect Hu wondered aloud, "Why is it so exceptionally clear today?"
He Chunhua looked over at him. "Today?"
"Yes. Anomalies have been frequent in the night sky lately. This city in the sky has appeared several times, but never once as vivid as tonight."
Was that a grand fortress on a plain... no, on a plateau?
Though the image was inverted, when He Chunhua saw the signature triple gateway walls, his complexion instantly changed. "Panlong City?"
Having visited the Panlong Ruins in person, the South Gate of Panlong towering over the plateau had left a deep impression on him, and he recognized it at a single glance.
"There are explosions inside the city," He Lingchuan said, squinting. "It looks like fighting is going on."
Everyone could even glimpse flickering figures in the city's alleyways, though they were smaller than beans and impossible to make out clearly. There were also swift-moving things that did not resemble humans.
What were those things, and why would they appear in Panlong City?
The strange creatures in the city seemed to be hunting the humans relentlessly. Once caught, the humans simply vanished.
The scarlet phenomenon lasted for half an hour before suddenly converging into a single beam of light.
The city was gone, the figures within were gone; only this beam of red light shot straight into the sky, reaching high into the clouds above and touching the desert below.
Though narrow, it illuminated everyone's faces in a bright crimson glow. Even the dark gray exterior walls of Blackwater City's buildings were coated in a sheen of golden red.
He Lingchuan murmured, "Good grief, that's just too conspicuous."
Such an immense spectacle—any living soul around the Panlong Desert who wasn't blind would surely see it.
He Chunhua clapped him on the shoulder. "Care to go on another expedition?"
Wasn't the spot where the red light gathered precisely the ruins deep within the Panlong Desert?
"No way!" He Lingchuan refused flatly. "Dad, that's no place for a living soul."
He Chunhua chuckled softly.
He Lingchuan understood that the chuckle actually meant: *That won't be up to you.*
As everyone watched, the red light vanished in an instant.
Just as abrupt as when it had appeared.
Prefect Hu sighed, full of worry. "When heaven shows such omens, monstrous evils must be brewing."
He Chunhua suddenly asked him, "What does Great Shaman Zhaomandu have to say about it?"
Prefect Hu replied, "The Great Shaman departed a month ago, saying he was going to travel far and wide, and he hasn't returned to this day."
"Traveling far and wide" basically meant: don't bother asking where I'm going, because even I don't know.
"Is that so?" He Chunhua felt a trace of regret.
He had many questions he had hoped to consult the Great Shaman about, but they had missed each other.
He Lingchuan's gaze shifted slightly.
Indeed, Blackwater City was home to such an extraordinary figure. When he first arrived in the city, he had also intended to pay a visit, only to find the residence empty, and Prefect Hu had given him the very same answer.
In the end, with the spectacle concluded and the wine thoroughly enjoyed, Prefect Hu escorted them back to the inn before taking his leave.
On the way back, He Lingchuan spotted three or four men sitting under a snakeskin awning at an intersection, and his steps hitched.
Qiu Hu followed his gaze, and his expression tightened as well.
Those men were slurping noodles from large bowls nearly the size of washbasins, steam billowing off the broth.
The lapse in He Lingchuan and Qiu Hu's composure lasted only a fleeting moment before both returned to normal.
Once everyone was back at the inn, He Lingchuan spoke to He Chunhua:
"Dad, those men eating noodles by the crossing back there—we ran into them on Red Cliff Road. They're no good sort."
"How so?"
"Either soldiers or bandits," He Lingchuan said, borrowing Qiu Hu's assessment. "We originally thought they might stage a robbery on Red Cliff Road, but they ended up coming into the city."
"A few men like that can't turn the world upside down," He Chunhua said nonchalantly. "Blackwater City isn't under my jurisdiction; I'm not borrowing trouble."
If he overstepped his authority, where would that leave Prefect Hu?
With that said, everyone retired to their respective rooms to rest.
Before retiring to his room, He Chunhua doubled back and handed a cloth bundle to He Lingchuan:
"Wu Shaoyi asked me to pass this to you. Following the rebellion's suppression, he's retiring to Yazhou. He said the landscape there is picturesque—a fitting place to lay his bones."
He Lingchuan let out a sigh.
Wu Shaoyi's days were numbered. Their parting in the Yuan capital had likely been their final farewell, hadn't it?
That old comrade had endured a life full of trials, weathering rise and fall again and again. His life was, in many ways, an epitome of the Yuan Kingdom over the past two decades—a living testament to the people's destitution and the rot within officialdom.
No medicine could save him now, but did the Yuan Kingdom still have a chance of salvation?
He Chunhua was curious as well. "What do you want these for?"
"I made a bet with someone that I could get my hands on the old gazetteer of Tu County!"
He Chunhua scoffed, knowing full well he was talking nonsense. But seeing as it was just a few old items, he couldn't be bothered to pry further.
Entering his guest room, He Lingchuan unwrapped the cloth bundle to find several books inside. In addition to the Tu County gazetteer he had specifically asked for, there were three genealogies of prominent local clans.
Tucked inside was a slip of paper. Wu Shaoyi had noted down all the page numbers related to Longchuan.
In addition, Wu Shaoyi had written him a letter, thick and weighty.
He Lingchuan had originally merely given it a shot; he hadn't expected Wu Shaoyi to actually locate the county gazetteer along with records concerning Longchuan.
Longchuan fell under Tu County, but over the past two centuries, ownership of the area had changed hands four times. Aside from Panlong City at the beginning and the Yuan Kingdom at the end, it had been incorporated into two other states in between.
Of course, what He Lingchuan truly cared about was Longchuan's record over a hundred and sixty years ago, under the governance of Panlong City.
Chapter 808