Longzang

Chapter 1070 Hard Fight
As dawn breaks in the east, the sky turns a pale white.

Suddenly, the entire army of Ji State poured out of their camp, splitting into several groups, and charged towards Qingming's eastern defense line. In the main camp, Xiao Jingyuan sat in the central army, closing his eyes to rest, while his adopted son stood behind him, his face showing resentment.

Sitting in the commander's seat was a fair-skinned scholar, handsome and well-built, dressed in satin robes, and appeared to be around middle-aged. However, given his late-stage Dharma Aspect cultivation, his presence in the commander's seat drew attention.

There were several pools of fresh blood on the ground inside the tent.

Several soldiers were carrying a general out. The general was covered in blood, his skin torn and bleeding, and he was barely breathing. Inside the tent stood eight young eunuchs, each with the cultivation of a perfected Foundation Establishment, holding broken rattan staffs, the tips of which were covered in blood and flesh.

This rattan staff is made from thousand-year-old rattan and is a specially crafted instrument of torture, specifically designed to counter a strong, resilient body. Even a body-refining cultivator would be beaten to a pulp by several Foundation Establishment cultivators if they encountered it.

The general had just been carried out of the tent when suddenly a chorus of weeping erupted. It turned out that the general couldn't withstand the beating and had died as soon as he stepped out of the tent.

The scholar sighed softly and said, "How foolish! He insisted on defying me, even after being beaten unconscious. I am here by imperial decree; to defy me is to defy the king. Such a rebellious person is no threat; killing him is no big deal. But what about those weeping outside the camp? Are they questioning the fairness of my handling of the matter? Guards, bring all those weeping in!"

In the blink of an eye, more than a dozen officers and soldiers were dragged into the main tent and made to kneel on the ground. One of the young generals suddenly looked up, gritted his teeth, and said, "General Yu dedicated his life to the country, loyal and devoted! He didn't die on the battlefield, but I never thought he would die at the hands of a dog like you! I'll fight you to the death!"

He suddenly leaped up and pounced on the scholar!
The young general was also at the Dharma Aspect level. His attack was all-out and fierce, while the other generals present remained motionless, as if caught off guard.

The young general was halfway through his attack when suddenly a head flew off, spraying blood onto the tent ceiling. The headless corpse continued flying forward, landing just in front of the scholar, splattering a few drops of blood onto the hem of his official robe.

At this moment, the figure of the Embroidered Robe Commander slowly appeared in the main tent. He was sitting on the side of the head seat, but none of the generals noticed him.

The scholar coldly said, "You are all disrupting the morale of the army; drag you out and execute you."

These captains and generals were all dragged out by the palace officials. All the generals present dared to be angry but dared not speak out.

But the scholar felt no awkwardness at all, looking at the many heavily armored generals in the camp with no attempt to hide the disdain in his eyes.

He shouted in a deep voice, "General Mao Xianzu of the Left Army!"

"The general is here!"

"Your unit will immediately advance forty li north to serve as reinforcements for the third route. Upon arrival, you will immediately commence combat. Without orders, you are not permitted to retreat. Do you understand?"

Mao Xianzhu was a fat, burly man. Anger flashed in his eyes, but he still said, "This subordinate understands."

The Confucian scholar kept giving orders, and after a short while, most of the generals in the camp had left. The troops in Ji's army camp gradually set off, and very few remained.

Xiao Jingyuan's adopted son's eyes were practically spitting fire. In the end, the troops he transferred out were basically Xiao Jingyuan's own men, some of whom had become somewhat like private armies. But all of them were pushed to the battlefield by this scholar's military order.

He couldn't help but say, "Lord Sun Chaoen! Many soldiers came down from the battlefield just the day before and went back into battle without any rest. The casualties will be much higher! Moreover, the camp is empty. If Wei Yuan takes the opportunity to launch a surprise attack, can Lord Sun bear the responsibility?"

The one sitting on the high seat was Sun Chaoen, who had come by imperial decree and had taken over the power from Xiao Jingyuan.

Upon his arrival, he immediately sidelined Xiao Jingyuan and then had several generals who dared to defy him beaten to death on the spot. Sun Chaoen did not come alone; he was accompanied by numerous eunuchs specifically responsible for enforcing the law and administering punishments.

Although the generals were furious, Sun Chaoen had come with an imperial edict, making his actions legitimate. With the Embroidered Uniform Guard supervisor watching over them, they could only choose to endure the sight of the bloody corpses, despite being on the verge of exploding several times.

Faced with the questioning from Xiao Jingyuan's adopted son, Sun Chaoen sneered, "Young General Xiao, I only spared you from being sent out because of the Grand General. But if you think I wouldn't dare to touch you, you're sorely mistaken! If you have any grievances against me, you can naturally impeach me in court later. But for now... just bear with it!"

Xiao Jingyuan coughed at this moment, and his adopted son could only swallow his anger and retreat to the back in a huff.

At this moment, the ground suddenly trembled slightly, and Xiao Jingyuan, whose eyes had been half-closed, suddenly opened them, his divine sense sweeping across the outside of the camp. He saw dust rising in the distance, and troop after troop of iron cavalry appearing, galloping towards them at a trot pace. The military aura was so overwhelming that it blotted out the sun, and there was clearly a large force behind them.

Xiao Jingyuan was familiar with the banners and armor of this army; it was originally a legion defending the north against the Southern Qi and Wu kingdoms. He never expected it to suddenly appear in the west, having traversed hundreds of thousands of miles. The fact that Xiao Jingyuan was completely unaware of such a large-scale troop movement sent a chill down his spine. This kind of operation must be a joint effort between the immortal and Prince Ji, and he had been excluded from the scheme.

Xiao Jingyuan's adopted son was a moment late, but he also noticed the approaching northern army. Having been through many battles and officialdoms, he immediately understood the gravity of the situation.

Sun Chaoen then said, "Young general, there is no need to worry about the safety of the camp. If we cannot win this battle, then this camp will be useless."

At this moment, the tent flap was lifted, and several burly generals entered. They were clad in dark yellow armor and were none other than the generals of the Northern Army. However, the generals whom Xiao Jingyuan had personally promoted did not appear.

After the generals saluted, Sun Chaoen assigned the battle mission, throwing all 500,000 Northern Army troops who had rushed to the battlefield into battle, giving them only half an hour to eat and drink.

In the vast camp, fewer than 10,000 people remained.

Sun Chaoen's arrangement left even the generals of the Northern Army somewhat bewildered, but they still obeyed the order.

Cangwu, who sat serenely in the heavens, slowly opened his eyes, looked down, and then nodded slightly, saying, "This Sun Chaoen is quite good; he is intelligent and sensible. No wonder Prince Ji likes him so much."

The Qingming Eastern Front is already embroiled in a fierce battle, and its forces are thin, with its main force having been withdrawn to the north by Wei Yuan.

At Guantun New City, Feng Chutang and Cui Yu faced the sand table and constantly adjusted their troop deployment. In just a short while, they had transferred out most of their reserve troops.

“This won’t do. We need to take a multi-pronged approach.” Feng Chutang frowned and said to Xu Yi, “Go to the rear and urgently gather the reserves, arm them as soon as possible, and send them to the front. Cui Yu and I will hold them off here.”

Xu Yi knew the situation was urgent and left immediately. Feng Chutang then said to Cui Yu, "You stay here and command. I'll go to the front lines and give the troops a boost in morale."

Cui Yu said, "Our soldiers all know who they are fighting for, so their morale won't be low, right?"

Feng Chutang said, "You are enough to command. At times like this, we need to let the soldiers on the front lines know that we will fight alongside them, even if it means death!"

Cui Yu nodded slowly and said, "Farewell, Master Feng!"

Feng Chutang chuckled, "You make it sound like I'm going to die. Don't worry, I have a family heirloom; Yu Jing can't kill me easily."

After saying that, he pushed open the door and left.

……

Wei Yuan, who was in the north, learned of the Ji Kingdom's full-scale attack immediately. The Ji army was caught off guard; they hadn't expected the army to launch another attack without rest after the great battle, nor had they anticipated the sudden appearance of the Ji army's northern legion.

At this moment, Cangwu on the eastern defense line began to send out more troops to attack important targets. However, Wei Yuan had a countermeasure. Apart from Guantun New City, the troops were scattered everywhere on the battlefield, with no important positions. Even the heavy artillery was deployed in groups of two or three.

Once a heavy artillery position encounters enemy troops, the defending officer will immediately call for nearby heavy artillery to fire upon it. Xu Wenwu's call for artillery fire upon himself that day had already been communicated throughout the army. Now, the soldiers follow suit; many heavy artillerymen, with tears in their eyes, gritted their teeth, pointed their cannons at their comrades' locations, and then pulled the ramrods!

Amidst the raging gunfire on the battlefield, Qingming, though at a significant disadvantage, fought to the death. Cangwu's face paled again; the rate of loss of his Dao soldiers had once again far exceeded expectations, causing even his Dao heart to waver.

The eastern battlefield had become a carnage, and the north was no less devastated. Wei Yuan led hundreds of thousands of elite troops upstream against the current through the sea of ​​mountain people, leaving behind a bloody corridor of countless corpses.

Wei Yuan relentlessly pursued the mountain people's main force, taking advantage of their lack of defenses and time to resupply, launching continuous attacks, crushing the massive numbers of mountain people like a meat grinder.

The continuous fighting had exhausted many of Qingming's ordinary warriors to the point that even taking a single step was difficult. But at this moment, the captain was charging ahead of the ordinary warriors, and the Dharma Avatar was ahead of the Dao Foundation. Wei Yuan had already single-handedly charged into the mountain people's ranks, fighting a bloody battle with several giants while directing the entire army.

Seeing Wei Yuan's figure soaring through the air, fighting and leaping, countless Qingming warriors somehow regained some strength, raised their long-numbed arms, and beheaded another mountain villager.

(End of this chapter)