Longzang

Chapter 431 Only Consider the Mood That Night
The girl finally came to her senses, and after letting out a scream, she quickly covered her mouth, then remembered something and covered her face instead.

She quickly crouched down, completely disregarding whether her vitals were exposed, and grabbed at the ground with one hand, picking up all the clothes and then picking up the scattered pieces of clothing, leaving nothing behind that could reveal her identity, before jumping out of the window and escaping.

Wei Yuan had been watching quietly until now, when he said to her retreating figure, "May I leave my name? I'll tell Brother Li when he returns."

"Go to hell!" came the girl's voice from the night.

Wei Yuan seemed to be deep in thought. It seemed that Li Zhi had been quite busy all the time, with so many tricks up his sleeve. No wonder this guy hadn't been able to become a Dharma Master for so long.

Wei Yuan shook his head and continued reading the official documents, while the cat, snake, and weasel went about their own business.

As for the Peacock Monk, Wei Yuan is currently helpless against him. This guy is elusive, and even Wei Yuan's senses can hardly detect him. If he were in Qingming, with the huge amplification of the realm, Wei Yuan could catch the monk, but he has no way to do so while he is in Zhenshan.

At dawn the next day, Wei Yuan summoned all the generals of the Zhenshan Realm, including two miscellaneous generals at the Dharma Aspect Nourishing Spirit Realm.

Wei Yuan ordered his men to spread out a map, pointed to the largest mountain settlement near the border, and said, "These mountain people have been entrenched here for a long time. We're just sitting around doing nothing anyway, so why don't we go over there and wipe them out? The plan is as follows..."

Wei Yuan then issued a series of orders.

After a few orders, Li Zhi's generals went from surprise to shock, and then to disbelief.

These orders were extremely detailed, even arranging the marching routes for small units of three thousand men, specifying where they would go and when they would arrive. Everything was clearly planned.

Tens of thousands of troops were to arrive at the same time in an open valley thirty miles from the mountain people's camp, which would also be the battlefield for the final battle.

Wei Yuan issued a map to each general commanding troops independently, marking their assembly area upon arrival and the formation they needed to form.

After giving the orders, Wei Yuan concluded, "Brother Li granted me the power of life and death before he left. Anyone who dares to disobey orders can be beheaded on the spot. I hope I will not have the opportunity to use this power in the upcoming battles."

A general with a minor title whispered a reminder: "Lord Wei, there are 120,000 mountain people there."

"I know."

The general with the miscellaneous title should shut up.

As the sunlight streamed in, the military spirit of the Zhenshan border region surged, and the army marched out of the border, rolling forward. Dozens of scout cavalry squads set off first to reconnoiter the surrounding terrain.

Wei Yuan had visited the Zhenshan Boundary several times, each time enriching the map's details. This time, the advance of dozens of scout cavalry units had captured detailed topographical maps of a vast area and added them to the Wanli Heshan map.

The army set off at dawn and arrived at the designated battlefield by afternoon.

The Qingming troops arrived first and occupied the high ground on both sides of the valley. Then the infantry and Taoist soldiers began to dig the positions, while the cavalry stood on the high slopes to monitor the enemy's movements.

After a while, the troops stationed in Zhenshan arrived one after another, with a difference of half an hour between the first and last to arrive.

The appearance of the human army naturally attracted the attention of the mountain people, who flocked to the opposite side and began to set up their formation.

Wei Yuan stood on the mountaintop, surrounded by generals under Li Zhi's command. Once all the generals had arrived, Wei Yuan pointed to the mountain people opposite and said calmly, "If you had all arrived by the deadline, we would have already driven the mountain people back to their hometowns."

The last two generals to arrive had shifty eyes, looked ashamed, and remained silent with their heads down. Wei Yuan didn't say much, but directly called out the names of the two generals, saying, "You two units will attack first and atone for your crimes with meritorious service."

The two generals gritted their teeth and led their ten thousand soldiers in a frontal attack against the mountain people's army. Just when they thought they were doomed in this battle, a hundred-foot-tall jade mountain suddenly descended from the sky!

Yu Shan was truly ferocious. Three of the six Dharma Aspects in the mountain tribe's central army fled instantly, leaving only three who could only take the blow head-on. They were immediately and severely injured, throwing the central army into chaos. Now, with Wei Yuan unleashing his full power, how could two or three Dharma Aspects possibly withstand it?

Next, Jade Mountain reappeared, smashing a gap in the mountain people's formation. Then, Dragon Wing charged into the gap, pierced through the enemy formation, and then broke back. Subsequently, the infantry followed, and the Taoist soldiers followed, and everything returned to its mindless routine.

Xu Wenwu rode on a ferocious warhorse, clicked the large magazine onto his gun, and then fired several shots in quick succession with one hand, causing the mountain people in front of him to fall to the ground.

Xu Wenwu changed the magazine and felt incredibly imposing and menacing. The gun in his hand was specially made; although its caliber was much smaller than the flying sword gun used by Daoji, it was still comparable to the anti-material sniper rifle from Xu Wenwu's previous world.

Then he burst into laughter and shouted, "I'm a man who can wield a Barrett with one hand now!"

Just as he was looking for his next target, he heard a sharp whistle, followed by a burst of gunfire as all the soldiers fired a volley.

Then Xu Wenwu had no enemies in front of him.

The overall situation on the battlefield was clearly divided. The Zhenshan troops were responsible for the left flank and fought fiercely with the mountain people. The sounds of battle were deafening, and the two sides were locked in a fierce battle.

The Qingming troops were responsible for the right flank, while the opposing mountain tribes were cut down like weeds. In the blink of an eye, the right flank of the mountain tribes collapsed, and the Qingming troops turned around to encircle the left flank, and soon crushed the left flank of the mountain tribes as well. This mountain tribe, which had recently defeated Li Zhi, thus abandoned tens of thousands of corpses and fled over the mountains.

Looking at the fleeing mountain people, Wei Yuan felt a little regretful. If Li Zhi's troops had arrived on time and dealt a heavy blow to the mountain people's army when they were setting up their formation, then the Longxiang Army and the Daoist soldiers would have had time to flank them, block their retreat, and swallow these hundreds of thousands of mountain people whole.

However, having marched hundreds of miles and arrived within half an hour of each other, they were already an elite force, and Wei Yuan could not ask for more.

In reality, the Qingming troops were able to operate with such ease largely because they were led by warriors from the Kaihui Daoji sect, allowing Wei Yuan to monitor the progress of each unit in real time and relay orders accordingly.

Wei Yuan did not intend to send the Kaihui Daoji warriors into Li Zhi's army. This was his biggest secret at the moment, and he did not want to reveal it to outsiders.

The half-hour difference in arrival time between Li Zhi's and Wei Yuan's forces in this battle may seem insignificant, but if they were enemies, Wei Yuan could have used that half-hour to wipe out Li Zhi's entire force. Essentially, the first wave of troops would be completely annihilated just as the next wave arrived at the battlefield.

After the great victory, Wei Yuan didn't stop, and went on to wipe out two more large strongholds of the mountain people before returning to Zhenshan to rest. After only two days of rest, Wei Yuan felt bored and led his army out to attack again.

He then brought over another 20,000 cavalry and infantry from Qingming, and launched successive attacks, wiping out the mountain people within a 500-mile radius.

A month later, when Li Zhi rushed back, he suddenly discovered that the Zhenshan territory had expanded to 150 li, and the spoils of war were piled up like mountains, with no time to move or process them.

When Li Zhi returned to the city lord's mansion, he saw two stacks of battle reports piled high on the table, and he immediately felt a chill run down his spine.

He then opened the map that his subordinate generals had specially brought him, and saw that all the known mountain settlements were marked with an X, and many unknown mountain settlements were also marked with an X.

On the map, there was no trace of mountain dwellings within a radius of 300 miles; the area was so clean it looked as if it had been licked by dogs.

At this time, Wei Yuan was leading a small troop on reconnaissance patrols outside the border and had not yet returned. Taking this opportunity, Li Zhi quickly summoned his generals and inquired about the number of battles fought in recent days and their specific details.

According to the generals, these battles were fought in an exceptionally simple manner. The basic procedure was that the army would arrive, the Jade Mountain would fall, the cavalry would chisel through it and then chisel back, then the entire army would launch a surprise attack, and then they would collect the spoils.

Li Zhi finally understood where he fell short of Wei Yuan: he lacked a jade mountain.

It doesn't have to be Jade Mountain; any powerful Taoist technique with similar strength will suffice, or a magical artifact can be used instead. Such an irresistible magical artifact, when it strikes, will throw even the most solid enemy formation into chaos.

Fortunately, the Four Saints Academy has a rich heritage, and the Li family of Southern Qi also possesses countless treasures, so finding a magic weapon with similar power is not difficult.

At this moment, Wei Yuan returned to the realm and met Li Zhi in the study.

Li Zhi then said, "I'm glad I didn't fail in my mission and persuaded three elders, but the condition is that I give you another three years. There is still one elder who is wavering and may need the Xiao family to add some more bargaining chips. However, my good brother, I think the key to this trip to the Bao family is what identity you use to negotiate with them. Just talking about interests, benefits and exchanges is probably not enough."

At this point, Wei Yuan understood.

Li Zhi had truly helped him a great deal. Now, with the addition of Bao Manshan, Wei Yuan already had the support of four elders; he only needed to win over two more. The key was still the question Li Zhi had asked, which was also what Bao Yun had asked that day: what identity and stance would Wei Yuan take when he went to the Bao family?

Wei Yuan then returned the domain authority. By this time, Qingming's troops had already returned, so Wei Yuan did not linger and went back to Qingming.

After seeing Wei Yuan off, Li Zhi habitually opened the map to plan his next move and decide where to deploy troops.

But when he saw the rows of crosses on the map, he realized that there were no more enemies to fight around. Now all he had to do was wait for the territory to expand and then take over the land.

As a result, even as night fell, Li Zhi, who was used to being diligent, still hadn't come to his senses.

The nights with nothing to do felt so empty.

Li Zhi then wrote a letter to the daughter of a general of the Zhao state in the rear, and sent a trusted confidant to deliver it to her. Afterwards, he sat down to meditate and cultivate himself.

Based on past experience, she would arrive around dawn, and then the female assassin would attempt a night raid on the enemy general, only to be captured and subjected to all sorts of humiliation instead.

Or perhaps it's a noble lady having a secret rendezvous with her lover at midnight, only to fall into the hands of bandits and suffer all sorts of humiliation.

Or perhaps a weak woman sells herself to bury her father, forced to submit to a local tycoon, and suffers all kinds of humiliation.

Which play to use depends on my mood that evening.

But they waited until dawn, and the general's daughter still hadn't arrived.

PS: An extra chapter today to give December a good omen, and I'm also asking for your guaranteed monthly votes.

(End of this chapter)