Wei School's Three Good Students

Chapter 240 The Evil Moon in the Sky
On September 12th of the 5th year of the Tongzheng calendar, before Zhao Shanhe's team was wiped out.

In the Zhenjun camp, Xuan Chong personally met with several "Xu Yous from before the Battle of Guandu". After accurately verifying the information, he reassured and assured them that their families could now retain their high-ranking positions and generous salaries.

In reality, Xuan Chong had no intention of occupying the local area. The core advantage of the Zhen Kingdom now lies in "being good at managing more people" rather than "controlling more people". Therefore, Xuan Chong was prepared to "preserve the people but lose the land".

After Xuan Chong planned to annihilate the main force of the Hao army here, he would take the able-bodied laborers to his own stable controlled area, and then leave these "Xu You" to enjoy the high-ranking official positions and generous salaries of the local people, as well as the revenge of other warlords.

Xuan Chong gazed at Hao Jun's camp and continued to calmly adjust his forces.

At this time, during the battle, a portion of the elite troops of the Chen army had returned to Beixiejing. Xuan Chong's target was no longer just Zhao Shanhe, but Zhao Cheng of Jizhou.

Xuan Chong's current information is that Zhao Cheng has stabilized Jizhou in the past month of August; and by supporting the Yan family's young master to take power, he has managed to stay in Jizhou. Therefore, Xuan Chong now wants to interview Zhao Cheng: "Can you really just stand by and watch your elite troops and local foundations in the north be squandered by fools?"

…The crescent moon began to illuminate the battlefield…

The scene shifts to Jizhou. After Zhao Cheng painstakingly reorganized his 50,000-strong army, he tried to discuss the current situation in the north with his advisors.

The strategy proposed by these advisors was to try to recapture "Northern Sloping Path". Zhao Cheng sighed that these people were not thinking clearly. If the opponent were anyone else, it would be fine, but the opponent was Wu Xiaoque, who was known for being "cautious". Wu Xiaoque would never be complacent just because "the opponent's actions are too risky", but would always prepare for all possibilities.

Zhao Cheng smiled wryly: Especially when it comes to him, Wu Xiaoque defends him like a mother hen protecting her chicks. She completely disregards the demeanor of a renowned general.

However, Zhao Cheng knew that three different thoughts were swirling within his team, which was quite dangerous. So he sent his subordinate Baili Jue with three thousand elite soldiers to probe the "Northern Sloping Path." Zhao Cheng's exact words to him were: "If you see anything amiss, retreat immediately."

After making this arrangement, Zhao Cheng looked at the map of the north and murmured, "After locking me up, you can spread your wings like a roc in the north."

…At this very moment…

At the northern oblique path, Baili Jue, holding a telescope, watched as the Chen army guarding the exit cleared away the corpses of Hao army cavalry piled up on the bridge. Their method was to stuff soil and stones into their clothes and throw them into the river; with a splash, the corpses sank into the ravine, where they were devoured by a school of fish.

Baili Jue's face was grim. He had just launched an attack, but it had all been thwarted by the continuous barrage of musket fire and shotgun shells from the bridge.

He then tried to infiltrate the northern oblique path again, this time with the field troops first, followed by artillery and supplies. However, he was intercepted halfway through the infiltration and had to retreat. Baili Jue was afraid that if he was too slow, the Chen army would seize the high ground on both sides of some passes on the northern oblique path and ambush him, so he kept everything simple.

Baili Jue noticed that there were flying cavalry of the Zhen Army operating on both sides of the North Slope; obviously, once the ambush troops found their positions, he would not be able to take his supplies out.

Baili Jue sighed, "I can't save Brother Zhao Shanhe."

During the retreat, Baili Jue received a military suggestion from Zhen Hao, that scoundrel, who used the Tiger Tally to order him to "break through the northern oblique path at all costs." He gritted his teeth and wrote a reply: "Our army is unable to break through; please find another way."

Then, Baili Jue quickly hid the artillery and supplies in a cave to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Zhen army; he led his men to retreat quickly from the North Slope and head back.

Baili Jue: "My lord is right."

But watching helplessly as Hao Kingdom's last fighting force was wiped out was simply unbearable.

…Switch back again…

Looking at the situation in Jizhou, Zhao Cheng knew that he was already overwhelmed and unable to take care of himself.

Upstream to the west, Wu Rui's main camp has been firmly established.

In other words, if Zhao Cheng suddenly launches a large-scale northward offensive, Wu Rui will sail downstream and directly attack Jizhou.

Zhao Cheng now has access to a crucial piece of information: the two counties in eastern Xiangzhou have been fully mobilized; and Wu Rui has ordered them to completely mobilize the reserve forces in the rear.

According to the latest news about the Kingdom of Zhen that Zhao Cheng learned through "spies," all the laborers in Donghua County who were building roads for the Kingdom of Zhen had been transferred to the front lines.

The training level of these laborers was much higher than that of the Hao Kingdom's conscripted farmers, who trained for dozens of days during the two years of off-season, totaling only a month.
The laborers of Hao Kingdom could barely form ranks and advance according to commands and the sound of gongs and drums. They lacked the ability to accurately shoot arrows from a hundred paces away, and the ability to change formations from "dense" to "loose" within ten breaths upon command.

After the war dragged on for more than six months, the potential of the Zhen Kingdom began to emerge.

Zhao Cheng couldn't help but recall his previous life. In the Battle of Changping, the Zhao army had a total strength of 400,000. To supply these 400,000 soldiers, the entire nation's grain was consumed. In that battle, the Qin army also lost more than half of its troops.

Zhao Cheng paused for a moment. Throughout the Warring States period, Qin army records show that in a certain year and month, a certain general led troops to fight against a certain state (Han, Zhao, Wei). Generally, they captured about three to five cities and killed between 10,000 and 30,000 people.

Therefore, it can be seen that the total number of Qin troops deployed each time was approximately 50,000 to 100,000.

Narrator: This also aligns with the mobilization capabilities under the classical military-state system of the Qin and Han dynasties. For the Qin state, even if these troops were defeated, the pain would only last for a year or two, and there would still be reserves. Furthermore, the Qin state consistently won more battles than it lost in its wars with other states. The few defeats that did occur were historically significant, all stemming from underestimating the enemy, carelessness, and being overwhelmed due to insufficient troops. For example, the time when Zhao She led the army and when Lord Xinling stole the tiger tally to rescue Zhao, both instances involved a numerical advantage in the Qin state.

Only in the Shangdang incident did both sides get really worked up, gradually increasing the stakes and eventually escalating into a full-scale mobilization.

Zhao Cheng had sensed that Xuan Chong did not intend to destroy him. In the early stages of the battle, the several legions that Hao Jun fought were not at full strength, and the reserve forces were always kept in reserve.

However, as the war escalated, Xuan Chong's unwillingness to participate did not mean that the various forces under his command did not want to participate.

Now, the strength of Zhao Shanhe and his ilk has been thoroughly figured out by the young and inexperienced soldiers of the Zhen Army on all fronts; especially when Wu Rui decided to turn "defeating" into "annihilating", he directly bet all the wealth that the Wu family had built up over ten years in Shuihe and Zhuzhou!
Zhao Cheng sighed silently and said with self-deprecation, "If we fight again, our country will be shattered."

"The land is shattered, and the evil moon has descended upon the world." Zhao Cheng really didn't want to use such an excuse to write a letter to Xuan Chong.

Because over the years, when he swept across the world as a military strategist, he never considered the devastation of the land. When demons appeared in the localities, he directly led his troops to destroy them. And when Pu'e said that all things were rising to evil, he also felt that Pu'e was not capable of handling important matters.

Now, having to use such words to persuade Xuan Chong, Zhao Cheng suddenly aged, because this was a direct admission of his defeat in the field of military strategy.

…The obsession has been shattered…

Meanwhile, in the north, Pu'e saw the system notification: "Obsession broken, beginning to settle." — (This means the summoned consciousness is now free of obsession and has integrated into this world.)
Pu E remained silent: Zhao Cheng was thoroughly defeated by that guy from the Zhen Kingdom, whose native name was Wu Fei, and was no longer willing to compete in the field of military strategy.

Pu'e sighed and stepped into the teleportation portal. She sent several of her subordinates south, instructing them, "Bring in as many people as you can."

By the time Su Ming arrived in Xingzhou, he had already completed the Battle of Aoguang City. After the battle, he was authorized to begin his march towards Shazhou in late September.

Meanwhile, Zhao Cheng was trapped in Jizhou, and those he left behind in other prefectures sensed that Wu Hengyu in Bozhou was about to join the battle.

And now that the war has reached this point, everyone is even relieved that Hao's nominal capital can attract a large army from Zhen; if Zhen's army had abandoned King Hao and marched directly east, things would have been very different.

Zhao Cheng's generals in Shazhou are now concentrating their forces around Yushan Pass to defend it. As for Haoting, he has been abandoned.

Rewind to August 14th, Su Ming's Zhan Kui Armored Regiment broke through the Xingzhou border. His troops easily recaptured three important border towns.

After enslaving all the Hao people in the city, Su Ming then moved 3,000 households back to their original locations, and the army then rested for a month.

During this period, Su Ming did not rush north, but waited until after the summer harvest to organize the subsequent agricultural troops before taking Xingzhou.

Su Ming emphasized to his subordinates: "This expedition is meticulously prepared, completely different from the military principle of 'speed is of the essence' because the strategic goal this time is not revenge, but the annihilation of a nation; annihilation requires sufficient military force to overwhelmingly suppress any potential dissent in the occupied territory." Su Ming was somewhat apprehensive, because he dared not claim sole credit for the immense achievement of destroying Hao without permission.

But then Xuan Chong gave him the order: "Don't dawdle," and Su Ming immediately attacked the capital of Xingzhou.

On September 14, the Chen army surrounded Haodu, and three hundred cannons began to be set up against the city walls of Haodu.

Zhan Kui deployed a line of soldiers outside the city as a show of force. However, in the palace, courtiers inquired one after another: "Why haven't the Grand Tutor's reinforcements arrived yet?" But the imperial relatives of the dragon lineage knew that the so-called "Grand Tutor will come" was all a lie.

Just when the courtiers were in despair, Pu'e appeared.

She threw a gourd, causing these courtiers to commit suicide. As these courtiers swallowed the pills of disintegration, Pu'e used her magic to capture the souls of many dragon descendants, taking these unfortunate people who had been fighting in the Xiren Realm for more than thirty years and leaving this chaotic world.

While the world's attention was focused on the Battle of Heluo, this extraterrestrial force that had caused the Great Yao to decline from its peak withdrew from the stage without anyone knowing.

Ten hours after Pu'e left, Su Ming's war chariot broke through the city wall and entered the city, and the soldiers began to enter Xingzhou.

The palace walls and treasury were sealed off, and the women's property was registered.

…The perspective shifts to the battlefield…

On the fifth day of the siege of Zhao Shanhe, this cat-and-mouse game came to an end.

Xuan Chong's command ability is beyond reproach.

Tens of thousands of men moved with the ease of an arm. Their reserve forces seemed inexhaustible, and their morale soared with each battle. This gradually instilled fear in the mid-level commanders of the Hao army, for they could not fathom the enemy's strength!

The Hao soldiers, who had charged several times in succession, felt a chill in their hearts as they looked at the unyielding fortress and the musketeers advancing in volleys.

These Hao Army officers, whose foreheads were bleeding from bullet wounds, began to think that they should not be allowed to charge desperately, but rather that the General (Zhao Shanhe) should order a massive assault on the fortified positions.

However, no order for "main force to charge" was issued from the main tent where Zhao Shanhe was located.

Finally, on the twelfth time, some of the people who went back to relay the order saw that those "giant soldiers" were not moving at all, and they were furious.

They stormed into the camp; "Zhao Shanhe, get out here!" "Why are you letting our men charge!" "Where are your men?" "We want to break out!" These Hao soldiers were furious.

However, immediately afterwards, inside the tent, there was the sound of a knife being drawn, followed by a pitiful scream.

Finally, after three incense sticks had burned, Zhao Shanhe emerged. His lips were red, his pupils were blue, his fingernails were purple, and there was a green sore below his neck.

Such an anomaly went unnoticed by the fact that the army had been cut off for three days and was eating horse meat.

Zhao Shanhe ordered his personal guards to enter and drag the corpses out of the tent. —Then the cartload of corpses was transported to the rear camp, their heads chopped off and their intestines buried in the ground.

On the massive artifacts like the jade lions and terracotta warriors, festering sores were spreading.

After completing a round of offerings, Zhao Shanhe couldn't help but look towards the northern fortress. His eyes revealed despair, madness, and even helplessness. In this great battle, his army had been crushed by overwhelming force, leaving him with no choice but to make a deal with the evil god to get through this ordeal.

…the evil moon shines…

Xuan Chong looked up at the sky and picked up the letter of peace sent by Zhao Shanhe from the south, which he had received ten hours earlier. The handwriting on the letter trembled with fear. —In truth, it was written with the ash of burned black crow feathers as ink, using sorcery. However, Xuan Chong's insight allowed him to destroy the sorcery with a single glance. The caster was currently suffering a backlash in Hao's camp.

The sergeants nearby noticed the unusual look in Xuan Chong's eyes and rushed over anxiously. Xuan Chong stared at the sky and slowly said, "Pass on my order to have the troops on the east flank clear a path."

The officers were all taken aback. One officer asked, "Sir, are we already able to encircle and annihilate the enemy?" Xuan Chong's gaze was fixed on the sky, and the officers followed his gaze but saw nothing.

Of course, it can't be seen. Under Xuan Chong's all-seeing eye, Xie Yue has now moved to the top of the sky, but it just can't show itself.

From Xuan Chong's current perspective, he saw a funnel-shaped spatial cluster landing right in front of Zhao Shanhe's camp. — Clearly, the despair, anger, and apocalyptic madness born of war, along with mutual scheming and plotting, had triggered the invasion of the Evil Moon.

Xuan Chong: "Leave a small opening, surround three sides but leave one open. Prepare to pursue."

Sergeant: "Yes."

...Take a break...

On the road, Wen Siting rode his horse back and forth in the ranks, proclaiming, "Hurry up, hurry up, don't block the middle of the road." In the middle of the avenue, the ruts of the chariots rolled over the road, and some puddles were filled with wood, allowing vehicles to pass unimpeded.

Despite having a tin megaphone, Wen Siting's throat was still dry from shouting, and he kept a close eye on the reports from the scouts.

He received orders to clear a path so that Hao Jun could break through. At first, he thought the orders from above might have been misrepresented.

But later, he received orders to lead his troops to Fanqiao to block the route of Hao's army's retreat. He immediately felt grateful that his commander-in-chief still cared for him the most.

After urging the troops to march, Wen Si arrived at a village five li ahead of them. All the stoves in the village had been requisitioned, and fires were burning fiercely to heat food. Once the rest of the troops arrived, each person would receive a flatbread. They continued on foot.

Amidst the pots and pans, he opened the map and tried to think hard using his newly learned combat theories to figure out why Xuan Chong wanted his troops to withdraw from the battlefield. He lit a welding torch wrapped in grass leaves, took a puff, and exhaled a puff of smoke, saying, "Hmm, that's the taste."

Wen Si was unaware that after his troops left, a large group of blood-red monsters charged towards his position.

…stagger…

When these blood-red monsters arrived at the empty fortifications left by Wen Siting, they found nothing and frantically smashed craters into the ground. However, apart from stepping on the unruly troops of Wen Siting and the few piles of excrement left on the spot, they found no opponents. The monsters roared and began to hack and slash at each other.

Zhao Shanhe was stunned when he learned that the eastern route had been opened. Then his soldiers urged him to break out. Zhao Shanhe looked reluctantly at the northern position.

In front of all the ramparts were piles of corpses, no soil in sight, and the trenches were filled with blood.

The Qin army behind the fortress was still firing. Currently, only a few elite warriors at the sixth level of martial arts were able to break through. But even that only silenced the Qin army behind the fortress for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

Then their heads were lifted up by the pole.

At this moment, the battlefield was like a meat grinder, with each barrier acting as a blade to crush bones. Whether it was starving farmers or skilled warriors with inner strength who could fight a hundred men, they were all consumed on the battlefield.

Just as the blood sacrifice was about to begin, a breach appeared on the east side, causing the army to collapse in one fell swoop; the original goal of collecting 9,999 deaths was now stuck.

Zhao Shanhe gritted his teeth and looked up at the sky, saying, "Then I'll leave?"

(End of this chapter)