Wei School's Three Good Students

Chapter 297 The Witch
Inside the underground base of the Yuezhi Fortress. "Tell me properly, what's going on here!" Lin Zhu's communicator erupted with an angry question.

Xuan Chong, who was full of energy on the battlefield, immediately became like a well-behaved child, revealing the entire process of how he could "hear" the orcs' "waaagh!" communication and perform mathematical calculations to complete the information warfare.

The Emperor said, "Liu Lu (the Emperor) will come to ask you about this. Answer me now: you have already defeated the enemy, so why did you risk your life again!"

The key point Lin Zhu pressed Xuan Chong about was: when the final artillery barrage failed to kill the orc boss (warboss), Xuan Chong personally intervened.

Xuan Chong: "We have to get rid of him."

The lord of the unicorn retorted, "Do we really have to resort to brute force?"

Xuan Chong thought for a moment and then confirmed, "Yes."

Xuan Chong's decision was well-considered, similar to the situation at the Battle of Ningyuan: the Ming army bombarded Nurhaci, but lacked field strength to pursue their victory, allowing Nurhaci's son to survive. The Later Jin temporarily retreated to re-compete for the Khanate, meaning the Ming dynasty failed to resolve the issue. If the Ming army had possessed sufficient field strength to completely eliminate the Later Jin's upper and middle ranks, the outcome would have been entirely different.

Twenty hours ago, after Xuan Chong's decapitation bombardment, although more than 90% of the "waaagh!" sources had been eliminated, the largest "waaagh!" source had not yet disappeared. If the orc president had been allowed to escape back then, the result would have been that within ten days, this orc president would have selected a new batch of "bosses" and "leaders" to rebuild his war system.

Xuan Chong explained in detail: "We must achieve our goal in one decisive battle. This war has cost us dearly, which led to that beast, Kaodike, underestimating us and launching a general charge. If we let it go, this cunning beast will become wary and we will find it difficult to fall into its trap."

Xuan Chong's unspoken thoughts were: "The legion was just on the verge of collapse, barely clinging to life. If I back down at the last moment, suffering such heavy casualties and failing to achieve my goal, and then let the orc chieftain escape, that would be a complete loss of morale. It would be as if the entire Northwest Han Army had been crippled by me. That would make me a sinner against national defense."

An army is not afraid of sacrifice, but it is afraid of sacrifice without results.

Although the Northwest Han Army has suffered heavy losses, it has annihilated the entire main force of the orcs in this battle, and its morale is extremely high. The remaining personnel can still maintain their organizational structure and can be expanded as the backbone, so their combat power has not decreased but increased.

Logically speaking, Xuan Chong had to personally take the lead in the end; in a narrow encounter, the brave would prevail.

As for emotions? A man doesn't easily shed tears, nor does he readily express the feelings in his heart.

However, the Lin Lord knew that Xuan Chong had "emotional fluctuations" during this battle. As the master of the Jianye Ancestral Temple, the Lin Lord was able to mobilize certain "mind-reading" dragon powers.

Xuan Chong felt deeply remorseful for the soldiers who sacrificed their lives on the front lines: "In a war where one's side is at a disadvantage, cunning and cruelty are necessary. For the sake of the overall situation, sometimes it is necessary to sacrifice the blood of some of our own soldiers; this is the unavoidable cruelty and cunning in war."

They artificially created a situation of "near collapse," and although they eventually achieved a total defeat of the orcs, at least three thousand Han soldiers were killed in the process of collapse. Such a price was extremely high, and the division had to rest and reorganize after this battle.

And these thousands of soldiers turned to dust, while he himself was promoted? So now he's charging right up to the beast leader, facing the risks head-on, perhaps to find some peace of mind.

Xuan Chong's internal logic was: he had lost so many people for the sake of "the plan's success," so he had to be fearless enough in order to win. If he betrayed his passion, his conscience wouldn't allow it.

The ruler glanced to the side, seemingly casually, and slowly said, "You are trying to achieve your goal in one battle, but the people in the court only see that you acted recklessly and lost several thousand Han soldiers. Someone will impeach you next." Then he looked at Xuan Chong, wanting to see the resentment in Xuan Chong's eyes and his attempt to defend himself.

The fact that four or five thousand Han soldiers were killed or wounded in this battle was indeed a major event in the eyes of onlookers; the Han Dynasty had not suffered such a loss in the past hundred years. The intensity of this loss was so great that even the high-ranking officials in the court could not contain it.

However, from a holistic perspective, the seven million Han Chinese in the entire Eli County were unharmed, and this battle completely annihilated the Ork invaders who had landed there; the rest was merely a cleanup. Resolving a long-standing border problem in one fell swoop was a great achievement.

However, no one has a "future vision" or a "parallel universe" for comparison.

The peace in the Northwest that Xuan Chong has now managed to preserve through his schemes will be considered a given by most people, while the nitpicking censors will only focus on the “painful” price he is paying now.

Xuan Chong did not defend himself, but calmly stated, "The impeachment is justified, and I am prepared to be dismissed." As for hearing that "the title of General of the Cavalry, a second-rank military officer, will be revoked," he showed no pain at all at the thought of being "taken away."

Lin Zhu's interest was piqued: "You're quite open-minded."

Xuan Chong: "I am paid by the emperor, and I must serve him faithfully. My journey westward was for the sake of 'deeds,' not for 'official position.'" Xuan Chong knew he was young and had ample time to wait for a fair judgment. Many older politicians, however, are very conservative and dare not overstep boundaries because they fear they will die before receiving a fair assessment.

Just as Xuan Chong was ready to be "used and recalled" at any time, Lin Zhu told Xuan Chong to wait where he was.

After the Lin ruler connected the communication, he said to Emperor Liu Lu, who was projected next door, "If you can't protect it, then give it back to me."

Emperor Liu Lu remained noncommittal: "The court will make arrangements; everything will have to wait until the Northwest is stable."

The emperor did not respond to Liu Wang's words. With the court buzzing with discussion, he would definitely put Xuan Chong in hiding for the time being.

As for returning Xuan Chong ahead of schedule? What a joke! How could we just kick such a useful, capable, and trouble-solving guy away like that?

Liu Lu was not a leader like Emperor Chongzhen who would fly into a rage because of the bad reputation of his ministers.

The current emperors of the Han Dynasty were at least like the Jiajing Emperor. That is, if a minister had a bad reputation but was capable of getting things done, dissent would be suppressed.

The key performance indicator for Han emperors when evaluating their ministers was whether they could resolve issues with minimal resources.

In this respect, Xuan Chong did a very good job, and the entire war was resolved within three months.

There was no bottomless financial hole due to prolonged foreign wars.

A total of more than 5,000 soldiers died, and the compensation was paid accordingly; but if several divisions with tens of thousands of soldiers were to spend seven or eight years on the Yuezhi side of the Northwest Railway, the military expenditure would be dozens of times that of the deaths of four or five thousand soldiers, and the losses from the destruction of the border and the closure of commerce due to war would be hundreds of times greater.

Meanwhile, many barbarian tribes on the international stage are also stirring up trouble.

…The dignity of the Han court is being damaged…

The perspective shifts to Yandu, where the Emperor speaks with Liu Mei (organic resonance). Liu Mei had been urging the government to resolve the situation in the Northwest quickly, as the Orcs were causing severe ecological pollution to the Thick Earth.

At the time, the emperor had no better options. After repeated simulations by the military departments in the rear, it was determined that the orcs were swift and elusive, and that their own mechanical firepower was insufficient; they could only rely on the railway lines for positional warfare. —Therefore, he could only appease Liu Mei.

But now things are fine, "the problem can be solved," so the emperor took the initiative to come to Liu Mei to arrange things.

The Emperor said, “Go to the front lines and make sure that not a single alien species is missed in the entire Great Moon Sea (Arid Sea).”

Upon hearing the order, Liu Mei immediately set off, traveling westward in an airship.

The Emperor then contacted Liu Yi of the Dragon Group and issued the same "plow the court and sweep the cave" order. After issuing the order, the Emperor added meaningfully to Liu Yi, "Do it well."

After hanging up the phone, Liu Yi, being a person with high emotional intelligence, knew that the Emperor's words were a reminder that his previous actions hadn't been handled well. Now, someone (Xuan Chong) had exposed all the most difficult aspects of his work, and as the Emperor's trusted "Dragon Force" organization, it wouldn't be acceptable to continue dragging his feet and failing to get things done efficiently.

That said, no matter how useful Xuan Chong is now, he is still part of the Lin Group, belonging to "someone else's child"; while the Long Group is his own child. The emperor will try his best to allocate resources to the Long Group to achieve success. Of course, due to the huge investment, the expectation of "hoping his child will become a dragon" is also great.

Liu Yi felt the pressure and called a meeting with his team. In the communication, he forcefully conveyed the emperor's will to everyone.

At the end of his address, Liu Yi rallied the troops, declaring, "No matter how far they are, they will be punished!"

The thirty-five Dragon Group colleagues in the communication, though divided into six groups with the furthest distance between them exceeding a hundred miles, some operating in the High Heaven Ridge and others conducting reconnaissance in the Western Desert Grasslands, all responded in unison: "No matter how far away, we will bring them to justice."

In modern Hanzhong, each "regular occupation" is organized according to the "hundred occupations" of ancient times.

Organizations like the Dragon Group are no exception; their profession is attributed to witchcraft.

In ancient times, the role of shamans was to "communicate with heaven, earth, spirits, and humans." To be more precise, they were tasked with calming people's hearts amidst the unpredictability of heaven and earth and the cryptic nature of spirits. In the present-day Han world, when calming people's hearts and communicating with heaven, earth, spirits, and gods, the power of heaven, earth, spirits, and gods truly manifests in the shaman.

Furthermore, due to the Confucian culture of modern China, which "respects but keeps at a distance" from ghosts and gods, the Dragon Power Masters are all centrally managed and rarely appear in public.

As a type of "proper profession," shamans have important matters to attend to.

…In ancient times, those who worshipped spirits and deities were called shamans, and those who presided over sacrifices and gave eulogies were called priests. …

On the front lines, Xuan Chong was walking in the wounded soldiers' area, facing the soldiers he had "sold out" in this battle.

As he entered each medical room, Xuan Chong used his torque to quietly remove shrapnel and other foreign objects from the soldiers, saving the doctors a lot of work.

When Xuan Chong appeared in the ward filled with the smell of hydrogen peroxide, he was met with pairs of stares that were complex, containing both insults and helplessness.

The higher-ups had relayed Xuan Chong's performance on the battlefield to the middle ranks, and then to the lower ranks.

The officers and soldiers now have very mixed feelings about this General of the Cavalry.

Although our comrades suffered considerable losses in the war (more than ten percent casualties), we still managed to win. Just when everyone was in despair and had given up hope, damn it, they finally called for reinforcements, and a round of precise artillery fire reversed the course of the battle.

But to acknowledge this victory, everyone was emotionally irrational, and wanted to yell at Xuan Chong, "If you had such methods, why didn't you do them sooner? Are we just stepping stones, so worthless?"

Previously, during the tactical defense, when everyone wanted to retreat, Xuan Chong pressed down on General Zheng Yi, demanding that the message be relayed from top to bottom: "Hold on, hold the line."

Back then, everyone cursed Xuan Chong without thinking: "He's got no manners!" — Actually, they're still cursing him silently now.

...a lowly life, yet rude words...

In the fifteenth ward Xuan Chong passed through, the furious Qianhu Jia Liren shouted, "That kid will be back in a few days, getting promoted and making a fortune! What's wrong with us whining here? He doesn't care about us!"

However, just as he was speaking with great enthusiasm, the surroundings fell silent. His neck, which was in a cast, prevented him from turning his head. He tried to sit up to look behind him, but Xuan Chong took the initiative to walk to the front. The officer looked slightly embarrassed.

After a few seconds of silence, Xuan Chong looked at him and paused before saying, "You've had a tough time. It's good that you're not dead. Earlier, I—(I didn't say "I'm sorry"), well, I heard your complaints. I can say that your complaints were reasonable, because I was prepared to have you die on the battlefield."

Xuan Chong raised his head and said frankly to the soldiers around him, "Because of this battle, luring the enemy to take the bait requires baiting. So now, right here, you can curse me."

After a full minute of silence, Jia Liren looked at Xuan Chong and said sadly, "A merciful general cannot command an army. You, um, I shouldn't have said so much. I just—" He clutched the bedsheet and began to cry.

The atmosphere turned somber. Xuan Chong was also affected by the sorrow, but he did not leave.

Or, to put it another way, it was his essential task to “bear the sorrow of the soldiers”.

When making decisions, one must be "absolutely rational," but "after making the decision," one must consider the emotions of those involved. One cannot arrogantly assume that just because one has done the right thing, others should not have any feelings.

In his past life, when Xuan Chong watched old movies like "The Great Battle," he noticed a detail: after each decision, the powerful figures would ask, "How are the people feeling?" They always kept the people in mind.

However, in their own time, it became, "XX needs education, and we will do a good job of guiding them and strive to create a healthy XXX."

Xuan Chong let out a sigh of relief. If he didn't step forward, these soldiers, whom he had tactically used as pawns, would still harbor a thorn in their hearts.

If he were to continue commanding in the future, this thorn might prevent him from issuing orders to them again at crucial moments. After all, people who have been tricked once will remain wary. If he doesn't find an opportunity to get them to speak out, all of this will become a thorn that will forever linger in the hearts of these men.

The prerequisite for those who carry out wars to remain rational is that they have channels to release their emotions.

Xuan Chong knew very well that he had wronged the soldiers, and that he was here to bear the consequences. Xuan Chong took out two bottles of wine and handed them to the soldiers, drinking together. Master Xuan Chong pretended to drink again, using force to leave a thin layer of wine adhering to the water.

The drinking was fake, but the feelings were genuine.

After drinking three cups of wine with the surrounding soldiers, the officers and soldiers finally abandoned all restraints of rank and burst into tears, cursing Xuan Chong as a bastard. "Being your (Xuan Chong's) subordinate is the worst luck imaginable!"

Xuan Chong wasn't annoyed at all, and nodded in agreement; he patted the soldiers on the shoulders and said, "Yes, take all our comrades home. Those who are alive and those who have stepped down, all must go home. I will strive for the highest possible treatment for you all."

Upon hearing this, Jia Liren could no longer contain his emotions, his grievances erupted, and tears streamed down his face. —It's not that men don't cry, but that they suffer and have no one to comfort them.

They were all chosen by the King of Hell; now it's not that they're afraid to die, but rather that they're afraid of being discarded worthlessly by the person playing their game. After wiping away his tears, he looked at Xuan Chong and solemnly clasped his hands in a fist salute.

When people's hearts are at peace, ghosts and spirits disperse...

The Grand Master of Ceremonies is in charge of reciting the six blessings to the spirits and deities, praying for good fortune and eternal peace. The six blessings are: First, the Blessing of Obedience; Second, the Blessing of the Year; Third, the Blessing of Good Fortune; Fourth, the Blessing of Transformation; Fifth, the Blessing of Auspiciousness; and Sixth, the Blessing of Divination.

Among them, the Huazhu ritual is mainly aimed at disasters and wars, and prays are made through sacrifices to quell disasters and wars and ensure social stability.

According to Xuan Chong's previous life values, if the emotions of the people after the war cannot be stabilized, then "monsters and demons" will stir up trouble.

Xuan Chong only sang a "blessing" song, but still had to offer sacrifices.

Xuan Chong was responsible for compiling statistics on troop casualties and combat achievements, as well as the situation in his hometown. These were things he had to take charge of.

Xuan Chong was determined to ensure that the pensions allocated by the imperial court to these soldiers were truly paid for, and that the ranks and titles conferred upon these officers based on their military merits would only be transferred after he had overseen their implementation. He wanted to satisfy the soldiers' sense of righteousness.

(End of this chapter)