Take control of Wei Zhongxian at the start and confiscate 100 million from him!

Chapter 395 The Sand Table Where Souls Clash

Night is deep.

Shanhaiguan, the Governor-General's residence.

Outside the tent, the sea breeze seemed to weep, carrying a salty, chilly chill, repeatedly washing over the mottled walls of this majestic pass.

Inside the tent, Zhu Youjian was alone.

His eyes were closed, and his long eyelashes cast a faint shadow under his eyelids.

If it weren't for his tightly furrowed brows and the occasional slight twitching at the corners of his eyes due to excessive tension, he would look like a jade statue that had exhausted all its energy, silent yet filled with an indescribable sense of brokenness.

Tired.

An unprecedented weariness, as if rising from the depths of his soul and then permeating his limbs and bones, engulfed him like a tidal wave.

His life and death are tied to the safety of the nation; his thoughts determine the life and death of countless people.

In the past, when he read history books and saw such words, he felt that they were magnificent and powerful, and that the emperor's majesty was vividly displayed on the page.

Only now did he truly use his own flesh and blood, his own soul and will, to bear the immense weight that was pressing down on him.

He didn't even dare to close his eyes completely.

Because as soon as you close your eyelids, that moment of darkness will be immediately taken over by another image—an illusion of the sand table in the central command tent, a sand table that comes alive and fights in the soul!
Countless scarlet arrows represented the movements of his hundreds of thousands of troops, like bloodthirsty venomous snakes weaving, circling, and advancing in his mind.

The larger and denser black flags represented the main force of the Later Jin Eight Banners, which moved like dark clouds, gathering and dispersing unpredictably.

Arrows and flags collided wildly inside his head.

There were no earth-shattering shouts, no clashes of weapons, only a silent yet all the more chilling slaughter.

Each collision in his hallucinations felt like an invisible steel needle piercing his temple, bringing sharp and persistent throbbing pain.

"Ah……"

A very soft laugh, tinged with self-mockery, escaped from Zhu Youjian's dry throat.

At that moment, he gained an unprecedented yet profoundly simple understanding of the commanders of so-called large-scale operations.

To win a decisive victory a thousand miles away, and to strategize within the command tent.

How elegant and poetic those words are!
But the person who wrote this sentence has probably never experienced working for more than ten consecutive days and nights, sleeping less than two hours a day, while having to keep their mind at its peak to deal with the massive amount of military intelligence that came flying in like snowflakes, some true and some false.

What they didn't know was that a wrong order was not just a cold line of text in a history book, but the instantaneous loss of tens of thousands of vibrant lives, the shattering of countless families, and the violent upheaval of the entire empire's fate!

For a supreme commander, the most essential quality for large-scale military operations is neither the ingenious strategies of Sun Tzu and Wu Qi nor the military tactics of Han Xin and Bai Qi.

Instead, it has a body that... can't get tired no matter what!

Fortunately, in the year or so since his ascension to the throne, driven by a sense of crisis deep within his modern soul, he has never stopped exercising for even a single day.

Whether it was breathing exercises and sword practice to greet the first wisp of purple aura rising from the east, or his unwavering weight training in the afternoon, he had already honed his originally somewhat frail body to a level far beyond that of ordinary people.

Otherwise, he had no doubt that the intense mental strain of just one month would have been enough to exhaust him and cause him to die of illness in his command tent at Shanhaiguan.

Even so, despite having delegated the specific military affairs, logistics, and deployment to the greatest extent possible to renowned generals of the time such as Sun Chengzong, Qin Liangyu, Man Gui, and Zhao Lüjiao, the weariness still clung to him like a bone-deep abscess, merely serving as the final decision-maker and overall controller.

He felt like a prisoner bound to a giant millstone, driven relentlessly by his identity as emperor and the goal of victory, spinning round and round until his energy and spirit were completely crushed and drained.

A barely audible sound of footsteps interrupted Zhu Youjian's thoughts.

He didn't even need to open his eyes to know that the person who came was Wang Chengen.

In this heavily guarded central command tent, as impenetrable as an iron fortress, only he could arrive silently at his side at such a time without prior notice.

Sure enough, a warm, mellow aroma carrying a rich ginseng fragrance slowly approached.

Zhu Youjian finally managed to pry open his eyelids, which felt as heavy as a thousand pounds.

What came into view was Wang Chengen's face, which was full of concern and worry, and a bowl of white jade ginseng soup that he was carefully holding in his hands.

The broth was golden yellow, steaming hot, clearly freshly stewed with old ginseng. "Your Majesty..." Wang Chengen's voice was extremely low, filled with concern, "You haven't slept for six hours. Please take some, otherwise, how can your body withstand it?"

Zhu Youjian did not speak, but slowly extended his hand.

His eyes were cloudy and bloodshot, like a starry sky disturbed by a storm, dim and weary.

Upon seeing this, Wang Chengen quickly handed over the ginseng soup.

Zhu Youjian took it; it felt warm and smooth to the touch.

He didn't savor it, nor did he blow away the swirling steam; he simply tilted his head back and drank the rich ginseng soup in one gulp, as if it were water.

The scalding liquid slid down my throat into my stomach, bringing a brief moment of warmth.

However, the soup, which should have been sweet and mellow, tasted as bland as water in his mouth, and he could not taste any flavor at all.

His taste buds seemed to have been worn away along with his spirit, and he could no longer perceive the flavors of the world.

"let it go."

Zhu Youjian handed the empty white jade bowl back to Wang Chengen, uttering three hoarse words before closing his eyes again and leaning back in the cold chair.

It was as if that action of replenishing his energy had exhausted the last bit of strength he had accumulated.

Wang Chengen silently accepted the jade bowl, looking at his emperor's face, which was even paler than white marble, and his worry deepened.

He opened his mouth, wanting to say a thousand words of comfort, but in the end it turned into a silent sigh and a bow.

He knew that what the emperor needed at that moment was not words, but absolute silence.

Inside the large tent, a deathly silence returned once more.

Only the soft crackling of the candle flame echoed in the empty room.

Zhu Youjian leaned back in his chair. This time, he did not fight against the fatigue. He let his thoughts sink, sink, sink into that boundless abyss of darkness.

The chill, which even the silk cushions on the chair back couldn't completely block, seeped in bit by bit.

But this chill did not wake him up; instead, it made him feel a weariness that he could not shake off, permeating every bone of his body.

He felt as if he were about to fall asleep like this, merging with the chair and the darkness.

Perhaps, it would be good to just fall asleep like this...

Just as his consciousness was about to completely fade and he was about to fall into that chaotic edge...
A series of steady yet rapid footsteps approached from outside the room, each sound like a heavy hammer striking the quiet night sky and striking the nerve endings of Zhu Youjian who was about to fall asleep!

They weren't guards patrolling the camp; their footsteps were too hurried.

He was no ordinary general; his steps were too steady, carrying the unique rhythm of someone who had long held a high position.

Zhu Youjian's thoughts, which had almost stopped moving, were forcibly pulled back to reality the moment he heard the footsteps!
It's Tian Ergeng!
At this time, with these footsteps, there is only one possibility: the vast intelligence network spanning the entire Liaodong region and even the heartland of the Jurchen territory has made a new discovery!

"Om-"

It was as if an electric current suddenly surged from Zhu Youjian's tailbone, rushing straight to his hair!

Just moments before, his body had been slumped in the chair, as if even lifting a finger was a struggle, but in that instant, it suddenly straightened! His spine, which had seemed bent, stood upright like a spear once more!
Zhu Youjian suddenly opened his eyes!

In those eyes that were originally cloudy and bloodshot, all the weariness, confusion and bewilderment were washed away in that short moment!
The footsteps stopped abruptly at the tent entrance.

"Your Majesty, I, Tian Ergeng, the Governor-General of Andu Prefecture, have a Class A military intelligence to report!"

Tian Ergeng's voice, like his footsteps, was steady and concise, without a single wasted word.

Zhu Youjian's lips moved, and the voice that came out was no longer hoarse, but clear and cold without any room for doubt.

"Come in."

(End of this chapter)