A Scroll of Infinite Glory

Chapter 240: Three Rules for Agreement, Discussing Literature and Law

Military regulations!

When Guan Luoyang uttered these words, the expressions on the faces of many rebel leaders subtly changed.

In reality, the fact that Liangshan used something like the Divine Gu as bait to summon them to this conference clearly revealed their ambition. However, in the minds of most rebel leaders, what Liangshan was after was probably just a title like the Grand Alliance Leader of the Rebel Army.

Just like at the end of the Han Dynasty, when the eighteen warlords attacked Dong Zhuo, there was also a leader of the alliance. For the person who won the position of leader, it was naturally a great honor and there would be real benefits.

However, it's unrealistic to say that this leader of the alliance has much control over the other lords; he is more likely to have the power to coordinate.

Now, with the leader of the alliance still undecided, Liangshan dared to utter such ruthless words as "military regulations," immediately provoking resentment among many rebel leaders.

Lu Junyi shook his head inwardly: "The intention to seize the initiative is good, but going too far makes it seem unwise."

Bao Peisong and Cui Daocheng, members of Prince Li's group, exchanged glances and saw ecstatic joy in each other's eyes. They had originally intended to incite the righteous army present to suppress Liangshan first.

The fact that Liangshan is acting so domineeringly now is exactly what they wanted.

"Ha, so you're Guan Luoyang, the leader of Liangshan?"

Bao Peisong raised his voice and said, "Everyone here has come here at your invitation. We are only doing this because Liangshan dared to be the first in the world, attacking the government and raising the banner of rebellion. That's why we are giving you some face."

"But which of the leaders of these various rebel armies isn't a hero? Your contempt for us is hardly the conduct expected of a righteous and righteous person."

Cui Daocheng chimed in, saying, "Since ancient times, the most precious natural treasures have belonged to the virtuous. Liangshan is so narrow-minded and arrogant; they are certainly not worthy of being a wise and benevolent ruler."

After a brief silence, Wu Hu slammed the wine jar on the table and said, "I think the Liangshan leader only misspoke. Why don't we entrust the divine Gu to the people here first, then punish ourselves with three cups, and let's just let this matter drop."

"That's right. Liangshan invited us under the guise of divine Gu, but they still haven't brought out this divine artifact. That's really not right of them."

Many rebel leaders could not contain themselves and made statements one after another.

"Let's do it that way." "The leaders are right." "Liangshan may be powerful, but we're not necessarily afraid." "Hurry up and bring it out!"...

They weren't just making verbal statements; their aura was also subtly restless.

The rebel leaders sitting behind the long table and stone table all grew taller, their bodies shimmering with colorful light, surrounded by clouds, or burning with dark red turbid flames. Some of their figures still looked ordinary, but in the eyes of others, they had already risen higher, filled with profound qualities that transcended the mundane.

Soon, the features of these people were obscured by the shadows above, becoming blurred, and they all looked down at Guan Luoyang and the others.

Guan Luoyang looked at these people with a slight smile, glanced around the room, and made a note of a few people who had not yet spoken.

He pointed in a certain direction and asked, "May I ask who this is?"

Shi Sheng, who had been silent, looked around and realized that Guan Luoyang was indeed asking about his table. He then stood up and said, "My name is Shi Sheng. I come from Liangzhe. This is my good brother, Tao Zongwang."

"it is good."

Guan Luoyang turned his head to look again, and every time his gaze paused, the person being looked at naturally sensed it.

In a short while, Fang La, Zhang Wanxian, Qiong Ying, Gao Tuoshan and others announced their names one after another, some by their own voices and others by their attendants.

These people's behavior clearly showed that they didn't take the other rebel leaders seriously.

Bao Peisong, enraged, channeled his inner strength and roared, "Gentlemen..."

"Gentlemen!"

Guan Luoyang spoke at that very moment, his expression turning solemn as he uttered those two words, which struck everyone like two heavy hammer blows.

Those rebel leaders who had just unleashed their power in an attempt to unite and suppress the Liangshan rebels felt a buzzing in their ears and their heads were spinning. The aura they had released was involuntarily forced back into their respective bodies.

With just two words, the chaotic atmosphere in the arena, and those illusions of looking down from above, were instantly swept away!

Some people couldn't even sit still, instinctively grabbing the table for support, and even knocking over the wine pot on the table, their faces extremely pale.

The crisp sound of the wine jug hitting the stone and shattering was, to these people's ears, so jarring and clear at that moment.

Of all these people, the one who suffered the most was Bao Peisong, whose face kept turning red and white.

In terms of strength, he was certainly not the weakest among these people, but at that time he was the only one who had put all his strength into it and wanted to use the sonic attack. As a result, when he was blocked by Guan Luoyang's two words, his whole body's power was violently shaken, the turbid qi overflowed and impacted his internal organs, and his mouth was full of the taste of rust.

"puff!"

Bao Peisong coughed up blood and looked over with shock and resentment in his eyes.

Guan Luoyang didn't even glance at the man, and said in a calm tone, "You are all people who originally rose up in rebellion because you could no longer bear the oppression of the government. Naturally, you will be somewhat dissatisfied when you hear me mention military regulations."

"But our rebel army's military regulations are naturally different from the government's rules. Or rather, it is precisely because we want to distinguish our rebel army from the actions of this corrupt court that military regulations are even more necessary."

"Even if this court is cruel and tyrannical, it still controls a large number of troops. Without clear military regulations to unite the forces of our righteous armies, who knows when it will be possible to truly change this world."

Fang La and his men had already taken their seats, facing south. He said, "It is imperative for the righteous armies of the world to unite. However, it seems that we still need to discuss who should formulate the military regulations and which of the many leaders should be the commander-in-chief of the righteous army."

Zhang Wanxian slowly explained, "The Divine Gu is in the hands of Liangshan, but Liangshan will also be the primary target of the imperial army. Your local troops and manpower are ultimately limited, and continuing to monopolize the Divine Gu may not be advantageous. If you think you can secure the position of commander-in-chief based solely on this strange object, it is not enough to convince me."

Qiong Ying suddenly spoke up: "I'm quite curious about what the military regulations that Liangshan revised look like. Let's not talk about who the commander-in-chief is for now, why don't you show us the military regulations first?"

Gao Tuoshan slammed his hand on the table and said, "I'm also a little interested. Let me take a look."

With a flick of his sleeve, Guan Luoyang sent nineteen documents flying out of the air, which landed on the desks of the various rebel leaders.

Shi Sheng looked at the paper in front of him covered with writing, coughed lightly, and quietly turned to look at Tao Zongwang.

Tao Zongwang leaned closer, his face contorted in a pained expression: "Don't look at me like that, I can't read either."

"Although these military regulations have been revised several times, they are actually quite simple when summarized."

Guan Luoyang's voice came over, explaining things to the illiterate rebel leaders at just the right time.

"Article 1: No member of the righteous army shall harm civilians, intentionally damage houses, plunder property, or abduct women."

"Secondly, after each battle, the local militias must count their numbers, ascertain their losses, and report the results of the battle to the commander-in-chief. Before marching, moving, or attacking government offices, they must report three days in advance."

"Article Three..."

These military regulations were indeed very simple, consisting of only eleven articles in total. After hearing them once, everyone understood them.

Among the leaders, there were those like Shi Sheng who nodded frequently as they listened, those like Zhang Wanxian who looked on with emotion, and those like Fang La who listened and pondered, but most of them were indifferent.

Gao Tuoshan burst into laughter: "These military regulations are far too petty. Forbidding large-scale damage to crops and looting from ordinary people's homes—if we're facing encirclement and forced marches, are we just going to make my brothers take detours and starve for nothing?"

Someone behind Guan Luoyang said, "We have done actual investigation and estimation. As long as the rebel army can maintain a certain number of victories, the confiscation of the property of local officials, local tyrants, and powerful families who collude with officials and merchants will be enough to supply the rebel army's needs, and there will even be a surplus."

Gao Tuoshan glanced at him and said, "Who are you to dare to speak such arrogant words?"

"My name is Li Kaixian, and I am currently a strategist for Liangshan."

Guan Luoyang only brought four people with him: three men and one woman.

Li Kaixian stepped out from behind him and said neither humbly nor arrogantly, "I was also a Jinshi selected by the Emperor. What I said above was not unfounded. It was a conclusion I reached after carefully examining the official documents and correspondence between the Quancheng Prefectural Government and various places after Liangshan captured Quancheng."

"The Song Dynasty is known for its wealth. There is no famine in the country today, and the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers are not suffering major disasters. There is plenty of food in all regions, but it just doesn't reach the people."

"And the righteous army will have the opportunity to use those extravagant, greedy, and unwilling-to-transfer resources, even if they are rotten, for the right purposes."

Gao Tuoshan frowned, unable to think of anything to refute him.

Lu Junyi said, "But maintaining a winning record is difficult enough. Even a ratio of one win to one loss is something most of the rebel army couldn't achieve."

Everyone choked and turned to look at him. Although he was telling the truth, he really didn't know how to speak.

Guan Luoyang smiled gently and said, "Therefore, if you want to be the leader of the rebel army, you must be able to help other rebel armies and continuously achieve victory when facing the imperial court."

Gao Tuoshan stood up: "Then how should we compete? Shall we set up a ring and have the leaders show off our skills?"

"The leader's strength is important, but so is the ability to command troops."

Guan Luoyang said, "We must indeed compete, but we must first compete in military strategy."

How can military strategy be compared?

Gongsun Sheng stepped forward, drew his ancient sword with pine-patterned veins, muttered incantations, and pointed to the open space in the center of the peak.

Wild grasses cover the mountain, stone statues are buried, and the soil on the ground flows like fine sand. Many clods of earth rise and sink in an orderly fashion, outlining a miniature landscape in the center of this mountaintop meadow.

Mountains and hills, winding rivers, large and small, are all visible. In the middle stands a formidable city about half a person's size. A river flows through the city gate and into the city. Not far outside the city stands a small boundary marker – Yizhou.

"We, along with others, have been using our flying techniques to survey the mountains and rivers of Yizhou for days, creating this sand table for simulation. All the proportions in it are exactly the same as the real mountains and rivers of Yizhou."

As Gongsun Sheng spoke, he took off a cloth bag from his waist and threw it into the air. The bag opened and sprayed out a stream of murky yellow water, which landed on the mountains and rivers of Yizhou with a dull sound. Small, yellow wooden figures, speckled with spots, shot out in all directions.

Upon closer inspection, the leaders of the rebel army discovered that the small wooden figures were only the size of an adult man's finger joint, yet they had all four limbs and could run and jump, which was quite remarkable.

Even those wooden figures were divided into different types of soldiers.

Some of them have the character for "horse" written on their bodies, and their feet are carved into small wheels. They are obviously faster than other wooden figures, and they are also larger and heavier, representing cavalry.

Some wooden figures have hollow arms that can launch flying needles, representing archers.

There were also those carrying spears and shields, with the character for "grain" written on their bodies, indicating they were escorting grain supplies.

Soon, thousands of small wooden figures were evenly separated and arrayed within that miniature landscape.

After the mechanical puppet army led by Liu Huiniang was destroyed, Guan Luoyang sent Ling Zhen and his men to repurpose it and transform it into these many small wooden figures resembling dolls, which took a lot of effort from Ling Zhen and his men.

Gongsun Sheng said, "Our Liangshan now has tens of thousands of soldiers and many fierce generals. If we rely on numbers to bully the few, even if we overpower the leaders, it will not demonstrate our mastery of military strategy."

"These wooden soldiers are all the same size and have the same strength. All leaders or strategists can take turns fighting, each choosing two thousand, with Yizhou City as their target."

"Whoever can hold this city for three-quarters of an hour after capturing it will be the winner of this military exercise of the righteous army."

"The victor will be the supreme leader of all righteous armies in the world."

No sooner had the words been spoken than several rebel leaders jumped up from their tables, shouting with excitement, "Is this really true?!"

"Can you be the master of Liangshan?"

"If we win this thing, Liangshan will support us and give me the Divine Gu?!"

Guan Luoyang answered readily: "This is my promise. If I break this promise, may the heavens bring down calamity and I be struck by five thunderbolts."

When it comes to military strategy, actual combat is the only true standard. However, the situation of the rebel army was clearly not suitable for a real battle first, so they had to use such simulations to reflect some of their level.

While "armchair strategist" is a joke, such deductions are something that many victorious generals have experienced.

Throughout history, there have been many who demonstrated their talents through theoretical calculations on paper and grew into true generals.

More importantly, none of the rebel leaders present lacked confidence. They had all defeated the government's demonic soldiers with inferior civilian forces. Even if they were defeated and fled later, they would never think it was their own fault. Obviously, it was just because they did not have elite troops under their command.

They naturally believed that as long as their soldiers were of higher quality and outnumbered the enemy, they would not lose.

Soon, everyone had chosen their soldiers and stationed them all "hundred li" away from Yizhou City, selecting terrain that they considered advantageous.

Prince Li stepped out of his sedan chair, and Qiongying and Lu Junyi discussed and decided on a place to stay.

Even Fang La personally cast a beam of silvery light, selected his soldiers, and commanded them remotely.

Some rebel leaders even felt a secret sense of schadenfreude upon seeing this.

Based on the martial prowess displayed by Guan Luoyang and Fang La, these people believed that they would not gain any advantage if they fought directly, but now that the outcome was decided in this way, anyone had a chance.

"Even if my martial arts and magic are inferior to yours, the fact that I can still raise a rebel army proves that I am inherently stronger than you in this matter!"

That's what they all thought, so after Gongsun Sheng issued the order to start the war, they were the first to be completely wiped out.

During the march, they were eliminated. After all the wooden figures under their command were defeated, these people were still immersed in a sense of confusion, unable to understand why such a thing had happened.

During the simulation, everyone had a panoramic view, so these rebel leaders were able to see the movements of other troops.

However, sometimes, several armies are approaching their own forces, and they can't tell which ones are just chance encounters during the march and which ones are hostile. Only when they get extremely close can they identify the hostile side.

So they began to try to organize their troops and form ranks to deal with the enemy, but it also took time for those wooden figures, who had been ordered to advance at full speed, to stop and set up their lines on the sides.

Often, before their lines were even complete, enemy troops would have already broken through and destroyed their ranks.

"Disrupting the formation isn't a big deal; everyone's skills are about the same. A one-on-one fight—who knows who'll win?"

Some continued to command with this idea in mind, and they saw that the enemy archers killed their front-line soldiers with a single volley of arrows, and the cavalry mowed down their infantry like grass.

When the shield bearers and spearmen pressed forward in a tightly coordinated line, the scattered soldiers on their side were all outnumbered and easily impaled and pinned to the ground, their bodies emitting wisps of white smoke, signifying their death.

Wu Hu from Guangnan Road was one of these people. After a moment of silence following his defeat, anger flashed across his face. He cracked his knuckles as he questioned, "This was a sneak attack. We haven't even reached Yizhou City yet. I wasn't prepared..."

Guan Luoyang glanced at them coldly: "If these are truly your subordinates, your brothers, they only have one life. After they die, who will you ask for a second chance?"

Wu Hu felt a chill run down his spine from that glance, and involuntarily began to make connections with Guan Luoyang's words, imagining those smoking, fallen wooden figures as living human bodies and mangled corpses.

The sight of blood flowing like rivers and crimson everywhere assaulted his mind, instantly causing him to slump down.

He returned to his seat dejectedly, and soon his good friend Liu Dagu also sat down. More and more people failed and were eliminated.

In less than half an hour, of the 19 rebel leaders plus Liangshan, a total of 20 forces, only 6 remained.

Liangshan, Fang La, Zhang Wanxian, Qiong Ying, Gao Tuoshan, and Prince Li.

Prince Li conspired with Bao Peisong and Cui Daocheng to hide their troops deep in the mountains, hoping to reap the benefits without lifting a finger.

Gao Tuoshan commanded his troops to march through the waterways of Yizhou and approach the city.

Qiongying and Zhang Wanxian's troops marched slowly towards Yizhou City.

Fang La has already defeated several armies and is now attacking the east side of Yizhou City.

The twenty-eight strongholds of Qingzhou used Qingzhou City as a practice ground for their attacks, with Fang La directing from behind the scenes, giving them considerable experience in siege warfare.

However, their opponents were the Liangshan army, who had already seized Yizhou City and, with the help of the city walls, had defended the city as if it were impregnable.

Fang La and Gao Tuoshan launched four consecutive attacks, all of which were repelled. After Qiong Ying and Zhang Wanxian's troops arrived, they fought on all sides. Despite having four times the number of troops in the city, they still could not take it.

After a full quarter of an hour, Fang La gathered his troops and rested outside the city. He then looked up at the Liangshan heroes.

Guan Luoyang noticed his gaze and smiled slightly at him.

This man was leisurely watching from the sidelines with his hands behind his back. He was merely observing. The real commanders of the Liangshan troops were Li Kaixian and Li Jun, who were standing beside him.

Li Kaixian was well-versed in military strategy and could recite the stories of famous generals throughout history.

Although Li Jun's martial prowess was not top-notch and his logistics management skills were inferior to Li Ying's, he was a man of great talent and wisdom. He had followed the army to defeat the Western Xia and fought in the border army for several years, silently learning the combat strategies of Zhang Jie, Zhong Shidao, Zhong Shizhong, Han Shizhong, and others. He was a true veteran of many battles.

With Li Jun as the leader and Li Kaixian as the assistant, the four-times-strong force outside the city was gradually reduced to only two times its original strength.

Gao Tuoshan, who suffered the heaviest losses, couldn't help but say, "Every one of my naval soldiers has the tattoo of the Great Swamp Beast and inherits the ancient magic from the Wu-Yue conflict during the Warring States period. The fighting style of these wooden puppets is nothing to you, but it is too restrictive for me."

Li Jun opened his mouth to speak, but forcibly held back and turned to look at Guan Luoyang.

Guan Luoyang smiled and said, "I trust the people I employ. Since I have said that this battle is in your hands, then it is entirely up to you to decide."

Li Jun turned around, looking confident, and said, "I heard that you fought three battles against the navy in Jiangnan. You won all three battles at first. Your speed in the water is more than 50% better than that of the elite navy. You are indeed a rare and powerful naval force in the world."

"You can personally enhance the underwater capabilities of the remaining troops by double."

Gao Tuoshan took a deep breath: "You said it yourself!"

He raised his hand and pointed, and streams of water mist condensed from the air, hanging down like ribbons, dancing and wrapping around the wooden figures under his command.

"Watch me breach the city!"

Gao Tuoshan flicked his finger, and the remaining troops all entered the water.

There is a river outside Yizhou City that flows through the city gate and into the city. The city gate is equipped with iron railings, a heavy gate, and other barriers.

However, under the current offensive of Gao Tuoshan's troops, the iron fence was quickly destroyed, and the little wooden figures dived deep into the water, even digging through the silt to sneak directly into the city.

However, just as they tried to break free of the water, they were all caught in the fishing net.

The fishing nets were inconspicuously hidden in the water, only revealing themselves after being impacted, entangled all the wooden figures that were colliding with them, and the city guards took the opportunity to launch a barrage of arrows, and even cannonballs and gunpowder canisters fell.

Gao Tuoshan asked in astonishment, "Where did you get your fishing nets?!"

Fang La blinked, reviewing all the previous scenes, and said, "It's time to attack the city."

Li Jun laughed and said, "When you were attacking the city, many logs fell from the city walls. At that time, I was controlling my troops to cut down trees in the city. Your attention was only on the siege, and you didn't notice that the bark of the logs had been stripped off."

Gao Tuoshan looked closely and saw that the fishing nets were indeed all made of twisted tree bark.

The simulation sand table created by Gongsun Sheng even produced a forest in scale, and the bark could even be peeled off and used.

But what's even more astonishing is that at that time, Li Jun and his men had already guessed Gao Tuoshan's final siege tactics, and even guessed where they would enter the city from.

Gao Tuoshan looked at his part of the wooden figures, and in the end only a few escaped outside the city, and then fell silent.

Li Jun then looked at Zhang Wanxian: "Actually, in this military strategy simulation, it can be considered that the other rebel leaders were treated favorably, but for Master Zhang, it was truly weakened too much."

"Master Zhang's 'Daredevil Army' probably only consists of one percent real living soldiers; the rest are paper figures and horses, moving silently and easily crossing water. They are far superior to these wooden puppets. Master Zhang, would you like to use your true abilities to test them?"

Zhang Wanxian said calmly, "The paper horse and sword technique ultimately requires a sorcerer to activate it. My six hundred sorcerers are priceless, and nearly half of the core magic that truly makes all the paper figures obey is tied to me alone. If I were to cast the spell, wouldn't some fierce generals from Liangshan try to kill me?"

Looking at the simulation sand table, Lu Junyi showed admiration, but still said, "That's right. On the real battlefield, while elite troops and military strategy are important, the personal martial prowess of the general commander is even more important."

"During the reign of Emperor Daojun, there was a prince consort of Western Xia who was full of ingenious schemes and excellent in military tactics. However, he was beheaded by Han Shizhong, a nobody who was only eighteen years old at the time, while he was mixed in with a pile of corpses."

As he said this, Lu Junyi's mount moved on its own without his command, carrying the large spear, and walked to his side. "The commander of the righteous army, even if he is not required to be the strongest among us, should at least be strong enough."

Fang La lowered his eyes and remained silent. His troops were the largest among those who participated in the siege, and if he were to propose a duel, it would be the fairest one.

The defeated rebel leaders, sensing the change in atmosphere, mustered their spirits and turned to look in this direction.

It is said that Liangshan once killed Yun Tianbiao, the Grand Commandant of the Palace Guard, and Liu Yongxi, the Grand Master of the Void, but it is unknown whether they were surrounded or fought one-on-one.

Their military strategies have failed, but they still want to see just how much strength this leader really has if there has to be a supreme leader or a big boss.

"It seems, Wen, that you've already admitted your inferiority."

Guan Luoyang stretched out his arms, and the two wide, pure white robe sleeves swayed slightly backward, like banners unfurling to command an army.

Li Jun, Li Kaixian, and Gongsun Sheng all retreated, while Chen Liqing, following Guan Luoyang's prior orders, stood guard over Li Kaixian with her hand on her sword.

The four men retreated behind him.

"Then let's subdue their hearts with force!"

Suppressing them with words and laws lacks authority; forcing them with force lacks virtue.

If we discuss literature and law, and rely on military force to kill and conquer, we can achieve complete victory in both literature and military force, and make people fear our power and cherish our virtue. This is the beginning of a great undertaking!

(End of this chapter)