In this realistic war game, only I understand the course of the battle.

Before Shen Du could process what was happening, another golden light flashed by.

【Achievement Completed】

[Achievement Level: S]

[Achievement Name: The Slaughterer on the Baigou River]

[Conditions for achieving this: Survive the Battle of Baigou River as an individual and achieve at least fifteen kills during the counterattack phase.]

[Achievement Reward: +2 Free Attribute Points]

Shen Du looked at the numbers on the screen: 312 reputation points and 2 free attribute points. He remembered glancing at it when he first entered the dungeon; his initial reputation was zero. One run of the Baigou River dungeon had raised it from zero to over three hundred.

By the time we got back to camp, it was almost dark.

The Yan army camp was a hive of activity. Soldiers who had returned alive were lining up to register, the supply battalion was counting the captured supplies, and groans of pain echoed from the wounded soldiers' camp.

The air was filled with the mixed smells of herbs, liquor, and roasted meat. The cooks slaughtered several dead horses, roasted them over a fire, and distributed them to the soldiers who had been gathered back by each unit.

Shen Du was at the end of the registration line. He was still wearing his blood-soaked uniform, and the blood on his face had already scabbed over.

When it was Shen Du's turn, the clerk who was registering him looked up at him. The clerk was pale and beardless, and wore a faded blue robe, which made him stand out among the group of warriors covered in blood.

Which battalion?

"Yanshan Left Guard, infantry."

The clerk paused, his pen still. He looked Shen Du up and down, his gaze lingering on the dried scabs on his face.

"How many heads were cut off?"

"nineteen."

The clerk paused slightly. He glanced at Shen Du again, this time more closely. Nineteen men—no small number for an ordinary infantryman. Moreover, this man was covered in blood, his armor riddled with knife marks; he clearly had crawled out of a pile of corpses.

The clerk didn't say much. He lowered his head, made a note on the bamboo slip, and then picked up a wooden plaque from the side and handed it over.

"Go to the supply depot to collect your reward. For beheading ten or more enemies, you will receive a jug of wine, two catties of meat, and one thousand coins."

Shen Du took the wooden plaque and turned to walk towards the supply depot.

The line to receive the reward was very long. All those who had returned alive were there; some had slings around their arms, some had burlap wrapped around their heads, and some walked with a limp. But no one complained. Those who were alive enough to stand here and receive the reward were already among the luckiest.

After waiting in line for most of the hour, it was finally Shen Du's turn. The old soldier in charge of supplies looked at his wooden plaque, took out a pot of wine and two large pieces of horse meat wrapped in oiled paper from the cart behind him, counted out a thousand coins, strung them together with hemp rope, and handed them over.

"Here you go."

Shen Du accepted the wine, meat, and copper coins, then turned and walked out of the queue.

Shen Du didn't return to the camp. Instead, he found a secluded spot by the river and sat down. He opened the oil paper package, tore off a piece of horse meat, and stuffed it into his mouth. The meat was half-cooked and the salt wasn't evenly distributed, but he ate it bite after bite until he finished both pieces.

I didn't drink the wine from Shendu; I wanted to save it for disinfection.

Shen Du tucked the wine jug into his robes and stood up.

Just then, footsteps sounded behind him. Shen Du turned around and saw a messenger carrying a torch walking towards him.

"Li Jingzhong, Left Guard of Yanshan!"

The messenger approached him: "By order of the centurion, report to the central army immediately."

Shen Du nodded and followed the messenger deeper into the camp.

Bonfires and wounded soldiers were everywhere along the way. Some were groaning softly, some were silently sharpening their knives, and several soldiers were huddled together, listening to an old soldier recount the strong winds of the day.

"...Let me tell you, that wind was so strange. It had to come at just the right time, when His Highness was about to collapse. Don't you think it was Heaven helping us?"

The central command tent was located at the deepest part of the camp. The guards stood in imposing armor before it, and torches illuminated the area. A messenger led him to the tent and gestured for him to enter.

The tent was brightly lit. Commander Zhou was sitting behind his desk, with two deputy commanders beside him. The one on the left had a full beard, while the one on the right was fair-skinned and clean-shaven, and looked like an educated man.

Shen Du knelt on one knee: "Li Jingzhong, infantryman of the Left Guard of Yanshan, greets Commander Baihu."

"Get up," Commander Zhou said, pointing to the seat next to him. "Sit."

Shen Du sat down as instructed. The eyes of the two deputy centurions both fell on him.

Without wasting words, Commander Zhou asked directly, "Today, when we were tallying battle merits, you killed nineteen people single-handedly. How did you manage that?"

Shen Du answered without hesitation, "I was just lucky."

The bearded deputy commander standing nearby was stunned.

"Suddenly a strong wind came," Shen Du continued. "I took advantage of the wind to sneak up from the flank and pick off the stragglers."

The bearded deputy centurion suddenly laughed: "Others, when they achieve merit, can't wait to boast that they're Lu Bu reincarnated, but you're honest."

Zhou Baihu did not laugh. He picked up a scroll of official documents from the table, unfolded it, glanced at it, and then put it down again.

"But your military achievements are real, and no one can take them away. Can you read?"

"I know a little. When I was young, there was an old scholar in the village who taught me for two years."

Zhou Baihu was taken aback; he didn't remember this somewhat dull-witted soldier being literate.

In this era, literate soldiers were extremely rare. A soldier who could write and calculate was more valuable than one who could kill.

Zhou Baihu picked up a bronze plaque from the table: "From today onwards, you will be a junior officer. You will be in charge of ten men. Tomorrow is roll call. Take your men and train them well."

Shen Du accepted the bronze medal and left the central command tent. He walked back along the camp and sat down at the spot by the river where he had been before. He opened the system interface and found the public chat channel that he had just unlocked.

【Kaifeng Flower】: "Can anyone explain whether this counts as a plot device killing off? Six hundred thousand against one hundred thousand, we'd been dominating the Yan bandits for three hours, and victory was just around the corner, when suddenly a gust of wind blew the commander's flag down? Is the system deliberately messing with us?"

[Young Master Yingtian]: "I've said it before, in this kind of battleground, you should honestly be a civil official. Fang Xiaoru is a great Confucian scholar of our time. If you were his student, wouldn't everyone who wants to conquer the world give you some face? This world isn't about fighting and killing, it's about human relationships and social interactions."

[Texas Boss]: "Brothers, I just want to ask you one question: when you ran out, did you see Li Jinglong? I didn't see him at all. As soon as the flag was broken, he ran faster than anyone else."

Shen Du became increasingly confused; they didn't seem to be acting.

Is it possible that only he knows the course of the battle?

Just as the channel was in an uproar, a message with a gold prefix popped up.

【Conquering the Mountains and Rivers】: "The Baigou River River was lost, but the sky hasn't fallen yet."

The channel fell silent. Ascendance was the largest player guild in the Imperial Court faction, a high-end player group following the system's internal pathways.

It is said that their core members have infiltrated the central government and have access to first-hand military reports. Their information is always much faster and more accurate than that of ordinary players.