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

【Conquering the Land】: "Sheng Yong, a military officer under Li Jinglong, did not flee south with his commander-in-chief during the defeat at Baigou River, but instead gathered the routed troops and retreated to Jinan. Tie Xuan, a Shandong provincial administrator, was originally supervising the transport of grain in the rear, but upon hearing the news of the defeat, he rebelled against the routed troops and marched north. After entering the city, the two swore a blood oath to defend Jinan!"

【Aspiring to the Throne - Grand Ambitions】: "Moreover, the Yan bandits only have so many troops, and every battle they fight is one less they can fight. As long as we drag this out, the imperial court will ultimately prevail, so everyone can rest assured."

Upon seeing this message, Shen Du suddenly realized that the Ascendant Guild was indeed extraordinary.

Their judgment was logically sound. Sheng Yong and Tie Xuan were indeed capable commanders, and with Jinan and Dezhou supporting each other, the imperial court still had substantial resources on paper. The Yan army numbered only 100,000 and could not withstand attrition.

The problem is, Zhu Di still won. Not in Jinan, but elsewhere.

The atmosphere in the public chat channel eased slightly. The title of "Winning the Championship" still carried weight. But before everyone could process it, a message suddenly exploded out of nowhere.

[Lone Wolf]: "Bullshit! Shanhe, who are you trying to fool? Was the battle at Baigou River a scheme orchestrated by Wending and Shanhaijing?"

The channel suddenly fell silent.

[Lone Wolf]: "Let me clarify things for everyone. Before the war, how many messages did you, 'Wen Ding,' spread in the public chat like '600,000 vs. 100,000, a sure win' and 'farming honor is so much fun'? How many players listened to you and went to the garrison to join the Ming army? And what happened? When 600,000 men were brought to the Baigou River and the Yan cavalry stormed in, where were the core members of your 'Wen Ding' team?"

[Lone Wolf]: "And the Classic of Mountains and Seas, the largest guild in the Yan army camp. If I'm not mistaken, your people infiltrated the Yan army's personal guard to achieve the S-rank achievement 'Slaughterers on the Baigou River,' right?"

【Lone Wolf】: "Wen Ding is inciting players to their deaths in the Imperial Court camp, while Shan Hai Jing is reaping honor points in the Yan Army camp. You two are truly a powerful alliance!"

The public channel was completely silent.

Looking at the message on the screen, Shen Du suddenly had a brilliant idea.

He opened the system panel and found the "Change Nickname" option in his personal settings. It could only be changed once every sixty days, and he hadn't touched it.

【Classic of Mountains and Seas - Taotie】.

Shen Du typed these words, confirmed the changes, and then opened the public channel.

[Classic of Mountains and Seas - Taotie]: "You bunch of stupid pigs, you've been completely fooled by us. That S-level achievement was mine."

[Classic of Mountains and Seas - Taotie]: "After the commander's flag was broken by the wind, seeing your utterly defeated state, even catching sixty pigs would take half a day, right? I followed the Yan King's personal guards and charged out from the flank, cutting melons and vegetables with ease. It was definitely a fun way to boost my reputation points, no problem, right?"

The public channel exploded instantly.

【Kaifeng's One Flower】: "They're not even going to act anymore???"

[Texas Boss]: "A person from the Classic of Mountains and Seas? Taotie? I've never seen this ID before?"

【Shan Hai Jing - Taotie】: "Shan He, we at Shan Hai Jing will forever remember your great kindness and virtue. Without you inciting them to their deaths in the public chat, where would so many casual players come from on the Baigou River to boost our Shan Hai Jing's reputation?"

The public channel was deathly silent.

However, the internal channel of the Classic of Mountains and Seas Guild was already in an uproar.

[Classic of Mountains and Seas - Qiongqi]: "Who is this Taotie? I checked, and this ID is not in the guild member list."

【Shan Hai Jing - Bi Fang】: "The system allows players to freely change their nicknames within dungeons without guild verification. He's not one of our people at all; he just changed his ID to 'Shan Hai Jing - Taotie.' I said it in the public chat, but nobody believed me."

[Classic of Mountains and Seas - Bai Ze]: "Shanhe just messaged me privately. Wen Ding now believes that 'Taotie' is one of our people."

[Classic of Mountains and Seas - Qiongqi]: "This is troublesome. Every word this person says in the public chat is just making us the target of hatred. We've not only become the public enemy of solo players, but now even the King of the Rift thinks we're the ones who openly provoked them."

[Classic of Mountains and Seas - Bifang]: "The most fatal thing is that we have no idea who this person is. Why would he impersonate one of ours? Why would he deliberately offend both of the two major guilds?"

[Classic of Mountains and Seas - Bai Ze]: "A madman. A complete madman."

[Classic of Mountains and Seas - Qiongqi]: "No matter who he is, we must find him. Notify all members in the Yan army camp to be on the lookout for any new individuals who appear at Baigou River with unusual battle records; such people cannot be hidden."

The internal channel of the Ascendant Guild was also extremely lively at this time.

【Aspiring to the Throne - Grand Ambition】: "Bai Ze is lying. No one but them could have put core members into Zhu Di's personal guard. Taotie was one of their men."

【Wen Ding - Shan He】: "Regardless of whether they are their people or not, they have already taken the blame. All the casual players in the public channel saw it. 'Shan Hai Jing - Taotie' personally admitted that he got the S-level achievement in Baigou River and personally admitted to harvesting casual players. Shan Hai Jing can't wash it off."

【Wen Ding - Qing Shan】: "But we've been firmly accused of inciting solo players to their deaths. Solo players' trust in our two guilds is declining. If this continues, we'll be all alone."

【Conquering the Mountains and Rivers】: "No matter what, we need to speed things up. Although we don't know their purpose, we must not be distracted. Sheng Yong has replaced Li Jinglong, and reinforcements from Shandong are also gathering."

Although the Yan rebels were riding high on their victory and their morale was high, they were showing signs of fatigue from continuous fighting. At that time, a secret order was given to General Ping'an to lead his troops to harass the Yan army's supply lines in the Hejian area; victory would then be only a matter of time.

[Aspiring to the Top - Grand Vision]: "In the next battle, we should push our core members forward as much as possible, at least to make a show of it."

【Conquering the Land】: "Have our spies in the Yan army keep an eye out for this person and find him as soon as possible. Once found—"

"Kill on the spot. Honor points go to the guild."

Both guilds are currently looking for someone named "Taotie".

Wen Ding identified him as a core member of Shan Hai Jing, but Shan Hai Jing couldn't find this ID even after searching through the entire guild list.

Both sides are eager to drag him out.

Meanwhile, the real "glutton" was sitting by the Baigou River, comfortably watching the public chat messages from solo players collectively denouncing the two major guilds, and the two guilds' powerless defense.

Seeing that he had achieved his goal of stirring up trouble, Shen Du turned off the public channel with satisfaction. He calmly took out the small flag-shaped bronze plaque from his pocket, examined it in the moonlight, and then put it back.

"We still need to find a way to clear our names; it's not time to be completely exposed yet."

Tomorrow, Shen Du will lead ten men to train. This is his first asset in this chaotic world.

Shen Du continued to carefully clean the knife, then stood up and walked back along the riverbank, his figure gradually disappearing into the campfire's glow.