The renowned generals of the world, ranked thirty-fourth.
The first in naval warfare of the Southern Dynasty.
Holding the Twin Dragon War Halberd, capable of slaying Jianghu masters within thirty-three steps.
Leading the army as a Great Halberd Warrior, able to kill infantry with cavalry, fearless in death, and overwhelming against any who stand in his way. He was renowned alongside the Mo Dao Army of the noble families in Guan Zhong of Ying Kingdom, dominating both the north and south. Yet, such a valiant general betrayed his own military allegiance and became a great thief.
“Yue Qianfeng…”
In the quiet room, the elegant old man murmured this name, his tone filled with murderous intent and confusion.
“The troops under that surname Yue have all been stationed in the borderlands, suppressed by the emperor's brother as the general. After several rounds of taming, with both grace and power, they have all been rewarded and have settled down. Only this Yue Qianfeng, having resigned from his official position and abandoned his troops, has charged into the borders like a mad dog.”
“What is going on with Xiao Wuliang?!”
“He previously acted alongside that Luzhou Sword Immortal, yet allowed this Yue Qianfeng to survive!”
Someone bowed their head and replied, “...General Xiao said, Yue General…”
He paused and continued, “Yue Qianfeng's cultivation has already reached great completion. When the Crimson Dragon Dharma Manifestation erupts, it can burn mountains and boil rivers. Moreover, he intercepted secretly and could not bring his troops. In a one-on-one situation, Yue Qianfeng is not his opponent, but escaping is not difficult.”
“The Luzhou Sword Immortal's sword energy is unparalleled, splitting mountains and cracking seas. However, that warrior has had seventeen prior achievements, slaying eight generals and capturing flags three times. His dual halberds can take the enemy's head from amidst ten thousand troops as easily as reaching into a bag. Clad in the soft armor bestowed by the late emperor, he survived.”
The elegant old man slammed his fist heavily on the precious table, shouting angrily, “Absurd!”
“He uses the treasure armor granted by the late emperor against our court; what a traitor!”
“Xiao Wuliang can charge into battle with seven riders, able to throw a hand drill and kill the strongest archers of the Turkic.”
“How many fierce generals today surpass him? This is the second time; ten years ago, when he led the Night Rider Cavalry, he even allowed that weak woman to escape with a child. Ten years later, he cannot even stop Yue Qianfeng?”
“Ten years ago, he was twenty-three, and one could say his cultivation was not yet complete, with someone assisting him.”
“Ten years later, at thirty-three, is his cultivation still insufficient?!”
“He is acting in defiance! He is overestimating his martial prowess!”
“Has he forgotten who promoted him back then?”
The responding man bowed his head and said, “General Xiao said he has not completed the task entrusted by the Prime Minister and is guilty.”
“I implore you to strip him of his position and send him to the border to be a mere soldier.”
“To guard the gates of the nation.”
The elegant old man’s expression froze, ultimately left speechless. He waved his sleeve and scolded, “You foolish child, do you not understand the great matters of the world lie in the capital, among the various ministers, in these thousand-year-old noble families? Every day, they speak of going to the border to lead troops into battle.”
“Do you know that the common people suffer in war? Do you know that soldiers have always been instruments of violence, used by sages only when absolutely necessary? Yet, at the age of thirty, he still acts as if he were on the battlefield for the first time.”
He calmed down, gazing at the grand map of the world laid out on the desk before him.
The details of Chen Kingdom were the most thorough, while the other kingdoms were only roughly sketched.
He stared intently at the border between Ying Kingdom and Chen Kingdom.
After the surname Yue was pushed back, Ying Kingdom established good relations with Chen Kingdom, opening mutual markets.
Two months later, during the grand ancestral ceremony of Chen Kingdom, Ying Kingdom's second prince, Jiang Guang, would also come to congratulate.
However, Ying Kingdom had stationed thirty thousand Tiger Barbarian Cavalry at the border.
The troops of the Yue family were also stationed across the river, with both sides in a stalemate, which forced the veteran generals of the Yue family to remain there, unable to return to rescue their commander. Yet, unexpectedly, there was a reckless man who disregarded everything.
Since ancient times, fierce generals have mostly possessed such a nature; without it, one cannot have the reckless bravery that disregards life and death.
Ying Kingdom and Chen Kingdom had a brief reconciliation, while Ying Kingdom's General Yuwen had originally withdrawn part of his troops to lead an army northward to drive out the Turkic. The Tuyuhun were the noble families within Longyou Pass resisting, leaving them no time to attack Chen Kingdom. The situation of the world had originally entered a stable state, a peace under the balance of various factions.
This was also the perfect era deduced by the ministers in the court.
However, now it was different.
A top-tier renowned general turned his military might, like a long spear piercing into the territory of Chen Kingdom.
Yue Qianfeng had appeared several times, causing multiple hidden changes, with Jianghu masters intercepting him and the current first fierce general of Chen Kingdom, Xiao Wuliang, taking the field. The situation in Jiangzhou was briefly tumultuous, forcing the surrounding forces to recall their troops in an attempt to intercept Yue Qianfeng.
They had no choice but to adopt a policy of complete appeasement towards the other generals of the Yue family.
Meanwhile, the Tiger Barbarian Cavalry of Ying Kingdom and the renowned Upper Pillar State, the Ying Kingdom's General against the enemy, stationed there, could only move troops from the northwest side to counter the changes in military strength caused by Yue Qianfeng, leading to Tuyuhun's restless intentions towards Chen Kingdom.
The Turkic were waiting to see if Ying Kingdom would take other strategies amidst Chen Kingdom's turmoil.
The old man’s gaze was sharp, immediately discerning that the key to the situation of the world lay in Yue Qianfeng.
If he were to successfully charge into the court's border city, and the troops at the border withdrew to suppress him…
The old man clenched his fist in rage.
“Foolish man, foolish man!”
“Truly as foolish as a cow.”
“This is what is called a renowned general of the world.”
“A group of unbridled wild horses, recklessly devouring their masters. As long as they go mad, disregarding their own lives, they can stir the winds and clouds of the world. It sounds good to say they are the nation's heavy weapons, but without respecting the emperor, they are merely traitors and rebels!”
The old man said, “The troops at the border cannot be moved again. I will write a letter inviting the prince of Ying to come.”
“Command the garrison of Guan Yi City to mobilize the troops from another city to form an encirclement. No matter what Yue Qianfeng intends to do, he must be stopped, stopped dead!”
“Order the border to contact the Qiang people, offering gold and silk, inviting them to come to court to pay their respects.”
“The daughter of the Tuyuhun Right Prince loves jade, send beautiful jade and beauties to congratulate.”
The old man issued one order after another, blocking the upheaval caused by Yue Qianfeng, old yet steady.
When he picked up his pen to write the letter, his expression was calm, as if he could stabilize the situation of the world. Yet, someone hurriedly approached, a palace eunuch, speaking urgently, “My lord, the emperor has received a scroll depicting the peace of the thousand-mile rivers and mountains. The various lords in the court cannot appreciate it, and the emperor is getting angry over there.”
The official who had just reported the urgent matter frowned and scolded, “Absurd, the Prime Minister has great…”
The old man shouted, “Absurd!”
The official was about to respond when the inkstone struck his forehead, causing him to stagger, his forehead bleeding.
The elegant old man set down his brush and hurried over to the eunuch, grasping his arm, saying:
“This is a major matter; no one can appreciate the sage's great work.”
“Though I am dull, I wish to see it.”
“Please lead the way for me.”
The official from the Ministry of War sat on the ground, covering his forehead, stunned and dazed.
The old man, dressed in a crimson official robe with a jade belt, hurried away. The young official looked at the scroll representing the situation of the world, which had only a few sentences written, while the old man's figure had already disappeared, only to see the night sky rising with the wind.
If General Yue Qianfeng truly charged past the border city and reached Jiangzhou's capital…
Or rather, if the world knew that General Yue Qianfeng seemed to intend to clash with the border city, was he really planning this?
He looked at the clouds swirling in the sky, obscuring the bright moon.
“It’s going to change…”
………………
In the secret realm.
Facing General Xue's question.
Li Guanyi barely responded with the military strategies he knew from Sun Tzu's Art of War and similar texts. General Xue shook his head and said lightly, “Boasting, the battlefield is not so simple. You should not have been on the battlefield; the words you speak are what any student of military strategy would say, yet you do not understand their profundity.”
“Hmm, just correct nonsense. You can only repeat it; it sounds good, but don’t say it next time.”
“Avoid the solid and strike the weak; how do you know what is solid and what is weak? Know yourself and know your enemy; how do you know if what you know is true or false? As a general, what are the five virtues, how to uphold them, how to train troops, how to form formations, how to connect the spirit of battle, how to instill a sense of certain death in soldiers without a thought of certain victory, yet still win?”
“Regarding mountains and rivers, which can be used to set up camps; regarding weather and rain, how to launch a strong attack in accordance with the situation?”
“How to suppress those with divided hearts among the troops; if the generals in the army suffer defeat, what should be done?”
“What are the thirty-two methods of using spies, and the sixteen methods of death spies?”
“How to distinguish between enemies, how to turn it against them? The basic battle formations consist of thirty-six types; these are merely the skills of military strategists in battle. Mastering these is what qualifies one to be a general, to bear the lives of hundreds or thousands and the fate of the nation.”
“Having a long-term vision, capable of planning military strategies and not just formations, is what makes a renowned general. Yet you are merely a parrot repeating what you hear. How could there be someone like you among my descendants? Has my Xue family ceased studying military texts?”
General Xue seemed to begin doubting his descendants, his gaze filled with mockery.
Li Guanyi twitched the corner of his mouth.
The divine general picked up his brush and wrote a “one” on the young man's forehead.
With a slight smile, he said, “However, it’s good; it seems my preparations have not been in vain.”
“I will tell you how to crack various situations.”
He began to explain cavalry tactics and the Crescent Charge Formation. After a full hour, the young man surfaced, and Yao Guang saw Li Guanyi collapse onto the stone.
Yao Guang's voice was calm, “You look very tired.”
Li Guanyi held his forehead.
Thinking about how exhausted he had been while General Xue continuously narrated and deduced battle formations.
Complicated, meticulous, and systematic.
“I feel like military knowledge has entered my brain in a despicable way.”
Li Guanyi entered a routine life, practicing archery and cultivation during the day, then heading to the secret realm for training in the afternoon. He believed that to refine his foundation with starlight and achieve the highest entry method, he must come here. After each battle, when he took the medicinal pills and felt exhausted, General Xue would unilaterally force him to learn various military strategies.
“Overview of Battle Formations,” “Essentials of Military Strategy,” “Military Classics,” “Cao Lu Strategies,” “General's Garden,” “Ten Thousand Machines Theory,” “Six Strategies and Three Tactics,” “Naval Warfare Strategies”... various military texts, Li Guanyi could remember them all, his mind agile, able to draw inferences from one instance. General Xue then increased the difficulty of his teachings.
With each victory over a person, he would teach the military strategies and tactics that person excelled in five hundred years ago.
Li Guanyi had to break through them.
Such days were fulfilling, and as time gradually passed over ten days, Li Guanyi still did not know what use this teaching had. However, on this day of returning, he raised his head to scan the city defenses and was slightly taken aback, naturally concluding in his mind.
The city defenses had tightened.
Even the newly changed gate guards were elite who had experienced real battle formations, skilled in infantry combat, with archers and crossbowmen employing interleaved shooting methods.
This was to defend against strong infantry suddenly breaking through the formation.
If the city gate served as the reference point, there should be a great general not far from here. Hmm, these commoners, though dressed simply, should be holding iron chains and hooks, a special troop type used to trip horses, representing a solid defensive type.
As Li Guanyi walked through the city, he realized what judgments his mind had made.
His expression grew heavy as he pressed his hand against his forehead.
First, there was some joy, then confusion; joy at General Xue teaching him, leading to such a transformation, yet astonishment and doubt at the level of defense in a large city like Guan Yi City, which meant someone intended to attack the city?
Who is so reckless?
If that is the case, he must first take his aunt to the Xue family. Li Guanyi made the judgment and headed towards the Xue family, while simultaneously pondering a matter: he had finished his medicinal pills, as his consumption during the tempering in the secret realm was much greater than that of ordinary people.
And medicinal pills were expensive; he could not keep asking Miss Xue for money.
In recent days, he had told stories to Xue Changqing and received some silver, barely managing to get by.
Turning around, he heard someone calling out, “Fortune-telling, all-knowing, Zi Wei Dou Shu, and the Great and Minor Six Ren, all in hand. Ah, young friend, please stop. I see your forehead is dark; recently, you may encounter bloodshed and disaster!”
Li Guanyi recognized the familiar voice and saw an old man.
It was the same one who had climbed the wall before, the “Simi.”
The old man also saw Li Guanyi, a slight smile appearing on his lips.
Just as he was about to speak.
Li Guanyi's pupils contracted, his gaze shifting to the enormous Xuanwu beside the old man.
The old man froze in his actions, his eyes widening.
He saw the White Tiger on Li Guanyi's shoulder and the Crimson Dragon on his arm.
Both sides momentarily froze.
Then both noticed each other's gazes, their expressions changing.
The old man said, “You can see them?!”
Li Guanyi frowned and turned to leave, but the old man threw down his stall, leaped onto the table, and chased after him, shouting, “Disciple, disciple, stop!”
Li Guanyi walked even faster.
The old man leaped forward, directly hugging the young man's thigh.
“Disciple, no, no.”
“If you don’t want to be my disciple, how about you be my master?!”
“Master!”
(End of this chapter)