Chapter 1345: To Count the Great Figures, Look to the Present Age!

Yun Ji understood. Precisely because she understood, the corner of her mouth could not help twitching as she stared at him with a peculiar look.

Niu Youdao did not notice. Instead, he seemed to remember something else and asked, "Where's Hongniang? How come I haven't seen her coming around here these past few days?"

Yun Ji said, "Don't you always complain that she's too talkative? Isn't it better to let you enjoy some peace and quiet?"

Niu Youdao laughed. "Now that she's behaving herself and keeping quiet, I actually feel a little unaccustomed to it."

"Cheap!" Yun Ji said disdainfully, though she still told him the truth. "She's been taking cultivation much more seriously lately. She's basically been in seclusion, meditating, and has handed some matters over to me. From what she said, she doesn't seem far from reaching the consummate peak of the Golden Core Realm. She probably wants to get there as quickly as possible, then spend some time consolidating her foundation."

"Oh!" Niu Youdao was somewhat surprised. "In other words, it won't be long before she formally enters seclusion to break through to the Nascent Soul Realm?"

Yun Ji nodded. "Probably."

Niu Youdao looked quite gratified. "I was wondering. With her temperament, why would she suddenly become serious about cultivation?" He sighed and nodded. "It's a good thing."

And it truly was a good thing. Otherwise, if that woman kept delaying her breakthrough, giving her that Wuliang Fruit would have been rather wasteful.

He then asked, "How are things on Ghost Mother's side?"

Yun Ji had no idea what trick he was planning now, but she knew that since he had suddenly begun paying attention to Ghost Mother's side, he had to be after something. This man hid inside one shabby room and spent all day brewing schemes while secretly keeping lines open in every direction. "Nothing unusual. As you instructed, we've maintained regular contact in secret."

...

Faced with Jin's comprehensive defensive posture, the Qin and Qi armies had fallen into a stalemate with it.

They could not continue like this forever. Jin sat atop the grain stores and could afford to wait them out, but Qin and Qi could not. Yet neither dared relax the armies they had mobilized for war.

With no better alternative, Luo Zhao once again traveled to the Qi command center to meet Huyan Wuhen and discuss an offensive.

The defensive line Jin had constructed across the former territory of Wei was simply too solid under Gao Pin's arrangements. No one dared move recklessly. Huyan Wuhen's bitter defeat at Three Slopes was warning enough.

Luo Zhao's proposal was that he pin Jin's main forces in Wei head-on while Huyan Wuhen led troops into Jin proper.

Huyan Wuhen rejected the idea.

To understand why, one had to mention the fierce character of Jin's common people. The moment foreign troops invaded their homeland, the entire population would take up arms to defend it. Even old men and old women would grab hoes and shoulder poles and fight an invading army to the death.

This was also an important reason Jin, impoverished for so many years, had still managed to hold off Qi and Wei. One could say that being confined by geography to a corner of the west, with no outside help to rely on, had forced that character into existence.

Poor and fierce. That probably described Jin better than anything.

Precisely because poverty forced it to seek change, Jin had repeatedly tried to expand outward and break through the blockade imposed by Qi and Wei, hoping to improve its circumstances.

Its poverty had another cause as well. The country was mountainous, transport was difficult, and commerce had little room to flourish.

As a result, Jin had many mountain folk, and the temperament of mountain folk could be imagined. Even a great army that entered the country would find them difficult to suppress.

If Jin had been able to survive in such dire circumstances, naturally there were reasons for its survival.

Huyan Wuhen understood this all too well. He had led troops into Jin more than once or twice. Yet every campaign had ultimately ended with withdrawal because of one difficulty or another. Otherwise, facing an opponent like Jin, Huyan Wuhen would have destroyed the state long ago.

It was precisely because of this that Gao Pin could concentrate his attention on fortifying Wei.

But Jin's administration of its newly conquered Wei territory was already beginning to show results. They had even planted their first season of grain. Were Qin and Qi supposed to wait until Jin harvested another crop?

Qin had started planting grain as well, but Xiping Pass had fallen into Jin's hands, making it difficult to bring supplies in from Qin. Sea transport, meanwhile, was extremely inconvenient in the face of a whole state's efforts to disrupt shipping.

Qi's people were mostly herders and had little skill at farming. What good could come from clasping the Buddha's feet at the last moment? Large-scale cultivation also required enormous quantities of water, while irrigation canals and similar works were badly lacking across Qi's vast grasslands. In previous years, Qi could trade with Wei for grain. Jin had now cut off that route completely.

Jin's strategy could not have been clearer. It intended to wait until Qin and Qi fell into disorder without a battle, then clean them up without expending much effort.

Faced with such a situation, Huyan Wuhen and Luo Zhao ultimately decided they had to fight once. They had little choice. Their respective courts were placing too much pressure on them.

Jin's conquest of Wei had already given it the strategic upper hand. The longer matters dragged on, the worse it became for Qin and Qi. Both courts could see that clearly and naturally pressured their commanders to find a solution.

The prelude to another battle began without warning.

The Qin army suddenly launched a surprise attack on Jin's defensive line. Luo Zhao nearly broke through in one stroke, and only Gao Pin's emergency redeployment managed to stop him.

The instant Gao Pin moved troops, Huyan Wuhen launched an attack from another direction.

Yet Gao Pin's frontline defenses had been laid out according to Jin Jue's classic inverted-triangle pattern. Two forward points held strategic chokepoints and linked together, while one point behind them could rush to reinforce either front position at any time.

The entire defense was composed of row after row of linked inverted triangles. Looked at another way, any one point could be reinforced simultaneously from two positions behind it. This not only allowed Jin to rely heavily on prepared fortifications and save manpower, it also meant that the defensive line contained row after row of pockets that could take shape at any moment.

Gao Pin commanded both fronts at once, meeting the attacks of Qin and Qi simultaneously. If any one point was broken and enemy troops rushed through, the inverted triangle immediately became an upright triangle around them, or could even develop directly into a four-sided pincer.

He brought the advantages of the linked inverted-triangle formation into full play.

Relying on fortifications constructed in advance, holding the advantage of terrain, fielding forces that were no weaker than the combined armies of the two states and in some respects even stronger, and backed by Gao Pin's steady, solid command, Jin fought two states at once and held firm with astonishing stability.

After that battle, Gao Pin's name shook all beneath Heaven.

Huyan Wuhen and Luo Zhao had joined hands and still failed to break Gao Pin's defensive line. The judgment of the world could easily be imagined.

The Jin court was even more exhilarated. Court officials praised Taishu Xiong's wisdom without end. After all, Gao Pin had been the man Taishu Xiong supported over all objections. Even when Gao Pin repeatedly lost to Huyan Wuhen, Taishu Xiong had endured the pressure and continued entrusting him with important command.

And Gao Pin had indeed not disappointed him. This time, Gao Pin had thoroughly washed away his former shame.

Even Taishu Feihua, Sect Leader of Qiyun Sect, praised Taishu Xiong as an emperor with vision who knew how to use men. In a sense, that also meant Qiyun Sect had not chosen the wrong emperor. Taishu Xiong had originally been raised to the throne with Taishu Feihua's support, and this victory had unquestionably given Taishu Feihua face as well.

After this battle, dissent toward Taishu Xiong within Qiyun Sect disappeared, as did the court's objections to Gao Pin.

By now, anyone could see that Gao Pin's ability to command armies had placed Jin firmly in the superior position. Swallowing the territories of Qi and Wei completely would only be a matter of time. Once Jin held the grain stores in one hand and the source of warhorses in the other, Gao Pin would have rendered the State of Jin a service unmatched in generations.

For a time, among all the famous generals beneath Heaven, Gao Pin's prestige stood unrivaled. People said that "Yan has Shanming; Qi has Wuhen!" had grown old. Gao Pin's rising brilliance was faintly eclipsing both Meng Shanming and Huyan Wuhen.

In his first great battle, he swallowed Wei.

In his second, he defeated the Valiant Cavalry and left Huyan Wuhen grieving the death of his son.

In his third, he stood against the combined forces of Huyan Wuhen and Luo Zhao.

Most people saw only Gao Pin's momentum swallowing mountains and rivers. They did not see that one general's success is built on ten thousand bleaching bones.

Most people did not know how many people had poured out blood, effort, and lives behind every war. Before armies even met, countless people had already died for it. Behind the great campaigns, the intelligence organizations of three states fought viciously without cease, thrusting and countering in the dark amid hidden flashes of blades, while other states quietly intervened as well. Outsiders never smelled the blood.

Most people knew only that Jin had swept away its years of poverty and that the fortunes of the state were rising.

Most people knew only this:

To count the great figures, look to the present age!

Yet behind those bloodstained mountains and rivers, in an overlooked corner of the realm, there was also a scene where the land lay tranquil as a painting.

Verdant fields of crops and mulberry spread beneath hazy green mountains. Small bridges crossed running water beside village homes, like a Peach Blossom Spring hidden beyond the world.

On a hill outside the little village, a messenger Goldenwing descended beside a hunter's thatched hut in the mountains.

Hearing it arrive, the hunter came out, removed the secret letter from the tube on the Goldenwing's leg, decoded the message, then immediately descended the mountain and went to the village below.

Above the thatched hut, hidden among the crown of a tree, a tiny emerald-feathered bird that had followed the Goldenwing hopped along a branch for a moment, then suddenly spread its wings and flew away.

Beside the small river outside the village sat a peddler who had returned to his native village to live in seclusion with a bad leg.

He was Zhuge Chi.

He sat alone beside the river, fishing.

The hunter came over, crouched beside him, and lifted the fish basket as though casually asking how the catch had been. A small ball of paper dropped into the basket, and the hunter went on his way.

When Zhuge Chi later caught a small fish and lowered it into the basket, the paper ball flew soundlessly into his hand. After casting his hook again, he unfolded it with magic and read the message written inside.

Then he continued fishing as calmly as before.

When he finally reeled in his line and returned to the village, he passed the schoolhouse and gave his catch to Hai Wuji, who was now serving as the village teacher.

Looking at the children laughing and playing inside, Zhuge Chi remarked, "The fighting in the west has stopped for now."

As Hai Wuji emptied the fish from the basket into a basin, he asked, "Who won? Who lost?"

"Neither side won outright. Gao Pin has the upper hand. If this drags on any longer, the Qin and Qi armies won't be able to bear it. They'll have no choice but to withdraw."

Hai Wuji sighed. "If neither side won, then Qin and Qi lost. If this continues, I'm afraid neither Qin nor Qi will survive either."

Though he now lived among common people, the breadth of his vision remained. He could see the predicament Qin and Qi were in.

Zhuge Chi said, "Sir, all of that is already past. Stop dwelling on it. It does you no good, and it does no good to anyone around you."

Hai Wuji said, "Are you saying I no longer even have the right to watch the play?"

Zhuge Chi was silent for a moment. "I'm afraid I'll implicate you. If not for me, Sir could wait for an opportunity and perhaps rise again one day. With me involved... In fact, when Mr. Tai gave me my orders, he already understood that once I had to be used, it would only be to leave a path of survival for future generations. We should not harbor other thoughts. In chaotic times like these, simply surviving well is already no small thing. Only the living have opportunities. We can wait quietly for the situation to change. If one generation cannot do it, leave it to the next. We truly should not maintain too much contact with the outside world. Once we're exposed, the consequences will be unimaginable. Misty Pavilion's power is simply too vast."

Hai Wuji fell silent.

Elsewhere, however, the hunter who had returned to his thatched hut in the mountains was already being watched by several hidden pairs of eyes.

Three men lay concealed nearby, all dressed as farmers. One of them held a tiny emerald-feathered bird in his hand.

They observed the hunter for a while. When they saw him release the Goldenwing and return inside, their gazes shifted toward the quiet village from which he had just come.

[End of Chapter 1345]