Chapter 1398: Untitled

"Good!" Shang Chaozong struck one fist into his palm and made his decision. "Fail to decide when a decision is needed, and disorder will follow. Then it's settled. We seize the initiative and move first! I'll contact Han immediately."

As for the Yan court, he could bypass it. With such an enormous advantage waiting to be taken, Yan's Three Great Sects could not possibly refuse.

Meng Shanming suddenly said quietly, "We should still ask Master Dao what he thinks."

"Naturally." Shang Chaozong nodded slightly.

Niu Youdao had already told this side to handle its own affairs and said he would not interfere much, but this was no small matter. It was still appropriate to ask his opinion. If their intentions happened to conflict with his, the result would be awkward.

In the end, nothing changed. Faced with Shang Chaozong's request for guidance, Niu Youdao gave only one reply: handle it as you see fit.

Only then did Shang Chaozong truly relax. Still, he found Master Dao's heart had become remarkably broad. Even matters this large were gradually beneath his notice; he could barely be bothered even to ask a few more questions. Back when they had fought Song, Niu Youdao had remained hidden close behind the army's movements the entire time, afraid something unexpected might happen.

In truth, Niu Youdao really no longer took these so-called wars of national destruction very seriously. Shang Chaozong's people were quite capable.

On the civil side, there was Lan Ruoting. When it came to internal administration, Lan Ruoting handled affairs in an orderly and meticulous fashion.

On the military side, Shang Chaozong himself was already competent, and above all there was Meng Shanming, a top-class master of both strategy and tactics.

With people like these fighting the wars, there seemed little reason to fear they would suffer some foolish loss. Niu Youdao did not understand warfare himself anyway. They could play the game however they liked. None of them were reckless men, so they should not do anything stupid.

As for any problems from the cultivation world—this state's Three Great Sects or that state's Three Great Sects—whoever dared jump out and create trouble, Niu Youdao could settle them for Shang Chaozong. With the strength he now possessed, such matters were no longer worth worrying about.

He had only one constraint on Shang Chaozong and the others: this entire force had to remain firmly under his control. If he ever needed to use it to influence the situation he himself faced, it had to be available at any moment.

After his brief meeting with Shang Chaozong, Yun Ji brought him a message transmitted from the Sacred Realm.

Niu Youdao read it, frowned slightly, and muttered to himself, "Medicine Valley..."

The affair concerned only one island. Certain things were almost impossible to hide from the Seven Saints. Yuan Se's visit to Medicine Valley had already been discovered by the other six.

The six Saints could guess with their backsides why Yuan Se had gone to seek out the Ghost Doctor. Naturally it was to treat his eye. As for exactly how it would be treated, they did not know.

This was merely one item among the routine intelligence Sha Rulai had sent. Niu Youdao read it and did not take it too seriously. The important point was that Medicine Valley was not a place he could conveniently approach, so there was little opportunity for him to interfere.

From what Sha Rulai had told him, the Ghost Doctor's position was somewhat awkward. Killing him would be a waste because he might still prove useful, but none of the Nine Saints had been willing to let him belong exclusively to any one of them. So they had simply placed him on an island and kept him there.

The island had people belonging to the Nine Saints stationed on it; now, presumably, they belonged to the Seven Saints. Whenever medicine was needed, the Seven Saints only had to send word, and their own people at Medicine Valley would make the arrangements.

...

In Han's imperial study, Emperor Nie Zhenting and Grand Marshal Jin Jue stood together before a map.

After reading Shang Chaozong's letter, Jin Jue repeatedly compared it against the map. At last he nodded. "Shang Chaozong is right. Gao Pin may very well do exactly this. We should seize the initiative and act first... This is probably Meng Shanming's judgment!" He sighed at the end.

Nie Zhenting smiled faintly. "Why does the Grand Marshal sigh?"

Jin Jue shook the letter in his hand and smiled bitterly. "If I had not seen this warning, this old minister would not yet have thought in this direction. That old bastard Meng Shanming's strategic eye is truly vicious. His grasp of changes in the war is as clear as seeing fire. In his ability to anticipate the enemy and seize the initiative alone, this old minister admits inferiority. On a battlefield, that kind of vision alone can win enormous advantages... That old bastard will sooner or later become a grave threat to Han!"

Nie Zhenting said, "The Grand Marshal worries too much. It isn't as though you have never checked that old fellow's edge."

Jin Jue shook his head. "This is not needless worry. I have fought him. The moment that old bastard enters a battlefield, he sweeps all before him, nearly an existence that never loses. Anyone facing him feels his scalp go numb. Wu Gongling was the same before. At first he still dared swagger about and make trouble as though no one in the world mattered. But once that old bastard came out of retirement and Wu Gongling faced him, every scrap of courage vanished. All he could do was flee everywhere in terror. As for claims that I could restrain Meng Shanming's edge, those are pure exaggeration. Back then no one could stop him, so the late Emperor placed his hopes in this old minister. What no one knew was that I too had been driven into a corner by that old bastard. If I couldn't beat him, what else could I do? I could only defend. I couldn't exactly run away. He forced me to exhaust every method I could devise studying the art of defense. If I had been confident of victory, who would willingly do nothing but defend?"

That was the plain truth. Nie Zhenting smiled when he heard it. "The Grand Marshal worries too much. Human strength cannot overcome Heaven. The Grand Marshal already has one advantage simply by being younger. Meng Shanming is no longer young. He's old. How many years does he have left? Give it a few more years and he'll be dead. A dead man is nothing to fear."

Jin Jue fell silent briefly. Thinking it over, he found the reasoning sound enough and cupped his hands. "Your Majesty is wise!"

...

Huyan Wuhen's complete withdrawal, leaving Jin undefended against, shook all beneath Heaven.

But the party truly shocked was the Qi court.

One of Chancellor Liang's trusted high officials had been killed without authorization. Furious, Chancellor Liang submitted a denunciation at court and demanded that Huyan Wuhen be severely punished.

The anger was real, but the performance was also for the benefit of his subordinates. Who could actually do anything to Huyan Wuhen? Let the court try issuing a decree removing him from command and see what happened. At a moment like this, who would dare? Replace him with someone else, and that person would not be able to control several million troops.

Military power was not a dish set on a table that anyone could simply sit down and eat.

Crown Prince Regent Hao Hong was even more furious and alarmed. What was Huyan Wuhen trying to do by bypassing the court entirely and placing military orders above imperial decrees? Was he relying on military power to reduce both the court and Hao Hong himself to empty shells? If military orders overrode decrees from the court and carried greater weight than the court's commands, what the hell was Hao Hong regent of?

Most frightening of all, the Imperial Guard responsible for protecting Hao Hong's own safety was in the Huyan family's hands. Removing Huyan Wei from command would be dangerous, but leaving him there was equally troubling. Hao Hong could only keep bestowing rewards on Huyan Wei to placate him, while asking his imperial mother to make frequent visits to the Huyan residence under the pretext of seeing her daughter and granddaughter, using those visits to speak often with Huyan Wei.

From ancient times onward, this was how rulers had always feared great generals who held military power.

But what could Hao Hong do? At this moment, he did not dare do anything.

He could only turn to the Three Great Sects. Yet for a time even the Three Great Sects seemed unable to make up their minds. The situation had thrown them off balance too, and their attitude toward the court became vague and noncommittal.

In the eyes of the world, Huyan Wuhen was furious. He was coming back to avenge his son's death.

The effect was obvious.

Huyan Wuhen appeared to be acting out of private vengeance. He ignored the court, and anyone who touched the edge of his anger had his entire household destroyed. Even the court could no longer restrain him. The old rules of the game no longer applied to Huyan Wuhen. The usual game of outward obedience and inward defiance could not be played anymore. Who would not be afraid?

For a time, wherever his military orders reached, people carried them out trembling with fear. In a short span, another two hundred thousand troops were somehow scraped together and sent, gritting their teeth, to fight Gu Yuanda's rebels.

Yet by this point Qi's interior was already riddled with wounds. The state scarcely resembled a state anymore. The greater trend truly was lost.

Earlier, when people saw things turning bad, countless men had already made secret contact with Jin. Many had voluntarily handed Jin leverage over them as proof of their sincerity in seeking to defect.

After Huyan Wuhen acted, none dared rebel openly. Distant water could not quench a nearby fire; Jin's forces were too far away to save anyone who stood up now. Anyone who openly rebelled at this moment would simply be courting death.

Even if they gathered together, they still did not dare fight Huyan Wuhen. Jin could pressure them all it liked; that changed nothing.

All they could do was sabotage matters in secret. As a result, the hastily assembled forces suffered defeat after defeat at the hands of Gu Yuanda's rebels.

Even so, they slowed Gu Yuanda's advance to some degree and bought a little time for the reinforcements previously dispatched by Qi and Qin.

Qi's Three Great Sects took one look and were almost surprised to discover that Huyan Wuhen's lawless method was rather effective. With matters already deteriorated this far, who still cared about the court's feelings? Their attitude toward the court became increasingly vague and evasive.

The efforts to block the rebel army continued going poorly. Huyan Wuhen was no fool. He could see the small tricks being played on the battlefield at a glance, but given the situation, he did not expose them. If he truly tore away the last layer of face, some of those people might have no choice except to rebel openly.

Since everyone wanted to play the game this way, Huyan Wuhen stopped being polite. Wherever his army passed through a Commandery or Prefecture, the granaries were opened and swept clean. He intended to squeeze out every sack of grain certain people had hidden away.

Trying to conceal grain was useless. Hand over grain, hand over your head, or simply raise troops and rebel. The choice was entirely yours. No one was forcing you.

Deliver the required grain within the stated deadline and your life would be spared. Once you no longer had enough grain of your own, you could rebel however you pleased.

Unable to deliver grain but willing to hand over your head? That was easy enough.

Want to raise troops and rebel? Go ahead and try. Huyan Wuhen was ready whenever you were.

Thinking of running? Military intelligence agents were not decorative. The Valiant Cavalry could still move quickly enough, and Huyan Wuhen also had large numbers of cultivators available.

More importantly, the cultivators stationed throughout Qi by the Three Great Sects were still reasonably cooperative.

Huyan Wuhen had made his name commanding armies. He never fought an unprepared battle. Before acting, he had already arranged for cultivators in various regions to cooperate—for example, by taking control of certain officials' families in advance. So when he finally struck, every region was caught unprepared. No one had imagined Huyan Wuhen would actually dare go this far.

Once the Supreme General stopped reasoning with people, those on the receiving end had no reason left to argue. Not a single person chose to hand over his head, and not one dared openly rebel before the Supreme General's army. That left only one option: hand over the grain.

Some estates and businesses belonging to senior court officials had hoarded grain. Huyan Wuhen simply sent troops to confiscate it, graciously calling the seizure a "donation" and saying the court would repay them afterward.

He had intelligence agents investigate beforehand. It did not matter who supported you at court. The moment they discovered grain, troops went straight there to "encourage a donation." Huyan Wuhen had already killed Chancellor Liang's man. Why would he care about anyone else?

In short, Huyan Wuhen wanted only one thing: gather enough military grain in the shortest possible time to keep his army alive for the long haul.

In truth, this was little different from robbery. But Huyan Wuhen had run out of choices. Whenever he tried to gather grain through normal channels, every level from top to bottom complained of hardship and presented one difficulty after another.

The country itself was about to perish. Since everyone still had so many difficulties, Huyan Wuhen had no choice but to solve those difficulties personally.

[End of Chapter 1398]