Chapter 66
Although board games and real-life battle royale games both prefer to open stores in the capital, those most deeply influenced and touched by the games are the Northwest Army of Helian City and the Rongdi spies lurking in Qizhou.
Leaving aside the Northwest Camp for now, let's talk about the Rong and Di spies.
The Rongdi's southward invasion and war were not primarily about seizing border towns and villages, burning, killing, and looting. In other words, the Rongdi commander who issued the order, namely the Grand Chancellor of the Great Desert Kingdom, Bileg, knew very well that even if they deliberately intercepted the Northwest Army's battle reports and prevented them from receiving timely support, as long as Helian Cheng was alive, the Northwest Army would not fall into chaos, and their ambition to conquer the Central Plains and unify the world would remain an unrealizable ambition.
As expected, this surprise attack failed. Of the 5,000 troops, less than 3,000 returned. The fact that they were able to burn down the Northwest Camp was an unexpected bonus.
Fortunately, this was not Bileg's main objective. On the surface, he made a grand show of launching a full-scale war against Daqi, seemingly to seize resources as in previous years. In reality, he had prepared an elite force disguised as Daqi civilians, which was then dispersed and infiltrated into towns to establish intelligence outposts against Daqi. This would lay a solid foundation for his grand ambition of driving out the Northwest Army, seizing Qizhou, and even invading the Central Plains.
Bileg had calculated things very well. He carefully selected towns with the most mixed-race people. The first thing he did after entering was to set the towns on fire, especially the government offices where household registration information was kept, which were burned beyond recognition... After that, there were many other plans. In short, the spies successfully infiltrated the towns and settled down.
Bileg put on a very good show, actually losing two thousand soldiers. Helian Cheng, as expected, didn't notice anything amiss, only thinking about how to intimidate these barbarians so that they wouldn't dare to invade the border from the south.
Bileg couldn't help but feel smug, as if he could already see the wonderful scene of killing Helian Cheng, defeating the Northwest Army, and conquering the Central Plains.
Then, Bileg received the first intelligence message and was stunned for a while before angrily cursing, "Sand table game? I sent you infiltrating just to play sand table games? Fun? Interesting? How fun or interesting can a mere sand table game be? And the secret weapon of the Great Qi, the descent of the Eternal Heaven... I think you're all just wasting your time on trivial things! A bunch of good-for-nothings!"
The Eternal Heaven means the Azure Sky or the Dome of the Sky. The Rong and Di people regarded the Eternal Heaven as the highest deity and a symbol of eternity.
The group of spies selected by Bileg was the best of the best. Their keenness might not be as good as Fuling's, but it was still at the same level as Cui Zui's. They quickly discovered that sandplay therapy had a strengthening effect on physical functions.
One faction believed this must be the Northwest Army's most secret training method; the other faction, however, argued that "no matter what kind of sand table is used, this level of skill can be achieved, which is clearly the function of the sand table," and firmly believed that this was a winning treasure bestowed upon them by the Eternal Heaven.
Later, the sandbox game became unremarkable. Although the gameplay was the same as before, the images in my mind were no longer clear and coherent, and it was not as interesting as before. My body was no longer strengthened.
The Rongdi spies sent by the Lord of Eternal Life became even more agitated, shouting, "It's all because you didn't believe in the Lord of Eternal Life and angered the gods. He withdrew his divine powers. This is all your fault. You are sinners of my Great Desert Kingdom!"
Because his subordinates were so confident, they risked coming here with some skepticism to try it out. Bileg: "..."
Although his subordinates were divided into two opposing factions, they were saying the same thing. Bileg hesitated between the fact that they had collectively betrayed and tricked him, and the fact that it was true but he had just arrived at the wrong time. In the end, the Grand Chancellor, whose name was Wise Man, made the difficult choice of the latter possibility.
Bileg stayed in the town to personally oversee the intelligence center of the Great Desert Kingdom stationed in Daqi. Little did he know that this choice would be a turning point in his life, leading him to make countless decisions against his ancestors in the years to come.
*
Regarding the anomaly in the sand table game, others were unaware of what was going on, but Helian Cheng and Doctor Chang were both clear about it, knowing that it must be Long Aotian's doing.
Helian Cheng looked at the battle situation restored on the small sand table the size of a chessboard in front of him, and looked down at the ten small wooden puppets that were scattered in a ball for a long time. He picked up a brush and quickly wrote down words such as "Helian Cheng used Flash, Zhou Yushu used his third skill to exchange his position with the Empress Dowager, Doctor Chang used his second skill... Qian Dezhong..." on the paper.
If anyone from Zhaoyang Palace were here, they would surely recognize this as a game they had played before.
Because the server only allows IPs from the capital and Qizhou to log in, the Northwest Army had a blind confidence in Helian Cheng and Doctor Chang. Of course, it was also because these two heroes had very good skills, which resulted in Xue Jin'an and his team having a particularly high probability of encountering these two cards in their opponents.
Among them, some played well and some didn't. In the match that Helian Cheng simulated, the MVP of the losing team was Qian Dezhong, while Helian Cheng and Doctor Chang didn't play particularly well.
Even Xue Jin'an probably didn't expect that this was actually done by a real person.
Helian Cheng was also scolded by his teammates for not playing well. His teammates boasted, "You should have said you didn't know how to play Helian Cheng! If I had this hero, I would have crushed the enemy! Tsk, it's because the Northwest Army has useless people like you that the Rongdi dare to be so arrogant! If it were our Imperial Guard, hehe, a mere Rongdi..."
—At this time, the battle report from Qizhou finally reached the capital and spread like wildfire. All the civil and military officials were indignant about the Rong and Di burning of the town. The pro-peace faction proposed that an envoy should be sent to the Northern Desert royal court to question the Rong and Di Khan. The pro-war faction raised their arms and shouted: "No need to send an envoy, just send the Northwest Army to attack and ask!"
However, in the end, the Minister of Revenue suppressed the voices of both sides. Feng Yinshou said only one sentence: "Whether it is sending envoys or fighting a war, I will stand on the side that does not ask me for money."
The two factions of officials who had been shouting immediately fell silent. Only Xu Pingchuan, the Minister of War who had not yet been able to resolve the issue of military expenses, stepped forward and seized every opportunity to ask for money.
"No matter what, it's because the army of my Great Qi is not strong enough. That's why these barbarian thieves are so eager to attack us. We should train our troops more diligently to strengthen our army..." After his long speech, he said with a righteous and awe-inspiring voice, "Your Majesty, I believe that military expenditure should be increased by another 30%. If this is done, within five years, no villain will dare to offend my Great Qi!"
Feng Yinshou had already guessed what he was going to do, and too lazy to refute him, he simply knelt down before the emperor and, without blinking, delivered a memorial to the emperor requesting to resign: "Your Majesty, I, Feng Yinshou, am fifty-five years old this year, and my mother is seventy-six years old this year. Thus, the days I can serve Your Majesty are long, while the days I can repay my mother are short..."
The resignation was very perfunctory, clearly intended to shut someone up. Even the emperor, who was quite used to such situations, couldn't help but facepalm and wink at the Grand Secretary who was standing at the front as a backdrop.
Jiang Wen, who had no desire to get involved, sighed inwardly but still stepped in to smooth things over. He said a lot, but what it really meant was: "It's the New Year, don't make things too ugly. The emperor also has his pride. Besides, the Rongdi are a major threat to the Great Qi, and everyone knows that there will inevitably be a war in the future, but it won't be this year. After all, the year is almost over, and General Helian has won a victory... Let's talk about it next year."
And so the matter in the Northwest was suppressed.
Jiang Wen's words were very simple and easy to understand; even a child on the street could understand them. For the Imperial Guard soldiers to say such things, it can basically be assumed that it was intentional.
As the army guarding the capital, the Imperial Guard was filled with many people with connections. Many of its soldiers were arrogant and looked down on other armies, especially the Northwest Army, which was stationed in Qizhou and confronted the Rong and Di tribes.
These people didn't dare to directly curse Helian Cheng, but they could still make sarcastic remarks behind his back.
Helian Cheng, who was being verbally abused, was speechless.
In the end, it was Dr. Chang's sarcastic three-part routine that turned the tide:
"Really? How many battle merits do you have now? Why don't you fight the enemy and suppress bandits? Don't you like it?"
"You've died so many times. Are you trying so hard to die because you haven't found a way to die that you like?"
"Why aren't you putting in your effort yet? What are you waiting for? The Rong and Di armies?"
They directly rendered that Imperial Guard soldier technically offline.
Of course, Helian Cheng would repeat this game on the sand table not because he missed the rarely sharp-tongued Doctor Chang, but because he was interested in Long Aotian's tactics—yes, Helian Cheng knew the moment they started playing that the person controlling Minister Chu was Long Aotian.
He didn't doubt Long Aotian's identity because of this. He and Doctor Chang both felt that since Long Aotian created the game, it was possible for him to control all the characters. They never doubted that Long Aotian himself was also limited by the rules of his own abilities.
Unfortunately, after Helian Cheng finished practicing and became proficient in the game, he was unable to match with Xue Jin'an again. The sandbox game was soon replaced by battle royale, so he could only regretfully find a small sandbox and repeatedly simulate this one and only match by himself.
This time, Helian Cheng's prediction still failed, and he couldn't help but sigh, "His plan is truly meticulous; I couldn't find an opportunity to exploit it."
The battle in the small sandbox was initiated by Long Aotian's side. Helian Cheng's deduction started after the team fight began. However, he was shocked to find that every seemingly casual move by the other side was actually carefully planned by Long Aotian.
Long Aotian had calculated all the possibilities, so no matter how he changed his position or skill combos, he couldn't win; the best outcome would be for him to survive alone.
What terrifying strategic planning ability!
Helian Cheng was surprised to see the battle situation on the large sand table, which showed the combat situation of the two sides in this military exercise.
The three-day military exercise began last night with the division of camps, involving a total of 8,000 people, divided into Blue Flag Battalion and Red Flag Battalion. The first to enter the camp and capture the flag, or whose troop losses reach 80%, will be considered the winner. Helian Cheng, as the referee of this competition, also led a separate 2,000-strong army to be stationed at the main camp, welcoming both sides to attack.
In Helian Cheng's plan, the main camp was the easiest to defend and the hardest to attack. He also had rich combat experience. The two sides should directly cooperate to take his side's victory first and then talk about other things. However, the red and blue sides regarded Helian Cheng as an extra obstacle and planned to settle the score first before attacking him.
Helian Cheng could understand their thoughts, after all, the generals on both sides were his direct subordinates, and it was understandable that they did not want to have a direct conflict with him. However, after seeing the rather "steady and error-free" tactical arrangements of both sides, he could not help but feel regret.
"How is the situation?" Doctor Chang saw his expression as soon as he came in and thought the battle had reached a fever pitch, so he quickly asked.
"We're still in a stalemate," Helian Cheng said, commenting on their respective tactical arrangements. When he mentioned Helian Yong, his brows furrowed slightly, and he sighed helplessly, "It's good that Yong'er thought of an ambush, and this place is indeed a suitable spot for an ambush. However, he was too eager for quick success. Relying on his familiarity with the terrain, he didn't send anyone to scout the area first. He ambushed here without knowing the enemy's marching route. If this were on the battlefield, it would be gambling with his life."
Helian Yong was the Red Team's assault team, leading more than two hundred men. When he divided the camps last night, he had already planned to ambush the Blue Team, so he led his men to lie in wait here all night without even going to the camp.
"Moreover, he lay in ambush here without making any preparations. None of the soldiers carried enough rations, and they had to rely on the cooks to bring them food. This increased the risk of being discovered. He's really... too inexperienced." Helian Cheng rubbed his temples. He had chosen Helian Yong as his apprentice and adopted him as his son because he valued his tactical ideas, but he never expected that Helian Yong was not meticulous enough and did not consider things thoroughly enough. Even the best ideas became fatal flaws.
It has a bit of an empty talk feel to it.
"War is not a drill; we cannot treat the lives of our soldiers as a game." Helian Cheng thought of another person whose plans were as intricate as a spider's web, and couldn't help but say, "If it were Ao Tian, I wouldn't be so worried. It's a pity—"
It's a pity that Long Aotian is a ghost, not a human! Helian Cheng sighed deeply.
Doctor Chang sensed that he hadn't finished speaking and felt that he was just making things difficult for himself. He didn't take it to heart and said, "So what if he's a ghost or a human? As long as he can lead the Northwest Army to drive away the Rong and Di, he can be a monster."
"I don't believe you can't see just how capable he really is." Doctor Chang tapped the sand table meaningfully.
No one knew Long Aotian's strength better than Helian Cheng, who was also the first to train his troops in the game.
That battle royale game, putting everything else aside, just its emphasis on horsemanship training is enough to make people take notice. The game features a variety of vehicles, not just horses, but also cows, donkeys, mules, camels... even pigs. These bizarre mounts have given soldiers unprecedentedly powerful riding skills.
“It is precisely because we know this that we hesitate,” Helian Cheng said coldly. “Those who are not of our kind will surely have different hearts.”
If it were just a matter of human interaction, Helian Cheng would not hesitate at all. Regardless of whether Long Aotian was human or some kind of demon or monster, he would directly pull the other party to his side and sincerely befriend him without hesitation. However, what Helian Cheng had to entrust was the entire Northwest Army, with the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers on his shoulders. The choice of the commander-in-chief could not be made in any way.
"Yes, if only he were human." Doctor Chang couldn't help but sigh as well. After sighing, he couldn't help but laugh. "However, his tactics and personal abilities are both excellent. If he really came to participate in this exercise, Helian Yong probably wouldn't last more than a few moves against him. The only one who can truly be his opponent is you."
Dr. Chang deliberately teased, "If he were a person, you would have been pushed out by now."
Helian Cheng curled his lips and said, "Although Lian Po is old, he still has plenty of strength. I will not be replaced so easily."
At that time, neither of them knew that Doctor Chang's casual remark would become a self-fulfilling prophecy several hours later.
Xue Jin'an, whom they were thinking about, had just entered the fitness channel. He hadn't specifically remembered the date of the military exercise, and even if he had, he wouldn't have deliberately avoided it. He just came in at this time as usual, and then found himself in an unfamiliar camp. There was no military training, but there was a steaming hot iron pot.
Two cooks were using their ruthless iron hands to scoop out the flatbreads and stuff them into cloth bags.
A pop-up window appeared in Xue Jin'an's view: [You have joined the Northwest Army's exercise. The details are as follows...]
He skimmed through the text, his gaze landing on the event rewards. He skipped the first row and looked right at the last column, where he saw the rewards for obtaining the strongest title. Not to mention the promotion in military rank, the silver reward alone was a four-figure sum.
It should be noted that Xue Jin'an currently only earns one tael of silver per month. Generally speaking, the average salary of an ordinary soldier is three and a half taels of silver. New recruits who have been in the army for less than half a year earn less, but it is not less than two taels of silver. However, Xue Jin'an only attends morning military training every day, and he only attends other training once a day. His attendance rate is too low, so he earns less money.
Xue Jin'an is not short of money now, but as the saying goes: "Since we're already here."
Since Xue Jin'an was going to do it, he would go for the best option and directly reserve the title of the strongest. The strongest not only needs to win this exercise, but also must be the best in all aspects.
How could he rise from a cook to the strongest? Countless plans flashed through Xue Jin'an's mind in an instant, but before he could decide on the best one, a voice pierced his ear: "Hey, what are you doing standing there?"
Xue Jin'an looked up at the sound, and the cook, who was somewhat unhappy that he was slacking off, was stunned when he saw his young face. He exclaimed in shock, "How old are you? You've already joined the army. Your family must be too heartless!"
In ancient times, the age for enlistment was fifteen years old or above. During wartime, the age would be lowered to fourteen. People used to hide their children and adults of the right age to avoid being conscripted. However, since the new conscription order was issued, ordinary people, especially those from poor families, have been scrambling to join the army in order to earn the generous conscription fee.
Many children who weren't even of school age were somehow managed to get in. The specific methods were best left unsaid, but they weren't exactly legitimate. Even if the recruiting officers noticed something amiss, as long as the information wasn't too outrageous and the physical requirements were met, they would turn a blind eye. After all, being sent to war-torn areas like the Northwest Army meant a truly difficult life for their families.
So although the rule was fifteen years old, there were actually some new recruits in the Northwest Army who were thirteen or fourteen years old. But he had never seen anyone as young as Xue Jin'an before. He was so shocked that his hand almost touched the iron pot.
Upon hearing this, another cook turned around and looked at him with a surprised expression. He said, "You should be thinking about how he got in under such circumstances."
Xue Jin'an was well taken care of in Zhaoyang Palace. Since being confined to his quarters, his food, clothing and daily necessities have actually increased. His nutrition has improved, but Xue Jin'an still doesn't have much weight. The main reason is that he has also grown taller and taller than other children his age.
However, given his physical age, no matter how much he tries to improve, he can't make up for the age difference, so it's normal for him to be questioned.
Xue Jin'an didn't say anything. He stepped forward to help, but was stopped by the cook who had previously said his family was heartless. "You should stay there and rest for a while. Children's fingers are delicate, and it would be bad if they got burned."
"Alright, stop talking nonsense. Get to work. If you're late and get yelled at, I'll definitely say it's your fault." Another cook kicked him and warned in a low voice, "General Helian has a bad temper."
They were on their way to deliver food to Helian Yong and his group who were lying in ambush. Normally, the cooks shouldn't deliver food, as it would increase the risk of the ambushers being exposed and also prevent the cooks from encountering danger.
Since Helian Yong hadn't brought any food or water with him during the ambush, they had no choice but to provide it on the spot.
The two quickly packed up the dry rations, tied the full cloth bags together and carried them on their backs. One of them grabbed several full water bags and carried them in his hands. Seemingly not wanting the empty-handed Xue Jin'an to think too much, he casually stuffed a pancake bigger than his face into his hand.
"Let's go." The two cooks led Xue Jin'an away.
Xue Jin'an silently followed while munching on a pancake, but the two cooks disagreed on the route not long after leaving the camp. In order to persuade each other, they even drew a map on the ground with a twig. Their destinations were the same, but the routes they chose were different.
The cook said, "The commander specifically instructed us not to take this route. Although it's close, it's not concealed enough and we could easily be ambushed."
The cook, B, also said, "The road here is difficult to travel, and it's too far around the corner. By the time we go back and forth, it will be dark, and we won't be able to get back to the camp."
The two of them each had their own reasons, and neither could convince the other. In the end, they both looked at Xue Jin'an.
Xue Jin'an glanced at the map and crossed out both routes, choosing a quick and secluded one. The downside was that it was too secluded; no one had ever taken it before.
They nervously followed Xue Jin'an, winding their way through the bushes until they emerged and lay down on a rock. From there, they had a panoramic view of the surrounding mountains. To their left was the ambush site of Helian Yong and his men, and to their right was the encampment of the Blue Army.
The two sides are separated by natural mountains and occupy excellent defensive positions. Even if they discover each other, it would be difficult to attack each other, let alone since they are completely back to back.
The two cooks were terrified. They covered their mouths, afraid of making a sound that might disturb the southern camp. They bent down and were about to run towards Helian Yong when they turned around and saw Xue Jin'an facing the southern camp.
"Wait, what are you doing?" Two groups of soldiers grabbed him.
"Attack the main camp." Xue Jin'an had just observed carefully that the reason the Blue Team set up their main camp in such a hidden place was because almost all of their people had come out, leaving less than a hundred people, who could be attacked.
Xue Jin'an said, "They are surrounded by us."
"???" The cook pointed tremblingly at each other. "You don't mean the three of us, do you? You must be joking. Two fists can't fight four hands. What can the three of us do? Even if there are only a hundred of us, we can't beat them!"
"Why can't you beat them? Aren't you cooks?" Aren't cooks in novels like the Sweeping Monk, hidden masters?
Cook: "..." Where did this fallacy come from?!
"So you guys aren't up to par," Xue Jin'an commented regretfully.
Cook: "!!!"
"Alright, let's discuss how the three of us can take over this outpost."
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