Compared to the chaos at Shexing Pass, Zhuyue Pass was much calmer, even having spare manpower to reinforce Shen Tang. Upon hearing this, Shen Tang put down his half-eaten steamed bun and asked seriously, "Who is leading the troops?"
Bai Su said, "It is General Xu."
Shen Tang's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, was relieved: "Oh, okay then."
It doesn't matter who comes, as long as it's not Kang Jishou.
She's actually a little scared of Kang Shi now.
If you were a human being, you would truly be cursed to death by him.
Shen Tang stuffed the remaining half of the steamed bun into his mouth, chewing as he asked, "The military general is Wen Shi, and who is the strategist?"
Bai Su did not give a straightforward response this time.
Shen Tang's heart skipped a beat: "Could it be Han Zhang?"
Even Xun Zhen is fine.
She was used to being in debt anyway; she'd survived three to five years, so what was another thirty or fifty, or even three to five hundred? As long as she lived, she would eventually pay off Xun Zhen's debts. Sigh, was there any master in this world more unfortunate than her?
Other lords all exploited their subordinates.
She was different; she was exploited by her subordinates.
Bai Su shook her head: "Alas, it's Minister Kang..."
Shen Tang: "..."
Good heavens, my heart that was hanging in suspense has finally died.
The plague god of Kang Shi was so powerful that before he even arrived, half a steamed bun was already stuck in Shen Tang's throat. She coughed, her face turning blue, while frantically searching for water and patting her chest. Someone whom Yun Da's Black Tiger Heart-Piercing Technique hadn't killed was almost sent to her death by half a steamed bun.
"My God, thank goodness I'm not human."
Shen Tang was forced to be extremely vigilant.
Despite the complaints, they couldn't truly dislike Kang Shi. When the two armies met, Kang Shi saw a rutted, uneven "construction site." He jumped off his horse before it even stopped, his brow furrowed with urgency: "My lord!"
Shen Tang was surprised by his unusual reaction.
Instinctively thinking of bad news, she raised her hand to support Kang Shi, who was about to stumble and fall, and secretly calmed herself down: "Why does Ji Shou look like this? Could it be that something happened at Zhuyue Pass?"
Kang Shi asked, "Is Your Majesty unwell?"
Shen Tang said, "I'm fine, I'm perfectly alright."
I won't go into details about how he almost choked to death on a steamed bun.
Everyone must die, but not society.
Kang Shi seemed to have a burden lifted; his tense back relaxed, and his expression visibly eased—from the fall of Shexing Pass until now, Shen Tang's situation had remained a closely guarded secret. Even when the two sides communicated, they wouldn't reveal too much detail, and Kang Shi only received brief responses. Only by seeing with his own eyes that Shen Tang was safe and sound could he truly put his mind at ease.
"It's good that you're alright, it's good that my lord is alright."
He dared not imagine what he would do if Shen Tangzhen died at Yun Da's hands—whether his lord was killed by Yun Da or because of his scholarly ways, which led him to provoke Yun Da and cause her death—no matter the answer, he feared he would not have the courage to live on.
Shen Tang understood the meaning behind his words and was stunned for a moment.
A thousand words were condensed into the force of a pat on his shoulder.
"How could a mere Yunda possibly shake your destiny?"
The island construction project was already progressing at double speed, and with the assistance of Kang Shi's troops, it was completely completed in just three and a half days. This was only because the Northern Desert troops frequently obstructed and drove it away. Without these obstacles, it would probably have taken only three days.
With traps obstructing the way, the difficulty of getting supplies into Shexing Pass doubled, and the loss of supplies also doubled. Because the Northern Desert needed to send more guards to ensure safety, the amount of supplies that the main force of the Northern Desert could get was reduced instead of increased, so Shexing Pass was naturally under great pressure.
Even so, several supply battalions were destroyed.
There is a mound of skulls piled up on each spot.
The remaining survivors were all captured.
Tudege reluctantly asked Yunda to step in and provide support.
"Lord Yun Che, the Kang Kingdom is already arrogant and domineering enough..."
The saying "To destroy someone, first make them arrogant" is true, but the tens of thousands of Northern Desert troops at Shexing Pass couldn't withstand the Kang Kingdom's army's overconfidence. The burden of supplies was too great; he couldn't handle it.
He had expected to run into a brick wall with Yunda, but to his surprise, the other party simply agreed calmly: "I agree to this matter."
Tudege breathed a sigh of relief: "May Marquis Che's military career prosper."
This elite force from the Northern Desert is truly elite, with a high proportion of warriors with unwavering courage. Although warriors with unwavering courage can absorb the energy of heaven and earth to supplement some of their food needs, it doesn't mean they can completely subsist on dew and air. Their food requirements are several times greater than those of ordinary young adults.
If the food supply were cut off, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Just as Tudege was about to take his leave, Yunda said, "If there is no opportunity to attack Kunzhou in the short term, holding onto Shexing Pass will only bring disadvantages and put us in a situation where we are attacked from both sides. Have you ever thought that taking a step back would open up a whole new world?"
Before attacking Shexing Pass, although the supply of provisions was anticipated to be difficult, the enemy's audacious maneuver of turning Shexing Pass into an isolated island in just three or four days was unexpected. Now, things have come to this point, leaving us in a dilemma.
Tudege hesitated in place, unable to move forward.
After a long pause, he said, “Since the completion of the three passes of Sunrise, Moon Chaser, and Star Shooter, how many heroes of the Northern Desert have died with regret, how many lofty ambitions have been thwarted here? Marquis Yun Che, you are a person who came from that era, you should know the hatred of our clan for hundreds of years… Everyone knows that our clan once stood at the pinnacle of the world, but was ostracized and humiliated by a hundred kingdoms, and driven to this bitter and barren land, where we have multiplied generation after generation. If our clansmen could all have enough to eat and wear, and live in a place where spring lasts all year round, a fertile land could support a whole family…”
Tudego's expression darkened.
"Tell me, who would willingly spend their life bleeding and meet a tragic end?"
His voice was soft, almost a murmur.
“I know the Northern Desert has a bad reputation, but what can I do? If we don’t fight and fight, what other way is there to survive? People who grow up in the Northern Desert have the idea that ‘only by fighting can we survive’ ingrained in their bones! Now that we’ve come this far, there’s no reason to turn back.”
He nodded to Yun Da and strode away.
Yun Da gazed in the direction of Kunzhou, his eyes filled with an unfathomable darkness.
Tude confidently played Yunda's trump card, thinking his big move was a sure thing, but unexpectedly only forced Shen Tang to use a basic attack. The Kangguo troops, who had been frequently intercepting the supply lines, seemed to have vanished into thin air, leaving no trace. Yunda was delighted with this.
He chuckled and said, "You're quite composed."
Haha, where is the Kang Kingdom's army that can remain calm?
It was clear that Shen Tang was afraid of Kang Jishou's metaphysics.
so--
"We need to change our tactics; I'm afraid we'll end up with a hidden version."
Based on past experience, whether it's Shen Tang or someone else who tries to intercept the supplies, they're likely to run into bad luck, with Shen Tang being particularly unlucky. The supply lines at Shexing Pass are under immense pressure, so it's impossible not to send a heavyweight like Yun Da to oversee the operation; encountering such a situation would be a matter of life and death.
Xu Quan shifted his attention away from his idol.
"Scouts have gathered intelligence that the Northern Desert has broken up its supply depot and reinforced its troops, transporting grain along different routes. If we don't split our forces to intercept them, the Northern Desert won't be able to retreat from Shexing Pass. This stalemate isn't a solution either..."
In a one-on-one situation, Kangguo has ample food supplies and can afford to wait.
Now, however, the Gao Kingdom is taking advantage of the situation and waging war on two fronts.
The battle in the northern desert cannot be delayed for too long.
Kang Shi was skeptical of Shen Tang's suggestion, and also of his own luck: "Concentrate our forces to attack their main supply battalion? What if we're unlucky and find nothing, and the supply wagons are full of traps?"
What is real can be made to appear unreal, and what is unreal can be made to appear real.
Having been brutally beaten by the northwestern states for many years, the Northern Desert had learned some military strategy and couldn't possibly be completely naive. Kang Shi tried to tell Shen Tang that this operation was not very feasible, but Shen Tang was persistent: "It's not about concentrating forces for a joint attack; we're setting up an ambush in advance."
"Setting up an ambush beforehand is the same."
Shen Tang held up a finger and shook it: "No, no, no, the ambush I'm talking about isn't us people going to ambush them, but preparing a surprise for them underground. The things the Imperial Workshop used to blow up traps don't have any fluctuations in the energy of heaven and earth around them, so it's difficult for martial arts practitioners and scholars to detect their existence in advance..."
Kang Shi subconsciously looked at Bei Qiu, who had been silent all along.
Bei Qiu felt nervous under his gaze.
Shen Tang raised his hand and gestured: "Let's predict the supply battalion's marching route in advance and ambush them with a string of small devices along their inevitable path. When the enemy steps on them, we'll detonate them. Bang bang bang, explosions and fires will keep them in chaos."
It doesn't matter if you're unlucky.
As long as the firepower is dense enough, it will eventually hit someone. Even if the firepower is insufficient to kill anyone, destroying the supply wagons is still an achievement. In this way, one can ensure their own safety while also disrupting the enemy's supply lines—killing two birds with one stone!
Kang Shi hurriedly waved his hand, signaling Shen Tang to stop.
"What did the Imperial Workshop use to blow up the traps?"
Shen Tang slapped his forehead and smiled sheepishly.
Oh, I forgot to tell you.
Kang Shi: "..."
Two more days passed.
Instead of receiving the supplies, Tudege received devastating news.
The supply depot was attacked, and 80% of its food supplies were lost.
Those few simple words rang in his ears like a thunderclap, his mind went blank. Before Liu Guan could speak, he jumped to his feet, his fingers trembling violently, and said, "With Marquis Yun Che personally overseeing things, how could the villains succeed?"
Liu Guan asked from the side, "How many enemies are there?"
Has the entire Kangguo army been mobilized?
The messenger stammered, "No, no one..."
A few words left Tudege completely bewildered: "No one? Could it be that they fell for the enemy strategists' illusion of military formations and burned their own supplies? What kind of illusion of military formations could bewitch a dignified Marquis Che?"
The last two words were squeezed out through gritted teeth.
The messenger's face was more bitter than if he had drunk bitter melon.
This is truly a bizarre story.
The army escorting the supply wagons through a crucial passage was on high alert, constantly on guard against any potential enemy attacks. Before half the troops had passed, an explosion erupted from the center. Flames shot into the sky, black flaming oil splattered everywhere, and the nearest supply wagons were set ablaze. Before they could react, explosions continued in quick succession, and Marquis Yun Che realized the commotion originated underground.
Liu Guan clenched his fists tightly to barely suppress his anger.
"The enemy is lying in ambush underground?"
The voice was so high-pitched that it cracked.
"Since they're underground, let's send them to hell!"
The Kangguo army used tunneling tactics to deal with the Shiwu back then, and now they have ambushed the supply camp underground. In that case, why not strike the surface and bury the people underground alive?
That way we won't have to dig up their graves.
The messenger asked in surprise, "Lord Che did the same."
Tudego pressed on, "And then?"
The messenger reported: "Then the supplies were burned, leaving only 20% intact."
Yunda and his escorting generals attacked the ground together, but the affected land only sank three or four inches, and did not collapse on a large scale as expected. Not only that, a series of more violent explosions erupted underground, and flammable oil sprayed out from the blast holes, igniting upon contact with fire. All the supply wagons within the fire area were destroyed.
There were no ambushes underground!
The remaining 20% were also affected by the intense heat and oil fumes.
I don't know if it's safe to eat.
It took Tudege a long time to process this devastating news. Liu Guan still had a sliver of reason left: "If it was just flammable oil, how could it explode? Besides that, was there anything else?"
The messenger's reply was undoubtedly disappointing.
The explosion was so rapid that the scene was burned to the ground, leaving no evidence.
Liu Guan was so angry he wanted to curse: "Useless!"
She wasn't just criticizing the soldiers for their poor escort, but also Yun Da. Being tricked by the enemy was bad enough, but afterwards they couldn't even find out how they were tricked—were they planning to repeat the same mistake? Tu Dege spoke up to stop her extreme remarks. When Yun Da heard this, he realized he couldn't even protect Liu Guan: "Only 20% of the provisions remain, how many casualties have we suffered?"
Compared to the heavy losses of food supplies, the troops were well preserved. Since they could not put out the fire, they prioritized their own survival. Only about 300 people were affected by the explosion and burned to death. The remaining nearly 1,000 people suffered only minor burns, and the losses were negligible.
Tudego's head throbbed even more when he heard this.
The food supplies are gone, but there are more mouths to feed.
He asked Liu Guan in a deep voice, "How many days left?"
Liu Guan knew what he was worried about: "Five days."
If the food and fodder problem is not resolved and a secure food line is not established within five days, Shexing Pass will face the desperate situation of running out of ammunition and food.
At that time, we will have no choice but to retreat.
Tudego said calmly, "We cannot retreat."
Once we retreat from Shexing Pass, the morale built up during the attack will be halved. Yun Da, a 20th-rank Marquis, is unmanageable, and Gong Cheng, an 18th-rank Grand Master, has a stubborn personality. We can't put all our eggs in one basket with these two unreliable individuals.
Liu Guan blurted out instinctively, "But what about the grain and fodder..."
She fell silent when she met Tude's cold gaze.
Tudege: "At least ten days after the next batch of supplies arrives... can you guarantee that these supplies won't be intercepted by Kangguo again?"
After a long silence, Liu Guan lowered his eyes and said, "I understand."
When food is scarce, unnecessary expenditures must be cut.
It's not reduction, it's slashing.
We've cut costs, but we also need to increase revenue.
Two more days have passed in the blink of an eye.
Xianyu Jian and his companion could hear the sounds of troops gathering outside the pass from time to time, but judging from the increasingly oppressive and tense atmosphere at Shexing Pass, they probably didn't gain any advantage. Picking up his rice bowl, he said gloatingly, "Now let's see who can hold their breath the longest."
The Northern Desert is in an awkward situation right now.
The food and supplies were running out, and they were extremely anxious.
They refused to withdraw from Shexing Pass, but they couldn't just stay inside and waste time either. They sent out some troops to capture the Kang Kingdom's forces—sending too many might risk Kang Kingdom taking the opportunity to raid Shexing Pass, but sending out too few wouldn't be enough to shake them. Moreover, Kang Kingdom began to toy with the Northern Desert's mentality at will.
Slipperier than a loach, it escapes from a great distance.
Kang fled, pursued in the northern desert.
Now only the latter remains, unable to escape.
Yun Ce has recovered after several days of recuperation.
He managed to sit up with difficulty and used his less injured hand to eat with chopsticks: "This is called the wheel of fortune turning; before, in the Northern Desert..."
He had just picked up a piece of food with his chopsticks and was about to put it in his mouth.
Xianyu Jian struck with lightning speed, knocking his chopsticks away.
Coarse wheat porridge was spilled on the bedding.
Yun Ce asked patiently, "What's wrong?"
Xianyu Jian, with a cold expression, picked up a small piece of meat from his bowl. The meat was a darker color, with the skin and flesh still attached to a small piece of bone. Yun Ce recognized it at a glance.
This is a human bone.
It's still a toe bone.
Yun Ce silently brushed the wheat porridge off the bedding.
He sighed, "Are they starting to mix in human flesh now?"
Human flesh was used as a substitute for grain in times of chaos.
In his early years, Yun Ce traveled extensively after leaving the mountains, witnessing countless instances of cannibalism. Wherever famine struck, people inevitably resorted to exchanging children for food, or even digging up graves and stealing corpses to satisfy their hunger. Starving people would die by the roadside, and as soon as they breathed their last, a pack of jackals would pounce on them.
Bones were scattered everywhere, and the cries of living beings filled the air.
However, Yun Ce still couldn't understand it.
"The Northern Desert isn't at that stage yet, is it?"
All we had to do was evacuate from Shooting Star Pass.
Xianyu Jian was not surprised by this.
"A gambler who's already at the table won't get off easily."
Upon discovering human tissue in the food, the two brothers refused to eat it again. Xianyu Jian tried to find something else to eat, but bumped into his master, Yunda, standing outside. He nodded slightly, but couldn't bring himself to call out "Master."
Yunda: "I've come to see your senior brother."
The implication was that Xianyu Jian should go wherever it was cool and stay there.
Only the master and apprentice remained in the room. Yun Ce calmly looked at Yun Da, whose expression seemed no different from usual, but Yun Ce sensed that the latter was in a bad mood. So, he decided to add fuel to the fire.
"Given a choice between two options, you chose to use human flesh as food. Does Master still think the Northern Desert is qualified?" Yun Ce looked directly into the other's eyes. "If I remember correctly, there were no Kang Kingdom prisoners inside Shexing Pass. Where did this human flesh come from?"
"old?"
"weak?"
"sick?"
"Disabled?"
Yun Ce spoke slowly and deliberately, asking each question with a distinct pause.
"When will it be my turn, disciple? I've taken back my cultivation, but I've kept my life. You nourished me with your flesh and blood. If I can use my body to make food and am fortunate enough to appear on my teacher's table, then I'll have completely repaid my debt in this life, won't I?"
＿|￣|●
The gym's annual party lasted longer than expected...
Now I finally understand why working people don't like team building activities.
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