At this moment, the young general brought by Lord Yao walked up to Zhao Xian and Li Guang and bowed.
"Greetings, Lord Shaoqing, and General Li."
Zhao Xian and Li Guang quickly returned the greeting, but they did not recognize the general in front of them.
Seeing this, Lord Yao spoke up:
"Let me introduce him to you. His name is Wei Jin. A few months ago, a martial arts examination was held in the capital. Among more than 4,000 candidates, Wei Jin stood out and won first place."
Some time ago, Wei Jin was ordered to go to the desert to quell a rebellion. He succeeded in quelling the rebellion without losing a single soldier or a single officer.
Moreover, Wei Jin has permanently stationed his 20,000 troops in the three locations, making the entire desert region a unified force, and the northwest frontier is now secure.
When the Fourth Prince visited Narcissus Village last time, he mentioned Wei Jin. At that time, Wei Jin had already led an army of 20,000 to the desert to quell the rebellion.
Li Guang knew that Wei Jin had stationed his troops in Yuanxi, so he used Yuanxi as a base to send troops to quell the rebellion.
This tactic was relatively safe and eliminating the forces in both regions was not a problem. However, Li Guang did not expect that Wei Jin would quell the rebellion without losing a single soldier, which impressed him greatly.
"You are General Wei. When the Fourth Imperial Uncle came to Shuixian Village, he mentioned that General Wei led a large army to the desert to quell the rebellion."
I knew General Wei would succeed in quelling the rebellion, but I never expected him to eliminate the forces in Louye and Lanwei without using a single soldier, thus relieving the court of any worries about its rear.
Wei Jin felt a little embarrassed by the praise for Li Guang. Li Guang was only eighteen years old today, still a teenager, yet he was already the God of War of the Great Northern Dynasty.
I am several years older than Li Guang and have only just achieved some military success. How can I compare to Li Guang?
Thinking of this, Wei Jin spoke up:
"General Li, you flatter me. You are the God of War of the Great Northern Dynasty. There are many famous generals in the three northern kingdoms. They have fought all their lives, but they were all defeated by General Li. Moreover, they were defeated very thoroughly and never had the chance to go to the battlefield again."
"It is a great honor to have met General Li during this trip to Shuixian Village with Lord Yao."
And so, the two of them continued to compliment each other, one after the other.
Seeing this, Li Xue couldn't help but laugh and said, "You two stop flattering each other and sit down for some tea."
Everyone laughed, sat down again, and chatted while drinking tea.
Everyone was very interested in Wei Jin's suppression of the rebellion, so they asked Wei Jin to talk about his experience during the suppression.
After listening to Wei Jin's assessment, Lord Yao couldn't help but sigh and said:
"Heroes have emerged from among the young since ancient times. This suppression of the rebellion is actually another contest between the Great Northern Dynasty and the foreign kingdom. Xiao Yi, who infiltrated the desert from the foreign kingdom, is no ordinary person. He is so young, yet he is already well-versed in strategy."
Although General Wei successfully quelled the rebellion and drove away the barbarian people, the Great Northern Dynasty did not achieve a significant victory in this contest.
The war lasted for several months. The foreign kingdom did not lose a single soldier, but the Northern Dynasty lost more than 10,000 men, and General Huo died of illness.
The key issue is that the Great Northern Dynasty missed the best opportunity to subdue the barbarian states. If the court wanted to send troops to attack the barbarian states at this point, it would be impossible.
Of course, this war also had its significance. The northwestern border of the Great Northern Dynasty was now a unified entity, and it was no longer possible for the foreign tribes to plot against it in the desert region.
Lord Yao's words made everyone fall into deep thought, but even with such a great opportunity to attack the foreign kingdom, it would be difficult for the emperor to make a decision.
The emperor hoped that the foreign kingdoms would send envoys to sue for peace, write letters of surrender, submit pledges of allegiance, and forever submit to the Great Northern Dynasty.
But this is impossible. The barbarian people are ambitious and have now been given a chance to catch their breath. They will no longer take the initiative to seek peace. The struggle between the Great Northern Dynasty and the barbarian people will continue.
After a moment of silence, the group resumed their conversation, and soon they started talking about the last martial arts examination in the capital.
Wei Jin said, "When the last martial arts examination ended, a monk named Wang Bingling came from outside the training ground."
This person is highly skilled; he can throw an ordinary arrow to the bullseye with his bare hands from a hundred paces away.
Unfortunately, he arrived too late and missed the chance to participate in the martial arts examination.
Li Guang felt it was a bit of a pity, so he said:
"This person has such skills, he is definitely a talent. The court should keep him and let him serve the country."
"Yes, the First Prince was present at the time. Seeing that this person had such skills, he took him in and made him one of his top fighters."
Everyone was taken aback upon hearing this. Li Xue was still in the capital at the time, but she had not heard about this, which was probably because she rarely went out during that period.
Wei Jin, oblivious to the expressions on everyone's faces, continued speaking:
"After Wang Bingling was taken in by the Crown Prince, he recruited many experts for the Crown Prince. These people will follow the Crown Prince and serve him."
Everyone was surprised again. The Crown Prince had recruited so many experts for himself, and his intentions were very clear. They couldn't help but feel a little worried.
If the Crown Prince sends these people to Shuixian Village to secretly harm Zhao Xian and Li Guang, then things will get complicated.
"General Wei, the Crown Prince has recruited so many people. Do you know where these people come from?" Li Xue asked.
“Princess, I don’t know where these people come from. As for Wang Bingling, I only met him once, and I feel that he is not a good person.”
It is said that after Wang Bingling was taken in by the eldest prince, he wanted to return to secular life. The eldest prince took him to a temple, where the abbot told the eldest prince that this man had too much murderous aura and should not be given important responsibilities.
The eldest prince completely disregarded the abbot's words, not only heavily relying on Wang Bingling but also keeping all the people Wang Bingling recruited by his side for his own use.
As far as I know, Wang Bingling can throw arrows without a bowstring, achieving the same effect as shooting from a powerful bow. This demonstrates his incredible arm strength, an ability only someone who has long been skilled in throwing knives or darts could possess.
Upon hearing the mention of darts, Li Xue immediately thought of someone and asked:
"General Wei, you met Wang Bingling once before. Do you remember what he looks like?"
"This person is about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, thin, and has a cold face. This kind of person probably rarely smiles."
Wei Jin's words immediately caught Li Xue's attention. Back in Majiazhuang, Li Xue had led a group to fight against the people of Wild Wolf Village, and Chen Daniu was injured by a man named Wang Ling with a dart.
Prefect Shen led his troops to wipe out Wild Wolf Village. Wang Ling had escaped beforehand, but his whereabouts were later discovered in Huizhou Prefecture, where he was arrested.
However, Wang Ling was highly skilled in martial arts, and the government could not catch him at all. To this day, he has not been captured.
According to Wei Jin's description, Wang Bingling is very likely the same person as Wang Ling who escaped back then, and the people Wang Bingling brought with him may be remnants of the Wild Wolf Stronghold.
Of course, this is just Li Xue's guess, and whether her guess is accurate remains to be verified.
Seeing Li Xue's expression, Zhao Xian and Li Guang realized something and stopped bringing up the topic.
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