Chapter 112: Seven In, Seven Out, a Century of Fear (Requesting Monthly Tickets)

Gu Yi was never a man who hesitated.

Once he made a firm decision, he acted on it immediately.

——This was also the lesson he learned from Gu Xi, Gu Chen, and others.

In matters of war;

Hesitation only squanders countless opportunities.

Today's Han is not the Western Jin of original history, worn down by internal strife; with decades of preparation, he had no need to be so cautious.

These barbarians who could learn from experience were no ordinary fools.

But Gu Yi had endured years of development.

How could his sword not be sharp?

Gu Yi wasted no opportunity whatsoever—he launched a full-scale offensive while the enemy was still reeling.

He personally led the central army in a direct assault on Bai Langshan.

The other three routes were each commanded by generals.

As for the most elite—Wen Yang—

Gu Yi assigned him as the fifth army, with no fixed strategy.

He gave Wen Yang only one order.

Let him charge and slaughter freely.

The goal was to fully exploit Wen Yang's unmatched ferocity.

The troops under his command had all been specially trained.

They were adapted to the Northern Frontier's environment and possessed thorough knowledge of its terrain.

The survey maps from Gu Chen's campaign across the Northern Frontier still remained in the Gu family's possession.

It had been only a few decades.

The terrain of the Northern Frontier could not have changed drastically—that was precisely why Gu Yi had trained them.

With these men—

Wen Yang's greatest strength could be fully unleashed.

The Northern Frontier trembled.

Gu Yi's move was simply too swift; they had no time to react.

The Gu family's name, combined with Wen Yang—a living weapon—

Had already unsettled them.

This sudden, massive offensive left them utterly unprepared.

But Murong Gui was no fool.

His rise to power proved his capability.

Upon learning of the Han army's movements,

In the very first instant, he grasped their intent and immediately devised a strategy.

——Retreat!

Yes, retreat!

The Han army's momentum was too fierce; their soldiers had long been holding their breath, especially now that Gu Ye had arrived.

This boosted Han troop morale beyond imagination.

Morale, after all, tends to wane after the first surge, then exhaust itself entirely.

Murong Gui intended to wait until the Han army's momentum faded.

Then launch a decisive battle.

Having to say, his strategy was absolutely correct for this era of cold-weapon warfare.

Morale indeed enhanced combat effectiveness.

Compared to the Han army, his barbarian forces were naturally adept at swift raids and had no fear of being pursued.

But they had underestimated Gu Yi.

Gu Yi showed no impatience; even after learning of the enemy's retreat, he advanced methodically.

How could he not see such an obvious tactic?

He had no intention of exhausting his troops in pursuit.

Since they wished to retreat—

Gu Yi let them retreat!

If he could not kill them, he would take their land—gradually compressing their living space.

As for pursuing the enemy, he left it entirely to Wen Yang.

To Wen Yang, he gave one sentence:

"Use your full strength to chase and kill the enemy!"

For a man like Wen Yang, no strategy was needed—just let him do what he was born to do!

The entire Northern Frontier erupted in chaos!

The troops under Wen Yang's command, after years of training, had perfected the art of swift pursuit and slaughter.

Murong Gui had never anticipated—

That a general would actually break away from the main force to pursue alone!

He instinctively saw this as an opportunity.

If they could capture or kill a Han general, it would not only crush Han morale but also boost their own confidence!

Under these circumstances.

Murong Gui began his encirclement and annihilation of Wen Yang!

He intended to use his numerical advantage to capture Wen Yang before the Han army's main force arrived!

This battle was destined to shake heaven and earth.

Murong Gui led tens of thousands of troops to encircle and annihilate Wen Yang on Bai Langshan's rugged terrain!

In the eyes of all of them, this battle held no uncertainty.

Wen Yang's forces numbered less than ten thousand.

How could they possibly resist an encirclement by tens of thousands?

But they had utterly underestimated Wen Yang.

Facing the army come to annihilate him, Wen Yang felt not the slightest fear—instead, his fury erupted fully!

——The blood feud of a father's murder is irreconcilable!

Wen Yang's temperament was unsuited to command.

But that did not mean he was merely a reckless brute; his judgment of battlefield conditions was sharp.

Yet these very qualities were obscured by his ferocity.

"Brothers, follow me and kill the enemy!"

With Wen Yang's roar, cries of "kill!" erupted instantly across Bai Langshan.

"Kill!!!"

"Kill!!!"

"Kill!!!"

What is elite?

When facing an enemy's overwhelming momentum, to remain unshaken under crisis.

That is true elite.

His soldiers had trained with him for years; their mutual trust and coordination had reached perfection!

They felt not the slightest fear.

Wen Yang spoke no words—he swung his Broken Enemy Spear, unleashing overwhelming force in a sudden charge.

——This was Gu Chen's spear technique!

Wen Yang admired few people.

And Gu Chen was foremost among them!

In Wen Yang's own words, his greatest regret in life was never fighting Gu Chen.

Now—

He would not disgrace Gu Chen's name!

Clang!!

Clang!!

Clang!!

What is overwhelming force?

Before Wen Yang's spear, not a single soldier in the Xianbei-Wuhuan alliance could stand against him.

The sound of shattered weapons rang continuously.

Amidst screams, the entire battlefield became a meat grinder, relentlessly claiming lives!

Murong Gui did not panic.

He knew Wen Yang's ferocity.

But as a mortal, he would eventually exhaust his strength.

His overwhelming numerical advantage

Fully allowed him to wear Wen Yang down to death.

His eyes brimmed with killing intent as he stared intently at the battlefield from afar.

Murong Gui had seen it clearly.

These men were Han elite—he would leave them all here to deliver a fatal blow to the Han army!

But he had still underestimated Wen Yang.

On the entire battlefield, Wen Yang had become a killing god.

Wherever his Broken Enemy Spear swept, no one could block its edge.

And his soldiers—

Followed closely behind him, relentlessly charging forward!

As time slowly passed,

Murong Gui's expression grew darker.

Watching each fallen figure, his heart bled.

These were the pillars of the Xianbei!

Dying on the battlefield.

If he could not win this battle, he dared not imagine what consequences the Xianbei would face.

Rage surged endlessly.

He continuously dispatched troops to encircle and kill Wen Yang.

But it was utterly useless.

Wen Yang grew more fierce with each battle, as if an endless force pulsed within his body, with not a single sign of weakening!

Murong Gui's expression grew even darker.

Because Wen Yang was about to break through the encirclement!

"Quick! Stop him! Absolutely do not let him escape!" Murong Gui roared in fury.

Failure is unacceptable!

If Wen Yang truly broke through the encirclement,

the blow to their morale would be unimaginable.

At that point, it would no longer be a matter of avoiding the enemy's sharp edge.

They would only be able to flee endlessly.

The entire allied army tightened its formation, trying to block Wen Yang, but all efforts were in vain.

Unless someone could directly block Wen Yang's advance from the front.

Otherwise—

this encirclement would be torn apart by Wen Yang.

Most crucially, seeing Wen Yang now completely drenched in blood, the Xianbei-Wuhuan allied forces had begun to feel fear deep within their souls.

Under these circumstances, Wen Yang actually led his troops and broke through the encirclement!

Murong Gui's expression twisted completely.

He had intended to order a pursuit, but he never expected Wen Yang had no intention of retreating at all.

"Brothers! Still got strength?"

"Had enough killing?"

A thunderous roar rang out.

In response came a chorus of fearless shouts!

"KILL!!!"

Without the slightest hesitation;

amid those cries of battle, Wen Yang led his troops back into the battlefield.

You came to surround and kill us?

No—I came to kill you!

Fear

Fear from the depths of the soul.

In that instant, even Murong Gui's body began to tremble.

Is this even a human?

He had already broken through the encirclement, yet he chose to charge back in.

What does he intend to do?

What does he think of the Xianbei?

A surge of furious rage instantly rose within him; Murong Gui no longer cared for anything else, continuously ordering attacks!

If you don't want to leave, then don't leave!

At all costs, he must leave Wen Yang behind.

But morale shifts with the tide of battle.

Seeing Wen Yang charge back once more,

the allied soldiers, already gripped by fear, now felt death drawing near.

This fear severely undermined a soldier's combat effectiveness.

Under these conditions,

Wen Yang plunged into the encirclement again and burst out.

Turned again, charged in, and burst out.

Charged in, burst out.

Facing the Xianbei-Wuhuan allied army whose morale was collapsing further, Wen Yang felt no pressure whatsoever.

Until—

Seven times in, seven times out.

The entire earth was drenched in blood; corpses and shattered remains lay everywhere, trampled by warhorses, wails rising from all sides.

Countless wounded felt the double blow to body and spirit.

The army's spirit shattered completely!

Even Murong Gui was now utterly stunned.

Seven times in, seven times out?

What kind of thing is this?

How could such a terrifying person exist in this world?

If even Wen Yang is this difficult to handle, how terrifying must the "Wolf That Chases the Sun" of our ancestors have been?

That figure had been raised by our ancestors to the level of a god!

Only when humans truly experience terror can they generate fear from within.

Murong Gui's generation had never truly known despair.

Not even against Gu Chen.

They had only heard of it all from their ancestors—and this was one reason why this generation dared to attack the Han.

But now—

They had begun to waver.

Even Murong Gui himself could hardly conceal the fear in his heart.

And at this moment, Wen Yang's roar came over.

"Today, my seven charges in and seven charges out, are to make your Hu horsemen remember this fear for a hundred years!"

A hundred years of fear!

—That was the era forged by Gu Xi and Gu Chen together.

When those two, grandfather and grandson, were alive.

The barbarians on all sides turned pale at the mere name of Great Han!

Beads of cold sweat kept dripping down from Murong Gui's forehead; even his hands were trembling uncontrollably.

A wave of dizziness welled up from within his body.

He immediately staggered, and a gush of blood suddenly spurted from his mouth; he nearly collapsed on the spot.

"Retreat!"

Murong Gui forced himself to stay upright and, in a feeble voice, uttered those two words.

There was no fighting this.

This battle was already utterly impossible to fight.

If they kept fighting, whether it was his Xianbei or the Wuhuan, they could only face the end of their entire clan being wiped out.

Murong Gui now only wanted to preserve his tribe.

But—

How could Gu Yi give them such a chance?

As for the battlefield achievements Wen Yang had achieved, Gu Yi was not surprised in the slightest.

This was one of the fiercest generals of the late Three Kingdoms era.

To contend with him—

And to contend with him head-on, no less.

Without a figure of the same epoch appearing, how could it be possible?

In truth, Murong Gui had made no mistake.

He had indeed learned Great Han's culture and drawn lessons from the defeats of his predecessors.

The tactics he had devised—

—matched extremely well the military treatises handed down from Great Han.

But as success came from this, so did defeat.

These more advanced lessons had let him unify the Xianbei and put an end to the Xianbei's era of chaos, but in the end they could never withstand the edge of Great Han.

He wanted to retreat—but where could he retreat to?

Why did Gu Yi launch the northern campaign with four armies?

It was precisely to leave these people no chance at all.

Even if they did not fight, they could only be slowly consumed by the Han army.

Wen Yang truly was a weapon of mass destruction among men.

He had even wanted to launch another attack.

But this time Gu Yi held him back and recalled him to the central army.

Bai Langshan.

Gu Yi looked at the corpses strewn across the ground, thought for a moment, and still had his men cut out an isolation strip before choosing to burn the bodies.

Wen Yang stood behind him the whole time, his face full of pride.

Although he was not much older than Gu Ye.

But when facing Gu Ye, he was like a little child, waiting for Gu Ye's praise.

Gu Yi naturally saw the "praise me" expression written all over Wen Yang's face, and smiled helplessly: "A-Yang is brave and fierce; he is a general heaven has bestowed upon our Great Han."

"Hehe."

A smile immediately spread across Wen Yang's face: "It's still thanks to the special training the Grand General once gave us brothers; without them, no matter how fierce I was, I could never have broken an army of ten thousand."

As he spoke, a trace of puzzlement appeared on his face again, and he looked at Gu Ye and asked: "Grand General, why won't you let me press the advantage and kill them till men and horses are thrown into chaos?"

"A-Yang."

Gu Yi's expression also grew solemn, and he said earnestly: "This battle cannot be settled by killing alone."

He did indeed hold great expectations for Wen Yang.

He wanted to teach him.

The relationship between the Nine Provinces and the barbarians on all sides could not be solved by killing alone.

The true sword of the Nine Provinces lies not in slaying to the last, but in making Wuhuan children recite the Han family's classics, and Xianbei shamans sacrifice to the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan.

Mere slaughter—

—would only kindle an even fiercer hatred in the days to come.

Wen Yang frowned, unable to grasp the meaning of Gu Yi's words.

Gu Yi smiled, stretched out his hand, and pointed to the vast summit of Bai Langshan: "Has A-Yang ever seen the snow piled on the peak of Bai Langshan?"

"The Hu are like snow: today you melt a patch, but when next year's north wind rises, it piles up again."

"In the past, Emperor Xiaowu drove the Xiongnu into Mobei, yet a hundred years later the Xianbei once again occupied that land."

"It was not that the war was fought poorly, but that the root and veins had not been severed."

Upon hearing this, Wen Yang seemed to grasp something in his heart, yet his face still showed a ferocious expression as he roared angrily, "If that is so, then I shall slaughter every last one of them!"

"Slaughter every last one?" Gu Yi shook his head slightly and said with a mocking smile, "What you say is truly the dream of a fool."

In this current era of cold-weapon warfare, to fight a tribe skilled at migration to the point of utter annihilation and extermination would be nothing short of an Arabian Nights fantasy.

Hearing this, Wen Yang was momentarily at a loss for words and fell silent.

Gu Yi, controlling Gu Ye, smiled and raised his hand to pat his shoulder, asking gently, "A-Yang, have you thought about what you wish to do in the future?"

"The future?"

Wen Yang furrowed his brow once more, and after a long silence finally spoke slowly: "This general is dull-witted, knowing only the three-inch cold gleam at the spear's tip."

"The Grand General asks this general what he wishes to do in the future."

"This general can only say that wherever the Grand General points, this general's long spear—"

Wen Yang suddenly swung his arm and drove the long spear into the ground, startling several crows into flight, his voice ringing with force: "—even if it be the snow line of Yin Mountain, shall be plowed into a level road!"

When he said such words, it was truly not flattery.

It was that he truly had such thoughts!

Hearing this, Gu Yi smiled helplessly.

He did quite believe that with Wen Yang's ability, combined with the Han's current overall national strength, if they kept fighting they would absolutely be able to carve out a great deal of territory for the Han.

But the culture of the Nine Provinces had already doomed such a thing to be utterly unworkable.

Conquering the realm is easy; governing the realm is hard.

The Gu clan could already influence the entire realm; the slightest misstep would lead to eternal ruin.

Although the culture of the Nine Provinces could embrace all things,

this was still not something one generation could accomplish.

If forced through, in the end it would only bring harm upon the lands of the Nine Provinces.

How could he possibly do such a thing?

Looking at Wen Yang's earnest expression before him, Gu Yi smiled once more, then controlled Gu Ye to say seriously: "A-Yang, now the Xianbei and Wuhuan fear you as they would a tiger."

"Have you ever considered—"

"that one day you would garrison this place for our Great Han?"

Gu Yi intended to try a path of accommodation!

Only the thorough fusion of cultures could make a land truly belong to the Nine Provinces.

Now the barbarians on all four sides were emulating the Han's culture.

This already counted as a very good starting point.

"Garrison this place?" Wen Yang's expression immediately fell a bit.

He still preferred the thrill of battle.

But looking at Gu Ye's earnest expression, he hesitated for a moment, then finally nodded: "If the Grand General so wishes, this general is naturally willing."

"Then you must change your temperament!"

Gu Yi did not say anything more, only patting Wen Yang's shoulder once again.

From that day onward—

Gu Yi always kept Wen Yang by his side.

The subsequent battles held no further surprises.

Murong Gui was dead.

This was undoubtedly an even more fatal blow to the entire Wuhuan-Xianbei-Goguryeo alliance.

The Wuhran Chanyu Taran indeed harbored no discontent when facing Murong Gui.

This was because Murong Gui was originally older than him in age.

Added to that, the Xianbei's strength was greater.

But with Murong Gui's death, this balance was broken.

Although Murong Gui's son inherited the position,

he had not even fully subjugated the various tribes within the Xianbei themselves, let alone Taran the Wuhuan Chanyu.

And under the current circumstances,

when problems arose within their own alliance, this battle no longer had any room for reversal.

Murong Gui was indeed extraordinary.

He had left a retreat for the entire alliance: immediate migration.

Abandon everything, completely evade the Han army.

But the situation had utterly changed.

Within their alliance some wished to surrender and some wished to migrate; such disputes had already caused them to miss their chance.

When the four routes of Han troops were all advancing steadily—

they had no choice left.

Gu Yi did not choose a large-scale encirclement and slaughter; keeping Wen Yang by his side was precisely to teach him this principle.

Although Gu Yi did not know whether One's Own Thought would ultimately succeed,

he still had to try.

Of course there were tribes that wished to resist, but facing the Han troops converging from all directions, their various tactics were undoubtedly ants trying to shake a tree.

Fresh blood was spilled across this land.

Barbarians, Han troops.

Blood and tears forged deeds of glory upon this vast and desolate land.

Beneath the hegemony of kings and lords, in the end there is only withered bone.

Gu Yi was no saint; facing tribes that harbored thoughts of resistance, or tribes that concealed hatred, he would show no mercy.

He would only spare those tribes that were relatively amicable toward the Great Han.

And he would not stop his footsteps, always pressing forward.

The fourth year of Qianji, the third month.

The Han army marched past Liucheng.

After a gap of several decades, the banner of the Han army was once again planted atop this royal court.

Gu Yi executed the Wuhuan Chanyu Taran.

Since this lineage held enmity toward both the Great Han and the Gu clan.

No matter how obediently he behaved, Gu Yi could not possibly leave such a risk behind.

Gu Yi was in no hurry to carry out any reforms.

He still led his army on a sweeping advance.

In the seventh month of the same year, the Han army's spearhead reached the Goguryeo royal court's Guonei City and Wandu Mountain City.

The Han army's banners rose above both cities.

The Han army's might had reached its zenith.

There was not the slightest proper resistance at all; the Goguryeo king had long since led his clansmen to begin migrating.

This tribe, it seemed, had not changed from what history recorded.

Faced with an enemy army, they fled.

Even if their Ducheng was burned down, once the great army withdrew they could run back and rebuild.

But for Gu Yi, this was not a problem.

He had no intention of leaving!

He meant to seize this very opportunity to launch the plan he had long since conceived!.

——————

"In the eighth month of autumn, third year of Qianji, on the day of Bingshen, Grand General Ye marshaled the combined might of four campaigns to march north.

The Xianbei Chanyu Murong Gui, fearing Ye's might, abandoned his felt tents and fled, secretly gathering the Wuhuan and Goguryeo masses to a hundred thousand, and besieged General Who Conquers the North Wen Yang at the old fortifications of White Wolf.

Yang, in fury, drove his long spear through blood, charging seven times and breaking through seven times, all before him crumbling to pieces.

At the time the Han troops numbered eight thousand, the Hu cavalry several times that; Yang then tore silk to bind his wounds, climbed high and roared: 'Today, my seven advances and seven breakings-out, are meant to make your Hu horses remember fear for another hundred years!'

He then personally donned heavy armor, led the Tiger Braves to charge their main body, slew twelve Xianbei minor kings, took the head of Goguryeo chieftain Tan He; the piled corpses blocked the river, the captive host collapsed like snow from a falling mountain.

In this battle, forty thousand heads were taken in kills and captures, cattle, horses and supplies were piled mountain-high, and the Hu dust over Monan was quelled for it.

Ye rode his victory to pursue northward, burning the Xianbei Dragon Court at Raole River, plowing up the Wuhuan ancestral temple at Liucheng, and hanging the Han banner on the drum tower of Guonei City. The Hu pipes choked while the Han horns rang clear; the frontier grasses ran red and the Wolf of Heaven blazed at Mao."

— *Book of Yan Han, Biography of Wen Yang*

(End of this chapter)