Chapter 1143

Chen Wuji is not a person with severe paranoia.

His paranoia developed after he came to this world; after all, since leaving Xishan Village, everything he has done has been scheming and fighting, and if he only had a single-minded focus, he certainly would not have survived to this day.

When suspicion meets evasiveness and hiding one's head while revealing one's tail, it will inevitably trigger a chemical reaction.

Chen Wuji must necessarily clarify these matters and keep them firmly in his own hands, but now is not the time to be anxious.

Even if there is a conspiracy, it is unlikely to erupt at this time.

The distance to stepping onto the entire world is still very long.

Those who can be evasive and hide their heads while revealing their tails should not lack even this bit of patience.

At this moment, Chen Wuji is deeply grateful that he bestowed those advanced martial methods as rewards upon the soldiers.

The only unfortunate thing now is that everyone needs time to grow.

This is a stubborn flaw; being anxious won't help, so one can only seek compensation from other aspects.

……

The army rested and recuperated in Hezhou for a full month before setting out again.

In this battle, Chen Wuji appointed the veteran vanguard Great General Qian Fugui as the vanguard Great General, while Feng Linchuan commanded Chen Ruoshui's forces, the Assault Camp, Guo Jin'ge, and Lv Ji's unit, totaling 110,000 troops as the rear wing.

Chen Wuji personally took charge of Hezhou.

As Qian Fugui and Feng Linchuan led their troops out, Chen Wuji ordered Yang Pojun, Xie Fengxian, and Cao Mu to lead their three routes of troops to advance simultaneously; this time, there was no defense, only an extremely hardline attack.

Chen Wuji gave them no room for negotiation, setting a deadline of three months: destroy the Uyghurs, or else the commander-in-chief will be beheaded and the rest reduced to ordinary soldiers.

Attached to this military order was another command: within Uyghur territory, regardless of officials or civilians, women, elderly, or children, all resisters shall be exterminated—three clans wiped out.

This is Chen Wuji's first time issuing such a stern order.

Yet it is absurd; after issuing such a cold-blooded military order, the three armies' soldiers did not feel fear but instead became thoroughly exhilarated.

As the battle lines were just drawn, the four great armies displayed a frenzied, manic attacking posture.

Cao Mu, defending Buzhou Shan, arrived ahead of schedule, racing day and night over three hundred li to reach ahead of Xie Fengxian; within ten days, he burned two cities and slew countless enemies.

In Chen Wuji's mind, this man had always been refined and elegant, but after this battle, the battle report showed only two words—utterly deranged and mad.

Under Chen Wuji's two military orders, he seemed to have obtained a death-defying golden medal; he cared nothing for so-called siege tactics, attacking regardless of whether it was a major city, a small town, or a pass—whenever he encountered something, he launched a fire attack without exception.

If conditions allowed, he used Shocking Heaven Thunder mixed with fire oil, greeting the enemy to death; if not, he deployed elite archers with rockets, winning by sheer numbers; in short, he simply loved playing with fire.

Upon seeing Cao Mu fight so fiercely, Xie Fengxian could no longer sit still.

On one hand, he wrote a memorial fiercely denouncing Cao Mu as utterly deranged and mad—killing enemies was fine, but he even burned their supplies; on the other hand, he urged the army to exert themselves and race madly, engaging in a competition with Cao Mu.

Due to these two's improper competition on the southeastern front, the situation opened up quickly; in a short time, they struck the Uyghur court and populace into shock, prompting the Uyghur king to dispatch reinforcements on one side and begin frenzied conscription on the other.

He could not bear it anymore.

During this bitter winter month when everyone should have been resting properly, Chen Wuji suddenly launched troops on three fronts, directly catching him off guard.

He was still enjoying himself when he suddenly received news of the total collapse on all three fronts, and his rear instantly caught fire.

Besides the southwestern front, the battle reports from the northern and southeastern fronts had just arrived, accompanied by the news of losing five major cities; the Uyghur king was stunned and then immediately became anxious.

If the southeastern front's Cao Mu and Xie Fengxian had suddenly gone mad, then the northern front's Qian Fugui was simply performing normally; as a vanguard, he had never followed conventional tactics, just one word: charge forward recklessly to the death!

Charging forward recklessly to the death like a madman!

However, this time, Qian Fugui's fighting also lacked some martial virtue.

He demonstrated to the Uyghurs a tactic of conscripting troops on the spot, then using their own soldiers to attack their own cities.

Progress was quite smooth; his siege speed was only slightly slower than that of Cao Mu and Xie Fengxian.

However, the soldiers he conscripted locally among the Uyghurs seemed not very willing.

Whenever battle came, they would weep and wail.

Compared to this, Yang Pojun's forces on the southwestern front were the most stable.

But this time, one can only speak in comparison.

If judged by Yang Pojun's former fighting style, this time he also showed a bit of ferocity.

In every battle, they first clearly estimated the enemy's defensive strength, then the 30,000-strong army launched a full assault without distinguishing front from flank, left wing from right wing, surrounding with a unified three-missing-one formation, and the main force pressed forward strongly.

As the saying goes: few troops have their own tactics, many troops have their own tactics.

Yang Pojun's fighting style was steady and solid, neither strange nor biased, but when the 30,000-strong army surged forward in unison, the effect was still remarkably impressive; though slower than the northern and southeastern fronts, it was not excessively exaggerated.

……

Chen Wuji suddenly turned his spearhead westward to attack the Uyghurs, letting the neighbors east of Jiannan Commandery breathe a deep sigh of relief.

Since Chen Wuji raised his army and marched northward, the neighboring Shangyu and Hongde Commanderies adjacent to Jiannan, Shangfang, and Nanyue Commanderies had nearly been driven to anxiety, constantly on edge, gritting their teeth, fearing that a Black Armored Cavalry might suddenly emerge from some corner.

When Chen Wuji attacked Nanyue Commandery, he was still steady and solid.

This steadiness even obscured the glorious flash of lightning-like annihilation of the Qiang people; the surrounding neighbors, upon seeing it, thought, "Hey, it's just like this— the Qiang were destroyed only because this brat took advantage of the court's favor, got lucky, and walked away with dogshit luck."

These people were then discussing how to frame Chen Wuji, so they could stand on his shoulders and display their own prestige.

Before they could even finish discussing a plan involving three, four, five, or six, Chen Wuji suddenly declared war on the Uyghurs; a few people looked and thought, "Damn, a heavenly opportunity has fallen! If we don't act now, when will we?"

A few people hastily discussed a rough outline, then began gathering troops, preparing to, while Chen Wuji attacked the Uyghurs, strike his rear viciously.

To achieve the most vicious effect, they even proactively contacted the Uyghur royal court, preparing a pincer attack from front and rear to turn Chen Wuji into a dead rat in a sewer.

But as their troops had just reached the designated positions, they suddenly received news that Chen Wuji had divided his forces to attack Jiannan and Shangfang Commanderies.

Upon seeing this, they realized it was unacceptable—Jiannan and Shangfang Commanderies still had many of their allies, so they had to rush to their aid; Chen Wuji's recklessness was simply handing them a great opportunity on a silver platter.

A group of people gathered, quickly tallied their numbers, and began redirecting the troops originally meant for Nanyue Commandery toward Shangfang Commandery, preparing to give their allies a brutal beating and completely annihilate Chen Wuji in Shangfang and Jiannan Commanderies.

But before their main army could reach the destination, Jiannan and Shangfang Commanderies—were gone!