Chapter 159: Jie Tribe

With the physical deaths of Cheng Luo and his several hundred personal guards.

The Sima Clan's most loyal diehard remnants also announced their destruction.

And Gu Xuan, with absolute martial force as deterrence, plus rewards issued in the Zhou King's name, ultimately still largely grasped control of this Northern Frontier Army.

Just as he was rectifying and reorganizing this army.

This shocking news also spread toward all four corners of the world with the launch of carrier pigeon after carrier pigeon, shocking everyone.

The Capital City went into martial law, strictly guarding against sporadic rebellions by the Sima Family.

At the Western Frontier, the two heavy troop groups led mainly by Ma Qi and Yu Chi Rui, after trembling in fear, also received the appeasement edicts issued from the Capital City — this was naturally a move Gu Xuan and the core court officials had long since discussed.

And the Jie Tribe and Quanrong Tribe, who had repeatedly burned, killed, and plundered within Great Zhou territory, all reacted at the first moment, presenting a posture of vigilant contraction.

For a time, the whole world shook!

This was not because Gu Xuan's intelligence blockade had not been done well.

But paper cannot wrap fire; a major event occurring under such all-eyes-on-it attention is hard to completely conceal.

And even more so, Cheng Luo's ability to govern the army was limited; the army had long been infiltrated into a sieve by various forces.

And after Gu Xuan went through a round of purging and rectification within the Northern Frontier Army.

He only then understood just how much damage the Sima Clan's monopoly on power had brought to this ancient human dynasty, and what potentially fatal hidden dangers.

Among these, the primary point was the Jie Tribe's swelling power.

The Jie Tribe was originally one of the alien races of the North Border; for many years, they had always been one of the Great Zhou Dynasty's vassals.

Their tribesmen's appearance was jackal heads, human bodies, sharp teeth and claws; due to living in the bitter cold lands of the North Border, their dispositions were mostly cruel and sadistic.

The current chieftain, named Nu Chi, could be called a heroic ruler of the Jie Tribe's generation; for decades, the Jie Tribe had developed and grown strong under his hand.

He and his father's generation were originally only minor border officials appointed by the Great Zhou Dynasty, responsible for trade negotiations of mountain goods between Great Zhou and the Jie Tribe.

However.

The father and son exploited the power vacuum after the Sima Clan seized control to wildly expand their influence.

In just a few decades, they maneuvered vertically and horizontally, divided and ruled, swallowing up the North Border's many small tribes one by one.

Ultimately, developing into today's major power that dominates the north.

By the time Sima Shang's generation took over power and reacted, it was already too late.

Unless a hundred-thousand-strong army was dispatched, there was only a possibility of pacifying the Jie Tribe, but there was also a very large possibility of the plan backfiring and the entire army being wiped out, because the North Border's terrain is treacherous.

And Sima Shang, out of consideration for his own family's interests, obviously would not do such a thing.

Therefore.

In recent years, the Sima Clan mostly adopted a pacification policy toward the Jie Tribe.

Even though the Jie Tribe repeatedly harassed within Great Zhou territory, killing and abducting humans, the Sima Clan still mainly used appeasement.

They even did things like using the Xijing Luocheng as the price to exchange for the Jie Tribe's assistance in battle.

In Gu Xuan's view, if this situation were allowed to continue like this, the Jie Tribe might very well, like the Qing he knew, ultimately overturn the entire Great Zhou Dynasty.

This is absolutely not alarmist talk, because the North Border's situation is deteriorating bit by bit, and military preparedness is declining.

And the Jie Tribe chieftain Nu Chi can be called a man of outstanding talent and grand strategy; among his several sons there are also those of exceptional talent and wisdom; and within the Jie Tribe, regardless of man or woman, old or young, all are people who grew up in bitter cold, every single one daring to fight and kill.

And corresponding to this.

Is the Great Zhou court headed by the Sima Clan, which, due to various internal worries and external troubles, continuously yielded and retreated toward the Jie Tribe.

And the Jie Tribe took advantage of the human race's decline to run wild in various ways.

Gu Xuan's previous self, before ascending the throne as King, was still a clan scion, dispatched by the powerful minister Sima Clan as an envoy to the Jie Tribe, and suffered Nu Chi's whipping humiliation.

And not only that.

The Jie Tribe people, relying on their merit of assisting the Sima Clan in resisting the Western Quanrong Tribe, acted arrogantly and domineeringly within Great Zhou territory.

Even the resplendent Imperial Capital was treated by them as an amusement park.

Within the Imperial Capital, the Jie Tribe's regular residents numbered in the thousands; they monopolized businesses, forced buying and selling, ate the welfare the Great Zhou government issued them every day, yet still formed gangs to abduct civilians' children, beat and slash officials, and even gather crowds to besiege.

Some even committed violence in the Imperial Capital in broad daylight, stabbing people until intestines spilled out; after being caught by Ministry of Justice officials, they brazenly broke out of prison with weapons, wounding clerks as they left.

In the end, they even carried out large-scale massacres of humans in Great Zhou's North Border cities, the Xijing Luocheng, and other places, raping and abducting, committing every evil.

Unknown how many people were tragically killed, how many women were raped and abducted into the Jie Tribe as slaves.

A fortunate old scholar who escaped with his life once wept blood in a memorial to the Sima Clan, begging for troops to suppress them; his writing was sorrowful: "The north is bleak, Jie people everywhere, our human race is nearly slaughtered to extinction."

But the news of these tragedies was all suppressed by Sima Shang on the grounds of insufficient military strength and the need to consider the overall situation.

Sima Shang's ability was limited; he could only be called an expert at internal strife, a novice at external conflict.

Just usurping power and stabilizing opposing forces had already consumed a great deal of his energy; it was fundamentally impossible for him to spare any strength to resolve an external threat of the Jie Tribe's magnitude.

But now.

With Gu Xuan's arrival, everything will usher in a thorough change!

And through his own investigation and inspection tours in the Border Army, he also understood the thoughts of many Border Army soldiers.

Actually, many of these veterans of a hundred battles had long since reached the point of unbearable endurance toward the Jie Tribe.

Because among them, most were North Border commoners; many of their relatives had died tragically at the Jie Tribe's hands.

It was just that before this, military authority was held by the Sima Family, Cheng Luo, and the like.

Relying on just these mid- and low-level officers and soldiers, it was fundamentally impossible to act on their own, because provisions, weapons, and so on were a major problem.

After understanding these things, Gu Xuan already had a settled plan in his heart.

……

In fact.

After the Jie Tribe chieftain Nu Chi received the news that the current Zhou King had come to the Northern Frontier and subdued the Border Army, he also reacted at the first moment.

He dispatched various scouts to probe, intending to learn Gu Xuan's next move.

Not only that, he also plundered two small cities in the North Border, killing all the men within them, and after raping and abducting the women, returned to the Jie Tribe's territory and cleared the fields and emptied the strongholds.

One must say.

Nu Chi's actions were extremely insidious and vicious.

Everyone in the world knows that the territory the Jie Tribe occupies belongs to the kind of barren mountains and evil waters, very treacherous.

For so many years, apart from the Great Zhou High Ancestor His Majesty of the past, who once led an army to successfully capture it, none of the subsequent generations of Zhou Kings have been able to achieve this.

Obviously, Nu Chi is very hostile toward the Current Zhou King, and it can even be said he harbors deep malice and wariness.

In a certain sense, Sima Shang can be said to be his ally, or benefactor.

Because over these years, he has cooperated with the Sima Clan, each taking what they needed, and from the Great Zhou Dynasty this colossus, they each separately obtained the massive benefits they required.

However, the entire Sima Clan was destroyed by Gu Xuan, and Nu Chi no longer has any way to seek profits unscrupulously as before.

A friend's enemy is naturally an enemy!

And from Nu Chi's true heart, at this present excellent opportunity when the Jie Tribe is in a rising period, he is truly unwilling to see the rise of a generation of Iron-blooded Zhou King!

That would very likely break this once-in-a-thousand-years excellent opportunity for the Jie Tribe to develop and grow.

Therefore.

He ordered the Jie Tribe army under his command to kill and plunder two cities in the North Border, then retreat and hold fast.

It was precisely to provoke the Great Zhou Border Army, then use his own family's easily defensible, hard-to-attack treacherous terrain to trap and kill them.

In this way, he would let the Human Race experience what the Jie Tribe's surrounding and killing from all sides is!

If successful, it could further severely set back the actual military strength of the Great Zhou Human Race in the North Border, which would also be even more favorable for the Jie Tribe's subsequent development.

Even if the Zhou King and the Great Zhou Border Army endured it, he would still profit without loss.

However.

The Jie Tribe upper echelons led by Nu Chi still underestimated Gu Xuan.

……

After Gu Xuan killed Cheng Luo.

He spent approximately ten days' time rectifying within this Northern Frontier Army.

As the Great Zhou Supreme, he possessed sufficient righteous justification; although the various rewards were not all immediately implemented, it was still enough to win over the hearts of many soldiers.

And more critically, on that day on the high platform, the peerless divine martial prowess Gu Xuan displayed had already made almost all ordinary soldiers admire and submit.

You must know, in the army, martial valor is foremost!

The Current Zhou King His Majesty could actually reproduce the High Ancestor His Majesty's heaven-shaking martial power of the past; such an existence is completely worthy of all soldiers following.

In their view, if anyone could lead them to reproduce the Human Race's past glory and prosperity, it would probably be the Zhou King His Majesty.

This is absolutely not something the Sima Clan, Cheng Luo and these people can compare to.

And soldiers value divine speed.

Gu Xuan selected another three hundred elites from the thirty thousand plus Border Army.

Among these three hundred people, the primary requirement was having a deep blood feud with the Jie Tribe, at least having one relative slaughtered by the Jie Tribe.

Second, was martial valor surpassing others, each one capable of fighting ten alone, and able to roam and fight in the Jie Tribe's mountain forest terrain.

Such talents are not very many in the entire Northern Frontier Army, but cannot be said to be very few either.

Because the North Border's geographical environment originally belongs to that kind of bitter cold land; even the Human Race has many people who grew up in this environment from childhood, no different from the Jie Tribe.

And from a certain sense, the Human Race's individual combat ability is not inferior to the Jie Tribe's individuals.

Judging from past wars, battles of around one or two thousand people, the Human Race and Jie Tribe's clashes are evenly matched, sometimes even gaining the upper hand.

But once it escalates to ten thousand and above, that is a contest of another dimension.

For decades, before the Sima Clan had not yet usurped power, the Great Zhou once dispatched a large army intending to exterminate a part of the Jie Tribe.

In that battle, a twenty thousand Human Race army faced off against a ten thousand plus Jie Tribe army, yet suffered a crushing defeat, shocking the court and public.

Of course, this had a certain relationship with the terrain and climate at the time.

But that battle also thoroughly boosted the Jie Tribe's confidence.

Although later, the Great Zhou once again dispatched nearly seventy thousand troops to exterminate the Jie Tribe, ultimately due to grain and grass and other reasons, both sides shook hands and made peace.

And the Sima Clan was also in that battle that they thoroughly grasped great power, forcing the Zhou King of the time to abdicate, instigating and seizing power.

Some even speculate that in this process, perhaps there was mixed in some conspiracy of the Sima Clan and Jie Tribe joining forces, merely unknown to people.

And after Gu Xuan selected the three hundred people.

He made the greatest grace reward promise he could currently make to these three hundred elites.

This included military merit, land, hereditary succession, and other multiple rewards.

And Gu Xuan's requirement was only one point: that is to follow him to complete this military objective!

After issuing an order to Jiang Bu Shi and other steady veterans.

Gu Xuan set out with these three hundred special elites, each carrying adequate military rations, crossing mountains and ridges, target pointing straight at the Jie Tribe's core.

……

Time approached early winter, the weather had already begun to turn cool.

In this climate, no army is likely to initiate war.

Otherwise, what awaits them is absolutely bitter cold and death, especially in the North Border this kind of bitter cold land, even more so.

Therefore.

Whether it is the Jie Tribe leader Nu Chi, or the many generals under him, or even ordinary Jie Tribe tribespeople, they have all already begun preparing to overwinter.

These years, their days have been much better than before.

And the main reason, naturally is that they plundered massive wealth from within the Great Zhou territory.

This included a great deal of grain, furs, livestock, and so on.

And even more important than that — human women!

Just in that one raid on Xijing Luocheng, they seized several thousand human women; the vast majority were forced to become their female slaves, while a few even ended up as marching rations.

This is what the Jie Tribe calls "Two-Legged Sheep".

This day.

In the Jie Tribe's capital city — the so-called Haracheng.

Inside the city, one wooden-and-stone structure after another, each exuding an extremely rough, savage air — these are the Jie Tribe's dwellings.

And as cooking smoke rose.

From almost every house came the terrified pleas of human women and the lewd laughter of the Jie, carrying far into the distance.

And in the centermost crude palace.

Inside the tent.

A tall, powerfully built chieftain sat upon a tiger-skin throne — precisely the Jie leader Nu Chi.

At this moment, he was holding a council with the subordinate generals before the throne, and it was already nearing its end.

All these existences, though they looked very much like human forms, were absolutely not human; their faces were like wolves, they grew black hair and sharp fangs, most radiated cruelty and sadism, every one of them reeking of mutton stench.

"Brave Warriors, the people of the Zhou state have enjoyed prolonged peace and have long since become weak and cowardly; the great opportunity for the Great Jie Tribe's rise can be said to be a once-in-a-thousand-years chance!"

"However, that Zhou King recently eliminated the Sima Family — he does have some capability."

"Everyone must not underestimate him; after you return, each of you pay close attention in your respective commands."

And at this moment.

All these Jie generals heard those strange sounds from within the city.

For at this time, most of the Jie had finished their dinner; "well-fed and warm-clothed, lust arises" — it was precisely the time to have their way with the captured human women.

These generals instantly became absent-minded, hating that they could not end the council at once, return to their own tents, and do the same.

Seeing this scene, Nu Chi frowned slightly, but in the end did not take it to heart — because he himself was thinking of doing just that.

Only one youth — Nu Chi's fourth son Taiji — knitted his brows, deeply dissatisfied with this scene in the city and the generals' behavior.

He was certain that if this continued like this, the Jie Tribe's military morale would very likely disintegrate.

However, even if he wanted to change this trend, he would have to wait until he succeeded to the position.

And just at this moment, a strange sound suddenly rang out from within the city.

It sounded like the sibilant hiss of blades and spears entering flesh, yet also seemed mixed with some kind of death scream.

At first inaudible, but with the wind it gradually became clearer!

(Chapter End)