Chapter 162: Plow the Court and Sweep the Lair!

"Such ferocious alien races, we must sweep their lairs and exterminate their kind."

When Gu Xuan spoke these words with absolute decisiveness, the Grand Council Hall fell into complete silence at first.

Then.

Jiang Bu Shi and the other Border Army generals, the Northern Border Governor and other civil officials who had already coordinated with Gu Xuan beforehand, naturally bowed their heads in agreement.

Fairly speaking, the civil officials represented by the Northern Border Governor have always leaned toward avoiding military action.

But even they, at this moment regarding the Jie Tribe issue, rarely turned toward the side of ruthless slaughter.

Among this, there is naturally the factor of superiors' preferences influencing subordinates.

But more than that, it is still the various evil deeds the Jie Tribe, this alien race, has committed against the Great Zhou Dynasty over these decades.

Raping and plundering the Xijing, harassing Northern Border cities, killing until the fields were full of corpses...

Each and every one of these are the karmic consequences wrought by what was originally the Great Zhou Dynasty's vassal tribe.

Originally, with the Great Zhou Dynasty's scale, it would be fundamentally impossible to allow a small tribe like the Jie Tribe to act so recklessly.

But coincidentally, in recent years, the Great Zhou Dynasty has suffered severe internal land consolidation, and national power has declined.

Furthermore, several surrounding alien tribes have risen, the borderlands are restless day and night, troubles are constant, and it is difficult to attend to all.

Even more serious is that the Sima Clan, a power minister family, for the sake of their own clan's private interests, disregarding the safety and honor of the entire human race, indulged the Jie Tribe — originally a small Northern Border tribe — to develop and grow, suppressed domestic opposition forces, and simultaneously helped them oppose the Quanrong Tribe in the Western Region.

One must admit, this move by the Sima Clan did indeed achieve quite good results.

Among them was the framing and killing of the original Northern Territory Famous General Yue Zhong, which counted as removing a major obstacle for them in manipulating court power.

Because Yue Zhong himself not only had outstanding military strategy and repeated victories in foreign campaigns, he was also one of the great generals guarding the royal family.

However.

In an external raid, he was actually secretly contacted by the Sima Clan with the Jie Tribe, who deployed heavy forces to ambush and kill him; Yue Zhong and his personal guard corps were all killed in battle.

And in that battle, Cheng Luo, who had been planted by the Sima Clan and was originally only a Deputy General, seized control of the Northern Border Army afterward.

The Sima Clan's power also greatly expanded, and thus they became even more domineering on the road to usurping power.

And in the Great Zhou vs Quanrong war that erupted afterward, the Jie Tribe did indeed send troops to assist the Sima Clan; although they did not kill or wound many, they still added a few points of prestige for the Sima Clan and drove back the attacking Quanrong army.

But the price afterward was extraordinarily tragic.

Under the Sima Clan's indulgence and tacit approval, the Jie Tribe's great army burned and plundered the Xijing Luocheng, not only killing and burning to death tens of thousands of human race people, but also seizing over ten thousand human race women as female slaves; their tragic fate naturally needs no further mention.

Such miserable scenes naturally aroused enormous anger among some human race soldiers.

However.

The current power holders are the Sima Clan; they demanded "taking the overall situation as paramount," severely reprimanded them, and forbade the Border Army from attacking, otherwise it would be destroying an ally.

And weapons, provisions, and the like were all under their control; even though some officers and soldiers were furious over this, it was difficult to change the overall situation.

Under such circumstances, a small portion of Border Army soldiers, unable to contain their rage, resolutely launched a charge and killed several hundred to over a thousand Jie Tribe members.

But their ending was very bleak.

With the Jie Tribe already risen and their corps reaching a full forty thousand plus.

These human race soldiers' charge was undoubtedly intercepted, and they were mostly killed to the last man; the few who escaped back to human race cities were then beheaded by the Sima Clan led by Cheng Luo on the grounds of disobeying military orders.

The dignified Great Zhou Dynasty actually suffered such a strange and great humiliation; this undoubtedly made the many Border Army represented by Jiang Bu Shi extremely indignant.

But with the Sima Clan controlling power internally and the Jie Tribe growing daily externally, they truly found it very difficult to oppose and achieve any results.

And Gu Xuan's arrival ultimately completely changed all this.

"Your Majesty is wise and decisive; we subjects will certainly exert our utmost ability."

The Northern Border Governor stepped forward, representing the various civil ministers, bowing and prostrating.

He is a smooth old minister; these years under the Sima Clan's suppression, he has had a very hard time, and much of the power in his hands was originally seized by Cheng Luo, leaving only some livelihood affairs.

"Your Majesty's sage judgment; soldiers value divine speed; the Jie Tribe is precisely at a time of leaderless dragons; sending troops now holds great promise!"

The white-haired old general Jiang Bu Shi was even more passionate and stirred; he and his personal guard soldiers had already been waiting for this day for many years.

However.

For a great army expedition, speaking is easy, doing is hard.

Just the battle plan, troop deployment, supply gathering and distribution, and so on — all are no small difficulties.

A full three days later, under the full operation of the Northern Border civil-military group led by the Governor and Jiang Bu Shi, they barely completed the basic preparation work.

Regarding the battle plan, after fierce debate among all high-level civil and military officials and the Border Army Core Advisory Group, a plan was finally produced.

That is: engage frontally with the regular forces, win by surprise with the shock troops.

The so-called regular army: led by the steady veteran general Jiang Bu Shi, supervised by the Northern Border Governor, commanding a twenty-thousand heavy troop group and tens of thousands of auxiliary soldiers, pressing openly and aboveboard toward the Jie Tribe territory.

Simultaneously issuing a broad call for civilian laborers within the Northern Border and other small tribes outside the border, rewarding with military merit, to besiege the Jie Tribe.

And the shock troops: still Gu Xuan leading three thousand elites among elites, one man two horses, carrying full provisions and supplies, circling around to rear ambush.

Needless to say, this is naturally the result of Gu Xuan's strong insistence; otherwise the civil and military heavy ministers would absolutely not agree to such a plan letting the Zhou King His Majesty lead the shock troops.

But the facts of these days have also proven this is the only way to maximize the display of Gu Xuan's peerless martial force!

This afternoon.

In the Northern Border's largest city, Guangning City, a grand departure ceremony unseen in decades was held.

Or one could say, it was an Oath-taking Ceremony.

The screened and selected nearly thirty thousand elite Border Army stood ready in the vast Drill Ground.

On the other side, a sea of auxiliary soldiers, civilian laborers, etc., were all hurriedly and somewhat excitedly organizing their respective supplies.

One must say.

Upon seeing the heads of the Jie King Nu Chi and others brought back by the Zhou King His Majesty, and the Jingguan made from them.

The vast majority of Border Army soldiers and common people all felt a stirring excitement from the depths of their lungs!

How many years has it been? Finally there is a day when we can launch retaliation against such a cruel and ferocious alien race as the Jie Tribe.

Among these soldiers and civilian laborers, there are many who bear a deep blood feud with the Jie Tribe — whether parents and kin, or close friends and companions, all died miserably at the hands of the Jie Tribe.

Were it not for the Sima Clan's utmost suppression, and the fact that the Jie Tribe's military strength is indeed terrifying, they would have launched retaliation long ago.

But now the situation has already changed; Jie King Nu Chi is dead, the Jie Tribe has lost a King Realm leader of outstanding talent and grand strategy — this is precisely the best moment to strike while the iron is hot.

Missing this opportunity, perhaps later if they want revenge again, there will no longer be such a chance — this is the thought in everyone's heart before setting out on the campaign.

And not long after the Oath-taking Ceremony was held.

In Guangning City, sure enough, several carrier pigeons took flight, among them even Northern Border divine birds — Sea Eagles.

Needless to say, these are all Jie Tribe scouts originally planted in Guangning City; they are either Sima Clan remnants, or Jie Tribe members who used secret techniques to alter their appearance and lurked in the city.

And with Guangning City already sealed on all four sides, strictly forbidding spies from entering or leaving, they naturally could only choose this method to send word to the Jie Tribe.

But immediately after.

Only the hissing sounds of several arrows were heard; hundreds of sharp arrows shot out from various places in the city, killing all those messenger pigeons, Sea Eagles, and the like.

And the Inspection Teams likewise lying in wait throughout the city also mobilized urgently, following the direction these birds took flight, directly capturing over a dozen Jie Tribe scouts.

Of course.

After Jiang Bu Shi, the Northern Border Governor, and others led the tens of thousands of Regular Army troops to set out, it was still naturally unavoidable that along the way they might be reported on by birds.

This is beyond human power to completely prevent; they can only delay as much as possible.

And the three thousand Shock Troops led by Gu Xuan, on a certain day after setting out, quietly detached from the Regular Army group, followed a certain small path, and headed toward the rear of the Jie Tribe territory.

Originally speaking.

Gu Xuan's small force advancing in this manner could completely be called extremely dangerous.

Because three thousand men formed a single-file long snake formation to advance, it is very easy to encounter an ambush at some point, and thus be struck from front and rear, unable to look after both ends.

If that happened, even though these three thousand are all incomparably elite Border Army soldiers, they would still very easily die violent deaths.

However.

With an existence like Gu Xuan, whose martial power covers the world, clearing the way ahead, no ambush can escape his eyesight or perception.

All along the way, any Jie Tribe spies peeping ahead or in the dark were almost entirely shot dead by Gu Xuan.

Under his divine power's empowerment, that Divine Bow passed down by the Great Zhou royal house achieved maximum utilization; a distance of one or two hundred meters arrived in a flash.

Therefore.

The three thousand soldiers under his command can be said to have crossed the various small paths with alarm but no danger, ultimately arriving at the Jie Tribe's deep rear.

……

Looking at the Jie Tribe's side in contrast.

On the third day after Jie King Nu Chi was beheaded and the royal city burned clean, this bad news only then basically spread through the whole Jie Tribe.

They almost dared not believe this fact.

You must know, many years have passed; the Jie King in their hearts was an incomparably great King Realm expert, who led them to achieve unimaginably glorious battle achievements.

And Jie King Nu Chi himself was a strongman who could be called a match for a hundred men; in the past he once led his subordinates in full armor to defeat almost all forces of the Northern Border, with no equal opponent.

It was precisely because of this that Nu Chi could firmly sit stable in this position.

Yet such an existence was directly beheaded by someone, even his skull was made by the Jin Ren into the topmost one on the skull mound.

And the news of the royal city being burned to nothing, for these Jie Tribe people, is even more a sorrow-upon-sorrow bad news.

Only because the royal city stored their most abundant grain and fodder reserves; these being burned means at least this winter, many of them will have to suffer hunger and cold.

Unless they can, like in those past years, plunder other Alien Race small tribes, or even rob the Jin Ren of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

But it is very obvious, this time, the Jin Ren will not give them the chance.

Strike while the iron is hot, take their lives!

The Great Zhou Dynasty dispatching heavy troops this time is obviously to take advantage of this rare opportunity when the Jie Tribe lacks clothing and food!

However.

The current Jie Tribe, on the surface, is a tribal-style regime.

In reality, these years, under Nu Chi's leadership, the Jie Tribe has essentially become a military plundering group.

The more resources and Jin Ren slaves they plunder, the more powerful their strength becomes, even attracting other small tribes beyond the Northern Border to join.

Perhaps this is the so-called "Winning Effect"!

Whoever wins, they follow — not only the Jin Ren are like this, actually many Alien Races also have the same psychology.

Therefore.

Even though elite figures like Nu Chi are already dead, the Jie Tribe's remaining strength is indeed not to be underestimated.

And this is also the reason Gu Xuan insists on sending troops.

Otherwise, waiting until the Jie Tribe selects a new generation of prestigious figure, and re-gathers the remaining forty to fifty thousand troops to submit, to then want to completely pacify them would probably be very difficult.

But.

Even under such suppression of spies reporting by Gu Xuan and the others, and such rapid troop deployment, the Jie Tribe still timely received news of the Army pressing the border.

In this desperate situation, they also at the fastest speed once again selected Nu Chi's nephew Dai Shang as leader, to oppose this incoming attack.

……

The Northern Border's terrain, without a doubt, belongs to that kind of barren mountains and evil waters.

The twenty-odd thousand Regular Army led by Jiang Bu Shi and others, although most are Northern Border soldiers who grew up accustomed to this harsh terrain and landforms, and have the coordination of tens of thousands of Auxiliary Soldiers and civilian laborers, the whole Army's advance is still very difficult.

And Dai Shang also continuously dispatched small units to harass, causing over a thousand casualties in the Jin Ren army.

But this battle, ultimately, is still the Jin Ren fighting steadily and methodically, and the battlefield is still within the Jie Tribe's own territory.

Jiang Bu Shi endured all kinds of harassment, yet remained unmoved.

He ordered his soldiers to do only one thing: every Jie Tribe small city and fort passed was burned to nothing, not leaving a single one alive.

This is the Great Zhou Dynasty's version of the Three Lights Policy!

In the past, the Jie Tribe had also used such tactics in places like Xijing Luocheng, and now equivalent retaliation had fallen upon themselves.

Dai Shang, in the rear camp, continuously received intelligence from scouts about the Human Army's actions, and was so furious his hair stood on end, nearly unable to control himself.

He could only increase the intensity of harassment, yet could not change the overall situation.

Finally.

In Chanshan City, the second-largest city of the Jie Tribe besides their royal capital, the two armies formally faced off.

On the Human side were over twenty thousand regular troops led by Jiang Bu Shi and the Northern Border Governor, all fully armed, while auxiliary soldiers and civilian laborers were not counted for now.

On the Jie side was an army of nearly thirty thousand, gathered by exhausting the entire tribe.

This was already their limit, for the entire Jie Tribe now numbered no more than sixty thousand people.

It could be said that, aside from the old, young, women, and children who truly could not be moved, everyone else had gone to battle, including white-haired veterans and half-grown youths not yet fully developed.

To be fair, most of these veterans had once participated in plundering within the Great Zhou Dynasty, and those half-grown youths may not have failed to humiliate the Human women slaves brought back by their elders.

It could be said that every one of them deserved death, and that they had lived to this day only because of the indulgence of the Sima Clan and others.

In the camp before Chanshan City, Jiang Bu Shi and the others looked at the intelligence in their hands and finally made up their minds for a decisive battle.

These past days, they had maintained contact with Gu Xuan along this route, as both sides had left at least a hundred-man squad dedicated to secret communication between them.

According to intelligence, Zhou King His Majesty's shock troops had also already sensed the rear of Chanshan City.

Finally.

A final decisive battle targeting the Jie Tribe thus exploded!

(Chapter End)