Chapter 837: Driving Straight to the Enemy's Lair

"Farewell!"

Xiahou Dun and the other two had seen arrogant people before, but never someone this arrogant; did he think he was a Supreme Grandmaster?

All three understood Tang Luo's meaning.

It was that he didn't mind the Great Cauldron coming over to pick up a bargain, with an attitude like he was bestowing charity.

Since that was the case, the three of them wouldn't stick their hot faces onto cold buttocks either, and immediately chose to leave.

When words don't match, not even half a sentence is too much; they hadn't come to beg this Jia Rong for cooperation.

"Take care, no need to see us off." Ao Yulie said from behind, causing Xiahou Dun's steps to pause.

He turned his head; that single eye looked over, flashing with a dangerous light.

"Huh, you wouldn't want to die here, would you?" Ao Yulie smiled provocatively.

Xiahou Dun raised a hand and brushed lightly over his eyepatch, said nothing more, turned, and left.

"Originally I still wanted to test these people's weight." Ao Yulie's tone carried quite a bit of disappointment.

"They aren't fools." Zhu Bajie said.

Even Zhang Fei wouldn't turn hostile and attack on this occasion, sending his own life away.

Outside the main camp, the three each mounted their warhorses, leading a host of light cavalry away swiftly.

Although they didn't know where Jia Rong's confidence in swallowing Great Yin in one gulp came from, the other party's strength had likely already reached the Grandmaster realm, not to be underestimated.

"Master, is it alright to reveal our next move to them like this?" Ao Yulie asked.

"We have always acted upright and honorable, openly and aboveboard; there is nothing that cannot be told to outsiders, what does it matter?" Tang Luo said.

Schemes — nonexistent.

Mainly because he truly didn't know any schemes or tricks; at most he would deliberately show weakness to lure in a fish.

Master and disciple Tang Luo acted openly and honorably; if they said they would smash a dog's head, they smashed a dog's head; if they said they would swallow the whole of Great Yin, they would swallow the whole of Great Yin.

A few days later.

A great victory report was sent back to Great Qian.

"Year 20 of Kaiyuan, the Great Qian army engaged the Great Yin army in a great battle at the border; after a day of fierce fighting, they thoroughly routed the Great Yin army, captured enemy commander Lu Junyi alive, beheaded generals Xu Ning, Li Kui, Suo Chao and others, beheaded one hundred thousand! Captured countless!"

After reading this oddly phrased victory report, Emperor Kaiyuan laughed without stop.

Including Li Lindao, the boulder in their hearts finally settled.

A martial arts expert does not necessarily mean they can lead troops and wage war.

Before Tang Luo set out on campaign, they had all prepared for the possibility of defeat; as long as it wasn't a total rout, it was within acceptable range.

As for the possibility of a total rout, it wasn't high either.

Unless "Jia Rong" acted willfully and recklessly, commanded blindly, abandoned the army after defeat and fled alone, that kind of situation would not occur.

Apart from that, with his strength, as long as he was willing to step onto the battlefield and lead from the front, he would not suffer a major defeat.

Strength surpassing a Grandmaster plays too great a role on the battlefield.

Even when hundreds of thousands of armies face off, it is the same.

Next, even more detailed battle reports arrived.

Emperor Kaiyuan read them with repeated pleasant surprise; he hadn't expected that just one battle would directly secure a great victory, and what followed was a typical pursuit of a fleeing enemy.

Even Lu Junyi hadn't expected to lose the first battle so completely, to be heavily wounded and captured himself.

The generals and officers around him suffered even more catastrophic casualties.

Although there were still several hundred thousand troops behind, with the main commander captured and hung on a pole as a flag, how could those soldiers possibly muster any fighting spirit?

Collapse at first contact was inevitable.

What delighted Emperor Kaiyuan even more was that besides capturing Lu Junyi as a "flag" to intimidate the enemy, Gongsun Sheng, the Entering Cloud Dragon, one of the 108 Stars who was extremely important, also died in the chaotic army.

Gongsun Sheng died at the hands of that unassuming Jia Huan.

Entering Cloud Dragon Gongsun Sheng summoned wind and rain, called down thunder before the army, comparable to an immortal, yet Jia Huan countered it with a backhand and "returned the courtesy" by heavily wounding him.

In the end a lucky foot soldier picked up the bargain.

What delighted Emperor Kaiyuan wasn't Gongsun Sheng's death — that was certainly part of it — but more so Jia Huan's sudden emergence.

An extraordinary talent like Gongsun Sheng, who differed somewhat from martial arts experts, Emperor Kaiyuan had truly coveted for a very, very long time.

Unfortunately Great Yin never had talent in this aspect; there were only weird, superstitious types.

Completely not up to standard.

Once someone recommended themselves, performing a "miracle" of placing a spoon about a palm's distance before their eyes, staring at it, and after half an incense stick's time making cracks appear on the spoon.

Emperor Kaiyuan nearly performed making cracks appear all over that person's body.

Simply a joke.

What f*cking use did he have for that kind of ability?

What he wanted was a talent like Great Cauldron's "Demonic Daoist" Zhang Jiao, like Great Yin's Entering Cloud Dragon Gongsun Sheng.

Now a Jia Huan appeared who directly defeated Gongsun Sheng; how could Emperor Kaiyuan not be happy?

Emperor Kaiyuan laughed like a child of over a hundred catties.

Li Lindao's complexion, however, was not good-looking.

Because in the detailed victory report that arrived, his son Li Lin appeared as a clown.

Not knowing the heights of heaven and earth, he "surprise attacked" Great Yin's grain supplies, but ended up being hung up and beaten, losing over half his men dead or wounded.

He was even used as a tool to strike morale.

If Great Qian hadn't directly won a great victory, just based on these people's actions, even if they luckily survived and returned they would have to be thrown in prison.

Fortunately there was still Li Qi who won back a bit of face.

Li Lindao was even considering whether to simply abandon the son he had always favored and just let his daughter inherit the family business instead.

After all, his daughter had achieved considerable success on the martial path.

Most importantly, she was now on good terms with the Jia family's daughter who had distinguished herself brilliantly in this great war, and the two were close — wait!

Li Linao's expression suddenly turned grave. No, no, this won't do.

The Jia clan and the Li clan cannot become allies; moreover, they must remain opposed.

Otherwise, Emperor Kaiyuan Gu Ling would likely end up sleeping with Mei Qingsheng year-round.

If his Li clan allied with the Jia clan, which was destined to rise in the future, they could even overthrow the dynasty and establish a new one.

Better to continue grooming Li Lin.

This son is quite mediocre, and he doesn't get along with the Jia girl; thinking about it this way, he's simply the perfect heir.

Who knows if Li Lin would vomit three liters of blood on the spot if he learned of this — that he was kept as heir precisely because he was mediocre.

Is it his fault that he's mediocre?

Clearly the enemy is too strong, and the teammates are even stronger.

This is Heaven's will, not a crime of war.

Several more days passed. Emperor Kaiyuan and the others waited and waited, their faces growing stranger the longer they waited.

Why is there still no news of the army returning to court?

Their victory banquet was already being prepared; once they returned, every one of the Jia clan's Flower Fruit Mountain Thirteen Taibao would be rewarded.

Some would be enfeoffed as generals, some as marquises.

Guaranteed the rewards would be proper, and the soldiers' hearts would not be chilled.

We've got everything ready on our end — where are your people?

Then came word from the front: after crushing Great Yin, Duke Xuan Guo ordered a pursuit — perfectly normal.

Chasing routed enemies to pile up military merit is what every soldier would do.

As long as you don't fall into a trap and get chased to your own death.

But Duke Xuan Guo led the army chasing and chasing, straight into the heartland of Great Yin.

And sent back word saying they would finish the job in one campaign, simply take down Great Yin, and not return for the time being.

Upon receiving this news, Emperor Kaiyuan nearly vomited blood on the spot — this had directly escalated into a war of national annihilation?

Is this what Duke Xuan Guo meant by "the Jia clan's achievements lie abroad, not at home"?

Are you joking with me?

Emperor Kaiyuan could no longer worry about Tang Luo's unfathomable strength; he issued twelve golden edicts in a row to recall Duke Xuan Guo.

This kind of thing really cannot be treated as a joke.

If Great Qian's hundreds of thousands of troops were all bogged down in Great Yin, and Great Ding mobilized their armies, Great Qian would have no way to resist at all.

Although Great Ding was one of the three kings standing in a tripartite balance, faced with this succulent piece of meat that was Great Qian, they certainly wouldn't mind cooperating once.

Then Great Yin would swallow Great Qian's army and, riding the momentum, attack Great Qian.

Emperor Kaiyuan directly envisioned the miserable scene of Great Qian's destruction.

However, the twelve golden edicts went down like stones sinking into the sea — interpreting "the general abroad need not obey the sovereign's command" to perfection.

But the twelve golden edicts Emperor Kaiyuan dispatched his envoys with weren't entirely without effect.

Batch by batch, roughly a hundred thousand troops had already returned.

Emperor Kaiyuan dared not delay; he immediately dispatched Li Linao to the border to prevent Great Ding from suddenly launching a war at this moment.

Even quite a few of the imperial clan's enshrined experts were sent out, to guard against the unexpected.

Thereafter, the hundred-odd thousand troops led by Duke Xuan Guo were like kites with severed strings, completely losing contact with the Great Qian side.

Only sporadic bits of news trickled back.

On such-and-such a day, the Jia clan army fought such-and-such an army at such-and-such a place — victory.

On such-and-such a day, they broke such-and-such a city — victory.

Huh? How come all the sporadic news is good news?

Naturally it's all good news.

Under Tang Luo's leadership, the army — now transformed into the Jia clan army — with the Thirteen Taibao as vanguard, advanced like a hot knife through butter along the official road, driving straight for Great Yin's central seat of power.

Taking over half a month, they slaughtered and attacked all the way; "no one" was a match for a single exchange.

The hundred-thousand-strong army was now only two days' journey from the imperial capital — one could say they were already at the city gates.

Inside the palace, Hu Baoyi and Ji Shiyu — the current Great Yin Emperor, Song Jiang — was furious: "What are you doing! What exactly are you doing! During this time, you were given men when you asked for men, weapons when you asked for weapons, provisions when you asked for provisions! And the result? You report this to me! Forget annihilating the enemy — you couldn't even stop them!"

Before him, a group of people all hung their heads, not uttering a word.

After venting his anger, Song Jiang sat down again: "How many usable men remain?"

Wu Yong, now the Chancellor and known as the Resourceful Star, said: "The Imperial Guard two thousand, the Qiwei Camp three thousand… at most thirty thousand city-defense soldiers can be mobilized."

Hearing this, Song Jiang slammed the table hard once more.

The numbers are too few.

Under normal circumstances, if all usable soldiers near the central imperial capital were mustered, there should also be a hundred thousand.

But Song Jiang usurped the throne.

Even a normally enthroned emperor faces "one morning a new emperor, one morning new ministers" — let alone him.

After ascending, he naturally had to ruthlessly purge his surroundings; otherwise he couldn't even sleep peacefully.

Purging dissidents on one hand, and dispatching Lu Junyi to war with Great Qian to divert attention on the other.

A two-pronged approach — this imperial throne would surely be secured.

Result: Lu Junyi collapsed at the first blow; not only a crushing defeat, but Great Qian actually went mad, heedless of everything, their great army driving straight in.

The most critical thing is — it actually succeeded!

Song Jiang even felt that standing in the palace, he could see the "Jia" flag outside fluttering and gradually approaching.

Had he known it would come to this, Song Jiang would certainly not have purged dissenters so recklessly; leaving them to be useful now would have been better.

"How many men does the Jia family army have?" Song Jiang asked.

"At least a hundred thousand..." Wu Yong said softly, his voice tinged with bitterness.

He is indeed the Star of Wisdom, but even a clever woman cannot cook without rice.

Thirty thousand against a hundred thousand—aside from holding the imperial city like a turtle withdrawing into its shell, there is truly no other way.

Moreover, they may not even be able to wait for the loyalist army!

This is the most deadly of all!