Chapter 194: When a General is Abroad

The few in the heavens were silent for a moment. After a while, the palace-dressed woman said: "Even if he wanted us to act, a dose of Qi luck as a price is enough. This child is not bad."

The middle-aged man from the Xu family also said: "In a life-and-death battle, to possess a supreme treasure and not keep it private, not forgetting to care for colleagues and subordinates—he has the demeanor of a great general."

After the few praised him a few times, they suddenly saw another unremarkable-looking middle-aged man appear beside them.

The old man surnamed Cui asked: "Brother Li, what wind blew you here?"

The middle-aged man pointed a finger, and in the eyes of the crowd, two figures lit up on the chaotic battlefield below. These were two of the sixteen aristocratic family young masters, one male and one female.

"These two children were not prominent when they were in the family, but recently they suddenly had heavenly merit, and their meritorious service has also advanced by leaps and bounds. The family was curious, so I came to see what was going on."

On the battlefield, the two young people from the Li family were fighting in a bloodbath. They both used long spears, their spear techniques refined, without a single superfluous movement, which made everyone in the heavens nod secretly.

The old man surnamed Wang suddenly gave an 'eh' and said: "The charm of these children's spear techniques is seven or eight parts similar. Could it be that they only learned them after arriving here?"

The middle-aged man from the Xu family said: "It should be so. Yi'er learned the sword Dao and had never come into contact with spear techniques. She originally had no interest in spears either."

The spear is a weapon of slaughter on the battlefield, huge in size, and difficult to expand and contract at will after being made into a magic tool. Coupled with the fact that spear techniques emphasize drawing blood upon thrusting and defeating the enemy with one strike, almost no aristocratic young ladies learn the spear.

A ray of light flashed in the palace-dressed woman's eyes, and she said: "If they really only learned it after arriving here, then to have practiced spear techniques to this level in just one month is truly not easy."

To be able to earn a comment of 'not easy' from her meant it was truly rare under heaven.

The two old men stopped playing chess and began to observe the battlefield seriously.

In the northeast direction, a great army was a rolling iron current, moving forward rapidly. Multiple deep cyan flags were erected in the team, with the word 'Speed' embroidered in gold patterns. The general's Qi of the flags merged into one, and the soldiers marched with neat steps, each step being one zhang. They could travel a hundred li in half an hour.

At the center army were large carriages; these carriages were also magic tools, with clouds of Qi overflowing from the bottom of the carriages. With such a huge carriage body, the wheels left only very shallow marks on the road.

A flying bird flew straight into a tower carriage in the center, and after landing, it transformed into a soldier, saying: "Commander, the Shaman tribe's movements have been detected! The center army of 80,000 is 300 li away from us. The rear army of 50,000 is 380 li away from us. The marching speed of the center army is 100 li per hour, and the rear army is 80 li."

Inside the tower carriage stood more than a dozen generals, half of whom were still wearing the military uniforms of the Northern Territory. These people were all murderous, and their momentum was clearly a cut above the others.

Yue Jinshan looked at the map, silently calculating the orientation, and suddenly said in a deep voice: "There is a trap!"

Several generals were a bit confused and were all looking at Yue Jinshan. Yue Jinshan asked the soldier: "Did you see the reality of the center army with your own eyes?"

The soldier did not dare to lie and said: "I did not get close. I was afraid of being detected by the Great Shaman, so I watched the military Qi from afar, calculating based on the formation size and the number of peripheral soldiers."

This is a common practice in the army; otherwise, some Great Shamans also have a slight ability to monitor heaven and earth. These reconnaissance soldiers were only at the Dao foundation level, and if they got too close, they would be caught.

Yue Jinshan said: "Scout again! Send more people over, no matter what the cost, I want the reality of the Shaman tribe's center army!" The soldier's face showed determination, and he took the order and left. Once this order was given, who knew how many lives would be filled in by the Shaman tribe.

Yue Jinshan's brows were tightly locked, and he said slowly: "If my guess is not wrong, the Shaman tribe's main force is not in the center army, but placed in the rear army, just waiting for us to go over. When we are ready to swallow the rear army in one bite, we will find that we have encountered the Shaman tribe's main force. This Shaman army... its target is not the realm, but us!"

Many of the generals were Yue Jinshan's old subordinates from the Northern Territory, and they naturally trusted their commander's ability. Someone said: "Then let's just go over and fight them!"

Another general said: "Or we can speed up and pounce directly on the center army. If the Shaman tribe is really bluffing, their front and rear armies are nearly a hundred li apart, enough for us to crush the center army first."

These two were both fierce generals from the Northern Territory. And another general transferred from the Western Jin country said: "Why don't we garrison on the spot and wait for the Shaman army to come over? At that time, we can rest and wait for the enemy, and we can be sure of victory."

The Northern Territory general said: "That won't work! What if the Shaman army goes to destroy the realm first and then turns back to fight us to the death?"

"The destruction of the realm has nothing to do with us."

The Northern Territory general said unhappily: "Splitting the army and being eaten is a great taboo in military strategy. Even if we want to use the realm as a stepping stone, we must launch a surprise attack when the Shaman army is attacking the realm, so that we can cause more damage. How much strength can a mere realm have? The Shaman army won't consume much by swallowing them. At that time, what we will have to face is the Shaman army with its strength undamaged, and we will have no worries behind us."

The domestic general was unconvinced: "The realm is full of refugees; if they all die, it will save trouble. Even if they don't consume much, they can still kill thousands of Shaman troops. We might as well set off when the war there is coming to an end, just in time to catch the Shaman army cleaning up the battlefield, and we can also fulfill the Great King's wish. Isn't that the best of both worlds?"

The Northern Territory general glared and said angrily: "Friendly forces are in trouble, and you remain as still as a mountain? If you were in the Northern Frontier, you bastard, I would be the first to chop you up!"

"That's enough." Yue Jinshan's calm sentence made the generals quiet down.

!.

He stared at the map, and after a moment said: "Continue forward, straight to the rear army! Everyone has fought the Liao barbarians in the Northern Frontier; if the Shaman tribe wants to fight, we might as well test their quality."

The domestic general's expression changed slightly, and he said: "Commander, the Shaman army is prepared, we don't need to fight head-on, right? Why not fight the center army first?"

Yue Jinshan said calmly: "After fighting the center army, we still have to fight the rear army. As long as we defeat the Shaman army's main force, their center and front armies will be in our pocket."

The Northern Territory general was even more dissatisfied and cursed: "What kind of thing are you, grandson, with so many problems! How the Commander fights the war is not your turn to criticize! If you don't want to fight, get out, and leave the troops behind!"

The general did not dare to say more, but stared fiercely at the Northern Territory general, his eyes full of resentment.

Following Yue Jinshan's order, the army turned slightly, increased its speed, and rolled toward the Shaman army's rear army.

But the army had only traveled a few dozen li when a cyan falcon flashed like lightning and transformed into a human form in front of Yue Jinshan. This person was wearing a cyan official uniform with a jade belt, the color of a court official. As soon as he appeared, he said: "The Great King has an order, commanding you to stop marching immediately and not to engage with the Shaman army!"

All the Northern Territory generals were in an uproar, while the domestic generals remained silent, exchanging glances quietly.

Yue Jinshan thought for a moment, then took the imperial decree and placed it on the table, saying: "When a general is abroad, he is not bound by the monarch's orders. This general commands a great army, and with a strong enemy in front, I should be able to act according to the situation. Pass the order, the army continues forward!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 195 =====