Chapter 521

At dinner time, Li Zhi came in a hurry, found Wei Yuan, and asked with concern: "Mr. Cai has left; I asked him the reason, but he didn't say anything."

Wei Yuan said helplessly: "He said I am unbenevolent and unrighteous and disdains to be with me."

Li Zhi was taken aback: "Is it because of sending mortals to the front line?"

Wei Yuan nodded.

Li Zhi frowned and said: "Mr. Cai's learning is good, but he cherishes his reputation and has always kept himself clean. When necessary, he can indeed sacrifice his life for righteousness, but he is indeed a bit pedantic and stubborn. Alas, I was anxious at the time; if I had waited until the great battle was over to recommend him, it would have been better."

Wei Yuan smiled bitterly: "It's hard to say whether we can win now; it's too early to say the great battle is over. If the refugees who just came from Zhao Guo and Jin Guo are all wiped out and the Shaman still don't retreat, we will have to think of other ways."

"What is the current ratio of Azure Void residents to refugees?" Li Zhi asked.

"About 10% Azure Void residents, 90% refugees."

Li Zhi looked at Wei Yuan inquiringly and asked: "This ratio..."

"The ratio has no special meaning; it is simply because this ratio provides the highest total combat power and is more sustainable."

Li Zhi understood. If Azure Void fell into the hands of the Shaman, none of the residents here would survive, so they would naturally fight to the death. But the incoming refugees did not think so; most of their choices were to continue being refugees and flee to another place.

So Wei Yuan matched a small number of Azure Void residents with a majority of refugees; during the great battle, there was supervision in the back, and when the companions rushed forward, the refugees would follow, and then it would be a natural bloody battle; if they didn't fight, they would die.

If all the Azure Void residents died in battle and the enemy was at the gate, the refugees would surely scatter in a rush.

Li Zhi pondered for a moment and suddenly said: "I know Mr. Cai very well; he won't just leave, he will surely write articles to scold you. This person is a little famous in the literary world, and such a scolding will be very bad for your reputation. While he hasn't gone far, I will send someone to deal with him."

Wei Yuan asked: "Did he take all his disciples away? Did he say anything when he left?"

"When I went to persuade him to stay, he only took half of his disciples and left half behind. He said that when the Azure Void Academy is built and the first batch of students graduate, he will slowly withdraw the disciples. He said you are unbenevolent and unrighteous, but the people are innocent, and these students who are dedicated to learning should not have their future cut off because of this."

Wei Yuan sighed: "This Mr. Cai can be considered to have a beginning and an end."

Li Zhi said: "This is just a small matter. Anyone else could do it; if Brother Fang Hetong were here, he might have done better. But one of his articles could ruin your reputation, and it might be difficult to overturn the case even in history books. Many of those who compile history books in various countries are Mr. Cai's fellow students. These people can write history with their pens and can also turn black into white. Those who achieve great things do not stick to small details, nor can they be constrained by small feelings and righteousness; let me do this for you."

Wei Yuan thought seriously for a moment, then shook his head and said: "In the final analysis, my philosophy is different from Mr. Cai's; if he wants to write articles to scold me, if I have nothing to do in the future, I can naturally write articles to scold him back. If I don't have time myself, I can also ask someone to write articles to scold him back."

"But if I kill him, I feel it would be too much, and it is unnecessary. When I defeat the Shaman, defend Azure Void, turn Azure Void into Qingzhou, and open up a paradise, the people of the world will naturally have a public opinion."

Li Zhi sighed, looked at Wei Yuan, and said: "You... are really naive! My virtuous brother, you are invincible on the battlefield, but you underestimate the darkness of the human heart. The hearts of the people of the world are also a battlefield, and they are the most changeable. It is not that if you think you are reasonable, others will definitely agree with you! Many people oppose you, perhaps just because they don't like you and hope you fall."

"Like Mr. Cai, a variable like this will cause much greater trouble than you imagine. The best strategy is to prevent it before it happens."

Wei Yuan said frankly: "Then it seems I am not material for an emperor; Mr. Cai helped me after all, and I still can't bring myself to do it."

Li Zhi shook his head and finally said: "Forget it, let's talk about the immediate matter. My Zhenshan Army has suffered heavy losses, and the morale of the army has been unstable recently. Give me 5,000 soldiers as a supplement, and then I want 100,000 refugees to be put on the front line. Externally, I will say this is my own decision. Mr. Cai has received funding from my Li family; since it involves me, when he writes articles, he might restrain himself a little."

"Thank you!" Wei Yuan hugged Li Zhi.

Li Zhi raised his hand and patted Wei Yuan's back, saying: "Nothing to thank; when the lips are gone, the teeth are cold; if your Azure Void falls, my domain will also be finished."

Ten days later, Wei Yuan built several new fortresses on the ruins of the original Ding'an City, and at the same time reinforced the high tower artillery platforms in the rear. Now, fortresses with steel roofs have been built on the high towers, protecting the city defense cannons inside.

After more than ten days of good food and drink and day-and-night training, the physique of a large number of refugees has significantly improved. As the war approached, they were deployed in batches to the forward camps close to the front line.

From the moment they entered these camps, the only orders they could receive were two: advance and hold.

Any complex order would cause chaos, and any order that required thinking would also cause chaos. On this point, Wei Yuan had a keen intuition, so from the beginning, he would not give the refugees any chance to cause chaos. Therefore, all orders were simple and straightforward, requiring only execution, not thinking.

The Shaman were still pushing forward, and the canal construction finally stopped at the hundred-li mark. In fact, Hongye wanted to continue building forward, but Wei Yuan suddenly fired several high-speed missiles. The missiles came extremely fast, catching all the Shaman off guard. The main defensive forces of the Shaman were at the altar, so they watched helplessly as the missiles landed on the canal construction site, blowing tens of thousands of Shaman coolies to death on the spot.

All the coolies and slaves fled in all directions, and the Shaman's canal project had to be stopped. The nobles spent a lot of effort and finally stabilized the order again.

In the middle of a large lake nine hundred li away from Azure Void, a magnificent altar had now been built. Blood gathered in the altar, rolling and surging incessantly, as if boiling.

The Holy Shaman hurried to the top of the altar, came to the blood pool, and stood still waiting.

The blood in the blood pool surged, and strips of dark gray-black aura were added to it, floating and stirring with the blood waves, but they never dispersed. At this time, a vortex appeared in the center of the blood pool, and Hongye slowly rose from it. But he only exposed his upper body, and his lower body was still soaked in the blood pool.

The Holy Shaman glanced at the blood pool and saw wisps of gray-black aura floating out from Hongye and dispersing into the blood pool. He closed his eyes tightly, trying his best to stabilize his aura.

"How are you now?" the Holy Shaman asked.

Hongye opened his eyes faintly and said: "They have the blessing of immortal means, and their status is extremely high. I have only cursed and killed less than 200,000 people, and the karma is already a bit unbearable. The karma generated by killing one human in Azure Void is at least five or six times that of other places. For a curse like 'Star Collapse and Decay', I can use it at most once more, but it is best not to use it. Do you have any good news on your side?"

The Holy Shaman said: "It is impossible to have good news. Juling's clansmen have already obtained his corpse, and the tribe's ancestor is extremely furious and has already reported it to the City of Heaven. If you cannot give a satisfactory answer, they will find a way to make the Ancestral Shaman withdraw his favor for you."

Hongye was greatly surprised: "How could Juling's corpse get into the hands of his clansmen?"

"The Huangzu tribe found a way to get Juling's corpse from the humans and handed it to his clansmen."

A murderous intent flashed in Hongye's eyes: "Day of the Great Wilderness! He is courting death!"

The Holy Shaman shook his head: "You can't move him. Juling's ancestor has promised to protect the Huangzu tribe; unless you want to go to war with the Spirit Shamans now, it is best not to move the Huangzu tribe. By the way, you don't think you can beat the Spirit Shamans, do you?"

Hongye said: "The Huangzu tribe is so close to the humans, why didn't I have any news?"

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"In the past, the only one who was close to the humans was a small character named Tianyu, who wasn't even a Great Shaman at the time. So I didn't pay attention, and I didn't continue to follow up. The current situation obviously has nothing to do with Tianyu."

Hongye was thoughtful: "Are you saying that the Huangzu tribe was instructed by someone behind the scenes? Could it be that great person of the Spirit Shamans?"

The Holy Shaman shook his head: "I don't know about that. But it's not just that great person who might make a move. You have seized the initiative now, and there are many potential enemies."

Hongye suddenly smiled and said: "You are right about one thing; I have already seized the initiative. Others can only have follow-ups after I have results here. Before I fail, they can only watch."

A topographic map suddenly appeared in front of the Holy Shaman, which was the battlefield around Azure Void. On this map, one could see a long canal built all the way to Azure Void; it was not only a transport waterway but also part of a terrifyingly large array.

"My troops are in place, and we will attack at the hour of Zi tomorrow. In this battle, you lead the You Shamans of the tribe to sit in town, but you don't have to fight the humans. We will focus on ground consumption, and I want to see how many more people Azure Void can have and how many more battles it can survive!"

The Holy Shaman said: "Our spies inside the human race have sent back a lot of news, some of which are very interesting. One is that the Xu family is constantly increasing troops at Hanyang Pass, perhaps wanting to sit back and reap the benefits after we fail."

"We will not fail."

The Holy Shaman added: "Yesterday we caught a team of Xu family scouts who wanted to open a new trade route with us."

"Trade route? What are they selling?"

"Cloud Brocade."

"No sacrifices?"

The Holy Shaman said: "There were only a few scouts, and they didn't know much."

"I want sacrifices, the more the better. It doesn't matter if there is Cloud Brocade or not. If they agree, we will open the trade route; if they don't, forget it."

"Okay, I will tell them."

"Any other news?"

"There is another interesting thing. According to spies, Wei Yuan has been recruiting refugees to Zhao Guo and Jin Guo, and then filling them into the front line of the battlefield. Most of the ones we killed in the previous battles were these completely worthless refugees."

Hongye said in a deep voice: "I have noticed that this is a very effective strategy, and I have no good way to deal with it. Wei Yuan is not a straw bag; he is a very difficult enemy to deal with! But the movement speed of refugees is limited, and there are only so many refugees he can recruit in a period of time. Once they are used up, he will have no supplements. And refugees will not fight to the last person; if too many die, they will mutiny first."

The Holy Shaman said: "What's interesting is not this, but that his approach seems to be quite unapproved in the eyes of some people in the human race. It is said that some people are very hateful of this move. So we only need to bribe a few people in their imperial court to let them attack Wei Yuan fiercely, and maybe the human race itself will cut off Wei Yuan's reinforcements."

Hongye felt it was a bit incredible: "For the sake of some refugees who are similar to the slaves and lower people on our side, they would attack the great general who defends the territory in their own race? When did the human race become so stupid?"

"How would I know? But it is said that the facts are so. What Wei Yuan did is said to be cruel and unbenevolent on the human side."

Hongye immediately said: "Good! Bribing a few people doesn't cost much, let's bribe a few more! Pull in all those in their imperial court who are willing to take money!"

(End of chapter)