Chapter 748: A Different Way to Gnaw

Winter was approaching, and the Northern Frontier had already welcomed its first heavy snowfall, deep enough to cover one's knees, making it difficult even for the Liao horses to move.

Ten thousand miles to the southwest, in the mountain dweller's territory, a chilling intent had already set in. The army had long since issued winter gear, and Li Zhi had racked his brains to procure several thousand *dan* of cotton to distribute to the inhabitants of the territory, so they could make winter clothing and bedding.

The mountain dweller's territory was not as bitterly cold as the Northern Frontier, but it did snow. Winter lasted for three months of the year, a time of silver-clad landscapes and dormant life, with the entire land falling into silence.

As for the Qingming territory where Wei Yuan resided, it was located in the Shaman region, humid and hot all year round. Its advantage was that crops could be planted in all four seasons, but its disadvantage was the pervasive miasma and poison. In the past, a human army had ventured deep into the Shaman region, and after a march of only a thousand miles, before even reaching the battlefield, their casualties had already exceeded half, with thirty percent dying directly from illness.

Only after seeing much did Wei Yuan discover that Qingming seemed to have been born specifically for the Shaman region. The "Jia Wood Nurturing Profound" specifically countered the Shaman region's poisonous vapors, and its speed in transforming the heavenly winds and earthly waters was far faster than ordinary boundary stones. It only took half a year for the earthly poisons to weaken to a level where strong humans could barely survive, and one year for them to weaken to a level tolerable for ordinary people.

Now, the transformation of the heavens and earth in the core of Qingming had been approaching seven years, and the earthly poisons had completely transformed into spiritual energy, with a concentration far exceeding other domains.

To say nothing else, just comparing it to the Bishui domain, the Bishui domain had been established for two years, but only within ten miles of the boundary stone was there clean water, and it still had to be further detoxified and purified through magic arrays before it could be drunk.

The Bishui domain could only cultivate a few hundred thousand *mu* of land, and the yields were low, with each *mu* producing less than a hundred catties. The reason the Bishui domain could support an army of two hundred thousand and seventy thousand civilians was actually by relying on grain imported from the outside world.

In the winter of the sixth year of Tianqi, Wei Yuan had initially smoothed out Qingming, possessing a population of eight million and cultivating ten million *mu* of land. After resting and recuperating for nearly a full year, there was grain beyond counting, and in a moment of carelessness, fifty million catties had rotted away.

The Northern Frontier was about to be frozen by heavy snow, finally ushering in a short ceasefire, which allowed Wei Yuan to pull himself away from the Northern Shanmen. At this moment, Wei Yuan had elite troops and sufficient grain, and his gaze finally turned toward the Five Commanderies, determined to put the title of "Grand General of Southern Military Affairs" into practice.

After returning to Qingming from the Northern Shanmen, Wei Yuan's first act was to go to the Military Affairs Hall in the Immortal City.

The Military Affairs Hall had been expanded, with two additional halls each to the east and west. The sand table models set up in each hall were different. The central main hall remained the unchanging Qingming surrounding area, while the first room of the east side hall had now been replaced with the terrain of the Five Commanderies.

When Wei Yuan walked into the Military Affairs Hall, the cultivators of the Grand Void Palace, who had long since received notice, had all arrived.

On the sand table, the Five Commanderies were marked in different colors. The general orientation was four commanderies lined up below, bordering Zhao Guo, with Xiang Rong Commandery located behind the four. Including Hanyang Commandery, where Hanyang Pass was located, and the adjacent Huang Ping Commandery, these were two of the eight commanderies of Ningxi, all within the Xu family's sphere of influence, so they were marked in dark red. In addition, Xiang Rong Commandery was also marked in red.

The colors of each commandery represented the degree of resistance to Wei Yuan, the Grand General of Southern Military Affairs, in his conscription of troops and grain. Red meant complete refusal, a tough attitude, showing no face at all, and there had even been some armed conflicts.

Wei Yuan had not sent many people to the Five Commanderies previously. Cui Yu had only led a thousand light cavalry and several hundred young military officers who had just graduated from the military academy to take over the defense of the commanderies. This step had gone relatively smoothly; after all, the Zhao army was eyeing them covetously. Although the main battlefield was in the east, they had also deployed hundreds of thousands of troops opposite the Five Commanderies, ready to attack at any time.

Many of the generals in these Five Commanderies were there relying on family connections to mix for qualifications at the border, not truly to guard it. After Zhao Guo started the war, half of the border defense generals had simply vanished in the very first month. They had all activated their connections to be transferred elsewhere, and those who remained were the ones who couldn't leave.

According to the Jin laws, generals and local chief officials had the responsibility to guard the land, and those who deserted in the face of battle were to be beheaded. If a city was lost and the defending general and chief official survived and fled, they were also to be beheaded. In short, the local officials had to coexist with the land.

Therefore, Cui Yu had faced little resistance in taking over the border defenses, but for the most part, he had taken over empty military strongholds, where the number of soldiers was not even one-tenth of the normal amount. After the generals fled, many of the soldiers had also run away.

Wei Yuan's gaze fell on the three commanderies marked in red. That the two Xu family commanderies were hard to gnaw was within his expectations; after all, even the Jin King could only collect three or four hundred thousand taels of silver there in a year.

The third red mark was Xiang Rong Commandery, which was the place Wei Yuan was prepared to let Sun Yu gnaw hard. Wei Yuan reached out and pointed at the sand table, and all the data and information for Xiang Rong Commandery appeared automatically.

Xiang Rong Commandery had a population of nine million, with six million *mu* of land registered, and the actual land should be over twelve million *mu*. The Xiang Rong Commandery Magistrate was named Zhuang Zhong, a protégé of the Left Minister, the second-place finisher in the imperial examinations thirty years ago, who had attained the Dharma Form realm at fifty, and his path of cultivation was in a Cave Heaven Academy.

This person was arrogant, haughty, and stubborn.

In Xiang Rong Commandery, the land owned by the pure-stream capital officials totaled eight million *mu*, accounting for more than half of the entire commandery. This commandery was the base camp of the pure-stream faction, and even the aristocratic families had to stand aside.

The data clearly stated that Sun Yu had sent over a hundred people to visit more than seventy large households in the commandery, demanding to survey the land and requisition grain and military provisions.

As a result, more than half were met with closed doors, conflicts arose in over twenty households, and five households directly beat and captured all the people Sun Yu had sent. The official documents issued by Wei Yuan as the Grand General of Southern Military Affairs were torn to shreds on the spot and trampled into mud.

These people were beaten severely and then sent to the local government office, and to this day, they were all still imprisoned in the jail. Sun Yu had gone to demand their release several times, but he hadn't gotten a single person back, and he himself had almost been detained. A total of over forty people had been detained by the government office, and their life or death was currently unknown.

There were two other large households. Sun Yu had sent two groups of people, totaling twenty, but after those two teams went out, they vanished without a trace and there was no more news of them.

Seeing this, Wei Yuan was just about to calculate their fate when he suddenly felt something in his heart; their souls had already returned and entered the Gate of Myriad Worlds.

Wei Yuan was startled, and then a murderous aura flashed across his face. He said, "Has Sun Yu left yet?"

A cultivator standing in attendance said, "He set off this morning, he should have left the domain by now."

Wei Yuan's gaze returned to the map, and then he pointed at the intersection of Xiang Rong Commandery and Huang Ping Commandery. "The two rivers meet here, and the main roads leading to the three commanderies all pass through this place; it looks not bad. Xu Yi, lead ten thousand men to set up camp here first; from now on, this will be my Southern Military Affairs Grand Camp. I will bring fifty thousand men myself and follow shortly."

Xu Yi nodded and then asked, "I have to pass through Hanyang and Huang Ping commanderies; if the Xu family sends people to intercept, what should I do?"

"You may open fire, but if you open fire, you must win."

Xu Yi accepted the order.

Wei Yuan then selected a hidden location three hundred miles away from the Southern Military Affairs Grand Camp and sent two battalions of the elite Mietian Gang to station there.

Ten days later, the Qingming army moved out, and the various commanderies were shaken.

Although the troops Wei Yuan brought were not many, the military aura was so strong that it was no less than thirty thousand iron cavalry. Along the way, anyone who knew anything about military affairs was struck dumb with fear. All four gates of every city in the Xu family's two commanderies were tightly shut, watching Wei Yuan's army pass through their territory.

By the time Wei Yuan arrived at the Southern Military Affairs Grand Camp, Xu Yi had already built a camp large enough to hold one hundred thousand people and had deployed over a hundred cannons for defense.

After Wei Yuan moved into the camp, over a hundred Dharma Form incarnations and several Dharma Form incarnations flew out of the camp, heading in all directions to officially harvest the Five Commanderies.

In Xiang Rong Commandery, in front of a large mansion occupying several hundred *mu*, leaning against a mountain and facing water, the sound of rapid hoofbeats suddenly rang out. Dozens of fully armed cavalrymen galloped toward the mansion's main gate.

The gate guards hurriedly brought over a dozen retainers to meet them. The general in the lead sat high on his horse and said coldly, "I am a Mobile Corps Commander of the Great Jin, and I have urgent business to see your master. Report it quickly, otherwise, if you delay military affairs, I will take your heads!"

The gatekeeper was a discerning man, and seeing these dozens of cavalrymen, tall and strong, filled with murderous intent, he immediately knew they were not to be trifled with and hurriedly sent someone to notify the steward. A moment later, the steward hurried over, accompanied by a young man.

This young man was full of arrogance and opened his mouth to say, "A mere Mobile Corps Commander, and you dare to be so arrogant! You don't even look at what place this is. My master is the second son of the Commandery Magistrate! The mistress is the daughter of Minister Liu of the Ministry of Revenue in the capital..."

At this moment, the steward saw the style of the knights' armor clearly, especially the firelocks hanging on the sides of the warhorses, and his expression changed. He whispered, "They are people from the Dingxi Military Governor."

The young man had originally just been arrogant, but upon hearing this, he laughed out loud, then looked ferocious. "A while ago, you sent people over wanting to rob money and grain, and they were all captured and sent to the government office. Now you dare to come again? Men, take them!"

This shout was full of vigor, but the over a hundred retainers behind him were all hesitant and didn't dare to move. The young man was furious and was about to flare up when the general on the horse suddenly swung his whip and lashed it across the young man's face!

This lash was extremely heavy; half of the young man's face was a bloody mess, his mouth was split open to reveal his gums, and one of his eyeballs popped out.

The knights immediately spurred their horses forward, charging into the mansion, and with one pass, they knocked down all the retainers. These mansion guards were like little chicks in front of these iron cavalrymen in heavy armor. Immediately, the mansion was filled with shouts, chickens flying and dogs jumping, and the crowd scattered in panic.

The general grabbed the steward who was trying to flee and said coldly, "Where does your master live? Take us to him!"

The steward was already trembling like chaff and pointed toward the main courtyard, unable to even speak clearly. At this moment, a momentum soared into the sky from the mansion, and a fierce man rose into the air, roaring with a voice like thunder, "Which bastard is it that dares to run wild in the Zhuang mansion?!"

This man had an excellent appearance, his muscles bulging and veins popping. He released his Foundation Establishment late-stage cultivation without any concealment, and many servants and maids couldn't even stand. Behind this fierce man rose three more figures, all with excellent appearances, fierce and evil, all with Foundation Establishment mid-stage cultivation.

The Wei Yuan incarnation inside the armor didn't even bother to look, just waved his hand. The knights immediately raised their guns and aimed, and in an instant, the sound of gunfire roared, and over ten flying swords struck the man on the spot, turning him into a sieve!

The man looked astonished, then fell from the sky. The three figures behind him were filled with terror; only when the knights fired did they finally reveal their cultivation—they were all Foundation Establishment!

The three brothers didn't say a word and turned to run.

Following this, the knights were like tigers entering a flock of sheep, sweeping through everything all the way into the main courtyard.

A moment later, the mansion's main gate opened wide, and several carriages drove out, packed with masters and young masters, mistresses, concubines, and young ladies in gorgeous clothing. Nearly a hundred knights escorted the carriages, heading all the way toward the Southern Military Affairs Grand Camp.

After traveling about two miles, Wei Yuan ordered ten knights to escort the carriages and continue forward, then said to the remaining knights, "Everyone, hurry and change your clothes. This is the first time our Black Wind Gang has moved out; we must do it cleanly and not leave a single treasure behind."

The knights roared their agreement and took out black clothes and black headscarves, changing directly on their horses.

Wei Yuan then said to one of the knights, whose figure was slightly bloated and out of place with the others, "Wenwu, you think of a few more names for evil cults and bandits; we'll need them soon."

Xu Wenwu blurted out, "Of course, it has to be the Joyous..."

(End of Chapter)