Chapter 565: Beat the Drums — Advance!

Dou De's expression was solemn. This tall, dark-complexioned knight-errant looked at the intelligence he had purchased from the ghost market, and, having seen the many changes in the world, exhaled a breath.

He said softly to Shan Xiong beside him: "Burying the common folk alive is an outrage against Heaven itself. Compared with the Qin State we have known, what ought to be done about a Ying State such as this is already perfectly clear."

Shan Xiong, however, still seemed somewhat unwilling, and said: "But are we truly to go and aid Qin Huang? Is this seven-foot frame of heroic resolve to be nothing more than a bridal gown made for another?"

Dou De gazed at his sworn brother and said: "It is not for Qin Huang."

"It is for the common folk of the world."

Shan Xiong could not answer, could not refute.

Dou De said: "After all, is it better — the place where the ruler buries the people alive because the people's corvée burdens are so heavy they cannot eat their fill and so storm the government granaries —"

"Or the one who gives the people fields, teaches them to read, learn Wu Gong, lightens taxes and levies, a ruler who has not even built himself a palace? Sworn brother, you cannot fail to see which is the better."

Shan Xiong said: "But what benefit is there for us in aiding Qin Huang at this moment?"

"Better to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight, the snipe and the clam locked in struggle — we reap the gain."

He looked at this brother of his, who also possessed the bearing of a great serpent of these troubled times, and at last felt a measure of disappointment, and could not help but sigh:

"In your eyes, there is, after all, no place for the common folk."

"A man such as you will never be Qin Huang's match in days to come. Rather than pursuing your own ambitions and causing the people to suffer once more, would it not be better to aid Qin Huang, and when the world knows peace, to roam the jianghu as we once did — would that not be a fine thing?"

"Did we raise our banner for our own wealth and rank?!"

Dou De's expression was solemn and composed. This martial hero of the Eighth Heaven gripped his weapon, and recalled how the august Wu Wang of those days had led those tens of thousands of desperate 'rebels' — common folk all — charging toward the distant horizon.

And at this moment, they discovered that the people were all on the move.

Migrating, fleeing — though most fled toward the waterways. They also saw many young, able-bodied men, silently protecting their families, leaving Ying's core territories to hide themselves away.

A number of these young, able-bodied men, having heard that Dou De and the others meant to go and aid Qin Huang, struggled visibly with their expressions, and at last entreated to join, saying:

"I don't know who Your Majesty is, or who sits upon the throne, but life in Qin State was good — they wouldn't let a man's own father be buried alive."

Dou De was moved: "You are…"

The young man said numbly: "My father was seized to dig a canal for that tyrant Jiang Yuan. His legs stood in the river water — five or six hours a day in summer — until his lower body and legs rotted away, and maggots crawled out of them."

"He came back, and he died."

Dou De's face was visibly moved.

The young man said: "When the new Emperor took the throne, he gave compensation, silver coins to me. But silver I have, yet my father and grandfather do not return. At least since I was small I have heard the tale of Qin Wu Hou leading the people across the river. I want to avenge my father."

There are always those of bold and valiant heart.

Dou De's expression was solemn. Just as Yu Langwang had once guided him, he bent and laid both hands upon the young man's shoulders, saying: "You have no Wu Gong, you cannot take the field of battle. But protecting your mother, or carrying grain toward Qin… Qin Huang's greatest problem is that his logistics and his reserves are insufficient."

"Ying's great army holds the main roads."

"But I know that you folk who live here know the small paths. Though you cannot pass through the army, one man can carry a little grain through… give them a mouthful."

"That is to contribute a great strength to the peace of the world!"

"Even the heroes of this age cannot fight on an empty stomach."

The young man was puzzled: "Is that all?"

Dou De said: "That alone is vengeance."

He clapped the young man's shoulder, then strode forward, and suddenly saw a contingent of fierce, hard-bitten troops burst out ahead. The two sides nearly clashed in full battle, but then he saw that the soldiers ahead wore rough leather armor and fought in strange, unorthodox formations — not the ways of orthodox military men.

Looking more closely, he recognized the man, and called off the fight, saying:

"Is that you, Commandery Prince Bo?"

The bearded man, who had been prepared to fight to the death, was startled at the words, and rejoiced greatly:

"It is truly a flood washing into the Dragon King's temple."

"It is Brother Dou De!"

Dou De was also overjoyed: "You were not killed by that tyrant's army!?"

Commandery Prince Bo replied: "It was indeed dangerous — I nearly died — but I met Brother Bai Posuo, who lent a hand. Only then did I barely scrape by with my life, hiding in the deep mountains, with some place to rest my bones."

"Now I merely lead my brothers on, one day at a time."

"We don't know how many days we can survive under Jiang Gao's regular army. But some brothers heard that Qin Huang and Ying had gone to war, and we reckoned — if Ying wins, we might just get buried alive too!"

"Better than sitting idle and waiting to die, we might as well risk it. If Qin Huang wins, we brothers can go back and farm."

Commandery Prince Bo said, with frank and open directness: "We are all rough men."

"We don't understand Qin Huang's strategies or fine intentions."

"We only fight for the chance to live."

Dou De sighed with feeling: "Being able to live under Qin Huang — that itself counts as the hearts of the people. Since brothers hold this thought, then let us go together!" He had thought that he alone possessed such a bold and generous heart, and now he saw that feeling spreading outward.

Looking down from the sky.

Throughout Ying's interior, disturbances had arisen in every region.

In the lands of Yan and Zhao, there are many men of lofty and tragic spirit!

You buried our brothers alive before, and now you come recruiting us — ha!

Is everything to be as your Ying Emperor decrees?!

Do you not know what a wrathful warrior can do?

Throughout Ying, bold heroes raised their banners — some laughing proudly as they roamed their domains, others storming Ying's government storehouses to seize grain and weapons. And there were yet others, those valiant men whom Wu Wang had once valued.

How can a true man, with his seven-foot frame, drag out a craven existence in this world?

Commandery Prince Bo, Meng Rang, Beihai Guo Fangyu, Qinghe Zhang Jincheng, Pingyuan Hao Xiaode, Hejian Ge Qian, Bohai Sun Xuanya, Zhao Po, Wu Badao, Bai Yuosuo, Meng Hai, Gao Shida…

How many heroes the world holds.

Shan Xiong's face grew solemn, and at last he realized — after Qin Huang had pinned down the military god and famed generals at the front — it was not merely one hero who had risen. And these heroes, without a moment's hesitation, had all chosen to march toward the direction of Town-North Pass.

Li Guanyi, the name Yue Pengwu.

All the world knows it.

The hearts of the people point this way.

The four directions were surging, already in a state of near over-saturation.

Such a situation was like a dam bursting — the more fiercely it had been held back before, the more ferocious the backlash now. In just five or six days, beacon fires and war smoke had already risen across all four directions.

Qin Huang's forces rose and advanced, in only about ten days.

It was as if the great Ying Kingdom — with its three hundred years of dynastic fortune and national destiny — had been yanked straight down from its position as a great Central Plains nation, exposing all the problems upon its vast frame. Jiang Gao was silent for a long while, and was nearly forced to mobilize those second-line armies from the rear.

Clad in armor and gripping sharp weapons, they swept around toward the rear of these 'rebel forces.'

Wei Yiwen said: "But, Your Majesty, at this moment many great generals have led their armies to the front to counter Qin Huang. If we move the armies from our rear away, I'm afraid the garrisons of every city will be weakened. Should anything unusual happen, it would Likely to Be Heavy a repeat of what happened with Yu Langwang back then."

A weariness appeared on Jiang Gao's face. He said softly: "But General He Ruo Qinhu, in a standoff against Yue Pengwu, was already somewhat strained to begin with. If we now let these rebel forces pass through, wouldn't that only pile more pressure on General He Ruo?"

"If General He Ruo fails to hold back Yue Pengwu..."

Jiang Gao's voice stopped.

He did not continue.

But Wei Yiwen and Jiang Cai were both able to grasp what the unspoken words meant. This campaign was the first-ever grand-scale, multi-corps combined operation in history. If Qin Yulong's front line collapsed, those Eighth Heaven war-generals would hardly be of much use on the battlefield.

But if Yue Pengwu broke through He Ruo Qinhu, he could march north to attack the Eastern Capital above, or strike at Jiang Su from the rear below — a direct 'variable' capable of deciding the war, the key to the whole contest.

Wei Yiwen was no war-general, but as an old minister at court.

For some unknown reason, he felt a vague sense of dread, a creeping horror.

A feeling that his own side was being manipulated by Qin Huang.

In a daze, it seemed as if threads upon threads stretched upward from himself, from Jiang Cai, and from Jiang Gao, and in that trance he seemed to see the war-clad Qin Huang gazing coldly down at him.

He had a vague intuition that they could not follow Qin Huang's arrangements.

But the tide was overwhelming.

Not following Qin Wang's arrangements would bring an even greater crisis.

The old minister felt a helpless weariness. After Chen Dingye, the Divine Wu Wang, and Jiang Wanxiang passed away, there had been no one left who could match that young Qin Huang in breadth of spirit and grandeur.

After a long silence, he suddenly wondered — if he had supported Jiang Gao from the very beginning, would things have been different.

But back then, Jiang Gao had not possessed the resolve he had now.

Many things in this world leave no room for choice.

Wei Yiwen only said softly:

"I... obey Your Majesty's decree."

Ying Kingdom's regular army marched out to campaign against the 'rebels' of the four directions — and the 'uprising armies' of the histories — and engagements great and small broke out.

And at this moment, beyond the Northern Pass.

The mild, plain-looking youth tossed aside his bamboo pole, rubbed his chin, and said:

"It's about time."

General Yuan Shitong and Xue Tianxing's expressions subtly hardened. Master Wen Qingyu said: "There are only about eighty thousand soldiers here, which by itself wouldn't be of much use — but now it's different."

"Now the situation under heaven has changed. Ying Kingdom has too many internal matters; they've mobilized other armies to intercept those uprising forces and suppress the common folk."

"So the rear is empty."

"At this moment, the stance Ying Kingdom has shown us is simply too good — one can't resist the urge to give them a stab."

General Yuan Shitong and Xue Tianxing both instantly understood the critical importance of their position. The divine generals were all pinned down, and with Ying Kingdom in turmoil at home, a considerable portion of the armored second-line rear armies had no choice but to be dispatched to suppress the angry, chaotic populace.

This stance was one that any general would find irresistible to strike hard at.

Unless it were Lu Youxian.

Lu Youxian might suspect it was a trap.

Then stack armor, build a fortress, and pass.

Xue Tianxing, however, was somewhat worried, and said: "After all, we're here in Saibei, and the roads are rugged — will we make it in time?"

The mild, plain-looking youth said, puzzled:

"Didn't Jiang Yuan have roads and relay stations built?"

Xue Tianxing's expression froze: "Huh???"

For a moment he couldn't react.

Then his pupils contracted slightly as he realized what this Mr. meant — that Jiang Yuan, wanting to campaign against the Taiping Army beyond the Northern Pass, had mobilized enormous numbers of laborers and commoners to build roads from Ying Kingdom's Central Plains all the way to the Northern Pass.

There were even roads repaired for transporting Bright Pearls.

And all of this had been guided into being by this very Mr.

Was everything within his calculations?

Xue Tianxing looked at the mild, plain, exceedingly reliable and approachable youth before him, and a chill crept faintly down his back. General Yuan Shitong still didn't understand. Master Wen Qingyu said mildly: "After all, roads go both ways."

"They can strike through to us, and we can strike through to them just as smoothly."

"We should even thank Jiang Yuan."

"He's truly a 'good person' of the highest order — no less than Hou Zhongyu."

"He has won us illustrious merit."

Xue Tianxing thought this must be the peak of what this Mr. Wen Qingyu could do. Then, the very next day, he saw this General Wen Qingyu muster the army and proclaim: "The shameless wretches of Ying Kingdom have cruelly oppressed the common people, and worse, in defiance of our pact, they slew Young Master Li Xingyi."

"Young Master Li Xingyi rendered the realm the toil of his very bones. For Ying Kingdom to act thus — how could we fail to avenge Young Master Li Xingyi?! If we cannot avenge Young Master Li Xingyi, with what face shall we ever again look upon His Majesty Qin Huang?!"

Wen Qingyu swept his brush and wrote out a proclamation to denounce the bandits.

Unadorned, finished in a single breath, grand and sweeping in momentum, it used Li Xingyi's death to rouse the morale of the three armies. The great army set out, morale soaring like a rainbow. Only now did Xue Tianxing — counted among the wise generals of the original twenty-four generals of Tai Ping Gong — finally see through the entirety of Wen Qingyu's actions.

Since the moment he had come here, every single thing had its purpose.

One step taken, three steps calculated.

Not a single step wasted.

A peerless genius under heaven — could he truly have reached this step?

Only this time, this foremost strategist of self-preservation actually accompanied the great army as it set out. General Yuan Shitong thumped his chest and swore that even if old Yuan himself died, he would protect Master Wen Qingyu safe and sound.

Xue Tianxing, however, said: "After we break this city this time, what should we do?"

Master Wen Qingyu said: "Naturally, strike where the enemy must rescue."

Xue Tianxing's eyes flickered with a strange glint, and he said in a low voice: "The Eastern Ducheng of Ying."

Master Wen Qingyu said: "Mm."

He said it offhandedly: "I plan to burn it."

Xue Tianxing said: "Mm… huh???" Even this brilliant general, in that instant, could not keep his composure. He raised his head in a daze, looking at Master Wen Qingyu's half-smiling face, and for a moment his mind went blank.

Only Yuan Shitong seemed extremely interested, rubbing his fists together:

"Good!"

"Whatever Mr. says goes — I'll go prepare the fire oil right now!"

Xue Tianxing cursed: "You blockhead, get back here!"

"Mr., this matter would wound the harmony of heaven — please do not do such a thing."

Master Wen Qingyu looked at him and burst into a carefree laugh: "Ahaha, don't take it seriously, don't take it seriously — I was only jesting just now!"

Xue Tianxing wiped his sweat with some difficulty, gazing at Master Wen Qingyu's warm, serene, sincere, and trustworthy face, and for a moment could not tell whether this brilliant but self-preserving strategist was speaking truth or falsehood.

Or rather — how much was true, how much false?

He wouldn't really be planning to burn it, would he?!

He wouldn't… right???

Xue Tianxing could only change the subject, saying stiffly: "Mr. has always planned for himself — why is he willing to take the field in person today?"

Master Wen Qingyu fell silent, then said calmly: "People of the world do the world's work. At this point, there is no retreat. To plan for the world is to plan for oneself — without the world, how can there be a self?"

"At this point, one must step forward."

"It is nothing more than entering the game with one's own body."

The moment these words fell, the composure and magnanimous spirit within them made Yuan Shitong sigh with admiration, yet also stirred ripples in Xue Tianxing's heart as he recalled those old comrades of the Great Peace Army who had once entered the game with their own lives; his expression was sorrowful and solemn.

Then he heard that scholar say lightly:

"I seek a Great Peace — I ask the Ying Emperor to offer up his head."

Xue Tianxing's pupils contracted violently.

Master Wen Qingyu smiled, urged his horse forward, and the great army set out. After traveling two days, just as they were about to enter Ying territory, they saw a contingent of iron cavalry — the riders all extremely tall, clad in heavy armor, weapons in hand, expressions solemn.

The three leaders of this elite iron cavalry rode forward.

One of them raised a hand and pulled off his hood. A hawk's cry pierced the sky. He stretched out his arm, and an exotic bird from the heavens descended, landing on his arm. He was already white-haired, and beside his warhorse lay a war bow.

One was a tall man, still radiating a fierce and valiant spirit.

That tall man carried an enormous case on his back and held an iron monk's staff in his hand.

The other was a man of foreign blood, long absent from the battlefield — tall of stature, expression solemn.

Yuan Shitong and Xue Tianxing, upon seeing those two men of no young age, changed countenance sharply, their joy barely concealed.

If Xue Tianxing could still restrain himself,

Yuan Shitong was on the verge of shouting out loud.

The old man looked at his two old friends, dismounted with a flip, his laughter bold and powerful. The tall middle-aged man also landed, his battle robe flaring to reveal the Ink-Black Weight armor on his body — heavy, murderous, like a beast of steel. The man carrying the case set the case down heavily on the ground. All three cupped their fists toward Master Wen Qingyu:

"Great Peace Army, Wang Shunchen." "Great Peace Army, Yan Xuanji." "Fire Qilin Army, Ashina."

They said in unison: "By Your Majesty's command, we have come to reinforce you!"

Master Wen Qingyu stepped forward solemnly and helped the three men up, saying:

"Please rise, the three of you."

Yuan Shitong and Xue Tianxing, looking at Wang Shunchen and Yan Xuanji, were overcome with emotion.

They were nearly the last of the surviving Great Peace Army. Especially upon seeing Pang Shuiyun also present, their joy knew no bounds. When these men had made their names, they had been the same age as Master Wen Qingyu was today.

But later, after Tai Ping Gong perished, they scattered to the four corners — more than twenty years had passed since.

Reunited now, the eyes of these old veterans reddened. They gripped each other's arms, and before a few words could be spoken, they were already choking up. Pang Shuiyun wiped the corner of his eye and said: "Looking like this, if people saw us, wouldn't they laugh?"

"Get up, get up, all of you."

Yuan Shitong and Xue Tianxing said: "How did you get here?"

Pang Shuiyun said: "The Lord has been campaigning against Ying for over ten days now. Three days before the Lord set out, we received the military order. Just a few of us, we galloped all the way to the grasslands. General Ashina was stationed there, and then we crossed the grasslands to arrive here."

"The Lord ordered us to await Mr. Wen Qingyu, and if the situation changed, to follow Mr. Wen Qingyu's strategy."

Yuan Shitong and Xue Tianxing finally understood.

These men all had at least sixth-heaven Wu Gong as their foundation; in just over half a month, it was enough for them to reach the grasslands and then ride at speed with General Ashina's forces to arrive here.

Yuan Shitong looked at the enormous case beside Yan Xuanji and said:

"Brother Yan, what is this?"

Yan Xuanji said: "It is something the Lord ordered us to bring…"

Under everyone's gaze, he opened the case. Inside was an enormous banner — silk as its base, decorated with cloud patterns, and upon it two grand, sweeping characters—

【Great Peace】.

But upon closer inspection, those so-called ink-colored cloud patterns were actually names, one after another, densely packed.

Yuan Shitong's eyes went wide at the sight of this.

Yan Xuanji said: "Your Majesty found it in the Chen Kingdom's national treasury. After Chen Ding Duke Li harmed the Lord, he actually did not burn our battle flag."

Yuan Shitong said urgently: "Let me see — is my name on it?"

He rummaged through it for a moment, then suddenly burst into laughter.

He had been forty-three back then, and now he was already a sixty-five-year-old war general, yet he still clapped his hands and laughed heartily, as joyous as a youth, saying: "Hahahaha, I've found mine, and Zhuge Gong's is here too! And here, here is yours, Old Xue!"

"This proper-looking one is Gu Daohui's."

"This crooked, chicken-scratched one is the Lord's, ahahahaha, ugly as sin…"

General Yuan Shitong laughed, but as he laughed, his tiger-like eyes reddened.

Of the old veterans of the Taiping Army back then, only they remained.

They wanted to laugh heartily, but tears came first.

Yan Xuanji assembled the eighty thousand Taiping troops here and solemnly brought out this great banner. When these soldiers saw that banner appear once more, in an instant, Duan Qingyu sensed the army's momentum grow stagnant.

It was hard to describe the feeling — as if the air had been smashed down hard by a heavy hammer, collapsing downward as a whole, oppressive and solemn, unsettling.

To tell the truth, Duan Qingyu had never really regarded this army as a first-rate corps, let alone a top-tier force comparable to the Fire Qilin Guard or the Grey Wolf Guard of the Fire Qilin Army.

Because too much time had already passed.

They might once have been an elite army galloping across this battlefield, but more than twenty years had gone by. These Taiping troops, dormant for two decades, now had hair streaked with grey.

Even back then, when they followed Tai Ping Gong, they had been barely past twenty.

Now they were already over forty.

Over forty, often going hungry and poorly clad, out beyond the passes of the Northern Domain, crawling over ice and lying in snow — they looked far older than their actual age, full of white hair and wrinkles.

They were all old soldiers.

Not a single young one among them, yet in this instant, an indescribable feeling arose in this ragtag band of veterans. Their pupils contracted, their bodies instinctively straightened, their breathing grew heavy, and then suddenly shifted.

Hoo—

Ha!

In just an instant, Wang Ashi suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

As if these eighty thousand veterans had, in the span of a heartbeat, become a single whole — like a fierce beast that had slept for over twenty years, opening its eyes once more, sharpening its fangs and tasting blood.

Yan Xuanji shuddered violently, and the great banner of the Taiping Army billowed and snapped.

Yan Xuanji drew a deep breath.

He looked ahead, this famous general long past his youth exhaled, pouring out all the boldness of his life, all the resolve of his life, all the hot blood of this life, and roared:

"Taiping Army, WHERE ARE YOU!!!"

BOOM!!

Eighty thousand Taiping remnants moved as one, stepping forward half a pace.

As one, they raised their arms and struck their chests.

As one, they answered in unison, as if making heaven and earth tremble, saying:

"HERE!"

The army's soul awakened, and the killing aura of that instant nearly turned ink-black, soaring skyward.

Their hair was streaked with grey, the battle robes on their bodies long faded, yet they still stood ramrod straight. As if they were still who they had been back then, as if the brand-new battle robes still hung on their shoulders.

As if, beneath that snapping great banner, that man stood there, smiling as he watched them.

No longer speaking.

Then, as if stretching out a hand, he seized his own great cloak, turned, and clenched his fist.

Striding away in great steps.

Yan Xuanji's eyes blazed crimson as he roared: "All soldiers and officers! The long-cherished wish of the Taiping Army lies in this very campaign! For the Lord's ambition, for the vows we once made — take up your weapons!"

"Taiping Army — beat the drums!!"

"ADVANCE!!!"

With a thunderous crash, the war drums sounded once more.

At this moment, this great army that had lingered in the past finally arrived in the present. They raised the banners of the Taiping Army, the ancient, unadorned war flags rolling and snapping in the air.

Wang Ashi's pupils contracted sharply as he watched this army march past him, witnessing with his own eyes the Taiping Army cross over more than twenty years of time.

Once more, arriving in this era!

Year Four of Qin Huang · Early Seventh Month of Summer.

The seventeenth day of Qin Huang's campaign against Ying, twenty-two years after Tai Ping Gong's death.

The last of the Taiping Army, clutching their lonely, desperate ideals, stepped into the torrent of the times.

Their blade-edge murderous, they smashed enemy after enemy, driving straight toward the Eastern Capital.

Absent from the world for twenty-two years!

Taiping Army —

Step onto the battlefield.

Beat the drums.

Advance!

?? Begging for monthly tickets, friends~