Destiny is ashes

Chapter 446 Military Organization (5500, today's w word)
“Total destruction…”

Inside the big tent, the cavalry commander with hawk-like eyes bent his fingers and tapped on the long table where the map was placed. His brows were tightly furrowed, and a ray of charred flames pointed to the node of Broken Blade Mountain, which was the place where the Vanguard Camp transmitted the information for the last time.

"Ambush? Or a large hidden formation? Are the reinforcements from Dachen faster than us?"

He stood up, his tall body was nearly ten feet tall, and his obvious giant blood made his blood vessels and muscles condense into bone armor on the surface and almost tangible metal patterns.

This is the original meaning of "Tie Li". It is said that in ancient times, the Tie Li ancestors brought by the great immortal were all giants with copper foreheads and iron bones. They were strong enough to move mountains and drink rivers. The witches among them could sense all things and imitate the laws of heaven and earth.

The bloodline of the Iron Cavalry Commander is not weak, but it has not yet fully awakened. Even so, this bloodline enables him to become the core command level among the Thirteen Iron Li Tribes, with an independent organization and the authority to command the military.

The Iron Cavalry Commander has always been proud of his bloodline and military exploits, and he did not disappoint the king's trust in him. On his way to the south, he has conquered seven cities, big and small, and countless towns and villages. His strength has also increased rapidly, from the middle stage of martial veins [Hundreds of Thousands of Refinements in the Earth's Veins] to the current high-level martial veins [Qi Penetrating the Divine Platform and Combining the Sky and the Sea]. He only needs one last step to [Three Yuans Return to One and Ascend the Ladder to Heaven] and reach the peak of martial veins.

But this time, he encountered the biggest setback since he led the Iron Cavalry when no accidents should have occurred.

The commander thought he would be angry and shocked, but he unexpectedly found that he was not surprised or angry. He even felt relieved. "I said Dachen would not let us win so easily. Tell me, which group of Wuwei attacked you? Did they belong to the Hydra (Gu Yunzhi) or the new old mountain monster (Chen Haoshan)?"

"Neither, Commander... In fact, I didn't see anything. I only remember a bloody flame of lightning."

The scout, who was kneeling on one knee with half of his arm burned, said with a pale face: "I am alive because I was taking over from the night scout. I had just walked out of the camp when the entire camp exploded and disappeared... I was blown away by the bloody explosion, and my left arm was on fire. I had to cut it off to escape... I really don't know the details!"

——I’m not lying…it seems the attack was too fast and I didn’t have time to react.

The commander frowned, but finally sighed and waved his hand, saying, "Come on, apply medicine." He patiently instructed the remaining scout, "Rest well. The merits of the vanguard camp will not be forgotten. Go to the rear to heal your wounds and return to the unit to train more men."

"I am not afraid of death!"

These words only aroused the scout's ferocity. He raised his head, his eyes reddened: "On the day of the war, it is an honor to die, and it is a disgrace to live. I, He Landuo, am devoted and ardent, and the heavens can bear witness to this!"

Before he finished speaking, he used his only remaining right hand to grab his chest, forcibly pulled out his heart, and raised it to the Iron Cavalry Commander: "I cannot understand what happened at that time, but you, the commander, must understand better!"

"Please use my heart as a mirror and observe my soul!"

"……it is good!"

The Iron Cavalry Commander had a solemn expression on his face. He raised his hand and held the scout's hand and heart together. His eyes lit up with a desolate white flame: "I will never let you down!"

Suddenly, a smell of burnt charcoal rose up, and wisps of white smoke poured out from the scout's seven orifices and poured into the commander's seven orifices.

At this moment, with the help of the scout's memory, he relived the scene of the vanguard camp being attacked.

"……I see."

The cavalry commander raised the body of the scout who had already died and sent someone to take it back to the rear for burial. His face was solemn. "It was an ambush in the ground - a trap buried deep in the earth veins, which was detonated in one fell swoop when the vanguard camp was careless - with such power, if you want to protect the army, you have to activate the military soul magic."

“But if we don’t have the military soul ability, then the enemy will have the initiative and advantage… It is difficult for the gold-eating rats to find these traps, and by the time they find them, they may have already fallen into the trap.”

He fell into deep thought, unable to find a good solution for a while - even if he found it, he would have to spend effort to eradicate it or take a detour. And if it was a key area like a geocentric node, the unexpected aftermath of the eradication might expose his target.

As a highly mobile cavalry unit, their secret to fighting against Dachen is stealth, high-speed mobility and elusiveness - but the existence of mines can completely block their advantage points.

"...Sure enough, the intelligence about our high-speed mobile siege tactics has been leaked. With Dachen's background, they can easily come up with a countermeasure to deal with us... We can only develop new tactics."

"Linjiang City already knows that our vanguard has arrived nearby. Even a full-scale surprise attack is meaningless..."

After thinking hard for a while, the Iron Cavalry Commander still couldn't come up with a good solution. He could only sigh, report the intelligence to his superiors, and then pass on the order: "Stop marching! Advance slowly! Check the ground traps carefully!"

Just when the Tieli cavalry had to slow down their march.

In Linjiang City, the Anjing side was celebrating a great victory. The whole city was celebrating for a day, with wine and meat everywhere.

Annihilating a vanguard of 300 people may not sound like a large number, but because the enemies were all Wu troops, it was actually a considerable achievement.

According to Gu Yunzhi, this is enough for the Shenjing Military Department to review and give a meritorious service, and all meritorious soldiers can be granted 100 acres of land, or spiritual objects of equivalent value.

An Jing himself did not need the credit, or rather, he wanted to give up the credit and change the lives of more people, which would be more beneficial to him. Therefore, he announced that all the credit would be given to the group of warriors led by Xu Tai who laid the mines, as well as other militiamen who responded to the call of the Linjiang City government to build fortifications and lay mines.

For a moment, many citizens in Linjiang City who had been skeptical and on the sidelines suddenly regretted their decision - An Jing really deserved to be appointed by God. The cavalry that they had once regarded as fierce tigers were wiped out in an instant in front of him. If they had known earlier, they would have come to support him and could have shared some of the credit.

As a result, when An Jing announced that Linjiang City needed to recruit more militiamen, those who had been procrastinating began to rush forward.

"But next, we have to fight a tough battle."

After the celebration, in the government meeting hall, An Jing looked at the map and said, "Except for the mines, our strength is absolutely inferior. If the reinforcements don't come, the cavalry won't need to use any means, they will just roll over and we will have no chance of stopping them."

"Although the mines are extremely useful, they will certainly alert the other side. It is almost impossible to get as much credit as now."

An Jing never underestimates his opponents. A simple technology like landmines would definitely be discovered by the Tieli side, which would just prevent them from launching surprise attacks as fast as the wind.

Of course, this is enough. If we can delay a little longer, reinforcements will arrive sooner.

"Right now, there are probably dozens of different armies in the Northern Frontier, each fighting against the Thirteen Kings of the Tieli Northern Barbarians. The two largest armies are the Chongshan Army led by me and my old colleague from the Western Mountains, Chen Haoshan."

Gu Yunzhi explained the current situation in the northern border to An Jing: "The Hanhai Domain was originally under the jurisdiction of King Jing, and later under the jurisdiction of King De. However, King De was originally just an idle prince, and was accidentally chosen by Emperor Blood to become the King of Zhen. He has no team of his own, so even if we want to obey his orders, he has no channel to issue orders. In addition, after King Jing's death, Tianwu disappeared, and Shenjing's attitude was ambiguous. The entire domain has no clear voice, so we can only fight on our own."

"Now Dachen is fighting with the Chenli and Tieli tribes with Jinjiang as the boundary. I can occasionally defeat Jinjiang, but they can also attack me. The battle lines of both sides are intertwined and change frequently. I don't have much spare strength to send out to help you."

"That's what I mean."

An Jing said: "Is there still some?"

"Indeed there are." Gu Yunzhi said, "And these people were originally your junior brothers and sisters - that is, the 'vanguard' led by Cang Linzu."

"Oh?" Hearing this, An Jing was really a little surprised: "I heard that you are very optimistic about Xiaocang. How can you bear to send him out?"

"Haha." Hearing this, Gu Yunzhi shook his head: "Even the citizens of Linjiang City are willing to send their children to join the militia and are ready to take a gamble, so how can I not take a gamble?" "I bet you have a lot of cards up your sleeve, and you will definitely win this time. Xiaocang is your junior brother, and you will never let him suffer a loss. You can make the best use of his abilities, make great contributions, and become a future star with great potential under my command - in this way, you can use Dachen's resources to train your junior brothers and sisters, and I can also get some credit."

"Unless you lose, you and I will win big."

An Jing had figured it out, although Gu Yunzhi looked calm, he was actually an old gambler whose voice would raise when he said the word "gamble". He was betting on more than just the future of having enough food and clothing and the credit for An Jing's great victory... He was betting on his own future, on the King of De behind him, and even on "You Ruhui", to be on good terms with him!

"In short, although you have those magical Heavenly Secret Iron Kites, Cang Linzu's ability to communicate with the spirit world is extremely useful. I don't quite know how to guide him. After thinking about it, maybe you have some ideas."

Gu Yunzhi said with his hands behind his back: "They will arrive in Linjiang City soon. In addition, I will also send a batch of 'armor', which is the foundation of the military. You can select a group of people you want to train as armored guards and form your 'military organization'."

"Believe me, this is definitely a great gift. You don't need to refuse it. It can also be regarded as my thank you gift for your master and disciple protecting the little princess."

Armor...

Hearing this, An Jing couldn't help but think of the 'Fengdu Guards' of the Tianyuan Realm, and the 'Red Armor Guards' he had seen at Xuanming Manor.

These armored guards are not that strong in their true form. For example, if An Jing met a Fengdu guard now, he could fight him with his bare hands, drag him out of his armor and beat him to death.

However, when the Fengdu Guards appeared that time, there were more than a dozen of them, and the Red Armor Guards numbered hundreds or even thousands. Each piece of armor was a part of the martial arts formation. As long as they were arranged and combined, they could form a myriad of changing military formations. Their strength and spirit could also be connected to each other, and even turned into bloody smoke rising into the sky, shattering spells, distorting the Four Symbols and Five Elements, and creating a huge "military formation domain".

"This is indeed a gift that is a bit excessive."

Exhaling, An Jing asked seriously, "But is this really okay? Can the military establishment be sent out so casually?"

"Ha." Gu Yunzhi shook his head. "If you hadn't received the letter from King De, I wouldn't have dared to do this. But King De is the king of the Vast Sea Territory after all. He is the sky of this territory. Even if he can't find a place to take charge of things for the time being, as long as he spends a few years, he will always be able to gather his own group of people and gradually control this land."

"I've already agreed with you that if the King of De invites me in the future, I will definitely join his army. But you are different... You are the first city lord that the King of De has actively rewarded. This is not an invitation, but a direct acknowledgment that you are his direct descendant."

As An Jing opened his eyes wide and pointed at him with a look of "Me?", Gu Yunzhi said with a smile, "What's so surprising? The imperial court's order to suppress the king, do you think it has no legitimacy?"

"Listen, when the new king takes office, many old city lords and old officials will be purged and investigated, but you don't need to be, because you have been recognized by the King of Town himself... Your success represents the success of King De, and more people will choose to join him, and he will control the vast sea faster."

"But at the same time, there are also many people, both locals and people in Shenjing, who are watching you, hoping that you will fail and then interrupt the process of King De gradually gaining control of the vast sea. Behind these forces are either high-ranking officials in Shenjing, or various noble families, or... other town kings."

"Do you still think that it's no big deal for you to get a little military organization when you are at the center of these battles?"

"Yeah." An Jing thought about it, then raised his hand to ask for more. "I think I'm at a disadvantage. Please give me more."

"Haha, you don't need me to give it to you. When you win, the King of De will express his gratitude."

At this point, Gu Yunzhi was also a little surprised: "I remember you said that the envoy of King De was coming? Why hasn't he come yet?"

An Jing didn’t know either, but he didn’t care much. It would probably only happen in the next few days anyway.

Although Gu Yunzhi was calculating, a gambler, and had a strange attitude, he was still one of us. An Jing had gained benefits from him and a lot of information that he couldn't get through his own channels, which made him more aware of the situation in Northern Xinjiang.

In particular, he also captured several prisoners, from whose mouths he learned a general idea of ​​the current relationship between Tie Li and the sect.

Just as he thought, the Thirteenth King of Tieli went south to invade the Northern Border, not only because of the frost disaster that made the Tieli people unhappy, but also because there was a sect behind him pushing him to test the situation in the Northern Border of Dachen.

Initially, the goal of the Thirteenth King of Tieli was only to "severely damage the defenders of Qingyu Pass", and then to fish, hunt and farm near the "Usduo Lake (also known as Bohai Lake)" around Qingyu Pass - in other words, from the very beginning, the Tieli tribes had never thought of really breaking into Dachen Pass, they just hoped that there were no resource points guarding the Qingyu Pass, so that they could have more meat.

Who would have known that the defenders of Qingyu Pass would collapse at the first blow? This was no longer a surprise but a shock to the coalition of Thirteen Kings. They were afraid that this was some kind of trap set by Dachen, which would give Dachen an excuse to accuse them of forcing people to die and then slandering them for committing a massacre and completely wiping out the Tieli tribes. They didn't even dare to kill a single prisoner, but sent them all back to the rear, where they ate and lived with them and were treated as their own people.

This move allowed many Tieli tribes to gain manpower replenishment, and some tribes even let these Dachen people hold high positions. But in general, these Dachen people unexpectedly did not do anything evil, and even led the way for them to return to their hometown and establish a base, providing great convenience for the Tieli army to move south.

It was precisely because Dachen did not take any countermeasures and only the local defenders resisted that the Tieli tribes marched straight in, wreaked havoc southwards, and swept through many towns - then with the help of the armaments and craftsman smelting factories left by Dachen in those towns, as well as captured craftsmen, the armaments of the Tieli tribes also grew rapidly through spoils of war and battles, simulating a number of elite troops like the Iron Cavalry.

This result was far beyond the expectations of the Thirteen Kings and the sects behind them... This also led to some conflicts between the two sides.

In Chenli, the royal families of various tribes are all inner disciples or true disciples of the major sects, and those who can become the kings of various tribes are all disciples who have studied abroad in the three sects of Zuohuan, Hongfu and Taiming.

War can bring rewards and merits to the sect and consolidate their rule. In the beginning, the kings were indeed completely united with the sect and tried their best to capture the cities of Dachen, expand the territory and recover their homeland.

However, when the Tieli tribes were almost full and the kings were planning to stop and go back to recuperate, the sect still forced the tribes to continue to gather their troops and march south to cross the Broken Blade Mountain and attack the relatively warm Hannan area.

This was clearly beyond the capabilities of the Tieli tribes - not to mention the logistical issues, the Hannan defenders were full of energy and well-rested, and many cities were guarded by divine soldiers, each of which was a tough nut to crack. If they had to go to war, it would only be consuming the blood of the Tieli men to satisfy the sect's desire to test Dachen's tolerance limit.

But the sect's control over the various tribes is so strong that the common commander of these three cavalry units, Kan Hao, is a former inner sect disciple of the Taiming Sect. He obeyed the orders of his master and obtained the approval of King Ju Guang Cui Siluo, who is also a senior brother of the Taiming Sect. He led his army south to attack the city in order to capture Broken Blade Mountain.

The old scout named Kuo Yunlu is old man Tie Li, who has a very high prestige and knows a lot of inside information. His cooperation makes An Jing understand that Tie Li and the sect are not of the same mind. Tie Li even didn't want to fight a long time ago, but was forced to continue the war by the sect.

In fact, if the response was proper, this war, which, together with the frost disaster, caused chaos in the entire northern border and displaced countless people, would not have happened from the beginning - the Tieli people, who were more adapted to cold weather, could have recuperated by the Bohai Lake, and if Dachen had provided timely disaster relief, so many people would not have died.

Behind all these wars and deaths, disasters and sufferings, in the final analysis, are nothing more than the two events of 'King Jing's death and the loss of the owner of Northern Frontier' and 'the test of the five Chenli clans'... Or, in other words, everything is the aftermath of the 'internal strife in Dachen'!
"At this point, as long as I defeat your cavalry, the war faction will not rashly launch an attack in this direction, at least for a short period of time."

An Jing said to Kuo Yunlu: "You have failed, but you can go back to recuperate naturally. This is a better way for you to grow stronger and live in your homeland than war."

"And if I win, it will also allow King De to find a way to exert his strength. Starting with me, he can gradually gain control of the war in the northern border."

"Although it may sound a bit cruel, your loss is actually a good outcome for both sides. I think you have figured this out, so you are cooperating with me like this, right?"

The old scout said nothing, but his attitude made An Jing laugh: "You are a very smart person, Kuo Yunlu... I will remember you."

"When I return victorious, I will come to see you again."

An Jing turned around and left the prisoner camp. He had now seen through most of the context and details of the situation in the northern border. If nothing unexpected happened, the good news of his easy victory over the Iron Cavalry Vanguard Camp would speed up the arrival of King De's envoy.

Sure enough, the next day, as An Jing sensed the slight vibration of the imperial blood in his sea of ​​​​consciousness, King De's messenger arrived in Linjiang City.

Coincidentally, the messenger was also an old acquaintance.

(End of this chapter)