Chapter 1 Uprising

On the desolate autumn plain, a high platform stood, surrounded by a sea of people sitting in the darkness. Beside them stood their warhorses.

The scene was somewhat noisy, with generals and soldiers alike chattering amongst themselves.

This was a display of extreme disorder, revealing the lax military discipline of this army.

Even the former Qian Kingdom, during major festivals or when the emperor was in the mood to watch military exercises on the training grounds, the Qian Kingdom's Imperial Guards could still exhibit the demeanor of an "elite force."

In Shengle City, such a situation would be even more impossible. The soldiers of Shengle City possessed something that the soldiers of other countries and factions in the world could not match.

For example, as soon as General Zheng took the stage, everyone knew what actions to perform in unison. After General Zheng finished speaking, everyone knew what actions to take.

The slogans to shout, or the frequency with which to strike their armor and the ground with their weapons, were all strictly rehearsed.

But here, at this moment, this army of tens of thousands of people gave the chaotic impression of a vegetable market.

Until,

a man wearing a white wolf-hide robe slowly walked onto the high platform.

"Wuwuwu!!!!!!!!!”

"Wuwuwu!!!!!!!!!”

The sound of horns rang out, and the entire field fell silent.

All the barbarian warriors subconsciously straightened their chests.

If General Zheng of Shengle City relied on the propaganda of his demon king subordinates to shape his glorious image in the hearts of his soldiers, then this man, this barbarian king, used his own deeds circulating on the snowfields, without adding any impurities, to win the sincere admiration of these snowfield barbarian warriors.

Glory would not fade because of minor flaws; instead, it would seem even more radiant.

The Wolf King's bowing and scraping was for the better continuation of the tribe, and also to wait for the day when the prey was weak and old.

The barbarian king stood on the high platform.

Below, one by one, the barbarian warriors responsible for relaying the message lined up, acting as "amplifiers."

This was a speech, a speech delivered to tens of thousands of people.

A pre-battle address, a custom that has existed since ancient times.

The barbarian king raised his hand,

and shouted:

"Warriors of the Holy Race, children protected by the stars!"

"Hoo!"

"Hoo!"

"Hoo!"

All the barbarian warriors placed their left palms on their chests. This was the gesture of the most devout believers when listening to the prayers of the priests in the tribe.

In their hearts, the king was equivalent to the stars, guiding them forward, opening up a wider world for the tribe and their descendants.

The barbarian king was not very tall, but his image at this moment was as majestic as a mountain.

His voice was unadorned, even a little hoarse from shouting so loudly.

But it was this tone that seemed to possess a magical power, making people want to listen, to follow, to accompany.

"Look at the armor on your bodies, and then look at your saddles, your quivers, and your knives!

And then, please lower your heads,

and look at

the land beneath your feet!

Here,

is where our ancestors of the Holy Race lived and multiplied,

here,

is the homeland that has haunted our dreams for hundreds of years,

here,

was the beginning of our glory,

here,

will also be the continuation of the stars rekindling!

You,

are the bravest and most skilled warriors under my command,

you,

are the strongest fighters from all the tribes of the snowfields,

in your hearts,

is the purest loyalty to the stars!

The knives,

I have given you!

The armor,

I have also given you!

The warhorses have eaten their fill of fodder, and you, have slept enough with women these days!

My warriors,

I ask you here,

I have given you everything,

how will you repay me!"

"Hoo!"

"Hoo!"

"Hoo!"

The barbarian king pointed to the west behind him,

"There, the black dragon flags of the Yan people have appeared. They once ravaged our snowfields, they once slaughtered our people, plundered our cattle and sheep, and trampled our grasslands!

Now,

as we have just set foot on this homeland,

they have come again,

they want to drive us out,

drive us out of this land,

that already belongs to us!

This is the land that your feet are now treading upon; here will be the place where your sons, your grandsons, your tribes will live and multiply for generations!

They vainly try to drive us all out, as they did eight hundred years ago.

Come,

raise your knives,

put on your armor,

mount your warhorses,

and tell them,

here,

whose home this is!

In the future,

the descendants of the Holy Race who grow up on this land

will forever remember the glory that you have fought for them today!

Come,

warriors,

under the guidance of the stars,

tear them apart,

crush them,

let their blood be the first rain to water the new pastures under our feet!

The snowfields,

are too cold,

the snowfields,

I don't want to go back,

do you!"

The barbarian king drew his knife, and below the platform, many of his commanders also drew their weapons. All the barbarian warriors below raised the weapons in their hands.

"The stars above, protect our tribe!"

"The stars above, protect our tribe!"

"The stars above, protect our tribe!"

………

Twenty soldiers carried a commander's platform, on which sat an old general with no beard or hair.

Deng Jiu Ru sat there, motionless, with the general's flag fluttering behind him.

He turned his head and saw that the ferry behind him, Li Fu Sheng's Northern Garrison Army, had also arrived and was preparing to cross the river.

A general naturally had to have his own arrogance. He could admit defeat in other places, but on the battlefield, he only believed in the invincibility of the brave.

But, despite this, Deng Jiu Ru had to admit that after this Northern Garrison Army crossed the river, his position would be completely secure.

The old general suddenly felt a sense of relief. He did not blame the First Prince for humiliating him and the other generals he represented. In fact, he had never felt any resentment for his bowing and surrendering.

He was not surrendering to the First Prince,

he was surrendering to His Majesty.

Whatever the First Prince did, His Majesty's shadow stood behind him.

In this dynasty,

bowing to His Majesty,

admitting defeat to His Majesty,

softening to His Majesty,

what was there to be ashamed of?

Only at this moment did Deng Jiu Ru truly realize that if these military leaders could really be thoroughly kneaded by the First Prince and the imperial court through this battle, then they would be able to forge an elite force for the Great Yan that was no less than the Northern and Southern Garrisons. Then, when sweeping across the world in the future, they would be able to do so more easily.

The battlefield was chaotic, but in this chaos, it always brought peace of mind.

With peace of mind, it was equivalent to abandoning all kinds of past restraints and beginning to think about things with the most real and essential thinking.

Deng Jiu Ru was an old general. At this moment, he seemed to have returned to the spiritedness he had when he led troops on expeditions in his youth.

What family, what foundation, what inheritance,

to hell with them all,

as long as the black dragon flag of Great Yan could be planted all over the East,

everything,

would be worth it.

At this moment,

Deng Jiu Ru suddenly felt a chill in his heart. He seemed to have figured out many things, figured out why Marquis Zhen Bei did not want half of the country and handed over the century-old foundation of the Marquis Zhen Bei's mansion to His Majesty;

He figured out why Tian Wu Jing wanted to destroy his entire family, starting the chapter of the Great Yan's ending of the noble families.

He figured out why His Majesty dared to hand over the real military power of Great Yan to two marquises with different surnames.

Deng Jiu Ru took a deep breath,

Some things,

he had also possessed when he was young,

but after he got older, he couldn't find them anymore, but this didn't prevent his current yearning.

His old eyes were deep, and he listened to the general's flag fluttering in the wind. The old general suddenly felt a surge of inexplicable heroism in his heart.

Around him was a somewhat chaotic camp. The soldiers who had just crossed the river were looking for their own generals to reorganize, and the warhorses that had been transported over were also being selected.

Looking at the somewhat chaotic scene in front of him,

Deng Jiu Ru's idea of handing over everything in his hands to His Majesty and letting the imperial court reorganize and incorporate them became even stronger.

The only thing to be thankful for was that

Deng Jiu Ru knew

that these soldiers might have all kinds of problems, and these military leaders might have all kinds of thoughts,

but when they were really ordered to fight to the death,

they could still be relied on.

This point,

Deng Jiu Ru could guarantee, and he was sure of it!

However,

at this moment,

cries of surprise entered the old general's ears.

"Ships, big ships, big ships!"

"Big ships!"

"Upstream, ships!"

Deng Jiu Ru turned around and looked upstream of Wangjiang.

Warships were going down the river!

It wasn't that the Yan Kingdom didn't have a navy. In some places where the rivers and lakes were a little denser, there were also Yan soldiers' ships, but they were basically scattered here and there. Even if they were all gathered together, with people and ships counted together, it would be a bit too much to call them a "navy."

The reason for this was the Yan Kingdom's geographical environment. The Yan Kingdom was not near the sea, and the biggest enemy it had faced for hundreds of years was the barbarians of the desert. There was really no need for a navy.

Therefore, for the vast majority of Yan soldiers, this was the largest warship they had ever seen in their lives.

The warship went north along the river, and its speed was very fast. Even if the sentries upstream discovered it, it would be difficult to report the military situation in time, let alone hinder it.

Deng Jiu Ru knew

that the other side had chosen the time to set sail accurately.

This time,

even included the time he hesitated, the time the First Prince hesitated.

The other side had completely grasped it!

Deng Jiu Ru's mouth opened slightly,

and he stood up from his seat.

Where did the navy come from?

Even though he couldn't see the flags on the warship clearly yet,

Deng Jiu Ru had already guessed it.

Chu Kingdom,

this must be the Chu Kingdom's navy!

"Damn it!"

Deng Jiu Ru shouted.

Who would have thought

that the Chu Kingdom, which was experiencing a struggle for the throne among the princes,

would send its navy north to participate in the war at this time?

Moreover, this navy must have been hiding somewhere upstream in advance.

The Chu Kingdom had long colluded with the barbarians!

………

"We've been hiding for so long, it's time to get some air, otherwise General Hu Shun Chen will tear me apart and throw me into the pot with those small fries when he gets back."

On the pleasure boat, the young man and the Chu Kingdom sword maker sat face to face.

Hu Shun Chen was the Admiral of the Chu Kingdom Navy, in charge of the largest navy in the Chu Kingdom. He had been fighting in the Daze and with the Shan Yue for many years, and was known as the Water Ghost King by the Shan Yue people.

Shan Yue was not a single ethnic group, but a general term for the many small ethnic groups in the mountains and rivers of the Chu Kingdom.

Eight hundred years ago, they were the masters of the entire Chu Kingdom. They were divided into several large tribes. Later, Marquis Chu entered Chu under the order of the Great Xia Emperor. Over the centuries, just like the Jin people driving out the barbarians, the Chu people also successfully turned the original major tribes in the Chu Kingdom into "small ethnic groups" that could be described with a single word.

It was just that they now lived among the mountains and rivers, so dealing with them and carrying out the final cleanup inevitably required the navy to play a role. At the same time, the Chu Kingdom also had a sea outlet and needed to deal with threats from the sea.

Because there was a need, the navy was born.

In fact, the Qian Kingdom also had a navy, and the Qian Kingdom's navy was no smaller in scale than the Chu Kingdom's. However, what frustrated the Qian people was that the entire northern part of the Qian Kingdom did not have large rivers, but plains. If they wanted their navy to play a role, they could wait until the Yan people attacked the Qian Kingdom's Jiangnan, and then the navy could be used.

But unless the Qian people were out of their minds, they would never deliberately do that.

The sword maker flicked his long hair,

picked up his teacup,

cleared his throat twice,

and said:

"No matter how ingenious the calculations are, in the end, they still have to rely on fighting on the battlefield. If you can't win in the end, it's all for nothing."

The young man smiled "hehe"

and said:

"Even if we lose, we won't lose out. Moreover, I still think we are destined to win this battle."

"Winning won't win the overall situation," the sword maker said, hitting him.

"How can we win the overall situation without winning at the moment?"

The young man poured tea again and continued:

"After this battle, it's time for Fourth Brother to close the net in the country."

The sword maker shook his head and said:

"I still think it's a bit too hasty. Fourth Prince's net could have caught more fish. When Fourth Prince ascends the throne in the future, the government will be much smoother."

But the young man disagreed and said:

"Unless you learn from the Yan Emperor and directly trample on the noble families, or there is another Tian Wu Jing who dares to stab himself in the back, otherwise, no matter when this net is closed, it will seem a bit hasty."

"Eighth Prince is right." The sword maker turned around, pointed to the river under the hull, and said, "Why don't Your Highness guess when the river under our feet will turn red."

The young man pointed to the teapot,

and then pointed to himself,

and said:

"It'll be about time after I go to pee three more times."

………

Li Fu Sheng's troops were preparing to cross the river when the suddenly appearing Chu Kingdom warships disrupted their rhythm.

If General Zheng were here at this time,

he would probably think that these so-called warships were just like this,

but in the eyes of the Yan people at this time, the Chu Kingdom's warships could already be called aquatic "giants."

The hulls of the warships directly crashed down,

and the small boats used by the Yan army to cross the river were directly cracked open, and some were simply overturned. At the same time, there were also soldiers on the Chu Kingdom warships shooting arrows, and some were using poles to strike the surrounding boats.

On the Wangjiang River, one after another, the Yan people's small boats were either broken or sunk. Then, the Chu Kingdom warships directly broke through the pontoon bridge built by the Yan people.

For a time,

relying on the appearance of this navy,

the east and west banks of Wangjiang,

were completely isolated at this time,

and many Yan armored soldiers and warhorses drowned in the water and were being shot by archers on the warships.

"Quick, send a letter to the First Prince!"

After Li Fu Sheng gave this order to the messengers around him,

his eyes, through the gaps in the warships in front, looked at the opposite bank of the river.

As a general who had fought with the barbarians in the desert, Li Fu Sheng knew that whether it was using warships or other means, the ultimate goal of war would actually return to a set of essential operations.

Divide and conquer.

At the same time, he also knew

that the sudden turn of events

had already escaped the control of his side.

………

"Report!!!!!!!!! Enemy cavalry appeared fifteen miles to the northeast!"

"Report!!!!!!!!! Enemy cavalry appeared fifteen miles to the southeast!"

"Report!!!!!!!!! Enemy cavalry appeared due east!"

Just as the Chu Kingdom warships had cut off the river, what followed was a batch after batch of scouts reporting.

Deng Jiu Ru took a deep breath

and sat back down in his seat.

At the beginning of the river crossing, no traces of hidden enemy troops were found in the surrounding area, because the enemy troops had no intention of hiding at all. They had no intention of attacking you halfway across the river, and they didn't want to take advantage of you.

Because their appetite was very big, and what they wanted was to eat a big fish.

Like the appearance of this Chu Kingdom navy, the enemy should have also calculated the time and, after receiving a response, started to put pressure here.

Deng Jiu Ru knew that he and the left wing army under his command, these tens of thousands of soldiers, were the big fish in the eyes of the other side.

The dust stirred up by the galloping cavalry in the distance could already be vaguely seen.

Deng Jiu Ru didn't delay

and immediately ordered:

"Zhang De Yuan, order your troops to quickly attack the enemy in the northeast direction!"

"Li De Yong, order your troops to quickly attack the enemy in the due east direction!"

"Huang Shan Ming, order your troops to quickly attack the enemy in the southeast direction!"

After giving three orders in one breath,

Deng Jiu Ru shouted directly:

"Don't worry about the loss of your own property anymore. Everything, after the war, this old man will compensate you from his own troops!

If you can't isolate the enemy outside the camp,

then we'll wait to be driven into the river together to feed the turtles!"

These three commanders were the strongest of the left wing army. Deng Jiu Ru directly ordered them to lead their troops out of the camp to meet the enemy in order to expand the battlefield area.

First of all, his own camp had not yet been set up. Secondly, the Yan army was not good at defense. Most importantly, if the enemy was pushed to the camp entrance, not only would he not be able to deploy, but if he was not careful, the entire army would be squeezed into the river!

The reason for this situation was not that he was underestimating the enemy. In fact, he had been cautious enough.

But what the other side was playing was a conspiracy.

Conspiracies could be avoided, but open conspiracies could not.

Of course, if he had to investigate and assign responsibility, then he was also responsible. The responsibility lay in being too cautious. If his troops had immediately dispersed and attacked in all directions as soon as they crossed the river, instead of waiting cautiously and peacefully,

then even if the barbarian army suddenly attacked at this time,

he could still have a good fight with the barbarians in the wilderness and wouldn't be forced into such a difficult situation.

Deng Jiu Ru now only hoped that his troops could live up to expectations. No matter what the Chu Kingdom navy did to cut off the river, as long as he could hold on here, the outcome of this battle would still be uncertain!

The three armies quickly left the camp, and the dust flew.

In the camp,

Deng Jiu Ru turned around and looked at the warship hanging the Da Chu Phoenix flag on the river behind him. His eyes were full of hatred.

Chu Kingdom, this debt, this old man will remember it for you, and His Majesty will remember it too.

If you cut to a "God's perspective," you could see that cavalry was pouring towards a camp on the east bank of Wangjiang from all directions, like waves crashing against the shore.

On the camp side, three cavalry forces were also released, actively attacking in three directions, trying to take the lead and open up the tide.

However, although the Yan Kingdom's left wing army had crossed the river by seventy to eighty percent, the camp was inevitably chaotic. Even the troops who were going out to fight seemed to be a bit confused and disorganized. The soldiers didn't know which side they should follow. This situation actually happened in the Yan army camp.

After all, the left wing army was formed by the integration of various warlords. The First Prince held the Emperor's sword to deter them from above, and Deng Jiu Ru used the Deng family's status to command them from below. Usually, there were no signs of chaos, but when encountering such a chaotic situation and emergency,

whether it was the transmission of military intelligence, the transfer and deployment of soldiers, or the chaotic situation in the main tent, all made this army fall into a panic.

This directly led to the fact that the three commanders who were attacking, who originally had nearly six or seven thousand cavalrymen under their command, actually took out less than five thousand. Some people were there, but the warhorses couldn't be found. Some people didn't know where their troops were in the camp, and even worse, one of the commanders who was attacking suddenly found that one of his adjutants was not from his own unit. This guy had actually followed the wrong person!

These chaotic phenomena were unavoidable for the left wing army, and even for most of the troops in the world. It was impossible to completely reorganize and regulate more than 50,000 people gathered on one side of the shore in such a narrow area in a short period of time, unless they were elite troops like the Zhen Bei and Jing Nan armies.

Therefore, this also directly led to the fact that the three attacking troops did not achieve the enemy-blocking effect that Deng Jiu Ru had expected.

Just as Deng Jiu Ru was preparing to use the time gained by the three troops' attacks to reorganize his central army,

military intelligence quickly came,

"Report!!!!!! General Zhang's troops have been defeated!"

"Report!!!!!! General Huang's troops have broken through the enemy's formation!"

"Report!!!!!! General Li's troops are in a fierce battle!!!"

Of the three armies,

the most unreliable was General Zhang's troops, who were actually directly defeated by the barbarians.

But who told him that he was facing the personal army under the barbarian king's command, as well as the generals Sang Hu, A Lai, Ge Li Mu, etc., were all in that army.

Being defeated was actually understandable.

General Huang's troops were confronting the barbarian attack from the southeast direction, which was also the weakest point of the barbarians. Because the situation was urgent, the scouts didn't have time to find out more information, so General Huang directly led his troops through that barbarian army, turning the ambush war they were originally supposed to fight into his "breakthrough war" for no reason!

Huang Shan Ming, who had just "broken through" the barbarian army, did not have any joy. Instead, his heart fell into the abyss. He immediately waved to the personal soldiers around him and immediately turned his horses and charged back.

But at this time, a barbarian cavalry unit patrolling in the rear directly bit up, desperately slowing down Huang Shan Ming's unit.

Only Li De Yong's troops were in a fierce battle in the due east direction, but the barbarian army did not choose to annihilate him. After dividing out a part of the army to continue to entangle him, the barbarian cavalry in other directions did not stop at all and continued to pounce on the camp that had not yet been established on the shore.

The first to press over was the main barbarian force in the northeast direction. The defeated soldiers of Zhang De Yuan's troops were galloping forward, and the barbarian army was chasing behind.

"Those who flee before the battle will be killed without mercy!"

Deng Jiu Ru immediately ordered.

The Yan army archers in the camp immediately released arrows to shoot the fleeing soldiers in front to prevent them from impacting their own camp.

And behind them, the main force of the barbarian army ignored these arrows and, with a fearless and resolute posture, the vanguard of the barbarian warriors directly crashed into the camp with their men and horses!

"Bang! Bang! Bang!!!!!!!"

On one side, they were responding to the battle in a hurry, and the appearance of the Chu Kingdom navy not only cut off the retreat but also had a great impact on the morale of the army.

On the other side, they launched a surprise attack with the determination to die. In an instant, right in front of Deng Jiu Ru, the camp in the northeast direction actually collapsed directly, and the barbarian army directly rushed in.

The barbarians in the due east and southeast directions also quickly followed like a tide.

The already disorganized camp,

the already chaotic Yan army crossing the river,

instantly had a tendency to collapse.

Some of the barbarians who were knocked off their horses by the impact immediately got up and fought on foot, clearing the way for the warriors of their tribe behind them.

They were like a group of mad wild dogs, tearing at the Yan people's not-so-solid defense line at all costs.

On horseback, they were as fast as the wind. After dismounting, they fought on foot like iron. This was originally the Yan army's performance when dealing with the armies of other countries, but at this time, it was revealed on the barbarians.

Deng Jiu Ru turned around, pulled out the general's flag, raised it high, urged the blood in his body, and shouted:

"Kill, kill, kill, stop them, stop them. We would rather die in battle than be suffocated to death in the river!

Great Yan soldiers, fight to the death and do not retreat!

Fight to the death and do not retreat!!!!!!"

The old general's shouts echoed on this chaotic battlefield.

The barbarian king, who did not lead the troops to participate in the attack, sat on horseback, watching the killing scene in front of him.

He smiled,

smiling happily.

He couldn't help but touch the scar on his face again. That scar belonged to his life's mark, and it was also imprinted with the beautiful shadow of a woman.

He didn't know why he was so obsessed with her, even though she was very young at that time.

Perhaps it was because of the symbolism she carried.

A lowly barbarian,

he dreamed,

dreamed of marrying the princess of the Yan people's Zhen Bei Marquis's mansion.

"Hoo…………

Wait for me,

wait for me a little longer,

this dream is not far from coming true."

The barbarian king's originally gentle gaze suddenly became extremely cold again,

"Aren't you going to get married? You should have arrived in Yan Jing by now;

Hehe,

this is the wedding gift I prepared for you!"