Chapter 107: Military Camp
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Wang She asked Junior Leopard to leave the day after he left. However, Junior Leopard stayed at the small town centralization under the Tian Long Mystic Mountain for three whole days before he moved towards Zhonghe Prefecture.
He had two reasons. Firstly, he needed to consolidate his state, including his fist intent, the External Elixer and his Level Three cultivation. After reaching Level Three, the Mysterious Fire within his Dantian had completely merged with his Internal Qi. This made his Nine Dragons Heavenly Fire Internal Qi very corrosive. At first, he didn’t adapt to these changes. Secondly, it was because of his little pride. He privately exclaimed, “Why should I do what you ask? I’ll stay for a few days. Then what can you do to me?”
Indeed, he stayed for three whole days. Wang She didn’t do anything to him. However, he felt a little bored and was afraid of delaying things, so when he felt a psychological balance, he set off on his horse.
On the way, it was much more lively than when he came. There were people who escaped from Zhonghe City, and goverment army and people equipped with sabers and swords going towards Zhonghe City.
In this world, the value of martial arts was so high that a master of martial arts should not be overlooked. Most of the time, even the imperial court and the armies needed their help.
Compared to a normal army, people in the martial arts world were hard to manage. However, after so many years, a set of effective mechanisms to arrange these martial artists who came to fight was gradually formed in the world.
First, to reward them. To reward those who gained merit was an unalterable principle. Even if they really wanted to serve their country and never wanted to be rewarded, the imperial court must reward them. Otherwise, It would disappoint these patriots. In the future, who would help you defend against the enemy’s martial artists? Hence, the imperial court would reward them, and it would be a handsome reward.
Second, concentrated management. People in the martial arts world were not like armies, who practiced disciplines and knew what was the time to progress or retreat. They were used to being lazy. Maybe their martial arts was high, but they had no discipline. Yet discipline was considered the army’s most important factor. An army without discipline was without fighting capacity. Hence, in this world, as long as these people in the martial arts world were willing to go to the battlefront, they would be arranged and concentrated together in another camp, known as “Military Camp”.
In every country’s armies, there would be a Military Camp, full of people in the martial arts world.
The Military Camp’s members were not fixed. Many of them would leave when a war ended and many people in the martial arts world would join the camp when a war began. As the saying, “the military camp is fixed like iron and the soldiers are not fixed like running water” was an apt description for this Military Camp. These people within the military camp were just like mercenaries. Each had a different purpose. Very few were patriots and most were there to make a name for themselves. There was special group of people who were the imperial court’s wanted men, infamous robbers, orchid thieves, chief bandits, etc. These people joined the Military Camp for the purpose of cleaning their records.
This was another special function of the Military Camp. As long as they could rack up enough military achievements, they could strike out whatever they did in the past. Many people who wanted to retire also used this method to draw a line with their past. According to this unwritten rule, once the records were successfully cleaned in the Military Camp, nobody would investigate the past. This was a latent rule in the whole martial arts world, which was acquiesced by almost all the prestigious sects and schools in the martial arts world.
Of course, what was referred to here was that no one would officially chase down the matter and seek revenge in public. As for how things were done in secret, that would depend on the person’s own ability. There were some people who were assassinated by other people after they had successfully cleaned their records. However, after you had successfully cleaned in the Military Camp, even if you hid in the deepest recesses like a rat before, you could now walk straight and hold your head high.
And in this military camp, the only one with an official position to direct and control them was the Camp Supervisor. Every Camp Supervisor was fixed. They were from the imperial court or the army. These people’s backgrounds were complicated. Some of them came from prestigious sects and schools or were martial artists who succefully cleaned their records, or were masters sent from the army. There were all sorts of people from all walks of life. However, one thing was for sure: the Camp Supervisor’s cultivation must reach the Bone-Forging Realm. In other words, they must have reach at least Level Four in cultivation.
Only with such strength, could they then suppress these unruly people in the martial arts world.
After all, essentially Jianghu was a world that prioritized strength. If your strength wasn’t enough, even if you could suppress these people with your official rank, they would be dissatisfied in their hearts and would give you all sorts of trouble publicly and privately. For example, if two people fought in the camp, and you told them to stop but they won’t, then what to do? Of course, you would force them to separate, but what if their strength was higher than yours?
You could only stand by anxiously. In that case, even if other people didn’t say anything, you can’t stay in the Military Camp. Hence, what was different from other places was that Camp Supervisors in the Military Camp had to be someone with a strong martial background. They couldn’t be a tactician.
Of course, most importantly, no matter how strong a Camp Supervisor in the camp was, and how big the camp was, none of them had the right to lead the whole army. You could only obey the Chief Commander’s instructions. Occasionally the Chief Commander would give you the right to make decisions, but normally he wouldn’t give you too much freedom to act.
Now that Zhonghe City was occupied by the Sect of Flame. As a prefecture of Qianzhou that situated in the hinterland of Jin, in any case, it was something that could not be tolerated. Therefore, when Zhonghe City was occupied, the whole Jin acted. On the third day when Zhonghe City was occupied, it was surrounded by the Jin’s troops layer by layer, forming an impregnable defense.
Originally, from Jin’s point of view, even though Zhonghe City wasn’t small and it was situated inland. It wasn’t some fortress, and it didn’t even have a moat. There were not many troops either. In all respects, there could only be 5,000 men inside. According to such a situation, it would be attacked down in a few skirmishes.
Unexpectedly, after attacking for several days, the Jin’s troops suffered heavy losses. Zhonghe City was still under the control of the Sect of Flame.
Of course, there were gains as well. The greatest gain was to know that there weren’t so many enemy troops in the city. However, there were a lot of martial artists. Dozens of them had reached Level Three. Aside from that, the youngest Venerable Prince Xiaoming of the Sect of Flame was also in the city, and he was a Level Eight expert!
When someone reached Level Eight, he could completely ignore the advantage in numbers.
Hence, when this information was confirmed, the Jin’s Chief Commander Li Yuan decisively retreated, and only ordered the armies to tightly surround Zhonghe City. They were silently waiting for reinforcements. At the same time, they sent people to ask for aid from the imperial court. He was the army’s Chief Commander with bodyguards, so if the Level Eight expert in the city wanted to assassinate him, it wasn’t something difficult. Thus, when waiting for reinforcements these few days, he was in an extremely bad mood. He passed a day as if it was a year. Fortunately, on the fifth day, the reinforcements arrived. It was also his life’s biggest insurance, Wang She.
Junior Leopard had already obtained all of this information from the people in the martial arts world on the way to Zhonghe City.
“What the hell are these Sect of Flame members trying to do by suddenly occupying Zhonghe City for no reason. It’s neither a stronghold nor a fortress. They occupied it for 10 days and got so many masters to guard it. All of these signs expressly shows that they are looking for something!”
…
…
“They’re really looking for something, something very important. If not, the Sect of Flame won’t suffer such losses to occupy such a place at this time!”
In the Camp of Jin Army, Chief Commander Li Yuan was looking at the city defense map of Zhonghe City. He firmly said, “Hence, we cannot wait any longer. Every day we wait, they’ll get closer to their target. If this continues, even if we manage to take down Zhonghe City, we will get no credit but errors!” speaking till here, his gaze swept over the row of generals. Lastly, it landed on Wang She who sat beside his seat and was fanning lightly, “Chief Wang, how do you see it?”
Wang She smiled, and closed the folding fan in his hand, “This time, I only came to listen to General’s orders. If there’s something, just say it. I’ll go all out to help General and serve Jin!”
“How will I dare to order you!” Li Yuan silently cursed. Even though he was extremely dissatisfied with this bunch of lazy people in the martial arts world, Wang She was not an ordinary man. Aside from his Level Eight strength, his identity as the Tian Long Taoism’s Chief would not be lower than him, a Chief Commander leading 100,000 troops.
Thus, all the time, Li Yuan was in a conundrum. He was hoping he would quickly come to ensure his safety. On the other hand, he was scared that after Wang She came, he would disobey his orders and interfered with his actions relying on his position and martial arts. Now that seemed willing to cooperate, whether he was sincere or fake, Li Yuan was very comfortable.
“Your words are too serious. How can I have the caliber to order you. Tomorrow, I will order the army to attack. At that time, will Chief please stay in the center army and wait for Prince Xiaoming to appear. After all, apart from Chief Wang, nobody here can deal with an expert like Prince Xiaoming!”
Wang She nodded, stood up, and slightly bowed towards Li Yuan, “Yes, sir!”