The words of the Green Fish Demon immediately aroused the sympathy of the market’s aunties and uncles, who all said they would introduce it to a fish demon wife.
Fang Yun found the City of Confucius increasingly interesting.
The Green Fish Demon immediately expressed its gratitude, saying it would give people small fish, and casually mentioned a few simple demon language vocabulary.
Fang Yun smiled, glanced at the Green Fish Demon, and continued on his way.
Passing by the gate of a large household, Fang Yun saw a Lion Demon playing with a group of children, making the children happy, just like a gentle big dog. Fang Yun looked at the group of children, several of whom were wearing Demon King Blood Jade, at least they were from wealthy families.
“It seems that the human race has been taming the Demon Barbarians vigorously.” Fang Yun thought.
When Mr. and Mrs. Wei brought Fang Yun to the Grand Canal, it was completely dark. They saw many Kongming lanterns floating in the sky above the Grand Canal, and many candle-made lanterns floating on the river surface, including small boat lanterns, lotus lanterns, and even eggshell lanterns.
This is a tradition of the Holy Origin Mainland. During the Lantern Festival, people play with lanterns, and during the Mid-Autumn Festival, they release lanterns, entrusting their hopes to the lanterns, hoping that the lanterns can go downstream and help them fulfill their wishes.
Fang Yun slowly walked towards the Grand Canal.
The City of Confucius originally did not have this river, but Sage Confucius opened a twenty-mile-wide Grand Canal with his own power, connecting the west to the Yue River and the east to the East Sea, allowing the City of Confucius, which is five hundred miles away from the East Sea, to directly reach the East Sea. It is known as the Little Yangtze River.
With the Grand Canal of the City of Confucius, goods from other places can continuously reach the City of Confucius through convenient water transportation, making the City of Confucius and Qufu more prosperous.
Looking at the men and women by the river, Fang Yun missed Yang Yuhuan and Nunu, then bought a few lanterns with Mr. and Mrs. Wei, released the lanterns by the Grand Canal, and made a wish for Yang Yuhuan and Nunu.
After releasing the lanterns, Fang Yun and the other two walked home. After a few steps, there was a sudden chaotic but heavy sound of horse hooves from the front. It was not a clattering sound, but a rumbling sound. At the same time, someone shouted to make way.
Fang Yun looked ahead and saw a cavalry rushing down the street, about fifty cavalrymen, two horses per person.
The more than one hundred horses were exceptionally tall. Their bodies were covered with palm-sized green scales, and they had a single horn on their heads. They were pure-blooded Dragon Horses, worth more than a hundred times that of ordinary Dragon Horses.
Fang Yun couldn’t help but smack his lips. Even the ceremonial team of the Jing Kingdom’s monarch only used twenty pure-blooded Dragon Horses. This team actually had hundreds of Dragon Horses, which could almost be exchanged for a ten-thousand-man ordinary Dragon Horse cavalry, and a ten-thousand-man Dragon Horse cavalry could easily defeat a fifty-thousand-man army.
These pure-blooded Dragon Horses could travel two thousand miles a day without getting tired, but at this moment they seemed very exhausted.
The riders on the pure-blooded Dragon Horses were all Savage Cow people, wearing extremely fine iron armor. The surface of the iron armor was glowing with a blue-green light. Fang Yun, who had lived in the army, recognized at a glance that this was cold iron armor forged with the bones of a Demon King. A set of armor was worth tens of thousands of taels of silver and was extremely sturdy. Combined with the qi and blood of the Savage Cow people, it could resist the War Poetry of the Presented Scholars several times.
However, what surprised Fang Yun the most was not the pure-blooded Dragon Horses and the fine armor, but the boiling qi and blood of the barbarian knights.
Two Savage Cow leaders equivalent to Imperial Scholars led the army, with fifty Savage Cow generals equivalent to Presented Scholars following behind.
This was not the end, after the Savage Cow generals, there were twenty-four Wolf Demons, one of which was a Demon Marquis equivalent to a Hanlin Scholar, followed by four Demon Generals and Demon Commanders.
“Could this be the private army of a Semi-Saint? Even Li Wenying, the first Grand Academician of Jing Kingdom, who ranks second on the Demon Clan Grand Academician hunting list, only has about ten Demon Barbarian followers, the highest of which is just a Demon Commander.” Fang Yun thought.
The eyes of these Wolf Demons clearly had a circle of blood-red rings around them, representing the Demon Clan that had eaten humans. Apart from the Semi-Saint Prominent Families, no one else was qualified to tame and raise this kind of Demon Clan.
This private army of Demon Barbarians was full of blood and energy, and the surrounding horses or weaker Demon Barbarians were scared to lie on the ground. The people on both sides of the street, even though they were used to seeing Demon Barbarians in the City of Confucius, were frightened, and some children were even scared to cry.
Upon hearing the crying, the Savage Cow people were somewhat better, but those Wolf Demons actually showed a look of contempt.
The Wolf Demon Marquis growled lowly, his eyes full of killing intent, not putting the people in his eyes at all.
A tamed Wolf Demon General was glanced at by the Wolf Demon Marquis and shivered, then urinated.
For the first time, Fang Yun saw such a powerful private army, and he secretly sighed that the Ten Nations were indeed full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers. Once this private army came out, ten thousand armies would not be enough for them to kill.
As they passed by Fang Yun, the Wolf Demon Marquis suddenly glanced at Fang Yun, then showed a mouthful of white teeth, showing a threatening and somewhat disdainful look, and continued to run.
This private army of Demon Barbarians passed through the street and left, leaving a trail of shocked people.
Fang Yun was very curious about the owner of this private army, because even if the people of All the Saints Prominent Families could raise more Demon Barbarian private armies, they only raised a few loyal ones. Like this private army of more than fifty people, there were very few, and even fewer people dared to be so arrogant under the eyelids of the Sage Confucius Prominent Family.
As Fang Yun walked, he listened to the people on the roadside discussing.
“Whose private army is this? It’s terrifying.”
“Damn it! This is the City of Confucius, at the foot of the Holy Academy, who dares to be so presumptuous!”
“I remember now, I talked with a friend from the Sage Confucius Prominent Family a while ago, it should be the private army of the Tyrant!”
“So it’s him, no wonder, he’s simply a madman.”
“Hmph, this is the City of Confucius, he has to lie low whether he’s a tiger or a dragon!”
“But he neither lies low nor coils up.”
Hearing the discussions of the crowd, Fang Yun thought to himself: The Tyrant? Very likely. The Tyrant is the top scholar of the Martial Nation, so once he became an Imperial Scholar, he had the ability to rise rapidly, which is usually only possessed by Grand Academicians. He flew here himself, but his private army couldn’t move as fast, so they had to travel day and night, switching to pure-blooded dragon horses. He even brought his private army with him, which shows how much importance he places on this trip to The Holy Land.
Fang Yun suddenly thought of another possibility.
“Eight years ago, The Tyrant was a Presented Scholar, so he must have been to The Holy Land! This time, he was willing to exchange my blood drop beast skin with Han Xin’s military platform, and he even brought his entire private army. It’s clear that he is determined to win. Could it be that he found some important clues in The Holy Land eight years ago?”
Fang Yun sighed lightly. It was only after seeing The Tyrant’s private army with his own eyes that he realized how big the gap between himself and the Semi-Saint Prominent Families was. He also understood why The Tyrant was so crazy about plundering and exploiting those wealthy families. Without doing so, he wouldn’t be able to afford this private army. The strength of this private army was beyond doubt. Just this group of private soldiers, along with The Tyrant, could rival an army of fifty thousand. If it came to a battle of Treasures of Literature, The Tyrant could probably annihilate an army of fifty thousand.
“No wonder The Tyrant has the confidence to restore the glory of the Demon Saint Prominent Family. Back when the Demon Saint was in the Hanlin Academy, he didn’t have such a private army. The private army of a Hanlin Scholar actually has a Demon Marquis, equivalent to a Semi-Saint’s private army having a Demon Saint. This is almost impossible, but he did it.”
“Once I become an Imperial Scholar, I will also be eligible to raise a Demon Barbarian private army. The real private armies are all fed with the flesh and blood of the Demon Clan, which costs a fortune. If I can’t get some holy blood and holy jade from The Holy Land this time, I will have a hard time moving forward.”
As Fang Yun thought about this, he returned to the Zhou Prefecture, feeling even more pressure and a stronger desire for the trip to The Holy Land.
“I’ve already obtained the first strategy of the Thirty-Six Strategies. The second strategy, Besieging Wei to Rescue Zhao, should be completed before entering The Holy Land for the talent performance. However… the eighth strategy of the Thirty-Six Strategies is Secretly Crossing the Wei River, and The Tyrant happens to have the ‘Three Articles of Han Xin’, and the first one is ‘Building the Plank Road in the Open, Secretly Crossing the Wei River’! This means that in front of the holder of the ‘Three Articles of Han Xin’, the ‘Thirty-Six Strategies’ will never be considered a complete military book!”
Fang Yun didn’t expect that a single Tyrant could pose such a big obstacle to him.
After pondering for a moment, a cold light flashed in Fang Yun’s eyes.
“Let’s write out the second strategy, Besieging Wei to Rescue Zhao, first!”
After returning home, Fang Yun instructed Mr. and Mrs. Wei not to disturb him. Then he began to formally write “Besieging Wei to Rescue Zhao of the Thirty-Six Strategies”.
When he wrote the last character, Fang Yun entered the talent performance for the second time.
As soon as Fang Yun opened his eyes, he found himself sitting in the central military tent. A man rushed in from outside and shouted, “Report to General Fang! Our army was about to conquer the barbarian tribe tomorrow, but another barbarian tribe used the strategy of Besieging Wei to Rescue Zhao to attack Dong City, where the king is! Dong City is empty, and the king has issued a decree for you to abandon this barbarian tribe and return to the rescue.”
Fang Yun was dumbfounded, thinking that it was supposed to be him using the strategy of Besieging Wei to Rescue Zhao. How come he was the one being besieged to rescue Zhao? This talent performance is too vicious! Even a Semi-Saint Military Strategist would vomit blood.
The strategy of Besieging Wei to Rescue Zhao, with its great momentum and open plot, is the most poisonous strategy and cannot be broken.
However, Fang Yun only got angry for a moment before returning to normal. He had been studying military strategies all along, so naturally, he would think about how to break them. He had thought about it long ago. This strategy of Besieging Wei to Rescue Zhao should either not be used, or once it is used, no one can break it, unless a Sage descends from heaven.
“But just because the military strategy can’t be broken doesn’t mean we’re definitely going to lose! This strategy can’t be broken, but there are some barely adequate countermeasures.”
“If I lead the entire army to the rescue now, not to mention that the soldiers will be exhausted when they arrive and will be hit hard, even if they can withstand a battle, they will definitely be attacked from both sides. If I divide the troops, it’s the same as seeking death. Pang Juan lost to Sun Bin in this way back then. Since the barbarians in this talent performance used the strategy of Besieging Wei to Rescue Zhao, they must have a rebellious literati, and they won’t give me a chance.”
Fang Yun kept thinking about what he had learned these days and finally made a decision.
“It’s impossible to win, but there’s a chance not to lose!”
So, Fang Yun ordered a night attack on the barbarian tribe. With absolute strength, he won the battle, but there were also some casualties. The original army of twenty thousand was reduced to fifteen thousand.
Fang Yun ordered everyone to eat and drink well and rest, and they would go to Dong City to save the king the next day.
The next day, the wounded were left behind, and the fifteen thousand soldiers who could fight set off. But they didn’t march quickly, but slowly, preserving the strength of all the soldiers and avoiding being surrounded and attacked by the barbarians.
Slow marching is not a strategy for victory, but the only strategy for not losing!
It would have taken half a day to reach Dong City by marching quickly, but Fang Yun took a day and a half. By the time they arrived, Dong City had been taken by the barbarians, and the king had been killed.
Fang Yun ordered an attack on Dong City. In the end, both sides suffered heavy losses. Fang Yun died in battle, and the barbarians were almost wiped out. The first talent performance of Besieging Wei to Rescue Zhao failed.
Fang Yun opened his eyes again and found himself still in the study. He then asked Mr. and Mrs. Wei and found that only one day had passed in reality. After careful calculation, he found that the time deducted for marching in the talent performance was exactly one day.
After resting, Fang Yun specifically looked for military books to study the strategies of attacking cities. When his talent recovered, he entered the second talent performance of Besieging Wei to Rescue Zhao. (To be continued.)