Chapter 11: The Decisive Battle in the State of Wei - Section 15: The Final Defense Line of the State of Wei

Section Fifteen: The Last Defense Line of the State of Wei

When the Wei army retreated to Bianyuan City, they realized the city had already fallen. Caught in a pincer attack and suffering heavy losses, they managed to break out with great difficulty, leaving a force of fewer than three hundred thousand men.

Ling Luo did not miss the prime opportunity to press the victory. Leaving a garrison force to hold Bianyuan, he divided the remaining troops into eight columns that drove straight into the territory of the State of Wei.

Within a month, the heavily battered Wei army failed to organize any effective resistance, retreating step by step before the onslaught. By the time Wei finally managed to gather its forces and use the natural strategic barriers to defend Shandong City, the land seized by the Zheng army and the Soul-Burning Army had already exceeded four million square kilometers.

One million square kilometers of this territory were occupied by the Soul-Burning Army in the north—mostly sparsely populated lands with few cities. The remaining three million were claimed by the Zheng army, encompassing more than two hundred and fifty prosperous major cities. Losing these lands delivered a truly devastating blow to the foundation of the State of Wei, stripping it of its former prestige.

Before the war, the Great Wei possessed a territory of fifteen million square kilometers. At the onset of the Zheng invasion, caught completely off guard, it lost five million square kilometers. After months of desperate defense, it suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the combined forces of the Soul-Burning Army and Zheng, losing another four million square kilometers during the successive retreats. Combined with the territory occupied by the Soul-Burning Army uprising, the so-called Great Wei was now left with just over five million square kilometers of land.

Many officials, military generals, Martial Ancestors, merchants, and even ordinary citizens of Wei grew disillusioned and despairing, defecting one after another to the State of Wei's rival, the State of Zheng. A large number of officials in the Wei royal court actively sought to collude with Zheng or the Soul-Burning Army, hoping for a chance to trade state intelligence in exchange for personal merit.

The Battle of Bianyuan City had been exceptionally brutal. The Wei army suffered over thirty thousand casualties and more than twenty thousand captured. This outcome had caught all the major powers completely off guard. Everyone under heaven had assumed that although Wei lost much territory at the beginning of the Zheng assault, once it rallied, it would surely be able to stem the tide.

Chen Shui, a wealthy merchant from Bianyuan City, thus became famous throughout the world. Everyone knew that Wei had lost because of him, and that the miraculous defection of the thirty-thousand-strong Wei army was also his doing. The despised and downtrodden Undying Soul insurgent army, once looked down upon by all major powers, was henceforth treated with utmost caution, no one daring to underestimate them again.

The various major powers were willing to watch Zheng and Wei fight each other, but none wished to see Zheng achieve such a sweeping victory, and even less did they want Zheng to annihilate Wei. The states of Qi and Chen contacted Han and dispatched envoys to Zheng, exerting diplomatic pressure on behalf of Wei to plead for a cessation of hostilities and a peace treaty. The King of Zheng was shaken by this. Although Wei had suffered catastrophic losses, a lean camel is still bigger than a horse. It had lost much land, but precisely because its territory was now smaller, its remaining military forces could be concentrated for defensive operations without any worries in the rear.

Shandong City was easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the vast newly acquired territories still harbored hidden troubles that could only be managed if fighting ceased. Capturing Bianyuan City had already been an unexpectedly joyous stroke of fortune, but such luck would not strike a second time at Shandong City.

Upon receiving the secret imperial decree from the King of Zheng, Ling Luo replied that he was willing to negotiate a truce, provided that Wei surrendered additional territory as the price.

This demand was indeed excessively bullying, yet the King of Wei, terrified that the war would result in the total destruction of his state, actually agreed. Consequently, another eight hundred thousand square kilometers of territory—land that was already difficult to defend—was ceded to the State of Zheng. With this, a peace agreement appeared imminent.

Shandong City was situated in the highland region of Wei, surrounded by rugged and continuous mountain ranges, with the Dingshan Pass serving as its gateway. All twenty-six thousand retreating soldiers of the Wei army had gathered within this city. The pass already possessed a garrison of twenty thousand, and following the disastrous defeat at Bianyuan City, another thirty thousand troops had been dispatched to Shandong City, bringing the total defending force to thirty-one thousand men.

The walls of the pass were far thicker than those of ordinary fortifications, constructed from massive blocks of solid, unyielding mountain stone. Wei had dispatched almost all available martial practitioners from across the realm, bolstered by numerous loyal Jianghu martial artists who came forward to assist on a voluntary basis. What caused the greatest headache, however, was the terrain. The approaches in front of the pass were narrow, and the elevation rose steeply upward.

The attacking army was positioned at the lower end, and the constricted geography prevented them from utilizing their numerical superiority. Even with an army several times larger than the garrison of Shandong City, a breakthrough would be exceedingly difficult. Any forced assault would inevitably result in unacceptable casualties.

By the time Bu Jingxian and Ling Luo led their main forces in pursuit, the residents of the towns outside Dingshan Pass had scattered in all directions.

During the pursuit, Bu Jingxian noticed that among the fleeing Wei civilians, a middle-aged man carrying a large box was being escorted almost like a hostage by a large group of retreating Wei soldiers. The group had originally intended to head toward Dingshan Pass, but upon being blocked by the Zheng army, they altered course and fled toward the northwest.

That night, Bu Jingxian and Ling Luo inspected the walls of Dingshan Pass together and concluded that a frontal assault was nearly impossible. The walls were narrow yet immensely thick, defended by a combination of regular soldiers and numerous martial practitioners. They decided to fall back and devise another plan. Bu Jingxian walked alone through the village and passed a blacksmith shop, where he found a dozen Zheng soldiers standing guard while others searched the interior.

"What are you doing here?"

Most of the Zheng soldiers recognized Bu Jingxian. Hearing his question, they hastily cupped their fists and replied, "Reporting to the Northern Lord, General Chen said the blacksmith here possesses supreme skill and feared he might be killed in the chaos. He specifically ordered us to protect him, but upon our arrival, there was no one here."

"I see," Bu Jingxian said before walking away, unable to shake the image of the middle-aged man escorted away by the fleeing soldiers like a prisoner. After a moment of thought, he mounted his horse alone and rode out of the town, pursuing the direction taken by the retreating soldiers.

July was strolling idly through the town, carrying a package of food she had scavenged from various food stalls and restaurants. Most of the townspeople had fled, many without even having time to pack their belongings. She ate as she walked, entirely unconcerned by the soldiers wandering the streets who stared at her oil-stained hands.

As she headed out of the town, she caught sight of a figure riding a horse at a gallop toward the northwest beneath the moonlight. Looking closer, she realized it was none other than the Northern Lord, Zuo An. Growing suspicious, July unleashed her lightness skill and followed at a distance.

Bu Jingxian tracked the traces left by the fleeing troops. After riding for half an hour, he noticed the footprints leading into the mountainous terrain. The grass and brush at the foot of the mountain were trampled into a mess, and with no path suitable for horses, he tied his mount at the base and proceeded into the mountains on foot. He had not walked far when he sensed someone following behind him. Turning his head, he saw July, who was eating a chicken leg as she chased after him.

The moonlight filtered through the canopy, casting sparse light upon her golden brocade robe. Her clear eyes reflected a soft gaze on one side while hiding in the shadows of the woods on the other.

In the silent night forest, the sound of chicken bones being crushed suddenly rang out.

July’s fingers were covered in grease, and she quickly finished the meat and tendons of the chicken leg, continuing to chew thoughtfully on the bone itself.

Suddenly, she leaped forward and landed beside him, spitting out half a chicken leg bone whose marrow had been entirely sucked dry.

"What are you doing?" July had chased him all the way without understanding why Bu Jingxian had run off alone, so she simply caught up and asked directly.

"I saw a suspicious group of Wei soldiers when we arrived."

July had nothing more to say to that. Bu Jingxian smiled faintly and continued walking up the mountain.

*Whoosh—*

An arrow suddenly shot out from the darkness. Hearing the sound, Bu Jingxian couldn't be bothered to dodge. Ignoring the incoming missile, he grabbed a stone and hurled it backward in the direction from which the arrow had come. The arrow struck his neck, failing to inflict even the slightest scratch before bouncing off and clattering to the ground. Simultaneously, the archer was struck by the stone, tumbling over several times before crashing to a stop against the base of a tree.

Watching from behind, July suddenly asked, "Doesn't it hurt at all?"

Bu Jingxian paused for a moment, a growing smile appearing in his eyes as he looked at July. "To maintain the reputation of Zuo An, the invincible under heaven, you surely know—an arrow is sharp, how could it not hurt? ... I never expected that the first person to ask me this would be you. Neither of my two wives has ever asked me such a question."

"It seems they are just up ahead," Bu Jingxian said, changing his tone from reflective to resolute as he strode forward swiftly, unconcerned about alerting the sentries ahead.

After advancing for a stretch, just as he neared the mountainside, two rows of soldiers emerged from the front, while two groups of archers rose in the woods behind, drawing their bows and nocking their arrows.

"Who goes there!"

It was only then that Bu Jingxian realized July had vanished.

"Zuo An."

"A rebel leader! Capture him, and the King of Wei will bestow a heavy reward!" commanded an officer leading the center, and the surrounding Wei soldiers immediately sprang into action.

Meanwhile, seeing Bu Jingxian dash wildly up the mountain, July had felt that his words carried a profound sense of sorrow. Everyone under heaven knew of the Northern Lord's divine valor, and the Martial Arts Tournament had witnessed his invulnerable vajra body remaining unharmed even when pierced in vital spots. Yet few people understood that he still felt pain when attacked, and what surprised July most was that even his wives had never cared to ask.

"A lonely person." July had not followed him up the mountain, knowing there were bound to be ambushes ahead. Standing her ground, she ate three more chicken legs, licked the grease clean from her fingers, and then flashed into the forest on the left, using her lightness skill to leap toward higher ground. Along the way, she spotted Bu Jingxian fighting a group of Wei soldiers in the distance, but ignored them and pressed onward to the summit.

Before long, she spotted the flicker of a bonfire and hurried over, discovering a mountain cave. The two Wei guards stationed at the entrance were killed by a single palm strike from her before they could even cry out. Seeing that all the Wei soldiers outside had gone to set up an ambush and surround Bu Jingxian, she walked straight into the cave.

The interior of the cave was not very large. Walking deeper inside, she found a man in his thirties fast asleep. His martial arts seemed rather unremarkable, as he had entirely failed to sense her intrusion.

Beside the man sat a large rectangular box. When July opened it, she found the interior half-filled with weapons and half-containing four brocade-wood sword cases. Pulling out the sword cases and weapons, she discovered that the designs of these arms were highly peculiar.

One side was edged while the other was seamless. To call them swords, the tips curved slightly; to call them sabers, the blades were as narrow and straight as swords.

The clinking of July examining these weapons awakened the sleeping man. He sat up, looked at the strange and beautiful woman before him with great astonishment, and after sizing her up for a moment, seeing that she ignored him and simply studied the weapons, he asked, "Do you understand weaponry?"

"No," July replied bluntly, pulling a chicken leg from her cloth pouch and tossing it to the man. The latter caught it happily and began eating, swallowing as he asked, "Do you have wine?"

July shook the flask at her waist and said, "It's empty."

The man muttered, "What a pity." In a short while, he finished the chicken leg and asked July for another. After devouring three fat chicken legs in this manner, he finally asked, "If you don't understand weapons, why keep looking at them?"

"What kind of weapons are these? They look neither like sabers nor swords." July picked them up one by one to inspect them, asking with genuine puzzlement.

The man laughed in amusement. "What does that matter? Why must a weapon look strictly like a saber or a sword? The weapons I forge surpass sabers in practicality. While they may not match the agility of the long swords used by Jianghu martial artists, their piercing power far exceeds ordinary long swords, and their lethality surpasses battlefield swords."

"Are you a blacksmith of the Wei army?"

The man said dismissively, "The officials of Wei are a bunch of fools! How could they possibly recognize the brilliance of my weapons!"

"Then why are you here?"

"The centurion of the town is a good friend of mine and has always appreciated the weapons I forge. In the past, he recommended me to Wei generals many times, always lamenting that my talents were wasted. Today, when you Zheng and Soul-Burning armies attacked, he feared I would meet a violent end and brought me away to escape." The man paused, then asked, "Are you a Martial Honored of Zheng? I saw the golden phoenix ornament on your head; it looks just like the Martial Honored Phoenix Crown people speak of."