Barren City soon became bustling.
Liang Ying's routed troops were only the beginning; more than a dozen groups arrived afterward.
The smallest numbered three to five hundred men, while the largest had one or two thousand. After finding courtyards in the city to settle into, they ordered the county magistrate to procure provisions.
"Not even ghosts live in Barren City. How am I supposed to procure provisions?"
When Zhao Tai dealt with civil officials, he could invoke the backing of his former teacher. But faced with these starving routed soldiers, reason was useless and he did not dare speak. He could only transport over the grain from the mines and distribute it.
There were several thousand people in the city altogether. This grain would last, at most, three to five days.
The generals and commanders of each division also knew Barren City had no food, and privately sounded one another out.
They publicly proclaimed that they were fortifying the walls and clearing the countryside to resist Great Yong, then began pillaging the villages and towns around Barren City.
Where soldiers passed, they combed through the land like a fine-toothed comb. It was legalized, organized robbery. The common people were left with nothing in their homes and could only become refugees, dragging their families south to flee for their lives.
Anyone who dared resist was a spy for Great Yong!
At the city gate.
Li Hong watched cart after cart of grain and valuables being delivered to the subordinates of the various military leaders in the city, doing his utmost to suppress the fury in his heart.
"Sir, I often heard my elder brother speak of how, back then, the million-strong northern frontier army could not be said to have left the people utterly untouched, but at least its discipline was strict. How had it fallen into such a state after only a few years?"
They feared death when fighting outsiders, yet oppressed the common people within. These bandit soldiers spread more poison than mountain bandits and rebel armies!
"Human nature is simply like this. Becoming better is difficult—you must follow all kinds of rules and be constantly disciplined and guided. Becoming worse is easy. Forget five years; a few months are enough to turn an iron army into wandering bandits!"
Zhou Yi said slowly, "War will soon rise on the northern frontier. Weapons are ominous, and battle is perilous; a gentleman does not stand beneath a crumbling wall. I will return to Shenjing today. Amid great chaos, remember that preserving your life must come first."
After lingering in Barren City for nearly half a month, a string of defeat reports arrived from the northern frontier.
Yesterday, the routed troops in the city had nearly mutinied, because the last fully intact army on the northern frontier had been surrounded and crushed by Great Yong's forces.
The northern frontier, the two provinces of Yi and Su, had once been Great Yong's old territory. Now they had been completely returned. How much more of Fengyang Kingdom's land would fall afterward remained unknown.
Li Hong asked in surprise, "With your strength, sir, you are even stronger than my father. Who in this world could possibly keep you?"
"You have not even left Fengyang Kingdom—how dare you speak of the vastness of heaven and earth?"
Zhou Yi said solemnly, "Those who cultivate must remember never to be arrogant. This world is vast, so vast that mortals cannot traverse it even in an entire lifetime!"
Li Hong performed the rites of a disciple and bowed. "Thank you for your instruction, sir."
In recent days, his exchanges with Zhou Yi had exposed Li Hong to many wild and unconstrained ideas, broadening both his horizons and his heart. Some views seemed absurd at first, yet whenever he carefully reflected upon them, they proved truly profound and wondrous.
Li Hong came to understand many principles absent from books. Though he and Zhou Yi had no name of master and disciple, they possessed the reality of it.
"I'm leaving."
Zhou Yi was not one to dawdle. With a long and boundless life ahead of him, he needed to grow accustomed to partings as soon as possible.
Li Hong bid him farewell through tears. "May the wind be at your back, sir."
His parents and brothers were all dead. Now, parting from Zhou Yi as well, he was truly alone in the vast northern frontier.
Zhou Yi looked back and sent him a voice transmission.
"The chaos on the northern frontier is a terrible calamity for the people, the soldiers, and the court. Only for you is it a good thing. If you wish to emulate the Duke Who Pacifies the Nation, spend some silver and buy yourself the rank of Guerrilla General."
With that, he mounted his horse, cracked his whip, and rode away.
A Guerrilla General with real command over troops cost only several tens of thousands of taels. However dilapidated and declining the Duke Who Pacifies the Nation's residence might be, Li Hong could still afford that much silver.
He traveled south along the official road.
Three days later.
In the distance, he spotted curling cooking smoke. Ahead lay Chen Family Village, where he had lodged on his journey here.
Old Man Chen, the village head, was an interesting fellow. He roasted rabbit meat until it was crisp and fragrant, brewed fine yellow wine, and possessed no small measure of eloquence and insight.
Zhou Yi had discussed heaven and earth with him, commented on past and present, yet could not gain the slightest upper hand. They talked for an entire night before finally feeling satisfied.
"A remarkable man hidden in the wilderness—nothing more than this!"
Zhou Yi touched his empty purse. "I did not even leave behind loose silver. With Old Brother Chen's knowledge of astronomy and geography, surely he would not begrudge me two taels for lodging?"
A poor household might be rich on the road. Zhou Yi had brought five thousand taels in banknotes when he departed, and several thousand more had been gifted by "heroes" along the way. Now he had spent every last coin.
As Zhou Yi pondered, his horse did not stop galloping, and Chen Family Village drew near.
Then the wind blew, and his expression abruptly changed!
"What a heavy stench of blood."
Zhou Yi sprang from horseback. A distance of a hundred zhang vanished in an instant.
There was indeed cooking smoke in the village, but it was not from farmers preparing meals. Rather, two or three hundred soldiers had lit fires at the village entrance.
The soldiers on guard spotted someone approaching and raised their sabers as they shouted, "What are you looking at, old man? If you don't want to die, get lost!"
"Where are the people of Chen Family Village?"
Zhou Yi did not need to ask to guess. Fresh bloodstains marked these soldiers' bodies and blades. The cooks were slaughtering pigs and sheep, while sacks of grain and cloth of all sizes lay piled nearby.
The commanding officer said, "Why waste words? Just shoot him."
At his command, bowstrings twanged, and more than a dozen arrows shot toward him.
"Zhou has never liked fighting in his life, yet some people insist on rushing headlong toward death!"
Zhou Yi's figure flickered, moving as fast as lightning, already beyond the limits of ordinary human reaction.
The commander saw only a faint afterimage weaving among the soldiers beneath him. Before they could even cry out in death, they fell in swathes like grass beneath a scythe.
"Ghost!"
The commander shrieked and fled toward Chen Family Village with his head in his hands.
Slaughtering more than two hundred soldiers took only a dozen breaths. With several soaring leaps, Zhou Yi caught up, his icy voice sounding beside the commander's ear.
"You want to see ghosts so badly? Then I shall grant your wish!"
With that, he activated the House-Protecting Talisman. One ghostly soul after another drifted from the village houses. Most were hazy and muddled, their faces indistinguishable. A few could be seen clearly, missing arms or legs and covered in saber and spear wounds.
Among them, one aggrieved soul was the clearest of all. Its neck was broken, its abdomen bore two holes, and bloodwater gushed endlessly from them.
Screech!
The aggrieved soul saw the commander and its resentment instantly surged. Its face twisted ferociously as it released a piercing ghostly howl.
The other ghosts, their consciousnesses muddled, answered the aggrieved soul's summons and guidance, rushing forward to kill.
The commander had never seen such a horrifying scene. One ghost dragged half a length of intestines behind it, while another soul carried its own head. His eyes rolled back, and he fainted from terror.
The ghosts pounced onto the commander and were about to devour his living essence and blood when the Killing Intent of a military formation suddenly manifested to protect him.
The pain was like being sliced by sabers and pierced by swords. The ghosts screamed and retreated, too fearful to approach again.
The aggrieved soul's eyes split wide with rage. Black mist spewed from its mouth and shrouded the commander.
Zhou Yi circulated his Mana and unleashed the martial technique Lion's Roar. "Old Brother Chen, leave him one breath. I still have questions for him."
His voice boomed like thunder. The aggrieved soul woke from its savagery, recognized Zhou Yi, and bloody tears seeped from its eyes.
"Thank you, benefactor, for avenging the blood-deep hatred of Chen Family Village!"
"Old Brother Chen, restrain your grief."
Zhou Yi walked before the commander and sent Mana through several acupoints. The excruciating pain of a thousand cuts woke him from his faint.
"Are you routed soldiers from the northern frontier?"
The commander looked at the ghostly souls surrounding him, their crimson eyes fixed on him with venomous hatred. A chill ran down his spine. He crawled up and knocked his head against the ground again and again as he begged.
"I had no choice either. Ever since we were defeated and fled from the northern frontier, the court has not issued any new military orders, nor has it provided military pay or provisions!"
"We haven't eaten for seven or eight days. To keep from starving to death, we could only plunder the common people!"
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