Shaking Mountains Is Easy, Shaking the Lu Family Army Is Hard

[Over the following three months, beacon fires blazed beneath an unbroken sky, and battles great and small came one after another. Each time, you anticipated the enemy's moves, appearing without a trace and vanishing without a shadow, leaving Tuoba Shuyi's army of three hundred thousand exhausted from endless marches.]

[Faced with your ghostly movements, Tuoba Shuyi had no choice but to abandon his pursuit of you. Instead, he employed a feint to the east and strike in the west, pretending to give chase while secretly leading his army straight at Hulao Pass.]

[Yet he had not expected that you had long foreseen this and laid an ambush. Together with Wang Yang, you formed a pincer at Hulao Pass and crushed the North Wind army in a single stroke.]

[After this crushing defeat, Tuoba Shuyi could only lead his troops in retreat.]

[This war lasted a year and drew the eyes of the world.]

[Every battle you commanded ended in repeated victories, defeating greater numbers with fewer troops.]

[The name Lu Chen shook the realm.]

[With their illustrious military achievements, the three of you—father and sons—were promoted four ranks in succession. You were also appointed Military Commissioner Along the River of Jiangnan West Circuit, ranked Subordinate Third Rank.]

[You did not stop there, but continued leading your army north. In two months, you broke eighteen cities in succession. Across the north, enemies fled at the mere sight of your banners, and Yan Prefecture and Yun Prefecture were recovered.]

Yun Prefecture lay along the northern frontier.

Its climate was bitterly cold.

By late autumn, a sudden blizzard swept across heaven and earth.

Turning the entire region for thousands of li around into a vast expanse of frosty white.

Amid the howling wind and swirling snow!

A party of riders galloped through the boundless white snow.

At their head was the eunuch bearing the imperial seal, Ma Bao. Wrapped in a heavy sable-fur coat, he rode a Night-Shining Jade Lion.

This horse was a royal mount, extraordinarily divine and handsome, worth a fortune.

At last!

After untold hardship, the party reached a towering military camp. Ma Bao swung down from his horse, his movements agile and clean.

He was of average height, with a treasured sword clasped in his arms.

His complexion was fair, yet there was not the slightest trace of effeminacy about him. Instead, an air of heroism shone between his brows.

A stern righteousness gleamed in his eyes, making others dare not meet his gaze.

Ma Bao was a trusted confidant of the Great Qing emperor. As the emperor's personal attendant, he had accompanied him since childhood.

More than twenty years ago, Great Qing's current emperor had leapt from an idle prince to the Son of Heaven.

Ma Bao had risen with him, climbing the ladder in a single stride to become one of the most powerful eunuchs in the Great Qing court.

Yet!

This eunuch, Ma Bao, stood alone from the rest. He formed no factions, pursued no private gain, and never bullied the officials.

Upright and incorruptible, just and selfless, he was deeply respected both in court and beyond. Among the people, he was praised as "truer than a man."

Not only did he enjoy a sterling reputation in court, he was also a first-rate swordsman of the martial world. His swordsmanship was swift as lightning; with his long sword in hand, he was like a flood dragon emerging from the sea, a sight that left people in awe.

Yet after days of relentless travel, even he felt somewhat weary and close to his limit.

All this toil was because of the father and two sons of the Lu Family Army.

Since the North Wind army had retreated, the Lu Family Army had marched northward with the force of splitting bamboo, taking a city every few days.

Afterward, the Lu Family Army led several thousand elite troops north like a raging storm. In barely half a month, they seized another three cities and successfully captured half of Yan Prefecture.

Then they entered Yan Prefecture, took control of all its forces, and surged forward like a rainbow spanning the heavens. They broke ten cities in succession, unstoppable wherever they went.

When the news returned, the world was shaken.

To Ma Bao, all this seemed utterly unbelievable. In little more than a month, Yan Prefecture had returned to Great Qing's embrace.

One had to know!

For twenty years, Great Qing's armies had never crossed the Yellow River by even half a step.

For twenty years, not a single Great Qing army had ever fought its way to this place.

Yan Prefecture, land Great Qing had lost twenty years ago, still leaned toward Great Qing in the hearts of most of its people.

Along the way, Ma Bao had witnessed the people's fervent welcome. They offered melons and fruit in droves, expressing their respect and gratitude toward the Lu Family Army.

At the same time, he had felt the novelty and changes along the road, and his heart was filled with astonishment at the Lu Family Army's new leader.

Lu Family Army discipline: "Freeze to death, but do not tear down houses. Starve to death, but do not plunder!"

Those who oppressed or coerced the people faced caning for lesser offenses and public beheading for grave ones.

Ma Bao knew well the darkness within armies. Sometimes soldiers seeking an outlet would disguise themselves as bandits and massacre civilians. Such strict military discipline was rare under heaven.

Ma Bao murmured, "Lu Chen, courtesy name Shenzhou."

And the principles of this Lu Family Army had all been forged by Lu Chen himself.

Even the children of the Northern Region sang folk songs.

"Shaking mountains is easy, shaking the Lu Family Army is hard!"

Lu Chen... no.

Now, he had been granted the title of Junior Guardian by the court and was respectfully called Junior Guardian Lu.

Ma Bao was full of curiosity and interest toward this young hero and brilliant talent.

Now!

They had reached north of Yun Prefecture, where the Lu Family Army had once again gathered sixty thousand men and was preparing to recover Yue Prefecture.

To recover two prefectures in less than three months—such achievements were enough to stir one's blood.

By the Son of Heaven's command, Ma Bao had originally intended to hold the investiture ceremony for the Lu Family Army by the Yellow River. Who could have imagined that the Lu Family Army had already crossed the Yellow River and marched north?

Upon hearing the news, he galloped without rest, riding day and night until he reached Yan Prefecture. Yet another victory report arrived: the Lu Family Army had already fought its way to Yun Prefecture. The speed of their march and their capture of cities were breathtaking.

Ma Bao pursued them relentlessly, and only now did he finally arrive at the Lu Family Army's main camp.

On this journey, he had taken a detour of a thousand li and traveled back and forth in vain, yet he bore no resentment. Instead, he felt faintly pleased.

At this moment, Ma Bao stood quietly outside the command tent, awaiting an audience.

Naturally, one of his subordinates had gone inside to deliver the message.

It was not that he relied on his status, but that as an imperial envoy, he represented the majesty of the imperial throne and the Son of Heaven. Thus, he had to wait with proper solemnity.

Before long, footsteps sounded in the distance.

Ma Bao's eyelids twitched slightly as he turned toward the sound.

Dozens of figures approached from afar in orderly steps, their bodies radiating killing intent. At a glance, one could tell they were warriors who had fought their way out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

The Lu Family Army truly deserved its name as an iron army.

That saying echoed once more in his heart.

"Shaking mountains is easy, shaking the Lu Family Army is hard!"

They came to stand on either side of Ma Bao, erect amid the wind and snow like javelins, motionless as cast steel.

Three men walked out side by side, each carrying a different aura.

At the center was a white-haired veteran general, the weathering of years written across his face.

To his right stood a young man clad in armor, his heroic spirit pressing upon all around him.

Ma Bao merely swept his gaze over them lightly, and he had already guessed their identities.

Lu Jiaxuan and his son, Lu Yu.

Though Lu Jiaxuan had struggled for more than a decade, he had always lost more than he won in his clashes with North Wind, never managing to achieve fame and success.

As for Lu Yu, though he was a great general praised as a "match for ten thousand men," such commanders were not uncommon in a nation like Great Qing.

Yet Ma Bao's gaze did not settle on the young man walking a step behind on the left.

This man should be Lu Chen.

Among southern scholars, he enjoyed immense renown and was hailed as, "In four hundred years, none has surpassed him in the use of troops."

Tuoba Shuyi had once let out a helpless sigh by the Yellow River:

"Since Heaven gave birth to me, Tuoba Shuyi, why did it also give birth to Lu Shenzhou?"

The young man stepped out of the shadows.

Tall and slender, he wore ordinary clothes and a Daoist hairpin. His features were handsome, and his entire bearing was calm and steady.

Sensing Feng Bao's gaze, the young man smiled faintly at him.

Feng Bao instinctively felt that the young man's eyes were dazzlingly bright, as though they could see through the human heart.

[That year, you were twenty-five. You were granted the title of Junior Guardian, and the Lu Clan was given the authority to establish its own office and deliberate over the three armies.]

[In early spring of the following year, you personally led forty thousand Lu Family Army troops and recovered six prefectures in succession. In half a year, you fought more than thirty battles—every attack captured its objective, every battle ended in victory.]

[That same year, North Wind sent an envoy south to negotiate peace.]