March of the fifth year of the Genesis Era, March of the First Year of Great Huan.
Four months had passed since the Sino-Vietnam Decisive Battle. The Huan Kingdom had seized roughly ninety percent of the Yue State Zone and renamed it Yue Province.
Among the Huan Kingdom's participants in the Yue Conquest, the seven marquises, including War Dragon Marquis Long Ju and Faith Tiger Marquis Ji Bu, had not only added a weighty entry to their records of merit, but also amassed substantial wealth through massacres, confiscations, and the like. Each had expanded his personal troops-his exclusive special troop type-to thirty thousand.
This number had been set by agreement among the seven marquises. They dared not exceed the Forbidden Guard in strength, nor did they wish to provoke the other marquises of Great Huan too much, so they settled on thirty thousand. As their personal troops expanded, the Huan Kingdom's other great generals, especially its other marquises, had already begun submitting petitions to the Huan King and demanding permission to fight!
Afterward, the Huan King withdrew the Huan Army that had fought in the Yue Conquest from Yue Province. Still divided into eight columns, they reversed course and marched north into the Huaxia Region, following the Yue Army's earlier routes into Changsha Commandery, Qianzhong Commandery, Ba Commandery, and Shu Commandery.
This time, the Huan Army marched under the banner of "exterminating Yue invaders and restoring peace to the people."
Moreover, the four commanderies, including Ba-Shu, had already been ravaged by the Yue Army and left riddled with devastation. The eight columns of the Huan Army encountered little meaningful resistance. Wherever they went, they swept through like a blade splitting bamboo, like a gale scattering fallen leaves. Wandering bandits, brigands, local magnates, and other forces either fled at the first