Self-Defense Army

Biodata

Power Progression

The army’s progression consists of organizational expansion, enhanced soldiers, and specialized formations rather than a single cultivation realm.

Organization

Initial Establishment

At its official renaming, the army had the following distribution 100:

Later Formations

• Beast Tamer forces — Included Defense, Melee, Long-Range, and Support Types. During the later Cangling war, the Beast Tamer corps generally remained with Guo Dundun’s main force to anchor it 252 278.
• Infantry regiments — Predominantly ordinary soldiers protected by Skin-Strengthening Potion. These troops increasingly carried the burden of frontline assaults as the army expanded 278.
• Vanguard Battalion — Led assaults and absorbed the first impact of enemy attacks; Yang Di commanded it during the Primordial City fighting 251 267.
• War-wolf cavalry — Recruited from elite archers and trained in mounted archery and charging attacks 254.
• Artillery Battalion — Prepared Heaven-Shaking Thunder and Repeating Crossbow Carts for the attack on Shangguan’s camp 254.
• Gongsun Commandant’s Unit — An officially Self-Defense-designated force informally named for Gongsun Qianxun 286.

Leadership and Affiliations

• Jiang Hao — Founder and commander. Designed the army’s training system, directed its major campaigns, and considered it the foundation of his future bid for world conquest 97 116 200.
• Guo Dundun / Chubby — Senior commander responsible for Beast Tamer recruitment, operations behind Xiao Lin’s lines, and command of the main force during the Cangling war 134 153 253 274.
• Zhang Jun — Recruited ordinary soldiers, commanded infantry, and directed the Mountain God Valley ambush 107 134 173 253.
• Jiang Hailong — Senior field officer involved in the Wuji Pass operation, Wumeng’s defense, and the Primordial City campaign 110 173 253.
• Yang Qingliu — Division chief and field commander who led the siege of Weizhou and reinforced Gongsun Qianxun against Yu Mo 263 287.
• Liu Zhiwei — Deputy Director of the Combat Division; commanded forward forces, defensive positions, and the surprise attack on Desert Star 254 274 286 288.
• Shen Zaitian — Commanded flank protection, cavalry, and infantry reinforcements during the Cangling campaigns 253 266 267.
• Gongsun Qianxun — Eastern Conquest General serving in the Self-Defense Army; led her own commandant’s unit and elite armored cavalry 277 286 287.
• Wen Ruxue — Negotiated with the North Sea Emperor on Jiang Hao’s behalf and refused to disclose the army’s survival secret under interrogation 186.
• Han Qing — Publicized its early victories and later supported its Cangling campaign through recruitment and reinforcement measures as Empress 110 253.
• King Han — Granted the army formal independent-corps status and rewarded its commanders 130.
• Han Su — Attempted to force its disbandment, later disregarded Jiang Hao’s prisoner policy and disputed credit for the Han Palace Royal Court victory 123 124 196 206.

Training and Military Culture

Training System

• Physical conditioning: Horizontal and parallel bars, knuckle push-ups, obstacle courses, cross-country and full-gear runs, frog jumps, squats, duck walks, sit-ups, and emergency musters 97.
• Coordinated combat: Ten-man groups combined into hundred-man and thousand-man formations, linking small-unit cooperation to larger battlefield maneuvers 97.
• Practical fighting instruction: Jiang Hao paired conditioning with enemy-killing techniques rather than developing strength alone 97.
• Command signaling: Flags, horns, and war drums coordinated formation changes and deployments; Zhang Jun used a command chariot with a driver and signal-flag soldier 107 252 254.

Recruitment and Cohesion

Recruitment accelerated after the Wuji Pass victory, drawing rescued captives and stranded Shenzhou soldiers to Jiang Hao. Royal recognition later permitted open expansion in Shenzhou City, where refugees supplied recruits and the army offered nearly three times the regular Shenzhou Army’s pay 110 111 130 134.

Jiang Hao imposed strict discipline, but he and Guo Dundun also valued soldiers’ mental health. Recreational activities and a relatively relaxed atmosphere outside training strengthened their sense of belonging. Its discipline was explicitly less punitive than the Northern Barbarians’ practice of forcing soldiers to kill retreating comrades 253 263.

Abilities and Tactics

Skin Strengthening

Enhanced skin was the army’s defining defensive advantage, allowing ordinary soldiers to withstand attacks that would otherwise penetrate their bodies 107 250.

• Ordinary arrows could not pierce the soldiers’ strengthened skin 250.
• Jiang Hao initially required armor partly to conceal the enhancement 107.
• The enhancement supported close combat even after Beast Tamers exhausted their mental power 130.
• It did not prevent internal injuries, crushing, or lethal blunt-force trauma. Divine Arm Crossbows, war hammers, axes, and heavy cavalry remained serious threats 250 267 278.

New-Style Potion and the “Immortal Body”

Selected personnel received the New-Style Potion, enabling them to survive attacks that remained lethal to ordinary enhanced soldiers 189 267.

• High-ranking officers could withstand assassins’ killing blows 267.
• Wen Ruxue’s wounds healed during torture, leading the North Sea Emperor to identify her “Immortal Body” as the army’s secret 186.
• This protection was not universal: ordinary infantry remained vulnerable despite their strengthened skin 189 267.

Defensive Formations

The army used disciplined formations to protect its command elements and resist cavalry 252 265.

• Interlocking shields and spears created dense infantry barriers 107 252.
• Square-Circle Formation placed a circular center within surrounding squares, favoring defense over offensive strength 265.
• Mutually supporting formations extended defensive depth while remaining close enough to reinforce one another 268.
• Counter-cavalry tactics combined attacks on horses’ legs with crossbow fire from both flanks. These could stop heavy cavalry but inflicted severe casualties on the infantry 268 278.

Mobile and Concealed Operations

• Secret passages bypassed scouts, enabled assembly outside Wumeng City, and later delivered troops directly into the Han Palace Royal Court 140 155 205.
• Split forces and diversions disrupted enemy pursuit and supply lines 153 155.
• War-wolf cavalry combined mounted shooting, repeated charges, rapid regrouping, and concentrated attacks on weak points 254.
• Prepared defenses included trenches, pits, Iron Spiked Nets, barbed wire, and artillery-covered routes 254 286.

Equipment and Supplies

• Black-iron infantry equipment — Armor, interlocking shields measuring 1.3 meters by 0.5 meters, and five-meter spears weighing 60 jin with serrated heads 107.
• Close-combat weapons — Battle-axes, war hammers, and spears supported prolonged melee fighting 259 260.
• Bows and crossbows — Provided supporting volleys; the Primordial City assault included arrows carrying skills 250 254.
• Heaven-Shaking Thunder — Iron explosives that scattered fragments or small iron balls. Used against infantry, concealed assassins, cavalry, and fortified camps 254 267 279.
• Stone-Throwing Machines — Launched Heaven-Shaking Thunder, though assassins could infiltrate the formation and destroy the machines 267.
• Repeating Crossbow Carts — Prepared for the assault on Shangguan’s camp 254.
• Armored War Wolves — Mounts of Gongsun Qianxun’s elite cavalry 287.
• Regenerative potion — Chen Qianshu demonstrated a Seven-Tribulation Earth Essence potion on a fatally wounded hare. Jiang Hao ordered production of the remaining ten bottles, estimated to be sufficient for 1,000 people 140.

History

Formation and Wuji Pass

The army developed from Jiang Hao’s Commandant’s Unit through months of training and expansion at the Ice Cave. By its official renaming, it had 30,000 personnel divided between Beast Tamers, ordinary soldiers, reserves, and support departments 97 100.

Its defeat of 50,000 Northern Barbarians at Wuji Pass made it widely known. Jiang Hao rejected occupying the pass, instead removing supplies and rescuing prisoners before withdrawing to the Ice Cave. The victory raised Shenzhou’s morale and attracted army remnants, expanding the force to 80,000 within days 110 111.

Northern Barbarian Victories and Recognition

Jiang Hao’s forces destroyed Liu Chengfeng’s army with an avalanche, while Chubby’s troops routed Dan Xiong and Wan Huatong. The defeats prompted the North Sea leadership to organize another 170,000 troops under two Transcendent Masters 120 121.

Han Su’s attempt to disband the army met resistance from Jiang Hao and public anger. Jiang Hao declared that it would remain in existence until the North Sea Army withdrew 123 124.

After annihilating He Qin’s forces, the army ended Shenzhou City’s isolation and frightened Cangling’s troops into withdrawing from Ten-Thousand Dragon Mountain. King Han recognized it as an independent corps, opening the way to large-scale recruitment 130 134.

Wumeng and the North Sea Campaign

The army penetrated the North Sea Kingdom, raided supply routes, and assembled outside Wumeng through secret passages. Jiang Hao chose the city as a means of cutting Xiao Lin’s supplies and retreat 140 153 155.

It repelled Xiao Lin’s first major siege but suffered devastating losses. Jiang Hailong reported 12,000 dead at the rear wall, while the infantry regiments sustained nearly 30,000 casualties from the allied Blazing Flame Dragon King’s roar 170 173.

The campaign subsequently reached the Han Palace Royal Court. Wen Ruxue’s attempted negotiations exposed the army’s regenerative secret, and Jiang Hao later used the Imperial Palace Secret Passage to seize the palace. The Self-Defense Army and Han Su’s New Army jointly overwhelmed the garrison, although their commanders disputed credit 186 205 206.

Primordial City and Cangling

Returning veterans fought Cangling’s invasion around Primordial City. A 50,000-strong assault force overcame a city defended by 200,000 troops, then faced hard fighting against Shangguan’s field army 249 250 251 252.

Guo Dundun refused repeated provocations while resting his main force and concealing cavalry. His eventual counterattack broke Shangguan’s left wing, followed by an explosive bombardment that shattered the enemy camp and led to Shangguan’s capture 253 254.

Weizhou and Desert Star

Yang Qingliu’s forces annihilated a determined Weizhou contingent and besieged the city, but suffered heavy losses against its defenders. Fighting Desert Star further exposed the limits of enhanced skin against assassins, blunt weapons, and massed heavy cavalry 263 267.

The army countered through defensive depth, flanking crossbow fire, cavalry ambushes, and Heaven-Shaking Thunder. Its broader campaign divided between Jiang Hao’s pursuit of Desert Star and Guo Dundun’s steady advance toward the Fallen Spirit Forest 268 272 274 278.

In the later operations, Yang Qingliu reinforced Gongsun Qianxun against Yu Mo, while Liu Zhiwei ambushed Desert Star with explosives. The army routed both enemy forces, cut off Situ Long’s return, and surrounded Great Desert City 287 288.

Notable Quotes

“Our Shenzhou Self-Defense Army can be defeated, but it has never been conquered. Defending our country and our people is the duty of every soldier of Shenzhou.”
— Jiang Hao, rejecting the disbandment order 123