156: Chapter 156 A Long Drive In

The entire Great Qian Dynasty had fallen into unprecedented panic and chaos!

Countless nobles and aristocrats began packing their gold and valuables, preparing to flee south.

Countless commoners were crying and running through the streets like headless flies.

For the first time, the shadow of doomsday loomed so vividly over this majestic city, the greatest in the world, which had stood for nearly a thousand years!

The imperial court, panicked and grabbing at straws under the Crown Prince's temporary regency, issued twelve consecutive golden imperial decrees. With a posture bordering on begging, they ordered all vassal states and governors still loyal to the Great Qian Dynasty to immediately lead their troops to the capital to "protect the King and save the sovereign"!

Among them, one imperial decree, with the most earnest wording and the most generous promises, was sent at a speed of 800 li per day to the northern border, reaching the man now regarded by the entire Great Qian Dynasty as their last straw.

The content of the imperial decree was simple and direct.

The imperial court officially conferred the title of "Yan King" upon Gao Feng and verbally promised that if he could lead his troops to repel the Heavenly Wolf allied forces and save the Divine Capital from danger...

Then, the entire northern border, including the three provinces of Yun, You, and Suzhou Province, would all become his fief!

He would be allowed a high degree of autonomy, to establish his own government and military headquarters, and the title would be hereditary!

This was no longer a simple reward; it was trading the future of the entire northern border for a single life-saving military intervention from Gao Feng!

This was a solicitation, a plea, and even more so, a malicious "killing with praise" and an open conspiracy!

They wanted to drive the tiger to swallow the wolf once again!

They wanted Gao Feng, the fierce tiger that had just risen in the north, to fight to the death with the Blood Wolf King, that even more brutal starving wolf from the grasslands, at the gates of the Divine Capital, leaving both sides severely wounded!

And then, the imperial court would come out to clean up the mess.

Ji City, Yan Kings Residence.

Inside the council hall, the atmosphere was suppressed to the extreme.

All the high-ranking officials of the Panshi Land were gathered here, their faces wearing complex expressions mixed with anger, disdain, and gravity.

"My Lord! This imperial decree must absolutely not be accepted!"

Du Wei was the first to stand up, his dark face filled with anger.

"Those cowards in the Divine Capital! Why should we clean up the monstrous disaster they caused themselves?! Protect the King? Protect his mother's King! I say, we should just sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight! Once they and those grassland barbarians are both severely wounded, we will march south and seize that damn throne in one stroke!"

"General Du, watch your tongue!"

Gu Changfeng frowned and stopped him, saying, "Although that is true, if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold. If the Divine Capital falls, the world will inevitably fall into chaos! By then, our northern border will inevitably fall into a desperate situation of being besieged from all sides. We cannot just sit idly by."

"But we can't just stupidly run over there to be cannon fodder!" Wulu also said in a muffled voice, "That's three hundred thousand grassland allied forces! Not thirty thousand! At best, the mobile troops we can pull out now are only fifty thousand! How are we supposed to fight this?"

The hall fell into intense arguing once again.

Everyone's gaze eventually converged on Gao Feng, who had remained silent from beginning to end, just quietly looking at the imperial decree.

After a long while, Gao Feng slowly raised his head.

There was not a ripple on his face, and his deep eyes were like two bottomless ancient wells, making it impossible for anyone to tell what he was thinking.

"Pass on my royal order."

He stood up slowly, his voice not loud, but clearly overpowering all the noise.

"From this moment on, announce to the world!"

"I, Gao Feng, Yan King of the Great Qian Dynasty, offer my deepest condolences to the millions of innocent compatriots who died tragically in Dai and Bing provinces!"

"However, as a citizen of the Great Qian Dynasty and as the barrier of the northern border, it is our duty to protect our home and defend our country! This King will never sit idly by and watch the Hu barbarians run rampant on the land of our Great Qian!"

"This King has decided to accept this decree to protect the King!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the whole hall was shocked!

"My Lord! Think twice!" Liu Chengfeng and Xu Changqing exclaimed in unison.

However, Gao Feng just raised his hand to stop them.

A meaningful, cold arc curled at the corner of his mouth.

"However..."

He changed the subject, his voice carrying a hint of undisguised mockery and sarcasm.

"This King gladly accepts the title of 'Yan King' conferred by His Majesty! From this moment on, I will establish my government and military headquarters in Ji City, announce it to the world, and thank the Lord for his grace!"

"But!"

His voice suddenly turned cold!

"I will immediately submit a memorial to the imperial court! I will say that our northern border has just experienced a great battle with the Azure Wolf King and our vitality has been greatly damaged! Now, the Eastern Hu Tribes, Xianbei, and other tribes deep in the grasslands are gathering heavy troops on our border, restless and ready to take advantage of our misfortune!"

"As the northern gate of the Great Qian Dynasty, the defense of our northern border is far more important than the interior! To prevent the various grassland tribes from taking advantage of our army's southward march to protect the King and shaking the foundation of the state, this King must sit in the northern border to stabilize the rear!"

"This is called the 'Delay' tactic!"

Gao Feng looked at the stunned crowd and slowly extended a finger.

"Of course, the posturing must be done properly."

He smiled slightly and cast his gaze toward Du Wei.

"Du Wei, I order you to immediately assemble five thousand elites of the Tiger Guard Battalion and raise the banner of my 'Yan King Vanguard to Protect the King'! Then, march slowly and symbolically toward the south for this King!"

"Remember, it must be slow! Very slow!"

"On this journey, your mission is not to march, but to 'suppress bandits'!"

"Any mountain bandits who have occupied mountains as kings, any outlaws gathering in the forests, any Jianghu forces that do not submit to the royal order... all of them are to be suppressed by this King in the name of 'clearing the road to protect the King and pacifying the national disaster'!"

"The momentum must be grand! Let the whole world know that I, Gao Feng, am 'clearing obstacles' in order to protect the King!"

"Suppress bandits?" Du Wei was stunned, then a ridiculously lewd smile appeared on his honest face, "My Lord, I understand! You just watch! I guarantee that if we don't level a hundred or eighty mountain strongholds, we will never step half a foot into the Divine Capital!"

A burst of irrepressible laughter erupted in the hall.

Everyone understood Gao Feng's intention.

Where was this protecting the King? This was clearly using the banner of protecting the King to carry out the business of eliminating dissidents and expanding territory!

High! Truly high!

"This is just the first step."

Gao Feng slowly extended a second finger.

"Just delaying is not enough; we must also 'borrow'!"

"Borrow?" A glimmer of wisdom flashed in Xu Changqing's eyes, "My Lord's meaning is..."

"Exactly!" A fox-like cunning flashed in Gao Feng's eyes.

"Isn't the Divine Capital in an urgent crisis? Isn't the Crown Prince anxious for us to save the sovereign?"

"Fine! Saving the sovereign is possible! But, even among brothers, accounts must be clear!"

"War costs lives! War costs money!"

"My Panshi Army has just experienced a great battle with the Azure Wolf King, our weapons and armor are severely damaged, our treasury is empty, and the soldiers can't even be issued winter cotton clothes! How are we supposed to fight this war?"

"Liu Chengfeng!"

"Subordinate is here!"

"Immediately draft a military supply list for this King! Write it as exaggeratedly as possible!"

"Just say that the Blood Wolf King is ten times more powerful than his brother! Not only does he have three hundred thousand allied forces, but he has also invited countless Evil Path experts from the Western Regions to assist! If we don't have the massive resources of the imperial court to support us, going there is no different from seeking death!"

"Gold! Ask for one million taels for this King! Not enough? Then two million taels!"

"Grain and forage! Ask for ten million shi for this King! Not enough? Then twenty million shi!"

"Refined iron! Weapons and armor! Medicinal Pill! Everything we can think of, everything we urgently need, write it all down for this King at ten times the amount!"

"And!" A more greedy light flashed in Gao Feng's eyes, "Tell them! The reason our army was able to defeat the Azure Wolf King is entirely due to the 'Explosive Shell' and 'Ground-Stepping Mine' developed by the Hundred Crafts Institute! But the manufacturing process of these two items is complex, and the Materials are scarce! Especially since they require a core material called 'Heavenly Meteor Crystal'!"

"And this material is only available in the Royal Armory of the Divine Capital!"

"Tell them! Without enough 'Heavenly Meteor Crystal', we cannot build enough super-weapons! We will be unable to fight the three hundred thousand grassland allied forces!"

"I want to see whether they choose to keep their treasure hidden in their boxes, or choose to keep their heads that are about to be chopped off by the barbarians!"

"This is called the 'Borrow' tactic!"

"Borrow their knives to kill their enemies! Borrow their money to raise our own troops!"

These words were spoken with overbearing arrogance and were incredibly sinister!

It left everyone present dumbfounded, followed by deep admiration from the bottom of their hearts!

They finally understood why their Lord could go from a penniless refugee to where he was today.

This god-like method of packaging shameless extortion as the sincere heart of loyalty and patriotism!

This supreme wisdom of playing with open and secret conspiracies in the palm of his hand was simply that of a born hegemon!

"My Lord is far-sighted, this subordinate admires you to the ground!"

Liu Chengfeng and Xu Changqing looked at each other, both seeing extreme excitement and fanaticism in each other's eyes!

They knew that with such a Lord, why worry about not achieving great things?!

"Then, what about the third step?" Gu Changfeng couldn't help but ask curiously.

A colder and more cruel smile appeared on Gao Feng's face.

"This third step is 'Swallow'!"

He walked to the huge sand table, picked up the command arrow representing the highest command authority, and did not point to the Divine Capital in the south, nor to the grasslands in the east.

Instead, he stabbed it fiercely into that ownerless land that had long been devastated by the flames of war and was now in a power vacuum.

— Suzhou Province!

"Didn't the imperial court promise that as long as we can repel the Heavenly Wolf, they would designate all three provinces of the northern border as my fief?"

"Fine! This King will go ahead and receive the third province that belongs to me in advance!"

"Pass on my royal order!"

At this moment, his voice was filled with an irresistible iron-blooded will!

"Order Wulu to lead thirty thousand Green Wolf Battalion iron cavalry, and immediately enter Suzhou Province in the name of 'mopping up the remnants of the Heavenly Wolf and rescuing suffering compatriots'!"

"All ownerless land, mines, and cities within Suzhou Province are to be received in the name of the Yan Kings Residence!"

"All displaced commoners and scattered defeated soldiers within Suzhou Province are to be recruited and reorganized!"

"While the imperial court and those grassland barbarians are fighting until their heads are broken under the walls of the Divine Capital, I want to quietly turn the entire Suzhou Province, this fertile land with millions of people and endless resources, into a part of my Panshi Land!"

"I want to use the name of protecting the King to carry out the reality of annexation!"

"This is called 'Borrowing the Way to Conquer Guo'!"

"This is what they call a bloodless victory, swallowing three provinces in one gulp!"

"Drag, Borrow, Swallow!"

These three strategies of open intrigue were interlinked, each move lethal!

Not only did it perfectly neutralize the imperial court's sinister scheme of "driving the tiger to swallow the wolf"!

It also took advantage of this monstrous national crisis to maximize his own interests!

Without losing a single soldier, he could legitimately squeeze massive war resources from the imperial court; he could openly expand his territory under the banner of "protecting the king"; and he could sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight, waiting for the world to change, before marching south to deliver the final, decisive blow!

Such heaven-defying capability to manipulate the situation at will!

Left everyone present completely awestruck!

Looking at that young figure standing before the sand table, pointing out the landscape with high spirits, only endless, fanatical worship remained in their hearts!

They knew that a true Dragon had broken free from all restraints!

When it soared above the Nine Heavens once more, the entire world would tremble under its Dragon might!

...

Over the following months, the situation in the entire Great Qian Dynasty began to unfold according to a wild script, just as Gao Feng had predicted.

The five thousand "Royal Protection Vanguard" led by Du Wei "advanced" south as slowly as snails.

Wherever they went, they used the excuse of "clearing the path for the Royal Army" to conduct a vigorous "cleanup" of local bandits, mountain thieves, and even some disobedient Jianghu Schools.

For a time, all the Jianghu factions in the southern part of Youzhou were thrown into chaos and filled with complaints by this tiger-wolf army operating under the banner of "protecting the king."

Yet, they dared to be angry but dared not speak.

After all, they were "suppressing bandits under imperial decree"!

Meanwhile, the envoy sent by Gao Feng to the Divine Capital, with the "full support" and "forceful arguments" of Grand Tutor Lin and the Crown Prince's faction, successfully extorted an astronomical amount of war resources from the already hollowed-out national treasury—enough to make any vassal king green with envy!

A massive fleet laden with gold, grain, refined iron, and the legendary "Outer-Heaven Meteorite Crystals" sailed grandly toward the north, amid the envious, jealous, and hateful gazes of countless people.

These life-saving supplies, which should have been used to support the defense of the Divine Capital, fell legitimately into Gao Feng's pocket.

At the same time, the thirty thousand Green Wolf Battalion cavalry led by Wulu appeared like ghosts, silently, upon the war-torn land of Suzhou Province.

Operating under the banner of "On the orders of the Prince of Yan, to clear out the remnants of the Heavenly Wolf and rescue suffering compatriots," they swept through like an autumn wind scattering fallen leaves, quickly taking over one ruined city after another in Suzhou Province that had already lost its masters.

They rescued the innocent commoners who had miraculously survived under the iron hooves of the Heavenly Wolf and were like birds startled by the mere twang of a bow, pulling them from the abyss of despair.

They brought them much-needed food, medicine, and warm clothing.

They told them that from this day forward, they were no longer homeless refugees.

They were the subjects of His Highness the Prince of Yan!

They were a part of Panshi Land!

On this land filled with death and despair, the banner of Panshi was raised high for the first time.

That great black banner with stone patterns was like the first light of dawn piercing through the long night, bringing new hope to this land.

And just as Gao Feng was silently carrying out his grand ambition of swallowing three provinces in the northern border.

Beneath the walls of the Divine Capital, the earth-shattering battle that would decide the fate of the entire Great Qian Dynasty finally erupted!

Blood Wolf King Ashina Gudulu personally led three hundred thousand grassland coalition forces, surrounding the entire Divine Capital so tightly that not even water could trickle through!

The black iron torrent was boundless!

The earth-shaking war drums beat day and night without ceasing!

An unprecedented and brutal siege war had begun!

Blood Wolf King Ashina Gudulu, the newly ascended grassland overlord, brought the most primitive and savage art of war belonging to the grassland peoples to its absolute peak.

He did not, like his foolish brother, throw in his most elite Heavenly Wolf Iron Cavalry from the start for meaningless attrition.

He used the hundreds of thousands of Great Qian commoners and surrendered soldiers captured from Dai and Bing provinces, who had already been terrified out of their wits, as the cheapest and most effective siege weapons.

"Charge! Charge for this King!"

"Those who retreat, beheaded!"

"The first to climb the walls of the Divine Capital will be rewarded with a hundred taels of gold and titled Chieftain!"

Under the threat of death and the temptation of heavy rewards, the swarming crowd, like driven livestock, let out desperate wails. Carrying crude ladders and battering rams, they launched a tidal wave of suicidal charges toward that city, which in their eyes was the greatest fortress in the world, akin to the dwelling place of gods!

On the city walls, the Crown Prince, clad in golden armor and holding the Emperor's Sword, watched the tragic scene below, which resembled a living Hell, with a deathly pale face.

Although he was the noble Crown Prince, how had he ever seen such a bloody and tragic scene of war?

The shrill screams, the splashing blood, and the despairing, numb faces were like invisible heavy hammers, striking hard against his heart, which had long been filled with power struggles and conspiracies.

"Fire! Fire, I command you!"

"Rolling stones! Battering logs! Molten metal! Use everything we have!"

"Absolutely do not let these barbarians set one foot on the walls of my Divine Capital!"

He roared until his voice was hoarse, trying in this way to cover up the fear and anxiety in his heart.

However, the Imperial Guard generals and nobles beside him, whose bodies had long been hollowed out by wine and lust, were all ashen-faced, their legs trembling. Some were even beginning to calculate which secret path they could use to escape this cage that was about to be swallowed by the flames of war.

The defenders of the Divine Capital, though boasting two hundred thousand well-equipped troops.

Had long since worn down all their claws and teeth during decades of ease and decay, turning into a flock of sheep that only knew how to bully the commoners, lacking any will to fight or spirit.

Faced with that tidal wave of "cannon fodder" that feared no death, although they held the advantage of the city walls, their morale was collapsing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

This incredibly tragic siege battle lasted for a full ten days and nights.

The moat of the Divine Capital had long been completely filled with corpses and blood, and the tall city walls were scorched pitch black, covered everywhere with shocking bloodstains and the marks of blades and axes.

The defenders' arrows had long run out.

The soldiers' stamina had also reached its limit.

Outside the city, Blood Wolf King Ashina Gudulu, looking at the Divine Capital which was tottering but still resisting stubbornly, finally revealed a trace of an impatient, cruel sneer on his face.

He knew the timing was just about right.

"Pass my royal order!"

He slowly raised the hideous wolf-headed saber in his hand, stained with the blood of countless wronged souls.

"Have those pieces of trash retreat."

"It is time for our true Heavenly Wolf warriors to take the stage!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The sound of the war drums suddenly changed, becoming high-pitched, impassioned, and filled with endless bloodlust and slaughter!

"Awoooo—!!!"

Hundreds of thousands of grassland coalition forces, at this moment, simultaneously let out a beast-like roar that shook the heavens!

They were finally about to bare their sharp fangs capable of tearing everything apart!

...

And just as the Divine Capital was flowing with blood and engulfed in the flames of war, far away in the northern border, a completely different scene of prosperity was unfolding.

Gao Feng, this newly ascended Prince of Yan, did not immediately march south as the world expected to participate in the "Royal Protection" drama that would decide the fate of the world.

He was like the most brilliant chess player, having placed those three crucial pieces, he completely "disappeared" from everyone's field of vision.

He entrusted all military and political affairs to the military-political system under his command, which had long been running smoothly.

Then, in the name of "acting as custodian of Suzhou Province and rebuilding homes," he personally led an elite army of fifty thousand, composed of Panshi Army veterans and newly recruited surrendered soldiers, marching grandly into the land of Suzhou Province that had just been baptized by the flames of war.

His arrival was no less than a Heavenly God descending to earth for the commoners of Suzhou Province who had miraculously survived under the iron hooves of the Heavenly Wolf.

They spontaneously lined the roads to welcome him.

They took out the last bit of stored grain in their homes and brought it before the Royal Army.

They knelt before Gao Feng's royal carriage, using the most simple and sincere tears to express their endless gratitude and worship for this Prince of Yan who had rescued them from Hell.

However, Gao Feng's trip to Suzhou Province was not all smooth sailing.

Although the commoners at the bottom were grateful to him and revered him like a god.

However, the old forces that had been entrenched in this land of Suzhou Province and were long accustomed to throwing their weight around did not welcome this new "master."

Especially the "Cangyun Sword Sect," famous throughout the northern Jianghu for their superb sword techniques, and that millennium-old clan—the "Longxi Li Clan"—which almost controlled all the salt and iron businesses in Suzhou Province and possessed wealth that could rival a nation.

They were like two local snakes entrenched in Suzhou Province.

They were absolutely unwilling to hand over the fat piece of meat in their mouths to anyone else.

"Report!"

Inside a central command tent temporarily set up by the Panshi Army, a scout from the Green Wolf Battalion, covered in blood and looking flustered, rushed in.

"Reporting to Your Highness! General Wulu encountered an ambush by the Cangyun Sword Sect at the foot of Cangyun Mountain! The enemy relied on their mountain-protecting formation to defend the dangerous terrain! Our army could not break through after a long siege, and suffered heavy casualties! General Wulu... he underestimated the enemy and advanced rashly, falling into their trap. Although he fought his way out, but... but we lost nearly a thousand brothers!"

"What?!"

As soon as these words were spoken, all the Panshi Army generals inside the tent changed color in shock!

Wulu's Green Wolf Battalion was one of the most elite ace units in the Panshi Army!

Every soldier was a battle-hardened veteran who had killed their way out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood!

To think they had suffered such a great loss at the hands of a small Jianghu School?!

This was simply a humilitating disgrace!