Four hundred thousand Great Ming troops marched out of Yunzhou City's western gate, their banners obscuring the sky, their momentum like a surging tide.
Hu Zongxian stood atop the city walls, watching the army disappear into the distance, a sigh escaping his lips.
"Grand Coordinator, the Grand General doesn't trust us. We don't need to compete with him for glory!" an assistant general said angrily.
"Silence!" Hu Zongxian's voice, though soft, held an undeniable authority.
The assistant general immediately dropped to his knees. "This subordinate has spoken out of turn! I accept my punishment!"
"…Sigh!"
Hu Zongxian shook his head with a bitter smile. He was known for his strict discipline, but at this moment, he couldn't be bothered to punish minor infractions.
He needed these seasoned generals. He needed their experience and loyalty to defend Yunzhou City with only fifty thousand defeated troops.
"Do you believe the Grand General will achieve victory?" he asked.
The generals were taken aback.
Four hundred thousand elite troops against less than three hundred thousand weary soldiers who had just endured a fierce battle? How could they possibly lose?
"Grand Coordinator," a deputy general asked cautiously, "I've heard rumors that the Crown Prince is a man of exceptional destiny and talent, a rare genius. And the four hundred thousand troops under his command are our nation's elite. Is defeat truly a possibility?"
Hu Zongxian didn't speak. His silence stretched for what seemed like an eternity.
"Follow me."
He turned and entered the gatehouse. Unfurling a battle map, he pointed to the markings depicting the opposing forces and their deployments.
"You three." He selected the three deputy generals with the most strategic expertise. "Take turns analyzing the battle formations with me."
He intended to simulate the battle's progression and outcome?
"Yes!" the deputy generals responded in unison.
…
Sixty miles outside Yunzhou City, armies clashed, blood staining the earth.
An immense dragon aura soared across the sky, locked in a fierce struggle against three surges of spiritual energy.
The battle was evenly matched, neither side gaining an advantage.
"Fan Li, should I slay Wanli with a single sword stroke?"
"Cough, cough, cough!"
Fan Li, observing the battle from afar, choked violently, startled by Han Yue's bold suggestion.
"Please don't! If Wanli could be easily killed, I would have ordered my army to attack, joining forces with Zhuge Liang and the others to crush them."
Han Yue was confused.
They were enemies. Why couldn't she kill him?
Seeing her confusion, Fan Li explained, "Wanli is the heir to the Great Ming throne. If I kill him, Emperor Jiajing, even if he doesn't care for his son, would be forced to personally lead an army against the Great Chu to uphold the dignity of the imperial family."
Currently, the war was between the Three Kingdoms – Wei, Han, and Wu – and the Great Ming Dynasty. The Great Chu was merely an external supporter.
Fan Li had no intention of becoming a primary target.
"So what?" Han Yue still didn't understand. "The Five Kingdoms alliance is meant to restrain Emperor Jiajing. If he dared to attack the Great Chu, the three emperors of Wei, Han, and Wu, along with my Elder Sister, would surely intervene."
Not necessarily!
Fan Li scoffed inwardly. Entrust his life to Emperor Yao Guang and Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan?
Emperor Yao Guang was completely untrustworthy!
As for the three emperors… He remembered how Emperor Liu Xie had died.
"If you're not participating in the battle, then why did you come all this way?" Han Yue asked. "Just to observe?"
"I'm waiting," Fan Li said, forcing the word out through gritted teeth.
Han Yue's curiosity, however, was insatiable. Her eyes, bright and inquisitive, remained fixed on him.
He sighed, explaining, "I'm waiting for Wanli to be defeated. Then, the one defending Yunzhou City will surely come to his rescue. When that happens, I'll seize the opportunity… Ahem, to achieve some merit. At least my soldiers won't have marched thousands of miles for nothing, only to return to Peng City empty-handed."
As a high-ranking official of the Great Chu, Fan Li's perspective was naturally different from Han Yue's. He knew the Great Ming Dynasty wouldn't fall easily.
This battle was merely a symbolic gesture, intended to reassure the citizens of the allied nations and prevent them from being swayed by the allure of the Investiture of the Gods.
Therefore, Fan Li's strategic goal had always been to achieve as much merit as possible with minimal losses.
He glanced at the distant battlefield. The sky was filled with dragon aura, indicating that Crown Prince Wanli was still energetic and eager to fight.
"It's going to be a long battle…" Fan Li turned to return to his tent.
"Where are you going?" Han Yue asked.
"To sleep."
From inside the tent, his voice, lazy and indifferent, reached her ears, followed by the sound of clothing and shoes hitting the ground.
Han Yue with her cultivation granting her exceptional hearing, couldn't help but imagine a certain scene.
Her cheeks flushed. She was about to return to her own tent when she noticed Zhao Tieniu staring at her.
They locked eyes, the moment stretching into an awkward silence.
Finally, Zhao Tieniu, realizing the impropriety of his silence, spoke.
"Are you going to sleep too?"
Han Yue felt a surge of anger, her voice sharp as she shouted towards Fan Li's tent, "Which foot did Zhao Tieniu use to enter your tent today?!"
Fan Li's muffled curse came from inside the tent, followed by a firm command.
"Beat him with one hundred lashes!"
…
"Ha!"
"Haha…"
Crown Prince Wanli panted heavily, but his arrogance remained undiminished. Across from him, Zhuge Liang, Guo Jia, and Zhou Yu stood with blood staining their lips and bodily injuries.
"I am invincible at my realm. The three of you cannot withstand me for much longer. Surrender now, and your lives will be spared."
Guo Jia and Zhou Yu exchanged smiles.
Zhuge Liang waved his feather fan, drawing invisible patterns in the air.
"A formation?!" Wanli's eyes widened.
A diagram appeared beneath the three men's feet – the Zhen trigram, representing thunder, from the Eight Trigrams.
Wanli wasn't well-versed in formations, but he knew this trigram belonged to the Wood element. It didn't seem particularly powerful.
At least, not as powerful as the formation that had annihilated his personal guard outside Mount Yunmeng, the formation deployed by the woman accompanying Fan Li.
"All things are born," Zhuge Liang said with a smile.
As his words faded, the area within the Zhen trigram surged with life energy.
The three men's wounds began to heal rapidly.
This formation drew upon the power of the east, the power of Wood, to heal injuries and replenish spiritual energy in an incredibly short time.
It must have been incredibly costly to set up this formation in advance, burying countless precious materials. Its effects were ten times greater than consuming Heavenly-grade medicinal pills!
"You… You're despicable!"
Even as he spoke, Wanli realized the childishness of his words.
To accuse one's enemies of being immoral on the battlefield? Was this a joke?
He should have known that the allied forces, stationed outside Yunzhou City, would have prepared formations in advance.
Seeing their wounds heal and their strength return, Wanli frantically reached into his robes, retrieving a bottle of medicinal pills. He poured the entire contents into his mouth.
His body absorbed the pills' potency and his spiritual energy replenished rapidly.
He was about to taunt them, but suddenly noticed that many more formations had been activated across the battlefield.
"The Six Ding Six Jia Formation!"
"The Seven Stars of the Big Dipper Formation!"
"The Eight Gates Golden Chain Formation!"
"The Nine Character Consecutive Rings Formation!"
"The Ten-Sided Ambush Formation!"
Wanli's heart pounded with fear.
Zhuge Liang, calmly waving his feather fan, said, "Today, we intend to keep you here permanently, Your Highness."