In White Sand Prefecture, at the fortress gate.

Qi Guangbo stood before a map of Qing Province mounted on an easel, wearing battle armor and a crimson cloak, studying it intently. Behind him were the commanders of various Yun Province military camps, with Ji Xuan sitting in the leftmost position of honor, wearing armor with a war blade at his waist.

The commanders wore relaxed expressions. Though maintaining proper decorum, their eyes betrayed their joy. In just three short days, they had captured nine counties along Qing Province’s border, thoroughly crushing the first line of defense and securing a stable foothold for their army.

Without taking his eyes off the map, Qi Guangbo spoke flatly, “Everyone seems to be in good spirits. With such a victory to start our campaign, perhaps we should all get drunk tonight.”

The commanders exchanged silent glances, but no one took the bait.

Qi Guangbo instructed his deputy commander: “Tell us about the situation in the city.”

The deputy commander stood up, looking around at the assembled commanders before speaking gravely: “Before the Qing Province garrison retreated, they burned all the grain in the city’s granaries. They also gathered and burned large quantities of quilts and cloth. Furthermore, the wealthy households, merchants, and prosperous families had already evacuated in advance. Now White Sand Prefecture contains only starving commoners and refugees. The same is true for all nine captured county seats.”

“What?” The commanders were startled.

The deputy commander continued: “Even before this, the Qing Province Administrative Office had ordered a scorched earth policy. Nine out of ten rural households are empty, and not a grain of food can be found.”

With his back still to the crowd, Qi Guangbo remarked with feeling: “Ah, Yang Gong, what a character. They say kindness has no place in warfare, but I never expected him to be even harsher on the common people. Still feel like drinking now, everyone?”

The commanders fell silent. Though they had captured the border defenses of Qing Province and secured a foothold, whether they could hold it was now questionable.

Ji Xuan pondered: “Yang Gong never intended to defend these nine border prefectures to the death. By evacuating the wealthy in advance and leaving only refugees and the poor, he meant to dump this mess on us.”

Qi Guangbo pointed at the map of Qing Province and nodded: “Qing Province spans thousands of miles. He has plenty of room to maneuver, so why die defending the border? With imperial reinforcements yet to arrive, choosing to wear us down rather than fight to the death is the correct strategy. Using our tactics against us—brilliant move.”

When attacking cities, one hopes the defender’s situation is as desperate as possible, ideally with depleted supplies and refugees everywhere. But once you occupy a city, maintaining stability becomes the priority. If these areas descended into chaos, it would only hold them back.

Of course, if pure plunder was the goal, these concerns could be ignored—they could simply kill everyone. But that only worked for foreign invaders. The Yun Province rebels wanted to win popular support and claim righteousness, so they couldn’t act so brutally.

“He wants to wear us down with the poor and refugees. Hmph, with our militia, almost wiped out in the assault, these people will make excellent recruits,” one commander said.

Every strategy has two sides.

Ji Xuan glanced at him and said: “Yang Gong’s scorched earth policy, burning supplies without leaving us a single grain of rice, will multiply our logistical pressure. He’s using a dull knife to slice flesh, slowly depleting our resources. Of course, we’re not afraid of that.”

Yang Gong’s objective was clear—to weaken the rebel army as much as possible within Qing Province.

The assembled commanders were all intelligent and experienced men; it wasn’t hard to understand this problem.

Qi Guangbo said coolly: “The Divine Teacher has spent years preparing, with deep reserves. How could the tiny Qing Province deplete us? This is a perfect opportunity to spread the reputation of our righteous army.”

The commanders exchanged smiles.

Qi Guangbo continued: “It’s time for the Western Region Buddhist troops to make their appearance. I’ve already sent someone to request instructions from the Divine Teacher.”

…

At the Qing Province Administrative Office.

In the back courtyard, the round table in the hall was laden with delicacies. Li Na and Xu Ling Yin lay sprawled across it, gorging themselves. Master and disciple’s faces were equally puffy, like steamed buns.

“Fish and cured meat every day—I have to squat forever when I use the latrine,” Li Na complained crudely despite her delicate features.

The boat had lacked fresh vegetables and fruits.

“Master, I can poop!” Xu Ling Yin announced loudly, declaring her superiority over her master.

“Should we save some for Second Brother?”

Even as Li Na said this, she began eating even faster.

During their journey to Qing Province by boat, Xu Er Lang’s teaching masters Zhang Shen and Li Mubai arrived, taking their disciples ahead to Qing Province.

Xu Er Lang naturally couldn’t let Li Na and Ling Yin remain on the boat, so they traveled together.

“Second Pot isn’t hungry,” Xu Ling Yin declared, forcefully defining Xu Er Lang’s state.

“Not hungry? Well, nothing we can do about that…” Li Na said seriously.

In the Administrative Office’s council hall.

Xu Er Lang lifted a blue-and-white porcelain teacup, took a sip of scalding tea, and maintained his silence as he listened.

At the head of the pear wood long table sat Yang Gong, the Administrative Commissioner of Qing Province, wearing crimson robes. This Purple Yang Resident Scholar, educated at the Cloud Deer Academy and renowned throughout the Central Plains for his literary achievements, had grown much thinner.

He hadn’t slept in five days, and though his gaunt face couldn’t hide his exhaustion, his gaze remained sharp and his spirit resilient, as if possessed of endless strength.

“…That’s the current situation in Qing Province. We couldn’t hold the border.” Yang Gong finished his lengthy discourse, raised his teacup to wet his throat, and turned to Zhang Shen: “What does Jinyan think?”

Among the two classmates who had traveled thousands of miles to serve as advisors, Zhang Shen specialized in military strategy—exactly the talent Yang Gong desperately needed.

Zhang Shen nodded: “If it were me, I wouldn’t have let those merchants, wealthy households, and gentry leave. The rebels will certainly choose to sustain their army through warfare, and when the city falls, those families will be destroyed. If they don’t want to be ruined, they should help defend the city to the death. Only then could we significantly deplete the rebel army’s strength. However, this assumes imperial reinforcements are coming. Zigian, your compromise was well done.”

Speaking thus, he looked at his proud disciple, testing him with a smile: “Cijiu, explain the situation in Qing Province to everyone.”

The Qing Province Governor, Commander, Judicial Commissioner, and their subordinate civil and military officials all turned to look.

Xu Xin Nian showed no timidity. He sat up straight and slowly swept his gaze across the assembly:

“This official believes that to understand how long Qing Province can hold out and how to defend it, the assembled officials must first understand three points.

“First: The environment of Yun Province!

“Yun Province has a warm, humid climate and fertile soil. Every household has surplus grain. Moreover, it backs onto the ocean with countless salt fields. Over the past twenty years, the traitors have secretly infiltrated the imperial grain transport office, secretly shipping countless iron ore. They lack neither salt, iron, nor grain.

“With such wealthy territory, Administrative Commissioner Yang’s attempt to wear them down with refugees and the poor is but a drop in the bucket.”

“So in Master Xu’s opinion, Commissioner Yang’s strategy is unsuitable?” The Qing Province Governor furrowed his brow.

Xu Xin Nian shook his head: “Commissioner Yang’s strategy naturally isn’t wrong, but the focus should shift. Rather than trying to wear them down, we should aim to destroy their elite forces.”

He looked at the map of Qing and Yun Provinces hanging on the wall behind Yang Gong and said gravely:

“Let’s return to Yun Province. Does everyone remember its other name?

“Bandit Province!

“Since the Founding Emperor, Yun Province has been occupied by traitors to the previous dynasty who turned to banditry and terrorized the region. For six hundred years, the bandit problem in Yun Province has never been resolved.

“Do the assembled officials remember how many people were recorded in Yun Province during the last imperial census?”

The officials looked at each other; none knew.

They were Qing Province officials—how could they know about Yun Province affairs?

Yang Gong tapped his fingers on the table, sweeping a somewhat dissatisfied look across the officials before saying slowly:

“The last time was in the 30th year of Yuanjing. Yun Province recorded 830,000 households, approximately 3.5 million people.”

This was data from eight years ago.

Xu Er Lang clasped his hands and continued calmly: “If I’m not mistaken, with each new census, Yun Province’s population has sharply decreased. This is the price of rampant banditry.”

By now, the assembled officials understood what he meant to say.

“Population limits their army’s size. Add to that the fact that for decades, they’ve had to train and maintain troops in secret.” Xu Er Lang’s fist lightly struck the table as he spoke with conviction: “The shortage of elite soldiers is the traitors’ greatest weakness. Destroying their elite forces at any cost—that’s what we must do.”

“Makes sense!” Everyone slowly nodded.

Zhang Shen, Yang Gong, and Li Mubai exchanged smiles.

Xu Xin Nian held up two fingers: “Second: Combat power!

“The power of Transcendent Realm fighters cannot be ignored in warfare. Sometimes, a single Transcendent expert can even turn the tide of a conventional battle.”

His use of “conventional” was deliberate, as there existed massive-scale battles like the Shanhai Pass Campaign.

In such wars that engulfed the major powers of all Nine Provinces, a single Transcendent expert could hardly change the outcome—not because Transcendents weren’t strong enough, but because there were too many high-level Transcendents involved to make a difference.

Of course, if one were talking about Supreme or First Rank martial artists, that would be different.

Li Mubai suddenly asked: “Who commands the enemy army?”

Yang Gong said: “Surname Qi, given name Guangbo. A nobody.”

Zhang Shen raised an eyebrow: “A nobody commands their army?”

Yang Gong spoke slowly: “Being unknown doesn’t mean lacking talent. On the contrary, this man is extremely formidable. He uses troops to drive refugees, then has experts hide among them to lull the defenders. They easily approach the city walls this way. Huang Ling County on the border fell this way, caught completely off guard and lasting only one day.”

Zhang Shen sneered: “The defending commander was too soft-hearted, allowing refugees to approach. He deserved execution!”

Zhou Mi, the Qing Province Commander, sighed: “He died in the line of duty.”

Li Mubai said: “So we don’t yet know if this commander is a Transcendent.”

Yang Gong made a sound of agreement: “Besides the Garan Tree Bodhisattva and Xu Pingfeng who are responsible for containing the Director, no Transcendents have appeared among the rebel forces yet. However, it’s highly likely they’re hiding and haven’t shown themselves.”

As a Fourth Rank expert of the Confucian school and a renowned scholar of the Central Plains, Yang Gong had no obvious flaws or shortcomings in talent or personality.

Arrogance and underestimating the enemy would never occur with him.

“The imperial court doesn’t lack Transcendent experts either,” said Xu Xin Nian.

At this moment, the first person to flash through the officials’ minds wasn’t Sun Xuanji of the Astronomical Bureau, but rather Xu Qi’an, whose reputation was rising like oil meeting fire.

“The third point is reinforcements!”

Xu Xin Nian’s expression grew solemn: “This official means reinforcements for both sides. The Buddhist sect has already colluded with the Yun Province traitors, so troops from the Western Region countries will inevitably invade the frontier.”

“Once the imperial court is forced into a two-front war, the reinforcements and military supplies Qing Province can receive will be greatly reduced. In contrast, the Yun Province rebels will gain wings like a tiger. This also relates to the second point about combat power.”

The atmosphere in the council hall grew tense as everyone secretly frowned, their eyes hiding worry.

The Yun Province rebels were coming on strong, refugees plagued various regions of the Central Plains, and it was already difficult for Qing Province to stop the rebels.

Now they also faced invasion from the Western Region countries. With the imperial court fighting on two fronts, they certainly couldn’t look after Qing Province, as the Buddhist sect’s strength was well known.

There might even be a situation where the Qing Province was still struggling to hold out while Western Region troops reached the capital.

“If only we could make the Western Region countries afraid to violate the border,” sighed the Qing Province Governor.

Wishful thinking… Commander Zhou scoffed inwardly. If Duke Wei were alive, perhaps he could make the Buddhist sect wary of recklessly starting a war.

In today’s Great Feng, who could make the Buddhist sect wary?

Even the Director didn’t frighten the Buddhist sect, because this behemoth that dominated the Western Region didn’t lack top experts.

But military talents as rare as Wei Yuan could be counted on one’s fingers across the Nine Provinces.

“This is a dead end!”

Li Mubai, skilled in the game of Go, slowly shook his head: “We cannot contain the Buddhist sect. Their eastern advance is inevitable.”

Yang Gong slowly exhaled: “Therefore, what we must do is risk our lives to destroy as many rebel elite forces as possible. The aftermath we’ll leave to you gentlemen to handle.”

There was no choice.

“With Duke Wei dead, the Yun Province traitors immediately rebelled. The Western Region Buddhist sect, taking advantage of our Central Plains’ apparent weakness, tore up the alliance and turned against us. Yet we can do nothing…” The Qing Province Governor was bitter with grief.

Xu Xin Nian remained silent. The Western Region Buddhist sect was powerful, with abundant troops and generals, plus Arhats and Bodhisattvas stationed at Arantha. Such a behemoth could not be dealt with through schemes and stratagems.

At this moment, he suddenly noticed two people in the corner of the council hall. One wore white clothes and was utterly ordinary in appearance, temperament, and height. The other had a mouth like Lei Gong, with features as ugly as a monkey’s, but eyes as clear and blue as if they could see through people’s hearts.

“Senior Brother Sun, why are you here?”

Xu Xin Nian was greatly surprised.

He knew this second disciple of the Director.

When did he arrive… Yang Gong and the others were startled, turning to look.

Guardian Yuan swept his gaze over everyone, then said:

“Their hearts tell me: ‘Who is this? How did he get here? Sun Xuanji? Are none of the Director’s disciples normal?'”

After speaking, Guardian Yuan was startled and quickly distanced himself, pointing at Xu Xin Nian:

“That last line was his thought.”

Xu Xin Nian: “!!!”