Sword Roaring in the Sky

Chapter 275 The Three Transformations of Xuanhuang
Sun Yanwan and Yang Diao'er watched the Southern Xia Imperial Army leave. Sun Yanwan said in a low voice, "I'm afraid things are not good at the front. Otherwise, Southern Xia would not have sent out the Imperial Army and let an old geezer like Zhe Shi Bobo lead the troops."

There are seven external martial arts masters in the world, two of whom are from the Imperial Army of Nanxia. Zhe Shi Bobo's status in Nanxia is definitely no less than that of Huo Feihu, the number one in the Da Lang Army!

Yang Diao'er nodded slightly. In order to highlight Sun Yanwan's authority, she rarely spoke when the two appeared together. Even if something happened, she would only remind her afterward, making great efforts to protect Sun Yanwan's face.

At Sun Yanwan's command, the army slowly set off, but also released three times the number of scouts. He didn't think that the alliance between Northern Yan, Southern Xia, and the Demonic Sect meant that Southern Xia was necessarily an ally.

Even if Yang Diao'er becomes a disciple of Xuanming Daoist, Xuanming Daoist is merely a national advisor and does not have the strong foundation of Longzang Temple. There must be people in the Southern Xia court who dislike this old man.

The scouts sent out by Sun Yanwan quickly brought back news that the Southern Xia Imperial Army had not stopped at all and had left in a hurry. While he was slightly relieved, he was also more certain that the situation at the front must be very bad, which was why Zhe Shi Bobo had no regrets.

Sun Yanwan led this large army of the Demonic Sect, and at a normal marching speed, they crossed the border between Southern Xia and Northern Yan in about ten days. After entering Northern Yan, they began to sweep through the Northern Yan tribes they encountered along the way. Under the encirclement of the large army, the small and medium-sized tribes along the way did not dare to resist at all. When they encountered slightly larger tribes, they found them difficult to conquer and simply let them go.

Sun Yanwan recruited young men and women into his army, while sending the elderly and children to Black Dragon City under the escort of the Demon Cult. The young men and women who remained in the army were worried about their families and dared not cause trouble. When the people who escorted the elderly and children to Black Dragon City returned, they brought back various news. Most of the elderly and children had been settled down, which made the grassland cavalry who followed Sun Yanwan feel a little more at ease, allowing him to easily expand his army.

Even with all their resources, the Demonic Sect could only muster a little over ten thousand troops, most of whom were auxiliary soldiers who could only transport supplies. The actual combat soldiers who could be used on the battlefield numbered only three or four thousand. After all, Luojia Mountain also needed to be guarded by troops. Yang Wuji dared not believe that Da Lang and Nan Xia would not take the opportunity to attack.

For the population controlled by the evil cult, this was already considered militarism.

Sun Yanwan entered the Northern Yan Grassland and within half a month, he had doubled the size of his troops.

Sun Yanwan continuously mobilized his troops, gradually dismantling the structure of the Demonic Cult. He distributed the newly annexed grassland cavalry to his grassland warriors, as well as the Shaochan Temple, the Tianma Gang, and a portion of the Demonic Cult's personal guards, thus strengthening his control over the army.

He didn't intend to return this army to Yang Wuji.

Black Dragon City is located on the border between the two countries. If it wants to develop, it must expand its territory. Since it is impossible to expand to Da Lang, it can only annex the land of Northern Yan.

The Northern Yan is currently at war with the Bo Shi Kingdom, presenting a golden opportunity. This large army composed of members of the Demonic Cult is the sharp sword in his hands for expanding his territory.

About twenty days after Sun Yanwan entered the grasslands, he encountered an army from the Bo Shi Kingdom. The two sides met unexpectedly, and neither of them expected to encounter an enemy.

This army of Bo Shi Kingdom got separated from the main force and lost its way on the grasslands. When it encountered Sun Yanwan's army, it launched a reckless attack.

Sun Yanwan was truly inept at warfare, but Yang Diao'er commanded with composure, dividing the army into two parts: one part held its ground, while the other part consisted entirely of cavalry, which were divided into ten groups that took turns attacking during each lull in the fighting.

After a day of fierce fighting, the lost and scattered army of Boshi Kingdom finally gave out and was decisively defeated by Yang Diao'er, who relied on his superior numbers. Sun Yanwan had gathered many warriors from the grassland tribes, and these warriors all had their own warhorses, so he was not short of cavalry. He sent his warriors out of the grasslands and pursued them for three days, gathering a large number of surrendered Boshi soldiers.

Fortunately, Sun Yanwan had a talent like Xiximuli under his command. With his silver tongue, he persuaded most of the surrendered soldiers of Boshi to join him. The few who insisted on refusing were all escorted back to Heijiao City.

With the addition of these surrendered soldiers, Sun Yanwan soon encountered a perplexing problem: the beliefs of the demonic cult members, the grassland warriors, and the cannibals were different. In fact, he himself was the Celestial Master of the Xuanhuang Dao, and he also had lay disciples of the Shaochan Temple under his command, making the beliefs of this army even more complicated.

Sun Yanwan quickly came up with a solution and created the theory of the Three Transformations of Xuanhuang, claiming that the Xuanhuang Dao Ancestor pitied the people of the world and therefore had three incarnations: one was the Heavenly Demon, one was the Sun Goddess, and one was the deity of the grasslands.

Furthermore, they made every effort to promote the Dalang Mandarin, compiling hundreds of short Dalang phrases for daily communication and spreading them among the grassland warriors and the soldiers of the Boshi Kingdom.

These two methods were effective immediately, eliminating most of the disputes. As for the troubles that couldn't be resolved, Sun Yanwan didn't think they could be solved in a short time, so she simply ignored them.

Sun Yanwan led his army and wandered on the grasslands for more than a month. They were approaching the main battlefield between Northern Yan and Boshi. There were some sporadic battles, but they were not particularly intense.

This trip deep into the grasslands led Sun Yanwan to discover something.

He had always thought that Northern Yan was similar to the ancient steppe empires of China, but after venturing deep into the territory of Northern Yan and gathering many steppe tribes, he was shocked to discover that the vast grasslands of Northern Yan were actually more like South America on Earth. The land was not barren, and many places were even quite fertile. The Northern Yan royal court was not short of food and had no need to plunder from Da Lang.

This is why a relatively peaceful means of resolving disputes, such as a struggle for supremacy, could emerge between Da Lang and Bei Yan, and even replace war to some extent.

On the contrary, there were many conflicts between Northern Yan and the more western state of Bo Shi, because their beliefs were completely different and they had deep-seated hatred for each other. Almost every few decades, Northern Yan would have a war with its powerful western enemy that could easily destroy the country.

He used to see various descriptions of war online, at most with some pictures and short videos, but he couldn't understand what war was at all.

But this personal experience left Sun Yanwan feeling utterly miserable. Every day she closed her eyes and opened them the next day, there were countless things to do. She was busy from morning till night, and there were still a lot of things she couldn't handle.

Bringing the army to the battlefield has exhausted him. Sun Yanwan can't believe what will happen if a battle involving tens of thousands of people breaks out.
The scouts of the Northern Yan royal court learned of the arrival of this reinforcement army and quickly dispatched an envoy with orders from the Northern Yan royal court, instructing Sun Yanwan to continue approaching the Northern Yan royal court's military camp and to clear out the two Bo Shi Kingdom military camps he would encounter along the way.

The envoy from the Northern Yan royal court also provided a map of the troop strength in various parts of the battlefield, allowing Sun Yanwan to understand the general situation of the battlefield.

(End of this chapter)