Cursed Mountains and Seas

Chapter 104 The Secret Manual of Military Strategy: Ten Battles and Ten Victories! (Please Subscribe and Vote)
Hidden within the "openly repairing the plank road while secretly advancing the Chencang" scheme, Wang Cheng and his two A'xiao watched as hundreds of White Scale Guards, clad in silver embroidered robes, thundered past them on horseback.

At a glance, there were several officials of the middle third rank, with the three flames of fortune, prosperity, and longevity connected on their bodies. Even when marching at night, no evil spirits dared to come looking for death.

Wang Cheng nodded secretly:

"They came at just the right time."

Winter has passed, and the sea conditions in the vast ocean are now suitable for navigation. The large fleet of the Five Peaks Flag will probably cross the sea soon to invade and invade our borders.

By the end of March at the latest, Minzhou will face another fierce battle.

This opportunity will allow us to leverage the Pu family's resources and see just how much strength the Great Zhao Dynasty and its twenty-four coastal guards truly possess.

At this moment, the eye of the seven candlesticks in the inner courtyard had not yet fully opened, and the private soldiers guarding the outer courtyard gripped their swords and spears tightly upon hearing the sound of horses' hooves.

Only Pu Haiyun, being a direct descendant, slowly retreated.

"Butler, go and take over."

He didn't want to die here and miss his last chance to go to the Kingdom of God, so he shoved the butler and ran to the backyard.

Halfway there, I suddenly tripped. I looked down but didn't see anything protruding on the ground. I cursed under my breath and kept running.

Completely unaware that the treasure he carried with him had vanished, a shadowy figure slipped out of the Pu family ancestral home through the back door, bypassing the White Scale Guards, and reappeared at Wang Cheng's feet.

The imported talisman also fell into his hands.

However, the silver servant and the gold master are based on employment contracts and do not change with the transfer of the owner of the talisman.

The slaves were filled with fighting spirit.

The old steward immediately ordered a group of fearless private soldiers to climb over the wall and use small bowl-shaped cannons to block the fire.

"Fire!"

A row of orange-red flames burst forth in the night.

boom!boom!boom!boom!
Amidst the intertwining of fire lines, the White Scale Guards, already lined up and ready to storm the gate, were unharmed, but the idle yamen runners and the laxly armed garrison soldiers around them were in dire straits.

"Get out of the way!"

Upon hearing Commander Lu Yi's order, they immediately scrambled to make way for the main gate.

The former took out a yellowed military treatise, held it high, and shouted:

"Yue Wumu, scatter the star formation."

A wave of iron-blooded murderous aura descended, and iron-colored ghost faces appeared on the faces of all the White Scale Guards under his command. Their spirits merged with some kind of mysterious military soul, their momentum surged, and their divine might was awe-inspiring.

Although they were wearing ordinary official robes, they seemed to be wearing heavy armor, like human chariots, moving like the wind, scattering like stars, and gathering like thunder.

The figures flashed across the field, easily dodging all the barrage of firearms in just two breaths.

When they regrouped, the vanguard had already kicked open the gate and stepped into the grand courtyard. All the White Scale Guards were unharmed.

This is the secret military manual that only the elite of the Great Zhao Dynasty possessed.

Lu Yi's training method is the "Martial Arts of Yue Fei: Seizing Opportunities"!
In this world, only a few people can truly ignite their inner potential and rise to official positions. How can the vast majority of ordinary talents unleash their full potential? Our ancestors already had the answer.

Once one reaches the third rank of the "Living Ghosts and Gods" realm, one can use unique skills and techniques to cultivate one's own temple army of ghost soldiers, who are also known as "Daoist Soldiers" in those high-ranking Daoist sects.

Ordinary people pay a certain price, such as shortening their lifespan by five years, losing the ability to feel pain, or becoming addicted to alcohol, to gain superhuman strength.

Some officials of the middle to third rank can also achieve this by borrowing the power of ghosts and gods, but the failure rate is higher and the cost is greater.

The Secret Scroll of Military Strategy can combine independent temple soldiers into military formations, allowing their already extraordinary strength to achieve a synergy far greater than the sum of its parts, and even adding unique special skills.

Before the invention of artillery, nations could break through enemy lines and capture strongholds with the mere presence of hundreds or thousands of ordinary people, achieving victory after victory, even destroying mountains and temples, and defying gods and spirits!

After the invention of cannons and firearms, some people shouted, "You have firearms, I have divine skills," which is not entirely wrong to some extent.

There are many military training methods passed down, such as the "He Guanzi Military Training Method," the "Huang Shigong Military Training Method," the "Taigong Six Secret Teachings Military Training Method," the "Wei Wuzu Military Training Method," and the "Training Method for Vanguard Soldiers."

Generals who study different secret military manuals and lead the same troop of temple troops will produce different effects, with the greatest power when they possess the original manuscript of military strategy or the corresponding token.

Of course, as long as you have a basic hundred temple soldiers, you can learn the secret scrolls of military strategy and greatly improve your combat power.

However, this was the imperial court's trump card to ensure its military superiority and suppress rebellious and evil forces and those who worshipped evil gods. It was strictly forbidden for civilian forces to possess or learn from it.

There were many officials in the local government, and their control over weapons and bows and arrows was not strict.

However, the secret military manuals for battle and conquest were closely monitored. Apart from certain military nobles who had made great contributions, possessing even one of these manuals was tantamount to rebellion.

The Wufengqi, Haizhugui, and Gaoligui, these water-based temple soldiers, only had the advantage of being stronger than ordinary soldiers individually.

Without the added benefit of the Secret Manual of Military Strategy, its effectiveness in dealing with small-scale situations is not obvious, and it is far from being able to unleash its true strength in large-scale battles.

However, no military treatise on naval warfare existed in any dynasty of China, rendering all the accumulated knowledge of the Great Zhao Dynasty useless at sea.

Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many plundering pirate kings and rampant Japanese pirates in the East China Sea.

Wang Cheng looked on with envy, wondering if he should collect naval writings from Western countries, combine them with his memories from his previous life, and write a military treatise, becoming a naval warfare sage who would establish a new school of thought.

"How about I call myself Prince?"

Clang——!
Hundreds of White Scale Guards drew their gleaming sabers and pounced on the guards led by the old steward like tigers among sheep.

Suddenly, blades flashed, hands and feet flew, and blood flowed like a river.

"Ah ah ah ah ah"

The Pu clan members in the inner courtyard were also alarmed by the screams. They knew that the guards would not be able to stop the imperial envoy, but they did not expect the difference in combat strength to be so great.

The elder at the head of the group hurriedly addressed the less distinct Semu bloodlines of the collateral branches, shouting: "You collateral branches are destined to die anyway. Now is the time for us, the main lineage with the purest blood and faith, to sacrifice yourselves. Come here and offer your blood as a sacrifice to our ancestor, Pu Gengshou!"

This time, even the people outside heard it clearly: the ancestral spirits they were summoning were none other than the culprit who ordered the massacre of the Zhao Song imperial family and devised the plan to establish the nation!

He was a fourth-rank treasure hunter when he obtained a [Dragon Pearl], but before he died, he had already broken through to the upper third rank and was successfully deified after his death.

"Me me me"

The first branch took the sacrificial knife, turned the blade around, and cautiously aimed it at himself, but before he could stab, his hands trembled so much that the knife clattered to the ground.

Then the impatient old man slit his throat with a single stroke.

Blood splattered, the lamp flame turned crimson, and the speed at which it opened suddenly increased.

At the same time, the sound of footsteps, like drumbeats, could be heard outside.

A ray of crimson divine light shot out from the vertical pupil of the flames and landed on the collateral clansman whose throat had just been slit. He immediately stood up unsteadily.

Carrying an aura of intense heat, he dashed out of the inner courtyard and charged towards the White Scale Guards who were advancing with unstoppable momentum.

Boom——! ! !
With a deafening roar, the suicide bomb exploded, sending a massive burst of flames and billowing hot air soaring into the sky.

Although Lu Yi, a fourth-rank [Martial Judge], cleaved through the bone fragments and high-temperature shockwaves in front of him with a single strike, blocking some of the aftershocks of the explosion, this was the first time his subordinates had suffered battle losses.

Then the second, third, and fourth human bombs, one by one, rushed out on their own.

A series of violent explosions blocked the White Scale Guards' path forward.

Finally, an abstract human figure slowly emerged from the cracked eyes, revealing its upper body.

Pu Gengshou, who transformed into a ghost or god—or, according to the Pu clan, into a heroic spirit before the gods—appeared as a half-human, half-bird, holding a sword in one hand and a money bag in the other, with a pair of white wings growing on his back.

The bats that were Wang Cheng's eyes and ears bled from all seven orifices and their intestines exploded as soon as they glanced at him, falling to the ground and dying.

"Come!"

The figure waved to his direct descendants, urging them to follow him quickly.

Perhaps sensing a power completely different from their own Three Officials Alliance system, many officials in the city came closer to investigate.

If the White Scale Guards accidentally make a mistake, they will have to step in even if it means risking their lives.

Before long, a group of officials gathered on the rooftops near Wang Cheng and Yun Xiao. The two of them simply revealed themselves and blended into the crowd to watch the battle openly.

Fortunately, Commander Lu Yi was no pushover either. He wasn't surprised at all by Pu Gengshou's appearance; on the contrary, he seemed to have known all along and gave a cold laugh:
"The only surviving member of the Pu clan is you."

We, as his henchmen, must be able to read the emperor's mind. If it weren't for you, the culprit, even the extermination of ten generations of your family would not be enough to appease His Majesty's hatred.

You are not the first extraterrestrial spirit to dare trespass on this land, and I will not let you be the first exception to return alive.

Suddenly the sound rose in pitch, like thunder:
"Imperial Edict: The Pu family's crimes are unforgivable; their entire clan shall be exterminated and their bodies destroyed!"
Lu Yunchen, Eight Bull Divine Crossbows, fire in unison!

As soon as he finished speaking, five dazzling purple lights suddenly appeared on the dark sea outside the city, then transformed into five long purple rainbows that shot across the night sky.

At the same time, the collective will, the spirit of the people, the official spirit, and the incense offerings of the people in Quanzhou Port all surged toward the five rainbows under the command of an imperial edict, endowing them with a kind of destiny that "sinners must die".

Wang Cheng, as a hereditary centurion of the Baoshan Thousand Household Office, and Yun Xiao, as the Lady of the Diji Banquet of the Great Zhao Zhengsi Temple, each had a wisp of official air and incense smoke added to their aura.

It also gave people a sense of participation in the fight against the enemy by all the people of China.

The ghost god Pu Gengshou and the Pu clan, who were facing the rainbow, felt that the entire world, the plants and trees, and the people around Citong Port were rejecting them.

Shouts filled my ears:

"Sinner! You deserve to die!"

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

Pu Gengshou's pupils suddenly shrank to pinpoints, and he roared:

"How can I be guilty of killing for God?"
"You people of China who do not believe in God are no different from slaves, so by what right do you judge me, this noble and heroic spirit?"

The next moment, five arrows, each thicker than a spear and three swords long, landed precisely in the Pu family temple.

Five thunder strikes!

Rumble.
A huge, purple-white electric light illuminated the night sky.

When everyone's vision returned, Pu Gengshou, the culprit who massacred the Zhao Song imperial family and indirectly caused the disastrous defeat at Yai Shan, could not escape retribution. He was annihilated before he could even run away!
Under the devastating force of five thunderbolts, naturally no one from the main branch or the branch could escape.

The candle-like eye that connected to the unknown realm went out with a "whoosh," and the so-called "Kingdom of Gods" on the other side fell into dead silence, no longer responding.

Wang Cheng opened his eyes wide and looked at the dark sea from which the crossbow bolts were coming. He saw a huge, blurry black shadow, which looked like a ship.

I've come to a conclusion in my mind.

"The garrison troops of the twenty-four coastal guards of the Great Zhao are indeed almost completely rotten, but the White Scale Guard, as an extension of imperial power, is still quite strong."

As is well known, the end of a dynasty is inevitably accompanied by the collapse of officialdom and rampant corruption, and the border troops of each dynasty are usually the last to rot.

Under the maritime ban, it is normal that the 24 coastal guards, which only had to deal with pirates, were not as good as the nine border garrisons.

When even the most important border towns start shouting, "No need to wear armor for tomorrow's paycheck," the dynasty will be nearing its end.

Just then, a greeting rang in Wang Cheng's ears, interrupting his thoughts:

"Hey, that hereditary centurion over there is calling you."

What are you standing there for? We're short-handed, come help us raid the house and kill the earthworms!

(End of this chapter)