Wei School's Three Good Students

Chapter 4 Dealing with Different Races
The Chilian Mountains and Yangquan Mountains were the forward camps supplied by the Xuanchong Grain Station.

Here stands a magnificent military stronghold. Six watchtowers with upturned eaves and numerous stone ramparts, each about half a person's height, make up this camp that covers an area of ​​two miles.

Normally, the camp only needs 500 people to hold its position, and it can be self-sufficient by relying on caravans and locally grown taro. Now, however, it needs additional food supplies from the rear.

Inside the camp, rows of armored soldiers, each holding a bronze-hilted sword, patrolled between the various tents.

When Wu Hanluan's personal guards patrolled the camp each day, they would joke around with the centurions, then pull out lines with ropes and mark temporary lines on the ground with lime.

These lines are key to maintaining order in the camp. Currently, the camp is crammed with five times the usual number of people and a large number of horses. This level of overcrowding necessitates a traffic system to ensure smooth troop movements and the transport of supplies.

You can refer to elementary and middle schools. The number of students is often in the thousands. On the first day of school, the principal will ask the homeroom teachers of each class to take turns leading each class out in order. They must first line up at the classroom door, and then watch the previous class walk out before following them downstairs. If they all rush out at once, they will block the intersection.

Returning to the present, within the military camp of the Wu family army, there is a major training exercise every six days and a minor one every three days. This is to maintain combat effectiveness and vigilance.

These large and small training sessions were conducted in shifts on the drill ground after roll call each day.

The senior generals of the samurai clan taught their sons this practical method of instruction: If a certain battalion was going to the drill ground for roll call and martial arts practice that day, then that battalion's food would be different from that of the other battalions that weren't training. After leaving the drill ground, they would follow a fixed route. The white-gray lines, after being trampled, would become thicker and blurrier, but their thickness would remain uniform. If soldiers from other battalions, who weren't training, followed the returning battalions to get meat fodder, and then sneaked back to their own tents with their feet covered in grime, it would cause the lines to appear rough, which was easily visible from a high platform.

From a broader perspective, this route planning allowed commanders in the main camp to intuitively understand the number and quality of troops in each camp. Well-trained troops formed orderly ranks, while untrained recruits moved haphazardly, and the trampling marks left by these two types of troops on the white line were also different.

This was the feudal era, and feudalism followed the principle that "the subordinates of my subordinates are not my subordinates." A specific example is Cao Cao, who served Emperor Xian of Han, but Xiahou Dun, one of Cao Cao's subordinates, refused to serve as a Han official.

Maintaining a balance of power among subordinate units is a fundamental principle for feudal lords. After a major battle, some battalions might remain intact, while others would be reduced to a handful of weaker units. In such cases, some intact battalions would be redeployed to fill the gaps. Simultaneously, it was crucial to ensure that some of the stronger battalions were constantly infiltrated with unqualified individuals.

Many peasant uprising armies at the end of the Ming Dynasty had this problem: after several rounds of battles, some battalions suffered too many losses and could not be replenished, while others had strong and well-equipped troops who formed their own strongholds, to the point that "the battalion commander dared to fight the brigade commander."

According to the military regulations of the Wu Family Army, soldiers who do not follow the formation will be punished with dozens of lashes at best, and imprisoned at worst, and beheaded as a sacrifice to the flag when they go out to fight.

Of course, such military regulations were only enforced before major battles; such high pressure during peacetime would lead to mutinies within the corps. Therefore, other methods were needed to understand the situation of the troops in peacetime.

The military classics that Wu Fei studied in this world clearly state at the outset that a qualified military strategist should be proficient in using "divination" to plan camps and stratagems in detail, and at the same time manage a large camp of two or three thousand people as flexibly as arms and legs.

Therefore, within the Great Yao Dynasty, the military families' retainers were all of a century-old tradition. Even the lowest-ranking brave soldiers in the retainers all inherited the fixed path of "receiving pay and raising offspring" from their fathers, belonging to good families under the protection of the military families.

…The perspective shifts to inside this tent…

At this moment, in the brightly lit central army camp, Wu Hanluan, clad in armor, sat leaning against the ribs of a winged tiger. This winged tiger was the size of a rockery in a park, and even without its tail, it was a full two zhang long. It appeared to be asleep, but every few seconds, a thunderous breathing sound reverberated throughout the entire tent.

Wu Hanluan was looking at a letter made of a material that looked like "silk gauze". The letter was filled with tiny characters. If you looked closely at this "silk gauze", it was actually a snakeskin.

The content on the snakeskin was simple: it stated that the snake people's shaman had spoken with various tribes the previous night, revealing intelligence that they planned to launch a strong attack on the grain depot. —Wu Hanluan was a spy within the snake people.

It is said that Wu Hanluan's main force was deployed abroad this time, constantly burning the hatching pools, precisely to force the snake people's main force into a decisive battle, a purge that could bring peace to the Southern Frontier for several years. How could he possibly allow the snake people's main force to steal the army's granary?
Inside the tent, the guards saw a smile on their general's face. It was as if he had made a brilliant move in a game of chess!
Wu Hanluan was satisfied with Wu Fei! His nephew had worked diligently and quietly in the military warehouse for the past two weeks without making a single mistake. He hadn't panicked when faced with the snake-men's harassment of the troops. He had suppressed the restlessness within the army and was a promising candidate for leadership.

In the wooden box on the left, there was a message he had sent from the intelligence station next to Wu Fei, which read: "At Chenshi (7-9 AM), dozens of enemies appeared. At Youshi (5-7 PM), a battalion of cavalry was dispatched to drive them away. They went back and forth every day, but recently the number has gradually decreased."

…The hook was baited, and the fish kept nibbling and spitting out the bait. After several attempts, it finally opened its mouth wide…

Xuan Chong thought he was guarding "Jieting", but in reality, Wu Hanluan was also using this grain station as bait.

For the past two weeks, the snake people had been harassing the supply depots. Logically, they should have deployed more troops to defend them, but they didn't! Instead, they continued to allocate supplies without increasing the garrison. This only fueled the snake people's itch to retaliate.

For the past three days, the snake people have suddenly stopped harassing the grain depot. It seems like they've given up, but Wu Hanluan, being an experienced fighter, knows that the other side can't find any opportunity to attack him here, and it's impossible for them to hastily abandon that grain depot now.

…The winged tiger sensed its master's murderous aura, shuddered, and rubbed its large face against its master's armor…

Wu Hanluan put away the table: "Zhao Tu, Wang Xi!" Then the two cavalry generals below the table responded: "Present."

Wu Hanluan: "You two, inside the Yangquan camp, make a show of force. Make sure to intimidate the snake people here within three days." Then he looked at the other eager generals: "The rest of you, return to the camp and prepare. At Hai Shi (around 9 PM), await my orders."

After a series of "Yes, sir!"s from within the tent, the entire camp sprang into action as if a fire had been kindled. The clattering of armor being put together and the turning of cart axles filled the air, as if someone who had been resting with their eyes closed had suddenly unleashed a murderous aura.

…Battle Divider…

Inside the grain depot, Wu Fei was unaware that his depot was currently the most dangerous place in the "battle." At this moment, Wu Fei was troubled by some "minor matters"—minor matters to Wu Hanluan, but which terrified him.

Among the newly arrived batch of grain, a portion of beans had sprouted due to improper storage. After inspection, Wu Fei determined that this was due to a "fog curse" during transport—the fleet had been infiltrated by snake-people sorcerers who sabotaged their operations. He himself hadn't noticed.

Xuan Chong panicked a little. Military strategy emphasizes meticulous planning, and if there was any mistake here, his uncle Wu Hanluan would definitely not let it go unpunished. So he started drying the grain to salvage the situation while thinking about how to fill the gap; he also started to thoroughly inspect the grain and began to sort out the sprouted beans and sun-dry them.

The grain officer in charge of the military granary not only had to handle the grain transported according to the accounts, but also had to be wary of various losses, such as rat infestations and miasma-like spells that could cause the grain to rot.

Wu Fei was unaware that the decisive moment was fast approaching! He still felt that his business trip to the south would last quite a while.

On Wu Hanluan's side, each battalion maintains its combat effectiveness by training once every three days and a major training session every six days, rather than by conducting daily drills, because the food supply is insufficient.

After thinking for a while, Xuan Chong looked at his dragon horse mount, gritted his teeth, and tried to feed it a piece of dried meat ground into powder mixed with rice and flour. After confirming that the beast ate happily, he made a decision that went against his conscience.

Inside the military warehouse, Wu Fei, wearing a mask and dressed as a butcher, along with his three personal guards, was dismembering a large piece of "meat".

The five-meter-long snake-man, its head nailed to a wooden frame, began to be skinned, its internal organs removed, and then the muscles extracted. It was cut into sections, dried, and smoked—this became a piece of "fish meat." Xuan Chong labeled the package as food for Longma, and included processing instructions: it needed to be processed with a stone mill.

They cleaned up all the captured snake-men in one night, claiming that these were tanned snake heads. To prevent the news from leaking out, the meat was not given to the soldiers at the grain depot, but was sent to the main camp instead.

Although "dried meat" was horse feed, it was common for soldiers to steal horse feed in those days.

Wu Fei gave his three personal guards a death order.

Wu Fei: "If you dare to let this slip to the outside world, I'll turn you into jerky."

That night in the dimly lit meat processing workshop, Wu Fei flashed his white teeth and uttered such a threat, much like the performance of a butcher in a horror movie.

…These tricks can't fool smart people.

Two days later, Wu Fei received a "letter of commendation" from Wu Hanluan, the commander of the army, along with a small bone. The messenger casually mentioned that the general had been eating meat recently and had choked on this small bone.

Wu Fei suddenly realized that his uncle had fought so many battles and must have eaten "barbarian flesh".

Wu Hanluan, having tasted the flavor of the food, naturally sent people to investigate its safety.

Therefore, under the messenger's gaze, Wu Fei had no choice but to eat a piece of "smoked meat" that he had made himself, and also drank a large glass of wine. Afterwards, he chatted and laughed with the messenger for a full hour.

Why an hour? This messenger was not giving Wu Fei a chance to induce vomiting later.

As Wu Fei did not avoid him and remained by his side, the messenger's playful gaze gradually faded, replaced by seriousness. He sighed and returned to report. Before leaving, the messenger uttered a seemingly nonsensical remark: "He didn't vomit."

After that, it seemed like nothing happened!
In truth, within the main camp, Wu Hanluan didn't care what kind of meat Wu Fei sent him—it was all illicit. As a border general, eating the flesh of the barbarians when hungry was an unspoken rule. Wu Hanluan was more concerned with Wu Fei's motives. If it was truly to provide rations for the frontline troops, that would be perfectly reasonable, and he might even be pleased. But if it was embezzlement of rations, then military law would have to be upheld.

Of course, Wu Hanluan knew Wu Fei wouldn't dare embezzle military rations, but he needed to convince the people in the camp. Therefore, the messenger he sent wasn't actually his personal guard, but rather an elite soldier who had crawled out from among the corpses. These soldiers, who had emerged from the dead, didn't really care whether the horse feed they received was snake meat or human flesh. Seeing that Wu Fei wasn't the womanizer he was supposed to be, their anger subsided, and they became "concerned" about whether this "young master" Wu Hanluan had planted in the rear knew the hardships of the battlefield. And when Wu Fei silently swallowed that piece of gruesome meat, even his last bit of resentment vanished.

Subsequently, some rumors circulating in the frontline military camps disappeared.

Several months later, after pointing out Wu Fei's behavior, Wu Hanluan emphasized, "One cannot be merciful when commanding troops." The subtext was, it's not a big deal, don't dwell on it.

…the dividing line where shredded meat gets stuck in your teeth…

At this moment, Wu Fei quickly adapted to the process of dismembering the snake-man. And during the dismemberment process, he discovered something.

Under the light from the skylight, Wu Fei used a knife to pry open the snake-man's internal organs, muttering, "This doesn't seem to be a snake."

Wu Fei used the tip of his knife to pick up the skeletal tissue, carefully comparing it with the data provided by the system. After a few seconds, he said, "This is a lizardman? It seems to be a human physiological structure with the body tissue of a cold-blooded animal welded on."

Beside it lay the assembled skeleton, but its arrangement was somewhat altered. Under Wu Fei's deliberate arrangement, the creature no longer resembled a snake; its upper body still retained discernible human bones and lungs, while its lower body resembled that of a velociraptor. Perhaps before undergoing a series of "evolutions," these skeletons were indeed dragons, and some of the skeletons of those evolved snake-people appeared to have been twisted by some force.

Next, Wu Fei witnessed the power of this world to "distort" organic life forms.

……

In the military camp, a peculiar woman approached Wu Fei. This woman wore Yu Yong's armor. She had a slender figure and a face resembling a snake's, but with obvious snake scales below her cheeks.

Wu Fei squinted at the strange woman and asked, "Are you a hybrid?" The woman replied, "My lord, I am a snake-man."

Wu Fei's eyes widened. A snake-man? There was no snake-man with this head. He had eaten and seen it before. There was a snake-man head that had been tanned in the warehouse. Its outline was the same as the head of a Komodo dragon.

A few seconds later, the snake spirit parted her purple lips and uttered the answer: "Spirit Awakening Pill."

Wu Fei's gaze was strange: "Hmm?", then he tentatively sniffed it, "Made from 'Primordial Stone'?"

The woman nodded. Wu Fei took a deep breath and looked her over again.

"Primordial Stone" is a spiritual stone that fell from the sky, and may also be called a magic stone. It contains powerful energy, but most creatures that come into contact with Primordial Stone will mutate. For example, if a group of rats encounters Primordial Stone, they are very likely to continuously devour and evolve within two weeks, turning into large rats that walk upright and can wield weapons.

Within the Great Dao realm, some ancient alchemists possess the means to refine elixirs using "Primordial Stones" to control mutations. The Spirit Awakening Pill is such a wondrous creation, capable of controlling mutations and humanizing some alien creatures, twisting their bones into human forms.

Of course, creatures that take the Qiling Pill have a very low chance of survival, and according to the definitions of the celestial officials in Da Yao, even if they take human form, they are still considered demons.

Thousands of years ago, during the reign of Emperor Feng Shui, a palace coup occurred, and the Qi Ling Dan (a magical elixir) was sealed away. Since it concerned the emperor at the time, the specifics are unknown. All that is known is that the emperor's harem contained foxes, pheasants, and a pipa-shaped snake. The emperor was certainly not a tyrant; the reason these demons were able to enter the harem was because of the Qi Ling Dan, refined from the "Hun Yuan Stone."

Wu Fei silently thought to himself, "This world has a mysterious power that distorts creatures, so what about distorting the forms of races?" — As he pondered this, it was as if a voice was mockingly praising Wu Fei for recognizing this "dangerous and fascinating" knowledge.

But! This playful remark flashed by and was abruptly cut off. Wu Fei suddenly muttered his real name, "Xuan Chong," before snapping back to reality. Unbeknownst to him, the system interface had launched in front of him, with the "antivirus software" performing a scheduled scan.

Xuan Chong glanced at the system.

Wu Fei asked the approaching "Xiao Qing," "What brings you here?"

Xiaoqing: "I have been ordered by the general to assist the young master in guarding the granary."

Wu Fei did not take the command token she pulled from the bamboo tube at her waist, but stared at her and asked, "You are a snake person? I don't quite believe it."

The snake spirit smiled, pursing her purple lips. As she smiled, the tip of her snake-like tongue licked her lips and withdrew from her mouth. Then, with a smile that was both mocking and sneer, she said, "You should trust the general."

Wu Fei paused (looking at the system interface), then nodded and said, "Alright. You will stay in the central command tent for the next few days. You are not allowed to leave the tent without my order. As for your food and treatment, it will be the same as my deputy general's, with a daily allowance of one hundred coins." He then left the tent.

The snake woman bowed her head and respectfully saw the young general off.

……

Xuan Chong was resistant to the idea of ​​loyalty to a foreign race, but the system suddenly brought up a classical allusion.

Xuan Chong: "Li Guang is hard to be ennobled? What does that mean?"

Then he saw the "history textbook" provided by the system. It described a veteran general who had fought admirably in border defense battles before Emperor Wu of Han, but who had accomplished nothing in the expedition against the Xiongnu. Xuan Chong sighed, "Lost in the process."

System: "Why are you lost?"

Xuan Chong: "Bad luck?"

System: "Why are Huo and Wei so lucky?"

Yes, why were these two able to hit any target on the grasslands so easily? War cannot be explained by "luck." Li Guang most likely had a conflict between his own ideals and his "navigation system." There are concrete examples in the 21st century: some hiking groups in the suburbs, climbing under the banner of independence and awakening, refusing guidance from experienced guides, inevitably get lost.

System: In the 23rd century, historians came to the conclusion that Li Guang's thinking was regionalized in border defense. Li Guang was xenophobic towards the Xiongnu people. This simple "ethnic" positioning enabled him to be of one mind with the border troops, so the morale was very strong in border defense battles, but he was not good at attacking outside the border.

In contrast, Wei Qing and Huo Qubing had gathered the Xiongnu under their command, and thus, guided by Xiongnu traitors, they carried out a brilliant blitzkrieg.

Xuan Chong immediately closed the system interface and asked somewhat argumentatively, "Are you saying that if I don't change my beliefs, I'll end up like Li Guang?"

The system did not respond, or perhaps it simply chose not to.

In the end, Xuan Chong kept this woman with blue scales.

…The person was sent by Wu Hanluan, so what's the point of sending in a foreign race at this time?…

The day after the snake spirit woman arrived, a gatekeeper riding a dragon horse descended from the sky at the granary gate. As the horse swooped down, its scales and wings whipped up a dust wave fifteen zhang high, churning up sand and grain residue left over from unloading. The soldiers on guard duty coughed from the choking. They moved to a spot out of the gatekeeper's sight and deliberately shouted in audible voices, "That damned thing! He'll fall to his death from the sky sooner or later!"

Wu Fei's expression stiffened slightly. His arrogant and unruly subordinates were far too presumptuous. Wu Fei then apologized to his supervisor, who pretended nothing had happened.

This subordinate supervisor also came from the main camp. He was Wu Hanluan's deputy and brought Wu Fei a task that he had to complete personally.

After reviewing the mission, Wu Fei double-checked the seal on the document and asked the guard, "You want me to scout ahead? But here?"

The guard said, "I will take care of this place for now," and then added, "I will hand it over to you after you have completed your mission as general."

Xuan Chong looked at the guard and asked, "I remember your surname is Zhao, what was your name again?"

The guard bowed and said calmly, "My family is a butcher. I am honored by the honor of being called a butcher by your family."

Xuan Chong was slightly taken aback; the name was quite straightforward. He then nodded and said, "Zhao Tu, come with me to handle the personnel matters."

So he sent men to each camp to knock on wooden clappers and summon the captains to meet with Zhao Tu.

(End of this chapter)