May I seek good fortune and avoid misfortune, and live a long and prosperous life.

War is extremely brutal.

Moreover, these soldiers who attacked the city were all puppet troops incorporated into the barbarians, serving as cannon fodder.

However, this led to the cruel reality of our own people fighting each other.

These northern barbarians are truly vicious!

When Li Heng arrived, it was already 7:15 PM, and night had completely fallen.

The two sides were still locked in fierce combat, and the rain of blood from the sky never stopped.

Li Heng quietly hid to the side, put on the night clothes he had prepared in advance, and covered himself with a black cloth.

Then, seizing the opportunity, he used his lightness skill to instantly appear behind a grandmaster and unleashed a deadly palm strike filled with his anger!

The barbarian grandmaster's chest was directly dented by Li Heng's palm strike. Before the grandmaster could react, his entire body gradually shrank, turning into a withered and aged corpse.

A grandmaster martial artist has fallen.

Both sides' grandmaster-level martial artists were deeply shocked.

What kind of powerful expert is this, who can instantly kill a Grandmaster in the late stage?

Li Heng was so fast that he left more than twenty afterimages, and under the cover of darkness, no one could spot him.

Before the other grandmasters could find him, Li Heng swiftly approached another grandmaster from behind and unleashed the same Life-Destroying Palm, piercing through his chest. In just a few breaths, he became a light, desiccated corpse.

In the arena, the two remaining Grandmasters from the Ape Kingdom were terrified when a masked man in black suddenly appeared and instantly killed them. Without thinking, they abandoned their Grandmaster warriors and fled.

Li Heng reacted quickly, catching up with one of them and instantly killing him with a single palm strike.

Blood rained down from the sky.

At this moment, Li Heng made three moves, killing three Grandmaster-level martial artists, shocking everyone present.

On the walls of Yuncheng, a large number of martial artists were discussing the mysterious man in black.

"A masked man in black? Could he be the legendary figure of this generation, the Night Emperor?"

"That's right, that person is Night Emperor. Dressed in black and masked, he only makes his moves at night. His identity is extremely mysterious. It must be him!"

"The Night Emperor is not dead! He has finally reappeared and turned the tide! We are saved, the State of Chu is saved."

Many martial artists cheered with joy, for their revered Night Emperor had finally returned to save them!

……

As the opposing warriors withdrew from the battlefield one after another, the fight finally came to an end. After killing the three, Li Heng disappeared into the air again and returned to his residence in Yun City.

He only needs to deal with Grandmaster-level martial artists; the rest will be handled by others.

The next day, news of the Night Emperor's appearance and his solo killing of three barbarian grandmasters spread throughout the entire Cloud City.

When the people of Yuncheng heard that the Night Emperor had appeared, they all knelt on the ground, weeping with joy, saying that Heaven had finally opened its eyes and sent a savior to save them. Some people even said that the Night Emperor was a war god from Heaven who ruled over war and had come down to earth to restore order to the world.

The Night Emperor's prestige rose dramatically once again, and his shrine was filled with worshippers every day.

The morale of the soldiers and warriors in Yuncheng gradually rose. With the return of the Night Emperor, they had a pillar of support, and the Night Emperor was their strongest backing.

The sixth year of the Jingwu reign.

Emperor Jingwu ordered a full-scale counterattack!

Because of the existence of the Night Emperor, all the prefectures in the south no longer hesitated or established their own small courts; they all submitted to Emperor Jingwu and sent a large number of soldiers and warriors to support him.

Emperor Jingwu integrated all resources and finally personally led 200,000 elite troops and 5,000 warriors northward to reclaim lost territory!

Since the barbarians no longer had an absolute advantage at the Grandmaster level, they began to shift from offense to defense.

"Kill the barbarians! Brothers, charge!" On the battlefield, General Ye Zhou set an example by personally leading his troops in pursuit of the retreating barbarian army.

With such high morale, Xin Chu recaptured Yan City in less than five days.

When the Chu army entered Yan City, everyone was shocked. Some soldiers even vomited because the scene was too bloody and cruel.

These barbarians, newly emerged, actually ordered the massacre of all the people in the city, most of whom were used as food!

The streets were littered with blood and severed limbs.

Anyone with a shred of conscience would have their eyes turn red and their anger surge upon seeing such a hellish scene!

"Ugh, I can't take it anymore, these damn newborns!" Another soldier vomited, his hands clenched into fists, his teeth grinding together.

Li Heng also mingled with the group and entered the city, where he witnessed these bloody scenes.

"A beast is a beast. It will never learn propriety, righteousness, integrity, loyalty, filial piety, and moral character. These newborns left in the world will only pollute all civilized world. Let them all be destroyed!" Li Heng murmured.

Yuncheng Tai Academy.

In a spacious classroom, Li Hui, the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy, sat in the main seat, instructing the newly enrolled students on the idea of ​​loyalty to the emperor and serving the country.

"Nation, nation, first comes the nation, then the family. If the nation ceases to exist, how can the family survive?"

"My teacher, Li Heng, a native of Yuncheng, is a learned and knowledgeable man. He taught me to be filial to my parents, loyal to my friends, trustworthy to my subordinates, loyal to my country, be benevolent to the people, courteous to good guests, and drive away bad guests. You must remember these words, so that you will not be unworthy of being sons."

……

The seventh year of the Jingwu reign.

The situation completely reversed, with the new Chu continuously recovering lost territory and the barbarian armies suffering repeated defeats.

Before each retreat, the barbarians would massacre a large number of civilians in the city, which made the Chu army hate the barbarians to the core. Emperor Jingwu ordered that any barbarian prisoners who still wanted to resist should be executed without reporting.

Furthermore, he established a complete system of military merit promotion to encourage soldiers to fight the enemy: killing five barbarian heads would earn him the title of squad leader, killing ten would earn him the title of platoon leader, killing one hundred would earn him the title of centurion, and killing one thousand would earn him the title of chiliarch.

He who kills 5,000 barbarian heads will be appointed Colonel; he who kills 10,000 barbarian heads will be appointed General of the Central Army; he who kills 20,000 barbarian heads will be appointed General Who Conquers the North; he who kills 50,000 barbarian heads will be appointed General of the Guards; he who kills 70,000 barbarian heads will be appointed General of Chariots and Cavalry; and he who kills 100,000 barbarian heads will be appointed General of the Flying Cavalry.

The number of barbarian heads slain can be accumulated and does not need to be recalculated.

Currently, the highest military rank in the New Chu court is General of the Cavalry. Theoretically, if one's military achievements are great enough, one can rise to the top in one step.

Under this merit-based promotion system, the soldiers were like they were on steroids, each one as fierce as a wolf or tiger, howling and wanting to kill barbarians all day long.

In the eyes of the Chu army, those barbarian soldiers were no longer a fierce and ruthless army, but rather dazzling military achievements!

With the Night Emperor secretly overseeing the operation, the safety of the Chu army's high-ranking generals was greatly guaranteed, and no barbarian grandmaster dared to risk a sneak attack on the core camp.

With no more worries about their rear, the senior generals of the Chu army could confidently and boldly command their troops to fight the enemy.

Currently, the Chu army has recovered the entire territory of Lingzhou. After the royal army rests and regroups, it will continue its northward march, with its forces heading straight for Luozhou.

Another year has passed, and it is now the eighth year of the Jingwu era.

Li Heng also successfully broke through to the late stage of Grandmaster, and his combat power reached a new level.

After a year of fighting, the Chu army has successfully recovered Luozhou and Kunzhou.

The army has already marched to Qianzhou.

That year, the barbarians suffered heavy casualties, with more than 40,000 of them having their heads cut off.

Many soldiers and junior officers were promoted because of their military achievements.

Many squad leaders, platoon leaders, centurions, and even two new chiliarchs emerged.

Many mid-level generals were also promoted and given important positions by Emperor Jingwu because of their effective leadership.

Among them, the one with the most military achievements was General Ye Zhou.

Ye Zhou's skillful command and deployment greatly reduced the casualties of the Chu army. Emperor Jingwu ordered Ye Zhou to be promoted to commander-in-chief of the Northern Expedition and handed over all command authority of the army to Ye Zhou for overall management.

Ye Zhou also made a pledge to Emperor Jingwu, stating that as long as the Night Emperor was in charge of the army, he was fully confident that he could pacify the Yi people within two years!