After the spiritual energy was restored: Goddess girlfriends came knocking.

Over the next two weeks, the atmosphere at the border changed.

Reinforcements arrived one after another from the capital and the eastern defense line, and the camp expanded outward by three miles, with the stoves burning day and night.

New flags were raised on the drill ground, their various numbers fluttering in the wind.

Jiang Yan emerged from the central command tent, holding a newly approved troop deployment order in his hand.

As he passed through the drill ground, people kept bowing to him along the way, calling him Lord Jiang, Lord, Boss, and other new and old titles mixed together.

He nodded in agreement, without stopping.

The Northern Expeditionary Army was stationed separately in the Northern Camp, not far from the Central Army.

When Jiang Yan entered the camp gate, Lu Fa and Tu Shanye were lining up their troops.

Of the five thousand armored soldiers, four thousand were personally selected by him, plus the original one thousand.

The criteria for selecting people are simple: look at their intelligence, their courage, and their skills.

He might not accept the big guys that other battalions were scrambling to hire, but he kept several clever guys who were rejected by other battalions.

His Northern Expeditionary Army was officially established, and Jiang Yan was now the second-in-command of the entire Northern Border Army.

In the past few days, Jiang Yan has felt that the Qi received by the Haoran Yangqi Technique in his body is becoming more and more abundant.

From the direction of the capital, to border cities of all sizes, and even some remote areas, to human settlements he had never set foot in, the blood flowed continuously into his dantian.

The Haoran Nourishing Qi Technique is based on popular support, and after this great victory, his prestige in the Tushan Dynasty reached an unprecedented height.

Taking advantage of this stroke of luck, Jiang Yan went into seclusion for a short period.

Half a day later, he reached the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm.

From a distance, Lu Fa shouted from the training ground, "Boss, you've broken through again?" Jiang Yan nodded.

"It's midway through!" Lu Fa turned and shouted to Tu Shanye, "Did you hear me! Midway through!"

Tu Shanye didn't even look up.

"understood."

"What's the big deal? It's not the first time."

Lufa rolled his eyes.

Jiang Yan looked at this clown, smiled, shook his head, and walked towards the central command tent.

Inside the central command tent, Tu Shan Jing was discussing the upcoming battle with several generals in front of a map.

Pei Xiao stood to the side, his two tiger-like arms crossed in front of his chest.

Jiang Yan lifted the tent flap and walked in; several generals nodded to him.

"Everyone's here." Tu Shan Jing gestured for him to sit down, then pointed to the border line on the map. "Tianlang was repelled once, but Duan Linyuan certainly won't let it go. Scouts report that they're already regrouping their forces."

"So we can't always be on the defensive," Jiang Yan said. "It's their turn to guard the sentry posts this time."

There was a moment of silence inside the tent.

Pei Xiao's tiger whiskers twitched, and Tu Shan Jing's lips slowly curved into a smile. The generals looked at each other, and then stood up one after another.

"I've wanted to do this for a long time."

"Let's do it this way."

Soon, everything was ready, and the next day...

The bugle sounded, and the army set off.

Of course, Tianlang also had scouts who quickly learned of the Tushan army's movements.

Jiang Yan led the Northern Expeditionary Army to the forefront, only to run headlong into the Wolf Fang Ridge, the northernmost outpost of the Tianlang Army.

The sentry post was built on a narrow pass between two mounds, and the walls were made of frozen soil and rammed stones, as hard as iron.

At this moment, there were three thousand defenders, and the crossbows on the watchtowers were lined up, with arrows already nocked.

Jiang Yan reined in his horse at the front of the battle, looking at the dark wall and the arrows gleaming coldly on the watchtower.

He ordered Lu Fa to launch a feint attack on the left flank to draw attention, while Tu Shanye had already led his archers up the right flank.

"Break down the door first." Jiang Yan drew his sword.

The ancestral sword flew out of his hand, its tip trailing a golden light as it crashed into the sentry gate.

A crack appeared in the thick door made of rammed frozen soil, and bits of soil fell down.

Before the people inside could react, the second sword followed, the old sword drilling into the crack and twisting along the iron bolt behind the door.

The iron bolt snapped in response.

At the same time, Tu Shanye's arrows poured down from the flanks, and the crossbows were suppressed before they could fire more than a few rounds.

Lu Fa led his troops into the breach, Jiang Yan cleared the way with his twin swords, and after dozens of rounds, he killed the guard general and cut the flagpole in the center of the sentry post in half with a single sword stroke.

Sirius's military flag crashed down, kicking up a cloud of dust.

From the start of the battle to its fall, Langyagang took less than two hours.

Jiang Yan left three hundred men to guard the area, replenish arrows and dry rations, and then mounted his horse.

The entire army continued to support the next outpost, and by dusk that day, they had reached the next one.

Three more were captured on the second day, and by the third day, all eight outposts on the Sirius front had been eliminated.

Good news flew back to the central army like snowflakes.

Jiang Yan's Northern Expeditionary Army was advancing triumphantly on the front lines, accumulating military merits at a speed that left everyone speechless.

Post-war inventory showed that casualties were less than 10%, which boosted morale among many soldiers.

Tu Shan Jing stood in the large tent, looking at the blank area on the map that no longer had the Sirius mark.

My gaze crossed the border and landed on the city in the distance marked with the words "Broken Stele".

A thought I'd never considered before popped into my head.

All the outposts on the Sirius front line have been eliminated, and the enemy's defenses have been completely exposed.

It would take time for the news to reach Broken Monument City, and for them to react and deploy troops, there would be a very short window of opportunity.

In the years since the Tushan Dynasty and the Tianlang Dynasty began to clash, the border line has been stalemate countless times.

But never before have we been able to truly threaten the other side's border city. Our own Muyun City and the other side's Duanbei City were last attacked a hundred years ago.

But this time it was different. Sirius had just lost many of its elite troops when attacking the outposts, and before it could recover its strength, the front-line outposts were wiped out.

The garrison of Broken Monument City may not yet know that the outpost has been lost, and even if they do, it will not be so quick to rebuild their defenses.

This is a once-in-a-century opportunity.

Tu Shan Jing picked up his pen and wrote a letter, clearly describing the battle situation and his own judgment, adding a sentence at the end: If we take advantage of this window to launch a counterattack on Duanbei City, we may be able to finish the job.

Soon, a falcon demon darted out from the northern camp and swiftly delivered the letter to the capital.

The next day, Tu Shanlie was reviewing memorials when he received the letter.

After reading Tu Shan Jing's report, he picked up his teacup, took a sip, and leaned back in his chair, lost in thought.

For years, it has been Sirius who has been invading our territory, looting and burning.

Now that all the frontline outposts have been removed, the initiative is in our own hands for the first time.

He put down his teacup, picked up his pen, and wrote a line on the report.

The imperial edict was quickly relayed back to the northern border.

Lu Zhanshuang, the city lord of Muyun City, immediately went to the Northern Border Camp to cooperate with Tushan Jing in suppressing the rebellion.

Lu Zhanshuang, a sword cultivator at the Refinement Void Realm.

When the imperial edict was received, Jiang Yan was cleaning his sword in his tent.

Lu Fa pressed on, "What exactly is the Refinement Void Realm?"

Tu Shanye spoke up first: "A Void Refining Realm expert is like a human-shaped natural disaster on the battlefield. However, powerful figures of this level generally don't act easily. Once they do, it's a full-scale war, and the situation can easily get out of control."

"So usually both sides have a tacit understanding: the higher-level cultivators hold the line, while the lower-level soldiers fight the lower-level ones. If one side's high-level cultivators strike first and slaughter the lower-level soldiers, the other side's high-level cultivators will also join in. At that point, neither side can stop the other, and neither side will have any survivors."

"Moreover, the Lord's Mansion of the Myriad Demon Domain has established a rule: if a high-level cultivator indiscriminately slaughters a certain number of low-level cultivators, he or she will be severely punished afterwards."

Lu Fa clicked his tongue in disbelief: "It's a good thing there's this rule, otherwise we would be no different from cannon fodder in front of high-level cultivators."