Wuxia: Drinking with Spring Breeze

"Oh?"

The hunched old man seemed intrigued, "How so?"

"You imitate the appearance of an emperor in every aspect."

Yang Ge stared at him, seemingly questioning yet verifying, "Little do you know that an emperor is formless... Painting a tiger only to end up with a cat, dressing as a Buddha only to resemble a demon, your childhood must have been less than that of pigs and dogs, right?"

The old man didn’t take Yang Ge’s provocative words to heart, but instead revealed a moment of lucidity as if awakening from a dream, "What a statement that the emperor is formless, Yang Ge reaches a high realm!"

Seeing that the old man didn’t fall for the trap, Yang Ge didn’t mind, having already tested that this old Bi Deng did not cultivate this terrifying imperial aura through the honor of emperors, therefore, regardless of the secret method he used to forcefully cultivate this imperial aura, there must be flaws!

Otherwise, he wouldn’t need to constantly wear the dragon robe, don the diadem, proclaim solitude and loneliness, and strive to align his actions and behavior with his martial path.

Since there were flaws, the next step was to amplify the pressure and expose them!

What’s real cannot be faked, and what’s fake cannot become real!

With a thought, Yang Ge turned into a streak of flowing light and lunged forward again, the Cold Moon Saber bursting forth a brilliant blade light...

Seeing this, the old man didn’t hesitate to pull back, creating a safe distance before waving a pair of ancient bronze-colored palms, shattering the sky-filled blade energy.

...

While Yang Ge and the hunched old man were locked in unending combat, the decisive battle on the side had already commenced.

The earth-shattering sound of war drums echoed through the heavens, as 165,000 Wei soldiers, divided into three groups, surged out overwhelmingly towards the Tartar camp at the mouth of the Three Gorges.

The Tartar army, too, realized the moment of decisive battle had arrived, with 300,000 Tartar soldiers moving slowly under the bleak command of bugles, like waves and sluggish giants pushing towards the incoming Wei army.

Nearly half a million soldiers from both sides, like gloomy clouds, covered tens of leagues of the grasslands!

Both sides had reasons they could not afford to lose.

Rise and fall, life and death… all hinged on this day!

"This battle shall be initiated by our sons of Liaodong!"

Under the central army’s command flag, the generals overlooking the sand table already marked with the positions of friend and foe, Jiang Kui was the first to speak, pointing to the Tartar’s right wing, "Later, the central army will hold back first, I will lead the charge vehemently on the Tartar’s right wing. Once the elite Tartar cavalry is mobilized, General Xie will take advantage of the situation to round from the Tartar’s left wing, and strike directly at the Tartar’s central army, catching them unprepared..."

The generals followed his pointing, simulating the battle situation.

Zhou Fu was the first to shake his head, "We can’t fight like this. The Tartars have a cavalry advantage; once your troops get caught up, it will be hard to break out, and Bo Bai won’t be foolish enough to deploy all his cavalry at once. It’s all sounding east and hitting west, yet trapping your own people inside!"

Jiang Kui, believing they could break through, changed his tune after hearing Zhou Fu’s words, "Then let’s encircle the Tartar’s left wing. General Xie will hold back first. If the Tartar’s cavalry is insufficient, collaborate with me inside out and first wipe out a batch of their cavalry... With the Tartars already low spirited, as long as we win the first battle, we can surely pursue a victory!"

Zhou Fu leaned over the sand table for a long while, eventually still shaking his head, "Still too risky. General Xie harried their camp last night, disturbing their troops all night, the Tartars surely have a clear grasp of our cavalry’s total number by now, they won’t be unguarded... moreover, I suspect, the Tartars have placed heavy troops on both wings, just waiting for us to fall into their trap!"

"Oh?"

Shen Fa carefully observed the sand table, "How so?"

"The numbers aren’t right!"

Zhou Fu pointed to the Tartar’s wings, "Tartar chief Bo Bai is a veteran on the battlefield. With no route of retreat at the Three Gorges mouth, he wouldn’t be unaware of the importance of the wings, yet he holds 300,000 troops, but only about 110,000 to 120,000 troops on each wing, with nearly 200,000 in the central army... Isn’t this baiting us to viciously attack their wings?"

After observing for a moment, Shen Fa nodded, "General Zhou suspects... Bo Bai is playing a ’Empty Fort’ strategy?"

"An ’Empty Fort’ strategy is hardly likely..."

Zhou Fu hesitated for a moment, then shook his head, "They have more troops than us, even if they only deploy about 50,000 to 60,000 men in the central army, we can’t break through their military formation quickly, and this time is enough for an ambush to come to their aid."

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Everyone agreed that his reasoning made sense, and for a time, all were lost in thought while staring at the sand table.

Just then, a scout rode in fast, "Reporting to the Great General, there are more than fifty cavalry approaching from behind the main army, led by three individuals claiming to be Yang Tiansheng, Xiang Wudi, and Li Jincheng, asking to see Marquis Luting General Yang!"

"How did they get here?"

Zhou Fu, Liu Tang, Jiang Kui, and others were overjoyed upon hearing this. As they came to their senses, they again looked towards Shen Fa in unison, eventually remembering that this man also dined with Yang Tiansheng and the others at Yuelai Inn, and immediately stopped hiding their joyful expressions, smiling broadly.

Zhou Fu immediately grabbed a command flag and handed it to the scout, "Quickly invite them over!"

"Yes!"

The scout took the command flag, mounted his horse, and galloped away.

Before long, the scout led a large group of rugged figures in mismatched clothes quickly to the base of the command flag.

Zhou Fu and the others swiftly glanced over: Yang Tiansheng, Xiang Wudi, Li Jincheng, Wu Eryong, the Twelve Earthly Branches... the forces of Ming Sect, Lianhuan Fort, the Xiang Family, White Lotus Sect from the expedition to the East of years past had all arrived, not one absent!

All fifty-five of them!

If including the seven of the Imperial Guards led by Liu Tang...

All together sixty-two people, sixty-two experts of at least True Essence realm!

"How did you get here?"

"Damn, Xiang didn’t you say you were overseas? When did you come back?"

"What have you twelve been up to these past few years? Why haven’t there been any news about you twelve anywhere?"

Seeing them, Zhou Fu and Liu Tang, along with the others, all rushed to greet them. Ignoring Shen Fa’s face, which was as dark as the bottom of a pot, they jokingly slapped shoulders and patted heads in a display of warm camaraderie.