Chapter 15: Ten Golden Decrees, Forced to Battle!
【Year Fifteen, Age Thirty-Two.】
【Initiating trait draw...】
【Draw successful!】
【「Badminton Expert」(White): The strength of your right arm is twice that of your left arm, and so is its circumference. If you are left-handed, the effect is reversed.】
【Adjust traits?】
【Yes/No】
"This white trait is actually quite useful. Combined with 'Serious Punch,' it equals being able to unleash a punch with twenty times normal force!"
However, Chen Yi glanced at his currently equipped traits; it seemed none could be replaced.
"Simulator" must be equipped, otherwise the simulation would stop.
"Low-Grade Bone Structure" must be equipped, otherwise cultivation would be impossible.
"Photographic Memory," the MVP of this run, definitely could not be removed.
"Serious Punch," the guarantee of combat power.
The only one that could potentially be replaced was actually "Effort Guarantees Reward," but compared to "Badminton Expert," Chen Yi still preferred the former to continue its effect, albeit minor.
【In the blink of an eye, another ten years passed for you in the military camp.】
【With the help of a massive quantity of medicinal pills and spirit crystals, your cultivation progress compared to before could be described as riding a rocket. It had already risen to the peak of the Ninth Stage of Body Refining, just one step away from Spirit Gathering.】
【But this one step hadn't been kicked in for two years.】
【Sun Cheng'en said there was a type of pill called the Spirit Gathering Pill that could help people with poor bone structure like you break through to the Spirit Gathering Realm.】
【You estimated it was probably something similar to the Foundation Establishment Pills in cultivation novels.】
【But these past two years, warfare was constant. The large-scale wars launched by the Great Shi Kingdom from the Southern Borderlands came one after another. The Zhennan Border Army of Suzhou was busy fighting.】
【Sun Cheng'en found a random pretext to apply to the military supplies department for the Spirit Gathering Pill, but no one ever delivered it.】
【Maybe it was delivered, but due to the raging border war, no one knew where it went.】
【Now, you all had no time to consider the issue of breaking through realms.】
【Suzhou, Yan Pass.】
【Sun Cheng'en and his remaining twenty thousand border troops were besieged here by the Great Shi Kingdom's barbarian elephant army.】
【This was a fortress town, with high walls and deep moats, easy to defend and hard to attack.】
【But its area was not large, and there were few commoners inside the city.】
【There was a large granary here, containing enough food to last for over half a year.】
【In the general's residence, a group of officers clad in armor and holding weapons gathered around a sand table discussing the military situation.】
【As the soul of the entire army, you were naturally here too.】
【"General, those southern barbarians are shouting insults outside the city again! Let me go out and fight them!"】
【Many military officers had fiery tempers and couldn't tolerate this at all.】
【Sun Cheng'en remained calm and composed.】
【"If you want to go, go alone. I won't stop you, but don't take the brothers with you."】
【"But, General, this..."】
【"The Great Shi Elephant Corps, wielding fifteen-meter-long Spirit Artifact giant spears, mounted on six-meter-tall barbarian elephant beasts. Although only a few hundred riders, they are enough to clash head-on with our tens of thousands of infantry. Haven't our soldiers suffered enough losses at their hands?"】
【With Sun Cheng'en's cultivation level, he feared not these elephant soldiers.】
【But he also couldn't go to battle alone. Besides the Elephant Corps, the enemy also had thousands of regular troops and high-realm martial artists providing support, giving Sun Cheng'en no chance to wreak havoc.】
【You spoke up about the phenomenon you had observed.】
【"These past few days, the elephant soldiers patrolling under the city walls have decreased. Even when some come to hurl insults, those barbarian elephants look somewhat listless. I suspect these beasts might not be able to adapt to the Central Plains' climate and have fallen ill."】
【Sun Cheng'en nodded.】
【"But we must also be wary that this is a trick to lure the enemy. The Great Shi army is now deep in the heartland of our Suzhou, their supply lines stretched extremely long. As long as we hold firm and don't sally forth, they will eventually have to retreat..."】
【While you were discussing military affairs, a soldier suddenly rushed in.】
【"Report—! An envoy from the imperial court has arrived, delivering a golden decree from the Emperor! Orders Suzhou Border Army Commander Sun Cheng'en to immediately leave the city and engage the Great Shi army, reclaiming lost territory!"】
【The soldier presented a crimson token with both hands, inscribed with: Imperial Decree, Do Not Delay.】
【Sun Cheng'en sighed and accepted it.】
【"This is already the tenth golden decree urging us to go out and fight..."】
【The Deputy General was indignant.】
【"What's wrong with the Emperor! All he knows is to urge us to fight, but we haven't seen a single reinforcement!"】
【Sun Cheng'en looked outside the government office at the gray, overcast sky.】
【"Treacherous ministers hold sway, deceiving the Emperor. His Majesty probably thinks we border troops deliberately let the enemy take over a dozen cities in Suzhou because we are cowardly and afraid to fight."】
【A brave warrior present spoke bluntly.】
【"A foolish ruler!"】
【You listened, feeling secretly pleased, but also admiring these military officers for their sheer audacity.】
【Sun Cheng'en once again defied the imperial decree.】
【He was caught in a dilemma.】
【To be a loyal subject, yet unable to watch his brothers go out to their deaths.】
【Though a martial artist with profound skill in the prime of his life, strands of white hair had begun to appear on his head.】
【Sun Cheng'en's dilemma finally ended two months later when the imperial commissioner sent by the court arrived at Yan Pass.】
【The besieging enemy forces outside, upon hearing the imperial commissioner was here to pressure Sun Cheng'en to leave the city and fight, immediately sent him in with great ceremony on a palanquin carried by eight men, even adding fine clothes and delicacies.】
【A bunch of uncivilized barbarians suddenly became particular about etiquette.】
【After the imperial commissioner entered the pass, the defending troops knew his purpose and gave him no welcome at all, infuriating the commissioner so much he exclaimed, 'Our own people understand propriety less than outsiders!'】
【The imperial commissioner read the imperial edict, commanding that if Sun Cheng'en did not go out to fight again, he would be charged and executed!】
【Matters having reached this point, Sun Cheng'en had no other path to take.】
【That night, in the study, you, Sun Cheng'en's Deputy General, and several trusted aides were summoned by him.】
【"Tomorrow, open the south gate. I will personally lead my personal guards into battle. The Great Shi army has offered a reward of a marquisate with ten thousand households for my head. As long as I appear, the enemy troops will surely swarm towards me.
At that time, the rest of the soldiers, disguised as commoners, will leave from the north gate together with the commoners inside the pass!"】
【The Deputy General roared on the spot.】
【"General! The Emperor is forcing you to your death! Why remain loyal to him! Rebel!"】
【The other trusted generals all voiced their agreement.】
【"Rebel, General!"】
【"General, you are a hundred times more worthy than that dog of an emperor! Why can't you sit on the imperial throne!"】
【"Fortune's wheel turns! We pledge to follow you to the death!"】
【You watched from the side, saying nothing.】
【Usually, when these officers cursed the court officials or the emperor, Sun Cheng'en would stop them. This time, he did not.】
【Sun Cheng'en looked at you. "Military Advisor Chen, why aren't you speaking?"】
【You gave a bitter smile. "Because I know the General's character. You would rather die than become a rebel."】
【What you understood even more clearly was that in this world, the difficulty of rebelling was practically hellish.】
【This was a world of martial artists. Without controlling the top martial artist factions, success was impossible.】
【And the top martial artist faction was precisely the Great Qian Imperial Family.】
【You added, "But General, even if not rebelling, there's no need to go out to fight knowing it's certain death. There are other paths, such as dealing with that commissioner..."】
【"Say no more. My decision is made!"】
【"General..."】
【"I remember you once said, some things... must be done even when you know they cannot succeed!"】
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