AEOGA CH97

The sudden turn of events left the Changli soldiers frozen in place, looking at one another in utter bewilderment.

It was Qin Yulong who reacted first, taking the lead to bow: “Your Highness repelled the enemy with your strength alone; this subordinate yields to you in deep admiration.”

This single address of “Your Highness” firmly confirmed Lu Xuechao’s identity.

In all of Changli, who else could be addressed as “Your Highness” but the one in the Central Palace?

Though the Changli soldiers did not initially understand why Lu Xuechao played the guqin, seeing the massive Yelang army retreat entirely in step with the music, and hearing Young General Qin’s words, how could they not realize it was linked to the Empress’s guqin playing?

It was Her Highness’s music that forced Yelang to withdraw.

Yelang’s actions were sinister and unpredictable; this army looked dull and moved rigidly, clearly far from normal human beings, leaving no doubt that Yelang had employed some underhanded trick. The soldiers were not deaf; they had naturally heard the harsh, piercing flute music. It was likely that the enemy behind the scenes drove these soldiers with a flute, and Her Highness’s guqin playing was an invisible duel in the dark.

And now, it was clear that their Empress had won.

Realizing what had happened, the Changli troops immediately erupted in wild celebration, raising their arms and shouting at the top of their lungs: “Long live Your Highness! Long live Your Highness!”

Her Highness had forced Yelang’s vast army to retreat without shedding a single drop of blood, completely ruining their plans. This performance on the guqin was nothing short of divine in their hearts.

Playing the guqin while seated on the bare ground, a single person holding back thousands of soldiers and horses—he was a god worthy of worship by all living beings. Even decades later, the veterans who were fortunate enough to witness this scene would vividly recount it to others with glowing enthusiasm.

Coupled with Lu Xuechao’s recent acts of practicing medicine and saving lives throughout the military camp, his prestige among the army soared in an instant to match Xie Chongjin’s.

Xie Chongjin was the Emperor, inherently wielding natural majesty in the eyes of his subjects, whereas an Empress’s authority was mostly subordinate to the sovereign.

Lu Xuechao enjoyed supreme prestige among scholars, but in the minds of these soldiers fighting on the front lines, the “Empress” was still a distant and unfamiliar title. They respected the position, but they did not hold genuine, heartfelt adoration for it.

Now, Lu Xuechao had won the affection of the troops through his sheer character and capability, commanding their wholehearted respect.

This fanatical admiration even caused the troops to momentarily overlook Emperor Xie Chongjin, who held the highest status of all. Had they not held back out of deference, the soldiers would have loved nothing more than to surround Lu Xuechao, toss him high into the air, and catch him—it was their customary way of treating those they revered and adored.

Yet Lu Xuechao possessed a exalted identity, and his frame looked far too slender and frail to survive a drop; the soldiers dared not draw near to desecrate him, using instead the most neat and passionate chants to pay their respects.

The Empress became the center of world attention, while the Emperor was reduced to a mere background element.

Xie Chongjin felt no displeasure at being ignored. Instead, just like everyone else, he gazed at his Qingshu with a warm smile.

He was looking at his god.

Lu Xuechao smiled and nodded in acknowledgment to the troops, turning his head inadvertently to catch Xie Chongjin’s eyes.

Smiling gently, Lu Xuechao turned around and instructed the soldiers softly to return to their tents and rest; tonight had been a false alarm, a danger passed without harm.

Once the soldiers returned to their quarters to rest, Lu Xuechao looked up at the moon in the night sky and said, “Tonight, Yelang’s side should be sleepless.”

Xie Chongjin asked, “What will become of those puppet soldiers?”

“Gu insects can be implanted, so naturally they can be driven out,” Lu Xuechao said. “In the end, I used the guqin music to command those Gu insects to leave the puppet soldiers’ bodies on their own. Since the Gu had not yet penetrated their brains and internal organs before being expelled, those soldiers can preserve their lives and regain their clear minds.”

Helian Xi, standing nearby, could not help but ask, “Doesn’t that just bolster Yelang’s military strength?”

Having learned of Yelang’s methods, he felt genuine sympathy for those soldiers turned into puppets, yet those soldiers were still the enemy after all. On the battlefield, the one thing one must never show is sympathy toward the enemy.

By conventional logic, one should finish the job completely by controlling the Gu insects to kill the soldiers, destroying Yelang’s trump card army once and for all.

Lu Xuechao said, “Yelang sacrificed the lives of their own troops like this, devoid of humanity and utterly treacherous. If you were one of those controlled puppets, would you still be willing to serve such a court after waking up? If you were an uninformed, ordinary soldier who discovered your comrades were treated this way, wouldn’t your heart turn cold, making you refuse to sell your life for the court?”

Helian Xi replied without a moment’s hesitation, “I would hate the court to death!”

“Precisely,” Lu Xuechao said. “Yelang knew what they did could not stand the light, which is why they dared not let anyone know. Tonight, they sent these puppet soldiers as the vanguard, intending to pin their deaths on Changli once their bodies exploded, stoking hatred and fighting spirit against Changli among their ordinary soldiers and common folk.”

“But what if Yelang’s soldiers and people all learn the true face of their imperial family?”

Lu Xuechao chuckled softly. “We aren’t the enemies overthrowing their nation; we are the friends helping them rise in rebellion to overthrow an unrighteous ruler.”

–

While morale ran high on Changli’s side, Yelang’s forces fell into complete despondency.

The puppet army they viewed as their trump card had turned against them on the brink of battle, revealing all their hidden cards while the enemy remained completely unscathed.

Inside the main commander’s tent, Wu Feng held back his temper, though his tone was far from pleasant: “Imperial Advisor, what on earth happened?”

The experimental process of the puppet Gu was a secret, but as the commander-in-chief, Wu Feng was naturally in the loop.

He had seen the experimental results; he knew how formidable the physical strength of those soldiers became once driven by flute music with Gu insects inside them, easily making each capable of taking on a hundred men.

It was precisely because he had such a godlike unit backing him that he had treated the Imperial Advisor with utmost deference and swallowed his pride.

And now he was being told that before they could even score a victory, those puppet soldiers suddenly refused to obey orders?

The Imperial Advisor’s face flushed red and pale by turns. How could he have anticipated that Changli possessed such an extraordinary talent capable of breaking his puppet Gu?

“It was merely a slight mishap, nothing to make a fuss about. What’s with all this panic?” The Imperial Advisor forced himself to remain calm. “I shall try once more.”

Wu Feng gritted his teeth and waited patiently. Though he detested this arrogant old man, he desperately hoped the Imperial Advisor would not mess up at such a critical juncture. At this moment, they were floating in the same boat; if they failed to capture Wolong City, neither he nor the Imperial Advisor would face a good end.

Even during the years Xie Chongjin was controlled by the player, he was at most a foolish ruler, never prone to indiscriminately slaughtering the innocent. The Emperor of Yelang, however, was an outright tyrant whose sole focus was extortion and heavy taxation, chopping off heads like slicing vegetables. If his subordinates failed, their heads would not stay attached for long.

The Imperial Advisor knew the Emperor’s volatile nature equally well. His Majesty treated him with a modicum of respect only because he brought value to Yelang; the moment he lost his utility, his life would not be worth a single copper more than those puppet soldiers.

Not daring to delay, he played his short flute, attempting to reclaim control over the puppet soldiers.

Earlier, his flute music had clashed with that person’s guqin music and lost, which was why the puppet soldiers stopped listening to his commands. Now that the annoying guqin sound had stopped, if he commanded them again, surely they wouldn’t refuse to obey, right?

However, this time, the Imperial Advisor realized to his horror that his connection with the Gu insects had been severed completely.

Once the Gu insects left the bodies and died, they naturally could no longer respond to the flute sound.

The Imperial Advisor’s expression turned pale as he lost his composure entirely.

Seeing the Imperial Advisor’s face, Wu Feng’s heart sank. Just as he was about to ask, a commotion broke out outside the tent.

Frowning in irritation, he pulled back the curtain and barked sternly, “Quiet! What is the meaning of all this noise in the military camp?”

Yet he saw a ring of soldiers surrounding the tent, all staring at him with strange, resentful expressions, devoid of a single shred of respect for their commander-in-chief.

Wu Feng sensed that things had taken a turn for the worse.

A young, hot-blooded soldier could no longer contain himself, asking angrily with bloodshot eyes: “General Wu, when you recruited us under the guise of forming an elite unit, was it to refine us into puppets?!”

…

During the development of Yelang’s puppet Gu, a massive number of soldiers had been used as test subjects. These soldiers were all physically robust and skilled in battle, many boasting distinguished military achievements.

In the Imperial Advisor’s words, the better the physical constitution, the greater the potential the Gu insects could unlock.

Because only the elite were chosen, these soldiers felt immense pride when selected, believing they were setting out to serve their country.

Who could have guessed this was how they were “serving”? Implanted with Gu, their minds consumed, their internal organs corroded, turned into human killing machines only to be cast aside like trash.

And all of this had been authorized by their Emperor, while their general was a knowledgeable accomplice who personally issued the order to select them.

Upon regaining their sanity, intense hatred surged within these puppet soldiers.

They were saved, yet countless comrades had already perished in those brutal experiments, having witnessed such tragic fates with their own eyes.

To think that the one who ultimately gave them freedom and clarity of mind was that gentle guqin melody from Changli.

These soldiers also had close comrades in arms within the army; they recounted these horrific experiences in full to the uninformed ordinary soldiers, leading to the passionate, enraged scene unfolding now.

Faced with public accusations, Wu Feng was utterly overwhelmed.

A commander who had lost the hearts of his troops could no longer command an army.

–

The Yelang army quickly split into two camps.

One group was completely disheartened by the court’s actions, refusing to obey military orders any longer and giving up all resistance against Changli in a total surrender of willpower.

To hell with the court—whoever wanted to be loyal could go ahead, but they were giving up.

This portion still possessed backbone and their own principles.

However, the Yelang cavalry was world-famous, and their ability to brainwash soldiers was top-tier. Those brave enough to rebel were always a minority; many soldiers firmly believed that dying for the country was an honor. Even if refined into puppets, as long as it made Yelang strong, shedding blood and giving their lives was what they ought to do. They remained adamant in obeying the commander’s orders.

With severe internal division, Yelang naturally lacked the capacity to withstand the allied forces of Changli, Xifeng, and Leyang. They were thoroughly routed, retreating overnight to Yongye City, marking the total failure of the Battle of Wolong.

Xie Chongjin pursued the victory, leading the Changli army across Mount Wolong straight to Yongye City, stepping directly into Yelang territory.

What a joke—in his past life, Yujing had been breached so many times. How could he possibly stop here? He would not rest until he struck all the way to Yelang’s capital, Langcheng.

Xie Chongjin was ultimately more merciful than the ruler of Yelang. Upon entering Yongye City, he issued three imperial decrees: do not harm civilians, do not abuse captives, and do not kill soldiers who lay down their weapons.

Yelang had slaughtered cities for generations, yet Xie Chongjin refrained from responding with eye-for-an-eye vengeance.

Seeing this, the disillusioned soldiers surrendered on the spot.

The common people of Yongye City were initially terrified by the entry of the Changli army, hiding indoors for several days. However, upon realizing that the Changli troops did not burn, kill, or loot—targeting only the armored, weapon-wielding Yelang soldiers in the city—their fear dissipated significantly.

Even so, the common folk harbored deep hostility toward the Changli army invading their homeland, standing united against the outsiders. When the Yelang army ran out of provisions, many civilians secretly used their household grain to assist them. Some Yelang soldiers changed into civilian clothing to hide in ordinary homes to evade searches—the Changli soldiers had received orders that they would rather let a thousand slip through than accidentally kill a single innocent person.

Yet a few days later, casualties among ordinary civilians still occurred in Yongye City, and in no small numbers.

Qin Yulong swore to the heavens regarding this: “My father and the soldiers I trained would never do such a despicable thing!”

Lu Xuechao fell into brief thought. “It was done by Yelang.”

Qin Yulong was entirely baffled: “Why would they kill their own people?!”

“We cut off Yelang’s supply lines, so they cannot sustain a prolonged war of attrition. Yongye City will fall sooner or later; they are creating another round of trouble before retreating to frame us and make us look unrighteous,” Lu Xuechao said. “Besides, if they don’t bring back some heads, how will they report back to their Emperor?”

Qin Yulong was shocked: “This is…”

Xie Chongjin said indifferently, “Killing civilians to claim military merit.”