August 23rd, the sky was faintly bright.

Chen Mo was awakened by the urge to urinate. After relieving himself, he was attended to by his maid, who helped him dress and wash.

He was in a good mood because his strategy had been effective.

Since the Celestial Master Thieves swept through the Northern Land, threatening Qingzhou, Chen Mo had carefully studied them. The Celestial Master Thieves were not invincible; their current success was due to their overwhelming force and popular support.

But the actions of the Celestial Master Thieves had now lost public favor. With the loss of popular support, their power needed to be broken.

The Celestial Master Thieves had grown significantly since their sweep, becoming mighty. Breaking them wouldn't be a matter of a single day or night, but it wasn't particularly difficult either.

How did their power build up?

It was through a series of victories, resulting from the incompetence and defeats of the Official Soldiers.

To break their power, just defeating them would suffice. But winning one battle is not enough; winning two or three battles consecutively would make them afraid and panic.

The Celestial Master Thieves, without sufficient foundation and having lost popular support, would collapse entirely even without intervention from the Court.

Historically, throughout dynasties, such large-scale rebellions always led to such situations.

To win, he had to relax the enemy's guard. He first released false information, then feigned weakness to lure the enemy step by step into the ambush he had arranged.

Yesterday afternoon's great victory proved his strategy was working.

All that's left is to capture and kill the turtles that have entered the urn one by one.

As for whether his strategy would cause suffering to the civilians of Yu State?

He had considered this but didn't give it much importance.

To the Seven Great Noble Families, the deaths of the bottom-tier civilians were not worth mentioning.

In his view, as long as the overall situation was victorious and the Court triumphant, the deaths of the civilians were justified.

Moreover, as long as he eradicated the Celestial Master Thieves who had infiltrated Yu State, he would be avenging these victimized civilians.

He could even use this to gain some popular support.

Making Yu State more peaceful.

Taking the folded dry towel handed by the maid, Chen Mo wiped the water from his hands, murmuring, "The battle statistics from yesterday should be compiled."

Da-da-da...

At this moment, an armored guard came over, knelt on one knee in front of Chen Mo, and urgently said, "My lord, it's bad. Last night, General Guan, pursuing the enemy leader with the Profound Leopard Cavalry, encountered an ambush at Luqing Mountain. Over a hundred horses were killed or wounded. General Guan... General Guan encountered a dark arrow and has died of his injuries. General Guan's body has now been brought back by the Profound Leopard Cavalry."

"What?" The towel in Chen Mo's hand fell to the ground, his face changing dramatically.

...

In the Government Office Main Hall, the Personal Soldiers of the Profound Leopard Cavalry who had pursued with General Guan had gathered here. In their midst lay a corpse covered with a white cloth, their faces showing exhaustion and dismay, their eyes revealing sorrow.

Da-da...

Footsteps echoed, and the Personal Soldiers of the Profound Leopard Cavalry immediately focused on the figure walking from the back hall.

"My lord."

"My lord."

"..."

Chen Mo waved his hand, led by his subordinates, and came to the corpse covered with white cloth, crouching down to uncover it. Those who hadn't seen General Guan's corpse before immediately exclaimed.

The eyes of the corpse were wide open, with a broken arrow lodged in the forehead, the death gruesome.

Chen Mo summoned the Innate Spiritual Qi and exerted great effort to pull the broken arrow from the corpse's forehead.

As Chen Mo examined the arrowhead and observed the blood hole on the forehead, the Personal Soldiers beside him began recounting the events of last night.

"So, the assassin who targeted General Guan fired only two arrows, one knocking him off his horse, and one taking his life."

"That's right, this dark arrow could even turn back and curve."

"This is no ordinary arrow; the shooter must be more powerful than General Guan, likely a Commander of the Celestial Master Thieves," Chen Mo analyzed. As for the curving arrow, it was not a rarity for him. Some Martial Arts skills and uses of Innate Spiritual Qi could achieve this.

Chen Mo could do even better than the one shooting dark arrows.

After the analysis, Chen Mo quickly moved to the Map, picked up a red piece, and placed it at the location of Luqing Mountain.

"Behind this is Yangcheng, and beyond that is Celestial Water Town. Urge General Xu and General Qin, they are nearest to these two counties. If their battles end, they should immediately lead troops to Yangcheng and Celestial Water Town, ensuring this Rebel Army is blocked."

Chen Mo spoke, raising his head and chest, circling, saying decisively, "Transmit my order, Wang Meng, you lead three thousand troops with me out of Shiling County, driving them towards Yangcheng."

"Yes!"

...

August 24th, afternoon.

Under the sunset glow, the earth outside Zhuima City was engulfed in smoke and dust, several siege vehicles lay broken on the plain, blood staining the moat red, and a thick layer of corpses piled beneath the city walls.

The captured rebel bandits, both hands and feet bound with hemp ropes, formed a dragon-like chain of hundreds or thousands of Celestial Master Thieves being driven into the city by the Yu State Army.

"Hurry up, be honest." A soldier of the Yu State Army, whose brother died at the hands of the Celestial Master Thieves in battle just before, kicked one of the thieves who was dawdling at the back.

The Celestial Master Thief caught off guard, stumbled, and fell forward, causing the thieves in front to topple like a row of dominoes.

"Get up, all of you." The Celestial Master Thieves had their hands stained with the blood of their comrades, so the Yu State Army showed no mercy, whipping them repeatedly as they fell.

On the city wall, the 'Dai' banner of the Celestial Master Thieves had been replaced by the court's Dragon Banner; Xu Jie, witnessing the scene outside the city, immediately shouted: "Stop."

Xu Jie's strategy was to kill as little as possible or not at all since the rebel leader was dead and the rest had surrendered, focusing on pacification was key, later reorganizing them into a fighting force.

Upon hearing the general's reprimand, the Yu State Army below began to restrain themselves.

"General, the tally is complete, over six thousand enemy soldiers annihilated, including commanders Dai Wangmin and both the main and deputy commanders. We captured over three thousand seven hundred, with our casualties at four hundred twenty-three."

The deputy general responsible for the tally reported to Xu Jie.

After speaking, he handed Xu Jie a handkerchief to wipe the blood off his face.

"Report——"

Suddenly, an announcement officer rushed up to the city wall, hurriedly approached Xu Jie, barely catching his breath: "General Xu, urgent dispatch from Lord Liang, orders your troops to immediately go to Celestial Water Town and block a retreating bandit force from Luqing Mountain..."

Upon finishing, the announcement officer handed the original urgent dispatch to Xu Jie.

After reading, Xu Jie's face changed dramatically: "Guan Weihai was actually shot dead by the rebel army."

"What, General Guan is dead?" The deputy general was also shocked.

It must be known, Guan Weisheng, Qin Lang, and Xu Jie were the three great generals under Liang Song, also household generals of the Liang family, whose Cultivation Technique and Martial Arts were far superior to peers, yet now one died at the hands of the rebel army.

"Lord suspects it was one of Celestial Master Thieves' commanders at work, orders us to block their retreat at all costs."

Xu Jie took a deep breath and said: "Pass my order to the generals, immediately head to Celestial Water Town."

...

On the other side, Qin Lang also received an urgent dispatch from Liang Song.

Qin Lang's ambush did not result in a major defeat for the rebel army, as the rebels somehow detected the ambush and did not fall into the trap. Just as he was contemplating how to crush the enemy, he received Liang Song's urgent dispatch to lead his troops to Yangcheng.

Qin Lang had bad luck; when he arrived at Yangcheng with his army, the place was empty. Asking the local residents, he learned that the rebel army had already passed through in the morning; now it was afternoon.

...

August 26th.

Around three or four in the morning, it was still dark.

After completing the ambush at Luqing Mountain, Chen Mo led his troops from the Two Guards in retreat, traveling all night without rest.

Previously, after slaughtering the Tiger Swift Army at Luqing Mountain, Chen Mo interrogated a survivor; they had been ambushed at Shiling Pass, with only a few hundred out of thousands of Tiger Swift Army escaping, obviously a long-planned conspiracy.

Moreover, after examining the map obtained from Yuan Youchun, Chen Mo discovered that moving east from Shiling County led to Shiling Mountain Gorge, flanked by mountains, with only one narrow path that served as a perfect ambush site.

The ends of this narrow path, one at Shiling County, another at Celestial Water Town, if these two ends were blocked, those trapped inside would face certain death.

Previously, without the map, Chen Mo was completely unaware of this, thoughtlessly advancing; after reading the map, he was terrified, not daring to remain there any longer.

Despite his personal strength exceeding ordinary people, his ability to lead troops was at best Entry Level; compared to these true generals, he was far inferior, so he dared not risk his assumptions being correct; survival was paramount.

"County Magistrate, the soldiers can hardly run anymore, let's rest a bit before continuing, even the horses are failing." Sun Meng, previously left by Chen Mo at Yangcheng, now met after departing Yangcheng.

Chen Mo glanced back; under the firelight, the Two Guards looked exhausted, helping each other, the formation completely disarrayed, even the horses were worn out.

This highlighted the endurance of the Snow Dragon Steeds, not even out of breath.

"Have them hold out a bit longer, we must reach Celestial Water Town before dawn; we'll rest once there."

Chen Mo dismounted, saying: "Let the wounded ride my horse."

"County Magistrate, but you..." Sun Meng hesitated.

"It's fine, I can still run." Chen Mo replied.

"Understood."

Although Chen Mo gave up his horse, it was a drop in the bucket, yet this gesture improved morale significantly, and the soldiers felt much less exhausted.

Finally, after relentless marching, the army arrived at Celestial Water Town and entered the city.

Seeing Celestial Water Town unchanged from before, Chen Mo started doubting himself, perhaps he had truly overthought.

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