Tome of Troubled Times

Chapter 409: Counterattack

Not many people left; some did walk out, but others stayed.

Among those present, whether they were being considered prey or aspired to be hunters themselves, the ones who truly had their own plans remained calm and composed. Those who could not hold back and jumped around in front of everyone were, at their core, spoiled scions of the rich and powerful. Even if they were in charge of their forces now, they were still spoiled.

With the clan heads of the Cui and Yang Clans standing here, anyone smart enough would thicken their skin and stay, even if they had been making a fuss earlier. Those who still chose to leave under these circumstances would be of little threat in the future, as they were too shallow to even be taken seriously as enemies.

Tang Buqi did not look down on them because he remembered his past self.

At the moment when he attempted to stab Zhao Changhe with a sword at Wan Dongliu’s restaurant, how different was he from them? Meanwhile, at that time, the composed Wan Dongliu was just like the old foxes who remained in the hall now.

The people involved were all present, and it seemed they all recalled those past events. The three of them exchanged glances and smiled.

Even though not much time had passed since then, there was a strong sense of vicissitude, as if everything had changed, yet somehow nothing had changed.

Wan Dongliu was still as reserved as ever, Zhao Changhe was still as rebellious as he was in the past, and Tang Buqi was still the beloved nephew.

“I’ll talk with you all later,” Tang Buqi said softly. “Uncles, please come in and take your seats...”

Cui Wenjing shook his head. “We won’t take the lead... We’re just here as guests to take a look at this warrior monk’s corpse and make some assessments.”

Tang Buqi hurriedly said, “How could seniors like you be considered mere guests...”

Yang Jingxiu waved his hand dismissively. “You’re the commander. We’re certainly mere guests.”

Tang Buqi: “...”

Who am I to command over you two?

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Both of these seniors have experience leading troops. Old Cui not taking the lead is understandable. After all, he doesn’t hold any official position with the imperial court, and he’s considered a retired official. His days of leading troops were from the time he supported the founding of the current empire. Old Yang, however, is much different. As the grand commandant, he’s the highest-ranking military commander, theoretically in charge of the entire nation’s military! The reinforcements and supplies that I’ve been receiving recently were signed off by him, not my aunt!

Of course, Yang Jingxiu did not have any actual military power at his disposal. In a time when the imperial court was weakening and the various families were becoming increasingly autonomous, even the emperor’s power became limited. What truly mattered were the family backgrounds they represented and their top-tier personal martial prowess.

But at this moment, both of them were focused on examining the corpse, so Tang Buqi held his tongue and did not say anything unnecessary.

Zhao Changhe asked, “What do you think?”

Cui Wenjing replied, “These cultists don’t seem to have sufficient individual cultivation to withstand excessive empowerment. They can only achieve a basic level of invulnerability to ordinary weapons, and even a strong blow can break through it, far inferior to someone like Situ Xiao. Moreover, the aftereffects are severe. If my judgment is correct, the group of 1,000 warrior monks that went to face Zhu Huan’s forces is likely to be crippled now.”

Tang Buqi suddenly realized, “No wonder they only sent out 1,000 people. I was wondering why there weren’t more of them. After all, if they had sent out 10,000, the Luling troops would have been completely wiped out, and I would not have even dared to try and rescue them. It seems now that it’s not that they could not send more, but that there’s a cost involved with it, so they can’t just have all of them be empowered at once.”

As he spoke, he frowned.

If this empowered state required time to prepare, limiting them to only blessing a thousand at a time, that would be a good thing. But if they were merely conserving resources and could actually transform everyone in a last-ditch effort during a major battle, that would be a massive problem.

Although it was difficult to ascertain the exact number of remaining soldiers the Maitreya Cult had in Kuaiji, it was possible to estimate it based on the outcomes of previous battles. The forces they had definitely did not exceed 20,000, and at least half of them were likely wounded.

Initially, the coalition believed the forces inside the city to be of low morale. It was what had led Zhu Huan to believe that his 10,000 elite troops could easily take Kuaiji.

But now, it was clear that there was no issue with their morale. Instead, there were nearly 20,000 fanatics inside the city who were impervious to weapons.

Tang Buqi had claimed that the empowered or blessed state could last roughly the time it would take for a stick of incense to burn, but that was likely only during an intense battle. They could not just trigger that state and then wait for them to wear out while running away—Maitreya’s forces were not that foolish. The state could surely be deactivated, so a direct confrontation was unavoidable, and it would not be so easy to break through.

Cui Wenjing and Yang Jingxiue remained silent, continuing to examine the warrior monk’s body. Clearly, they had not come just to figure out how to deal with these warrior monks. The more important task was to glean some understanding of the cultivation level and characteristics of the gods and demons behind this power.

After a moment, they both nodded, their expressions rather serious. “Very powerful.”

Zhao Changhe breathed a sigh of relief.

As the saying goes, it’s fine as long as you can see the enemy’s health bar.

What is truly to be feared is an enemy with power so inscrutable that they defy comprehension, and rather than an objective evaluation of their might, all you get is a chilling sense of foreboding. But with them being able to seriously assess the enemy as “very powerful,” it meant that the enemy’s power was still within their realm of understanding.

This meant that they could fight!

“We’ve come to some conclusions.” Cui Wenjing considered for a moment, but did not directly state out the details in public. Instead, he said to Tang Buqi, “These warrior monks do not seem to need any preparation time. They can be empowered at any moment, so don’t count on any lucky breaks... But the good news is that this method of empowering others does not seem to be applicable to too many different scenarios, so there likely won’t be many other surprises.”

Yang Jingxiu said, “Another piece of good news is that they probably can’t endlessly repeat this empowering process. The number of these blessed soldiers won’t be unlimited, and they certainly can’t bless all the people in the city.

With the assessments of experts on the Ranking of Heaven and the Ranking of Earth, Tang Buqi also breathed a sigh of relief and bowed while saying, “Understood.”

The two elders smiled and spoke as they left, “Alright then, we’ll wait for your orders on when to take action.”

Tang Buqi felt immense pressure.

Is this battle really so dangerous? Even two top-tier experts need to come and inspect the corpses? Also, where’s my aunt?

Tang Buqi finally lowered his voice and asked Zhao Changhe, “Hey, where’s my aunt? Did something happen to her?”

Zhao Changhe, somewhat helpless, replied, “No, she’s just resting and conserving her energy. Wanzhuang takes on too much responsibility, and she always feels like she’s the main force. She places too much pressure on herself...”

Tang Buqi leaned in closer and lowered his voice even further, “Damn, there are so many people here. Couldn’t you address her differently? Are you trying to show off how close you are?”

Zhao Changhe said, “I’m just used to it...”

“Whatever.” Tang Buqi sighed. “Is there anyone else from your side who hasn’t arrived yet?”

“Actually, everyone’s here, but each one has a bigger attitude than the next, so they’re not willing to attend meetings,” Zhao Changhe retorted. “If you’re planning to deploy troops, when are you thinking of doing it?”

Tang Buqi asked, “What about the members of the Cao Gang and the Blood God Cult? Do they need some time to rest from traveling here?”

Xue Canghai said, “We didn’t rush here, so we don’t need any special rest.”

Wan Dongliu smiled and said, “We came by boat, so we’ve already had plenty of rest.”

Tang Buqi hesitated for a moment and then asked Zhao Changhe, “How long does my aunt need to rest?”

Zhao Changhe chuckled. “It seems that Wanzhuang really knows you well... From the way you’re talking, you’re really thinking of launching an attack immediately?”

“We’ve just suffered heavy losses and retreated. According to conventional wisdom, we would not counterattack so soon. But the composition of our forces means that it does not really matter.”

With the military composition they had, it was not just that the timing did not matter—each group was accustomed to fighting independently. The Blood God Cult and the Cao Gang, being new arrivals, did not need to coordinate with the others. They could simply focus on their own battles.

Tang Buqi said, “Maitreya was never a great military strategist. His past successes were largely due to his capable generals. But now, with those generals dead, he would never expect us to counterattack right after retreating. We can definitely catch him off guard.”

Zhao Changhe, surprised by Tang Buqi’s newfound strategic insight, held back the playful remarks he was tempted to make in front of so many people. Instead, he responded seriously, “I know even less about military affairs than Maitreya, so I’ll follow your lead.”

“Then...” Tang Buqi’s gaze swept across the crowd, and he declared word by word, “Everyone, we will lead the main attack. I ask that you do not just stand by and watch. Today, history shall be made!”

On the eighteenth day of the third month, shortly after Zhu Huan, the prefectural governor of Luling, was killed outside the city of Kuaiji at dawn, Tang Buqi led his forces to rescue the remaining soldiers and retreated. Just as Maitreya, inside the city, breathed a sigh of relief and started a three-day retreat to recuperate, a massive army descended upon Kuaiji once more by evening.

Although the main combat force was not large, with the Tang Clan’s Gusu troops numbering only over 10,000, and the combined forces of the Blood God Cult and the Cao Gang not even reaching 10,000, outsiders did not know that.

When you counted the forces of the aristocratic forces that were a part of the coalition, the total reached over 100,000. If you were thick-skinned enough, you could even claim an army of 800,000[1]. As far as the eye could see, the troops blotted out the sun, dark clouds pressed down on the city, and the coalition surrounded Kuaiji so tightly that not even water could escape.

Buddha Fa Zhen[2], who was temporarily in charge of the city’s defenses, was dumbfounded, dropping the command token he held in his hand.

The Great Buddha thought that we had just won a battle and wouldn’t face another attack so soon. He’s only just begun to relax and entered a closed-door retreat for an hour...

Can a war really be fought like this? Was the force that died here at dawn just a trick, part of some elaborate ruse?

Fa Zhen quickly organized the city’s defenses and sent someone to inform Maitreya, who was in the secret realm. But just as the order was being issued, a sword light as fluid as water covered the setting sun.

It was Tang Wanzhuang.

Kuaiji was originally part of the Wu territory, and Tang Wanzhuang knew the area as well as the Maitreya Cult, which had only occupied it for a year. Even before the main army arrived, she and her team had already quietly infiltrated the city.

Maitreya had made a fatal error by going into seclusion at this critical moment. Even the divine will of the gods and Buddhas in the secret realm was no longer paying attention to the city, which directly led to them being able to sneak into the city unnoticed, with no one the wiser. The city’s defending monks were not even fortified by the usual blessing, making Kuaiji as defenseless as a little girl.

1. This is, once again, a reference to the Battle of Chibi. ☜

2. I don’t think that this is actually a Buddha, but rather someone holding a position similar to an abbot or a leadership role in the cult. I’ll still translate it as Buddha, though, since that’s what is specifically used by the author. ☜