After the war was quelled, the border region, which had been peaceful for three years, was once again plunged into conflict due to recent unrest in the Haoyu Kingdom.

No one in the court would question Wen Yuesheng’s decisions, but there were those who were unwilling to see the flames of war reignite. After all, in every war, regardless of who emerges victorious, it is the common people who suffer the most.

However, some things cannot be avoided simply because people do not wish them to happen.

The resentment between the Great Wei and Haoyu kingdoms ran deep. Three years ago, when they signed the alliance agreement, everything was still fresh in memory. Now, before the agreed-upon time was even reached, complications had already arisen.

In such a situation, even if the Great Wei were willing to back down, Haoyu might not let things go so easily.

Over the years, Haoyu had exerted its power on the border for twenty years. In the eyes of countless Haoyu people, the land of Great Wei was simply destined to become Haoyu’s territory in the future.

Temporary concessions did not mean they were willing to turn weapons into peace.

Moreover, the retreat of their forces back then, in their eyes, was merely due to tactical issues, and was a temporary measure. It did not mean that Haoyu, which had been strong for over twenty years, was truly weaker than the seemingly weaker Great Wei.

Therefore, anyone with insight knew that a war with Haoyu was inevitable. And if Great Wei showed any signs of weakness, the conflict would drag on longer, costing more lives and preventing peace for many more years.

This war could not be avoided, and since it could not, it was time to face it head-on.

Once Wen Yuesheng issued the imperial decree, the very same day, Zhang Yulin, Lu Tingyu, Lu Qinghuai, and Jiang Yan all left the capital to mobilize troops, gathering in the main city on the border.

The army sent by the court arrived much faster than expected.

The border residents were unsettled when they saw the large army of Great Wei suddenly appear.

Lu Zhenguo did not expect that, after the recent friction, Wen Yuesheng would send 500,000 troops.

“Such a large force? Do you know the empress’s intention? Is she really planning to move the troops?” After the incident at Yuwang Town, everything on the border seemed to have returned to normal.

The spies sent by Lu Zhenguo reported that Haoyu was intending to apologize to Great Wei for the conflict at Yuwang Town.

Under these circumstances, Lu Zhenguo felt there would be no immediate military action, and if Haoyu did plan to act, it would likely be months later.

A few months would also give the court enough time to send additional reinforcements to the border.

But Haoyu did not wait, and Great Wei had already prepared 500,000 troops. This made Lu Zhenguo worry, thinking that Wen Yuesheng might have already planned to strike first.

Lu Zhenguo had no objections.

In fact, having guarded the border for more than ten years, he was already tired of the endless troubles from Haoyu(Haoshou).

If given a chance to strike back, he would not hesitate.

But in matters of conflict between two nations, the side that strikes first would inevitably bear the greater pressure.

Over the past three years, Great Wei had improved its forces, but Haoyu had undoubtedly done the same.

If war broke out, it was hard to say who would win.

Lu Tingyu shook his head and said in a deep voice, “The emperor did not issue a precise decree.”

It seemed as though there was an intention to attack, but it didn’t feel certain.

Lu Zhenguo couldn’t figure out the real meaning behind this decree, so he decided to wait and observe, hoping for a second decree from Wen Yuesheng before taking action.

But he never expected that before the second decree arrived, Haoyu had already acted.

Within three days, Haoyu had assembled 800,000 troops and was marching toward the border defense line.

The development of events was beyond everyone’s expectations.

The spies sent to the border barely escaped with their lives, bringing back the shocking news.

Upon receiving the report, the Loyal and Brave Marquis Duke Zhongyong immediately gathered all the generals and said, “We were caught off guard by Haoyu’s schemes.”

Both he and Lu Zhenguo looked grim.

An army of 800,000 could not possibly have gathered in just three days, which meant that their spies’ movements had been under constant surveillance by Haoyu.

Not only were they being watched, but Haoyu had also deliberately created a false impression that they had no intention of moving forces, leading the spies to believe that Haoyu was still in a state of recuperation.

This false information had been sent back, causing them to lower their guard and only mention the Yuwang Town incident in the reports sent back to the capital.

Had Wen Yuesheng not made early preparations and sent generals to the border, it was likely that Haoyu’s 800,000 troops would have trampled the border in just a few days.

Lu Zhenguo’s expression grew darker as he realized the gravity of the situation.

“This isn’t the fault of the two of you,” Jiang Yan said coldly, his face grim. “From the looks of it now, Haoyu must have been preparing for this for a long time.”

He looked at the Duke of Zhongyong and Lu Zhenguo and added, “Haoyu has been preparing for this surprise attack from the start, and they’ve likely planned everything down to the last detail.”

Lu Qinghuai, also grim, said, “800,000 troops… at the very least, they’ve been preparing for over a year.”

Moreover, Haoyu had clearly learned from its past defeat and had made thorough preparations, even understanding the methods of all the spies under Lu Zhenguo’s command.

Their plan was to catch them off guard.

In fact, at the start of this year, Great Wei had also made preparations to respond, which was why they were able to mobilize 500,000 troops so quickly.

But fundamentally, Haoyu, as a defeated nation, clearly had ambitious designs.

There was only one thing…

Zhang Yulin entered the room, his gaze cold as he said, “The general who led the troops to Yuwang Town to move the Jin family’s gold and silver has been beheaded by Tairan before the entire Haoyu army.”

As expected.

Lu Tingyu’s heart sank.

He exchanged glances with Jiang Yan, and Jiang Yan almost immediately said, “That night, the Jin family wasn’t there to retrieve any gold or silver!”

From the beginning, the group of elite soldiers had been sent to Yuwang Town to scout!

Haoyu’s first target in this military campaign had been Yuwang Town!

But the general who was sent had acted rashly after entering Yuwang Town.

After gathering information about the town’s defenders, instead of retreating, he tried to use the small force at his disposal to take the Jin family’s treasures.

It was this greed that led Great Wei to uncover Haoyu’s true intentions.

Once Haoyu received the news, they no longer hid their plans and immediately mobilized their troops!

“The Jin family, one of the three major clans of Haoyu, was easily blinded by greed for gold and silver and caused such a huge disaster,” Lu Qinghuai mocked. “They truly live up to their name.”

Speaking of this matter, Zhang Yulin couldn’t help but say, “In the end, it was the Emperor’s foresight… When we interrogated the Jin clan’s generals back then, they revealed that there was a huge amount of gold and silver hidden in Yuwang Town.

But when the alliance agreement ended, the Emperor never sent anyone to dig it up.”

“I didn’t understand at the time and even asked the Emperor.

He said that the mountains of gold and silver in Yuwang Town would eventually become the burial ground for the Jin family.”

Jiang Yan’s eyes slightly shifted.

At that time, she hadn’t ascended the throne yet.

Everyone only thought she was strong, but they didn’t know that she had an almost chilling insight into people’s hearts.

The Jin family was brave and skilled in battle, but they were inherently greedy, almost powerless to resist silver and money.

So, she used their most irresistible temptation as bait.

With all that silver placed before them, the Jin family wouldn’t miss the slightest opportunity.

That bait was buried for three years.

The Jin family treated silver and money as their lives, and would never easily reveal such hidden matters.

Thus, just when everything was ready in Haizhou and they were about to mobilize, the trap exploded instantly.

The place that had once held countless Da Hui prisoners had now become the first line of defense for Da Hui, giving the court the most significant feedback in the first place.

Including the original 100,000 troops guarding the border, they now had 600,000 soldiers.

With 60,000 against 80,000, it was impossible for Haizhou to easily break through.

Moreover, in three years, Da Hui was no longer the weak and fragile state it used to be.

No one understood this feeling better than Tai Lan.

Because of his negligence, the Jin family had caused such a huge problem, prematurely exposing Haizhou’s plans, and this battle was now happening a month earlier than expected.

As a result, he had to personally lead the troops into battle, hoping to win the first battle to boost the morale of the army.

The Haizhou troops he led were among the strongest in all of Haizhou.

During these three years, he had specially trained a group of soldiers.

These soldiers were meant to counter Da Hui’s elite knife camp.

As the Da Hui generals had guessed, in these three years of rest and recuperation, Haizhou had been preparing for the upcoming war.

They had done a lot of reflection and made countless adjustments.

These adjustments were all aimed at the Emperor of Da Hui and her invincible knife camp.

Everything was done to ensure they could counterattack Da Hui on the battlefield.

He had great confidence in his soldiers.

After three years of hard work and the improvement of weapons, he was sure that even if they encountered the knife camp at the beginning, they could defeat them completely.

But in the first battle, when facing Jiang Yan, the opponent gave him a huge setback.

Three years had passed, and Jiang Yan was now even more like a Da Hui person than before, and her troops were no longer the same knife camp that had struck fear into the entire Haizhou.

Tai Lan heard that when Da Hui mobilized their troops, Jiang Yan called this force the—Flaming Camp.

The soldiers in this camp all wielded silver spears, and before attacking, their silver spears ignited due to some mechanism they had triggered, catching fire in the wind.

The flames, which couldn’t be extinguished by the wind, burned fiercely, allowing them to pierce through Haizhou’s soldiers’ armor almost instantly during battle.

This well-trained Flaming Camp appeared with unstoppable momentum, clashing with Tai Lan’s elite Haizhou troops, who had been specially trained for a long time.

The one-sided situation Tai Lan had expected did not appear.

The Da Hui soldiers in front of him were completely different from what he had remembered. They were no longer the weak force he had once known.

From the Flaming Camp to the new infantry, the entire army had been transformed.

The speed of their growth and the speed at which they were ready surpassed Tai Lan’s expectations.

In almost the moment of confrontation, Tai Lan understood why Yu Shun had decided to send troops at this moment.

In three years, Da Hui had changed drastically. One of the key changes was that the once feared Da Hui princess on the battlefield had been crowned as the Crown Princess.

More than two years ago, she ascended the throne as Emperor.

She became the only female emperor among Da Hui, Haizhou, and the neighboring countries.

And now, it seemed that her reforms were especially terrifying.

Before the campaign, Yu Shun had given the order that this attack could only succeed, not fail. They had only one chance.

At the time, many still thought this statement was overly flattering the Da Hui female emperor.

But today, they finally understood that Yu Shun truly understood Wen Yue Sheng too well.

Just the Flaming Camp alone was already difficult to deal with, and Da Hui had many more unique military camps like this.

On that day, Tai Lan led his elite forces and faced Jiang Yan in Yuan City. With a similar number of soldiers on both sides, they ended up in a near draw.

Looking at the other battlefields, there were casualties of all sizes.

After three years of training, Haizhou now had a great ability to change tactics.

With such strong adaptability and the backing of powerful soldiers, Da Hui hadn’t gained an easy advantage on the first day.

But even just that was enough to make anyone’s scalp tingle.

After all, Haizhou’s military had been dominant over Da Hui for decades, but Wen Yue Sheng had only been crowned less than three years ago.

This battle had already turned into an extremely difficult one for Haizhou to win, and with time… many dared not think any further.

But because of this, Haizhou became even more cautious.

In the seven days of intense fighting on the border with Da Hui, Haizhou sent an additional 200,000 troops.

Along with the 800,000 already there, they now had over a million troops.

It was almost as if Haizhou had emptied its entire military preparation.

Moreover, Haizhou’s Emperor Yu Shun led the 200,000 soldiers personally, marching straight toward Yuan City.

The soldiers Yu Shun brought were fiercer and better in battle than any others. On the first day of joining the battle, they won the victory on the frontlines.

Jiang Yan, unable to resist, led her soldiers back to the city.

However, Yuan City was not like the main city or Luo City, which had difficult terrain and was easy to defend.

Yuan City was in a prime location, and if the enemy wanted to forcibly break the gates, it wouldn’t be difficult.

In such a situation, even though Jiang Yan was a brilliant tactician, she could only retreat in defeat.

She had held off for two days in Yuan City, but before reinforcements could arrive from the main city, the gates were on the verge of falling.

The heavy gates of Yuan City, after two days of confrontation, had become precariously unstable.

Haizhou’s siege forces grew stronger as the battle went on.

Standing at the city gates, Jiang Yan looked up and saw in the distance the Haizhou Emperor Yu Shun, dressed in golden armor, holding the Qinglong spear, with red-gold banners fluttering in the wind behind him.

Behind him were countless red-gold banners, representing Haizhou’s strongest forces—his personal guards.

Since appearing on the battlefield, they had shown overwhelming strength.

Now, the city gates were about to fall.