Among the three main guard armies, the morale was scattered, and their strength was far weaker than that of the other elite armies, which was quite normal.

In fact, during the command of Marquis Wu’an, they had always been in this state.

Before that, the Guard Army often ranked last.

After Wen Yuesheng’s rise to power, at least their performance wasn’t as embarrassing as before.

What others thought about this situation is unknown, but many clear-minded people had already sensed something unusual from it.

For instance, on the third day of the military review, which presented a sharp contrast to the fierce performance of the Guard Army in the first two days, most of the participants came from the East City Training Grounds.

Additionally, many of the soldiers involved had either been recruited into the army by Lord(Marquis) Wu’an or had close connections with his previous faction.

Their poor performance could very well be a deliberate move to expose them to shame.

This was not without the influence of Wen Yuesheng.

The short amount of time was one reason, and Wen Yuesheng’s earlier criticism of Lord Wu’an for tolerating corruption had some truth to it.

It wasn’t that all 4,500 soldiers were useless—some of them exerted their full effort during the review, trying their best to advance the formation.

However, the majority of the soldiers held them back.

These soldiers stood out sharply in such a weak team.

The military reviews became a way for Wen Yuesheng to screen soldiers.

However, because of the poor performance of the Guard Army on the third day, the fourth-day desert review attracted more attention.

The reason was simple: based on the current rankings, the Guard Army was in the first, second, and fourth positions.

The personal guard army, ranked close to them, was in the second, first, and second positions.

The Feather Army and the Capital’s Army stationed forces had similar rankings, and it was expected that the Hall Front Army would rank fifth in the overall military review after four rounds.

Thanks to an extra point earned by Wen Yuesheng through martial arts competitions, the Guard Army was qualified to compete with the Imperial Army for first place in the overall ranking of the four reviews.

According to tradition, the first-place team in the four reviews would gain honor in the final full-army review, and the commander would lead all the troops, which would directly impact the treatment of the army for the following year.

Therefore, all the armies would do their utmost to fight for the top spot in the last review.

Another key point was that, in all four reviews, the main commander had to personally participate once.

Except for the Hall Front Army, the other commanders hadn’t participated yet.

This meant that in the desert review, all the commanders would gather together.

Among them were the battle-hardened Lord Zhongyong, two princes, and the now widely recognized and powerful Princess Sining.

This made it clear that the desert review would not be an easy one.

Thus, on the day of the desert review, the high platform was especially lively.

“I wonder which army will be first this year, the Guard Army or the Imperial Guard Army?”

“…If you had asked me on the first day, I would have said the Guard Army, but after yesterday, there’s no doubt about it.”

“Did most of the Guard Army from the North City Training Grounds participate?”

“Yes, even Lord Zhang participated in the valley review on the second day. Today, it’s the Princess herself who is leading, and the rest of the Guard Army soldiers are with her.”

Before the review even started, the officials were already discussing.

After three days of reviews, the Guard Army from the North City Training Grounds remained fresh in people’s minds for their fierce and strong performance, which had exceeded many expectations.

But because the Knife Camp was so strong, and Wen Yue currently only had that Knife Camp, there were little expectations of the Guard Army claiming first place.

“Well, even if they can’t grab first place, second would still be quite good.”

After all, their opponents were the Personal Guard Army, and second place would be the Guard Army’s best result in many years.

Many nodded in agreement, fully convinced.

Today, all the commanders participated, but only Prince Wei Yang remained in the palace.

Thus, the palace was rather quiet, and all attention was focused on the field.

The desert was modeled after the frontier deserts.

Unlike the forest, there were no trees to shield the soldiers’ figures, just endless yellow sand.

The sand was deep enough that, if one sank, it could reach knee level.

In such conditions, a single person could walk, but with too many people, progress would be obstructed.

The desert review, as the last of the four reviews, had the largest area and the most participants.

The numbers from the other armies would all be combined here.

With tens of thousands entering the field, it was a grand scene.

But because of the numbers, it was also bound to be the most chaotic battle.

To better distinguish between them, all the commanders in this review wore golden cloaks.

Unlike the previous reviews, in this one, capturing the opponent’s main commander would earn extra points.

Compared to the other commanders, Wen Yuesheng, dressed in black and wearing the commander’s crimson cloak, stood out as the only woman in the entire review.

The desert review was a battle for positions. To win, a team had to break through the enemy’s defenses and capture the military flag at the back of their camp. The team that captured the most flags would win.

While capturing flags was important, many were eager to capture the main commander of the opposing army.

After the martial arts competition, no one dared to underestimate Wen Yuesheng.

But today was different—it wasn’t a solo fight.

No matter how strong someone was, they couldn’t face an entire army’s siege.

Therefore, as soon as the battle began, almost every army’s target was Wen Yuesheng.

Unlike the forest review, today the open terrain left no place to hide.

The Guard Army, a large black team, stood out sharply in this review.

It wasn’t long after the start when two armies surged toward Wen Yuesheng.

One was the capital’s stationed forces, and the other was the Feather Army, which had been badly beaten by the Guard Army in the forest review.

With two armies attacking from both sides, one of them being skilled with arrows, the Guard Army was overwhelmed and struggled to cope.

Wen Yuesheng’s officers were from the West City Training Grounds, not the North City, and upon seeing this, one of them tensed up and asked, “What should we do now, Princess?”

Wen Yuesheng glanced at him, “Scatter.”

Though the Guard Army was being attacked from both sides, scattering would expose her position.

But the officer, without hesitation, gave the order.

Together with the southern city commanders, they led their forces to spread out.

The Guard Army had entered from the bottom of the high platform, and the position was clearly visible from there.

Zhang Yulin furrowed his brow, “They’re all spreading out—who’s protecting the Princess?”

Prince Wei Yangwang glanced at him, “With Princess Sining, she shouldn’t need protection, right?”

Lu Qinghuai said solemnly, “In a chaotic battle, the commander is vital. No matter what, there should be soldiers left to protect the Princess.”

These armies clearly had Wen Yuesheng in their sights.

In this review, capturing Wen Yuesheng would be even more exhilarating than claiming first place.

The more it became apparent, the more important it was to protect Wen Yue.

Fortunately, the soldiers understood this principle.

The commander of the West City troops fought off the left-wing Feather Army, while the southern city commanders protected Wen Yue.

The capital’s stationed forces launched a fierce attack, and the Personal Guard Army struck from behind.

It was clear that after the forest exercise, everyone’s focus shifted from the Imperial Guard and the Feathered Forest Army to Wen Yue Sheng.

Even the Palace Front Army, which was ranked last and had almost no chance of winning, began to rush toward her.

In an instant, the entire Guard Army was nearly surrounded on all sides.

“I never thought that one day, an army would be so powerful that no words were needed to acknowledge it as the first one that everyone silently agreed must be eliminated,” someone on the palace platform remarked.

This statement, however, wasn’t entirely true.

If we are talking about a joint attack, the Imperial Guard, which was most likely to take the lead, should be the primary target of everyone.

But due to Princess Sining’s special abilities, all the armies remained extremely cautious.

Now that she had personally entered the field, the leaders of the various armies, hoping to maintain or improve their ranking, had no choice but to target her.

After all, no one knew whether she still had another group of fighters, like the 500 dart experts from the first round, under her command.

Because of this, such a grand and magnificent scene unfolded.

Surrounded by forces from all sides, Wen Yuesheng stood at the center.

Several generals around her protected her well, ensuring that the rushing soldiers didn’t touch her.

However, a defense strategy was not a long-term solution.

After enduring three waves of attacks, Wen Yuesheng pointed out, “Teams 1-3 from the west, encircle and launch a surprise attack on the Imperial Guard; Teams 7-10, face off against the city garrison directly.”

“After dispersing the eastern forces, retreat directly, allowing the Feathered Forest Army’s arrows to fall on the Palace Front Army.”

“The rest, follow me for a surprise attack.”

With her command, the seemingly panicked large army, under such a strong assault, was quickly stabilized.

The military orders were issued, and all the Guard Army responded loudly, “Yes!”

After quickly adjusting their formations, Wen Yue Sheng led several small teams to break through the encircling forces and headed straight for the nearest city garrison.

She stood in the field but didn’t take much action herself.

Most of the time, she was directing the soldiers in the field to adjust their formations.

It was only at this point that the lower-ranked soldiers of the Guard Army realized that Wen Yuesheng’s gaze could see every soldier in the field.

She even remembered many soldiers she had only met once, and when she called out their names correctly in the midst of the battlefield, soldiers surrounded by multiple attacking armies almost immediately turned red-eyed.

“Fall back, the three eastern forces will replenish,” Wen Yuesheng’s voice was cold and without emotion.

But the soldiers fighting alongside her felt an immense power in her simple words.

They began to act without hesitation, following Wen Yuesheng’s orders to shift their formations.

The exhausted soldiers in the front withdrew and were replaced by fresh troops from the rear.

The exchange continued.

Soldiers who excelled in individual combat were all sent to the left to fight against the Feathered Forest Army.

Their long spears cut through numerous arrows, striking down the soldiers of the Feathered Forest Army who were continuously drawing their bows and firing.

The rear assault team, though not large in number, played a significant role.

When the forces in the front were unable to hold their ground, a fire broke out behind the city garrison, causing chaos in their ranks.

This not only gave the Guard Army a brief moment of respite but also allowed these regular soldiers, much weaker than any of the other forces on the field, to fight their way through with blood.

The high platform in the hall was filled with shock.

This exercise, in terms of excitement, was far from being as thrilling as the previous forest exercise.

However, when it came to the resilience and coordination of the entire army, it was definitely the best of the four battles.

What was originally a dangerous situation with forces attacking from all sides was now being torn apart by Wen Yuesheng, who used what others saw as weak soldiers to create a gap.

These soldiers were the most ordinary from the Great Wei Empire.

Their training was short, and their performance was far from impressive, but under excellent leadership, they managed to hold off four armies.

Despite the initial disadvantage of being surrounded on all sides and losing many soldiers, they managed to turn the tide!

The Western Guard Army led by Wen Yuesheng had already charged straight in, fighting through the gap and entering the city garrison.

The captain of the Western Guard even broke through multiple layers of defense, reaching near the military flag of the city garrison!

But alone, he was no match for the vice general of the Loyal Heroic Marquis, Wu Yong.

Wu Yong wielded a long spear and attacked fiercely, almost sweeping through the entire army.

“Go help Captain Zhu,” Wen Yue Sheng said in a cold voice.

One of the generals by her side hesitated: “But your safety…”

He hesitated for a moment, gritted his teeth, and then said, “Understood!”

If they could take down the city garrison’s flag, they could immediately break free from the current predicament.

This was the only way the Guard Army could break through.

The generals by Wen Yue Sheng’s side were all skilled warriors from the Guard Army who had entered the field.

After receiving their orders, they immediately rushed toward Wu Yong.

Wu Yong, caught off guard, faced a dozen or so soldiers.

For a moment, he had no time to guard his military flag.

At that moment, the Southern Captain seized the opportunity, leaping forward, and was about to chop down the city garrison’s flag.

But as he jumped, his knife hadn’t yet struck the flag when—

The advancing soldiers had all moved forward to surround the flag, causing them to lose contact with Wen Yue Sheng.

At that moment, a batch of Palace Front soldiers charged in from the left side.

The Guard Army soldiers who were facing them had all been severely wounded.

One of the generals, after being injured, was eliminated from the field.

His expression changed drastically, and instead of leaving the sandy field immediately, he looked over at those soldiers.

When he saw them charging directly at Wen Yuesheng, his face turned ashen.

When facing these soldiers earlier, he had sensed something was wrong—they had been too brutal.

Even though this was a military exercise and the goal was to eliminate the opposing forces, under normal circumstances, they would not strike too hard.

But the soldiers who had just attacked were different…

The general’s face turned pale as he was about to speak, but a palace servant stopped him: “You’ve been eliminated.”

Before he could speak, he saw the Palace Front soldiers suddenly burst into action, just like the Guard Army had done during the forest exercise, drawing knives from behind.

However, unlike the knives used by the Guard Army, which were sealed and unsharpened, these soldiers wielded knives with blades shining coldly—they were already sharpened!

The general immediately shouted, “Princess, be careful!”

The shout caught the attention of many.

Before the exercise, every soldier’s weapon had been carefully inspected to avoid any accidents.

No one expected that someone would attempt to assassinate during the military exercise.

Previously, when the forces had collided, Wen Yuesheng’s defensive weapons had already been distributed to the soldiers around her.

In the chaos, the generals beside her rushed toward the military flag, leaving her alone.

When she turned around, she faced dozens of soldiers, all armed and charging directly at her.

“Not good!” The Loyal Heroic Marquis’ expression changed drastically. Almost immediately after reacting, he threw his long spear to intercept the attackers.

But his position was too far from Wen Yuesheng, and these Palace Front soldiers were clearly not ordinary. Although they had previously hidden their strength, once they attacked, no average soldier could stop them.

As the cold blade was about to strike Wen Yue Sheng’s neck, she suddenly moved.

The first Palace Front soldier, who had pounced on her to strike, was grabbed by her hand and had his arm restrained.

The soldier suddenly looked up, and Wen Yuesheng noticed that his eyes were lighter in color compared to the usual people of the Great Wei Empire.

Her gaze paused for a moment, and then she quickly raised her hand, snapping his neck before the other blades could strike.

There was a loud “crack,” the sound of bone breaking, which sent shivers down the spines of everyone in the field.

Before they could react, more Palace Front soldiers rushed up, holding long knives, showing no hesitation in attacking Wen Yuesheng.

Wen Yuesheng raised her eyes, released the attacker, and grabbed the fallen soldier’s knife.

Before the approaching soldiers even touched her, she had already killed them with a single blow.

“Assassins! There are assassins!” At that moment, someone in the army finally reacted and shouted, causing the others to come to their senses.

The city garrison soldiers immediately raised their hands, intending to stop the assassins from attacking Wen Yuesheng. But before they could act, they saw Wen Yuesheng, holding the knife, killing each assassin that rushed at her, pinning them to the ground.

Wherever she walked, it felt as if she were walking on cold stone instead of soft sand.

Dressed in black with a red-gold cloak and holding a cold long knife, she slashed and killed with precision.

Her face was calm and emotionless, yet murderous intent surged, making her resemble a cold and unfeeling god of death.