Liang family mansion - Rose kingdom
Liang Wei was elegantly writing on a piece of parchment, his movements were soft, his calligraphy clear and delicate.
After writing the last line he breathed out a sigh of relif, a hint of satisfaction flashing in his cold eyes.
He slowly shifted his gaze towards the edict he just wrote.
The Liang family heed the edict of the King, swearing to do their best to support the war effort. No invaders will cross our defenses without losing their lives. Our family is the sword and shield of the Kingdom, bound to eliminate any threat to the Rose family, the rightful owners of the crown.
-Heir of the Liang Family Liang Wei-
He briefly admired his calligraphy before carefully pressing his finger on the paper imprinting his Qi on the document. When he retracted his finger the name Liang Wei let out a small light, confirming the end of the signature process, right now whoever wanted to examine his document could touch the signature to confirm the paper's autenticity.
He got up from his chair and moved closer to a nearby window. His office was situated on the second-highest floor, and from here he could easily see the entire hill that his family occupied. He slowly moved his gaze, silently admiring the view. From here he could see everything, from the houses of the family's talents, like Liang Nian, situated closer to the top, to the employees and servants houses situated at the foot of the hill.
No defensive walls or barriers blocked his view.
He let his mind relax for just a second before thinking about his current situation. The war had arrived earlier than expected; however, most of his pawns were already in place, only a few of them were misplaced.
No matter, I only have to get some merits in this war, then I can advance with the rest of my plans. However...
He shifted his gaze towards a stack of documents made out of red paper. According to these reports, the Sacred Empire knew about the incoming war and had already moved most of their troops to various positions on the border.
This war won't be an easy one.
He sighed. To advance his plans, he needed to show his value to the kingdom. This meant conquering at least two cities, eliminating the fortress masters, or "Sacred officials," that held those positions.
Naturally, he didn't think he could kill them personally; he only needed to craft a plan and give the right orders that led to the conquest of those cities. As a strategist, he didn't have to fight, only plan.
If he could create a plan that put them in an advantageous position, then his merit would be secured, and he could move on to other things.
He sat down in his finely decorated chair and started staring out the window; it was time to put himself to work.
He started by picturing a map of the border inside his head, trying to predict the enemy's moves and the most likely places for key battles to happen. The border was long; its surroundings were dotted with fortresses and fortified cities, making analyzing and choosing the most advantageous position an arduous task. However, Liang Wei was an array master; tasks that required him to visualize, memorize, and theorize changes were his specialty.
Liang Wei spent the next few hours in a daze, seemingly staring at the blue sky outside his office. However, his mind was hard at work, and he managed to narrow down the various battlefields to three key positions that were the most likely to lead to a breakthrough in the war.
In particular, these positions were:
The Red Veil, a fortified city under the Mo family; the Shard Fortress managed by his Liang family, and the Rainy Fort managed by both families.
He smiled; he was very familiar with these three positions. In fact, he had already made some moves in those zones before the war. Moreover, some of his pawns were already active in the vicinity of the Shard and the Rainy Fort.
Now it was time for the battle plan. He took out an artifact shaped like a Go board and started using it to simulate various battles and moving fronts. Obviously, this wasn't the real use of the artifact, but Liang Wei liked to use it to visualize his battle plans; in a way, having a physical representation of the battles helped him focus.
It took him an entire week to create a battle plan that satisfied all of his requirements. He dismissed the Go board and started writing on a new parchment. His moves were fast and precise, while he took care to explain everything in the clearest way possible, not daring to leave any detail to fate or to the interpretation of the soldiers who would receive his orders.
In the end, it took him an entire night to write everything down. He breathed out some air before casually laying on his chair's back while observing his creations.
He had decided to divide his plan into two phases, represented by the two stacks of papers that were before him. The first phase focused on moving the troops and setting up a series of traps for the enemies, while the second phase focused more on the offensive part and the conquering of territories during the war.
He lazily took a small paper with the sketch of the border on it, his gaze involuntarily landing on the three fortresses where the most important battles would take place.
He put down the paper, a pensive expression briefly crossing his delicate face.
I wonder if he will survive the war.
He shook his head; it didn't matter if that guy could survive the war. If he couldn't survive, then he could only blame himself. War wasn't something for weaklings.
Cave – Somewhere
After making sure nobody was following him, Number 8 entered a dark cave. As he walked in the darkness, his pace hastened; the information he had was of the highest importance, and his master wouldn't tolerate any delay. He knew why he was called Number 8.
As he passed a decomposing stack of corpses, he started counting.
"1... 2... 5... 20... 25."
When he reached 25, he suddenly stopped and turned right, stopping beside the decomposing corpse of a young woman. The body was mangled and twisted in human ways, and her hands were missing some fingers.
Number 8 took out a dagger and cut off one of the dead woman's fingers. He let the finger fall on the ground while anxiously looking around.
When the finger hit the ground, a small door carved itself into the wall.
Before entering the newly created door, Number 8 burned the finger away, making sure to scatter the ashes throughout the cave. The woman still had six fingers, which meant he could meet his master six times before they changed their way of communicating.
As he entered, Number 8 briefly hesitated. The cave was still long and had countless corpses with a similar mechanism to the one he activated, and even after meticulously counting his steps, he couldn't be sure he had chosen the right corpse. He shook his head and entered the door; even if this door led him to his death, it was still a better end than the punishment his master would give him for being late.
He walked through the door and entered another cave; this time it was even darker than before, and Number 8 couldn't see inside it even when using his enhanced eyes. He continued walking in the darkness, without knowing if obstacles were on the way or, worse, if some creatures were waiting for him in some dark corners of the cave.
Only when he reached the end and his hands touched a wooden door did he let out a sigh of relief. He slowly knocked on the door using a low but fast rhythm that echoed through the cave.
When the door opened, Number 8 let out a sigh of relief before swiftly entering. As he entered, he didn't dare to look around the room or waste time. He instantly kneeled face down on the floor and announced his news.
"Master, I bring news. The Rose Kingdom and the Crow Empire have both declared war on the Sacred Empire."
He kneeled on the floor waiting for a response. He didn't see his master in the darkness of the room, but he didn't need to. The oppressive aura coming from the opposite side of the room and his trouble breathing were enough proof.
Suddenly he heard a low but majestic voice. His tone carried the aura and awe that only ancient beings could evoke.
"Good. You can go back to your post and wait for my orders."
Number 8 didn't waste a moment, and after excusing himself he quickly left the room. As the door closed behind him, he could hear a series of scratching noises resembling that of metal scraping together.
"Yes, soon I will find him and I will kill him."
The voice launched itself into a crazy laugh that faded only when the door fully closed behind Number 8.
A chill ran down Number 8's spine, the laugh reminding him why he feared his mysterious and powerful master. The thing was that he couldn't understand his master: sometimes he was like ancient cultivators of legend, constantly using strange techniques; other times he seemed like a refined, cunning, and devious official ready to stab you in the back when you least expect it; sometimes his master could even resemble an evil spirit that could kill with no hesitation.
This inconsistency always made him shiver; he could respect ancient cultivators, fear evil ghosts, and protect himself from the cunning officials. But he couldn't do anything against his master. The unknown was always more feared than the known.
- Periphery of the Rainy Fortress – Border of the Rose Kingdom
Sylas stopped leaning on the carriage and looked at the rising sun. According to his source of intel, the war had started, and it was time for him to prepare and make a move.
He took out his escort dead bodies from his space ring and placed them around the carriage to simulate a hard-fought battle. Even if he had killed these people a few months ago, they still looked freshly slain.
After doing so, he spent a few minutes checking the quality of his work before setting everything on fire, deleting any proof of his passage. Even if someone discovered his fake identity, they wouldn't find any accomplices, only some charred bodies. He wasn't worried anyone would find the fire strange; they would just think it was the first of the innumerable fires and attacks that always happened during a war.
As he walked further into the swamp, his face slowly morphed back into his normal silver-haired appearance. His face was neither happy nor calm, only the serious and indifferent expression of a professional doing his job was present on it.
Shard Fortress – Rose Kingdom
Yun Qiang was standing in the main square of the Shard Fortress, his eyes constantly looking around him. The spacious square at the foot of the array tower was filled with most of the soldiers stationed at the fort.
Lee's uneasy voice came from behind him:
"What's up with this gathering? Did something happen?"
Yun Qiang was about to respond, but a cold voice preceded him.
"Whatever it is, it's not good news for us. Even our captain has disappeared."
Yun Qiang looked at Hai Ming. He didn't like the guy, but he was right. Whatever the fortress master wanted to announce, it wasn't good news.
He bit his lips while shifting his gaze toward the array tower, the main defense of the fortress.
Damn it! I just became an official soldier, and something is already happening!
The ancient gate of the tower started releasing some fog before slowly opening. The noisy square instantly fell into total silence.
A loud and booming voice announced to everyone:
"Everyone bow down to the Fortress Master of the Shard! Lu Bu!"
Everyone in the square scrambled around to form something that resembled an orderly formation before bowing towards the Master of the Shard. The fortress master began speaking, his voice proud yet careful, carried an inspiring tone that seemed to urge them to achieve greatness while fulfilling their duties.
"We have just received orders from the King and the Liang Family. From today onwards we are at war! And in this war I want every one of you to do your best, not only for the Kingdom or for the glory of battle, but for the family that you left behind and the civilians that stand behind this fortress!"
Yun Qiang wasn't fooled by those righteous words; he knew that Lu Bu didn't care about those things. If the fortress master cared about them, then he wouldn't have set up a "Blood sacrificing array," disguised with the other arrays that protected the Shard.
As Lord Lu Bu continued with his speech, Yun Qiang looked around, checking the other soldiers' expressions. Most of them were like him and didn't seem thrilled to put their lives at risk for the glory of the "Kingdom of Rose."
Suddenly he felt something strange enter his body; it felt similar to when Voss examined his cultivation. However, this time this Qi didn't float around his dantian but constantly moved around his body, making him feel as if his blood was boiling.
He forcefully suppressed this Qi while narrowing his eyes. Around him the atmosphere was slowly changing; the expressions of the surrounding soldiers didn't look as dark as before, and the soldiers closer to Lu Bu were more excited than before.
This must be Lu Bu's way of hyping up the soldiers for war...
However, it wasn't that strong; at most he could ease the tension, but after the meeting the gloomy and tense atmosphere would surely come back. He continued looking at the Fortress Master, quietly waiting for his speech to finish.
On the other side of the square, Lu Bu was carefully watching his subordinates' reactions to his trick. He knew that only emotionally unstable soldiers would fall for it, but this wasn't the true intention behind his actions.
He proudly smiled and announced the real incentive that would motivate his soldiers to fight for him.
"Since war is a glorious endeavour, I won't let you waste this opportunity. Your base salary will be increased by 50%, and you will receive a bonus for every Sacred Empire badge that you present to the treasury. Besides this, we will release a list of the most valuable enemies; whoever kills them and brings the head to the treasury will receive an extra reward!"
Hearing this, the crowd erupted into a cheer, and even the most skeptical soldiers seemed excited for the opportunity. A pay rise would definitely help their cultivation; besides this, most of them were young and proud and thought they could easily survive a war. Only the company lords and the team leaders didn't erupt in a loud cheer but simply clapped their hands in approval.
Seeing the favorable reaction of the crowd, Lu Bu said a few more encouraging words, downplaying the Sacred Empire's strength while complimenting the strength and experience of the various company lords and team leaders before going back inside the Array Tower.
Once inside his office, he smiled. He had managed to win the majority of the crowd with the promise of higher pay. It seemed that he wouldn't have to deal with a rebellion like the last time a war with the Sacred Empire started.
He moved towards his desk while belittling his soldiers in his mind.
Raising their pay was the oldest trick in the book, yet almost all of them had fallen for it. Yes, the soldiers were paid more, so what? Their pay was entirely made up of contribution points, an imaginary currency that couldn't be exchanged for spirit stones and could only be used to buy goods and services inside the Border Guard.
In other words, Lu Bu only made a loss from the increased pay if the soldiers decided to spend them on cultivation resources, but his years of experience running the Shard had already taught him a solution to this problem.
He would wait for cultivators to accumulate contribution points, then he would periodically take the "Wealthiest" soldiers and send them on tactical missions where they would die. Sometimes he would let some of these soldiers slip through and get their resources to create a sense of hope and make them heroes of sorts, soldiers that had managed to rank up from recruits to team leaders or company lords who could set the example and inspire others during the war.
Lu Bu sat on his chair. Everything was going well; his experiments had turned out well, the soldiers were happy about their pay rise, and it seemed no troublemaker would appear during this war. He was about to prepare some tea for himself like he usually did when he was in a good mood, when his gaze fell on nearby stacks of papers reminding him of something unpleasant.
He threw aside the papers while mentally cursing the young master of the Liang family. The orders detailed in the papers were the opposite of what he wanted. He reread the battleplan he had received before crumpling it and throwing it on the floor.
"Damn it! That guy can ruin my plans even when he doesn't know them!"