Through victories over the past few years, some of the Northern Plains region had been recovered, but the Hetao area where Guisui was located was still the northern nomads' world. The reason Li Zi-song had come to Datong as Northern Great Commander was also to reclaim Guisui. However, he hadn't come by his own power.
Which mouse would bell the cat?
After dragging on for several years, this agenda finally sparked a political struggle, and Li Zi-song was designated as the executor. Not only the opposing faction, but even Li Zi-song's patrons turned their backs on him.
Throughout history, pushing others' backs to survive has been a virtue of the court and a basic principle of politics. Though unlikely, if by any chance Li Zi-song succeeded, that would be good, and if not, it would be Li Zi-song who fell from grace, not them.
Having been completely pushed out in the power struggle at the imperial palace, Li Zi-song was ultimately assigned the mission to recapture Guisui. It was virtually impossible, and Li Zi-song knew this fact well.
But as anyone would be, since he didn't want to die either, he had to succeed in the Guisui expedition by any means necessary. However, while throwing him the difficult question of recapturing Guisui, the support the court bestowed upon him was merely twenty thousand hastily conscripted farmer-soldiers.
If not for a few consolations, Li Zi-song would have run away hundreds of times already.
The fact that the soldiers stationed in Datong were elite among elites who had fought countless battles. The mercenaries hired by depleting his private wealth were difficult to control, but in some ways their military strength was considerable enough to surpass even elite soldiers.
And.
Above all, the one called Ear Ghost whom he had placed as mercenary captain.
Ear Ghost was quite an unusual person. No, he was outstanding enough to be difficult to describe as merely unusual, and... frightening.
After commencing the Guisui expedition, Li Zi-song had assigned him the role of vanguard, clearing the path.
Fengqian, Xin'an Manor, Tiancheng Village... He had brought down all such villages and cities with merely fifteen hundred mercenaries. Thanks to that, the fifty thousand elite soldiers suffered no losses at all.
This was proof that Li Zi-song's final gamble, its first button, had been properly fastened.
***
"Commander, sir. The mercenaries have occupied Tianchi ."
Adjutant Dang entered the command tent, bringing news of Ear Ghost's victory that was no longer surprising.
"Just call me General. What's with 'sir.' But you said Ear Ghost occupied Tianchi?"
"Yes, General."
Tianchi was a lake on the way from Datong to Guisui, a place abundant in fishing resources.
In common parlance, half water half fish.
Though it was positioned midway between Guisui and Datong, if supplies were cut off by enemy rear harassment, food could be procured directly from Tianchi, so it was one of the places that absolutely had to be occupied before attacking Guisui. But precisely because of that, this place was one of the northern nomads' major strongholds.
Li Zi-song had entrusted the attack on such an important place not to the main force, but to Ear Ghost and the mercenaries. He thought they would succeed, but this time he expected them to face some difficulty...
To be honest, with about fifteen hundred troops, just playing the role of dispersing the enemy's attention would be commendable... but they occupied Tianchi in just two days after starting the attack.
When issuing that order, Li Zi-song and the main force had bypassed Tianchi to attack Liangcheng. That the fifteen hundred mercenary force broke through enemy lines faster than the fifty thousand expedition main force had great implications. Even considering that Liangcheng was surrounded by walls while Tianchi was open ground with several clustered villages, it was truly a tremendous achievement.
Tianchi was an area wide enough to be called Daihai, as vast as the sea. Even riding a horse at full speed would take half a day to circle it once, yet they completed the occupation battle in two days?
'Ear Ghost is the real deal.'
There was no longer room for doubt. The corners of Li Zi-song's mouth involuntarily split slightly.
Perhaps, perhaps...
Li Zi-song repeated mumbling with his mouth in a low voice, then looked at Adjutant Dang and spoke.
"Send five thousand troops to support Tianchi to install palisades, and tell Ear Ghost to head immediately to Manhan Mountain."
Manhan Mountain. The base of the Northern Nomad Bandit Group.
Breaking down the term Northern Nomad Bandit Group literally meant a bandit group composed of northern barbarians. The Northern Nomad Bandit Group was the name Central Plains people called them, and they weren't actually bandits. In reality, they even had a proper name called Northern Ghost Group, an unorthodox Martial World sect. However, to Central Plains expedition forces or merchant groups, they were no different from bandit hordes.
During several past expeditions, they had been paid by Northern Plains forces to attack the expedition forces' rear multiple times. Because of that, there were times when expedition forces returned without even properly attacking once.
Though few in number, being Martial World people, they were no pushovers. Especially the longer the expedition lasted, the more holes inevitably appeared in the expedition force's route. Stopping them as they struck and withdrew through those holes was no easy task.
To stop them, one had to either completely overwhelm them with military force or appease them with money.
But the latter was impossible. Because Li Zi-song didn't have such money. Even the money to pay mercenaries as ear value after the war ended might only be affordable if Guisui was occupied. In such circumstances, where would there be money to pay bandits and the like in advance?
He had only two paths—either go himself or send Ear Ghost—and the choice was already made.
"Yes, General. However, they are people even the Eastern Depot found difficult. Whether the mercenaries alone can handle them..."
To the adjutant who unsuitably fumbled his words, Li Zi-song chuckled once.
"Didn't Adjutant Dang just say so himself?"
"Pardon?"
"That the mercenaries occupied Tianchi."
"..."
"Do you think even if the main force had gone, we could have occupied Tianchi in two days?"
"Ah..."
"Go. Go and tell Ear Ghost to completely wipe out the bandits of Manhan Mountain within three days."
"Attention!"
Adjutant Dang saluted and left the tent. Even he could no longer object. Though hard to believe, everything Li Zi-song said was true.
"Ear Ghost versus Northern Ghost... I wonder which ghost will win... Interesting."
Li Zi-song muttered lowly while not forgetting to smack his lips intermittently.
***
"Hahaha! Captain! Look at this. Ears, money scattered all over!"
"Aaaaahhh!"
"S-spare me!"
"Who said anyone's killing you? Just hand over your right ear. You've got two ear flaps anyway. Right?"
The victors plunder the defeated. Cruel, but it's the law of the jungle that strictly applies in the animal world.
Whoosh—
White breath mixed with the scent of blood, losing its original taste.
Dong Bong-su stood quietly at the village entrance.
The mercenaries were all absorbed in cutting off villagers' ears, and the village residents were too busy running here and there to avoid them.
Dong Bong-su alone was idle at the entrance. He couldn't help it, since killing them wouldn't gain experience points or raise proficiency. To him, plundering in such a 'low-level hunting ground' held no meaning.
He was simply lost in thought.
Can skills be canceled? What would happen if someone killed me right before leveling up? Would my death also convert to experience points? Could I put it in the Inventory if a living organism was completely sealed? Could I take out a box larger than my body from the Inventory and wrap my body with it?
What exactly is the system's standard for recognizing a living organism? (Bacteria and microbes seem to be excluded.) Then where is the line for insects being living organisms?
When taking objects out of the Inventory, could partial manifestation be made possible? Also, how strongly must things be bound to be viewed as one object? Would two objects weakly connected with something like grains of rice be considered one object? Is it really impossible to put a moving object into the Inventory the moment it touches my body? Is there truly no way to open a settings window or system window? And so on...
Countless questions were cluttering his mind. Though he had resolved many questions, numerous doubts still remained, drifting through Dong Bong-su's mind. Also, sometimes newly arising questions would join that repertoire.
When exactly could he solve all these questions?
Even Dong Bong-su didn't know well. However, what was certain was that as his understanding of the system increased, he had grown stronger, and of course that would continue.
If you can't change it, make the most use of it.
This too was Dong Bong-su's instinct. Whether it became a person, a system, whatever it became, it was the same. If something couldn't be fixed and used, it had to be completely understood and utilized as much as possible.
He was currently training a technique derived from understanding the system.
Five Object Entry and Exit.
What previously could only handle two things simultaneously could now freely put in and take out five objects at once. He repeated taking out and putting in small objects using the space created by folds in his clothes. After training for a long period like this, eventually Six Object Entry and Exit, Seven Object Entry and Exit... would also become possible.
How much time had passed like that?
Crunch crunch crunch!
A somewhat off-kilter sound of horseshoes stepping on sand came from behind. At this, Dong Bong-su stopped thinking and turned his body. In the distance, a single horse with a yellow flag approached.
'A messenger.'