Chapter 775 – Boys, Welcome Home!
12th month, 19th day, Consonance City.
The remainder of the Guards Legion Corps 1st legion had rushed day and night back; they were ready to meet the Monarch.
Three days earlier, the intelligence that the Guards Legion had faced an ambush was already passed to Ouyang Shuo. The news had infuriated him, making him smash the table into pieces.
The fury of the Monarch, the weather changes.
Dark clouds hung over Consonance City. Everyone acted extremely careful in order to not further anger the Monarch. Black Snake had hurried back, and he had nearly committed suicide as an apology to the Monarch.
As it was intel error that had caused the Guards Legion to be ambushed and even the entire Yunnan battlefield situation to change, Black Snake and the other intel heads were responsible for this failure.
Black Snake had spent days and nights in the Monarch’s courtyard and still did not manage to see the Monarch.
When he finally met the Monarch, the only words he received were, “Use results to make up for your mistakes.”
When Black Snake heard that, he gave a really deep bow and left, disappearing into the darkness.
Similarly, Shanhai Guards Commander Shen Buhai and Military Intelligence Division Secretary Cobra silently left.
The intel network that the territory had spent so much on building had actually dropped the ball at such a crucial moment, what irony.
To calm down the repercussions of the Dongchuan battle, Ouyang Shuo had no choice but to gather Du Ruhui, Zhao Kuo, and Chen Gong over to Consonance City whilst also sending letters to Baiqi, Jia Xu, Shi Wanshui, and the others to keep in contact.
All of them were busy for a full two days before they finally managed to make adjustments to their battle plan.
The Black Snake Guards had also finally found out the news of the Yanhuang Alliance Army and the Alliance Army teleporting over to Tengchong City.
In view of this trend, Baiqi suggested they change the strategy of both the middle and left troops and Ouyang Shuo approved it.
The middle troops led by Shi Wanshui and Zhang Liao would slowly push on forward to maintain the pressure on Tengchong City. At the same time, the west troops led by Baiqi would quicken their occupation of Mengding Prefecture.
More importantly, in case the Yanhuang Alliance Army used the teleportation tactic once more, Baiqi had planned a black chess piece to counter it.
At the current moment, their entire strategy moved along with the black chess piece plan. As such, Ouyang Shuo needed the Black Snake Guards to atone for their sins to ensure that this plan came to fruition.
…
When he learned that the Guards Legion had returned, Ouyang Shuo, who had remained expressionless these few past days, surprisingly walked out of the courtyard to welcome them personally.
“Monarch!”
Seeing Ouyang Shuo, Huo Qubing immediately dismounted and kneeled on the ground. He cupped his fist and tragically said, “I’ve disappointed the Monarch, please punish me.”
Ouyang Shuo went up to console him, “The defeat in this battle is not your fault.”
“Monarch, it is!”
Huo Qubing still felt extremely guilty, and self-blame covered his face. He totally did not expect that his first defeat would come so quickly; this was undoubtedly a huge blow to the prideful Huo Qubing.
Ouyang Shuo insisted on helping him up, “Come up!” As he spoke, Ouyang Shuo raised his head and looked at the remaining Guards Legion soldiers behind him.
During their attempt to break out, the soldiers were basically assailed by the defending soldiers from all sides. Their bodies and faces were covered in scars, and their hunger and exhaustion were evident, making them look terrible.
Even so, it was not enough to crush them.
The Monarch’s scolding worried them the most. The Guards Legion was the sharpest sword in his hand and represented the inextinguishable honor of the territory.
However, at that moment, they had fallen.
Even a hint of disappointment on the Monarch’s face would be enough to make all these soldiers feel ashamed to death.
If they did not need to rush back to Consonance City to receive further orders, these soldiers would have rather just killed themselves along the way. Seeing the Monarch gaze over, the soldiers all avoided his gaze, lowering their heads.
When Ouyang Shuo saw that, he had a pained expression. He noticed the anxiousness and sense of disgrace in their eyes. Looking at those eyes that had lost their luster and confidence, he felt heart pained.
Just at this moment, the influential and unique voice of the Lord sounded.
“Boys, raise your heads and lift your chests up. Look ahead of you, the only place we can regain our lost glory is the battlefield. Hold tightly onto your weapons and continue to fight for the honor of the Guards Legion.”
More and more soldiers raised their heads and looked at the Monarch.
At this moment, they were like abandoned children that had finally found their way home, and they all had extremely complicated expressions.
“Boys, welcome home!”
Ouyang Shuo’s smile was like the glow of the sun, its warmth shining down on their broken souls, washing away their exhaustion and calming down their anxious hearts.
Muffled cries spread out from the army; it was low and suppressed but also sounded a little like cries of relief.
They secretly used their dirty sleeves to wipe away their tears, leaving some filth at the corners of their eyes. However, their expressions were extremely happy and relaxed.
The panicked and worried soldiers all found their direction.
“Monarch!”
All of them kneeled on the ground emotionally, “We will forever follow you, Monarch!” His words made the soldiers feel that no matter how big the crisis or toughness ahead was, it would always be worth it.
The Guards Legion would never fall.
When the following Bai Hua and the others saw this scene, they were in awe. How would Di Chen and the others even know what kind of spirit was behind the rise of Shanhai City?
As long as such a spirit was not extinguished, Shanhai City would never fall.
…
That night, Ouyang Shuo did not prepare any sort of feast for the returning soldiers.
He knew that they were a prideful bunch. Since they had lost a battle, they would not accept such ceremonies. These would only make them feel even more ashamed and awkward.
Ouyang Shuo only instructed the army to give them food as usual and not provide any extra care. Of course, during the day, Ouyang Shuo had especially made a visit back to Shanhai City.
In the martial temple, Ouyang Shuo used the King Rank General Soul to revive Ma Teng. The moment he walked out, his first request was to return to his forces.
When Ouyang Shuo saw this, even he felt weird.
It seemed like Huo Qubing this Guards Legion Corps Marshal, had totally convinced this old general.
Although that was the case, Ouyang Shuo did not accept his request.
After all, he was quite old and had just experienced death, so it would not be appropriate to throw him back onto the battlefield right away. After learning the news of his father’s death, Ma Chao, who had already led his troops to Consonance City, panicked.
If it were not for Ouyang Shuo stopping him, he would have led the troops to Dongchuan Prefecture.
Secondly, he planned to let Ma Teng cooperate with the strategic plans of Shanhai City.
Ouyang Shuo instructed him to show his face a lot in the city and to show depressed emotions to trick the spies in the city.
Originally, Ma Teng did not understand why the Monarch would issue such commands until Ouyang Shuo showed him a scroll.
“Do not worry Monarch, I will do my best!”
In truth, after dying once, he still had some lingering fear in his heart. If he rushed back onto the battlefield, he might experience some psychological barrier.
Furthermore, Ma Teng did not want to worry Ma Chao and the others.
When Ouyang Shuo saw that, he nodded his head in delight. It seems like his general was still quite a rational person.
Whilst leaving Shanhai City, Ouyang Shuo brought away a certain person. He was Lu Bu, who was studying at the Army Military Academy. Lu Bu would temporarily replace Ma Teng and help take charge of the 1st division.
12th month, 20th day, Consonance City outer city barracks.
Under Huo Qubing’s leadership, the Guards Legion had gathered up in the camp. Yesterday, the Monarch had announced that he was going to give them all a surprise.
In the morning, Ouyang Shuo brought Lu Bu and came to the drill grounds.
“Monarch!”
Huo Qubing rushed over. Since he knew what the surprise was, he felt extremely emotional.
Ouyang Shuo smiled and took out a scroll from his bag; this was the Group Revival Scroll he had obtained when they raided Sky Wolf Island in Somalia.
Name: Group Revival Scroll
Type: Special Item
Restriction: one time use, restricted to Lord gamemode players
Function: Can pay a certain amount of gold to revive dead soldiers, no upper limit. For 10 thousand troops and below, each soldier costs 10 gold. For every 10 thousand added thereafter, each soldier would cost 10 more gold.
Note: Advanced Generals and above, including historical generals, cannot be revived.
Ouyang Shuo had not thought that he would have to use this scroll so early on. The Guards Legion was the strongest legion in the territory and the Iron Armored Beast Division and the Heavy Armored infantry Mountain Barbarian Divisions could not be replaced.
Hence, using the scroll at this time could be said to be worth it.
Ouyang Shuo opened the scroll and heard a constant stream of System Notifications.
“System Notification: Player is using the Group Revival Scroll, please select resurrection target!”
“Shanhai City Guards Legion Corps 1st legion.”
“System Notification: Locking onto the target, checking.”
“System Notification: The Guards Legion Corps 1st legion fell outside Yongren City five days ago, 45,728 people fell, please choose how many to revive.”
“All of them.” Ouyang Shuo did not hesitate.
“System Notification: Reviving 45,728 people will use up 1,286,400 gold, will you proceed?”
“Revive!”
Without mentioning a million gold, Ouyang Shuo would still make the same choice even if it was much more.
“System Notification: Confirming revival requirements, reviving instantly.”
With a ‘Shua!’, a white light shone across the drill grounds. As the white light passed, the soldiers who had fallen in the battle at Yongren City, apart from the Advanced Generals, had all appeared.
Ouyang Shuo looked at these soldiers and happily said, “Boys, welcome home!”
