Chapter 60: Winning Such a General Outweighs One Hundred Thousand Troops!

Hearing that Qi Yuansheng had arrived, Xue Yuan was overjoyed!

The Ningzhou branch of the Remnant Elders Association was now practically within his grasp. That was a treasure trove capable of churning out nearly ten thousand elite soldiers, and the only thing missing was a leader!

However, there was no need to rush. Old rules applied: whoever makes the first move becomes the needy sycophant!

So, he said, "Show him in."

Before long, Qi Yuansheng walked in, guided by Su Ruowei.

He was dressed in filthy, tattered clothes and looked as though he had not bathed in ages, yet he walked with the fierce, imposing momentum of a black bear just waking from hibernation and eager for food.

The guards at the door took one look at his appearance and instinctively puffed out their chests and sucked in their stomachs to bolster their courage!

"Qi Yuansheng pays his respects to Your Highness!"

"Hahaha, Brother Yuansheng, you've finally come!"

Xue Yuan stepped forward, helped Qi Yuansheng up, and said, "If you hadn't arrived, I would have gone to the academy to look for you myself. So, did you pass the academy entrance examination?"

Qi Yuansheng's face instantly flushed red as he replied, "I make a fool of myself before Your Highness. Three hundred and twenty-one scholars took the examination, but only thirty-two were accepted. My learning is shallow, and I failed to pass."

Noticing Qi Yuansheng's ragged attire, Xue Yuan asked, "Since you didn't pass, why did it take you until now to come to me?"

Qi Yuansheng smiled awkwardly and said, "I was too embarrassed to come and trouble Your Highness, but... I left in such a hurry that I didn't bring enough travel expenses, and thus..."

Xue Yuan had already guessed as much, but still put on a stern face and said, "I consider Brother Yuansheng a brother, and almost came to blows with that fellow surnamed Chen over you. To think that Brother Yuansheng still doesn't regard me as a friend?"

Overwhelmed with shame, Qi Yuansheng hurriedly said, "No, no, no. Since childhood, I've had very few friends, and Your Highness is my very first true friend. It's just that..."

"Enough," Xue Yuan interrupted. "Since you're here, you'll stay here. We're hardly short of a meal for you."

Turning to Su Ruowei, he instructed, "Ruowei, have someone buy a few sets of clothes, the largest size available. Also, prepare a few extra dishes for dinner."

"Understood."

Su Ruowei acknowledged the order and headed out.

Xue Yuan pulled Qi Yuansheng down to sit and asked, "So, what are your plans for the future?"

Qi Yuansheng replied, "I... wish to impose on the Prince's Estate for a while, until my second sister's anger subsides, before I return. However, I won't stay as a free-loader; I can help Your Highness with some tasks."

Xue Yuan smiled and said, "Even if you didn't work, do you think I would chase you out?"

"No, no, I mean..." Qi Yuansheng thought for a moment and said, "At the very least, I can help Your Highness retrain these guards. Right now, they don't look like proper soldiers at all."

Upon hearing this, Xue Yuan immediately grew interested.

"Brother Yuansheng, how can you tell?"

"It's simple. When I walked in, at least half of them looked at me with fear, which shows their willpower is weak. Furthermore, the guards' posts in the estate are mostly set at intersections, but an assassin would never approach along the main paths. This proves they know nothing about defense setup."

Xue Yuan's eyes lit up with excitement!

In his heart, he cheered: *Now this is what I call professional!*

Just by walking from the front gate to this courtyard, he could spot so many issues. Truly, he is the disciple of a military strategist and a man gifted with the soul of an army!

Thus, Xue Yuan said, "Brother Yuansheng has a sharp eye! To be honest with you, these guards were mostly recruited by a former steward of the estate, and that steward..."

"Your Highness needn't explain; I've heard a thing or two about the estate's affairs!"

Qi Yuansheng said calmly, "My view is that the guard commander, the senior and junior guards, and the squad leaders must all be confidants of that steward and therefore must be purged.

As for the ordinary guards, even though they were recruited by the steward, because they were never given important roles and share no deep ties with him, as long as they undergo strict retraining and Your Highness shows them favor and generosity, they can become Your Highness's loyal men."

Xue Yuan discovered that whenever the subject turned to the military, Qi Yuansheng became like a completely different person, shedding every trace of his previous submissiveness!

Filled with joy, he realized this was precisely the "military soul" he had been searching for!

Without hesitation, he nodded and said, "Very well, I leave this matter entirely in your hands! Starting today, you are the Commander of the Estate Guards!"

He thought to himself: *Let him start as the guard commander and see what kind of results he can produce!*

Qi Yuansheng immediately rose, bowed deeply, and said, "Yuansheng will not fail this mission!"

He paused for a moment, then added somewhat hesitantly, "However, if my sister eventually finds out that I sought refuge here at the estate, I must ask Your Highness to help shield me from her..."

Seeing him revert to looking timid and vulnerable, Xue Yuan gave a grand wave of his hand and declared with soaring heroic spirit, "Rest assured! I've seen plenty of formidable women in my time. Even if your second sister has three heads and six arms, I will never let her lay a finger on you!

Besides, Yuansheng, we men ought to stand tall between heaven and earth; how can we cower under the thumb of women?"

Qi Yuansheng found these words deeply inspiring and nodded eagerly, saying, "Your Highness's spine is forged of iron, and this subordinate admires you greatly!"

Xue Yuan thought to himself: *I'm the local tyrant of Heigouzi County, of course I have a spine... Afraid of women? Pah!*

......

The next day, just as the sun broke the horizon, Xue Yuan, still deep in slumber, was jolted awake by a roar full of masculine hormones.

"Kill! Kill!"

...

Even though he had wanted to sleep in, that seemed impossible now. He simply got out of bed, intending to step outside and see what the commotion was about.

The moment he opened the door, he found Qin Santai waiting respectfully outside.

Catching sight of Xue Yuan, Qin Santai immediately reported, "Your Highness, this is extraordinary! No sooner did Qi Yuansheng take charge than he dismissed over a hundred guards. Now the entire estate is left with only around two hundred!"

Xue Yuan suspected that this sycophantic official had come to sow discord, thinking to himself: *Can someone as wise and martial as me be swayed by petty slander?*

Keeping his expression entirely neutral, he asked, "And what is your opinion on this?"

To his surprise, Qin Santai gave a thumbs-up and exclaimed, "This student's opinion is that Your Highness is truly brilliant and possesses a discerning eye for talent! Among the hundred-plus people Qi Yuansheng eliminated, aside from the old and weak, every single one of them was a confidant of that traitor Qian!

He truly is a natural military commander; it took him just a single glance to tell who was loyal and who wasn't!"

Xue Yuan frowned and asked, "And how on earth do you know that those dismissed were Qian Zhongxian's confidants?"

Qin Santai immediately produced a small notebook, handed it over, and said, "This student has always been deeply concerned for Your Highness's safety and wanted to help purge the traitorous clique from the estate before taking up my post as county magistrate!

I spent seven full days interviewing cooks, maids, wet nurses, neighbors in the surrounding streets, and several guards, while also reviewing a vast amount of records from both the estate and the county yamen. Combined with what I've witnessed myself within the estate, I compiled this 'Record of Loyalty and Treachery in the Estate'!

In this book, anyone who had close ties or family relations with Qian Zhongxian has been singled out by me and even organized into charts, so that Your Highness can understand it at a glance!"

Xue Yuan took the thick booklet and flipped through it to find every page densely packed with writing. It didn't just document guards; cooks, maids, and wet nurses were all meticulously recorded.

As for those close to Qian Zhongxian, even their hometowns and family livelihoods were thoroughly listed.

Xue Yuan was utterly shocked!

He suddenly had the uncanny feeling that this bootlicking official was the spitting image of an Eastern Depot eunuch. Operating like this, wouldn't framing loyal subjects be as easy as turning over his hand?

Yet, why did he find it so appealing?

And even if he didn't like it, how could he bear to punish him? After all, the man was working so tirelessly on his behalf!

Xue Yuan finally understood how ancient emperors degenerated into foolish rulers.

Unable to resist, he refocused his gaze on the status tags hovering above Qin Santai's head.

Finding that only a single new tag—"Must repay the Prince's immense grace"—had been added, while ominous ones like "traitor," "corrupt official," or "nursing a personal grudge" were entirely absent, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Thus, he instructed with complete peace of mind, "Aside from the guards already dismissed, dismiss everyone else according to the findings in your investigation."

"Hehe, wonderful! This student will go inform General Manager Su right away."

Watching Qin Santai's retreating figure, Xue Yuan thought to himself that he would need to check this fellow's status tags every few days. He always had a lingering suspicion that Qin Santai could evolve into a catastrophic, country-ruining super-villain!

Casually grabbing a couple of flatbreads delivered by the maids and munching on them, Xue Yuan made his way toward the largest courtyard in the center of the estate.

He saw that Qi Yuansheng was already attired in chainmail over a yellow knee-length leather cuirass. The cuirass was sleeveless, leaving his two massive arms exposed, the muscles bulging like coiling pythons. At first glance, he looked like some brute-force character straight out of an animated epic.

Xue Yuan couldn't help but inwardly praise: *Now that is a true fierce warrior! When charging into battle, just the sight of him rushing forward would make the enemy troops shudder!*

At this moment, the two hundred guards in the courtyard had been holding horse stances for quite some time. Fine beads of sweat soaked every brow, and some had even turned pale-faced with trembling legs, yet not a single one dared to make the slightest move.

Without a doubt, in just this short morning session, Qi Yuansheng had completely brought these soldiers to heel!

However, making them obedient was one thing; making them genuinely revere him was another. Xue Yuan was immensely curious about what Qi Yuansheng would do next.

Would he challenge them to hand-to-hand combat?

Catching sight of Xue Yuan, Qi Yuansheng walked over to salute him.

Xue Yuan waved a hand and smiled, "Carry on with your work."

Qi Yuansheng turned back to face the formation and roared, "Fall back into position! Form ranks!"

*Clack, clack, clack*—following a brief flurry of movement, all the guards snapped to attention, arranging themselves into neat rows.

Then, veins bulging on his neck, Qi Yuansheng bellowed again, "A soldier is a manifestation of solitary courage! An army is a collection of unified valor! Warfare is decided by battle formations, not individual martial prowess! Master the battle formations, and you will save your lives, win merits, and have no need to fear even martial arts experts!"

His roar shook the heavens, and the ranks remained completely silent. However, Xue Yuan noticed that the eyes of the guards still harbored lingering hints of dissatisfaction and disdain.

And rightly so. These guards had never undergone formal training and had probably never even laid eyes on a tactical formation.

Moreover, in this world, supreme martial arts experts could easily take on a hundred opponents single-handedly. Consequently, most people still believed that personal cultivation realm was the decisive factor in any fight.

Even Xue Yuan himself was deeply curious: just how useful could a military tactical formation really be?

Right at that moment, five guards stepped out from the formation.

Pointing at them, Qi Yuansheng announced, "These five learned some basic 'Mandarin Duck Formation' tactics from this commander last night. Now, groups of fifteen of you, if you can defeat them, each person will be rewarded with twenty taels of silver!"

The moment those words dropped, the guards were instantly electrified!

Twenty taels—enough to support them for a good half-year!

And it was fifteen against five!

"Reporting to the commander, we are willing to give it a try!"

"Good! Step out of the ranks!"

...

Before long, the first team of fifteen, armed with wooden sabers, tightly surrounded the five.

The five men showed no panic whatsoever. They stood back-to-back, two advancing in the lead, two guarding the left and right flanks, and one covering the rear, establishing their defensive posture!

"Kill!"

Accompanied by Qi Yuansheng's thunderous roar, both sides immediately clashed in simulated combat!

Xue Yuan observed that the group of five launched a swift, fierce charge forward, instantly 'killing' two of the guards and breaking through the encirclement!

Following that, they smoothly shifted their front and rear; the person covering the rear became two, the two flanks expanded in a fan-like cooperative sweep, and the last remaining member seized the opportunity to launch a surprise attack, 'killing' another three in the blink of an eye!

Meanwhile, their own side suffered zero casualties.

Crucially, Xue Yuan seemed to notice a faint layer of light shimmering around the bodies of these five men as they charged!

Although this glow was extremely faint, it was unmistakably the buff granted to soldiers by a military tactical array!

These five men barely had any cultivation realm to speak of. If a bunch of ninth-rank or even eighth-rank soldiers formed an array together, backed by an even more powerful military formation art, how overwhelmingly formidable would that be?

He finally understood why, in this world, most top-tier experts chose to pledge their loyalty to the imperial court!

It was simple: no matter how skilled you are with a sword, you can never defeat a battle formation of ten thousand men!

As for the television tropes of supreme masters wielding swords and strolling through the imperial palace as if nobody was home—forget about even dreaming of that!

If it were that easy, emperors would probably be replaced once a year!

"Therefore, if I can build a personal guard unit of one to two thousand men, select individuals who already possess cultivation, have them master military formations, and combine that with Sword Seven and my own strength, then I won't need to fear even the deadliest top-tier inner palace assassins sent by the Emperor!"

The mere thought made Xue Yuan pulse with excitement!

What was he most afraid of right now if not assassination attempts by the Emperor and Prince Yu?

As long as he could fend off assassinations, he could boldly expand his sphere of influence. After all, openly speaking, none of them had any legitimate pretext to dispatch a massive army to invade Ningzhou!

At this point, the first round of trials had concluded!

With zero casualties, those five men had 'killed' eleven opponents, scoring a complete victory!

Next came the second group, the third group... right down to the final group!

Every single five-man squad achieved total victory!

Furthermore, apart from one instance where a coordination error resulted in one 'casualty,' the rest of the matches saw zero losses for the five-man squads.

At this sight, shock was plastered across the faces of every single guard.

Even the five victors wore expressions of sheer disbelief, as if they hadn't expected themselves to be so powerful!

The gazes they directed at Qi Yuansheng were now filled not only with awe and reverence, but also with intense yearning!

After all, who didn't want to become stronger?

Yet Qi Yuansheng's face remained dark and stern, seemingly quite displeased with the performance of those five.

In a cold voice, he declared, "In the fifth match, your team lost coordination and suffered one casualty; each of you will take ten military floggings! Remember, on a real battlefield, the five of you would already be dead corpses!"

Convinced and submissive, the five immediately bent over benches and took ten military strikes each without a word of complaint.

Following that, Qi Yuansheng continued, "You five achieved a resounding victory, and you deserve your reward! Ten taels of silver each; take my written note later and collect it from the finance department!"

Hearing this, the five men instantly perightened up and shouted in unison, "Thank you for the reward, Commander!"

Watching this scene unfold, Xue Yuan knew that Qi Yuansheng had completely mastered these guards.

And he had accomplished it in a mere single morning!

If mornings like this were repeated a few dozen or a few hundred times, this guard unit would develop a true soul!

And that soul would be the soul of an army!

"What a terrifying military commander!"

Xue Yuan thought to himself that with such a general leading troops outside, no emperor could ever truly sleep easy.

Gazing at Qi Yuansheng and once again spotting the even more vibrant crimson tag of "Loyal and Gallant Heart" above his head, alongside the newly added tag "Repaying Brother Xue," Xue Yuan felt another wave of reassurance wash over him!

*To secure such a general is worth more than ten great hosts of elite soldiers!*

"So, the next step is to quickly corral the members of the Remnant Elders Association's Ningzhou branch, and then select a secluded location to begin serious troop training!"

With this thought in mind, Xue Yuan prepared to head out and visit Lin Shishi at the Celebration Spring Tower.

"It's been so long, I wonder if the position of leader for the Ningzhou branch has finally been decided?"