Wang Haichao stood rooted to the spot, basking in a profound sense of bliss for quite some time. His face was beaming with pure joy. A knot of tender affection swelled in his chest, causing his blood to surge with passionate fervor.
Having won such a wife, how could he not protect her? He resolved to do everything in his power to ensure that his wife, Tang Zhiyou, remained safe and secure.
With that thought, he slowly turned his head to face all his soldiers.
Brothers, you have suffered these injuries and illnesses for my Qingfeng Relay Station, which is a great service to Yunjing. As the garrison commander, it is my fault that you have been subjected to such suffering.
Come...
Wang Haichao personally stepped forward, helping the wounded—especially those who could no longer walk—into the medical camp one by one. All the while, he continuously urged the military doctors on.
Bring out the precious medicinal herbs I have been hoarding. As long as my brothers can be cured, do not spare a single thought for the cost of the herbs or the silver.
The lives of my brothers here are worth far more than any herbs or silver!
After Wang Haichao carried a soldier with a broken leg into the medical camp on his own back, the wounded man sat there in a daze. Once Wang Haichao left, the soldier immediately spoke up.
Our Lord Commander seems...
He is actually quite good!
Serving under a Lord Commander like him is not... well, it is not entirely out of the question...
Before he could even finish his sentence, another soldier cut him off.
Oh, give it a rest.
He only looks normal right now because that seductive wench Tang Zhiyou is not around. What if she were standing right next to him?
Can you guarantee that Wang Haichao wouldn't lose his mind again?
That single statement rang loud and clear through the medical camp. All the wounded soldiers froze in realization.
That is true. When is Wang Haichao ever abnormal, except when his brain short-circuits at the sight of Tang Zhiyou? If he were not usually a capable man, would we brothers have fought so hard for him in the past?
Why don't we just kill Tang Zhiyou? That would make the Lord Commander normal again.
Sure, go ahead and kill her. Just wait and see if he does not execute your entire extended family for it.
Forget it, forget it. Even if we killed Tang Zhiyou, there would just be a Li Zhiyou, a Qian Zhiyou, or a Shi Zhiyou to replace her. Who could possibly kill them all? It would be much simpler to just surrender to Duke Ren and take out Wang Haichao.
Exactly, brothers, we cannot let our guard down. The world is full of men like him. Have you not heard of that general in the Northern Frontier? He had glorious military achievements and extraordinary power, yet he suddenly committed suicide for no apparent reason. Who is to say Wang Haichao will not pull something like that?
Right, well said! Right now, surrendering is our only way out. If any of you bastards dare to waver and shake our morale again, I will skin you alive!
Surrender! Surrender to Duke Ren!
...
The wounded soldiers reached a unanimous consensus, their wills united as a fortress. However, their actual influence extended far beyond the confines of the medical camp.
Anyone who has spent time in the military knows that the wounded are a unit's final shred of dignity; they represent a fate that every single soldier might eventually face. As the saying goes, the fox mourns the death of the hare—it is the sorrow of seeing one's own kind suffer.
The plight of these wounded men had already swept through the entire military camp like a tornado, leaving everyone in a state of panic and unease. Consequently, when these injured soldiers fought through their pain to start secretly contacting others, supporters rallied to them in droves.
In no time at all, they had gathered over a thousand men to their cause.
This number amounted to a full third of the total forces, which essentially meant that Wang Haichao's army had lost its combat effectiveness. The only thing left for these wounded soldiers to do was to send representatives to find Ren Tianye and express their intention to surrender.
Report!
General, men from the Qingfeng Relay Station have arrived. They are here to surrender.
Wang Ming was deep in thought inside his tent.
He had been racking his brains over how to smoothly advance toward the Qingfeng Relay Station once the artillery arrived, contemplating the best methods and routes to take.
Hearing the sudden report, he was momentarily stunned.
"They defected again?"
"Yes, another surrender."
"Bring them in."
The representatives of the wounded soldiers entered the tent and immediately fell to their knees. They quickly detailed how Wang Haichao had treated the wounded, inevitably showing profound grief and bitter resentment as they spoke.
Wang Ming was taken aback by what he heard.
"The wounded were still in the camp, and they were already making out?"
"And making loud kissing noises?"
"For a full hour?"
"Damn it, were they planning to strip naked too?"
Wang Ming quickly shook his head.
He had seen his fair share of freaks and monsters; he could handle this level of absurdity.
He immediately said, "If you are truly surrendering, I will lead my men to raid the camp tonight. Will you dare to act as our inside men?"
"General, we humbly await the arrival of your righteous army!"
After formulating the plan, Wang Ming carefully thought it over again. On one hand, he weighed the completeness and reliability of the plan; on the other, he considered whether this was a feigned surrender by the enemy.
But after turning it over and over in his mind, the more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.
"I have at least an eighty percent certainty. There is nothing more to discuss, we move tonight!"
The moon was bright and the stars were sparse, with crows flying southward. Inside the peaceful, almost silent Qingfeng Stronghold, a signal flare suddenly shot up. A sharp, piercing whistle tore through the night sky, exploding into a brilliant, dazzling firework on the horizon.
Even the heavens were faintly illuminated.
The next moment, the silent military camp awoke like a fanged beast. Rolling waves of shouts erupted, roaring like thunder.
"Kill the garrison commander! Welcome the righteous army!"
"Brothers, follow me and kill!"
"Light the fires, open the gates, and welcome the righteous army!"
...
Defecting soldiers were incredibly efficient.
Or rather, throughout history, there has never been an inefficient defecting soldier.
The gates were thrown wide open. A cavalry unit led personally by Wang Ming suddenly surged from the nearby darkness. Like a black dragon churning up from the depths of the earth, they trampled through the dancing firelight and charged inside.
In an instant, it was like a tiger let loose among a flock of sheep.
The defecting soldiers were not idle either. Aside from welcoming Wang Ming, many of them made straight for the residences of the leaders of the Qingfeng Relay Station.
In the past, you were the top bosses, and we had to cower before you and obey your every command. But now, we have rebelled, and we have swords in our hands. How should you treat us now?
Driven by this mentality, the soldiers bestowed the glorious task of being their first test subject upon the Postmaster.
The cold gleam of a blade was pressed against his neck, terrifying the Postmaster so much that he jolted right out of his warm bed, his face covered in cold sweat. "What are you doing?"
"Are you rebelling?"
"Heh!" The soldier holding the sword scoffed. Because his wounds had not yet healed, blood was still seeping through his bandages, but his words dripped with extreme sarcasm.
"Lord Postmaster, are you not the one who loves to help others achieve their desires?"
"Tonight, we lowly ones would like to ask you to help us achieve our desires. We would like to borrow the head on your shoulders to use as a welcoming gift for our defection to General Wang Ming."
"Lord Postmaster is always so eager to address the urgent needs of others and think of what others want. Surely you will not refuse?"
The Postmaster panicked. "No, please do not..."
Unfortunately, before he could finish his sentence, the blade flashed.
As the bloodstained blade fell, the first welcoming gift for Wang Ming was successfully prepared.
"Brothers, the first welcoming gift for General Wang Ming is ready. We must make haste and prepare the second one, lest the others beat us to it."
With a great clamor, the crowd surged straight toward the chambers of Tang Zhiyou, the wife of Wang Haichao!
...
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
u Chenyuan transmigrated into a female-oriented novel about a real and fake heiress, becoming the CEO elder brother of both. Unfortunately, the entire Lu family—including himself, the CEO—were mere cannon fodder in the story. Determined to save himself, Lu Chenyuan took action. The spoiled, attention-seeking fake heiress? Thrown into the harsh realities of the working class to learn humility. The love-struck real heiress? Pushed toward academic excellence, so lofty goals would blind her to trivial romances. As for the betrayed, vengeful arranged marriage wife… the plot hadn’t even begun yet. There was still time—if he couldn’t handle her, he could at least avoid her. "CEO Lu, are you avoiding me?" Mo Qingli fixed her gaze on Lu Chenyuan. For the first time, the shrewd and calculating Lu Chenyuan felt a flicker of unease.
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
