Chapter 36: They are all life-saving items, and the brothers love hearing about them too

The battle on the Guangji River did not end until only the lingering glow of the setting sun remained.

While the fighting on the three large ships had concluded, the mission was not yet complete; the divers, those who had jumped overboard, and the bandits who had fled into the mountain forests on the opposite bank had not yet been cleared.

The Magistrate of Yong'an County, roaring with the desire to claim full credit, brandished his sword and, protected by a group of able-bodied men and bailiffs, chased after several straggling bandits, drenched in sweat.

...

By the riverbank, the soldiers of the Wuyue Yamen who had disembarked from the ships gathered in one place.

Zhang Yuan, clad in armor with his hand resting on his saber hilt, walked briskly, inspecting the casualties and damage within his squad.

Even with armor, seven or eight men had sustained light injuries.

He took out the medicinal salve he had brought and instructed the soldiers to apply it while bandaging their wounds.

Chen Wu was leading seven or eight soldiers in tidying up scattered weapons, as well as the arrows and short spears fired earlier.

These armaments had to be inventoried after the battle; those that could be recovered were collected, and those that could not were reported as combat losses.

Feng Cheng and several new recruits were currently hunched over by the riverbank, vomiting uncontrollably.

They hadn't felt much during the heat of battle, but once they reached the shore and saw the bailiffs hauling out the bodies of the slain bandits—some intact, some mangled, piled into a massive heap—the new recruits finally felt the terror, and their stomachs turned violently.

Not far away, a thirty-year-old official in green official robes—the Magistrate of Yong'an County—was also hunched over a rock, vomiting.

Upon returning to the shore, he had insisted on inspecting the battlefield, even boarding the uncleaned wooden ships.

"This is Musk Pill; it can help steady the mind," Zhang Yuan said. After handing several pills to Feng Cheng and the others, he walked over to the Magistrate and offered him one.

"Thank you, Commandant Zhang," the nearby Head Constable, Gao Tong, said as he took the pill, carefully feeding it to the Magistrate and offering two handfuls of river water to help him swallow.

As Zhang Yuan turned to walk a few yards away, he heard a voice from behind.

"This pill is quite good; my mind feels calm as soon as it hits my stomach."

"By the way, Head Constable Gao, what kind of water were you giving me to drink?"

"River water?"

"Uh..."

...

The soldiers of the Prefectural Wuyue Yamen set up camp on the riverbank, unloading all tents and military rations from the seven horse carriages.

The first task after setting up the large cauldrons was boiling water.

Large buckets of river water were hauled over and boiled; half was cooled and placed in bamboo tubes, while the other half was sent to the wounded to clean their injuries.

Three large cauldrons boiled water incessantly, which was then sent into the erected tents.

Soldiers who had removed their armor cleaned their gear and applied grease to prevent rust.

They also washed the blood and grime from their bodies and changed into dry clothing.

Zhang Yuan, Qi Junliang, and Chen Wu remained in their combat gear, patrolling with weapons in hand.

Xu Xianzhong, the Vice-Magistrate of Yong'an County, led a group of able-bodied men to deliver two sides of pork along with some rice and flour.

Originally, Xu Xianzhong had intended to send the soldiers to the local inn to rest and then invite the commanding officers, including Zhang Yuan and the Sergeant, to the county seat for a banquet.

Unfortunately, the battlefield inventory had taken too much time, forcing the soldiers to camp by the river.

According to military discipline, once a camp is established, the accompanying officers must arrange for watches; even during rest, attending banquets and drinking was not permitted.

"Commandant Zhang, your bravery in today's battle was unmatched. I am truly impressed," Xu Xianzhong said, cupping his hands toward Zhang Yuan with a solemn expression.

Being from a military background himself, he naturally admired Zhang Yuan's ferocity in combat.

Moreover, he had heard from the Sergeant that Zhang Yuan was none other than the legendary "Second Master Zhang."

"It was merely my duty; I cannot accept such praise, Vice-Magistrate Xu," Zhang Yuan said, waving his hand as he escorted Xu Xianzhong toward the edge of the camp.

As they chatted, Zhang Yuan gained a general understanding of the results of this bandit suppression mission.

This group of bandits was one of several factions that had long occupied the Guangji River, previously engaging in robbery and highway predation.

The Guangji River connects to the Guangling River, and the waters are infested with bandits across hundreds of miles; the government had struggled to suppress them for years.

Recently, due to the prosperity of border trade, these bandits had changed their tactics, forming boat gangs to engage in "legitimate" business.

This should have been a good thing, but how could these river bandits truly know how to conduct business?

They practiced "black-on-black" predation, using force to seize goods. This time, they had even been bold enough to smuggle prohibited iron ore.

A total of over eighty thousand catties of iron ore, worth a thousand taels of silver, had been seized from the three wooden ships.

Crucially, this iron ore had been stolen from a mine in the neighboring county.

It was truly a business with no capital.

"With this, the Jihe Gang is practically wiped out. Aside from the gang leader, Big Head Liu, and a few strong swimmers who escaped, the rest of the members have been caught in one net."

"This should ensure peace on the Yong'an County waterways for at least three years."

"The Magistrate should be eligible for a promotion this time. Perhaps he will even meet you, Commandant Zhang, in the Prefectural City."

The success of this mission brought great gains, and Xu Xianzhong was quite pleased, sharing more details with Zhang Yuan.

In truth, he was doing this because he knew Zhang Yuan's identity and intended to build a connection; otherwise, there would be no need to reveal so much information to a Wuyue leader.

After seeing Xu Xianzhong off, Zhang Yuan returned to the camp, where the aroma of food was already wafting through the air.

Once the soldiers changed shifts, he removed his armor, washed up, ate several large bowls of white rice and meat, and then returned to his tent to rest.

Inside his tent, Zhang Yuan lay down in his clothes. As his True Essence and Vitality slowly circulated, a faint golden screen appeared in his mind.

【Zhang Yuan】

Identity: Zhang Yuan, 8th-rank Black-Robed Guard of Luyang Prefecture, Great Qin; Black Tiger, Black-Armored Captain of the Black Ice Platform; Black Tiger, Bounty Hunter; Red Fox, Leader of the Red Fox Caravan; Zhang Erhe, Co-lord of the Eighteen Green Mountain Strongholds.

Cultivation: Late Stage of the Xiantian Realm. Upgrades require 849 Vitality Beads, 358 True Essence Beads, Grandmaster Tribulation, and Heavenly Dao Opportunity.

Martial Arts Cultivation: Great Perfection of the Mountain and River Movement.

Battle Formations: Great Perfection of the Azure Wolf Formation, Great Perfection of the Tiger Stride Battle Formation.

Chaos Space: 3,572 Vitality Beads, 769 Insight Beads, 562 True Essence Beads, 221 Demon Qi Beads.

Chaos Auxiliary Combat: Not Unlocked.

Currently, killing ordinary martial artists could only provide Zhang Yuan with negligible amounts of Vitality and Insight.

Fortunately, he had long since conquered his inner desires and would not kill indiscriminately just to accumulate cultivation resources.

The Chaos screen in his mind faded, and Zhang Yuan lay with his eyes closed, reflecting on the gains and losses of today's march and combat.

Summarizing gains and losses to rectify one's own deficiencies—this was the method he had devised to seek the Heavenly Dao Opportunity and step into the Grandmaster Realm.

At that moment, in a nearby tent, over a dozen soldiers had also gathered to summarize the battle.

The session was presided over by Chen Wu and Huang Sanliang, with several veteran soldiers like Yu Changlong present.

Feng Cheng and the other new recruits sat to the side, their backs straight.

While Zhang Yuan was eating dinner, he had specifically instructed Feng Cheng to listen to Chen Wu and the others summarize the battle.

"The formation was set up too slowly today, giving the bandits a chance to dive."

"Also, our projectile fire failed to provide suppression; the three-stage volley wasn't smooth enough."

"I won't even mention the melee on the ships, but armored soldiers were actually held back on the deck by bandits for a hundred breaths, unable to break into the cabins. If the enemy had been wearing armor and carrying crossbows, we would have been harvested like wheat."

As Chen Wu spoke, he turned to look at Huang Sanliang.

"Sanliang, how was your squad?"

Huang Sanliang shook his head, a hint of envy on his face.

"How could we compare to yours?"

"You have Brother Yuan covering you. Back when Brother Yuan was at the Yamen, Uncle Hu Yang would have him teach the formations. Your Seventh Squad is probably the most combat-ready squad in the Yamen now."

His words caused several new recruits to grin involuntarily.

"Exactly. Your new recruits are poorly trained; they haven't seen enough blood. Why weren't they assigned to transport the corpses and count the heads after the battle?" Huang Sanliang's gaze fell upon Feng Cheng and the others.

The youths' faces turned pale, their mouths twitching.

Chen Wu, Yu Changlong, and the other veterans burst into laughter.

Outside the tent, the Magistrate of Yong'an County, in his green robes, looked on with curiosity and turned to the Sergeant.

"Lord Qian, does your Wuyue Yamen truly have such a tradition?"

"A post-battle review... that is a custom found only among elite military units."

The Sergeant smiled and gestured for the Magistrate to continue walking.

The Magistrate was the ruler of this land, here on an official inspection and condolence tour; as the commanding officer of the Wuyue Yamen, the Sergeant was also inspecting the encampment.

"Five years ago, eight Wuyue soldiers from our Luyang Prefecture went to support Fengtian County. In the end, only one returned."

"At that time, the Wuyue Yamen was left with fewer than thirty men, and our combat strength was extremely weak."

"It just so happened that Erhe had been fighting on the front lines for three months and had gained some experience in survival, so he took some time to teach everyone."

"It's all about staying alive; the brothers love listening to it."

The Sergeant spoke with a hint of emotion, looking toward the distant mountains and fields.

"This custom has been passed down, almost without us realizing it."

"Summarizing after battle and rigorous retraining... the strength of the Wuyue Yamen has indeed grown significantly these past few years."

The Magistrate nodded and said with a smile, "No wonder two squads of Wuyue soldiers could easily crush nearly three times as many bandits today. Their combat strength is indeed—"

At this point, he suddenly paused and turned to the Sergeant. "In the battle of Fengtian County five years ago, Zhang Erhe—"

Before he could finish, a piercing whistle echoed from the nearby river bend, followed by a burst of flame.

*Bang!*

Golden-red fireworks exploded ten feet in the air.

Enemy attack!

Zhang Yuan, who had been sleeping in his clothes, flipped up and lunged out of his tent.