Published at 10th of October 2024 5:52 pm

Chapter 859: Things Remained, People Changed (1)

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Inside the Vanguard Regiment base was a large stone house. The house looked rather beaten. This was Su Yu's current residence. Compared to the Great Ming Consulate, this place was probably worse than a toilet.

After sending Su Yu over, Hong Du stationed a Skysoar to act as the guard outside the building. The guard would also act as a messenger Su Yu could contact whenever he needed something. Then, he left to get busy with his own tasks.

As for Su Yu, he sat cross-legged on the cold stone bed and cultivated silently while scanning his surroundings.

His Perception Jade was the best tool to examine his surroundings. With a range of one kilometer, it allowed him to see a lot of things.

"The Vanguard Regiment is not weak at all."

Su Yu lamented to himself. The base was filled with experts. In fact, he found two Sunmoons and six Mountainseas just in the area one kilometer around him. And this was only a tiny portion of what the Vanguard Regiment had to offer.

The Vanguard Regiment was also the vanguard of humanity. This was an army specializing in nothing but killing. But the aura of death here was too thick. This was unlike the other armies that would be filled with vitality and solemnity. Instead, this place felt exceptionally cold.

Even the Skysoar acting as a guard outside his residence did not carry himself with strict discipline as a regular soldier would. Perhaps he believed that Su Yu wouldn't look for him so soon. The guard had actually walked further away from his station before starting a bonfire there.

After a moment, he took out an entire chicken and started roasting it. Slowly, the aroma of the roasted chicken started spreading in the air.

The Skysoar whose hair was starting to turn white from age grinned, revealing his yellow teeth. After scattering some condiments over the roasted chicken, he opened his mouth to take a bite.

But right at that moment, his vision blurred and the roasted chicken vanished. The Skysoar was alarmed. He hurriedly rolled backward before opening his mouth to shout. But before he actually started shouting, he noticed something. It was the weaponsmith he was supposed to be guarding.

"You're still awake, Master Cui?"

The old Skysoar greeted with a smile. Su Yu nonchalantly said, "You're roasting a chicken right outside my residence. How am I supposed to fall asleep?"

"Cough, cough. Don't mind me, Master Cui. I'm hungry after spending an entire day fighting." Are you hungry as well, Master Cui? I'll get Deputy General Hong..."

"No. It's fine." Su Yu sat down and tore half the chicken off before tossing the other half back to the old soldier. He said, "Let's eat together."

"I wouldn't dare. You can have the whole thing, Lord."

"If I say we're eating together, we're eating together."

The old man sat down awkwardly and started eating in silence.

The taste was quite rough, but Su Yu didn't mind it. While eating, he said, "Is this how it is in the Vanguard Regiment?"

"What?"

"The lack of discipline."

Su Yu was very curious. Compared to a regular army, the Vanguard Regiment was indeed undisciplined. This wouldn't have happened in any other army.

The old soldier grinned and said, "Discipline? Rules? Here, killing is the only thing we need to do. We don't even know if we will live to see another day. What do we need discipline and rules for?"

"How did you end up here?"

The old soldier answered with a cheerful smile, "I killed someone. I came from Great Shang. Ten years ago when I was still a fresh Skysoar, my son was still at school. He got into a conflict with someone there and was crippled. In my anger, I killed the father of that kid."

"..."

Su Yu asked, "Why kill the father?"

"As the saying goes, to feed without teaching is the father's fault. Who should I kill if not his father?" The old soldier said, "At first, I wanted him to get an expert to heal my son. Treatment would be expensive, but there was still hope. I was willing to let it go at that. But that fellow claimed that my son's aptitude was too bad to be worth treating. Instead, he offered a hundred merit points to solve the issue. In my fury, I killed him."

"What's your sentence?"

"Twenty years of service in the Vanguard Regiment."

The old soldier grinned, "In short, they're telling me to throw my life away in the Allheaven Battlefield. During my first decade, I was lucky. There weren't a lot of battles so I was lucky enough to survive this long. But things have changed recently. One-third of the people in the Skysoar Unit are already dead. There is no need to waste your time punishing me, Lord. It's not like roasting a chicken is actually a crime. At most, it would cause my sentence to be extended by a few months. But I doubt I would even live that long."

Su Yu said nothing. He continued eating the roasted chicken. After a while, he asked, "Is everyone here in a similar situation?"

"There are all sorts of people here. Some were bandits, some were murderers, some were framed, some had killed accidentally..."

Seeing that this weaponsmith was quite easy to talk with, the old soldier said, "Lord, you better not stay here for too long. This shitty place is too dangerous."

"Has nobody tried running before?"

"Run? Where to?" The old soldier laughed, "There is only one end result: death. We might as well die while fighting here. That way, we can get some compensation for our family. We are criminals, but we don't want to implicate our family. But if we become deserters, we will be labeled traitors. That is an offense that can implicate our family."

Su Yu nodded and continued eating silently. After a while, he suddenly asked, "Do you think humanity stands a chance at winning?"

"Huh?"

That question stumped the old man. He laughed awkwardly and said, "I'm a nobody. How can I answer that question? We will simply step forth and fight whoever those big shots tell us to kill. That is all we know."

"Have you never thought of an alternative?"

"There's no point." The old soldier thought about it and smiled, "Lord, are you asking me all these questions because you want to learn more about people at the bottom like us?"

He grew excited at the thought of that. He said, "Lord, you're a very important person. Even Deputy General Cao needs to treat you with respect. Can you get an audience with those kings?"

"Probably."

"In that case, can you ask them for equal treatment for all armies?"

"Hmm?" Su Yu asked in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"Basically, we want all armies to receive the same treatment. The more we kill, the more we should earn. You might not know this, but things have been intense between the various armies in recent years due to a difference in treatment. Some of these armies started pulling back in protest, and because of that, the pressure on the Vanguard Regiment has been getting heavier and heavier.

"For example, the armies of Great Xia and Great Qin used to be stationed near the Vanguard Regiment. Their armies were crazy strong. When they were around, life had been pretty good for us. Those fellows would always roar loudly and embrace every battle like lunatics. But the more they fought, the more people they lost. And they never earned much from all these battles. Eventually, they had to withdraw due to financial troubles. Both Great Xia and Great Qin are poor. We all know that. There are some rich prefectures out there, but those prefectures are pretty bad at fighting."

The old soldier shook his head and said, "Take Great Ming as an example. Their armies have the best equipment among all the human armies, but they are very bad at fighting. How would the other armies feel when they saw this? The Great Ming armies have the best treatment when they are so weak. Nowadays, the armies from Great Qin and Great Xia are starting to get very calculative. Before fighting, they would first calculate their potential casualties and losses, the expenses these casualties would incur, and whether they could recoup their losses from the battle before fighting. Because of that, life has been getting harder and harder for us at the Vanguard Regiment."

He sighed, "Life is getting hard nowadays. Those capable of fighting are too poor to fight. Those with enough money are relaxing behind the frontlines. The various prefectures often brag that they have ten million of soldiers in the Allheaven Battlefield, but the ones truly capable of combat probably numbered less than two million. The rest of them are only here to make up the numbers."

"..."

Su Yu laughed and said, "That's because their prefectures are too poor. There's nothing we can do about it."

"True." The old soldier shook his head with regret, "What a pity. If Great Qin King could unify the Human Realm. He could then retire the eight million incapable soldiers and concentrate all resources on those actually capable of combat. That would absolutely create an army that is smaller yet stronger."

Su Yu asked doubtfully, "Is this your personal opinion or is it a common consensus among the soldiers?"

"A lot of people share this opinion." The old soldier said, "That includes those among the rich but weak armies. Do you think they love coming here? They aren't even good at fighting. They know very well that when war breaks out, they won't be able to prevail over the enemies. But they have no choice but to fight. When the elites from Great Xia and Great Qin die off...sigh. Humanity should start praying for luck."

"Retiring the weaker soldiers and uniting all armies..."

Su Yu shook his head. That was impossible. Not even the Invincibles could unify under a single command. All of them had their own agendas. There was no need to talk about merging the command of the various armies.

In fact, Great Qin and Great Xia should be thankful the other prefectures weren't accusing them of being too militaristic after they exhausted their resources from all the battles they fought. Helping them with their financial situation? Dream on.

The old soldier said, "Humanity is actually quite strong. At the very least, that's what I believe. We are probably as strong as the divines and devils. If they stop joining hands and fight one one-on-one against us, we might not necessarily lose. Unfortunately, we have no unity. Sure, the divines and devils are divided as well, but they each have a Pseudo Emperor. With one word from their respective Pseudo Emperor, they will come together. This is what we lack. Great Qin King is unable to make everyone obey him."

Su Yu nodded. A lot of people were aware of that. But there was nothing they could do. Even the Invincibles realize this, but what could they do? Were they supposed to bow and accept Great Qin King's authority? Why should they?

It wasn't like he was overwhelmingly stronger than them. Why must they listen to him? He should be grateful that they were willing to listen to him in only some specific circumstances.

After the chat with the old soldier, Su Yu's understanding of the Allheaven Battlefield deepened considerably.

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