552 Dongyi

"Is this the strength of a typical person?"

Within the jungle, swords shimmered and many surrounded him.

Stretching his finger out casually, he caused their blood to spurt out. None of the blood managed to land on him.

Although Meng Kuo did not suspect that he was mutated, he was in awe at Fang Yuan's bravery and strength.

"Whoosh!"

Fang Yuan's sword sliced the throat of the last fighter of Dongyi and the blood splattered everywhere. "This is definitely different from the Xia empire. I have new abilities now!"

"Warrior! Hold up!"

Meng Kuo leapt to his feet.

"What now? Do you have something to say?"

Fang Yuan looked towards Meng Kuo as his metal sword reflected the sunlight.

Meng Kuo placed his hands on his chest and took a deep bow. "I am deeply thankful for your assistance in saving my life. Please, let me know your name!"

"My name? I'm Jie!"

Fang Yuan smiled. "You don't have to repay me for what I've done. I'll take this sword as my reward!"

He was already walking away as he spoke.

"Wait up!"

Meng Kuo chased after Fang Yuan. "Where are you heading to? This is not the direction of our Shang Army camp..."

"Who says I'm returning to the camp?"

Fang Yuan casually responded. "Now that our army is defeated, I'm returning!"

"We are not defeated!"

As soon as Meng Kuo heard Fang Yuan, he raised his voice and continued to convince Fang Yuan. "This is but a small defeat. Compared to the large scale of things, what will this count as?"

He looked towards Fang Yuan with passion in his eyes. "Jie! You have such powerful abilities as a warrior! Why are you leaving? This is the best opportunity to accomplish something! Are you unhappy with being a mere trooper? I can promote you! As long as you have accomplishments, you will be promoted to become a nobleman!"

"..."

Fang Yuan was speechless.

If he was the actual Jie, he would've accepted the offer to become a nobleman for it would have been his lifelong dream.

The tables had turned around and this resembled the democratic society of the West. Everyone would want to have such an opportunity to be promoted so easily.

To Fang Yuan, he knew that this was but a useless title.

"I've said that I no longer want to fight. Don't you understand me?"

Meng Kuo froze in his steps. He knew that if he were to say anything more, his brother's sword might just plunge into his own chest.

"Alright... Since you insist, I shall not try to persuade you to stay..."

Meng Kuo felt a tinge of pity.

Fang Yuan gave him a satisfied expression and casually asked Meng Kuo. "Do you know where is Fang Mountain? Which tribe is currently occupying that place?"

"Fang Mountain?"

Meng Kuo was stunned and he started to give a weird expression. "How can you not know!"

"Why should I know?"

Fang Yuan continued to probe further. It was already fortunate enough that the body he was possessing knew the general situation of the realm. How would it be able to know for certain the situation of specific tribes?

"Fang Mountain is the old capital of Shang[1]!"

Meng Kuo continued to mumble the details. "Long time ago, the Heavenly Bird gave birth to Shang. He then had a son named Qi, who was named the leader of the tribe. Afterwards, the son of Qi lead the people of Shang to the plains and defeated the last king of Xia, taking over as the king in the process. 400 years ago, the Shang Empire had shifted to the capital, but Fang Mountain was still regarded as holy ground. It contained the entire cultivation of the witch doctors and priests, and the past few kings were also buried there..."

As he spoke, he came to a realisation that this person before him had the average look of a commoner but was much more powerful than he seemed. It was already a miracle if this person were to know what was happening around here, let alone the situation at Fang Mountain.

"The Heavenly Bird gave birth to Shang?"

To Fang Yuan, this was a piece of shocking news.

"Also... Fang Mountain resulted in the Shang Empire? Does this mean I am responsible for the creation of the Empire?"

Fang Yuan was stunned beyond words. "I am the ancestor of Shang? Alright... Although it is just a title, I still feel incredible..."

Unknowingly, as soon as Fang Yuan heard the tale of the Heavenly Bird giving birth to Shang, he immediately thought of the reckless young girl. Could they be related?

It was a pity that 500 years had passed by just like this. The young girl would have become a pile of ashes by now.

"Jie... you?"

Meng Kuo started to feel suspicious about Fang Yuan's expression.

"I wonder how's the progress of our invasion towards Dongyi?"

Fang Yuan snapped out of his trance and changed the topic.

"This..."

Meng Kuo smiled sheepishly. "How else can it be? It is but a minor setback and will not get in the way of the plan."

He was brimming with confidence. After all, compared to the civilisation and culture of the realm now, 'Dongyi' was just a mere belligerent tribe!

With superior combat power, how could the Shang Empire possibly lose? They would at most take a little longer to overcome Dongyi.

Even the name 'Dongyi' was just a nickname given to them. On the vast plains, there were numerous rebellious tribes and they were not united. Therefore, they were given the title 'Dongyi'.

Therefore, the conquest of the Shang Empire was but a routine daily invasion of the tribes.

Even if the Shang Empire were to succeed, after retreating, these tribes would come out of hiding once more to create trouble.

"Although we are encountering a minor setback, our pure combat power will be enough for us to claim victory. By then, we will return with glory!"

Meng Kuo seemed conflicted.

It was only normal for a man to thirst success. However, considering that the situation in Dongyi was war-torn and that Meng Kuo had lost his brother, it was natural for him to have thoughts about returning home.

However, even if they were to deal with Dongyi successfully, they would have to return in another few years to ensure order. This was the price to pay if they wanted to rule over such vast lands!

The uprising of rebels all around was in an attempt to contest for the supremacy of the king. The empire could only act harshly against them to restore order!

Fang Yuan listened on and a smile started to spread across his face.

'Although I know that the Shang Empire is doing this to ensure that it stays in power and at the same time maintain peace and order, it is unwise to always fight battles like these which will not benefit the empire in any way. Even if the empire were to win these small wars, their army would be severely exhausted. Dongyi is now like quicksand, grabbing on tightly on the Shang Empire's leg and self-sacrificing its own people to induce strong emotions in everyone!'

'When the people are displeased, the rebels will take the opportunity to strike back. No matter how powerful the Shang army is, they will still suffer great losses as they traverse through the entire Dongyi. By then, with a single command, everyone in the vicinity will gather in response to deal with the army united. With that, they might just stand a chance to take down the entire Shang army. If that really happens, the downfall of the Shang Empire will follow suit in no time.'

All of these were nothing new.

Giving it some thought, Fang Yuan could roughly figure out what would potentially happen.

Furthermore, these were just dirty tricks the people of Dongyi could use. Considering how desperate the people of Dongyi were and how greedy the King of Shang could be amidst all these victories, it was extremely likely that Fang Yuan's conjecture would happen.

"Let's go!"

Fang Yuan turned around and tapped Meng Kuo's shoulders.

"To where?"

Meng Kuo seemed confused.

"To the base camp of the Shang army, of course!" Fang Yuan spoke with confidence. "Considering how sincere you are, I will help you, albeit unwillingly, to resolve the issue at Dongyi."

"Thank you, warrior!"

Meng Kuo was elated beyond words. Both of them walked along and left the forest in a hurry. In no time, they made it to the base camp.

"It's Meng Kuo!"

"Meng Kuo is alright!"

"Quickly open the gates!"

Obviously, Meng Kuo was much highly-ranked that Fang Yuan had imagined. With his appearance, the entire camp was in cheers.

"Is that really Kuo?"

From the base camp came a few worried-looking people. "Meng Kuo, it's fortunate that you are able to return unscathed!"

"It was chaos and I had to take shelter in the forest. I'm fortunate enough to be rescued by this warrior!"

Meng Kuo explained as he started to introduce Fang Yuan to the rest of them. "This warrior single-handedly killed 10 over men and he has the courage of a hundred soldiers! I had invited him back to our camp to introduce him to Senior Fang!"

Senior Fang was the highest ranking officer around.

"The bravery of a hundred men? Able to kill 10 people single-handedly?"

Suspicious looks were seen from the people around, but soon, they turned into looks of admiration. "Since Meng Kuo has testified to it, it must be true. With the addition of such a warrior, we won't have to be worried that we cannot take down Dongyi!"

As soon as Meng Kuo entered the base camp, his expression turned to a solemn one. Occasionally, he would peer at Fang Yuan. It was obvious that he was worried Fang Yuan's recklessness might offend the higher-ups.

However, since Fang Yuan had decided to come to the base camp, he had kept his attitude to himself and was rather respectful to the people he met. Secretly, Meng Kuo was impressed.

"Take a short break, I'll inform Senior Fang of your arrival and prepare the celebrations for your victory!"

Meng Kuo brought Fang Yuan to his own tent and called for a few servants. He instructed them to treat Fang Yuan with respect before hurriedly taking his leave.

"Respectable guest, please enjoy!"

As soon as Fang Yuan was seated, the servants approached him and started to serve him food and wine.

The wine was served in bronze bowls and there was an antique vibe to everything here. The meat dishes included overcooked meat morsels and a few other varieties for Fang Yuan to choose from. All in all, this meal was nothing that Jia had ever enjoyed before as a soldier.

'Meng Kuo might be more highly ranked that I thought...'

Without further ado, Fang Yuan started to feast on the meat and wine and was enjoying himself.

As he ate, he asked the servants a few questions. These servants were under Meng Kuo and therefore did not dare to lie. Therefore, Fang Yuan managed to obtained answers for all his questions, thereby allowing him to gain more pieces of crucial information.

For instance, the person in charge of this base camp was an Auxiliary Officer and had about 5,000 men under his charge.

The army of the Shang Empire was divided into various battalions. This particular battalion was led by Senior Fang and he had many yeomen assisting him. As of now, they were merely testing the combat power of Dongyi and had successive victories. Today was the first time they had experienced a setback, albeit a minor one.