The wind, a biting cold wind.
The wind in the north of the border howls like a night wolf, each gust like a living blade, scraping painfully against the face.
Endless white snow covered the ground, not a blade of grass in sight, the deepest parts even reaching past the knees.
The leaden sky pressed down, so cold that its original color was almost unrecognizable.
Looking out, the border was a vast expanse of snow-covered mountains.
This place was located in the extreme north of the Great Yuan, bordering the perennially cold Yu Country. It was the main boundary affected by the recent disaster in the Great Yuan, and also the most critical fortress between the two countries.
Since ancient times, any strategically important pass had been a battleground for the military.
Almost every country in the Great Wilderness had such a pass. Since the large-scale war of the previous dynasty, each country had retreated behind its pass, guarding its own land, and not interfering with one another for many years.
Over the years, the various countries have been in conflict, and the Great Wilderness had not been without local wars.
Whether it was the ambitious Wei Country of the past, or the powerful Zhuang Country even earlier, no matter how strong they were, they could only send troops to bully small countries. As for wanting to send troops to a big country, over the years, only one big country has been destroyed because of this.
All countries were not fools, maintaining peace on the surface.
If anyone wanted to be the first to break the balance, they would be attacked by a group. In addition, the territories of each country were adjacent to each other, and if one wanted to send troops to one of them, the army would have to borrow the way from other countries.
So over the years, although there have been constant conflicts and contradictions among the countries, they have also lived in peace.
It was not until the Emperor Yuan ascended the throne that this long-standing situation was broken.
After hundreds of years of development, the strength of various countries were uneven. It happens that the Ah Country bordering the Great Yuan had a feud with the Great Yuan and took the lead in provocation.
Before the Emperor Yuan ascended the throne, he was a famous iron-blooded general in the Great Wilderness, and many of his contemporaries in the Great Wilderness did not get a good deal from him. After ascending the throne, seeing that Ah Country came to provoke again, how could this be tolerated? So he directly led the troops to fight.
When the other countries saw this, they thought it was a feud between the Great Yuan and Ah Country. These two countries were neighbors and have accumulated many years of hatred. In addition, the Great Wilderness was not peaceful at that time, and each country had a lot of troubles, so they all stood by and did not plan to intervene.
Who would have thought that Emperor Yuan would personally lead the charge, march straight in, and take down Ah Country with a lightning-fast momentum. By the time the other countries reacted, Great Yuan’s cavalry had already entered the capital of Ah Country, incorporated the army, and it was too late to turn the tide.
After taking down Ah Country, the Great Yuan rested for a while. During this period, on the occasion of the new emperor’s ascension to the throne, he vigorously recruited talented individuals. In addition, with the rise of the commoner Prime Minister Pei Qianxue, the country implemented iron-blooded reforms with extremely strong measures, attracting many strategists and underprivileged students from various countries.
Once the country stabilized, Emperor Yuan’s ambition began to show.
Originally, the Great Yuan was located in the Central Plains to the west, not a good location. After taking down the neighboring Ah Country, which was located in the Central Plains and rich in resources, it was equivalent to having a huge granary for nothing.
Not to mention that Ah Country bordered many other countries, some of which were far less powerful than the Great Yuan after the reform. They also lack the strong military strength that the Great Yuan had accumulated over several generations.
At this time, the Great Yuan had soldiers and national strength, and everything was ready. Other countries wanted to stop it, but they were powerless and could only watch the cavalry advance into the vast field.
Then only Yu Country and Wei Country were left.
On the northern border, an old general stood with his hands behind his back on the scarred city wall.
The general was very old, with white hair, a face full of lines, and deeply sunken eye sockets. Only those eyes still shone with the light of experience, as if they could see the inside of the golden horse and iron horse, the spirit of swallowing mountains and rivers. (TL: war or majestic army)
In the era of war and chaos, every generation in the Great Wilderness would have famous generals.
For example, the Third Prince of the Great Yuan in this generation, the King of Beining in the Great Yuan, and the King Ling in Wei Country.
And for example, Emperor Yuan when he was still a prince in the previous generation.
Or even Lord Feng Yue of Wei Country and Lord Wu An of Yu Country in the previous generation.
The famous generals of the previous generation either died like Lord Feng yue, or changed careers like Emperor Yuan, or like Lord Wu’an, who retired from the field for many years and no longer cared about the world, only re-emerged when the survival of the country was at stake.
“Lord.” The guard bowed his head and saluted, “Everything is normal at the pass.”
The old general cast his gaze into the distance.
There, the snowstorm was rolling up the dark clouds, and the sky and the earth were vast, it was not clear, but there was indeed only white snow.
As everyone knew, the flag of the Great Yuan’s army was dark.
Lord Wu An slowly nodded, “Thank you for your hard work. Now is a critical time, don’t relax your vigilance, the Great Yuan may attack at any time.”
Deliberately leaving only Yu Country and Wei Country, no one believed that the Great Yuan did not do it on purpose.
The strength of Yu Country could only be considered in the middle and lower reaches among the countries. In the early years, there was Lord Wu An to support it, but as the Yu Country emperor grew old and confused, and trusted the treacherous officials, the national strength declined.
All people in the Great Wilderness knew that the Yu Country emperor trusted and favored the treacherous officials, the treacherous officials who stole the country, and put all the good things into their own pockets, the scale of travel was almost catching up with the feudal princes.
The Lord Wu An who dominated the seven countries in the past was also old, the Yu Country must not have much hope.
However, no one thought that the Great Yuan would first destroy Qi Country, which was second only to Wei Country in national strength, and leave behind a Yu Country.
But Lord Wu An knew in his heart.
Not to mention the side of Qi Country, at least the national monarch was not stupid, unlike the Yu Country emperor, who would only shrink and evade when encountering things.
If Qi Country and Wei Country were left, and the two countries successfully united to resist the Great Yuan, the Great Yuan might have to spend some effort. But spending some effort to destroy Qi Country first was better, and then slowly deal with the remaining two, just like a tiger playing with a mouse, not to be feared.
“Great Yuan…”
Lord Wu An could never have imagined that the young prince who fought with him outside the pass in full armor that day, who narrowly lost due to insufficient domestic military support, could actually build such an invincible empire.
TN: I previously translated the name Wu An as Wu’an. Thought it wasn’t separate since there’s also a first name that’s Wu’an. Forgive me. It’ll be Wu An from now on.
