Chapter Thirty-Eight: Breaking Camp x Harvest

After annihilating that segment of the Han army, Wang Luo left half of his soldiers behind to clear the battlefield, and led the rest directly toward the Han army’s main camp.

By the time they arrived, dusk had already fallen. Zhang Shitou, covered in blood, was retreating with the assault troops.

Upon exchanging words, Wang Luo learned that throughout the afternoon, Zhang had led six full-scale attacks on the enemy camp, always at the forefront, suffering more than ten wounds, yet still failing to breach the enemy’s defenses.

The main force of the Han army had been wiped out. However, there were still remnants stationed at the previous standoff, and other Han forces scattered elsewhere—once the main camp was attacked, reinforcements were likely to arrive. In other words, the situation remained perilous.

Their own supplies were depleted; it was no time for hesitation.

Seeing Wang Luo approach, several commanders hurried up. “General? What happened to Huangfu Song—did he take a detour?”

“He can no longer pursue us. He’s dead.” Though Wang Luo hadn’t found his corpse—he’d been in too much haste to search the ashes thoroughly—he decided to treat him as dead for now.

“What? Huangfu Song is dead?”

“A great blaze consumed him and his pursuing Han troops. Spread the news throughout the ranks. Have everyone shout it together! Order the whole army: tonight, we break the Han camp and rest inside!”

The commanders ran off, energized. Wang Luo glanced at the Han encampment and summoned Liu An, instructing him to prepare torches.

Soon, the entire force erupted in cheers.

“Huangfu Song is dead! The Han army is destroyed! Huangfu Song is dead! The Han army is destroyed!”

“Break the camp and feast! Break the camp and rest!”

The drums thundered—boom, boom, boom! This time, Zhang Shitou, Zhang Xiong, Bai Erjin, Iron Pillar, Zhou Yingxiong—all joined the fray, launching simultaneous assaults from multiple angles on the Han camp.

Wang Luo waited a while on the spot. Once Liu An had brought torches for setting up camp, Wang Luo took his own men, each carrying a torch, and circled to the upwind side of the encampment.

Most Han arrows were aimed at the frontal attackers. As Wang Luo drew close, he raised his torch high and hurled it into the Han palisade.

His soldiers followed suit, tossing their torches in as well. Fanned by the wind, the flames raged fiercely—quickly consuming the wooden barriers and several tents. Yet the supposed “fire advantage” didn’t seem to manifest as much as expected.

He scratched his head—perhaps this was all there was to it—and set the thought aside.

“Charge in! Take the camp!”

The soldiers shouted their battle cries and surged toward the Han encampment.

This time, the Han defenders, already outnumbered and flustered by the surrounding assault, failed to withstand the renewed charge from the Yellow Turban forces, whose morale soared.

The Han army’s main camp thus changed hands.

---

“You have occupied the Han army’s main camp.”

“As the highest Yellow Turban commander in this region, you can freely allocate all supplies within the camp. You may also, at a reduced cost, take selected resources out of this world.”

“Your command points increased by one.”

“Due to certain actions, your favor within the Yellow Turban faction has not improved.”

After seizing the Han camp, Wang Luo first made arrangements for the soldiers to cook and rest. At last, he could relax and attend to the notifications. Discovering he could access the resources, he summoned Yang Wentian, Zhou Yingxiong, and Zhou Suyan to share in the joy of victory and spoils.

When the Han army’s surrendered quartermasters were brought before him, Liu An presented their ledgers and seals. Wang Luo picked up a seal, and a curtain of light appeared before him, displaying a series of inventories—equipment, materials, food...

The equipment included over ten thousand sets of standard Han military gear. Among the weapons, there were more than three thousand ring-handled sabers, over two thousand heavy crossbows (with few arrows), six thousand iron shields (large round shields, more than twice the size of Wang Luo’s own designs), four thousand halberds, two thousand hooked sickles; for armor, over four thousand helmets, more than ten thousand black armors, and five or six hundred protective suits. There were also more than a hundred sets of horse armor.

As for food, the camp held enough millet to feed ten thousand men for half a year, plus substantial quantities of fodder and beans. Materials included over eighty thousand iron ingots, several hundred carts of iron ore, thousands of bolts of cloth, hundreds of tents, dozens of barrels of grease, dozens of racks of dried meat, a dozen wagons of medicine, dozens of jars of wine, as well as books, maps...

There were also some special items—not freely allocatable, but available for purchase at a discounted price.

Combat skill books included slashing, thrusting, lunging, blocking, shield-bashing, shooting... Crafting skill books: forging, carpentry, sewing, cooking... So many varieties, it was dazzling.

Within them, Wang Luo found many forging recipes—all the weapons and armor used by the Han forces. He checked his forging skill, which had risen above three hundred points, and saw that he could learn every Han equipment recipe.

Presumably, many of the iron ingots and ore had originally been seized from the various Yellow Turban camps. Prisoners and local residents could be used to further expand the army.

After all, the more soldiers, the better. Even women and elders without great combat prowess, once made soldiers, had value and could contribute.

Beside him, Yang Wentian was stunned and delighted, his mouth agape for ages. Zhou Yingxiong was much calmer, but his face was still lit with joy.

“Take whatever you like,” Wang Luo said, smiling and waving at Zhou Suyan, whose face was full of envy yet hesitant to speak. “It’s a rare chance for discounts.”

“Alright... Alright,” she replied.

They tallied their general points—over ten thousand, with more than eight thousand contributed by Zhou Suyan. Zhou Suyan redeemed two “pardons,” at a discounted price of six thousand points. Wang Luo exchanged eight forging recipes, spending eight hundred points.

Zhou Yingxiong did not redeem anything for now, but equipped himself in a full set of Han military gear: protective armor, iron helmet, large round shield, ring-handled saber. For a moment, he looked imposing and fierce.

Yang Wentian traded for plenty of medicine, dried meat, and wine. These would fetch high prices in the space. For contractors, dried meat could slowly restore health outside combat; medicine could heal and cure ailments within a certain time; wine could boost attack, heal severe wounds, and was essential for some quests.

“Still feels so poor,” Yang Wentian lamented after spending all his points, face full of misery. “Why aren’t there any quests? We won the fight, but didn’t get any points.”

To such greedy complaints, Zhou Yingxiong expressed disdain. Wang Luo laughed heartily, watching them.

The hardship, pressure, and anxiety of the past days had all eased; it was time to relax a bit. Though he couldn’t let his guard down, and though new enemies awaited tomorrow, a brief moment of ease was necessary—one cannot keep nerves taut forever without breaking.