Heavenly Jewel Change

“Come in.” Shen Ji said solemnly.

The tent flap raised, and a scout rushed in, kneeling down on a knee as he said urgently: “Legion Commander, Sir, reports have come in from the front that two of the WanShou Empire Regiments have already entered our borders. However, they have met up against an unknown force and both sides are in the midst of battle.”

Upon hearing such a news, Shen Ji started. “Outside force? Unknown? What could this force be? Where is it from?”

“I’m sorry sir, I do not know. These outsiders seem to be extremely valiant. They are currently in a defensive position, and even though they are facing two Regiments of the WanShou Empire, they actually haven’t been run over yet. Furthermore, they seem to have many large carts in tow… from the looks of it, they might be migrating.”

A sudden thought gripped Zhou Weiqing’s heart, and his expression changed as he cried out involuntarily: “Oh no! Could it be them?”

Right at that moment, a charming yet annoyed voice rang out from outside: “Get out of my way, or don’t blame me if I take you down.”

“Fei’er!” Zhou Weiqing no longer had time to care about Shen Ji, rushing out of the tent immediately, only to see Shangguan Fei’er trying to force her way in but being blocked by a group of Shen Ji’s personal guards. By now, she had already knocked out a few of them, and was making her way towards him.

Seeing Zhou Weiqing, Shangguan Fei’er immediately cried out urgently: “Little Fatty, things aren’t good. Ma Qun and Crow’s Tribes have reached our previous Peerless Battalion camp site to look for us, and they met the two vanguard Regiments of the WanShou Empire armies. Both sides have already started fighting. We just received word of this… quick, think of something.”

Zhou Weiqing’s guess had indeed been proven right, but he was definitely not happy about it as he furrowed his brow. This was two Regiments after all, and it was not a battleground they had prepared like in their previous fight, nor could they fight and retreat at the same time as in the previous case if they wanted to rescue the two tribes. Fighting to the end was the only choice if they wanted to rescue the two tribes. However, even dismissing the possibility of WanShou Empire reinforcement, just finishing off two entire WanShou Empire Regiments was definitely not an easy task.

After a brief moment of thought, a resolute look crossed Zhou Weiqing’s face. At the same time, Shen Ji had come out from the tent, motioning his personal guards to retreat before heading up to ask: “Battalion Commander Zhou, what is wrong?”

Zhou Weiqing replied solemnly: “The unknown forces being surrounded by the WanShou Empire forces you were speaking of in the report are my Peerless Battalion men. Legion Commander Shen Ji, can you please lend me five thousand war horses?”

Looking at Zhou Weiqing’s keen gaze, Shen Ji couldn’t help but feel surprised. Peerless Battalion men? Those unknown outside forces belonged to the Peerless Battalion? Driving carts? What was going on?Even more so, Zhou Weiqing was only borrowing war horses from him, not troops to make the rescue.

“Things are extremely urgent, legion Commander Shen Ji.” Zhou Weiqing prompted once more urgently.

All of a sudden, he had realised that it was truly impossible to not have warhorses. Even though his target for the Peerless Battalion soldiers was to gear them with Consolidated Wings, with their cultivation level, it was impossible for them to fly for long periods of time, even if all of them were equipped with it now. It looks like they would have to take care of this neglect and start to prepare warhorses for the entire Peerless Battalion.

Shen Ji furrowed his brow tightly and said: “Battalion Commander Zhou, it is no small matter to mobilize five thousand warhorses. Even for myself, I have to get permission from above.”

“Don’t you know, saving lives is like putting out a fire, urgency is of the utmost importance! What asking for permission bullshit. Let’s go.” Zhou Weiqing was extremely furious, pulling Shangguan Fei’er and turning to leave instantly, Wei Feng following closely behind as they rushed towards the Peerless Battalion.

The surrounding personal guards of Shen Ji couldn’t help but stare in shock, their eyes wide open.What kind of Battalion Commander was this? He even dared to scold the Legion Commander like that?

Shen Ji was also angered by Zhou Weiqing’s scolding, but he was after all a wise commander of an entire Legion, and he quickly calmed himself down. He immediately called for his warhorse, personally heading to the Northwest Army Headquarters to report the situation.

…

On the other side, as the three rushed towards the Peerless Battalion, Zhou Weiqing asked Wei Feng: “Old Wei, how many warhorses do we have?”

The entire internal affairs of the Peerless Battalion was handled by Wei Feng, and without hesitation he replied: “We have eighteen Ghost Demon Horses and around six hundred ordinary warhorses.”

Hearing those words, Zhou Weiqing was given a pleasant surprise: “So many?”

Wei Feng replied: “Originally, we managed to get over a hundred warhorses from the Sixteenth Regiment. Furthermore, after that, several times when Senior Mu En and Luo Ke Di went to requisition resources from the quartermaster, they managed to get warhorses a few times.

A few times? That was nearly five hundred more warhorses! The Scoundrel Rogue pair of the Heavenly Bow Unit truly lived up to their name!

“That’s great. When we return, immediately give the orders to prepare to move out. Of all the Main Companies, I want all Main Company Leaders, Ordinary Company Leaders, Vice Company Leaders, all officers to gather. All the Peerless Battalion soldiers with Consolidated Equipment Wings are also to gear up fully, with sufficient arrows and javelins, before gathering. We will be leaving as soon as they gear up. Big Bro Wei, I will personally lead them as a speedy vanguard, and I want you to lead the rest of them men to back us up as quickly as possible.”

In order to rush to the rescue of the Gold Crow Tribe and the Berserker Tribe, Zhou Weiqing could no longer sit and make a perfect plan with all details mapped out. Although he had wanted to train his newly replenished and equipped Peerless Battalion with a fight against the WanShou Empire armies, he had not expected the fight to come so soon and so urgently.

Wei Feng quickly agreed.

As soon as they returned to the Peerless Battalion, the orders were immediately passed down. The speed of gathering was extremely impressive, and it was barely fifteen minutes before all the warriors Zhou Weiqing had requested for were gathered.

After such a long period of training, these Ruffian soldiers were after all eager to fight, and by this time they were eager to test the fruits of their training. The older soldiers had already told the newer ones about how their Peerless Battalion’s fighting was always aimed at having zero losses. This was a great chance for them to make a fortune! This was especially true now, as before entering the battle times, the Northwest Armies had already made the announcement that once the battle started, a single Beastman soldier head was worth ten gold in bounty!

Zhou Weiqing stood in the central open space of the Peerless Battalion camp awaiting his men to gather.

When he had first received news, he only had worry and urgency in his heart. However, by now, he had calmed down. His character had always been rather emotional, but he would never lose sight of logic due to emotions. This was also why one of his first plans had been to create the Peerless Battalion Air Force, to eventually gear all his soldiers with the Consolidated Wings. As soon as they met with powerful enemies beyond their power, at least he had the confidence they would be able to retreat safely.

“Battalion Commander.” Wei Feng quickly walked up to him and gave him a salute. “Reporting, the First Main Company is fully gathered, all five hundred of the Air Force troops. Please give the orders.”

Although the officers had tried to divide the troops so that all the Main Companies had a relatively equal strength, but after some discussion, they still decided to concentrate the Air Force into the First Main Company, at least for the time being. This would allow them to be better directed in a fight.

Zhou Weiqing nodded and said: “Everyone mount up, get ready to move out.”

Wei Feng replied: “Yes Sir.” However, he did not pass down the orders immediately, instead lowering his voice and asking: “Do you want to bring the Special Forces unit along as well?” The Special Forces unit was totally made out of the Heavenly Jewel Masters and Elemental Jewel Masters, mostly Elemental Jewels, and was under the personal control of Hua Feng and the other Heavenly Bow Unit archers, currently number slightly over two hundred men.

Zhou Weiqing shook his head and said: “No need, you bring them along with the main forces to back us up. I estimate that you can set an ambush about a hundred li from where the current battle is. Do not advance too far out, but also not too little. You will need to move out as fast as possible after us.”

If they advanced too far, it would put them at risk of being surrounded and taken down by their enemies. However, if they were not far out enough, and too close to the Northwest Armies encampment, the enemies might not chase them as well. It was a tricky balance indeed.

After giving the simple instructions to Wei Feng, Zhou Weiqing mounted his own Single-Horned Ghost Demon Horse. The rest of the Peerless Battalion powerhouses and the First Main Company also mounted their horses and they galloped out of the camp towards the northern border.

This time, it could be said that all the top forces of the Peerless Battalion had followed Zhou Weiqing out. Shangguan Fei’er, Lin TianAo, the seven God Archers of the Heavenly Bow Unit, as well as all the Main Company Leaders, Company Leaders and other officers. The only officers he did not bring along were the Squad Leaders, and the only reason for that was because he was afraid Wei Feng might have trouble controlling the entire army if he did so. The current Peerless Battalion had five Main Companies and a special forces unit, thus numbering six Main Company Leaders and twenty seven Company Leaders. These officers were generally at least six-Jeweled Physical Jewel Masters or higher, with some Heavenly Jewel Masters like Lei Zi. It could be said that these were the absolute pillars of the entire Peerless Battalion. Including the most elite forces of the First Main Company, the five hundred men whose combat abilities could be said to be at least a third of the entire Peerless Battalion’s power.

Zhou Weiqing did not disturb his teacher who was cultivation in his tent. Let alone the fact that Long Shiya had already made it clear previously that he would not join in such fights, he would find it embarrassing to have to ask his teacher for help in this matter.

From the time that the Peerless Battalion scouts had sent word back, to the time that Zhou Weiqing led his men out, it had barely taken an hour. About fifteen minutes after the five hundred elite had left, the rest of the entire Peerless Battalion started moving out under Wei Feng’s command, heading steadily towards the north. The daily strict movement and training came into absolute great use here, as the men gathered quickly and in neat formations, almost incomparable to the other Regiments of the Seventh Legion. It could be said that the Peerless Battalion had already grown to be the strongest troop in the entire Northwest Armies!

…

At the Seventh legion, Shen Ji rushed back to his own headquarters and quickly sent ordesr down for all the Light and Heavy Cavalry troops within his Legion to gather, and prepare for battle.

When he had reported the news to the Northwest Headquarters, he had been given a scolding by his Master and Godfather. That had been such a great opportunity to grant a favour to the Peerless Battalion and get back on their good side, and he had not seized it immediately. The WanShou Empire armies had not fully attacked yet, and this was merely a probing attack. Furthermore, who knew who those people were that Zhou Weiqing had mentioned? What if they came from the Heaven’s Expanse Palace?

As such, as soon as Shen Ji returned to his Legion, he quickly sent orders for his Cavalry troops to assemble.

The Seventh Legion’s troops were well geared, and they had about ten thousand Light Cavalry Troops, and there were also four Battalions of Heavy Cavalry, and the total cavalry troops numbered fourteen thousand men, at least thirty percent more than most Legions.

Besides the Seventh Legion, the Northwest Army Command also dispatched Five Regiments from the Eighth Legion to the front lines as backup. However, by the time the Seventh Legion’s Cavalry gathered and started moving out, the infantry of the Peerless Battalion had already moved out for more than two hours.

As Zhou Weiqing and his vanguard continued galloping, he continued receiving reports from the frontline scouts.

The Gold Crow tribe and the Berserker Tribe had truly come at a bad time. Although the two Tribes were not large tribes, added together they still numbered more than ten thousand. They had streamed in from the Fei Li Empire through the border between the WanShou and ZhongTian Empires, with nearly a thousand horse carts in tow with all their belongings.

When they had arrived at the old camp of the Peerless Battalion, they had unfortunately met with the two Regiments vanguard of the WanShou Empire.