The 107-word scripture

  Gazing out at the western sky, a brilliant cross of light stood tall and proud, in stark contrast to Lin Xu's uncontrollable shock and mental turmoil, Mount Taihang's divine dragon stone ear had completely calmed down.

  The fusion of the shard boundaries is not a daily occurrence, but for the native gods who have lived on this shard boundary for a long time, those foreign gods that suddenly pop up from time to time are almost as trivial as rainy days. Affected by the size difference between the two shard boundaries, these foreign gods mostly lack sufficient followers, so they usually don't become a disaster, and being confined to a corner like the Viking pantheon in the northwest peninsula is already quite good. The slightly inferior gods can only wait passively for this world to gradually marginalize them, then disappear on their own, or choose to fight to the death, risking falling into the endless void, searching for a new unknown land to settle.

  Facing all this, Lin Xu couldn't calm down. When he saw the cross, he couldn't help but take a deep breath. Ah! As an earthling, how could he not recognize the classic symbol of Christianity?

  It is well known that Christianity is the largest religion in the 21st century on earth, and if other denominations originating from the same source are counted, the power of Christianity is simply boundless.

  Although Lin Xu had never seen the Ten Character Teachings play out any miracles on Earth, stories similar to those of choirboys and pastors were often exposed in the news. However, the magnificent silver cross in front of him fully demonstrated his unwavering faith that scorned all challenges. Such a domineering display was not just arrogant, but had reached an extreme level of insolence!

  Pondering how to get along with the new neighbor who existed as a monotheistic god, Lin Xu activated his innate divine ability to overlook all living things and prepared to observe the situation after this dramatic change.

  As Lin Xu looked out at the newly added land to the west, a layer of gloom that was hard to conceal immediately floated onto his face, and he muttered to himself:

  "This time it seems like big trouble..."

  Within Lin Xuyu's extraordinary perceptual range, at this moment on the ground, tens of thousands of iron can-shaped heavy cavalrymen were gathering with colorful ribbons fluttering in the wind and flags embroidered with cross patterns into a boiling ocean.

  If someone who didn't know the inside story were to see this scene, they might think that some canned food factory was holding an anniversary celebration promotion.

  Under the gaze of the crowd, an old man wearing a mitre, a long white robe and a stole, grasped the archbishop's crosier tightly in his hand, continuing a super-large-scale passionate speech, with the main audience being that group of iron-headed cans.

  Through the gift of tongues, Lin Xu heard the speaker's passionate and hoarse voice, as he waved the archbishop's staff vigorously, saying:

  "...By the blessings of the Lord, we have been given a land flowing with milk and honey, the Promised Land. In the name of the Lord's earthly representative, I declare the holy war begun! Courageous knights, now take up your swords in hand and seize that wondrous and fertile Promised Land for our plows!"

  "Long live —— Long live —— Long live ——"

  As the audience under the platform heard the Pope's words of encouragement, these rough knights who were not very cultured at first could not hold back their excitement, and the cheers of "Long live" echoed endlessly.

  The Pope of the Cross is considered a holy being, and ordinary people can only kiss the land he has walked on. No believer dares to question whether the holy war declared by the Pope is just or not. Moreover, above the army preparing to take an oath, the towering cross that reaches the sky still shines with an elusive silver mysterious light until this moment, even in the dead of night, without any dimness or reduction. All Cross believers who have had the good fortune to witness this strange sight are moved to the extreme, believing it is a divine revelation from God, and also sounding the war horn to eliminate all heresy.

  Not only that, the aged Pope shamelessly declared that the brave warriors could wash away their original sin and all the sins they had committed in their lifetime, and after death, their souls would certainly ascend to heaven, resurrect with the Lord, and obtain immortal rebirth.

  Witnessing the fervent pagan devotees taking their vows, Lin Xu struggled to calm his emotions, and instead turned to a thoughtful-looking Long Shi'er beside him, saying:

  "Respectfully, we should head back soon. These foreign gods are up to something, but from west to east is thousands of miles apart, with many barbarian nations in between. Mortal armies can't survive on faith alone, let's deal with our own troubles first before worrying about this idle matter!"

  At the sound, Long Shi's ears did not express approval or disapproval, and he nodded his head, saying:

  "The words of the revered one are indeed true, it is better to return."

  Just in time, on the eastern horizon, a dense white light that was almost substantial flashed and burst continuously, looking like a large-scale fireworks display during the New Year's season.

  Seeing this, Long Shi's ears couldn't help but pause for a moment, and then he asked Lin Xu:

  "What is it that can be known about God?"

  Whether it was the rank of the gods or the degree of divine power, Lin Xuan surpassed Long Shi Er. At this time, Lin Xuan's eyes were fixed intently on the eastern sky, and after a long while, he said in a low voice:

  "Foreign gods are invading the divine realm, it seems that Ahura Mazda, the main deity of Zoroastrianism, is about to collapse."

  As soon as Lin Xu's words fell, a blue light with a long tail suddenly burst out of the sky and rushed into the endless void. At the same time, the intense flashing white light also stopped quietly. Seeing this, Lin Xu could only sigh helplessly, shaking his head without saying anything else.

  Human strength can be exhausted! At any time and place, war is a special field full of contingency, and human wisdom cannot penetrate the thick fog to see the final result.

  Many times war cannot be measured by common sense, there are too many accidental factors that affect the outcome of victory or defeat. Therefore, Sun Tzu's Art of War says: "War is a matter of vital importance to the State; the province of life and death; the road to safety or ruin."

  The simplest figurative description of the unpredictability of war is: "If you are on the battlefield and suddenly have a premonition that something terrible might happen, then it will definitely happen next."

  The great Qin Empire in this piece of land, at the peak of its national power, launched two western expeditions. One was to attack the Huxie tribes in the Western Sea, and the other was to conquer the old home of the Buddha, Tianzhu. In the eyes of later generations who talk about history casually, these were two tragic wars without any discount.

  The Qin army's expedition to the Western Sea was a war in which the local tribes, intimidated by the mighty military power of the Great Qin Empire, avoided battle and did not engage in combat on the front lines.

  To protect themselves, the Western Sea tribes did not hesitate to throw human and animal corpses into the few green oases in the desert, adopting measures such as filling up wells and poisoning springs to cut off water sources. As a result, they effortlessly defeated the 300,000-strong army that came with great fanfare. Of course, the price paid by these tribes was extremely heavy, and for many years to come, these water sources and oases became high-risk areas where people dared not approach. If it were not for the Qin army scouts reporting back on the unfavorable war situation, the Western Regions Protectorate of the Great Qin would have hastily dispatched reinforcements to meet them, and it is likely that the ill-fated expeditionary force would have been annihilated after being cut off from drinking water.

  If it can be said that the Qin army's defeat at the Western Sea was a non-war crime, then the Qin army's invasion of Tianzhu was simply a farcical comedy that is both laughable and tearful.

  The war elephants of Tianzhu were indeed formidable, but they couldn't withstand the poor quality of their troops. In front of the brave and skilled Qin army, those Tianzhu soldiers were like a group of newly recruited militiamen. At the beginning of the war, victory came too easily, with successive reports of triumph arriving from the front lines. However, as the war dragged on into the interior of Tianzhu, the Qin army began to fall ill in large numbers due to the unfamiliar climate and water, with soldiers succumbing to tropical diseases such as malaria, cholera, dysentery, and typhoid fever, losing their combat effectiveness at a rate ten times higher than those killed by enemy weapons.

  This Qin army lost nearly half of its combat effectiveness within a few days and could only barely maintain self-defense. In order to reverse the defeat on the front line, the Xianyang imperial court was at its wit's end.

  Mobilizing the Qin army in Guanzhong to reinforce Tianzhu is undoubtedly a foolish idea. No matter how strong the combat effectiveness of the Qin army in Guanzhong is, it will be useless if they are not adapted to the climate and water of Tianzhu. Therefore, the Emperor of Great Qin issued an edict to mobilize a part of the Qin army stationed in Lingnan and the Louchuanshi from Jiangnan to quickly set out and reinforce Tianzhu by land and water.

  The southeastern part of this piece is collectively referred to as the Southern Wilderness, a place where evil spirits run rampant, full of demonic beasts and uncivilized savages, with a tropical rainforest climate characterized by perpetual heat and humidity, and numerous typhoons.

  When the two armies set out as mentioned earlier, the weather was fine and sunny. However, when they reached halfway, a tropical cyclone with an unusually large range suddenly appeared from nowhere. The storm swept through the fleet of Lou ships like a raging fire, catching even the cultivators in the army off guard. In the torrential rain that came pouring down like a mountain, waves over ten stories high rose up and easily capsized the Qin army's Lou ships, also tearing apart the smaller boats and warships, resulting in countless sailors and soldiers drowning to death.

  At the same time, the Qin army marching on land reached the edge of Nanhuang and Lingnan. They encountered unprecedented torrential rain brought by this typhoon.

  With the heavy rainfall, the streams and rivers surged, causing widespread flooding, and the Qin army was split into countless small groups by the floodwaters. Subsequently, the Qin army, trapped in the floodwaters for over a dozen days, could not get a hot meal to eat, and the soldiers could only gnaw on dry rations, while also having to force themselves to drink the floodwater that had animal carcasses floating on its surface.

  It has come to this, what will happen next doesn't even require a highly skilled prophet to make a judgment, anyone with a little medical knowledge can see it.

  The Qin army, which had set out from Lingnan with full strength and equipment, became a half-crippled force that needed help from others before even reaching the border of Tianzhu and the southern empire. The two support troops that were supposed to arrive both lost to the weather conditions, and the Qin army, which was expecting external aid in Tianzhu, had no choice but to pack up and leave. The local residents watched them with cold eyes as they retreated back to their starting point like a defeated dog. Although they managed to plunder quite a bit of wealth from Tianzhu, including a famous diamond the size of a chicken egg and some hard-to-authenticate Buddhist relics, as well as a large quantity of ordinary ivory, at least on the surface it seemed like they had gotten away with something.

  However, the expeditionary force suffered heavy casualties, and the consolation money and the severe losses of the other two troops who encountered natural disasters were all calculated together, resulting in a meager actual gain. If you ask what is called "not worth it", this example is the best footnote.

  From the previous two examples, it can be known that human planning is limited to logical reasoning under normal circumstances. Once the situation is no longer normal, regardless of which unforeseen situation arises, the plan will inevitably collapse.