Chapter 7: The Legend of Ye Family's Seniors

  The first generation leader of the Ye family army was named Ye Long, known to the world as the Xining War God. 50 years ago, the Zhongjin Kingdom raised its troops and marched north towards Jiangxi. The Xining Emperor decisively appointed Ye Long as the Protector General, ordering him to fight against the Zhongjin along with other generals. From then on, Ye Long also began his military career.

  This time, the Xining Emperor dispatched four routes to attack. General Ye Long and several other generals each led 10,000 men. Although Ye Long was on his first expedition, he was bold and calm, making a surprise deep penetration into the Dragon Domain, the sacred land of the Xiongnu, capturing nearly a thousand enemies and achieving victory. However, the other three routes failed, with two suffering defeats and one returning without success. The Emperor of the Xining Empire saw that only Ye Long had triumphantly returned and was extremely pleased, appointing him as the Great General. This Battle of Dragon Domain has historical significance. Since the founding of the Xining Empire by Emperor Xuji, it had repeatedly suffered from the raids and humiliation of the southern barbarians, including frequent burning, killing, and looting of the empire's border counties and people, which was a major threat to the empire. However, the victory in the Battle of Dragon Domain also broke the myth that the southern barbarians were invincible since the founding of the Xining Empire, greatly boosting the morale of the empire's officials and soldiers, becoming a turning point in the battle between the Xining Empire and the Zhongjin Kingdom, and laying a good foundation for the empire's further counterattack.

  Later, after the defeat of Zhong Jin's kingdom in Jiangxi, Nanmanzi launched several counterattacks over the next few years. A year after the Battle of Longyu, tens of thousands of cavalry attacked the provincial capital of Jiangdu, Xiapei City, killing Governor Wang Zhen and plundering over a thousand people. In the same autumn, they entered another major city in Jiangdong, Yannen, killing and looting over a thousand people. A few months later, Nanmanzi again sent three million cavalry to attack several other major cities.

  Next spring, Emperor Xu Jun of the Xining Empire ordered Ye Long to lead 30,000 cavalrymen from the Ye family army out of Jiangdong. The King of Nanyue thought that the Ye family army was far away and would not arrive for a while. Unexpectedly, Ye Long led his troops on a forced march of six or seven hundred miles, surrounding the king's camp in the middle of the night. At this time, the king was drinking with his concubine in his tent, when he suddenly heard the sound of killing outside the tent, and flames all over the fields. The king felt panicked and fled north with his beloved concubine and several hundred strong cavalrymen. The Ye family army captured more than a dozen small kings under the King of Nanyue, and tens of thousands to hundreds of millions of livestock.

  In the following five years, the first generation of Ye's army marched east and west, never suffering a defeat. It was also said that Ye Long loved his soldiers like sons, and during peacetime training, Ye Long did not just issue orders, but rather "practiced with them in heavy armor", and the officers and soldiers were moved by this, all of them being as if they were in actual combat, without any slackness.

  Yelü Dashi had once given a clear order to the Yelu Army: "Whoever takes even one strand of hemp from the people to bind fodder, will be executed on the spot." It was said in the army that "We would rather freeze to death than dismantle houses for fuel, and we would rather starve to death than plunder." When the army marched and camped at night, the common people heard that the Yelu Army had arrived and opened their doors to invite them in, but none dared to enter.

  When he heard that his subordinates were injured or ill, Ye Long personally visited their bedsides, bowed down to ask about their injuries and illnesses, comforted them repeatedly, and even went so far as to prepare medicine for them and feed it to them himself, causing many to be moved to tears. When government soldiers died in battle, Ye Long wore mourning clothes and held a memorial service for them, and also sent his wife and daughter to offer condolences to their families.

  The Ye family army was heroic and good at fighting, often winning battles. The imperial court frequently rewarded them with gifts, which Ye Long evenly distributed among his troops, never taking more than his share.

  Yelü Abaoji loved his soldiers like sons, "his subordinates followed him to death, so he was victorious wherever he went", no wonder the Jin army exclaimed: "Shaking a mountain is easy, shaking Yelü's army is difficult".

  To resist the Jin, Ye Long sent his eldest son, Ye Wei, who was only twelve years old, to train with a general under his command. He specifically instructed that Ye Wei should eat and live with the soldiers, without any special treatment. During one training session, Ye Wei accidentally fell off his horse and was severely reprimanded by Ye Long: "If you are so reckless when facing the enemy, won't you make mistakes?" He ordered Ye Wei to be flogged a hundred times as a warning to others. The three armies heard about this and were all shocked and warned.

  Even after Ye Long's death, the people never forgot to offer incense to General Ye Long every year, a relic of the former Xining Empire.

  After Ye Long's death, Ye Wei was enraged and launched a military campaign based on his prestige in the army. He became famous at a young age and achieved numerous victories with fewer troops, earning great merits. He is one of the few young generals, respected by the world as the Iron-Blooded War General.

  One year after Ye Long's death, 17-year-old Ye Wei was sent to Jiangdong Xiapi City by Emperor Xu Jun of the Xining Empire to resist the Zhongjin Empire. Ye Wei also led a light cavalry of 800 men to abandon the main force and rush hundreds of miles to take advantage of the situation, capturing and beheading the enemy general, beheading more than 2,000 enemies, including the Prime Minister of Zhongjin, officials of the Ministry of Households, and also killing another prince of the Zhongjin Kingdom, Prince Cao.

  Ye Wei's military tactics were flexible, emphasizing strategy over traditional methods. He was brave and decisive, winning every battle, earning the deep trust of Emperor Xu Jun of the Xining Empire. At the same time, he also left behind the famous phrase "If Zhongjin is not destroyed, how can I rest at home?" (Cough, plagiarizing Huo Qubing).

  After Ye Wei's death, Xi Ning's army was defeated like a mountain collapse, losing half of the territory. Therefore, all ambitious scholars sighed and said: "If only Xi Ning's general were here, he would not allow the golden horse to cross the river to the east."

  ……

  So when Ye Xuan said that he was the descendant of War God Ye Long and Iron-Blooded General Ye Wei, he couldn't help but take a deep breath of cold air. It wasn't just because of their reputation, but also because they had heard that Ye Wei only had one son, who was also a military genius. From a young age, he followed his father Ye Wei on campaigns to the east and west, and as Ye Wei's vanguard, he made enemies tremble with fear at the mere mention of his name.

  Ye Xuan coldly swept his gaze over the crowd, "You're very good at dealing with ordinary people, but when facing the Southern Barbarians, you're so scared that your legs turn soft. You're not useless, who's useless?!"

  Looking at everyone's red faces and heavy breathing, Ye Xuan smiled contentedly in his heart, because he knew that although people have many motivations, shame is always the most important one. "I'm saying this not to expose your scars, but because your lives are too comfortable, you've lost your courage! As the saying goes, 'knowing shame and then being brave'! It's not wrong to make mistakes, what's scary is that you don't even know you're wrong, still feeling proud of yourself. This is unforgivable! And now, none of you have ever thought about what I'm saying, if someone had, they wouldn't be here right now! Are you still willing to continue being useless?"

  "I don't want to!"

  Listening to the roar below, Ye Xuan nodded in satisfaction and said: "Well, it seems that you are still salvageable. Next, I will train you well. Can you bear this hardship? If you can't, get out of here as soon as possible!"

  "Agreed!" The people below shouted in unison.

  "Alright, I consider you all to be good men. From now on, I, Ye Xuan, will regard each of you as my sworn brothers. We will revive the glory of the Ye family army and make it soar once more! And from this day forward, you will all be the most important meritorious officials of the third generation of the Ye family army!"

  The crowd below was extremely excited, after all, the Ye family army was a legendary figure for two generations, and they couldn't help but shout loudly: "Swear to follow General Ye to death, revive the prestige of the Ye family army!"