This attack by the Meng State was extremely dangerous for the defenders of Qingshan Pass. If it were not for Hong Linying's ruthlessness and decisiveness, who used more than 10,000 soldiers to delay the enemy's siege, the city would have been captured before they could even enter and deploy.
This battle also frightened the people in the city to death. The sight of the enemy's hideous faces constantly emerging from the top of the city walls, so close to them, was an experience they would never forget.
After the battle, blood covered the top of the city wall and flowed down through the cracks in the stone wall like a trickling stream.
The area within half a mile of the city wall was like a pool of blood. The streets, which were usually bright and clean, were now sticky with blood and made "smacking" sounds when people walked on them.
Whenever Hong Linying thought of this battle afterwards, even with his great concentration, he still felt it was extremely dangerous and felt a chill down his spine.
After the enemy retreated, he recalled what Ji Wenhe said last night, which included the fact that the enemy army might have heavy troops hidden in the army, waiting for an opportunity to attack. He couldn't help but feel a little regretful.
In the following months, Ji Wenhe visited him twice again in the middle of the night to inform him of the enemy's movements and deployments.
These two times, Hong Linying began to take it seriously and made targeted arrangements according to the information given by Ji Wenhe. As a result, they won a great victory with minimal losses.
Another thing is that Ji Wenhe also began to look for successors in the army, but his selection criteria were very strange.
He neither looked at the person's martial arts aptitude nor used internal force to probe the other person's body. Instead, he used a silver needle to diagnose the person's pulse, just like a medical practitioner.
Ji Wenhe also told Hong Linying that it was because their school's internal skills were very unique.
If someone who fails the test using this method is forced to practice the unique mental method of another sect, the result will only lead to the practitioner's internal Qi rushing back and blood rushing through the meridians to death.
But as time went by, what surprised Hong Linying was that there were so many strong men in the army, but Ji Wenhe had not found a suitable person within a year after joining the army, which surprised him.
With Ji Wenhe's several major military victories, Hong Linying simply asked the original military advisor to step down and become deputy military advisor a year later, and let Ji Wenhe become the military advisor.
As for how he got the information about the enemy each time, he didn't care much. With the skills of Military Advisor Ji, he must have many methods. Moreover, the information he provided about the enemy several times was extremely accurate.
If he was a spy, then the price would be too high. It would be impossible to exchange the lives of 70,000 to 80,000 people accumulated in these few times for the possible success of the later plan.
This move made many generals in the army dissatisfied at first, but in the following battles, big or small, all the plans were planned by Ji Wenhe, and the invading enemy was almost completely defeated.
This made Ji Wenhe's reputation in the army increasingly high and his position increasingly stable.
What brought his reputation to its peak was a battle two and a half years ago. Before that battle, Ji Wenhe went to the central army camp thirty miles north of the city to continue looking for his "apprentice" whom he was not sure whether he existed or not.
There are hundreds of thousands of local troops stationed there. Even if Ji Wenhe has extraordinary abilities and does nothing all day long, with his abilities he can only test more than a hundred people at most. Moreover, the army is busy, so it is impossible for him to do that.
So during the past three years or so, in addition to measuring the strength of tens of thousands of soldiers in Qingshan Pass, he began to go to the central army camp from time to time to look for disciples.
At first, the soldiers found it strange that the commander-in-chief was choosing a disciple, but they gradually got used to it.
On that afternoon when Ji Wenhe went to the central army camp, Meng State suddenly launched an attack. Hong Linying led his troops to meet the enemy and fought a bloody battle with the enemy.
This time, the enemy reinforcements adopted the tactic of adding fuel to the fire. They gradually increased in number and were determined to fill the gap at the cost of human lives. This entangled Hong Linying and made it impossible for her to escape, and she was slowly surrounded.
At this time, Ji Wenhe, who was thirty miles away, had received the news by express horse and led his troops from the central army camp. By the time they arrived, Hong Linying and his troops were already in danger.
Ji Wenhe ordered the army to charge inward from the outer command post in a circular manner using the force of the Bagua chain formation, advancing step by step. He himself displayed his terrifying martial arts in front of people for the first time.
With one man and one sword, he was like a fairy from the sky, shuttling among the enemy troops as if he was in an empty space. Except for occasionally deflecting the enemy's weapons, every time he struck out with the sword, someone would be killed.
Finally, he went alone to the enemy's center, flying through the air like an eagle catching a rabbit. Before the enemy's guards could react, he had already stepped into the air, and with a sword like a meteor, he cut off the head of the enemy's deputy marshal.
Then he pushed aside the swords, spears, and halberds that were coming at him, and moved forward flexibly. With just a few steps, he stood on the top of the enemy's flag that was several feet high, holding a sword in one hand and the enemy commander's head high in the other.
He shouted loudly, like rumbling thunder, shaking the surroundings. When the enemy saw it, their morale was immediately broken and they had no intention of fighting anymore. They were defeated and fled. Only then did Hong Linying lead his troops to break out.
After this battle, the reputation of Military Advisor Ji became unrivaled, even surpassing that of Marshal Hong, and people also knew that this military strategist, in addition to being able to "talk about war on paper", was also an unparalleled master.
After this battle, the imperial army no longer focused on defense, but often sent troops to attack the enemy's border or sent large troops to invade. From then on, the two sides had attacks and defenses against each other, and were almost evenly matched.
Although Ji Wenhe was there, one person's strength could not determine the outcome on the battlefield. Moreover, Meng State already knew that there was a master in Qingshan Pass who could take the heads of thousands of soldiers, so it also mobilized several first-class and top masters from the country to support it.
Through that incident, Hong Linying was certain that Ji Wenhe's martial arts had reached the highest level, and it was even possible that he had reached a level above that, a level he did not know about.
Although he had guessed Ji Wenhe's realm before, he had never thought that the other party was so powerful. As a martial arts fanatic, he couldn't help but feel excited after that battle.
But no matter how he investigated, he could not find out where this sect came from.
And through occasional exchanges with Ji Wenhe, he felt that the other party's martial arts were superb.
To be precise, it was the exquisiteness of the opponent's internal strength. Any ordinary moves, when Ji Wenhe used his internal strength, always made Hong Linying feel like the endless flow of a river or like a mountain pressing down on her head, destroying everything in her way. She was simply unable to resist.
This made him unable to stop wanting Ji Wenhe's internal skills. He coveted them all his life and tried every possible way to get them.
However, the matter of Ji Wenhe's selection of a disciple has always been delayed, and Ji Wenhe's complexion has been getting worse and worse in recent years, just as he said before, and even his face has become much older.
Hong Linying tried to hint at ways to let Ji Wenhe inherit this unique skill, so after a banquet, he said this to Ji Wenhe.
"Military Advisor, so many years have passed, and you still haven't met the person you chose. What kind of person can catch your eye?"
Ji Wenhe smiled and replied, "The reason why our sect is passed down from generation to generation is not because we don't accept many disciples, but because the requirements of the mental method are really restrictive, which can be described as one in a million.
It is actually very easy to tell what kind of person he is. As long as he shows unusual symptoms when I use my unique method to check his pulse with silver needles, there is hope."
"You are more than one in ten thousand. Over the years in my army, whether it is old soldiers or new soldiers, you have probably tested half of them. I think it is one in hundreds of thousands."
Hong Linying shook his head and sighed, then he continued.
"What kind of abnormal symptoms will appear in the body after you insert this silver needle?"
Ji Wenhe thought for a moment.
"That's not certain. Maybe it's because of the color of the complexion or the aura in the body. I will have to use the silver needles as a guide and my internal energy to find out. Only then will I know if it is integrated with my internal energy."
This season, Wenhe did not allow outsiders to watch during each test. Except for the test takers, outsiders were never allowed to enter. Although Hong Linying had also inquired, those who had failed had not succeeded, so they could not tell anything.
Hong Linying pretended to be a little drunk and spoke under the influence of alcohol.
"Then Military Advisor, can you come and see my physique?"
He didn't say what would happen if it was appropriate, nor did he say what would happen if it was not appropriate. These words gave people the feeling that they were just jokes made after drinking, and were just out of curiosity.
Ji Wenhe smiled slightly when he heard this and nodded in agreement.
"Since I have nothing to do, I might as well give it a try. Maybe the Marshal is destined to be with my sect."
Then he took out a cloth bag from his side, unfolded it and took out a silver needle.
Speaking of this cloth bag, Ji Wenhe always carries it with him, because whenever he has free time, he will go find some soldiers to test it.
When the silver needle was inserted, Hong Linying felt a numbness in his wrist, and then he did not feel any so-called abnormality, nor did he feel any internal force penetrating into him.
Ji Wenhe also shook his head in disappointment, and put away the silver needle with a single finger.
"It seems that the Marshal is no longer destined to be with our sect!"
This means that Hong Linying is also unable to learn his martial arts, but how can such a statement convince Hong Linying
He has been practicing martial arts since he was young. Along the way, he has only overcome difficulties one by one. There is no martial arts he has seen but cannot learn. It mainly depends on whether he is willing to practice.
But he couldn't use force against Ji Wenhe, and thought he was no match for Ji Wenhe.
Even though this person seems to be getting worse year by year in recent years, it is estimated that dealing with someone like him can be done with just a few moves, or even a simple gesture.
Although he is already a top master in today's martial arts world, he is still aware of how his scores can be compared with others.
It was not until the beginning of last year that Ji Wenhe finally found a disciple in the central army camp.
Hong Linying also found an excuse to privately contact Ji Wenhe, this disciple who was like a drop of water found in the "vast sea of people".
He even used his internal energy to explore the man's internal meridians, but he didn't feel anything special about them. This made him think that Ji Wenhe was deliberately hiding something, but he had no idea why.
But just one month after Ji Wenhe found a disciple, the new disciple suddenly died one night.
Afterwards, Ji Wenhe also had an expression of pain and regret. He only said that he was illiterate and had a misunderstanding of the sect's martial arts, which caused his qi and blood to rush into his body and he died.
Hong Linying also saw the tragic scene after the man's death. His body was black and swollen, but in his opinion, it didn't seem like something went wrong with his practice, but rather like he died of poisoning.
This led him to two guesses:
One is that Ji Wenhe uses the human body as a medium, and wants to use a method to force the poison in his body into the other person's body in order to detoxify his own body.
And the person he chooses must have some connection with his sect's skills or this poison so that he can act according to the law.
Otherwise, with Strategist Ji's martial arts skills, he could just pull someone away without anyone knowing.
But later, looking at Ji Wenhe's appearance, his complexion didn't seem to have improved at all, which meant that his guess had no effect. This made Hong Linying doubt the correctness of this judgment.
Secondly, Ji Wenhe's method of cultivation should be quite overbearing. It is possible that this new disciple did not practice properly, and the reverse qi rushed up, causing the qi and blood to flow backwards, damaging the internal organs, and causing abnormalities throughout the body.
But someone like Ji Wenhe, knowing that his disciple was illiterate, should have adopted a compromise solution, or used terrazzo skills to supervise his practice.
Based on his understanding of Advisor Ji, this person is a very meticulous person and this kind of situation should not be happening. Could it be that he really doesn't have much time left
After the death of Ji Wenhe's disciple, he still went to the army to find some soldiers to test his pulse. Although Hong Linying still had no reason to investigate closely, he still wanted to see what kind of person the disciple chosen by Ji Wenhe was as soon as possible.
That way, he would have a chance to see some clues.
This time when recruiting the Guards, Division Ji started testing again, and Hong Linying could approach them openly.
He leaned back in his chair and looked at the tent. There was a light flickering in his slightly narrowed eyes, and he was thinking non-stop in his mind.
"This matter is really tricky. We have tried both soft and hard methods over the past few years, but have never been able to succeed.
If what he said is true, he only has one or two years left to live. Is this true or not? If it is true, he will risk losing his skills and will not show them to the world. What should he do then?"