Chapter 1382: Chapter 46: Shou Zhe’s Decisive Victory Thousands of Miles Away (Request for Monthly Tickets)_3 Chapter 1382: Chapter 46: Shou Zhe’s Decisive Victory Thousands of Miles Away (Request for Monthly Tickets)_3 And those they called “death-row prisoners” were merely skinned.

In the end, the laws of South Qin still served the major nobles. How many would truly be guilty of capital offenses? To gather enough corpses for the Corpse Puppet Legion, they often concentrated slaves who had no rights and mass-produced Corpse Puppets from them.

This Corpse Puppet Legion has always been a considerable headache for all of Da Qian.

Fortunately, the production of corpse puppets also comes with costs. It not only consumes a population but also requires a lot of materials. Although the materials used for ordinary corpse puppets are relatively common and not expensive, the costs still become immense as the quantities increase.

Moreover, materials do not appear out of thin air. The growth of Yinkui wood takes time, and the mining and preliminary forging of Yin attribute ores also take time. The rapid consumption of materials in large quantities would lead to price increases. Even the well-crafted corpse puppets would gradually decay over time, leading to a decrease in combat effectiveness… With such factors, even a Corpse Puppet Legion cannot endlessly swell its ranks.

Otherwise, if millions, tens of millions, of corpse puppets could be produced, even Da Qian would have to retreat.

“Shi Zhao, you and Emperor Zi’an have always been secretive with your tactics,” Prince Yongheng asked, “Can you speak about the specific requirements for this ambush? Although Youmen Ridge is treacherous, such a small vanguard ambush force may hardly achieve significant results against the large army of South Qin.”

Prince Yongheng understood that while he was nominally the highest commander of this vanguard force, in reality, it was overseen by Wang Shizhao. Emperor Zi’an worried that Wang Shizhao’s age, cultivation base, and experience might not be enough to command respect, which is why he, a newly appointed prince, was sent to maintain control.

The specific tactical arrangements were still Wang Shizhao’s responsibility.

“Gentlemen, this battle is of great importance, and the principles of the specific battle plan are also quite complex, which must absolutely not be leaked. Therefore, the tactics have always been confidential,” Wang Shizhao stood up, bowed to everyone as an apology, and said, “This is a necessity, I hope for your understanding.”

“No need for concern, Wang’s Order,” Ning Commandery Prince, commander of the Azure Dragon Third Regiment, quickly stood up to return the gesture, saying, “As military men, our duty is to follow orders and maintain secrecy. No matter how absurd the orders, as long as they are lawful, even if what lies ahead is a certain death, we soldiers shall march forward undeterred.”

“Ning Commandery Prince is a true fierce general on the battlefield,” Wang Shizhao praised him before sitting down again and speaking earnestly, “Considering the overall interests, our Azure Dragon Third Regiment, White Tiger Regiment, and Xi Qu Regiment are nominally hunters, but in reality, we are the bait.”

“Bait?” Ning Commandery Prince’s expression darkened, “A trump battalion and two main battalions, merely used as bait?”

“If not so, how could we lure Murong Kaifeng?” Wang Shizhao said calmly.

“If the three battalions act as bait, then who will be the hunter?” Prince Yongheng frowned slightly, “Our Da Qian’s Jianling Pass is 600 li away from Youmen Ridge, directly, but with the mountain roads being difficult and convoluted, the actual distance is much more than a thousand li. Transferring troops from Jianling Pass to encircle them would surely be too late, wouldn’t it?”

“Your Highnesses, please be patient,” Wang Shizhao said, “Youmen Ridge itself is a great ‘hunter’.”

“How do you begin to explain this?” Prince Yongheng became interested, “Could it be another of Wang Shouzhe’s ideas?”

During the strife between the emperor’s sons back then, Prince Dexin and Prince Dede fought fiercely, but actually, most of the Imperial Household princes and big shots in the capital did not get involved but merely observed, including Prince Yongheng.

It wasn’t that they didn’t want to, but the national policy and Emperor Longchang did not allow it.

Commandery princes were somewhat better; princes and great Sky Prides like Prince Yongheng were secretly watched by Emperor Longchang’s men and were not allowed to publicly meddle in the strife between emperor’s sons.

After all, they were voters, judges, and supposed to be neutral in principle. Once they entered the arena personally, establishing a stance, they could no longer be fair and impartial.

But even without personal involvement, the events of that time are still vividly remembered by many big shots.

Since Wang Shouzhe’s arrival in the capital, settling directly into the Four Seasons Garden of Ding Duke’s Mansion, he has thoroughly stir the Imperial Capital upside down, his methods indeed startling.

Even as an observer like Prince Yongheng, the experience was akin to having his heart in his mouth.

If possible, probably no one in Da Qian would want to face Wang Shouzhe directly.

“Your Highness, to speak of this matter in detail, we must start from the strife between emperor’s sons,” Wang Shizhao bowed and began to explain, “The strife between emperor’s sons represented the transition of old and new power, also the most chaotic and vulnerable time for Da Qian.”

“To prevent South Qin and West Jin from taking advantage, our Wang family began studying how to resist South Qin and West Jin from that time and made some preparations. We drew detailed maps of the buffer zones between South Qin and Da Qian’s borders, and between West Jin and Da Qian’s borders, and researched the geographical environment of each location.”

“Youmen Ridge has countless high-temperature hot springs and many geysers, my grandfather hypothesized that there should be an active mantle plume underneath. Thus, decades ago, we commissioned the Wang family of Longzuo and the Wang family of Southern Desert, our clan relatives, to conduct thorough and meticulous surveys in the depths of Youmen Ridge, and they calculated several weak points of the thermal columns…”