The World Online

The system announcement was made right on time on the 14th of August at 9 AM in the morning.

“System announcement: In the year 1044 BC, the Shang army main force is still far away in the east, causing the lack of army garrisoned in Zhao Ge. King Wu of Zhou used up whatever resources he had to raise an army. Then, he led his army crossing the Yellow River at Meng Jin early and joined his allies. Together, they declared war against the ruthless Emperor of Shang, Di Xin. They charged straight into Muye, and the battle ended with the defeat of Di Xin and his death. The second epic campaign scenario―Battle of Muye, officially begins!”

Ouyang Shuo’s current title was first class earl, which granted him the authorization to bring 3,000 men with him.

The expedition troops are as follows:

The Vanguard Unit’s first and second squadron.

Mixed Regiment first, second, and third unit.

Elite guards of the Lord.

Qiushui Town’s fourth cavalry squadron.

Other than the two heavy infantry unit of the Mixed Regiment, the other 2000 were all cavalries riding Qingfu warhorses.

The Vanguard Unit first unit and the elite guards were the real heavy cavalries, all equipped with Mingguang armor, Tang swords, pikes and composite bows. With this equipment and their stats, they were currently the best heavy cavalry regiment in the world. As for the heavy infantry unit, with the full efforts of the Armory Division, all of them were now equipped with Buren armors, Tang swords, and shields.

After he checked and confirmed the conditions of participating in the campaign and the number of his troops, Ouyang Shuo began to decide the faction he wanted to join in the war.

“System notification: Battle of Muye has two factions: Zhou Faction or Shang Faction, please choose your faction! Special reminder: If you choose the faction that supposedly lost in the battle and lead them to victory, you will be granted extraordinary rewards, so please choose wisely!”

“Shang Faction!”

“System notification: Faction selected!”

“System notification: Congratulations to player Qiyue Wuyi for starting the teleportation, 3000 men to be teleported. 3000 gold is automatically deducted from the inventory.”

“System notification: Teleportation commencing!”

After a brief moment of extreme head spinning, Ouyang Shuo and his army appeared in the Shang main camp.

“System notification: Welcome player Qiyue Wuyi to the main camp―Zhao Ge, the capital of Shang dynasty.”

As compared to the crude and simple of Huang Di City in the Battle of Zhuolu, Zhao Ge appeared to be a very prosperous city. The treatment the players received was completely different from the Battle of Zhuolu.

After registering in the city, players and their armies were moved to a big camp allocated outside of the city. The camp is specially set up for players and food is supplied to the players. As such, they did not need to prepare any food at all.

“Woodsy!”

Ouyang Shuo turned upon hearing the shout. To his pleasant surprise, he saw a pretty girl dressed in adventurer attire. She looked valiant and cheerful. The girl was waving at Ouyang Shuo with a look of excitement when she shouted out to him.

In the game, there was only one girl who could call Ouyang Shuo by the nickname of ‘Woodsy’ and this one and only girl was Song Jia.

This was the first time that Ouyang Shuo had seen Song Jia in the game. He never imagined that Song Jia’s eyesight was so amazing, being able to recognize him in this extreme crowd.

Compared to reality, the adventurer attired Song Jia had another unique aura and appearance.

Ouyang Shuo forced himself to hold back his excitement and handed his horse to Wang Feng. Then, he walked up to Song Jia quickly and held her hand.

“This is so nice, to be able to see you in the game. I’ve waited way too long for this day!” said Ouyang Shuo with rich emotion.

One day before the opening of the campaign scenario, Ouyang Shuo had already written a letter to Song Jia. He had told her the faction he would choose, and he hoped that she could follow Tianxiang Town’s army to participate in the Battle of Muye.

Song Jia’s pretty face quickly blushed. She immediately shook off Ouyang Shuo’s hand, and said shyly, “Idiot, there are still people around us.”

Song Jia’s words made Ouyang Shuo speechless. In reality, Song Jia wouldn’t even feel shy while holding hands with him. Could it be that once a woman entered the game, the ancient atmosphere where ladies are supposed to be very ladylike would affect them? Just look at Bai Hua, Feng Qiuhuang, and the others, who tried to behave as ladylike as possible.

Fortunately, Song Wen came up and greeted Ouyang Shuo at this time. Then, he said with a smile, “I guess you are Mr. Ouyang Shuo? I am Song Jia’s eldest brother, Song Wen. Nice to meet you.”

Then, he pointed to another young man dressed in general attire and said, “This is my younger brother, Song Wu.”

Ouyang Shuo quickly returned Song Wen’s greeting and nodded to Song Wu as a sign of acknowledgment.

After the introductions, Ouyang Shuo took the chance to learn some information about Tianxiang Town’s army. Song Wen’s current title was still just a second class viscount. He brought 200 men, all normal sword and shield infantry that Song Wu led.

Song Wu was still young after all and a warrior. When he saw Ouyang Shuo’s Mingguang Armor, he could not help but drool. What kind of a warrior could resist the temptation of a high quality armor? When he saw his younger brother’s appearance, Song Wu felt very embarrassed.

However, Ouyang Shuo did not care much about it. Instead, he turned back to Wang Feng and made a gesture to him. Wang Feng immediately understood his master’s desire and brought a few men with him away for a moment. Then, he returned with three elite class Qingfu warhorse.

Long before departing, Ouyang Shuo had already considered what he should give the Song brothers as presents. After all, they were going to become his future brother-in-laws, so he had to show respect to them.

Meanwhile, during operation ‘Wildfire’ he had seized 5,000 Qingfu warhorses. Among these horses, there were 20 elite class warhorses. After distributing one elite warhorse to each of the officers in Shanhai City army, there were still 10 left. Without any idea about what present to prepare, Ouyang Shuo decided to give them one elite Qingfu warhorse each. Of course, the other elite warhorse was for Song Jia.

Other than that, Ouyang Shuo had also prepared one set of sergeant class Mingguang Armor.

When Ouyang Shuo handed these presents to him, Song Wen was shocked. Then, he said, “This is?”

Qingfus warhorses and Mingguang Armor of Shanhai City had already become known to the public ever since the Battle of Zhuolu. The high quality and cost of these warhorses and armors were no secret. Therefore, Song Wen thought that these presents were way too expensive.

“This is my gratitude, please accept it!” said Ouyang Shuo.

Song Wu could no longer hold himself back, so he quickly walked forward and took over the Mingguang armor. Then, he stored it in his inventory space. After that, he took over the reins of the Qingfu warhorse from the elite guard’s hand. Just when he was about to ride it, Song Wen scolded him, “Brother, please have some respect!”

In response, Song Wen turned to Ouyang Shuo and said, “Thank you for your present. I am sorry for my brother’s rudeness; please forgive him.”

Ouyang Shuo waved his hand and said, “No worries, Brother Song. As a general myself, I know how attractive a Qingfu warhorse and a set of Mingguang Armor can be to a general. This is just a natural reaction. It is not a big deal at all.”

Song Wen nodded, and his understanding of Ouyang Shuo deepened. From the brief conversation just now, he realized that Ouyang Shuo appeared to be a man with mature thinking. He was calm and a man with an ego, but he was not arrogant at all. These were the traits of an amazing person, no wonder he could achieve so much in the game. His sister’s choice was indeed amazing.

Similarly, Ouyang Shuo also gained a first impression of Song Wen. He was exactly like Song Jia had described. This fellow was a polite man with no traces of the slyness and cunning of a businessman at all.

“Alright, that’s enough. You two, stop pretending to be so polite to each other,” Song Jia interrupted their conversation.

Ouyang Shuo and Song Wen could only smile bitterly at each other.

Then, Ouyang Shuo started to look for the Shanhai Alliance members to join with them.

Luckily, they were all teleported to the same place at about the same time, so it did not take long for them to meet up.

Among the members of the Shanhai Alliance, Bai Hua and Feng Qiuhuang were both second class earls, so they led 1,000 men each. Xunlong Dianxue was a third class earl, so he led 500 men. Mulan Hua and Siege Lion were first class visearls, so they led an army of 300 each. The Shanhai City army, with the addition of the Tianshan Town army, was an army of 6,300. It was three times the size of their army during the Battle of Zhuolu.

Then, Ouyang Shuo introduced the three Song to the members of Shanhai Alliance.

Because it was their first time seeing each other, the atmosphere was a little bit awkward.

Ouyang Shuo could do nothing about it, so he suggested that they should head out right now to the camp outside of the city first. As for finding out about those famous lord type players in the Shang Faction, they could slowly take their time.

This was because no matter what, every player would eventually have to gather up in the camp.

Just as they walked out of the city gate, the campaign announcement rang out.

“Campaign announcement: 805 players and a total of 102,000 soldiers are participating in the Battle of Muye. There is a total of 480 players in the Zhou Faction, and a total of 60,000 soldiers. There is a total of 325 players and an army of 42,000 soldiers in the Shang Faction.”

As expected, not only did nearly 200 players give up on this campaign, most players chose the Zhou Faction rather than the Shang Faction. First, after learning their lesson in the Battle of Zhuolu, they realized that they should not simply pick the supposedly defeated factions in history. Second, in the Zhou Faction, there was a famous legendary figure—Lu Shang. The players that chose Zhou Faction had the ambition of recruiting him into their army.

Lu Shang, also known as Jiang Shang, courtesy named Ziya.

Jiang Ziya was the founder of the Qi Empire, King Wen of Zhou’s businessman, and King Wu of Zhou’s head strategist, the top military commander, and the founder of Qi Culture. He was a legendary figure that had greatly influenced ancient China’s military and politics. His place was accepted widely in history books. Confucianism and various cultures acknowledged him as the master of all cultures.

Speaking of him, Ouyang Shuo had some relation with this figure as well. Jiang Shang wrote the Six Tao that Ouyang Shuo had obtained before this campaign. Jiang Shang was also known as the ancestor of all military strategy.

However, hoping to recruit such a person would be utterly fond dreaming.

According to the observations and experiments of the players from Ouyang Shuo’s past life, the most crucial point to recruit historical figures, especially those powerful ones, was to strike at their weaknesses or needs.

For example, the weakness of Huang Zhong, a famous general with superb archery skills in the Three Kingdoms of ancient China, was his very own son. Due to his son’s sickness, if someone was able to fully cure his sickness, recruiting Huang Zhong would be dead easy.

However, as for Jiang Shang, his position in the Zhou dynasty was incredibly high. Just finding his needs would’ve been impossible, not to mention satisfy them. Hence, it was difficult to recruit him.

Therefore, Ouyang Shuo held no hopes of recruiting him at all and immediately gave on joining the Zhou dynasty.

“Campaign announcement: Due to the fact that the Shang dynasty has a smaller army than the Zhou dynasty, the Shang dynasty armies will automatically receive a 25% defense up for everyone according to the rules.”

Because of the realistic settings of the game where there was no health bar, no matter how strong or how skilled you were, you would still die if your throat or any vital parts of the body were curt. Therefore, the defense up actually increased the thickness and the resistance of their armors.

“Campaign announcement: Based on the titles and honor value assessment, Chun Shenjun (second-class earl) is elected as the Zhou dynasty player representative, and Qiyue Wuyi (first-class earl) is elected as the Shang dynasty representative.

In the Battle of Muye, representatives for the players were still Ouyang Shuo and Chun Shenjun. However, the duo had picked their factions slightly differently this time.