Half a Spoiler Chapter 114

Wen Yanran ran through the list of military commanders she had at her disposal in her mind.

Her current foundation was primarily built upon the people of Jianzhou, with the southern territories coming second. The incident at the Northern Park hadn’t inflicted any crippling damage, so she now also had the Chen Clan of Qing Province at her disposal. As for the Tai Province region, the local indigenous youth were known for their agility and prowess in battle. Commanders were abundant there, and elite soldiers were equally numerous. However, they couldn’t be utilized immediately. It wasn’t until Zhong Zhiwei had properly disciplined the Left Camp that the Emperor gained access to another formidable force.

It seemed the Eastern faction had chosen this moment to rebel precisely to avoid facing an imperial court that had fully absorbed the strengths of both Dan and Tai Provinces.

Wen Yanran remembered that in the original version of Monarch’s Conquest, there should have been a feature called [Frosty Autumn Dawn] next to [War Sandbox], which could display the attributes of military commanders.

Perhaps sincerity truly moves the heavens – just then, the system suddenly flashed an update notification:

[System:
Feature [Frosty Autumn Dawn] is now available. Enjoy your game.]

Wen Yanran hadn’t expected to actually summon the feature into existence. She opened it immediately to take a look.

[Frosty Autumn Dawn] was sorted not by attribute value but by official rank. Characters without military official titles could not be displayed.

[No.1
Commander: Wen Yanran
Position: Emperor
Command Value: 1000100000 (Professional Bonus)
Combat Prowess: 2/10 (An average soldier)
Special Title: [Every Inch of Land Belongs to the Monarch]]

[No.2 [According to version requirements, the following content will not be displayed]]

Wen Yanran fell into silence.

As the emperor, she held military authority, so it was reasonable to classify her as a military commander. The assessment of other attributes seemed fair as well. Although the feature existed, apart from herself, the names of other commanders remained hidden. So, what exactly was the purpose of the system suddenly updating [Frosty Autumn Dawn]…

If she had delved deeper into the guides before transmigrating, she would have known that in Monarch’s Conquest, there was a hidden stat called “Battle Prestige.” Once this stat accumulated to a certain level, it would trigger the update of the [Frosty Autumn Dawn] feature.

Although the World Will had sufficiently shielded features related to wise rulers, it had failed to anticipate the fact that “a player aiming to be a tyrant could trigger the update of the [Frosty Autumn Dawn] feature.” Combined, these circumstances led to the loophole mentioned above.

Wen Yanran glanced at her Command Value and felt quite pleased – against all odds, even after excluding the 100,000 troops from her professional bonus, she still retained a Command Value of 1,000.

Following the Command Value was Combat Prowess. In Monarch’s Conquest, Combat Prowess was scored out of ten. The average commoner typically fell within the range of 1 to 2. A Combat Prowess of 3 was considered elite soldier material, while reaching 4 placed one preliminarily within the ranks of military commanders. For instance, the younger commanders under Wen Yanran usually ranged between 5 and 6.

In truth, some players had posted data of notable characters in the comment sections back then. However, lacking caution at the time, Wen Yanran had simply overlooked them. After transmigrating, there was clearly no opportunity to revisit such details. Among the data she vaguely remembered was that of Xiao Xichi – Combat Prowess fluctuated based on a character’s circumstances. While stationed in Jianping, Xiao Xichi’s value was only 8, but after returning to Qingyi for a period, it would rise to 9, which essentially represented the pinnacle of one-on-one combat prowess for military commanders in this era.

Though the borderlands often bred fierce commanders, individuals like Xiao Xichi remained exceedingly rare, almost as if bestowed by heaven itself.

However, despite Xiao Xichi’s impressive overall stats, as a military commander, she held little practical use for the player. In nearly every storyline, this leader of the Qingyi tribe showed little inclination to serve the emperor. Wen Yanran fully understood this – during previous hunting expeditions, Xiao Xichi had habitually suppressed her Combat Prowess to around 6 or 7, maintaining a low profile and concealing her true abilities throughout.

Similarly regarded as possessing high Combat Prowess but of little practical value were the Yan Clan of Ji Province. Ji Province was the outermost province in the northern part of Great Zhou. Previously, the commandery governor named Dong Fu, who served under the Marquis Dong, was stationed in Dingyi Commandery, located within Ji Province. Bordering Wuliu externally, each commandery in Ji Province maintained border garrisons to ensure territorial security. The Yan Clan was a prominent local family, with many of its members serving as commanders in these garrisons, producing several formidable figures with Combat Prowess exceeding 6. However, when turmoil swept the land, none were willing to pledge loyalty to the imperial court. Instead, they either raised their own armies in rebellion or supported Wen Hong’s claim to the throne, hastening the collapse of order.

Others, such as the Wuliu tribe, also had figures renowned for their high Combat Prowess, but these were even further beyond Wen Yanran’s reach.

For now, the situation in the northern territories was not yet urgent, so Wen Yanran set aside the new feature and focused her efforts on swiftly resolving the rebellion in the east.

The scope of this rebellion was vast. For the imperial court, the outcome mattered, but even more critical was the speed of suppression. It was already winter; if the conflict dragged on for too long and disrupted the spring planting season, the eastern regions might witness tragedies as dire as exchanging children for food.

To fully quell the rebellion, they had to capture Hengping County. Yet, the presence of the Right Camp stood like an unbreakable barrier, firmly blocking the path of the imperial army.

Wen Yanran calmly gathered the replies from the south. Since the letters had arrived, it meant Xiao Xichi and others had already acted as she had instructed.

Lankang Commandery.

There were originally three prominent local magnate families here. Among them, the Ge Clan was directly convicted of rebellion. The Gong Clan fared slightly better – though they also faced some purging, they were fortunately labeled as wartime casualties, so the remaining members were exempt from punishment. The sole family to remain relatively intact was the Gan Clan. While they preserved their clan due to their merit in reporting information, they consciously dismantled their fortress manor. Although the clan was reluctant to do so, they dared not even think of resisting in the face of Jianping’s formidable army.

Before the Sovereign, Tao Jia appeared as a low-key, humble, and amiable veteran general. Yet, in the eyes of local magnates, he was also a figure known for his ruthlessness and decisiveness. When some magnates stubbornly resisted and refused to dismantle their manors, their entire clans – nearly a thousand people – were exterminated without survivors. Afterwards, this seasoned general even erected a mound of enemy heads outside the city to serve as a deterrent. Many who merely glimpsed it from afar trembled and vomited uncontrollably.

The Gan Clan had always been pragmatic. Like many local influential families, their initial plan was to bide their time temporarily, waiting for the eastern affairs to conclude and for the formidable General Tao to withdraw his troops before rebuilding their fortress manor. However, they now felt uncertain – just last month, the “Talent Selection Examination,” aimed at recruiting officials, had concluded.

From Wen Yanran’s perspective, the entire process of the Talent Selection Examination appeared exceptionally crude and, precisely because of its crudeness, riddled with loopholes. Yet, for the natives of this era, it was still a novelty.

Imperial envoys posted announcements stating that all individuals of respectable families could participate in the examination. The Talent Selection Examination spanned several days, with test papers divided into several categories. The first subject covered classical texts and rites, testing the candidates’ foundational knowledge. Subsequent subjects included law, engineering, taxation, agriculture, and others. Beyond theoretical knowledge, the exam papers listed numerous practical cases for candidates to analyze, exuding an unmistakable air of pragmatism from start to finish.

In the selection of officials through the Talent Selection Examination, besides calculating the candidates’ total scores, significant emphasis was placed on individual subject scores. Some candidates received the news late and arrived at the examination hall after missing several subjects. They simply started from the middle and still managed to secure official positions, such as agricultural officers in government-managed farms, due to high scores in the agricultural exam.

Perhaps because they had openly clashed with the Ge Clan earlier and subsequently cooperated fully in dismantling fortified manors, the Gan Clan received some preferential treatment from the imperial court. After completing the Talent Selection Examination, Gan Qu himself was directly appointed as a county magistrate. However, following the principle of avoidance, he was not permitted to serve in his hometown but was instead assigned to a county neighboring the adjacent one.

Unlike in the past, a crucial aspect of the duties for these newly appointed magistrates was to prohibit local magnates from rebuilding fortress manors.

Gan Qu understood clearly that if the Gan Clan chose to rebuild their fortress manor, the court – which looked upon such structures with great displeasure – would likely strip him of his newly acquired official position.

Between the fortress manor and the county magistracy – or, in other words, between control over his hometown and his political career – Gan Qu could only choose one.

The Gan Clan originated from local magnates. Under normal circumstances, reaching the position of a county official with real authority would have been the peak of their aspirations. Having a county magistrate emerge from the entire clan was no small feat. Moreover, the eastern region had just undergone warfare and was in a state of recovery, making it easier to achieve administrative accomplishments. If Gan Qu managed his career step by step from here, he might very well elevate his entire family to the status of a third-tier scholarly clan. Therefore, even knowing that this official position was a tempting bait dangled by the court to secure their cooperation, he could not bear to give it up.