Chapter 18

Nanchu is wealthy, while Xiqin is poor. The Death Corps, when fighting against Xiqin, were not afraid of dying in battle, but they were afraid that their bodies would not be retrieved by their comrades after death, and would fall into the hands of the Xiqin people. That would be terrible, as they would likely be stripped naked, truly embodying the saying of coming and going with nothing to one's name. Although it sounds carefree, no one would truly want to meet the old King of Hell with their bare buttocks.

Sometimes, Qin Feng and his men were also very puzzled. How could the border troops of Xiqin be so poor? Their soldiers, let alone wearing armor, would be considered rich if they could even dress properly. The weapons in their hands were often so old that it was normal for the blades to have several notches. In battle, Qin Feng and his men often encountered heroes who would charge over with half a saber and stab wildly at them.

In every battle, many Xiqin people would die, but they seemed not to care about the number of deaths. It was as if they had an endless supply of manpower. After a batch died, they would replenish another batch. Over the years, the Xiqin people gave Qin Feng the impression that their numbers were increasing.

In the past, the Xiqin people controlled the Luoying Mountains. Every late spring to early summer, and during the transition between autumn and winter, the Xiqin people would cross the Luoying Mountains and launch two large-scale attacks on the Nanchu people. Their purpose was not to occupy land, but to plunder. After crossing the Luoying Mountains, they would enter the rich Anyang Prefecture of Nanchu. If they succeeded, Anyang Prefecture would be left with nothing, as if it had been looted by bandits.

The Xiqin people, like raising a fat pig, had a very regular and principled way of robbing Anyang Prefecture. They would never harm ordinary civilians. Once they won, they would only plunder property, never burn, kill, or rape. They would come and go swiftly, leaving the Nanchu people in tears.

At such times, the Nanchu court could only provide relief, disaster relief, and resettlement for the plundered people. Then, the people would work hard again, accumulate wealth, and when they had some savings, the Xiqin people would come again as scheduled.

Such blatant actions naturally made the Nanchu people extremely angry. However, the western border troops of Nanchu were also very unambitious. They had fought for the Luoying Mountains several times but were always defeated by the impoverished Xiqin people. When Nanchu wanted to mobilize a large army, Dongqi would immediately become active. Dongqi was determined to restore the former territory of the Tang Dynasty, and Nanchu, such a wealthy land, was exactly what they coveted. Under the constraints of Dongqi, Nanchu could only watch the Xiqin people leisurely raise pigs on the border year after year. The commanders of the western border troops were replaced one after another until eight years ago, when Zuo Lixing took office, and the situation began to change.

Zuo Lixing established the Death Corps, using convicts as soldiers. As long as they accumulated enough merit, they could be rehabilitated and return to normal life, or even be promoted to officers in the army. Although this policy was criticized by the scholars of Nanchu, the emperor of Nanchu, who was already furious, immediately approved Zuo Lixing's request. As long as the convicts were not guilty of treason, they could temporarily gain freedom if they were willing to join the Death Corps, and once they accumulated enough merit, they could choose to leave the camp or become regular soldiers.

Zuo Lixing used these thousands of convicts as the vanguard of the army. After several years of fighting, they finally occupied half of the Luoying Mountains and established the Jingjing Pass, controlling the key route for the Xiqin people to enter Anyang Prefecture. Anyang gradually recovered and prospered, becoming one of the most important grain-producing areas of Nanchu.

Of course, achieving this goal cost the lives of tens of thousands of convicts. Convicts from all over Nanchu continuously entered the Death Corps and fell on this land. However, there were also many successful cases, and these people became the subjects of Nanchu's vigorous propaganda.

Regardless of whether the convicts still in prison believed the government's propaganda, one thing was certain: joining the Death Corps might lead to death, but staying in prison would definitely lead to death. Therefore, people still flocked to join. The number of the Death Corps reached as high as five thousand at its peak. However, in recent years, as Nanchu stabilized its position in the Luoying Mountains, the number of Xiqin attacks decreased year by year, and the size of the Death Corps shrank to two thousand. The threshold for joining the Death Corps naturally became higher, and those without significant skills were unlikely to be selected.

The western border troops were very clear that although the number of the Death Corps had decreased by more than half, their combat power had not diminished but increased. In the past, the Death Corps was purely a suicide squad, trading lives for lives, and only those with extremely good luck could survive. Zuo Lixing did not treat them as true subordinates. In any major battle, whether charging or holding the rear, this army would do it, and he did not care how many people died because these people were originally sentenced to death. Dying on the battlefield was more glorious than dying on the execution ground. At least, their families could receive compensation for their deaths, and their sins could be washed away.

This situation changed when Qin Feng joined the Death Corps.

Qin Feng was an anomaly. When he enlisted, he already had a solid foundation in martial arts. In the recruitment of the western border troops, he made a name for himself by defeating several skilled soldiers. Zuo Lixing originally intended to incorporate him into his personal guard and cultivate him, but this sixteen-year-old insisted on joining the Death Corps, or he would not join the army at all.

Zuo Lixing had never seen such an ungrateful person. In a fit of anger, he really sent him to the Death Corps and ignored him. It was not until a year later, when he saw Qin Feng's name repeatedly on the merit list, that he realized this guy not only had not been killed in the Death Corps but had gradually become a deputy officer. Only at the deputy officer level did his name appear in Zuo Lixing's eyes.

From then on, Zuo Lixing began to pay attention to this guy. Four years ago, the Xiqin people, in order to regain control of the Luoying Mountains and destroy the Jingjing Pass, mobilized a large army and launched a sudden attack. The battle was so fierce that Zuo Lixing still felt the aftereffects. Out of the two thousand Death Corps, only less than a hundred survived. After repelling the Xiqin people, Zuo Lixing saw Qin Feng's name again on the list of survivors.

This time, Zuo Lixing did not hesitate and immediately summoned Qin Feng, intending to transfer him to the regular army as a major. Zuo Lixing wanted to cultivate this guy for two years and then transfer him to his personal guard as a major. The fact that this eighteen-year-old had survived so long in the Death Corps and gradually risen to the rank of deputy officer fully demonstrated his abilities.

However, after a long talk, Zuo Lixing finally understood why Qin Feng wanted to join the Death Corps. With a long sigh, he appointed Qin Feng as the major of the Death Corps.

From that moment on, the Death Corps began to transform. The Xiqin people were also weakened in this battle, and such large-scale wars no longer occurred. Although there were countless small-scale battles, they did not affect Nanchu's stable control of the Jingjing Pass and half of the Luoying Mountains.

The size of the Death Corps continued to shrink until it was only two thousand, nearly half the size of a regular battalion, but their combat power always ranked first among all battalions. Zuo Lixing was determined to incorporate the Death Corps into his command, making it a formal part of the western border troops.

Qin Feng became the unshakable major of the Death Corps and stayed there for six years. As a result, the Death Corps only knew Qin Feng and not Zuo Lixing. However, Zuo Lixing did not care because he knew Qin Feng's background very well. Although he felt sorry, he could do nothing. He had personally taken Qin Feng's pulse and found that practicing such a domineering internal cultivation method had put Qin Feng's life in danger.

After the Death Corps became a formal unit, they dominated the western border troops' military exercises, firmly establishing their position. Their equipment was second only to Zuo Lixing's personal guard, making other units envious but unable to say anything, as they were indeed capable and had achieved great military success.

The Death Corps still maintained the tradition of recruiting convicts, but the selection was now done by the Death Corps themselves. Every year, one of the three deputy officers would go inland to select the convicts who had applied. This made the quality of the soldiers entering the Death Corps increasingly high, but also increasingly difficult to manage.

However, no matter how arrogant a person was, once they entered the Death Corps, they would be disciplined by Qin Feng and would no longer dare to cause trouble. Qin Feng's strict military discipline during training and combat made other units fear him, but in daily life, he never interfered with what the Death Corps did, which made the Death Corps a public nuisance.

Several officers who had left the Death Corps tried to implement what they had learned under Qin Feng in other units, but all failed. Baozi even had to change to another battalion as a major because he injured several deputy officers, and although he won the fights, his orders were no longer followed.

They then realized that the methods used in the Death Corps were not applicable elsewhere.

The Death Corps became an anomaly in the western border troops, and of course, in the entire Nanchu army. Now, this anomaly was cautiously advancing in the Luoying Mountains. Every officer knew that this time, they were the bait, heading into an extremely dangerous trap. According to the court's intelligence, countless Xiqin people were waiting for them in an ambush. How to make the enemy believe that their main force was on the way and how to escape smoothly were the concerns of every officer.

They had fought the Xiqin people for so many years and knew them very well. The Xiqin people were a group of impoverished and desperate individuals. To the Xiqin people, Nanchu soldiers were a mobile treasure trove, and defeating one would bring great wealth.