Li Daoxuan happened to be busy bringing rain to several neighboring counties at the time. When his stored water finally ran dry and he paused to replenish it, he casually shifted his field of vision toward Luoyang City.
He arrived just in time to hear the messenger deliver the urgent military report.
Seeing the three generals preparing to leave, Li Daoxuan did not hesitate. He instantly manifested a mass produced avatar of Dao Xuan Tianzun and placed it squarely in their path, directly blocking the doorway.
This sudden descent from the heavens genuinely frightened the three generals.
Gao Jie reacted the most strongly. He stumbled backward three full steps, his fists unconsciously clenching as old memories surfaced, and he felt an ache begin to throb in his knuckles once again.
Cao Wenzhao, however, remained relatively calm.
He had not committed any major wrongdoing recently, so he did not feel particularly afraid of divine beings. He glanced up at the sky, then at the spot where Li Daoxuan had landed, and could not help asking, "You leaped down from the heavens, yet you did not even leave a pit in the ground?"
Cao Bianjiao hurriedly interrupted, "Uncle, is that really the important part right now? Shouldn't we be asking why Dao Xuan Tianzun has blocked our way?"
Cao Wenzhao blinked. "Ah. You are right."
He immediately clasped his fists and said respectfully, "May I ask what instructions Dao Xuan Tianzun has for us?"
Li Daoxuan replied calmly, "I am not here to stop the two of you. You may depart as ordered. I am here for Gao Jie."
Gao Jie stiffened.
Li Daoxuan continued, "Gao Jie has not yet completed his ideological lessons. He is forbidden from leaving Luoyang for the time being."
Gao Jie blinked, utterly stunned. "Eh?"
Li Daoxuan knew very well that Gao Jie had not truly reformed yet.
He was still an unruly and unrepentant former rebel who had been pardoned and brought under imperial command. Such a person was extremely dangerous. If he were allowed to lead troops freely, it would be all too easy for him to stir up chaos once again.
Henan was already suffering greatly from disaster. The people were starving, desperate, and many were joining the rebel armies simply to survive. At a moment like this, releasing another poorly disciplined official force into the countryside would only make matters worse.
It would be nothing short of official oppression breeding popular rebellion.
Li Daoxuan spoke firmly, "Gao Jie must stay and continue his studies. Until your ideology is fully aligned, do not even think about leaving Luoyang by half a step."
Gao Jie was completely speechless.
This situation was unbearably awkward.
He did not dare resist. All he could do was plead miserably. "Dao Xuan Tianzun," he said carefully, "your humble general would never dare defy your command. However, I have already received a military order. If I do not immediately set out, Supreme Commander Lu Xiangheng will surely impeach me for disobeying orders. When that happens, I will be stripped of my rank and executed."
"Claim illness," Li Daoxuan replied. "Just say you are unwell."
Gao Jie became anxious. "This is truly dangerous. Your humble general is already a former rebel now serving the court. If I fail to seize this opportunity to prove my loyalty and instead disobey orders again, I will certainly be doomed."
Li Daoxuan fell silent for a moment, considering his words.
There was indeed some truth to what Gao Jie said.
"Very well," Li Daoxuan finally said. "I will allow you to go. However, a political commissar must accompany you and continue your ideological education along the way."
Gao Jie let out a strangled sound. "Pfft."
Li Daoxuan continued speaking as if nothing had happened. "Furthermore, your troops have not yet been transformed. They are still a band of unruly ruffians. I have no intention of letting them roam the countryside and prey upon the people."
He paused briefly.
"You may only bring a small personal retinue. Only those who truly obey you."
Gao Jie was stunned. "What?"
He hurriedly said, "Your humble general has a deep blood feud with the Dashing General over the matter of my stolen wife. The moment he sees me, he will attack with everything he has. If I bring only a small personal guard, I will surely die."
Li Daoxuan replied calmly, "Bai Yuan will accompany you. He will bring the Xiaolangdi Militia. Their ideology has already been transformed."
Gao Jie fell completely silent.
This arrangement was utterly unacceptable.
He immediately understood that if he went to the battlefield like this, he could forget about commanding anything at all. The true commander would clearly be Bai Yuan. He himself would merely be a general in name, a figurehead who could not even give orders beyond his small group of personal guards.
Yet whether he liked it or not, he had no choice.
After being dealt with harshly the last time, Gao Jie no longer dared to defy Li Daoxuan in the slightest. Joining the campaign under these conditions was still better than being barred from it entirely.
He could only lower his head, slump his shoulders, and sigh. "As you command."
Not long after, Cao Wenzhao departed first, leading the Guanning Iron Cavalry.
Gao Jie, meanwhile, had no choice but to remain in Luoyang and wait obediently for Bai Yuan to arrive with the Xiaolangdi Militia.
An hour later, Bai Yuan entered Luoyang, leading five thousand militiamen.
At first, Gao Jie sneered inwardly. He assumed that a mere militia force would be nothing impressive.
That thought vanished the moment he laid eyes on them.
Every single militiaman was armed with a flintlock rifle.
Each soldier held a long, finely crafted flintlock, nothing like the crude hunting guns Gao Jie was used to seeing among local troops.
Yet the rifles were not even the most shocking part.
Behind the Xiaolangdi Militia rolled eight massive square armored vehicles, their bodies covered in thick iron plating. Gao Jie could not yet judge their actual combat effectiveness, but the eight enormous cannons mounted behind them were impossible to ignore.
"Eight cannons?" Gao Jie blurted out. "Are you really a militia?"
Bai Yuan calmly unfolded his fan and spoke with the bearing of a refined gentleman. "Why should a militia not have cannons? You are behind the times. Even scattered rebel bands can acquire a few cannons these days. If we arrive without artillery and the bandits dig in on high ground, bombarding us with their own guns, how could we ever take their positions? Naturally, we must bring cannons as well."
His reasoning was flawless.
Gao Jie sighed inwardly. "This militia is truly formidable. They are far stronger than my own rabble. Even if they refuse to listen to me, at least they can keep me alive. When facing a deity, what else can one do but bow one's head."
He ordered Xing Shi to remain behind in Luoyang to oversee his former troops. He himself set out with only a small personal guard, following Bai Yuan toward Luzhou.
By this time, thanks to Li Daoxuan's expanded field of view, the entire northwestern region of Henan had effectively become Dao Xuan Tianzun's domain.
The militia advanced in step with the expanding field of view, never pushing forward recklessly.
The reason was simple. Rebel forces were everywhere, numbering in the hundreds of thousands. Li Daoxuan had no intention of allowing his people to stray beyond his sight and be surrounded and annihilated. He therefore repeatedly instructed them to advance slowly and cautiously.
Each time they moved forward a certain distance, the local population would be relocated in groups to factories near Luoyang. There, they were housed within the factory compounds, given dormitories, and provided with work.
As a result, a vast region southeast of Luoyang had become completely uninhabited.
Gao Jie and Bai Yuan led their forces straight through this enormous empty zone.
Years of unrelenting drought had drained every small lake, pond, and minor river dry. Occasionally, a deep well might yield a small trickle of water, but it was nowhere near enough to sustain five thousand men.
The militia had to carefully calculate their marching distance and timing, ensuring that they reached the next major river to replenish their onboard water supply before their reserves ran out.
As they marched, Gao Jie carefully observed the Xiaolangdi Militia.
He wanted to understand the true difference between these soldiers and his own men.
Why had Dao Xuan Tianzun declared these militiamen transformed, while his own troops were forbidden from leaving Luoyang, for fear that they would prey upon the common people?