Journey to the West: Sun Wukong's Advice System
Chapter 98: Military Essentials and Establishing Virtue and Trust

Chapter 98: Chapter 98: Military Essentials and Establishing Virtue and Trust

Sun Wukong, wearing a purple and gold crown, clad in Golden Armor, and with cloud-stepping boots, stood majestically in mid-air.

Looking down at the seventy-two thousand heavenly soldiers and generals below, who were all swarming like an ocean and saluting him as marshal.

He felt exhilaratingly content in his heart, as if he trampled the entire world beneath his feet with boundless pride.

[Congratulations on completing the mission—"Military Suppression." You subdued the generals of the Earthly Fiends with your might and gained a fifth-tier treasure chest]

"That’s it? Unsatisfying, very unsatisfying." Sun Wukong was not fully gratified; he had hardly exerted himself.

Of course, he was also aware that some were intimidated by his strength, not truly convinced in their hearts.

Such as Ji Shuming, who had backing and had undoubtedly just watched this battle from afar. He could only accept the fact that Wukong was the newly appointed Earthly Fiends Marshal.

Therefore, he had not yet fully taken control of the Earthly Fiends division.

Just like another suggestion provided by an online friend said, establishing awe was just the first step. He also needed to establish virtue, faith, speech, and conduct.

The latter tasks were much more difficult than establishing awe.

As Sun Wukong pondered these thoughts, he did not immediately descend. At such a grand moment, he decided to linger a bit longer and began to open the newly acquired treasure chest.

[You have opened a fifth-tier treasure chest, congratulations on obtaining physical cultivation (mid-stage Daluo Golden Immortal), Primordial Spirit cultivation (mid-stage Daluo Golden Immortal), Essence of Military Strategy from all ages, and Yuan Hong’s discontent]

After the ancient treasure chest released a glow, treasures shimmered with divine light, flew out from the chest, and merged into Sun Wukong’s body and Primordial Spirit, enhancing his cultivation, becoming memories, and increasing his experiences.

"Military wisdom from all ages? Heh heh, good, this is good!" Sun Wukong examined this memory segment and was pleasantly surprised.

He had previously gained insights from military strategists, but those insights were fragmentary. They made him understand much about military affairs but did not qualify him as a master strategist.

This reward was different—the complete system of military theories it provided, including various guiding thoughts on military conduct, day-to-day management of forces, strategic command, logistical support, and real battle cases was all-encompassing.

Now, just from an initial review, he felt more confident about how to control the Earthly Fiends division.

One could imagine, if he completely mastered and applied these principles in practice, he was sure to become a master military strategist!

Lastly, Sun Wukong checked another reward, "Hm, discontent? Is this guy still not convinced?"

After checking, he realized that Yuan Hong’s discontent was not due to his defeat, but because of his frustration with dying and being placed on Divine Enthronement without further cultivation prospects.

Having been listed on Divine Enthronement and becoming a diety, one could only exist at the mercy of others.

"Pitiful," thought Sun Wukong, yet he was reminded of the future he learned from online friends.

After he became a disciple of the Buddha Sect, was he also to be left with a heart full of discontent?

"Therefore, Old Sun must become stronger, not just in power but also in influence. Sooner or later, the Buddha Sect must acknowledge whose scriptures are the true teachings!"

With this thought, his eyes gleamed like arrows, his aura skyrocketing as if to pierce through everything.

Meanwhile, the strong individuals present wondered why the marshal remained mid-air and did not come down.

Only Taibai Jinxing, who understood Sun Wukong’s temperament, vaguely knew that the Monkey King was savoring the moment of prestige.

But soon he was surprised to notice that Sun Wukong’s cultivation had clearly strengthened.

Cultivation to reach Daluo Golden Immortal was that simple? Enhancing just by fighting?

Amazed yet enlightened, Taibai Jinxing finally understood how Sun Wukong had achieved the level of Daluo Golden Immortal during his ten years of disappearance. For him, cultivating really was as simple as drinking water, and all his earlier worries were indeed unnecessary.

Not long after, Sun Wukong descended from mid-air, first warmly helping Yuan Hong up and then returning to the Earthly Fiends Marshal’s Main Hall hand-in-hand with him.

This blatantly manipulative gesture to win people’s hearts made Taibai Jinxing raise an eyebrow, but the soldiers below were convinced by such a move.

As all the divine generals and seventy-two regimental commanders saluted Sun Wukong again, many displayed a newfound sincerity.

At this moment, Sun Wukong truly felt that he was the Marshal of the Earthly Fiends, at least when issuing commands, no one dared to outwardly agree but inwardly oppose.

Then he ordered that the rosters of junior officers and the military supplies accounts be brought to him.

Upon hearing this command, Yuan Hong, Deng Jiugong, Hong Jin, and the other seven divine generals, along with the various camp celestial generals, looked at each other but dared not delay, and quickly ordered people to fetch the rosters and accounts.

Taibai Jinxing, standing beside them, gently stroked his beard and nodded, his eyes full of surprise and admiration.

Previously, at the martial arts conference, when he saw Sun Wukong commanding 120,000 celestial soldiers and generals, he knew that this Great Sage Equalling Heaven was knowledgeable about military affairs.

It seemed he was right, as Sun Wukong began by getting to know the personnel and military supplies of the Earthly Fiends, which is fundamental in controlling an army.

Soon, the rosters and accounts from each division arrived at the Commander’s Main Hall, piling up into a mountain.

If he were to go through each book in detail, there’s no telling how much time it would take.

Yuan Hong, Deng Jiugong, Hong Jin, and others initially wanted to leave, but Sun Wukong asked them to stay.

"No hurry, no hurry, how much time can it take? Just watch." Sun Wukong scratched his face and smiled, not wasting any more words. Immediately, he created thousands of hair clones, noisily flipping through the rosters and accounts.

All the divine and celestial generals were dumbfounded, gaining yet another impression of the new marshal as someone who "does things unconventionally."

Taibai Jinxing watched, smiling cheerfully, not surprised at all, for Sun Wukong had done something similar when he first went to the Refining Fire Hall to serve as the arsenal officer.

Before long, Sun Wukong had finished going through all the rosters and accounts of the eight divisions and seventy-two camps of the Earthly Fiends.

He put away his smile and looked at the seven divine generals in the great hall.

His gaze was as sharp as an arrow, causing Yuan Hong, Deng Jiugong, Hong Jin, and the others to shiver internally.

"The soldiers of the Earthly Fiends are not bad, but Old Sun has a doubt," Sun Wukong said. "Why is the military supply for the Exchange Division so much higher than for the other divisions? Could it be that the Exchange Division is the strongest in the Earthly Fiends?

Yet from the roster of officers, the Exchange Division doesn’t have many experts."

"Reporting to the marshal, all military supplies for the Earthly Fiends are allocated by the Purple Tenuity Emperor’s Mansion," Yuan Hong said.

"Why? Are the military supplies also provided by Zi Wei the Great Emperor?" Sun Wukong scoffed. Having served as an arsenal officer, he obviously knew where the military supplies came from.

The military supplies for each division of the Heavenly Court were provided by the state treasury, the internal treasury, and the arsenal; what does it have to do with Zi Wei the Great Emperor?

Su Hu quickly stood up and said, "The marshal may not know, but the Four Saints of the North Pole were originally under the jurisdiction of the Central Heavenly North Pole Purple Tenuity Emperor. When the Martial Emperor served as the Supporting Saintly True Monarch, the Earthly Fiends Division also came under the subdivision of the Purple Tenuity Emperor, thus the military supplies need to be allocated by the Purple Tenuity Emperor’s Mansion."

Sun Wukong fixed his gaze on him and asked, "Then when Martial Emperor was in charge, how were the military supplies allocated among the divisions of the Earthly Fiends? And is your Gen Division also very powerful? How come its military supplies rank second among the eight divisions?"

"This..." Su Hu stammered.

"Since you stood up, why don’t you dare to speak?" Yuan Hong scoffed, "Isn’t it just because Ji Shuming also has the surname Ji? And you recognize him as your father."

Su Hu glared with wide eyes, furious yet unable to speak out, and held himself back.

"Marshal, the military supplies for each division of the Earthly Fiends were originally distributed based on military merits and strength," Deng Jiugong also stood up and said, "Based on military merits during wartime, and strength during peacetime."

"That’s more like it," Sun Wukong nodded, then turned to Su Hu: "Since you are so protective of him, go and quickly tell your master that the rules of the Earthly Fiends will be changed back."

Su Hu’s face turned ugly, and he left the Commander’s Main Hall in dejection.

Afterward, Sun Wukong ordered all the divine generals and celestial generals to spread the command regarding the reallocation of military supplies.

Before long, cheers could be heard from various camps of the Earthly Fiends.

At this moment, Sun Wukong finally felt that he had started to take control of the Earthly Fiends.

It’s just that there were two disgustingly corrupt elements that needed to be urgently driven out.