Chapter 514: Return and Battle Opportunity, Decision |
Beishuo Town City’s walls each ran fifteen kilometers, its main gate opening to the east facing the Mo'ao Mountain Range, with the rear gate to the west.
Although it was called the rear gate on the west side, it was not small in scale; the two gate doors rose twelve meters and measured four meters across, enough for more than ten people to enter abreast.
Under the snowy night, Beishuo Town City resembled a pitch-black steel behemoth, crouched quietly on the ground. Above the tightly shut western gate, soldiers in armor and carrying sharp weapons passed from time to time, and many watchers stood atop the wall’s arrow towers, eyes fixed on the surrounding area, clearly on alert.
If one observed more closely, one would see not only the gate but also the snowfields for several kilometers around it dotted with scouts in plain clothes, constantly moving about; occasionally the sounds of scuffles could even be heard.
“I returned on the night of the 27th...”
Above the direct north of Beishuo City, roughly two li away, Xia Hong stared at the town. When he noticed Xia Chuan and Xu Ning approaching from behind, he waved them off—no salute needed—then slowly spoke.
“Eldest Brother, you’ve been watching us secretly this whole time?”
Xia Hong turned his head, seeing the excitement on Xia Chuan and Xu Ning’s faces, and couldn’t help but smile. He put Yang Zun’s matter aside for the moment, then nodded toward them with approval and said, “These past three years, you’ve brought me quite a few surprises...”
Last night he had come out of the Nine-Bend Blood Corridor, descended from Danxue Peak, and after arriving at Dongchuan City he made a few inquiries in town and immediately understood that a great war was underway.
He had to admit, when he first heard the news, Xia Hong felt both shocked and baffled. Even though Jiang Xinfan had already briefed him on some of Great Xia’s situation and he had roughly guessed the camp was no longer what it used to be, launching operations on four fronts at once still seemed overreaching.
No matter how strong they were, you couldn’t fight like that!
But after observing the four armies’ dispositions and grasping Great Xia’s operational intent, and after witnessing Dragon Valley’s Army Commander Li Yangtian’s rebellion last night and Great Xia’s bloodless takeover of Longgu Town, Xia Hong’s thinking shifted.
First, the strength of Xia’s forces far exceeded his expectations, even surpassing what Jiang Xinfan had described. That made sense—Great Xia had been changing rapidly every day. Jiang Xinfan went to Chencang in March; nine months had passed since then, so the situation naturally differed greatly.
Second, the operational purpose. On the surface, the four armies set out together on December 26, but by the late night of the 29th, in these three days, only two truly explosive battles had occurred: one at Longgu Town, caused mainly by Li Yangtian’s rebellion, in which only Sun Manifestation Level fighters intervened; the other was the just-concluded fight at Baimu City.
So it was obvious the simultaneous four-front departure was a bluff, most likely meant to divert attention from the north and mask the operation against Longgu Town. After taking Longgu, Xia Chuan then made Baimu City the primary battlefield and began to engage Beishuo head-on.
As for the other three armies, their inactivity made it clear they were meant to pin down each town.
Xia Chuan—no, the campaign’s supreme commander was Li Xuanling. Li Xuanling obviously understood that launching multi-front assaults at once was unwise, and considering how the towns were already dug in, Great Xia being the attacker made it even less likely for the four armies to assault simultaneously.
Finally, Great Xia’s bloodless capture of Longgu made Xia Hong realize that during his three-year absence, Great Xia’s infiltration into the five northern towns had become terrifying: even Longgu’s number two, Li Yangtian, could be turned. If he could be recruited, then the others were even more vulnerable.
Li Xuanling dared to openly declare war while Xia Chuan, Yuwen Tao, and the various departmental heads raised no objections. This proved Great Xia’s confidence in this conflict—confidence built despite the absence of their lord.
Xia Hong’s mind moved slightly. He looked at Xia Chuan and asked with a light laugh, “You had people watching outside the Nine-Bend Blood Corridor to prevent Chencang’s reinforcements. You even considered two major feudal towns—yet you still dared to rashly attack Beishuo? At that critical moment just now, if I hadn’t been here...”
“Even if Eldest Brother weren’t here, Yang Zun still couldn’t kill me!” Xia Chuan replied confidently. Xia Hong smiled as he remembered the black knife hidden inside the Scarlet-Silver Blade Puppet’s head and the twenty Divine Machine Crossbows already set up at the rear of the battlefield. He nodded slightly.
Xia Chuan’s black knife was inherited from the Wood Puppet Abomination. As far as Xia Hong knew, that black blade not only changed size at will, but when paired with the transparent silk threads it could unleash far greater power.
In the Baimu City battle, five thousand of Xia’s soldiers had remained unmoving. Xia Hong had been on the field and saw it clearly: after they stopped shooting, only a thousand on the outer ring were standing guard while four thousand inside had already mounted the twenty Divine Machine Crossbows, awaiting Xia Chuan’s order.
If Xia Hong wasn’t mistaken, the design of those twenty crossbows had evolved greatly from the Hongmen battle four years ago. It took two hundred Warmth Realm fighters to operate each one. No doubt their power had strengthened considerably.
With those preparations, Yang Zun truly could not have killed Xia Chuan at that moment, which explained why Xia Hong didn’t immediately turn back, instead using a Shattering Divine Light from his left eye to help Xia Chuan break free.
Yang Zun had hidden his strength for so long to get one assassination chance. That one strike failed, and Xia Chuan naturally wouldn’t give him another. Judging from the battlefield situation at Baimu, Yang Zun’s strength still wasn’t sufficient to turn the tide.
“Oh, you only think about Yang Zun? What if last night Chencang had sent a Tribulation Body Realm expert—what would you have done?” Xia Hong teased.
His elder brother was testing him!
Xia Chuan smiled knowingly and said confidently, “Eldest Brother, that’s a rhetorical question. According to what Jiang Xinfan learned in Chencang, Tribulation Body Realm experts, though powerful, avoid showing up where there are many people and will not act recklessly in public. Putting aside whether Chencang would even send one, if they did, their opportunities to strike would be extremely limited. I don’t believe a mere Baimu City is worth them wasting such an opportunity.”
Indeed, Jiang Xinfan had been undercover in Chencang for half a year. Great Xia’s understanding of the feudal towns and Tribulation Body experts was no longer blank.
They had planned thoroughly, accounting for almost every possibility. It seemed that in these three years, his younger brother had not only improved his cultivation but become more mature and composed in action.
Although satisfied in his heart, Xia Hong showed no expression. He turned his gaze back to Beishuo Town City and gave a cold smile: “For the short term, Chencang can’t send anyone. The messenger they sent back was intercepted!”
Hearing this, Xia Chuan and Xu Ning were stunned for a moment, then their pupils filled with joy and excitement.
“No wonder Caiqiu sent so many Sun Manifestation Level fighters while Chencang didn’t send a single one. So the messenger was ambushed by the lord...”
“Yang Zun has too close a relationship with Chencang; Caiqiu couldn’t recruit him, so they couldn’t send help. That means if we attack Beishuo, we face no pressure!”
Xia Chuan echoed Xu Ning’s words, visibly elated, then looked up at Xia Hong and continued, “Eldest Brother, the casualties from the Baimu City attack were tallied last night. Overall losses are under five percent. It’s nearly midnight now. They should be reorganizing and preparing to march. At most three hours and they’ll arrive here...”
The Baimu City battle had started during the day on the 29th and lasted about two hours. Darkness had fallen shortly after it ended.
Following Eldest Brother’s earlier orders, the army was to rest at Baimu City for half a night, then march south at midnight to surround Beishuo Town City.
He and Xu Ning only came to find Xia Hong after they had settled everything at Baimu City.
Beishuo Town City sat at the junction of Baimu, Kuling, and Hegu districts, southeast of Baimu City, roughly over ninety kilometers away. A force of forty thousand men didn’t move quickly, but three hours was about right.
“Perfect timing, we’ll reach before dawn...” Xia Hong murmured, staring at Beishuo Town City, his pupils flashing with intent.
Indeed, now was the best time to strike Beishuo Town City.
An official assault should begin at dawn—no need to debate that. In the two hours of dawn one could directly neutralize all the Digging Realm defenders in town and replace them with tens of thousands of soldiers.
When the forty thousand Xia troops arrived, there would be a little over an hour until daylight—the interval was perfect for rest. Attacking around dawn would be ideal.
And with no reinforcements from Chencang confirmed, and Caiqiu unlikely to send aid, and with Yang Zun still gravely wounded, it was the perfect moment to strike while the enemy was weakest.
“How many defenders remain inside Beishuo?” Xia Hong asked, forcing himself to calm his excitement before turning to Xia Chuan for details.
Xia Chuan knew the situation well and replied: “Beishuo’s development these past two years wasn’t slow. The town has seventy thousand Warmth Realm fighters, including twenty thousand Beishuo Army troops, but...”
He paused briefly, smiling before continuing, “From the start of this battle, Beishuo overextended. They placed five thousand ordinary town garrison troops at each of the four large camps—Baimu, Zhongyang, Jingxi, and Hegu—sending two ten-thousands away. In the Baimu fight they deployed twenty-five thousand, including ten thousand elite Beishuo Army and ten thousand garrison troops shifted from surrounding towns—that’s about twenty thousand committed. So now, at most, only thirty thousand defenders remain in the town, of which ten thousand are elite Beishuo Army and the rest ordinary garrison troops...”
“No, it should be thirty-five thousand!” Xia Hong interrupted and continued, “Before you two arrived, five thousand soldiers wearing Thousand-Folded Iron armor entered the city from the east. They must be Hegu’s five thousand defenders.”
Hegu lay to the east of the town; when Yang Zun fled back from Baimu City in panic he certainly informed those troops to return immediately. Zhongyang was too far and was being watched by Mu Longhe’s forces; Jingxi’s five thousand defenders had already rebelled with Gu Tianxiong and his brothers, so they were out of the equation.
Counting the troops that retreated from Baimu, Beishuo’s available Warmth Realm forces now numbered just thirty-five thousand.
“Eldest Brother, I forgot to tell you—Mu Longhe has already taken Zhongyang. His ten thousand troops suffered little loss and are heading this way. They’ll probably arrive faster than the forty thousand at Baimu. Once they arrive, we’ll have fifty thousand troops.”
Fifty thousand troops attacking Beishuo defended by thirty-five thousand... Xia Hong’s pupils glinted ever more intensely. He didn’t bother to ask how Mu Longhe had taken Zhongyang; instead he stared at the southern wall of Beishuo and wrestled inwardly.
Five to 3.5, normally attackers wouldn’t win an assault. But this was the Ice Abyss—not to be judged by ordinary logic. Moreover, Great Xia had his forces present, and Yang Zun was gravely wounded. Xia had just won a major victory at Baimu City and morale among Xia’s troops was high. Conversely, within Beishuo, Jingxi had rebelled, their lord lay gravely injured, Army Commander Yang Jian, Town Lord Yang Fa, and five other Sun Manifestation Level fighters had been killed, costing them twenty-five thousand troops and the loss of Zhongyang. The defenders inside were in panic and helpless.
With one side rising and the other falling, could they miss such an opportunity?
“Xu Ning, notify the Baimu and Mu Longhe forces to speed up. Tell them to hurry. If they can arrive within the two hours before dawn, we’ll begin the assault!” Xia Hong made the decision immediately—such an opportunity must not be wasted.
At present, Beishuo Town City was the most important objective in the northern theater. If they could take this town, Wuchuan and Jinshan, as well as Yangju which was besieged by Yuan Cheng’s rear-route army, might reconsider their stances.
And there was Yang Zun. He was being watched; Yang Zun absolutely could not be allowed to escape.
“As you command!” Xu Ning cupped his hands and responded before turning and flying off toward Baimu City.
Xia Hong watched Xu Ning leave, pondered for a moment, his pupils flashing coldly, then turned to Xia Chuan: “Go back to Xia City. Fetch something for me as quickly as possible...”
“Understood, Eldest Brother. I’ll go right away!” Xia Chuan’s expression turned serious. He nodded and immediately set off.
“Yang Zun’s only remaining chance to live is a single possibility, and I must eliminate that possibility. I can’t leave such a great threat...”
Putting aside Yang Zun’s hidden strength, his ruthless behavior showed that once such a man was crossed, he had to be killed early or he would bring endless trouble. Thinking of his youngest son Xia Yusheng nearly being abducted by Yang Jian and his men, Xia Hong continued to stare at Beishuo Town City, the killing intent in his eyes growing even thicker.