Chapter 590: Armies at the Gates, Green Xun Divine Crossbows and Rising Strength |
Great Xia Year Thirteen, Sixth Month, Ninth Day
As night finally fell, less than a quarter-hour after Xia Chuan's command of the 150,000 central army slowed its pace, two long lines of firelight appeared on the left and right flanks—clearly torches lit by the marching troops.
"Department Chancellor, the left route's 100,000 troops have arrived!"
"Reporting to the Department Chancellor, the right route's 100,000 troops have arrived!"
Luo Yuan and Yuan Cheng, the two Commanders-in-Chief, arrived together. After cupping their fists and reporting to Xia Chuan in the sky above, they looked down at the three converging armies below, their expressions brimming with excitement.
This wasn't surprising. Since the Northern Expedition officially began at the end of the twelfth month last year, Great Xia had spent less than half a month annihilating the northern five towns. Then, they defeated Caiqiu three times, forcibly expanding Great Xia's territory to the Evergreen Valley border in Mo'ao Chuan. The gains were undeniably massive.
However, the 100,000 Chencang troops stationed in Dongchuan City remained a giant thorn lodged in their throats. Even though Xia City held a merit-awarding ceremony in the fourth month, these high-ranking officials still felt in their hearts that the Northern Expedition wasn't over yet.
And indeed, it wasn't. Having held high positions for many years, both Yuan Cheng and Luo Yuan possessed vision and insight far beyond what they once had. They understood clearly that as long as Chencang's 100,000 troops were stuck there, Great Xia couldn't achieve absolute control over the entire Southern Foothills region. Without that, the entire northern territory would never be safe.
So how could anyone claim the Northern Expedition was over?
Each in their position attends to their duties. The soldiers and those beneath them, given their roles, could naturally ignore everything and happily live their own lives. But generals and those in high positions couldn't. They couldn't be short-sighted. They had to constantly look to the future. Especially as contact with the Four Feudatories of Mo'ao Chuan grew more frequent, and with deepening understanding, they knew clearly that these four northern neighbors were no pushovers. Chencang, in particular.
"With three routes totaling 350,000 troops, and all 50,000 designation troops deployed, breaching Dongchuan City—which we built ourselves—won't exactly be effortless, but it won't take much effort either. Caiqiu's fourth counterattack should have already begun by now. We can assault the city whenever we want!"
Seeing the three armies had converged, less than five kilometers from Dongchuan City, Yuan Cheng took down his two-meter double-bladed giant axe from his back and eagerly spoke to Xia Chuan.
They had spent a full four months preparing for this great battle. They had made every possible preparation. Thinking back to how the two ultimatums the Department Chancellor had sent to Chencang were both ignored, Yuan Cheng's pupils were filled with cold malice. He wished he could charge to Dongchuan's city gate right now, break it open, and slaughter his way inside.
"No need to rush. It's not us who should be in a hurry now..."
Xia Chuan calmly replied to Yuan Cheng. Then, gazing toward Dongchuan City to the north, he continued with a cold laugh: "Thinking they can hold their ground in the Southern Foothills with 100,000 troops? A fool's dream! They ignored two ultimatums. Now that the fight's at their doorstep, let's see if Chencang can still be so arrogant!"
After Chencang occupied Dongchuan City at the beginning of the year, they didn't move their population there. Clearly, they intended to use it as a garrison. With our forces cooperating with the Military Department to fully blockade the entrances to Beining Mountain and Mo'ao Mountain, Chencang's 100,000 troops have to rely on supplies from within Mo'ao Chuan for food, drink, and shelter. According to scout reports, if they ration carefully, the supplies stockpiled in the city should last them five months!"
The speaker was Luo Yuan. He wasn't just the Commander-in-Chief of the left route army among the three forces, but also the Department Head of the Hunting Department among Great Xia's Eight Departments.
The Hunting Department's strength among the Eight Departments was second only to the Military and Prison Departments. It controlled all the resource zones across Great Xia's territory. After the northern five towns were destroyed at the beginning of the year, the mountain passes of Beining Mountain and northern Mo'ao Mountain all fell under Great Xia's control, naturally coming under the Hunting Department's management.
Blocking the resource zone entrances to prevent Chencang's army from freely resupplying was Luo Yuan's own proposal. While it hadn't dealt a fatal blow to Chencang, it forced them to rely on supplies from within their own territory, causing no small amount of trouble.
Qiu Peng, standing nearby, nodded and smiled: "Great Xia currently only has trade routes open with Caiqiu. Chencang can only resupply from within their territory. I heard that to facilitate resupply, they even built roads north of Dongchuan City. That saves us a lot of trouble!"
Dongchuan City was less than seventy kilometers from Danxue Peak to the north. Building such a long stretch of road, even at the minimum specifications of the Xia Straight Road, would have been costly. Chencang building the road for us really saved Great Xia a lot of trouble.
At this moment, whether it was Yuan Cheng, Luo Yuan, or Xia Chuan, none of them seemed to take Chencang's 100,000 troops stationed in Dongchuan City seriously anymore. This fortified city seemed, in their eyes, as fragile as if it could be taken with a single strike.
"The only unexpected thing is that the Lord Leader entrusted such a massive matter to us. With only two Tribulation Body Realm experts guarding the city, it counts as a minor nuisance..."
Hearing Luo Yuan's words, Yuan Cheng and Qiu Peng both subtly shifted their gazes, almost simultaneously looking toward Xia Chuan ahead, but saying nothing.
Although Xia Chuan claimed the Lord Leader had been in seclusion at Red Dragon Lake, not appearing in Xia City for seven or eight consecutive months—apart from that three-year trip to Caiqiu—this had never happened before.
Xia City had gone six months without the Sacred Cauldron's heat.
Both Yuan Cheng and Xia Chuan were old-timers from the Earthen Slope period. Leaving aside their understanding of Xia Hong himself, just from the matter of the Sacred Cauldron, they could roughly guess that the Lord Leader, Xia Hong, had likely run into some kind of trouble.
But Xia Chuan didn't say anything, and the Madam never mentioned it either. Coupled with the fact that Xia Hong's clan Spirit Tablet in the Ancestral Temple had always been normal, Yuan Cheng and Qiu Peng, no matter how suspicious they were in their hearts, never took the initiative to ask.
Neither of them were young men anymore. They understood clearly that at this critical juncture, if news of the Lord Leader's absence spread to the Four Feudatories of Mo'ao Chuan, Great Xia would face extremely severe consequences.
At the same time, they could fully understand why Xia Chuan was so desperate to resolve the Dongchuan City problem.
The more the Lord Leader was absent, the more forceful Great Xia's external stance had to be. Great Xia's territory was now vast, and the Four Feudatories had planted many spies within their borders. Add to that the surge in population in the capital over the past six months, and the formal opening of trade routes with Caiqiu in the third month, it was inevitable that spies from the Four Feudatories would slip in.
No one knew when the Lord Leader would return. As time passed, these spies would inevitably notice something amiss. Once Chencang grew suspicious, sending someone to probe would be enough—Great Xia wouldn't be able to cover it up. At that point, news of Xia Hong's absence would inevitably be fully exposed.
By then, forget about solving the Dongchuan City problem—Chencang, and even the other three feudatories, might all march south to take a bite out of Great Xia.
So, Dongchuan City couldn't be delayed. It had to be resolved quickly!
"Two Tribulation Body Realm experts count as a problem? We've hauled over all twenty Green Xun Divine Crossbows. Dealing with them is more than enough. We've already tampered with Dongchuan City's walls. Breaching the city will be easy."
As Xia Chuan's words fell, Qiu Peng, Luo Yuan, and even Xia Chuan himself, all had their expressions brighten, their pupils filled with excitement.
Great Xia had pushed into Evergreen Valley at the beginning of the year, incorporating the entire Bone-Erosion Path into its territory. Such a treasure trove of resources, Great Xia naturally utilized immediately.
The most precious thing in the Bone-Erosion Path was undoubtedly the Green Xun Treasure Tree.
In fact, among the many resources Xia Chuan had entrusted Qiu Peng to transport back to Xia City at the beginning of the year, there were fifty Green Xun Vines and one Green Xun Treasure Tree. When the Artisans Department saw these items, their first thought was of making bows. They immediately tested the vines' toughness and elasticity and found their guess was correct.
Even a simple Green Xun Vine could withstand a pulling force of 3 Jun. This material was essentially a top-tier bow-making material born from nature.
Thanks to the Lord Leader's early emphasis on material research, the Artisans Department's enthusiasm for development was now exceptionally intense. Whenever they received a new type of material, they would work day and night to develop it, finding the limits of the material's properties, uncovering more uses while maximizing the material's effectiveness.
This bow-making material capable of withstanding 3 Jun of pull, once sent to the Artisans Department, caused a stir like a stone dropped into a still lake. Mu Dong led the craftsmen in almost round-the-clock research and development. In less than a month, using special methods, they increased the vine's pull tolerance by four times, reaching 12 Jun.
After that, since the Bone-Erosion Path was already part of the territory, the Logging Department quickly found large forests of Green Xun trees within it. This solved the material supply problem. Great Xia's bow-making capabilities rapidly improved. They could even make Green Xun Divine Bows exclusively for Sun Manifestation Level use, with a pull force of 20 Jun.
Bow-making was just the first step. Mu Dong's second step was to improve Great Xia's original Divine Machine Crossbows, which were primarily made from Cloud Python sinew. The power of the Divine Machine Crossbow was determined by the bowstring on the frame. With the tougher Green Xun Vines available, the Green Xun Divine Crossbow was naturally born.
"One Green Xun Divine Crossbow requires five hundred Green Xun Vines. The main frame of the crossbow is forged from Ten-Thousand-Forged Silver. Even with wheels installed, it takes over a thousand Warmth Realm experts working together just to move it, let alone operate it."
Qiu Peng paused after speaking and looked down at the middle section of the army below.
Twenty squads of a thousand soldiers each, pulling from the front and pushing from behind, were moving a giant crossbow vehicle over thirty meters long. Since the crossbow was covered in black canvas, its exact appearance couldn't be seen.
"To activate the Green Xun Divine Crossbow, you not only need two Sun Manifestation Level experts with strength over 10 Jun as primary operators, but also five hundred skilled Warmth Realm experts with strength over 20 Zong to cooperate in pulling the bowstring. We tested it inside Mo'ao Mountain. The arrow fired by the Green Xun Divine Crossbow has a normal impact force of over 300, and close to 400 Jun under extreme conditions—equivalent to a full-powered strike from an ordinary Four Tribulations Body Realm expert."
The person responsible for testing the Green Xun Divine Crossbow at the beginning of the month was Yuan Cheng himself. He couldn't help but speak up now. After finishing, he added: "As for speed, forget it—Sun Manifestation Level experts can't even see it clearly. There's no possibility of dodging. It's just that we currently have no Tribulation Body Realm experts of our own. This time, we can use Chu Tianhe and Fang Tianqing—those two Tribulation Body Realm experts—to test its power.
The only flaw of the Green Xun Divine Crossbow is probably its firing rate. Each shot takes at least a hundred breaths to prepare. Mu Dong probably still has ways to improve it, but with the current urgency, there's no time for him to refine it further."
Xia Chuan nodded slightly after listening, a hint of excitement flickering in his eyes.
Though Eldest Brother wasn't around, the Green Xun Vines he had left behind had unintentionally given Great Xia another massive advantage. A force of 300 to 400 Jun—leaving aside firing rate for now—just this power alone was enough to make Great Xia unafraid of the top experts from the feudal towns for the time being.
"Warmth Realm experts with strength over 20 Zong—even the Cloud Python Army hasn't reached that level. Crossbow crew members had to be drawn from various designation armies. Fortunately, over the past six months, the soldiers' cultivation has been growing fast enough. We barely managed to scrape together the numbers."
One Green Xun Divine Crossbow required 500 such people. Twenty crossbows meant 20,000 people. Twenty thousand Warmth Realm soldiers with strength over 20 Zong—half a year ago, the Xia troops truly couldn't have produced them.
"Thanks to the batch of pills the Lord Leader had me bring back to Xia City. Starting from the fourth month, the Alchemy Hall has been continuously releasing new types of pills, including many for us Sun Manifestation Level experts. That's why the soldiers, including all of us, have seen such rapid cultivation breakthroughs."
Recalling the batch of resources the Lord Leader had entrusted him to bring back to Xia City half a year ago, Qiu Peng's face was now filled with emotion. He had actually had a premonition at the time that this batch of resources would bring tremendous changes to Great Xia. But looking back now, the change was not just tremendous—it was earth-shattering.
"Quite a few new Sun Manifestation Level breakthroughs have occurred in the past six months, but finding Sun Manifestation Level experts with strength over 10 Jun is still not easy. Even with the surrendered generals from the five towns—Shangguan Yang, Qin He, Qin Shan, and others—filling the gaps, we're still short. We'll have to step up ourselves."
Hearing Yuan Cheng's words, Xia Chuan's brow furrowed slightly, but soon relaxed. He waved his hand and said: "No big deal. The Green Xun Divine Crossbows came out of nowhere anyway. They're divine weapons that can threaten Tribulation Body Realm experts. As long as they can function normally, that's good enough!"
One Green Xun Divine Crossbow required two Sun Manifestation Level experts with strength over 10 Jun to operate. Twenty crossbows meant forty such experts.
As of now, Great Xia had quite a few Sun Manifestation Level experts, but not many with strength over 10 Jun. If they hadn't taken in a batch of surrendered Sun Manifestation Level generals from the northern five towns at the beginning of the year, they simply couldn't have found enough.
"The Yang Clan has been completely exterminated. From Beishuo, we only took in one Sun Manifestation Level expert—Huang Yuhe. But Jinshan had five, Wuchuan had six. Add in Li Yangtian and his son from Longgu, that makes fourteen total.
In the past six months, another sixteen people in Xia City have broken through. Great Xia's current number of Sun Manifestation Level experts has exceeded eighty. Over the past few months, the Logging Department has been sending frequent good news. On the eastern side of Mo'ao Mountain, they've found a total of six Heavenly Sun Branches, bringing back over a hundred Heavenly Sun Fruits. These have been successively refined into Sun-Breaking Pills. Cheng Feng successfully replicated the Sun-Breaking Pill last month. There should be another batch breaking through in the second half of the year. It's estimated we can reach 100, maybe even more..."
But this number still wasn't enough. Not nearly enough!
After doing some mental calculations, Xia Chuan still shook his head.
Each of the Four Feudatories of Mo'ao Chuan, taken individually, had over a thousand Sun Manifestation Level experts. Even if Great Xia broke 100, they'd still be far behind.
"Compared to the feudal towns, Great Xia's foundation is lacking by more than a little. The only reason we barely have the qualifications to speak with them is Eldest Brother. Last year's three victories over Caiqiu—first, Caiqiu was careless; second, we had the geographical advantage of the Bone-Erosion Path; third, Chencang helped pin them down on the western front; and finally, Eldest Brother turned the tide. None of these four elements could have been missing..."
Today was different!
Xia Chuan took a slight breath. Facing Chencang's 100,000 troops today, they not only had a three-to-one numerical advantage, but also the newly developed twenty Green Xun Divine Crossbows. On top of that, Dongchuan City was originally built under Great Xia's supervision. They had long left weak points in the walls.
At this moment, Great Xia had every advantage—timing, terrain, and unity. Considering their bribery tactics aimed at Chu Tianhe and his four generals, every angle, both inside and outside the battlefield, had been accounted for. There was simply no way Great Xia could lose.
But in his heart, he was still a little nervous.
There was only one reason: Eldest Brother wasn't here!
Xia Hong had never been absent from Great Xia for long before. The most recent instance was that three-year trip to Mo'ao Chuan. The problem was, during those three years, Great Xia hadn't faced a powerful opponent like Chencang.
Moreover, before leaving, Xia Hong had left behind the Sacred Cauldron and the Frost Beast Stakes, making thorough arrangements for every aspect of Xia City.
This time was different. Eldest Brother had suddenly disappeared, taking the Sacred Cauldron and the Frost Beast Stakes with him, leaving no message behind.
In other words, this was the first time he truly took command of the camp and dealt with external problems on his own. And he was facing an opponent as powerful as Chencang.
Deep down, he was a little nervous.
"Since this Commandery Governor set foot on the Southern Foothills, I've often heard people say the Xia people observe propriety, are strict with themselves, and act with righteousness and integrity. Lord Leader Xia Hong—attacking without declaring war today is the act of a petty man. I, Chu, find it utterly disgraceful. If the ruler of Great Xia is like this, the Xia people can't be much better. Clearly, the rumors are not to be trusted!"
As Xia Chuan's heart was churning with a hint of anxiety, a cold laugh suddenly rang out from above his head. He immediately pushed aside the distracting thoughts, looked up, and his eyes turned incredibly sharp.
Chu Tianhe had arrived!
And he had brought five people with him.
Coming ahead of time to probe the Xia army's strength—this man truly couldn't contain his impatience.