Chapter 336- Empty City Plan
Translator: TeamTWO
Editor: Jun
At 5 PM, the troops led by Zhan Lang had rushed near the city east camp.
Seeing him appear, Di Chen also led his troops out of the city and both forces had successfully surrounded the city east camp as planned.
As it was already late, both forces agreed to fight the next day.
It was because of that decision that provided enough time for the 3rd division to escape.
That afternoon, the Feng bird released by the Military Intelligence Division from the city east camp had flown to Shanhai City with the new intel.
The way things stood, the 3rd division was fine. With Gushan County’s support, they could at least last for 4-5 days.
With these few days, they could plan and prepare.
Baiqi, was preparing a huge gift for the enemy.
After settling the camp, Zhan Lang brought Zhao Zhuang, climbing up the high platform and viewing the city east camp in front of them.
"The camp, why is it so quiet?" Zhao Zhuang had some doubts.
Zhan Lang paid attention and frowned. "It is too quiet!"
"Do we need to arrange spies to go investigate?"
Zhan Lang shook his head. "No need, anyways tomorrow morning we will launch the attack."
"Ok, I'll go take a look at our troops." Zhao Zhuang turned around and left.
Zhan Lang looked at the fading back of Zhao Zhuang and nodded. Towards him, Zhan Lang was very pleased, although he wasn't talented like Zhao Kuo, his personality wasn't very likeable, and he didn't speak up much.
He, however, had a quality which Zhan Lang admired. He did everything he was told.
Zhao Zhuang had quietly arranged everything about the army advance, finding a suitable camp spot, planning the camp, getting the resources, arranging the sentries, etc.
Under Zhao Zhuang's supervision, everything ran well and Zhan Lang didn't need to worry.
This was a general that allowed one to relax.
The next day, the alliance army launched their assault on the city east camp.
What was weird was that facing the advancing enemy, the city east camp was still very quiet.
Seeing that, a feeling of unease rose up in Zhan Lang's heart.
The attack was unexpectedly smooth and without any resistance, they managed to enter the camp.
At this time, even a fool would realize that something was wrong.
The two armies gathered in the city east camp.
Seeing the empty camp, Zhan Lang and Di Chen's faces were really ugly.
In the camp, the scarecrows which had armor on were staring at the alliance army, like little clowns mocking them....
"Dammit!" Sha Pojun shouted. He swung his sword and broke a scarecrow to vent his anger.
Di Chen was more calm, he went beside Zhan Lang and asked, "What do you think?"
"It's obvious, our army has been monitored so they had news early. I think they retreated yesterday in the afternoon." Zhan Lang was a little anxious.
This kind of feeling when things weren't in your control was certainly uncomfortable.
Di Chen nodded and agreed with Di Chen's analysis. "The northern and southern sides are blocked by us, so where can they escape to?" As he said to here, he called out to Ba Dao whose face was also black and asked, "Are there any subsidiary territories in this region?"
"Yes. To the west there's Friendship County; east near the hundred thousand mountain, there's Gushan County. These two territories are under Shanhai Territory."
Di Chen nodded and continued, "Which direction do you think they escaped to?"
"This..." Ba Dao was stunned and he wasn't sure.
Just at this moment, Zhao Zhuang and Lianpo walked over.
Di Chen respectfully asked, "General, have you found anything?"
Lianpo brushed his moustache, "Based on my observations, they escaped last afternoon, and they should have went east." As expected from an old general, he had vast experience.
"Is there a chance that they were purposely trying to mislead us?" Zhan Lang was still worried.
"There is such a chance." Although he said that, in truth he was still very sure of his answer. But because of the situation, he just didn't want to be too direct.
Being retorted like that by Lianpo, Zhan Lang's facial expression changed.
Zhao Zhuang who was standing at the side had an awkward expression. He understood Lianpo too well.
"Cough!" Di Chen helped Zhan Lang get out of the awkwardness and looked at Ba Dao. "Is there anything special about Gushan County?"
Ba Dao's only role in this was to answer nicely. “Gushan County is a mountain barbarian run county; the mountain barbarian race stays there." Apparently, Ba Dao had done a lot of work on Shanhai Territory.
"Oh, ya!" Ba Dao suddenly smacked his head and said loudly, "Apart from a city protection unit, they also have a fighting regiment, probably to defend against the beasts in the hundred thousand mountains!"
Di Chen and Zhan Lang looked at one another, having made their decision.
It seemed like the 3rd division was most probably at Gushan County.
Di Chen looked around and raised the morale, saying loudly, "The enemy just retreated and are probably nearby. Even if they reach Gushan County, they can't prepare for the battle. A small county can't defend against our huge army."
"That's right. The enemy retreating meant they didn't have the confidence to face us, they are cowards." Zhan Lang stepped out an said, "Now we will go towards Gushan County."
"Advance to Gushan County and destroy the 3rd division!" Wandering Magic shouted.
"Advance to Gushan County, destroy the 3rd division!"
The roar deafened and spread through the wilderness.
In a moment, the morale of the alliance army skyrocketed as they reorganized their forces and marched towards Gushan County.
The 3rd division rushed day and night and finally reached Gushan County in the early morning. It was also a coincidence that at the exact same moment, the alliance army was attacking the city east camp.
County Magistrate Lei Fan had received the news and personally welcomed them.
The core members were in the County Manor meeting hall.
Apart from the generals, were the independent regiment colonel, the city protection unit major as well as Lei Fan joining the meeting.
It was an emergency, so after Er'Lai gave a rough overview, a state of emergency was announced.
"Based on wartime rules, as the main general at the city east camp, in the highest commander in the east region, receive my order. The Gushan County independent regiment and the city protection unit are now under the 3rd division."
"Yes commander!" The two generals stepped out to receive the order.
Er'Lai nodded his head, looking towards Lei Fan and saying, "County Magistrate Lei, it’s a state of emergency so all commoners regardless of age or gender must follow military orders."
"No problem!"
At the start of the Battle of Lianzhou, the various Houses had received the level one warning from the Lord's Manor. Lei Fan was smart and had started preparing combat logistics.
"What's most important is that we must announce a recruitment, to recruit all the young men into the reserve force for them to help us defend the county."
"General don't worry, everyone in the county have a common goal!" Lei Fan was very confident.
"Good, time is of the essence, lets go prepare!"
"Yes!"
After the meeting, the county started to get busy.
With more preparations done now, they would be able to lose less blood later on.
The mountain barbarians were expectedly bloodthirsty, and the moment a call to arms was announced, hundreds and thousands of young mountain barbarians registered.
The 3rd division was made up of all mountain barbarian warriors. Their elite equipment, rich salary and a high status made them admired by all the young mountain barbarians.
To have the chance to join the army, of course they were eager to join.
The entire Gushan County had suddenly come alive.
Shanhai City.
After Chun Shenjun and Xiongba led their 20 thousand troops and rushed to Shanhai City, they set up camp to the west.
When the reinforcements arrived, Daiqin had a conversation with Chun Shenjun.
The result was that both sides left unhappily.
The divide between the both of them was which city to take down first.
Daiqin wanted to attack Friendship City, the reason being that it needed a soft push to be taken over after the heavy attacks of the grassland alliance army.
Chun Shenjun didn't agree as he only had one goal which was the Shanhai City Region.
As for Qiushui City, both of them neglected it.
Although they knew that on the walls of Qiushui City hung the army flag of the 2nd division, they also knew that the second division were made up of cavalry and weren't good at defending cities.
Firstly was that Qiushui City weren't hit by anything yet and secondly was that its value wasn't high.
Different from Daiqin, the ambition of the Yanhuang Alliance was to totally take over Shanhai City, and to do that, they had to destroy the stone Steele in the Lianzhou Lord's manor.
Hence, Chun Shenjun didn't want to waste his troops to attack Friendship City. He wanted to persuade Daiqin to attack Shanhai City together with him.
Although in this operation it could be said that the entire Yanhuang Alliance participated in it and it was a cooperation of all of them, this didn't stop Chun Shenjun from being selfish.
Based on his thinking, if he could take over Shanhai City together with the grassland alliance before Di Chen and Zhan Lang arrived, that would be great.
If that were the case, be it in the Yanhuang Alliance or the China Region, he will be the absolute star.
With such selfish thinking, Chun Shenjun had been bugging Daiqin. To persuade him, he made many promises that slowly tempted him.
Both of them were making small calculations, but they didn't know that the current Qiushui City was an empty city.