The World Online
Page 945Translator: ryangohsff Editor: Nora
Chapter 945 – Pillaging Dongchuan Prefecture
After Er’Lai left, the Deputy Legion General of the 1st legion of the Dragon Legion Corps, Zhao Po Nu, walked it. This general, who worked under Huo Qubing in history, had already become an important helper to Baiqi.
To be able to work under both God Generals, Zhao Po Nu was also a legend.
“Commander, isn’t that too risky?” Zhao Po Nu obviously heard of plan B, and his eyes could not hide his shock, “Commander, using yourself as bait is the worry of all strategists.”
This was not the first time Zhao Po Nu had said that, but Baiqi did not listen.
As expected, Baiqi waved him off once more and said resiliently, “You do not need to try to convince me anymore. Dongchuan Prefecture is too big. This is the only way to be able to lead the Dali Alliance Army to one point.”
The plan B created by the Grand Council was only a rough idea, and the specifics had to be done by Baiqi. The greatest difficulty of the plan was how to make the Dali Alliance Army follow the Great Xia’s plan and attack a specific target.
If not, the Guards Legion Corps 4th legion led by Er’Lai would not be able to set up an ambush.
Yunnan Province was huge and had hundreds of cities. As such, setting up an ambush was really difficult.
The first thing Baiqi did was flawlessly moving the command center to Yongren City.
If he was still in Consonance City, with the courage of the Dali Alliance Army, they would not dare to attack. Hence, the so-called strategic analysis was the enemy falling into Baiqi’s trap.
This was the reason why Ouyang Shuo trusted Baiqi.
Apart from his title of Asura, his other specialty was one that the outside world would often forget – his machine-like ability to predict and plan things. This commander would simulate battles of both sides in his mind to gather the possible outcomes.
The Battle of Changping in history was one of the examples.
Being vicious was only him on the surface.
This time, no matter how he thought, to brilliantly complete this plan, he could only use himself as bait.
As Zhao Po Nu said, this was really risky.
Yongren City only had the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd divisions in the Dragon Legion Corps. Along with the Zhuolu regiment of the 1st legion, they only had 43 thousand people. Apart from all the support type troops, there were around 35 thousand combat soldiers.
With that number, he needed to defend a city that was hard to defend against 200 thousand men.
If something went wrong and the city was overrun, Baiqi and the others would easily be captured.
“Yes commander!”
Seeing that, Zhao Po Nu could only back down helplessly.
In the dim candle light, Baiqi was drawing something on the table. Who knows what he was planning?
…
Time flowed like water and the 9th month was slowly coming to an end.
More than a month had passed since Great Xia initiated this huge war.
Shu Lands.
Danling Basin, where Swordsman City was in, took up close to 40 thousand square kilometers. Although it could not be compared to Lianzhou Basin, it was still very vast. One could not see the corners of it, greenery was everywhere, and grass and trees blossomed.
In the center of the basin stood Swordsman City, the shining pearl of the Shu Lands.
10th month, 1st day, after an intense battle, the right and left vanguard troops worked together to take over Meishan Pass, entering the Danling Basin. The army used Meishan Pass as a barrier to camp south of the basin.
50 miles away was Swordsman City, and 10 miles out of it was Zhao Yun’s camp. Hence, they were less than 40 miles away from one another.
The afternoon of the next day, the left and right defending troops of Great Xia arrived in Meishan Pass. After entering, they camped at the wings of the two vanguard forces.
With that, the four War Fighting Legions spread out in the basin, their tents spreading tens of miles. They pretty much took over the south outskirts.
The four of them had been through a month of tough battles. The left and right vanguard lost 30 thousand men, and although the left and right defending armies had an easier time, they still lost 10 thousand men.
Adding in the troops left in the passes and the cities, only 220 thousand troops were left here. This was also after Baiqi arranged the two divisions of the 1st legion to enter and take charge of supervising the grain transport. If not, less than 200 thousand of the troops could be thrown into the final battle.
Apart from the 150 thousand guards troops, Swordsman City had 50 thousand remaining territory troops; they also had a guards division in charge of defending the city, so they had a total of 210 thousand troops.
Comparing the two, both sides had similar numbers but Swordsman City was defending. It was really difficult for Great Xia to try to take it down.
As a result, the Dragon Legion Corps was not in a rush to start the battle after taking down Meishan Pass. They decided to set up camp to rest and prepare like they were going to fight a war of attrition.
At the same time, endless amounts of grain and resources were transported over by 20 thousand laborers over to the frontlines from Dongchuan Prefecture or Jiangyang Prefecture.
The Great Xia Army was not anxious and neither was Feng Qingyang.
With 100 thousand troops, their overall strength would crush the enemy. They also had a city to defend, so why would Feng Qingyang be anxious? He only needed to patiently wait for Great Xia to attack.
The key was that Di Chen had revealed the Dali plan to Feng Qingyang. The moment the Dali forces took over Dongchuan Prefecture and cut the Great Xia Army off, Swordsman City would have nothing to worry about.
Not only that, but Feng Qingyang could even claim back one by one the cities Great Xia had taken down. Who knows, he might even be able to take over the Dragon Legion Corps soldiers and increase the strength of his army.
Thinking about it, Feng Qingyang felt really good.
“Old fox, I am going to rip off your tail this time.” Feng Qingyang looked into the distance; he could see the moment he took his revenge.
With that, both sides entered a standstill. Who knows who would be the one to break this?
************
The chance would happen in Dali, in Dongchuan Prefecture.
Just as the Dragon Legion Corps was in a standstill with Swordsman City, a certain piece of news broke out through the wilderness.
10th month, 3rd day, a day that seemed really normal would be recorded in the history books of the wilderness.
On this day, the Alliance Army crossed the border into Dongchuan Prefecture and initiated a war against Great Xia.
200 thousand troops crossed the border like a flood, crazily swarming into Dongchuan Prefecture. Their sights were set on Yongren City and the northernmost point of the prefecture.
The Alliance Army made a loud statement that they were going to capture Baiqi alive.
Facing such a huge army, the various houses and counties who had their garrison forces removed could only tremble under the horse hooves of the enemy. Of course, even if the Garrison Divisions were present, it would still be useless.
Receiving the news, the Prefects and County Magistrates all made preparations to die or surrender.
The Alliance Army would not show any heart against an enemy like Great Xia.
Anywhere they passed, smoke bellowed and blood flowed like a river.
To the Great Xia people who were used to a normal life, this was like a thunderstorm on a sunny day.
Luckily, the Dali Alliance Army was in a rush, so they did not want to waste any time along the way. If not, Dongchuan Prefecture would be badly trampled on.
In comparison, the Great Xia Army was a bunch of benevolent troops.
The moment the Dali Alliance Army struck out, the entire wilderness jolted, their eyes wide open.
“Is Dali crazy? They actually tried to provoke Great Xia?”
Seeing the Great Xia achieve victory after victory in the Shu Lands, players expected them to take down Swordsman City. Who knew that a Dali Alliance Army would pop up suddenly?
“What kind of place is Yun City?”
No one had heard of Yun City, so many people were confused.
“Haha. We have a nice show to watch this time. It’s the first time Great Xia has been invaded, right? Who knows how angry Qiyue Wuyi would be? Blood is going to flow…”
Everyone knew Ouyang Shuo’s character; he would definitely retaliate.
“Little Mutuo has balls to try to touch the butt of a tiger.” This time, Little Mutuo became famous from one battle, and his fame spread across the wilderness.
“Haha, time for the tiger to show its might.”
Although the Dali Alliance Army was huge, the outside world did not feel afraid for Great Xia because they still had three Guards Legions.
“The moment the Guards Legion strikes, no one can stop them.”
With the Guards Legion, Great Xia was invincible.
As a result, the outside world did not feel that the Dali Alliance Army had any high chance.
At this very moment, more and more news spread.
Pretty much at the same time, Jingdu, Donghai, Jiangnan, Jingchu, and Guanxi, the troops that the Yanhuang Alliance had camped there started to provoke at the border.
It seemed like the Yanhuang Alliance was getting prepared to go all out.
This placed Stone City, West Chu, and other allies under huge pressure.
Without a doubt, the Yanhuang Alliance was trying to put pressure on all fronts on all of the Shanhai Alliance members to restrict the Guards Legion Corps from assisting Dongchuan Prefecture.