Translator: ryangohsff Editor: Nora
Chapter 961 – A Strategist Knows Their Enemy like Themselves
Jingdu Province, Handan City.
Lianpo abandoned the troops and haggardly fled back to Handan, where he informed Di Chen about the specifics of the battle.
When Di Chen heard Lianpo’s report, his face was really gloomy. The matter he was most worried about was not Swordsman City. Rather, he was more worried about the extreme difficulty the alliance was going to face after the 150 thousand reinforcements were destroyed.
Let us not mention the long term scenario, but in the short term, Caiyun City was definitely lost.
The carefully orchestrated strike planned by Great Xia caused the Yanhuang Alliance’s face to turn ashen white.
Juedai Fenghua looked at Di Chen with eyes filled with pity. It was not that this man was not hardworking or untalented; he just faced an absolute genius of an opponent.
Ouyang Shuo’s shine was just too bright, and any opponent would look dim in front of him. It was not the tragedy of Di Chen alone but the tragedy of an entire era.
“I’m to blame. I should not have suggested such a plan.” Juedai Fenghua blamed herself.
Di Chen waved his hand, “It has nothing to do with you. We all agreed with this plan. No one knew that Great Xia had such an overpowered tool. Swordsman City deserves to be destroyed. They had the Qiang Race besides them and did not know how to use them. Instead, the Great Xia snatched the opportunity and dealt a fatal blow to them.”
“So, what should we do now?”
“If I’m not wrong, that old fox definitely still has things planned. Wait for it, there’s definitely more to watch.”
Juedai Fenghua nodded; the uneasiness in her heart grew.
…
Pill Sun City, City Lord’s Manor.
After he received the battle report, Chun Shenjun was equally anxious.
The 150 thousand reinforcements being destroyed meant that Caiyun City was on the verge of danger. With that, Pill Sun City’s two War Fighting Legions that were left in Xiangnan City-State were also in danger all of a sudden.
“This is difficult.”
Chun Shenjun paced up and down the reading room as he used his merchant skills to weigh the pros and cons. In the end, he decided, “Why not let the army retreat? It’s better than feeding that wolf.”
At the current moment, Chun Shenjun could only act accordingly to the situation.
…
The Battle of Swordsman City was quickly recorded by the various media outlets. Early the next morning, the front news was all about what happened there, attracting the eyes of everyone.
The moment the news was out, the players were in an uproar.
No one expected that the originally equal strength battle would end with such a lopsided victory.
The moment the battle report went out, many underground casino bosses wished they could kill themselves.
Before the battle, these underground casinos had secretly opened bets, and 90% of them favored Yanhuang Alliance. When the results came out, these bosses lost all their money.
Fans of the Great Xia like Lin Jing earned so much.
……
10th month, 16th day, Swordsman City.
At 10 AM, Luo Shixin and the others led the captured prisoners to leave Swordsman City. The four generals gathered together once more, and Luo Shixin read the decree that Ouyang Shuo had sent overnight.
“Dragon Legion Corps has done well, spreading the might of my army. However, the war is not over and the Shu Lands are not calm. Generals must press on forward, conquering the remaining bandits. You cannot sully the name of our dynasty. As for rewards, once the Battle of the Shu Lands ends, I will reward all of you handsomely.”
“Yes my king!”
Luo Shixin took out a military order that was from Baiqi.
“The commander has orders. We do not need to wait for him to arrive at Swordsman City. We can lead our troops to sweep Badong Prefecture, and then attack Hanzhong Prefecture to take down the entire Shu Lands.”
“Yes!”
After reading the decree, the four of them together with Chen Gong discussed the specific battle plan.
It was not too difficult to take down Badong Prefecture. The fall of Swordsman City and the escape of Feng Qingyang meant that Badong Prefecture was instantly an abandoned chess piece with no army defending it. Hence, taking it down was a piece of cake.
The only thing they had to consider was how to not let Pill Sun City and Fallen Leaf City kill steal like what happened back in Guilin Prefecture.
Chen Gong said, “Our attack on Badong Prefecture can be described as such, high-profile, swift, and resolute.”
“Strategist, we can understand swift and resolute, but what do you mean by high-profile?” Luo Shixin asked.
“To prevent them from trying anything funny, we must prove to them our determination to take down Badong Prefecture. Hence, we must dare to show our blade and not let the enemy see a chance to strike.” Chen Gong explained.
“Be it Fallen Leaf City or Pill Sun City, they are facing threats from our allies, and they would not dare to take the gamble. As long as we are resolute, they would not dare to tread these waters.”
Luo Shixin and the others nodded in unison, impressed by his words.
This was the good thing about having a strategist following along.
Seeing this, Luo Shixin looked at Zhang Liao, “Since that’s the case, General Zhang will lead the troops to attack Badong Prefecture.”
In the Dragon Legion Corps, the Zhang Liao led 3rd legion and the Luo Shixin led 4th legion were the largest. Since they wanted to end the matter quickly, Luo Shixin chose Zhang Liao.
With Zhang Liao’s ingenuity, he would be able to understand the meaning of a high-profile attack.
“Understood!”
Zhang Liao was jolted to his senses. He was more and more impressed by Luo Shixin, and his favorable impression of Luo Shixin was growing.
Obviously, Luo Shixin was giving him a chance to gain credit, passing this job to him. After all, Luo Shixin’s troops were mainly composed of cavalry and were similarly capable of attacking Badong Prefecture.
Since he was appointed as the temporary decision maker, Luo Shixin needed to be righteous and could not be biased. The good part was that no matter which army gained the credit, Luo Shixin would have a part to play.
This was the difference between a general and a commander.
Badong Prefecture was a breeze, while Hanzhong Prefecture was the real problem. Not only was it really mountainous and far away in the north of the Shu Lands, but the prefecture was also not owned by Swordsman City. Instead, three other territories had control over it.
The moment Great Xia revealed their intentions to attack Hanzhong Prefecture, those three Lords would learn from Swordsman City and seek protection from Shu Han.
If that happened, the matter would become really complicated.
Chen Gong did not have a second War Stopping Talisman in his hands.
“How about this?” Chen Gong suggested, “Leave a legion to defend Swordsman City and the remaining two along with the Qiang army will sneak up north through the west around Qiang Prefecture to Attack Hanzhong Prefecture and catch them off guard.”
For both Swordsman City and the Lords of Hanzhong Prefecture, Qiang Prefecture was a prohibited land, and they had very few eyes and ears inside it.
For the Dragon Legion Corps to go up north through the Qiang Prefecture was much more secretive than going through Badong Prefecture.
When Luo Shixin and the others heard this suggestion, they had no objections.
Just as Luo Shixin was about to arrange which troops to send, Lai Hu’er took the initiative to stay back. He would leave the chance to fight on the battlefield to the two other legions.
Although this battle would be hard, it was a good chance to perform meritorious service.
Lai Hu’er had already captured Wei Yan and took down Swordsman City. Naturally, he would not be greedy for more.
When Luo Shixin saw that, he decided that Xiao Chaogui and himself would lead the troops. With the Qiang army leading the way, they would use the west route to enter Hanzhong.
With the plan formulated, the two groups of troops went their separate ways that afternoon. With that, the Battle of Shu Lands welcomed their final battles. Who knows what new changes would occur?
……
Just as the Battle of the Shu Lands started once again, the Xiangnan situation changed.
A day ago, based on the instructions of the Yanhuang Alliance, Caiyun City moved their 1st legion from Baoqing Prefecture back to Caiyun City to defend.
This retreat earned the Lords of Baoqing Prefecture precious breathing space. They all sent messages to Great Xia and Li Mu to ask them to quickly occupy Baoqing Prefecture.
As for Changde Prefecture, it was already taken down by Li Mu’s force.
At the same time, Han Xin’s Leopard Legion Corps was outside of Caiyun City. Seeing the Caiyun City Army back to defend, Han Xin was really flexible and did not choose to directly attack.
On the contrary, he left the Zhang Han led 2nd legion to camp 20 miles outside of the city to monitor their every action.
The remaining two legions did not go to sweep the remaining territories in Yongren Prefecture or attack the Guiyang Prefecture that belonged to Caiyun City. Instead, they headed right for Baoqing Prefecture.
This placed Caiyun City in a desperate situation.
The 1st legion housed in Caiyun City could not advance or retreat. If they did not exit the city, the 2nd legion in Baoqing Prefecture would be eaten up. However, if they did, they might be sniped by Zhang Han’s troops.
As a famous general from the end of Qin, Zhang Han had exceptional ability.
Just the 1st legion of Caiyun City was not enough to break out of his trap.
Their only hope was placed on the 150 thousand reinforcements of the Yanhuang Alliance. Only if they arrived could they break out from Zhang Han’s army and go up north.
However, this hope was buried in the battle outside of Swordsman City.
In the afternoon of the 16th day, Di Chen sent a letter to Caiyun Zinan to express that the Yanhuang Alliance had moved all the troops they could use.
It meant that no reinforcements were coming.
This sent Caiyun Zinan into despair as he became yet another abandoned chess piece of the Yanhuang Alliance. The only difference was that he was not a piece that they had willingly abandoned.
Be it Caiyun Zinan or Di Chen, they were all feeling really bitter.
The world was just so cruel, pushing one to the brink countless times and forcing one to make painful decisions.
At this very moment, Zhang Liang, who was not favored by Caiyun Zinan recently, stepped up, “Lord, the best choice is to surrender before Great Xia acts to try to exchange for some promises.”
Caiyun Zinan muttered, “Cough, it has already reached this stage, would they accept my surrender?”
“They will. Our two legions are not crushed and Caiyun City still has not fallen. They need to pay a heavy price to take us down. If they are able to do so without sacrificing anything, with the magnanimity of the Xia King, he would. He would probably give you a governor position at the very least.”
As expected from the Strategy Saint, Zhang Liang had a good grasp of human nature.
A Saint Strategist knew others like he knew himself.
Zhang Liang raised such a plan to give Caiyun Zinan a way out, but it was also because he was unwilling to be buried together with him and be some nobody in the wilderness.
In the world today, only Great Xia could allow Zhang Liang to display his talents.
Caiyun Zinan was not a resolute person. He had a weakness, which was that when he was desperate, he would immediately agree with the bait that Zhang Liang tossed out.
The position of governor was enough to tempt Caiyun Zinan.