Bringing the farm to another world

Just as General Wu had predicted, he couldn't find the stronghold. It was surrounded by forest, completely obscuring its location. Seeing this, General Wu breathed a sigh of relief; he had anticipated this. There was no sign of anyone sent to scout the area. General Wu decided not to wait any longer and flew directly towards Hu Yang City, shouting as he flew, "All disciples, retreat to your bases! All disciples, retreat to your bases! All disciples, retreat to your bases!" After shouting this three times, his men were far from the stronghold's location. Although he couldn't see the stronghold, he knew its approximate location, which was why he needed to leave. He was well aware that the stronghold must also have a Creation Golden Wheel; one Creation Golden Wheel would be enough to deal with him. What worried him even more was the possibility of a large, spherical magical artifact there. If such a large artifact existed, he would be in even greater danger, so he had to leave as soon as possible.

General Wu soon returned to Huyang City. As soon as he arrived, he went to see Wu Qian. Wu Qian seemed to have been waiting for him. Upon hearing that he had returned, he immediately invited him to his room. General Wu did not dare to be negligent and went directly into Wu Qian's room. After entering the room, General Wu bowed to Wu Qian.

Wu Qian waved his hand and asked, "What happened? How did you lose?"

General Wu gave a wry smile and then directly told Wu Qian what had happened. After listening to General Wu's words, Wu Qian was also stunned, and then his expression turned somewhat ugly as he said, "So, the Blood Slaughter Sect has acquired a new large-scale magic weapon? A sphere? And it has many tentacles? Those tentacles can release spells? Can they be used in close combat?"

General Wu shook his head and said, "I don't know. They only attacked us with magic once, without any close combat, but they didn't come out of Wuwei City, and we dare not go in."

Wu Qian said in a deep voice, "It's possible that the people in the underground base are still resisting. If they came out to attack you, it would give the people in the underground base a chance to escape. They didn't chase after them because they wanted to deal with the people in the underground base."

General Wu nodded and said, "That's possible, General. So what should we do next?"

Wu Qian pondered for a moment, then said, "I will report this matter to His Majesty, and at the same time, I will call all the representatives from the other bases to discuss what to do next."

General Wu responded, and Wu Qian continued, "Alright, you can go back now. This incident is not your fault. On the contrary, you brought back such important intelligence, so you have made a contribution. However, no matter what, you have failed this time, so your merits and demerits cancel each other out, and I will not reward you."

Upon hearing Wu Qian's words, General Wu felt a surge of gratitude. He knew that Wu Qian was protecting him; otherwise, given the mistakes he had made, he would have been punished. The failure of this operation was largely due to his command errors, yet Wu Qian said that the merits and demerits canceled each other out, which meant he was being protected.

General Wu immediately stood up, bowed to Wu Qian, and said, "Thank you, General. This humble general will take his leave."

Wu Qian waved his hand, and General Wu withdrew immediately. Wu Qian then sent a letter to Gongliang Juewen, telling him about the day's events. Actually, Wu Qian intended for Gongliang Juewen to show the letter to the others, since they all knew what had happened. Afterwards, Wu Qian sent letters to the commanders of the other bases, requesting a meeting with them, but only after they had arranged their base's defenses.

The commanders of those bases quickly replied, saying they would arrange things at their own bases and come over immediately.

Wu Qian waited quietly at the Poplar City base. Soon after, all the commanders from the other bases arrived. Once they were there, Wu Qian led them directly to the conference room. After everyone was in the room, Wu Qian looked at them and said, “Everyone, I think you all know what happened in Wuwei City, so I won’t say anything more. Wuwei City is finished now, and you should also know that the Blood Slaughter Sect now possesses another large magical artifact—a spherical one with tentacles.” Everyone nodded; they were certainly aware of this. Wu Qian looked at them and continued, “But I think that besides this magical artifact, the Blood Slaughter Sect must have other means of attack. You must know that the power at the Wuwei City base is not weak; there are quite a few Kingdom-level experts and numerous disciples there. Under such circumstances, not a single one of them escaped. This is enough to prove how strong the Blood Slaughter Sect is.”

Everyone nodded solemnly. Wu Qian was right. Wuwei City was the base of powerful families, where they had amassed a large army. Yet, not a single person had escaped. This showed just how strong the Blood Slaughter Sect was.

Wu Qian continued, "However, in my opinion, the Blood Slaughter Sect's overall strength is inferior to ours. The main reason why they were able to destroy the Wuwei City base in one fell swoop is that they concentrated all their forces to deal with the Wuwei City base, while we had to divide our forces to defend all the bases. Our forces were too scattered, while their forces were very concentrated. That is why they were able to destroy the Wuwei City base."

Everyone nodded again. None of them believed that the Blood Slaughter Sect was stronger or stronger than them. However, if the Blood Slaughter Sect concentrated all its forces to attack one of their bases, the balance of power would be reversed. The forces of one base could not possibly match the total strength of the Blood Slaughter Sect.

"Therefore, we must concentrate our forces to attack the Wuwei City base and take it back. If we cannot take back the Wuwei City base, it will become a bridgehead for them to attack us. At that time, we will only be more passive. So we must take back the Wuwei City base."

This time, instead of nodding, everyone frowned. To attack the Wuwei City base would mean facing the Blood Slaughter Sect's army and large magical artifacts, which would inevitably increase their casualties. To be honest, they were all somewhat unwilling.

Wu Qian looked at everyone and said, "I know that this operation may result in great losses for us, but everyone, this is a price we have to pay. Don't forget that we are now fighting to the death with the enemy. If we cannot take back Wuwei City, we will pay an even greater price in the future."

The crowd remained silent. Wu Qian looked at them and said, "My idea is that this time we shouldn't just target Wuwei City. The Blood Slaughter Sect must have gone all out to attack their base in Wuwei City, and they must have anticipated our counterattack. They'll definitely deploy heavy troops there for defense. We can split our forces into two groups: one to attack Wuwei City, keeping their main force tied down, and the other to attack their base at Qianhe Mountain. With their forces focused on attacking here, the defenses at Qianhe Mountain will be vulnerable, allowing us to attack them. Once they know Qianhe Mountain is under attack, they'll definitely return to reinforce it. At that point, we might not need to lose many people to retake Wuwei City."

Upon hearing Wu Qian's words, everyone's eyes lit up. If what Wu Qian said was true, then attacking Wuwei City didn't seem impossible. Thinking of this, they exchanged glances, and then an elder spoke up: "General Wu, if that's really the case, then we also support sending troops. After all, Wuwei City's location is quite important. Wuwei City is almost in the middle of the defense. Now that the Blood Slaughter Sect has captured Wuwei City, it's like cutting our entire defense line in half. This is indeed very disadvantageous for us."

He paused here, then continued, "However, General Wu, you must also know that while this plan is excellent, it has a major flaw: it depends on whether we can successfully take over the Blood Slaughter Sect's base at Qianhe Mountain. If we can take over the Qianhe Mountain base, then our plan can proceed smoothly. But if we fail to take over the Qianhe Mountain base, then our plan will be impossible to continue. What do you think?"

His words stunned everyone, and their expressions changed. The elder was right. If they could successfully take over the Thousand Lotus Mountain base, everything would be fine, and the Blood Slaughter Sect would definitely come to their rescue. However, if they failed to take over the Thousand Lotus Mountain base, their losses would be considerable.

Wu Qian said in a deep voice, “In any situation, a plan is always the best, but whether things will go as planned is anyone’s guess. Three-tenths depends on luck, but the remaining seven-tenths depends on ourselves. Everyone, I know you are heartbroken over the loss of our disciples and don’t want them to sacrifice too much. But everyone, what time is this? We are at war with the Blood Slaughter Sect. If we win, that’s fine, but if we lose, even more people will die in various sects, families, and even our military and royal family. If everyone is thinking about these gains and losses, we will never be able to defeat the Blood Slaughter Sect. Are we going to watch the Blood Slaughter Sect slowly devour us? I think no one wants to see that happen. Sometimes, necessary sacrifices are inevitable. So don’t just focus on the casualties of our disciples. We are at war, war, do you understand? A war of life and death? Sometimes we have no choice, no right to choose. Even when it’s necessary, not only our disciples, but even we ourselves, have to give our lives. Do you understand?” (End of Chapter)