Call of the Heroes of Chaos in Another World

Chapter 2111 Ceasefire and Truce, Lou Huan's Mission

"Breakthrough!!"

Liang Lin looked like he had seen a ghost and said in disbelief.

It's one thing to break through, but to break through twice in a row, what's going on?

The last time both of them broke through at once was when Guan Yu and Lian'er were kind-hearted.

At that time, although Liang Lin and Liang Fang were also on the battlefield at Tianlang Pass, they did not witness it firsthand.

After all, Tianlang Pass is not a small place that can be seen in its entirety at a glance.

They didn't witness it firsthand, but they heard about it immediately afterward.

This time, it was the two of them who broke through together.

When did breakthroughs become so easy?
Moreover, this was a breakthrough right before battle!

Breakthrough in the face of battle—these four words sound simple, but how many people can actually achieve them?

If you're not careful, not only will you fail to break through, but it could also cost you your life.

In fact, Huangfu Dou and Jing Si, one a local prodigy and the other qualified to compete for the title of the fiercest general in the official history of the early Song Dynasty, both naturally possessed exceptional talent.

Neither of them is weak among those at the peak of the Heavenly Realm.

Moreover, they are both still very young. Both of them are exactly twenty-four years old. They are approaching the point where their potential is about to be exhausted, but not yet completely exhausted.

Both of them do have a certain possibility of reaching this level, but the hope is not very high.

Furthermore, neither of them has actually accumulated enough foundation to reach that level yet. Although they are not far off, they are still slightly lacking.

However, both men believed they had a blood feud. After a few brief exchanges, they fought to the death, even exchanging wounds right from the start. The battle was extremely brutal.

Huangfu Dou, being of royal lineage in Da Cang, harbored an intense hatred for the rebel Zhao Song faction.

As for Jing Si, his hatred must be traced back to the day the Song Dynasty was established.

Driven by this surge of courage and valor, coupled with their constant brushes with death, they inadvertently exhausted their last remaining potential, replenishing their missing foundation and barely managing to cross that threshold.

It's fair to say that the scene of Guan Yu and Lian Er's kind-hearted breakthrough being impossible to replicate, and the two of them are equally impossible to replicate. Failure would truly mean death, and gambling with one's life for a probability that has virtually no bearing on anything is simply not worth the risk.

Moreover, despite these two successful breakthroughs, they were actually quite difficult.

Although they both broke through, even if they weren't the weakest among the divine generals, they were basically among the weakest.

Of course, even the weakest batch of divine generals are absolutely incomparable to their peak Heavenly level state.

Leaving aside the improvement in basic martial strength and the subsequent advancement from Martial King to Martial God skills—the positive and negative difference between Martial King and Martial God skills is equivalent to two points of martial strength. The mere appearance of Blood Fiend is something they couldn't compare to before.

The mere appearance of a Blood Fiend is enough to allow them to defeat both of their former selves.

"What are you all standing there for? Quick, save them!"

Liang Fang pulled Liang Lin along, wanting to head directly towards Huangfu Dou's direction.

Although both of them have now achieved a breakthrough, they are both on the verge of death.

If they continue fighting like this, they'll really perish together.

Their survival is what makes their breakthrough meaningful. What good would it do them if they had both perished together?

Not only Liang Lin and Liang Fang, but the remaining people also decided not to continue fighting at this point.

At this critical juncture, getting their own people back is the most urgent task.

Therefore, this encounter between the two sides ended without a clear conclusion, as both Jing Si and Huangfu Dou broke through to the next level.

The Great Middle Dynasty.

Lou Huan has been here for some time now. Although his mission to Dazhong on behalf of Zhao Kuangyin was to support the central government and resist the tyranny, he was not in a hurry after arriving in Dazhong. Instead, he waited for the situation on the front line to develop and for the progress of Zhao Song's contact with the remnants of Dou Jiande's forces, making preparations for both sides.

Of course, Lou Huan didn't have a peaceful time at Dazhong during this period.

Dali is also known for its strong martial spirit, with many martial arts families in the country. The royal Duan family is the strongest martial arts family in Dali. Moreover, many martial arts masters are also hidden in Tianlong Temple in Dali.

It can be said that Dali was one of the few regions in Tianqi where martial arts masters held a relatively high status.

Lou Huan made Da Zhong a move that was obviously intended to achieve his goals; everyone knows the intention behind it.

Therefore, the Dali Dynasty dispatched many experts to carry out assassinations, and even tried to frame the Dazhong Dynasty for it.

Fortunately, Lou Huan was on a diplomatic mission, so naturally, he would have security measures in place. Even if he didn't have a Celestial Master like Lian Po, the commander at the front, he still had three Grandmasters by his side, both openly and secretly, one of whom was even a half-step Celestial.

Moreover, Lou Huan himself is quite cunning.

The one on the surface isn't actually him; he's just a stand-in he reserved for himself.

In this way, Lou Huan was able to get through these days without any major incidents.

Yesterday, news came from the front lines that Dou Jiande's remaining forces had clashed with the Zhao Song dynasty, which meant that the attempt to win over Dou Jiande's remaining forces had completely failed.

So, next, they began to truly use the Great Zhong Dynasty to counterbalance Dali.

In fact, neither Zhao Kuangyin nor the Song Dynasty were truly worried about the Dali Dynasty; it was merely a minor threat. If their military forces hadn't been primarily concentrated on the western front, would a tiny Dali have dared to bare its teeth at the Song Dynasty?

What they were truly worried about was the elusive Da Wu that would emerge after this incident.

Without the Great Wu, Dou Jiande's remaining forces wouldn't have been able to reach Dali so easily. Therefore, the Great Wu probably also harbors ambitions to interfere in the territories of the smaller dynasties, and even in the Cangdi region.

If Da Wu truly harbors such intentions, it's absolutely impossible for him to simply let Dou Jiande's remaining forces go. He will undoubtedly employ other methods.

The Dali Dynasty was a minor matter, but the Dawu, whose plans were currently unknown, was what truly alarmed them.

Today is the day he should actually go and negotiate with Dazhong.

"The conflict between the two sides has a long history. When the Great Middle Kingdom first rose to power, it controlled seven prefectures! However, now, only a few prefectures remain!" As soon as the two sides met, Lou Huan presented the Great Middle Kingdom with a bloody truth.

Da Zhong rose to power by rebelling against Dali and seizing Dali's territory. However, the rebellion was only half successful and failed to completely bring Dali down.

Therefore, this conflict began from the very first day of the establishment of the Dazhong Dynasty.

But apart from the initial advantage, Da Zhong became increasingly constrained as time went on.

In the earliest days, Dali had thirteen prefectures, with Dali controlling six and Dazhong controlling seven.

However, nowadays, Dazhong only has five counties left, while Dali has eight counties.

"Now that the Duan family of Dali has the assistance of Wu Chao and Dou Ni, and has a group of brave and skilled warriors such as Huangfu Long, Huangfu Dou, Wang Lin, and Wang Fang as their arms, can the Dazhong Kingdom still hold onto the remaining five prefectures?"

Lou Huan once again coldly posed a question.

"You, Zhao Song, invited Da Zhong to deal with Dali, but it was only to destroy Cang!"

"Once Xicang is destroyed, how can Dazhong possibly fare well?" a Dazhong civil official said with a mocking expression.

The Song Dynasty was too powerful, so powerful that they dared not ally with it. Only when both sides were of equal strength, or at least not too much different, would an alliance have any real meaning.

If the gap in strength between the two sides is so great, a forced alliance would only benefit the stronger party. For the weaker party, it would be like trying to get something from a tiger, and sooner or later they would fall into the tiger's belly themselves.

"Ha, a mere Dali, how could it stop my Great Song from destroying Cang?"

"Gentlemen, I'm afraid you haven't received the latest battle report yet?" Lou Huan stood in the center of the main hall, his spirits high.

"General Gu Jiantang, the Pillar of the State of Xicang, has abandoned darkness and embraced light."

“Xicang today is merely a prefecture with 20,000 soldiers. How many days can it hold out against the 500,000 mighty soldiers of my Great Song?” Lou Huan stood up and looked down at the ministers sitting on either side of him.

He had only received the battle report two or three days ago.

Given Dazhong's capabilities, it's perfectly normal that they haven't received any news by now!

As for the so-called 500,000 elite troops, that was obviously just Lou Huan's exaggerated claim. The entire Song Dynasty didn't even have that many soldiers. Perhaps, only after the entire Hexi Corridor fell into his hands and began to truly provide support to the Song Dynasty would they have that kind of strength.

Clearly, after hearing this news, the court officials began to whisper among themselves.

With the war between the Song Dynasty and Xicang reaching this point, it's true that no matter how hard Dali tries, it will be difficult to save Xicang.

"Many heroes dwell in Guandong and Guanxi, and now, we are about to seize the wealth of Hexi. Will your Great Song Dynasty let the lands of other dynasties go?"

“If our Great Zhong assists your Great Song in attacking Dali today, and we both suffer heavy losses, wouldn’t that be exactly what your Great Song wants, allowing your Great Song to take advantage of our weakness?” another minister of Great Zhong said.

"The Great Song Dynasty helped the Great Zhong Dynasty destroy the Li Kingdom. Of the eight prefectures of the Dali Kingdom, the Great Song Dynasty only wants three!"

"From this point forward, our Great Song Dynasty is willing to present a letter of state to both the Great Song and the Great Zhong Dynasty, and we pledge with the Yellow River as our oath that neither side shall attack the other within three years!" Lou Huan said calmly.

The territories of those minor dynasties would naturally not be spared by the future Great Song Dynasty.

However, they are not in a hurry to finish in a year or two; they can take things one step at a time.

This area is located at the junction of three major dynasties, with more than a dozen dynasties densely distributed there. Although only a few dynasties, such as Dali and Dazhong, were slightly larger, the rest were insignificant and extremely small, with the smallest being less than a prefecture of Dacang.

However, they didn't have the ability to swallow up all of these dozen or so dynasties in one go.

It's not that they lack the strength, but rather that they can't handle the workload.

The Song Dynasty needs to develop, but it must do so step by step, steadily and practically. Whatever territory it acquires must be genuinely transformed into the Song Dynasty's strength.

With the prospect of swallowing up all of Xicang, even if they launch an attack here, taking over more than a dozen dynasties at once would definitely not be something they could digest in a short time.

Therefore, it's better to take only a portion.

Not to mention, after taking Xicang, their first target was actually Yangxi Road in the south. Only after taking Yangxi would they move on to the territories of the various minor dynasties.

Furthermore, even if troops were to be dispatched, it would be far more convenient for the various minor dynasties to send troops from Yangxi than from Guanzhong.

Therefore, after taking over Xicang, with Yangxi as their primary strategic objective, they would not be thinking of swallowing up all the smaller dynasties so quickly.

Therefore, even if we give them three years, what difference will it make?

"Is what you say true, Your Excellency?" The Emperor of Dazhong, who had been silent until now, interrupted.

At that moment, the emperor was indeed tempted!
Regardless of whether Dazhong and Dali fight or not, the Song Dynasty will probably send troops here.

He would naturally be happy to gain three more years.

Moreover, he could use the power of the Song Dynasty to completely eliminate his old enemy, Dali. How could he not be tempted?

Even if the Song Dynasty comes with great ambitions three years later, their strength will be greatly enhanced after conquering Dali, making it easier for them to face the Song Dynasty again than they are facing it now.

The key point is that getting rid of this enemy who has existed since the founding of the country is something that truly excites him!

"The submission of the official credentials and the oath sworn by the Yellow River—how can this be a lie?" Lou Huan said resolutely.

Presenting credentials is tantamount to making a commitment in the name of the state, which is far more real than a verbal promise from an envoy.

The promises made verbally by envoys are indeed easily broken, or perhaps such promises were never intended to be kept in the first place. And it's much easier to find a reason to break such a promise.

But presenting credentials is a different story! If you break this most formal promise, your reputation will be ruined.

As for the oath on the Yellow River, it can be compared to the oath on the Luo River on Earth. And the consequences of breaking it can be seen from the infamy that the Sima family suffered after breaking the oath on the Luo River.

Therefore, Lou Huan made this promise because he had no intention of doing anything underhanded from the very beginning.

With the next target being Yangxi Road, it would be much easier to divide up Dali together with Dazhong!

Moreover, once this war begins, the peace of the various minor dynasties will be completely shattered, and they will soon be in a state of mutual attack.

Even if Dazhong had taken half of Dali, it would be impossible for them to destroy so many small dynasties within three years, not even half of them. If they had that ability, they wouldn't have been unable to deal with Dali for so long.

If the minor dynasties were in chaos for three years, and the great dynasty were to be defeated three times, give them three years. After three years, wouldn't the Song Dynasty be able to deal with them at will?