Call of the Heroes of Chaos in Another World

Chapter 2128 The swordsmen march south, the sound of the flute echoes, and the fall of the Sword Capital is imminent.

Straight North Road.

This troop transport road is a troop transport road that runs directly from Jiandu to Beidi Jingzhou.

The tracks for other sports vehicles may have some detours and will not lead directly to the destination.

However, in most cases, the troop transport tracks leading to the borders in various dynasties were straight and continuous, unless they were limited by geographical factors such as mountains and rivers, so as to ensure that reinforcements from the central government could arrive as quickly as possible if there were any problems at the border.

If you travel day and night without stopping, it will only take three to four days to reach your destination.

On a dark troop transport vehicle, General Huang Shan, the Great Sword General of the Northern Expedition, looked anxiously through the vehicle at the pitch-black night sky.

According to current intelligence, 100,000 Han troops are gathered in the area surrounding Jiandu.

In addition, there are tens of thousands of troops who are gradually taking over the cities and towns along the route from Muzhou in the southern border to Jiandu.

He only had 30,000 troops at his disposal. And that was after he had almost completely abandoned the entire Jingzhou region and mobilized as many troops as possible.

In other words, at this time, Jingzhou had almost no troops belonging to the Great Sword Dynasty left, only a small number of local troops.

If the Golden Horde were to have any designs on the Great Sword at this moment, their troops could easily sweep across the entire Great Sword.

Even though he had almost completely abandoned Jingzhou, he could only muster such a small force. He couldn't think of any way to solve the predicament of Jiandu.

Originally, he still wanted to rely on Da Wu as his backer.

However, on the very day he boarded the troop transport vehicle, he received another imperial edict urging him to return to reinforce the area, along with news that the Great Wu had swallowed up the Great Hao and had even entered the southwestern Hanzhou of the Great Sword.

In terms of distance, news from Jingzhou is naturally slower than that from the Great Sword Kingdom. However, if the Great Sword Kingdom had sent people to relay the news immediately, the delay would have been a few days, not this long.

But what is the current situation in the Great Sword Kingdom? They have no time or inclination to spread this information to all parts of the Great Sword Kingdom.

Without his own intelligence sources, if Huang Shanshun hadn't casually asked the eunuch delivering the imperial decree about Da Wu's situation, he probably wouldn't even know what had happened there.

It was at that moment that he realized that the Greatsword would not receive any more reinforcements.

However, without his backer, he had no chance of winning with only 30,000 troops.

This journey could very well be his final destination.

However, he had no choice but to bring his troops back.

It wasn't because his family was still in the capital; most people would care about that, but not everyone would.

After all, he's only thirty this year. Even if he loses his family, he can just remarry and have another child.

However, if he didn't return with his troops, he would simply cut off his own greatsword. And if he cut off his own greatsword, what difference would his final fate be from returning with his troops? Wouldn't it both be death?

Of course, he wasn't entirely without a way out. If he were willing to directly side with the Golden Horde or the Han Dynasty, he could certainly find a way to survive.

However, this was a path he had never considered before.

Huang Shan is different from Xie Jun. Xie Jun would do anything to survive, including surrendering and betraying his own people.

However, Huang Shan could disregard everything, even his wife, children, and elderly parents, but he cared nothing more than about his reputation.

Life can be lost, but reputation cannot be ruined.

Therefore, knowing full well that this trip was fraught with danger and that he might very well fall into the abyss, Huang Shancai was constantly worried throughout the journey.

Fortunately, for the past two days, their entire army has been traveling day and night in troop transport vehicles, and no soldier has left their own vehicle.

Therefore, apart from his personal guards in the same carriage, almost no one else noticed Huang Shan's worried expression day and night.

Otherwise, if the soldiers saw his attitude, their morale would be severely damaged before the battle even began.

However, the movements of Huang Shan's troops were constantly observed by the personnel arranged by Luo Wang. At each location, several carrier pigeons would take flight to report the troop's position to the next node.

Although troop carriers, when in contact with mechanical beasts, can move forward continuously day and night, increasing the marching speed of soldiers several times over, the downside is that their movement trajectory is essentially transparent.

A fixed route can't possibly escape the notice of someone else's spies.

With the help of the spies from the Luo Wang network, messages were relayed one by one by carrier pigeons, and eventually, the message naturally reached Su Dingfang's camp little by little.

"Judging by the time, the Greatsword North should arrive in the next few days!"

“Brother Mingyue, I’m giving you 50,000 troops, all the cavalry will be transferred to you. Jiantang Post Station and Qingshui Town, these two places are entrusted to you!” Su Dingfang pointed to two locations on the map.

The nodes for troop transport vehicles are generally not located in cities, but rather outside the counties along the troop transport vehicle tracks.

Jiantangyi is the troop transport node outside of Jiandu, while Qingshui Town is the troop transport node further ahead.

The enemy troops will most likely unload their troop transports at one of these two locations.

However, Su Dingfang believes it is most likely to be Qingshui Town.

After all, once this army arrives, they will definitely be allowed to rest for a while. Otherwise, after traveling for three or four days, even if they came by carriage, they will be exhausted. If the Han army suddenly attacks at this time, how will they resist?
Therefore, Qingshui Town is more likely, as it would allow the soldiers to disembark and rest earlier, and would also save them from being blocked by the Han army.

But no matter where they were, this army was handed over to Hulü Guang, and it was wiped out in the open field.

"Brother Dingfang, all the troops in the northern part of the Great Sword have left!"

"Brother Dingfang, do you think the Golden Horde might take advantage of this situation to invade?"

Hulü Guang did not take the mere 30,000 Great Sword soldiers seriously; he was more worried about the Golden Horde royal court in the northern Great Sword region.

To be fair, he believes that if it were him, he wouldn't let go of such a good opportunity.

After all, with the withdrawal of the Great Sword's northern troops, Great Sword was essentially defenseless against the Golden Horde. It was like a naked woman with her legs spread wide, waiting to be taken advantage of. "Great Sword certainly wouldn't let such an opportunity pass!"

“However, the Golden Horde will not stay long, nor will they take over the land of the Great Sword!” Yu Qian, the governor of Beihe County, who had just arrived at the entrance of the tent and overheard the conversation, spoke up.

Once the land of the Greatsword is conquered, it certainly cannot be left unattended; people must be assigned to govern it.

In particular, although the court may temporarily send some officials over, it is necessary to stabilize the situation before sending anyone.

This was something that Su Dingfang and Hulü Guang could not do alone. Therefore, Fang Xuanling, the newly appointed governor of Shenglan Road, sent Yu Qian with a group of local officials to accompany the army to ensure that there would be no problems after the great sword was captured and before the court officials were dispatched.

"Generals, our Han Dynasty is to the Golden Horde as the Golden Horde is to our Han Dynasty. At this time, both of us need each other!"

"Even though the Golden Horde sent troops, they only looted briefly."

"With our Han army marching north, the Golden Horde will most likely not clash with our forces and will withdraw on its own!"

In terms of military skills, Yu Qian was not as good as Su Dingfang, and even less so than Hulü Guang.

However, in assessing the relationship between the two countries, Su Dingfang and Hulü Guang were not as good as Yu Qian.

The Golden Horde, the Han Dynasty, the Tuoba Tribe, and the Great Wu—these four families together form a cross.

The Golden Horde and the Han Dynasty are on one diagonal line, while the Tuoba tribe and the Great Wu are on another diagonal line.

Whether it's the Golden Horde or the Great Han, both of them have allied with the Tuoba tribe as enemies, and they can't stay at peace with the Great Wu either. Therefore, both of them need each other to share the pressure.

In this respect, the small benefits of the Greatsword cannot affect this fundamental interest.

The Great Sword, and even the Four Minor Dynasties, used to pay an annual tribute to the Golden Horde, but that stopped after the Four Minor Dynasties were all destroyed.

From this perspective, they are certainly unwilling to accept the loss of their own interests.

With the Greatsword Guards all withdrawn, it's only natural for the Golden Horde to have one last bite.

However, if they were to fall out with the Han over this, it would be a lose-lose situation for both sides.

In particular, the connection between the Great Wu and the Tuoba tribe is now deepening.

In the past, with the alliance between the Golden Horde and the Han Dynasty, the Tuoba tribe also wanted to choose a power to befriend distant forces while attacking nearby ones, in order to balance the Golden Horde.

However, at that time, Tuoba Changping chose the relatively weaker Mongol Empire, rather than the Great Wu, one of the seven great dynasties.

As for the Great Wu, the Great Han Dynasty had not yet experienced the Henan disaster and had not yet expanded to that extent. Therefore, the Tuoba tribe did not choose them, and they would not be so eager to please them. Instead, they chose to support the two small dynasties of Zhongcang and Jianhao.

However, after the Battle of Henan, Zhongcang was destroyed, and the power of the Han Dynasty expanded rapidly. The Wu Dynasty had no choice but to try to win over the cold shoulder.

After all, nothing is more important than national security and fundamental interests.

With the Golden Horde in the north and the Han Dynasty rising in the east, the Great Wu needed to strengthen its ties with the powerful Tuoba tribe as a ally.

"If it's just looting, then it's fine!" Although Su Dingfang was still somewhat unwilling, he could accept this possibility.

Ultimately, although they already considered the Great Sword to be theirs, the land had not yet fallen into their hands. Even if the Golden Horde came to plunder, what they were actually plundering was not the Han Dynasty, but the Great Sword.

Besides the Greatsword, they also have a Great Warrior to deal with, so he certainly doesn't want to cause any conflict with the Golden Horde at this time.

If the Golden Horde's troops could withdraw directly after they had resolved the situation here and moved north to take over the territory, that would be the best possible outcome for him.

After all, in truth, the Golden Horde suffered the greatest losses in this battle. From now on, they would completely cease receiving annual tributes from these dynasties.

"Generals, after our army resolves the problem here, we will head north immediately. In just a few days, how much can the Golden Horde plunder?"

"Besides, letting the Golden Horde wield its butcher's knife on the greatsword might actually help them win back the hearts of the people later!"

Yu Qian did not take the possibility of the Golden Horde sending troops too seriously. The current ruler of the Golden Horde was not a short-sighted person and would not risk breaking the alliance for the sake of the greatsword's small benefit.

Similarly, the Han Chinese didn't really need to worry about that loss. Their battle had been suspected of encroaching on the enemy's interests, so they wanted to make the enemy vent their anger.

Ultimately, the enemy's anger was being vented on the Greatsword. That area would only truly belong to the Han army after they had occupied it. Before that, it would only belong to the Greatsword.

Therefore, Yu Qian wouldn't take this matter too seriously. Since it wasn't even his own territory that was being seized, he wouldn't really feel bad about it.

In contrast, maintaining the alliance would benefit both sides.

If no one helps them share the burden of the Tuoba tribe and the main tribe, neither of them will have an easy time.

For the Han Dynasty, the Golden Horde was an extremely qualified ally.

At least during the Henan campaign, the opposing side initiated a local war with the Tuoba tribe, thus slowing down the Tuoba tribe's attack on the Zhenbei Army and preventing the Zhenbei Army from being destroyed. However, the Henan campaign of the Han Dynasty was not yet over.

In fact, this is part of the reason why the Zhenbei Army has been able to hold out until now.

“In that case, Dingfang, I’ll leave this sword to you!” Hulü Guang said with a relaxed smile.

Although he mobilized more than 50,000 terracotta warriors in one go, including all the cavalry, Hulü Guang was not worried at all about whether Su Dingfang could take Jiandu.

"Speaking of which, Dingfang really had a lot of luck with women in this battle!" Recalling what happened a couple of days ago, Huli Guang revealed a knowing smile that only men would understand.

Because of what happened a couple of days ago, they can take over Jiandu anytime they want, it's entirely up to them.

As for Su Dingfang, seeing Huli Guang's smile, he laughed heartily.

He certainly wouldn't mind trying the delicious food that was offered to him. On the contrary, he wouldn't lose out. Not only would he not lose out, but he would also gain an opportunity to easily take over the Great Sword Capital.

Although they could practically control the swordsmen before, Su Dingfang would certainly not mind minimizing casualties during the process.