Endless Winter: My Camp Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 289 Zhou Yuan’s Difficulties, Changbaigou

East of Longshan Mountain, west border of Changning
The convoy transporting supplies was moving forward on the snow in the cold wind.

"Speed ​​up, everyone! Speed ​​up! You're already exhausted after just two hours?"

"Don't drag your feet. We're almost there in the last 20 kilometers."

"Speed ​​up, everyone, speed up."

…………

Since entering Changning, Captain Zhou Yuan's urging has never stopped. It seems that his nerves are a little too tense. He just keeps urging the army forward, regardless of everyone's emotions.

"Captain, we have covered twelve kilometers in two hours. We have already reached our maximum speed. We cannot go any faster even if we want to."

Cheng He, the captain of the Second Regiment who was following behind Zhou Yuan, saw that many soldiers in the army began to breathe heavily, and couldn't help but speak up to help.

Song Ning, the captain of the regiment, also said, "Captain, Changning is now under the jurisdiction of Longshan. We are familiar with the situation in the territory, and the roads along the way have been cleared in advance. There is no need to go so fast."

The captains-general of the two regiments, Li Yuankai and Li Yuanqing, did not say anything but nodded, obviously agreeing with the two's opinions.

The situation in the snowfield was complicated, and without any other assistance, the Longyou Army's marching speed was about five to six kilometers per hour. Their new army had not been established for a long time, so the marching speed might be 20% to 30% slower.

The marching speed was not fast to begin with, and with the addition of ten giant four-wheeled vehicles, it naturally became even slower.

It was also thanks to the people stationed in Changning who cleared a marching route in advance a few days ago, otherwise it would have been impossible for them to walk twelve kilometers in two hours.

The current marching speed is already ridiculously fast.

After the Longyou Incident in April, Yucheng, Changning and Songyuan were all annexed by Longshan, and the territories of the three families naturally also belonged to Longshan.

The three families' garrisons now have some troops from Longshan. When they enter Changning, they feel like they are at home. In the eyes of the four people, Zhou Yuan's behavior is obviously a bit too nervous.

However, after hearing what Cheng He and Song Ning said, Zhou Yuan did not hold back at all. Instead, he urged them several times before turning around and looking at them. He spoke in a deep voice:
"This is a new army, and it's our first time going out on a mission. I don't seek to achieve anything, but to avoid mistakes. We must be careful about everything, and the same goes for you."

Hearing this, the four captains Cheng He, Song Ning, Li Yuankai and Li Yuanqing looked at each other with strange expressions, but did not say anything, just nodded slightly.

Zhou Yuan was also an old man, so he could tell that the four men didn't listen to him at all. He looked a little angry, but after looking at their young faces, he didn't say anything. He just gave an order: "It's still about 20 kilometers from here to the destination, about three hours away. You four should go ahead and explore the way to avoid any special situations!"

The four of them looked at each other with resistance on their faces, but seeing the anger on Zhou Yuan's face, they did not dare to refuse. After bowing and obeying the order, they ran towards the distance on the east side in groups of two.

Zhou Yuan hung on the flank of the army, watching the four men leave. After the anger on his face subsided, he sighed slightly:
"You said you would hand over the newly formed Fourth Army to me, but you put four nails in it. You let your family take up the two military commanders. In the end, you still don't trust me, a person with an outsider surname. Chief, ah..."

The Longshan family is large and powerful, so the rules are naturally strict. The military power has always been controlled by the Li family. After Li Xuanling became the leader, she held two military tokens. She was the only person in the entire camp who could truly mobilize the three Longyou armies.

The Li family was originally the ruler of Longshan, so it was understandable that they controlled the military power.

The problem is, what Li did was really exaggerated!

There are three armies of 1,000 men in front of Longshan, and they are now led by the three brothers Li Xuanyan, Li Xuantian, and Li Xuandu.
There were a total of twelve captains in the three armies, eleven of whom had the surname Li. The only one, Yang Zhi, did not have the surname Li, but he was the grandson of Li Tiancheng.

This is a bit too much for people like them who are from other families.

It’s not that outsiders want to interfere with the military power of the camp. The problem is that everyone needs room for advancement, let alone those of them at the cold-resistant level. Positions such as captain and captain are not only symbols of status, but also come with extremely generous quotas of training resources.

More importantly, this also concerns the question of whether Li completely trusts these outsiders.

As a direct subordinate of the former leader Li Tianhua, one of the Eight Vajras of Longshan, and one of the elders of Longshan's council, Zhou Yuan's loyalty to the Li family goes without saying. But this does not mean that he has no desire to practice and become stronger, and to improve his strength and status.

Regarding the issue of people of other surnames holding positions in the military, Li Tianhua had actually proposed reforms when he was still there a few years ago, but after he left, no one mentioned this matter again, and since then it has always been a sensitive issue in Longshan.

It was not until last month, at the end of May, after meeting Hou Hu, that Li Xuanling proposed at the end-of-month meeting to build a new army and appoint a person of another surname to serve as the captain, which immediately caused an uproar.

Without exception, almost all of the Li family members expressed their opposition;
All the non-Warm Cold-Resistant Class warriors, including Zhou Yuan, unanimously agreed.

In the end, Li Xuanling rejected all objections and chose himself to be the captain of the new army. At that moment, Zhou Yuan was so excited that he almost burst into tears.

He thought of how he had worked diligently for so many years following Li Tianhua, and that his loyalty to the Li family had finally been rewarded. He also swore in his heart that he would lead the new army well for the rest of his life and make achievements for Longshan to repay the two leaders for their trust in him.

It’s a pity that thinking is one thing.

Actually doing it is another matter.

Originally, according to Li Xuanling's idea, he was to be the captain of the new army, and the four lieutenants under him would all be people from other families. However, the descendants of the Li family in the council were unwilling to do so.

One month after the new army was established, the Li clan members in the council showed their talents and directly took down the positions of four captains.

Among the four captains at present, Li Yuankai and Li Yuanqing are directly members of the Li family; Cheng He and Song Ning, although they are the sons of Cheng Guang and Song Kang, are also the grandsons of Li Tiancheng and are Li's in-laws.

Of course, Zhou Yuan, the captain, is still the supreme commander of the new army.

The problem is, the four subordinates who directly lead the troops are all members of the Li family. How much say can he, as the captain, have left?

I can see some clues from the fact that the four people just questioned me.

Not to mention, among the four, only Cheng He was the one who really caught his eye.

Li Yuankai, Li Yuanqing and Song Ning had only broken through to the cold-resistant level a few months ago. Not only were their strength average, they also had little experience in going out. What was even worse was that the three of them were arrogant and had a bad reputation in the camp.

"Take your time. The leader asked me to be the captain because of the pressure from the Li family. I must not let her down no matter what!"

Zhou Yuan sighed softly, walked to the flank of the army, and continued to urge them.

………………

Three kilometers east of the convoy.

Seeing Cheng He looking around with an inquiring attitude, Li Yuanqing shook his head and said, "Cheng He, are you really here to explore the way?"

Cheng He in front paused slightly and turned his head with a puzzled look.

Li Yuanqing saw his expression and sneered, "Hou Hu has already defected to Longshan. Who in the entire Longyou area would dare to attack us now? It can't be that camp called Daxia, right?"

Without waiting for Cheng He to respond, he continued, "Zhou Yuan, the new army captain, was appointed by the leader against all odds. He was afraid of making a mistake and being fired by the council, so it's understandable that he was overly nervous."

Hearing this, Cheng He lowered his head and was silent for a moment, then looked at Li Yuanqing and asked, "The new army is just established, so be careful, that's right."

"whispering sound…………"

Li Yuanqing sneered and said with disdain: "No matter how careful he is, Zhou Yuan will not be able to serve as the new army captain for long. It's a dream for an outsider to want to get involved in the military power of the camp!"

Cheng He's pupils narrowed slightly when he heard the last sentence, but his expression remained normal. He didn't say anything, but just looked at him and asked, "But he was appointed by the leader himself. I know Uncle Zhou's ability. He has strength, ability, and the ability to lead troops. As long as the leader supports it, it will not be easy for the council to remove him as a captain."

His father Cheng Guang was one of the Eight Vajras of Longshan together with Zhou Yuan, so according to seniority he should indeed call Zhou Yuan uncle.

Cheng He has some understanding of his uncle Zhou Yuan.

The Eight Vajras of Longshan were all direct descendants trained by Li Tianhua in his early years. Zhou Yuan, with the strength of the eleventh mane in the late stage of Yu Han, ranked first among the Eight Vajras. Not to mention that when Li Tianhua created the first Longyou Army, Zhou Yuan was the first captain in command.

There were few doubts in the camp about Zhou Yuan's ability and strength. In fact, if it weren't for his status as an outsider, he would be more qualified to lead the Longyou Army than the three Li Xuantian brothers.

Li Yuanqing obviously understood this. After hearing Cheng He's words, he hesitated for a moment, but soon continued with a sneer: "This has nothing to do with strength or ability. It's because Zhou Yuan didn't put his status in the right place. If he really lets the captain stay, the outsiders in the camp will want to interfere in the military power even if they have a template. That's unacceptable..."

At this point, he paused for a moment, then smiled at Cheng He and said, "Cheng He, you don't think of yourself as an outsider, do you?"

Cheng He paused, then shook his head: "Of course not."

Cheng He's mother is Li Tiancheng's second daughter, Li Xuanyue, so he is considered a relative of the Li family, and he is not considered a person of an outsider family. "That's good!"

Li Yuanqing nodded and continued walking forward.

Cheng He stared at Li Yuanqing's back for a while, a hint of disgust flashed across his eyes, but he quickly concealed it and asked:

"Alright, we are almost four kilometers away from the main army, let's go back and report!"

Li Yuanqing obviously had no intention of going back. He waved his hand and said, "I finally got to take a break from the army. I don't want to go back so early. Changbaigou is ahead. Didn't Zhou Yuan ask us to explore the way? It's a good opportunity to take a look."

Cheng He stopped for a moment, looked back and saw that he could not see the army's location. A hint of hesitation flashed across his face, but when he saw that Li Yuanqing had already started walking east, he still followed him.

Most of Longyou is plains, but the roads are not smooth everywhere.

For example, Changbaigou is a typical example.

Changbaigou is a deep ditch to the east of Changning, running from north to south. It is about ten kilometers long, more than twenty meters wide and more than one hundred meters deep.

The territory of Changning Camp is characterized by being long and narrow from north to south. The Changbai Valley almost runs through half of the entire territory of Changning. If you want to walk east from Changning to Baiyuan, you can either take the wooden bridge over the valley or take a detour to the north or south.

"Changning was really poor before. There was only such a narrow wooden bridge over a ditch more than 20 meters wide. No wonder it took five hours. The army took a detour to the south, which added another five or six kilometers to the journey."

Li Yuanqing has reached the west side of Changbaigou and is looking down at the deep ditch.

Changning now belongs to Longshan, and they are also aware of the general situation of Changbaigou. They knew the itinerary before setting off.

"Changning's financial resources are indeed not good, but this is probably not the reason why they didn't build the iron bridge. They had a bad relationship with the Baiyuan camp before, and the Changbaigou is a natural trench between the two camps..."

"Hey, look down there, why is there light?"

Cheng He was suddenly interrupted by Li Yuanqing. He looked puzzled, then walked forward and looked down the deep ditch in the direction he pointed.

When he saw this, he was stunned.

Usually, not many people come to a place like Changbaigou, so there is nothing but snow at the bottom of the deep ditch.

But at this moment, there was clearly a large area of ​​light where he was staring.

It seemed like the moonlight was shining on something and then reflected out.

Li Yuanqing probably thought it was some treasure and looked a little excited.

Cheng He frowned. He looked up at the moon in the sky, then lowered his head to look at the deep ditch, wanting to see it more closely.

But when he lowered his head, he caught a glimpse of his shoulder out of the corner of his eye.

He was the captain commanding the Second Regiment of the New Army, so naturally he was wearing armor at this moment.

His shoulder armor was also illuminated by the moonlight, and the light it emitted was exactly the same as the large patch of light below the deep ditch.

"run!"

Cheng He's expression suddenly changed, his brows twitched, and he turned around and yelled at Li Yuanqing.

Li Yuanqing turned his head, his face full of confusion.

But soon, he understood.

call…………

A fierce sound of a blade suddenly flew out from under the rock wall of the deep ravine.

swoosh...swish...swish...

Then, from the other side of the deep ditch, five or six speeding iron arrows suddenly flew towards the two men. The sound of the iron arrows breaking through the air alone was enough to pierce people's eardrums, which shows the power they contained.

A large black knife came slashing towards him diagonally, and Cheng He hastily raised his knife to block it.

boom!
The Thousand Forged Sword in his hand was chopped off and the blade was bent. His body flew backwards more than twenty meters like a kite with a broken string.

"There's an ambush, go back and report it!"

When this thought flashed through Chenghe's mind, it was already too late.

puff!

He suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood and was unable to stand up from the snow. He looked up and saw Li Yuanqing nailed to the ground by three iron arrows. Without even a scream, he was held down by several men in light gold iron armor.

Finished!

A knife came chopped towards him, and the seriously injured Cheng He was unable to make any resistance. His eyes went dark and a strong feeling of dizziness came over him.

"These two people don't even have the power of two manes?"

"It seems that he has just broken through the cold-resistant level."

"The two people who just passed by from the south are about the same strength as them."

"The one leading the troops in Longshan is not stupid. They are probably here to explore the way."

"We've seen it before. It's impossible for ten carts to take the wooden bridge. They should have gone south when they got to Changbaigou. Liu Yuan, lead the army south from the bottom of the gully and find a suitable place to wait. I'll go and keep watch first."

"Yes, Commander-in-Chief, what should we do with these two? Should we kill them?"

"No need to kill him, just tie him up and take him with you first."

………………

Cheng He was in a daze and fainted before he could finish listening to the words.

………………

"Captain, everything is normal on the south side of Changbaigou, we can take a detour!"

At the front of the Longyou army, after Song Ning and Li Yuankai came back, they immediately found Zhou Yuan to report the situation at the front.

After hearing the two people's reports, Zhou Yuan nodded.

It is less than one kilometer away from here to Changbaigou. After the army arrives, it only needs to take a detour of a total of five kilometers to cross Changbaigou, and then there are only the last ten kilometers left to the eastern border of Changning.

After Zhou Yuan signaled the army to continue advancing, he turned around and asked Song Ning and the others:
"Where are Li Yuanqing and Chenghe?"

Li Yuankai and Song Ning were stunned and shook their heads.

Zhou Yuan frowned upon hearing this, and a hint of anger appeared on his face:

"I asked them to explore the way, but they haven't come back for such a long time. They really don't take my orders seriously. Go ahead and find them. Ask them to come back."

"This...I obey your command!"

Song Ning and Li Yuankai were obviously confused as to why Zhou Yuan was angry. After hesitating for a moment, they saw that Zhou Yuan's face was getting angrier, so they immediately bowed and agreed, and quickly headed east to find Li Yuanqing and Cheng He.

(End of this chapter)