Endless Winter: My Camp Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 302: The Enemy Arrives, Searches, and Helplessness
The 48th year of Longyou, June 23, the first half of the night
"The army stops advancing!"

Two kilometers northwest of the Beehive Base, the 3,000 Longyou troops, who had marched for three hours in the wind and snow, finally stopped after Li Xuanyan gave the order.

"It took only a little over three hours to cover 27 kilometers. Walking along the tunnel is much faster than walking normally on the snowfield."

In the front cold-resistant team, Li Yuankai couldn't help but sigh in a low voice.

Song Ning, who was standing beside him, immediately said, "This tunnel in Daxia was originally built along a flat road, and at the beginning of its construction, they must have spent time clearing the debris and gullies on both sides, so we didn't encounter any obstacles or obstructions during our march. It's normal that we're twice as fast."

"If we can go twice as fast by walking along the tunnel, then wouldn't it be even faster if we go directly through the tunnel?"

"It's more than that. I heard from my father that before the Great Summer, a lot of coal stoves and torches were laid in the tunnels. The temperature in the tunnels is much higher than outside. When marching in the tunnels, we don't have to worry about the terrain, nor do we have to brave the wind, snow and severe cold. The speed can be at least seven or eight times faster."

"Then why don't we just go through the tunnel instead of going through so much trouble and marching for three hours from Wushuang?"

"I heard that it was the leader who was worried that Daxia had done something in the tunnel."

"That's it, I just said..."

"Shut up, the war is about to start, stop chattering, we're going to go underground soon."

After being scolded by Song Kang, the two turned around and found that hundreds of Longyou soldiers, led by a group of cold-resistant soldiers, quickly dispersed to the snowfield within a radius of three to five kilometers on the east side. They then took out their spears and stabbed and swept the ground, obviously looking for something.

"found it."

Less than half an hour later, a soldier on the north side of the snowfield exclaimed, which immediately attracted many people to come over.

Li Xuanling also immediately led a group of cold-resistant soldiers to rush over.

Seeing the leader and others coming, the soldiers immediately made way for them.

"This entrance has been filled in."

Li Xuanling and others had not yet approached when they heard the voices of the soldiers inside, and their faces suddenly became much uglier.

When they got closer and saw the hole on the ground, Li Xuanling and the other cold-resistant-level warriors suddenly looked much more gloomy.

The snow above the cave entrance had been cleared away by the soldiers. Below was a circular pit with a diameter of two meters. Unlike the normal black ground next to it, the soil in this circular pit was obviously much fresher in color, and it was obvious at a glance that it had been recently filled.

Meng Ying walked to the entrance of the cave, drew out his sword and stabbed it directly into the ground.

The Ice Abyss is covered with snow all year round and the ground is extremely hard. Even with the sharpest weapons, it takes some effort to penetrate it.

But it was different here. Meng Ying's sword pierced through the ground directly like piercing tofu, leaving only the hilt exposed.

Obviously, this round pit was the entrance to the underground base of the hive, and it had just been filled. Judging from the wetness and compactness of the soil, it had been filled only within a day or two.

"There are a total of nine ground entrances to the hive. We confirmed last night that the other six were all blocked. There are only three entrances in this area left. Could Da Xia have blocked all the passages connecting to the ground?"

When everyone heard Meng Ying's words, they all shook their heads.

The beehive is located at a depth of one hundred meters underground. Not to mention the main underground space, the construction work of the twenty-nine passages alone is extremely huge and complicated. Even if tens of thousands of diggers start working at the same time, it will take at least several years to complete. Daxia has occupied the beehive for just over two months. How is that possible?

"Impossible. At most, they will block the entrance. Notify the others and confirm the locations of all nine entrances. Then, you can form groups of five and use brute force to destroy the nearby ground. You will definitely find a way down."

"I obey my orders!"

At Li Xuanling's command, a group of cold-resistant soldiers immediately took orders and each led a group of soldiers to begin confirming all the entrances in the surrounding area.

Li Xuan didn't move. He frowned and whispered, "We went to Mirror Valley last night and confirmed that there was no one there. In the tunnel from Mirror Valley to Beehive, there were indeed traces of Digging Realm escorting a large number of supplies. A rough estimate is that there should be more than 5,000 people. Add the 4,000 people from Wu Shuang, and Da Xia has gathered at least 9,000 people underground, or even tens of thousands."

Li Xuanling nodded slightly. Last night, she personally brought her third brother Li Xuandu, Meng Ying and Cheng Guang to the beehive to investigate the situation.

Although the four people failed to successfully enter the underground of the hive, they were able to infer a lot of things from the many traces of emergency cleaning around the hive station and the fact that there was no one in Mirror Valley.

Especially when returning from Mirror Valley, they unexpectedly discovered an underground snow tunnel leading from Mirror Valley to Beehive. The residual heat in the tunnel, including the deep wheel marks on the ground, all indicated that Daxia had just mobilized a large number of digging realms and supplies here.

They had all looked around the hive and found no signs of any large-scale movement of people. It was basically certain that the group of people had entered the underground hive base, so Li Xuandu said this at this moment.

Li Xuandu was not finished yet. He thought for a moment and continued:
"Blocking the entrance and hiding underground, Xia Hong is planning to continue avoiding the battle. Even if they have prepared a large amount of supplies underground, they can only hold out for a few months at most. After a few months, won't they still lose?"

When Li Xuanling heard this, his brows immediately frowned.

The harsh environment of Bingyuan has destined that most camps cannot have too many reserve supplies. This has nothing to do with strength or weakness. Strong camps have more people and more people with high cultivation levels, so they naturally consume more supplies. Weak camps have fewer people and poor ability to obtain resources, so it is even more impossible for them to have too many reserve supplies.

Even as strong as Longshan, if he did not go out for gathering and hunting for a long time, he could only last half a year at most. Li Xuandu judged that Daxia could only hold on underground for a few months, which was already thinking the worst case scenario.

Judging from the behavior of the Great Xia turtle retreating into the underground honeycomb and the discovery of the deserted Mirror Valley last night, it can be basically judged that there will be no more reinforcements from Great Xia over Hongmu Ridge. In other words, the nine thousand digging realms underground at this moment are the strongest force that Great Xia can get from Longyou.

1000 Yunjiao soldiers plus 8000 ordinary digging soldiers were no match for 3000 Longyou soldiers. Obviously, Daxia was also well aware of this, so they led their men to retreat into the underground space of the honeycomb and chose to avoid fighting.

The question is, if you can avoid it for a while, can you avoid it forever?

Longshan only needs to defend the ground of the hive and wait for a few months. They will naturally surrender due to the depletion of supplies. Isn't that a dead end in the end?

Li Xuanling ordered people to find the entrance to the underground passage because she had enough confidence that she could lead 3,000 Longyou troops to attack and completely wipe out the Daxia group.

In other words, if the Longyou Army suffered any setbacks during the attack, she would immediately change her tactics, defend the ground and prevent the people of Daxia from coming out. In a few months, Daxia would still be doomed.

It is impossible for Xia Hong, such a smart person, not to think of this.

This proves that his retreating to underground with his men was just a delaying tactic.

The real intention was to delay these 3,000 Longyou troops.

Li Xuandu suddenly frowned, looked up and exchanged glances with Li Xuanling. Realizing that the other person was thinking the same thing as he was, both of their pupils flashed with surprise.

"No, why would he need to hold us back? Almost all of Great Xia's manpower is here. If Xia City has reinforcements, there can't be no one left in Jing Valley. It's impossible that he has been hiding underground for several months, waiting for these nine thousand people to practice and break through, right?"

After Li Xuan finished speaking, he couldn't help but shook his head.

Waiting for more than 9,000 people to achieve breakthroughs through cultivation is even more unrealistic.

But he really couldn't figure out why Xia Hong needed to hold them back.

"Could he be trying to lure us into attacking Xiacheng?"

Meng Ying suddenly spoke up at this time. He was also one of the four people who came to explore last night. Seeing that Li Xuanling and Li Xuan were staring at him, he quickly continued:

"They have transferred a large number of Digging Realm to the Hive. Logically speaking, Xiacheng must be empty right now. Could it be that Xia Hong thinks that as long as we defend the Hive, we will go south from the Mirror Valley and attack Xiacheng directly after failing to capture it for a long time? Then he can lead the people from the Hive to attack from the rear while we are frustrated in the siege."

…………

After hearing Meng Ying's words, Li Xuanling and Li Xuan were both stunned for a moment, then they thought about it carefully, and their expressions gradually became strange.

You know what, what Meng Ying said is really possible.

"It's possible. From the news brought back by my second uncle, the defense of Daxia City is extremely strong and difficult to break through. Xia Hong deliberately did not leave anyone in Jinggu. It is possible that he wanted to attract us to attack Xiacheng. He only needs to leave some Digging Realm in Xiacheng, and he can rely on the strong defense to resist us for a while. In the end, even if we break in, there will probably be many casualties. If he leads the Beehive group to attack from the rear at this time, I'm afraid..."

At this point, Li Xuandu paused and continued to Li Xuanling: "This seems to be the only way for Daxia to have a chance of winning against us."

The three thousand Longyou troops were not afraid at all even if they faced ordinary Digging Realm troops that were ten times their number. The number of Digging Realm troops in Daxia could not possibly be more than 30,000. It was impossible for them to defeat Longshan in a fair way.

But if it is really as Meng Ying and Li Xuandu deduced, then the result is really hard to predict. Even if they lose, Longshan will probably be seriously injured.

Li Xuanling frowned and asked the two, "If it is really as you speculated, that means Xia Hong is absolutely sure that we will not be able to take down the beehive in a short time, right?"

Li Xuandu and Meng Ying were silent for a moment, then nodded at the same time.

"Xia Hong is too naive. We know all the passages under the hive. As long as we locate one, we can immediately sort out all the passages and find the entrance to the main area. Nine thousand people want to guard us? Dream on!"

"Captain, we found an entrance in the southeast direction. It wasn't completely filled in. The shallow tunnel nearby collapsed due to my brute force. We can see the passage leading down."

As soon as Li Xuanling finished speaking, Li Xuanping's voice came over.

Her face lit up with joy when she heard the voice, and she immediately rushed over with Li Xuandu and Meng Ying. She also asked Li Xuanping to notify all the other cold-resistant troops, including the Longyou Army, to gather over.

"The leader is here."

"Make way, the leader is coming."

…………

There was a place about two kilometers to the southeast, and hundreds of people were surrounding it. When they saw Li Xuanling and his men coming, they immediately made way for him.

Li Xuanling led everyone into the middle and saw that there was indeed an entrance to a long and narrow passage at the end of the collapsed part of the ground. His expression suddenly brightened.

"Third brother, take twenty people to explore this passage, sort out the passage numbers, identify the location of passage 1, and then confirm the location of the main entrance of the Hive Station."

They only confirmed the location of the entrance. They had no idea what the situation was underground or what traps Daxia had set. In this situation, Li Xuanling would naturally not rashly lead the army down, but would first order his third brother Li Xuandu to take people down to explore.

Longshan knew the situation of the eleven garrisons in Longyou very clearly, and Li Xuandu was the person who had been sorting out this intelligence information for many years. He knew the twenty-nine passages under the honeycomb, including the location information, best, so he had to be the one to conduct the exploration.

"It shouldn't be a problem, I'll be down right away!"

The twenty people led by Li Xuandu were not ordinary soldiers of the Longyou Army, but real cold-resistant soldiers from Longshan. With so many cold-resistant soldiers going down together, they would not be afraid at all, let alone traps, even if all the people from Daxia hid in the passage.

Soon, Li Xuandu led twenty people and walked down from the entrance.

Time passed slowly. After waiting for half an hour, Li Xuandu and others still hadn't come up. A trace of impatience gradually rose on Li Xuanling's face. He looked up at the sky, his expression slightly condensed.

The night in Bingyuan lasts only ten hours in total. It took the army more than three hours to march from Wushuang tonight, and it took more than an hour to find the entrance. So far, more than six hours have passed in total.

There are only three hours left until dawn!
If we delay any further, we won’t be able to fight tonight.

Another half hour passed, and just when Li Xuanling could not help wanting to send more people down, Li Xuandu led a group of people and climbed out of the passage.

"Why did you take so long? What's going on underground?"

Li Xuandu and the others reacted normally, and they probably didn't encounter any ambush. However, their faces looked very ugly, and it was obvious that they brought back some bad news.

"Daxia has changed all the underground passages beyond recognition. We spent a long time using brute force to open up more than a dozen buried passages before we were able to figure out the conditions of all the passages and make a rough map."

Li Xuandu took out two animal skin scrolls from his body and handed them to Li Xuanling.

The one on the left is a very clearly organized diagram of the underground passages, from No. 1 to No. 29, all passages are clearly marked;

The one on the right is a rough sketch of a winding passage with many passages blocked in the middle. The coal stains on it have not dried yet, and it is obvious that it was drawn temporarily by Li Xuandu in the past hour.

"Can you sort it out and find the location of Channel 1?"

Li Xuanling just took a quick look at the sketch and immediately frowned and asked.

Channel 1 is the only channel connecting to the main underground area of ​​the hive. If you want to find the main area, you must find Channel 1.

Judging from the sketch on the right, Daxia has disrupted all the underground passages, and it is naturally impossible for them to leave any labels. Therefore, if they want to find Passage No. 1, they can only conduct on-site surveys and compare them with the original map.

"I stayed down there for so long just to find the location of Channel 1, but Daxia destroyed it so thoroughly that it won't work in a short time. I need more manpower, preferably 20 more. Give me two hours and I should be able to find it."

Li Xuanling did not show any surprise when he heard this. The complexity and length of the underground passage of the honeycomb were well-known in Longyou. Li Xuan was confident that it would be good enough if it only took two hours.

"Go and check on the people first. Be careful and find them out as soon as possible."

"it is good!"

But after she nodded and agreed to Li Xuandu, asking him to take the people down directly, her expression still involuntarily became much gloomy.

It's certain that I won't be able to fight tonight, so that means another day has been wasted.

According to what Meng Ying and Li Xuandu had just guessed, the Big Xia Turtle retreated into the beehive in order to make them give up and lure them to attack Xia City.

This speculation is indeed logical and makes sense, which is why Li Xuanling did not refute the two of them.

But not refuting does not mean approval.

"Going south to Jinggu to attack Xiacheng is obviously a bad move. I will never do such a stupid thing. If Xia Hong really thinks so, then he is underestimating me. But if not, then it proves that he simply wants to use the beehive to delay my 3,000 Longyou troops..."

Li Xuanling frowned, and finally there was only one question left in his mind, that is, what was the purpose of the Big Summer Turtle retreating into the beehive and holding back his three thousand Longyou troops?
There is no reinforcement in Xiacheng, and there is no other camp in Longyou to provide assistance to Daxia. It is even more unrealistic for nine thousand people to hide underground to practice.

What is it for?
No reason!

"Captain, it's almost dawn. Should we let the army set up camp here?"

While Li Xuanling was deep in thought, Meng Ying suddenly came over and asked a question.

She did not answer immediately, but looked at the entrance to the underground passage she had just found, and then said, "No need, wait for Third Brother to find the location of Passage 1, and I will take you to set up camp underground."

Camping underground?
Meng Ying was stunned and was a little slow to react, but seeing that Li Xuanling had already closed his eyes and was obviously unwilling to say more, he did not ask.

Time passed slowly. Li Xuanling and a few other cold-resistant soldiers, including the three thousand Longyou troops, were all waiting quietly. Just half an hour before dawn, Li Xuandu's excited voice was finally heard from the entrance of the passage.

"Found it, found it, the location of Channel 1 has been confirmed."

After Li Xuandu came out, forty cold-resistant-level warriors also came out together. Everyone looked very excited, and it was obvious that they had discovered something.

"Take me down, big brother, second brother, you guys come with me."

Li Xuanling directly asked Li Xuandu to lead the way, and also called Li Xuanyan and Li Xuantian. The three of them followed Li Xuandu into the cave.

"There's less than an hour left until dawn, why don't the troops set up camp yet?"

"The leader just said to set up camp underground."

"What do you mean by setting up camp underground?"

"I do not know either!"

The group of cold-resistant soldiers who had just come up saw that the Longyou army on the ground had not started to set up camp yet, and immediately began to ask the reason. After hearing Meng Ying's explanation, they were stunned for a moment and showed puzzled expressions.

But soon, they knew why.

boom…………

A deafening roar came from two kilometers away on the west side.

All the cold-resistant-class soldiers were startled and ran towards the sound of the explosion.

At the center of the explosion was a huge hole with a diameter of seven or eight meters. The area around the hole was full of dust and snow, and it was obviously blown up from the ground.

"Notify the army to approach this side. We will dig a few more deep holes and let the soldiers slide down along the holes. We will set up camp underground tonight."

Everyone thought that some cold beast had come out from the ground, but unexpectedly, Li Xuandu's voice came from below.

Bang...bang...bang...

Six or seven loud noises like the previous one were heard again. Everyone saw the holes exploded in the ground and felt the violent vibration under their feet. Then they suddenly realized that these holes were made by Li Xuanling and his four siblings with their fists in the ground.

"Didn't they say that the Hive is more than a hundred meters underground?"

"Is the leader so powerful?"

"Such a big hole was made by a fist, this......"

"It shouldn't be the case on normal ground. The Hive has built too many underground passages over the years, and the surrounding ground has been almost dug out. These passages are usually used to exhaust smoke and gas, so the ground above the passages is probably not that solid anymore."

"Okay, stop talking nonsense, quickly notify the soldiers and prepare to go down."

........................

"This is the middle section of Channel 1, only about meters above the ground. The part leading to the main area has been filled by Daxia. It's right here, you see."

In an underground passage, Li Xuandu led Li Xuanling and the other two to the end of the passage and came to an area filled with new soil.

"The end of Channel 1 is the entrance to the main area of ​​the hive. In other words, as long as we blast away the dirt, we can see the main area gate?"

After Li Xuanyan asked the question, he immediately turned to look at Li Xuandu. After getting his affirmative nod, he held his breath and rushed towards that area.

boom…………

He was like a human cannonball, crashing directly into the new soil and rushing forward for more than ten meters, causing the ground to shake continuously. He squeezed open the landfill area and directly created a passage more than ten meters long.

Boom!
But then, he seemed to encounter some obstacles.

There was a loud thud, which was obviously the sound of flesh colliding with a block of iron. It was dull and long underground.

"This part has been poured with iron liquid. The temperature is not low. It should have been poured recently. This should be not far from the main area entrance."

Li Xuanyan's voice was slightly joyful.

After Li Xuanling led the other two people into the passage, they saw the mark left on the iron wall by Li Xuanyan. They immediately stepped forward and touched it, and found that there was indeed residual warmth on it. An expression of both joy and worry suddenly appeared on their faces.

The good news is that this place has been recently watered, which basically confirms that they have found the entrance to the main underground area of ​​the hive;

The question is how can they break through this barrier?

"Let me try it!"

Li Xuanling frowned, signaled the other three to move aside, stretched out his right fist, and smashed it hard at the iron wall.

Although she was a woman and her punches were not as domineering as those of men, the combined power of more than twenty bristles made the airflow in the entire passage become agitated. In terms of momentum, it was even more terrifying than the one her eldest brother Li Xuanyan had just used his body to charge into.

Boom!
When his fist fell, the iron wall made the same sound as before. The difference was that Li Xuanyan's blow only left a mark, while Li Xuanling not only punched in with his fist, but also his arm.

But even so, the iron wall only trembled and remained motionless.

"It's at least 15 meters thick. It can't be broken by brute force."

"To cast a round iron column with a diameter of two meters and a height of fifteen meters, tens of millions of kilograms of iron ore must have been used. The Great Xia was really willing to spend a huge amount of money!"

Hearing that the thickness was fifteen meters, Li Xuandu immediately shook his head and sighed, then pointed at the soil above the iron wall and said, "It's a pity that we are still a little stupid. If we can't break through the main gate, we can still take a detour and break through the soil layer above. Xia Hong is not that smart!"

Li Xuanling did not say anything, but frowned, looking at Li Xuandu and Li Xuantian, who began to use brute force to destroy the soil layer above the iron wall.

The soil layer was much easier. It took the two of them less than ten breaths to break through the soil layer above and directly open up a passage of more than ten meters.

"It's still an iron wall. How is that possible?"

Unfortunately, Li Xuandu’s next words made Li Xuanling’s expression even more gloomy.

He hurriedly went up to the soil layer with Li Xuanyan, and when he saw the pitch-black iron wall at the end, his expression immediately became much gloomier.

"The temperature here is very low. It's not the iron juice that has been recently poured."

"Get out of the way, let me try."

After Li Xuanling asked the three people to move aside, he tried the iron wall with his fists again.

boom…………

"It's a little thinner than before, but it's still over ten meters long, and it's hard to break with brute force."

Li Xuanling pulled out his fist, and after observing the surrounding scene along the iron wall, his expression became increasingly ugly.

"No way, the underground space of the hive..."

Li Xuandu guessed something and quickly used his hands to pull up the soil layer around the iron wall. He was very fast and he had dug up an area of ​​five or six meters in a short while.

Behind all this soil, there is actually an iron wall.

"Are all the barriers in the main underground area of ​​the Hive poured with iron?"

Not only are they all poured with molten iron, but their thickness is also over ten meters.

this…………

Li Xuan was stunned for a moment.

Looking back, Li Xuanling and Li Xuanyan both looked as if they had eaten a fly.
Only Li Xuantian was looking at the iron wall with a calm expression, and no one knew what he was thinking.

"Even if the four of us work together and use brute force to destroy a ten-meter-thick iron wall, it will probably take us half a day!"

"In just a short while, Daxia is standing behind you, waiting for you to break through the iron wall? Moreover, it is useless to just barely break a hole. If the three thousand Longyou soldiers go in one by one, they will just be courting death."

"Where did the Beehive get so much iron ore? It's impossible. The entire underground space is made of iron walls that are ten meters thick. I don't believe it!"

"Let's go and find it. Notify all the cold-resistant classes to explore along the iron wall. Maybe we can find an area without the iron wall blocking it. Even if we can't find it, if we can find a few weak spots, we can break it open better."

"But this will take a lot of time."

"Is there any way? Without wasting time, are we really going to surround here and wait for the Daxia people to run out of supplies and come out to surrender?"

"Alright, stop talking nonsense, notify all the cold-resistant classes to come down and look for them, quickly!"

Li Xuanling's eyes were filled with anger, but he finally gave the order helplessly.

Because she was ambushed twice in Changbaigou and Ningyuanqiu, she became very wary of Daxia, so she did not rush to advance in Wushuang last night, but chose to investigate the situation of the hive first.

This cautious attitude is definitely not wrong.

Looking back now, it was this caution that caused me to miss the opportunity to fight.

Who could have thought that Daxia was planning to hide in such a fortress.

It would have been better if we had marched in directly last night and prevented Xia Hong and his men from sneaking in.

Now she knew that the other party was inside the tortoise shell in front of her, but she was helpless. This feeling of powerlessness made her extremely uncomfortable!
(End of this chapter)