Endless Winter: My Camp Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 507 What are we waiting for? Soul-penetrating incense, let the war begin.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh……

300 meters east of Zhongyang Camp, a large, square, golden banner flutters incessantly in the cold wind. The banner is 15 feet long and more than half a foot wide, and is made entirely of golden summer brocade.

Although it was night, the firelight below illuminated the flag, making the details of the Kui pattern on the golden flag clearly visible. The large black "Mu" character in the center of the flag was particularly dazzling and eye-catching, and could be seen clearly even from hundreds of meters away.

The banner stood atop a wooden watchtower over thirty meters high. Below the banner was a small platform where five soldiers in yellow armor stood, their eyes wide open, staring at the four cardinal directions and the sky.

The lower part of the watchtower was actually a wooden shed that was 15 meters long. There was a smoke vent on the top of the shed, from which thick smoke was billowing out.

There were flames within the thick smoke, and the high-frequency flickering of the flames indicated that someone was definitely active inside the wooden shed.

Around the wooden shed, ten square black military tents, each fifty meters long, were arranged in a ring. The tents were so dark that the inside could not be seen with the naked eye. Only the strong firelight shining from the west tent door and the sounds of soldiers talking and laughing inside indicated that the number of people was not small.

creak...

Suddenly, a soldier pushed open the wooden shed door in the center, and an old man with a white beard wearing black armor walked out first, followed by more than ten people wearing black, silver, gold, yellow and red armor respectively.

Although the colors of the armor worn by the people were different, the styles were completely the same, consisting of helmets, shoulder guards, front guards, back guards, knee guards, upper arms, forearms, and so on. It was clear at a glance that they were standard armor of the Great Xia Dynasty.

"Commander, there are still three hours until dawn, isn't that about right?"

Seeing his father, Mu Longhe, looking up at the sky, Mu Qinghe assumed he was estimating the time and immediately leaned forward to say something.

"I can tell the time, do you need to interfere?"

Mu Longhe turned and glared at his son, then said in a deep voice to the crowd, "Taking a city is no easy task. The magistrate has only given me 10,000 troops. We can't rush in without absolute certainty. Let's wait and see..."

The generals standing behind him frowned slightly in confusion upon hearing this.

General Xiahou Cen of the Sixth Battalion couldn't help but cup his hands and say, "Commander, with ten divine crossbows, three elite units, and the Golden Body Pill, our cultivation, pills, weapons, and armor are all superior to the enemy's. Moreover, the Zhongyang camp only has two Xianyang soldiers, Yang Qin and Yang Ping. Whether in terms of strength or numbers, they are inferior to our army. Not to mention we have an inside man. Why drag this out until now?"

Although Xiahou Cen possessed the strength of 56 manes, he was ultimately only at the Cold Resistance level. In theory, he was not qualified to speak to Mu Longhe like that. However, he was the son of Xiahou Zhang, and he also held the positions of Commander of the Chiyang Army and General of the Sixth Battalion of the Jinyang Allied Army. Therefore, among the group, only he dared to speak up and question Mu Longhe.

Mu Qinghe had already been glared at by his father, so he dared not speak again.

However, upon hearing Xiahou Cen's question, like everyone else, he looked at Mu Longhe with a puzzled expression, wondering why his father had been hesitant to attack.

When questioned by his subordinates, Mu Longhe's expression darkened slightly. Seeing that all the generals were looking at him with confusion, he slowly opened his mouth.

"The lives of the Xia people are precious!"

He opened his mouth slightly and uttered only four words, but when Mu Qinghe, Xiahou Cen and the other generals heard them, their bodies trembled slightly, and the confusion on their faces disappeared instantly, replaced by a touch of shame.

Seeing the shame on everyone's faces, Mu Longhe knew they had taken his words to heart. A look of relief appeared in his eyes, and he seemed to have become interested in talking as well. He continued to explain in a deep voice: "You must know that once a great battle begins, it is impossible to recover. What good is having all the advantages? The trench at the entrance of the camp and the two thousand troops in the southwest mountain road are enough to prove that Yang Qin and Yang Ping are not incompetent. Who knows if they have any other powerful methods hidden?"

When the Chief Minister ordered me to lead 10,000 troops westward, he instructed me that the lives of the Xia people are precious, and a Pyrrhic victory is not a true victory. How could I, the Commander-in-Chief, treat this lightly…”

At this point, he paused slightly, then continued, "Besides, I am not afraid of the 10,000 troops in the Zhongyang camp, but Lu Shouzhen said earlier that the combined number of Digging Realm soldiers in the Zhongyang and Linya camps is at least 60,000. If Beishuo is determined to defend Zhongyang to the death, these 60,000 people must have been organized. If you just rush in recklessly, your opponents will not only be those 10,000 defenders!"

Upon hearing this, everyone's expressions instantly became more serious.

"So, the Governor is waiting for..."

This time, Mu Qinghe couldn't hold back any longer. In public, he would naturally address his father by his official title, but he was genuinely curious about what his father was waiting for.

"coming!"

However, before he could finish his question, Mu Longhe interrupted him.

Mu Longhe clearly sensed something, and suddenly turned his head to look at the southeast sky, a glint of light appearing in his eyes.

The others quickly followed his gaze.

A figure flew swiftly from the southeast side, directly above the central command tent. The soldiers on duty around the tent immediately turned grim upon seeing someone approach, and the sound of iron wheels rolling over the ground could be heard from both sides, clearly indicating that someone had used a crossbow.

"We're on the same side, no need to panic!"

Only after Mu Longhe gave the order did everyone around him relax.

"Lord Xiao!"

"What brings Lord Xiao here?"

"It is Lord Xiao."

…………

"I am late, please forgive me, Commander!"

The visitor was none other than Xiao Kangcheng, the former commander of the Xiaoshan Army.

Xiao Kangcheng landed directly in front of everyone, waved to the others, and then cupped his hands in a smile to Mu Longhe.

"Lord Xiao, you've finally arrived! If you hadn't come, I could have waited patiently, but they're practically pressuring me to order the attack..."

Xiao Kangcheng was taken aback upon hearing this, then looked at Mu Qinghe, Xiahou Cen, and the other generals behind him, and immediately smiled and said, "It seems that all of you generals are eager for battle! No rush, let me scout ahead first!"

After his joke, his expression suddenly turned serious. He then turned his head to look in the direction of the Zhongyang camp, raised his hands, and dozens of glowing blue wisps of energy suddenly appeared from his hands.

The cyan wisps of energy throbbed in his palm, seemingly trying to escape his control but unable to break free. After several attempts, they began to crash into different directions.

There are a total of 36 spiritual lights, 33 of which are breaking through to the east and south; only 3 are rushing towards the west.

To the west of everyone at this moment was the Zhongyang camp.

"Three of them! Bei Shuo really did have something up its sleeve!" Upon seeing the state of the cyan energy strands, Mu Longhe immediately realized what was going on, his expression brightening slightly as he thought to himself, "Just as I thought."

Xiao Kangcheng's strength is not considered strong. He broke through to the Xianyang level last year, but his current strongest strength is less than 4 jun.

But he has a very powerful skill: tracking.

Thanks to the Soul Fragrance Jade he fused with last year, Xiao Kangcheng was able to mark all the Manifestation Yang level beings. Moreover, these cyan energy marks were almost lifelong. At least so far, apart from Huang Zhu and people with extremely powerful souls like Xu Ning who could remove them themselves, the Great Xia had not found any other means to remove them.

With such methods, how could the Great Xia not make preparations in advance?

Two years ago, Xiao Kangcheng formed the Xiaoshan Army. Last year, after breaking through to the Xianyang level and fusing with the Soul Fragrance Jade, Xia Chuan directly made him hand over the position of Commander of the Xiaoshan Army and then made him the Deputy Director of Wanbaolou. This was so that he could easily contact the Xianyang level in the five northern towns and plant incense for them in advance.

"Lord Xiao, you came from Yangqu, right? How is the situation in Yangqu?"

Mu Longhe already knew about the change of ownership of Longgu Town. He was well aware that the biggest target of the Great Xia's Northern Expedition was the five major towns. After the change of ownership of Longgu, the next step would inevitably be to deal with the isolated and helpless Yangqu. That's why he asked this question.

Xiao Kangcheng had indeed come from Yangqu. He frowned slightly and shook his head, saying, "Chief Yuan has led a large army to surround Yangqu completely. Cao Qianyang is stubborn and unyielding. No matter how much we try to coerce or persuade him, he refuses to surrender. Chief Yuan guesses that reinforcements from Caiqiu and Chencang have arrived, so he did not rush to attack the city. He only sent people to deliver messages to the other three armies."

The warlords' help has arrived!

Mu Longhe frowned and subconsciously shook his head, saying, "That's not right, is it? Chen Cang and Cai Qiu's reinforcements have arrived, so why are there only three Xianyang level beings here? By the way, you just identified Yang Qin and Yang Ping, so who is the third Xianyang level being?"

"Duan Heyang, he's only at the level of 2 Jun!"

Upon hearing that the third Xianyang-level expert only possessed a strength of 2 Jun, Mu Longhe's expression instantly relaxed considerably. He then turned to look at the Zhongyang camp, his face slightly brightening, clearly indicating that he was already making plans.

Xiao Kangcheng, on the other hand, looked somewhat puzzled. He was pondering what Mu Longhe had just said: the two major vassal states had sent reinforcements, so why were there only three Xianyang at the Zhongyang camp?

"Since the enemy has three Xianyang, we should play it safe. Xiao Shan's army happens to be in the fifth camp of the allied forces. Since Lord Xiao is here, if there is nothing else important, why don't you stay here and help me break through the city? I guarantee that it will be over before dawn in less than three hours."

Xiao Kangcheng turned his head to look at the five battalions' tents on the left. Seeing the familiar Xiaoshan Army flag, he glanced at the soldiers below and a smile appeared on his face. He nodded and said, "I am the battle flag, roaming the battlefield. When there is no urgent military intelligence, I can stay in any war zone. After Governor Mu takes Zhongyang, I will go and report the good news to the Chief of the Department. How about that?"

"Haha, thank you for your kind words, Brother Xiao..."

Mu Longhe was not so omnipotent as to foresee Xiao Kangcheng's arrival; all he had been waiting for was military intelligence from other war zones.

If he remembered correctly, the Xia army set up six battle command flags for this northern expedition, all of which were held by people with special skills, and Xiao Kangcheng was just one of them.

Who would have thought that I would be so lucky, actually waiting for Xiao Kangcheng.

With so many Xianyang-level beings, they have the ability to turn the tide of battle. Upon learning that the Zhongyang camp only had three Xianyang-level beings, Mu Longhe was completely relieved.

He turned and led his generals back to the main camp. He then took his seat on the command platform with great fanfare, glanced at the assembled generals, pondered for a moment, and immediately spoke:

“Zhongyang’s terrain is not particularly treacherous, but a relentless attack won’t work. Now that we know about the southwest mountain pass, we need to make preparations in advance. Lu Sizheng’s seven apprentices have already infiltrated the inner side of Zhongyang’s camp. As long as we launch a frontal attack, they will create chaos inside and also cooperate with us to seize the southwest mountain pass.”

"Lord Xiao, you will lead 2000 Xiaoshan troops to bypass the main road and bypass the main road to the southwest under cover of night. Ambush at the mountain pass entrance. Once we launch our attack from the front, you can coordinate with your inside agents to capture the southwest mountain pass. That will mean we've captured half of the Zhongyang camp."

This would be considered a favor, a surprise attack from the southwestern mountain pass, especially with inside help, which obviously offers a much greater chance of merit than a direct confrontation.

The current commander of Xiaoshan Army is Xiao Kangcheng's cousin, Xiao Yuan. His son, Xiao Heng, and a large number of his nephews and nieces are soldiers in Xiaoshan Army. Mu Longhe was obviously doing him a favor because Xiao Kangcheng was willing to stay and help him.

Xiao Kangcheng understood immediately, a smile appearing on his face. He cupped his hands in greeting and said, "Rest assured, Commander, I will lead the army to seize the mountain pass!"

"Speed ​​is of the essence in war. Go and prepare now. Although it's night, 2000 men marching will make some noise. It won't be easy to keep it from the enemy..."

It's not that it's difficult, it's that it's impossible to hide it from anyone.

Not to mention that Xia Jun's camp is only 300 meters away from Zhongyang's camp, and they are watching this side all the time. Even if they were farther away, with the abilities of a Xianyang-level expert, it would be impossible for 2000 people to slip away right under their noses.

Therefore, sending 2000 men to attack the mountain path was both a surprise attack and a way to divide the enemy's forces. It all depended on how well the inside agent performed and how much Yang Ping and Yang Qin were willing to commit to the response.

"I'll go right away!"

Opportunities to make meritorious contributions are often accompanied by huge risks. Xiao Kangcheng was old enough to understand this principle, so he simply nodded, bowed to Mu Longhe, and left.

"The remaining 8000 men will be personally led by this commander-in-chief to attack from the east front. The entire army will lead with arrows. Xiahou Cen, you will lead the Yellow Armor and Red Sun armies to build a bridge and charge from the front. Mu Qinghe will lead 4000 men with divine crossbows to bring up the rear. We must break through the Zhongyang Village gate in one wave."

"Subordinates take orders!"

Mu Qinghe and Xiahou Cen bowed deeply, their expressions filled with excitement.

They arrived in Zhongyang just after nightfall and waited there for almost seven hours. Now the battle is finally about to begin.

"Beat the drums and horns, prepare to march!"

Ugh...

At Mu Longhe's command, the generals inside the tent quickly left the camp. Less than five breaths later, a huge horn sounded over the camp.

As soon as the war horn sounded, the faces of the 2000 Xiaoshan soldiers who had already left the camp and the 8000 Xia soldiers who were ready to go in the camp instantly flushed red, and their eyes were filled with excitement and exhilaration.

"Military merit, the chance to earn military merit has arrived!"

"I only need 50 more military merits to be ennobled, one more battle will be enough!"

"The situation on the southern slopes is basically settled now. Once this Northern Expedition ends, there will be no more Nine Garrisons. In the short term, there probably won't be such a good opportunity to gain military merit. We must seize it!"

………………

Countless soldiers were eager to fight. The raging flames of the Zhongyang camp to the west did not frighten them; instead, they reflected the excitement and longing in their eyes.

The investiture of a noble title takes place today!
(End of this chapter)