Endless Winter: My Camp Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 508 Attacking the Stronghold and the First Encounter
Ugh...

As the bugle call ceased, the eight thousand-strong army of the Great Xia, fully prepared for battle, had already marched out of their camp.

When eight thousand people walk together, their steps are naturally not very synchronized.

However, they were all clad in thousand-times-forged armor, and the armor plus a full set of weapons weighed at least 30,000 jin (15,000 kg).

Let alone a person, even the movement of an ordinary 30,000-pound object would create an astonishing spectacle. It was fortunate that it was the environment of the Ice Abyss; otherwise, the high slope where the Zhongyang camp was located would have been crushed by the eight thousand fully armed Xia soldiers.

Clang clang clang...

Whether their steps were in sync or not was secondary. The sound of their armor clashing as they walked was enough to shake the soul, let alone the fact that they were all holding longbows at full draw, each step tightly drawn.

Zhongyang was not a city, so there was no city gate. But it would be inappropriate to say that it was just a village. The most vivid description would be a giant camp built on a hillside more than 100 meters high.

The camp was surrounded by iron fences on the south, west, and north sides. These fences extended all the way to the mountainside, reaching a height of about twenty meters. Each iron pole was also covered with countless sharp spikes, clearly designed to prevent people from charging in.

The entire camp had only one gate on the east side. The gate was made of pure iron, eight meters high and five meters wide, and covered with dense silver forging patterns. A rough estimate would tell that there were no less than ten thousand patterns on it.

"Plop..."

Above the gate, an armored soldier looked at the approaching Xia army formation from the east. It was probably the first time he had seen such a grand scene. He was so shocked that he couldn't help but swallow, which immediately attracted the attention of many soldiers around him.

"We're just waiting for the enemy to tire themselves out. It's just a matter of defending the city. What's the panic? Let's see how many lives the Xia army can afford to lose here. Vanguard, raise your shields; central and rear guard, prepare your bows!"

Yang Qin, who was in mid-air, frowned suddenly, first turned her head and glared at the soldier, then faced the crowd and shouted loudly.

Clang...

At his command, the 2000 vanguard troops deployed in the area closest to the gate raised their iron shields with a clang. The 3000 men in the middle army and the 1000 men in the rear army, like the Xia army, all drew their powerful bows and aimed at the sky.

For those with cultivation levels below the Manifestation Yang level, the distance for archery to maintain its power is generally limited to 200 meters, but that's during normal wilderness hunting.

When two armies clash, it's a completely different situation. With thousands of arrows flying out at the same time, accuracy becomes meaningless. The primary goal is to shoot the arrows successfully and hit the area where the enemy's formation is located.

The gate of Zhongyang Village was only five meters wide and about three meters thick. Naturally, it was impossible for the front 2000 soldiers to fit on top. At least 80% of the soldiers in the front line stood behind the iron railings on both sides of the gate.

Leaving aside the central and rear armies, they were at least a hundred meters away from the gate.

"stop!"

Just as the army was about to enter within 200 meters of the village gate, Mu Longhe, who was in mid-air, suddenly waved his hand to stop them. Then, his blood boiled in his throat, and he spoke in a deep voice towards the west gate: "Yang Qin, I acknowledge you as my nephew. Abandon your gate and surrender! Your rabble of tens of thousands of men thinks they can stop the advance of my Great Xia army? You're just dreaming."

"If Xia Chuan had come to challenge me personally today, I might have shown him some respect. But Mu Longhe, you stray dog, you treacherous villain who betrayed your master and turned against your enemy, do you even deserve to be called my uncle?"

Yang Qin's face was full of sneers. Even from two hundred meters away, he wasn't worried that Mu Longhe couldn't see his expression. His eyes were full of mockery as he continued, "You old fox who's just borrowing the tiger's power, if you have the guts, then..."

"Fire arrows!"

"They're getting impatient, huh... Release the arrows!"

Yang Qin hadn't expected that Mu Longhe, at his age, would have such poor self-control. Upon hearing the order to fire arrows, he reacted quickly and immediately gave the same order.

Swish swish swish…………

Arrows from both armies flew out simultaneously from their formations like a horizontal rain, sweeping towards each other like a deluge.

Tap tap tap...

When the two armies clash head-on, the first wave will undoubtedly be an exchange of crossbow bolts. However, simply comparing crossbow bolts is too simplistic. At a deeper level, it should be a comparison of the resources and forging capabilities of the two towns represented by the two armies.

Like Yang Qin, Mu Longhe had already erected iron shields in the front ranks. The dense, rain-like arrows not only failed to penetrate the shields, but also failed to shake the front ranks in the slightest.

*Pfft... Pfft... Thud...*

On the other hand, the two thousand men in the front of the Zhongyang camp, who had erected shields, managed to block most of the crossbow bolts. However, after less than three waves of arrows, their formation began to slowly retreat. Some of the weaker men even started to fall backward. If it weren't for the tight formation and the timely support from the rear, several of them would have been knocked down.

call out…………

As the rain of arrows began, Yang Qin didn't hover in mid-air. Instead, he landed directly above the village gate. He stared at the arrows, then suddenly noticed something. His brow furrowed, and he quickly reached out and caught a stray arrow. He looked down at it, his expression changed drastically, and he turned sharply, shouting:
"Lower your bow and raise your shield, focus on defense, and don't engage them in ranged attacks!"

Both sides were fighting with armies of the Cold-resistant level, so the iron arrows they used were all of the thousand-times-forged quality. The surface area of ​​the arrows was small to begin with, and thousands of silver-white forging patterns were densely attached to them, making them look exactly like the color of silver.

When the two armies unleashed their arrow formations, Yang Qin naturally assumed that the Xia army's arrows were made of the same thousand-times-forged iron as theirs.

It wasn't until the three waves of arrows had passed, and he saw the disheveled state of his own front-line army, and noticed the strange sound of the Xia army's arrows piercing the air, that he realized what was happening and grabbed an arrow to examine it.

That's when he realized the problem.

"Not all of them, but about half of them. Even the soldiers at the Cold-Weather level are equipped with arrows made of ten-fold silver. Has the Great Xia become so wealthy?"

Having discovered the problem, and seeing the rain of arrows shot by Xia Jun, Yang Qin had a clear idea of ​​what was going on. He only glanced at it briefly before making a rough judgment on the specific situation of the arrow rain, and his eyes darkened slightly.

Pfft...

Yang Qin stopped his side from continuing to shoot arrows because the Xia army had determined the position of the archers inside the gate from the direction from which the arrow rain came. They slightly raised their bows, and the arrow rain immediately bypassed the front troops with their shields and shot towards the soldiers behind the gate.

The soldiers behind the gate have already suffered minor casualties.

Since they knew they couldn't win with crossbows, there was no need to continue the contest. In any case, the Xia army would eventually have to attack the gate.

Just as he said before, we should simply wait for the enemy to tire themselves out!
However, Yang Qin's thinking was still a bit naive...

"All troops, advance at full speed! The scout battalions of the Yellow Armor and Red Sun armies, build bridges! The rest of you, keep firing arrows! Don't stop until your quiver is empty!"

As soon as Yang Qin finished speaking, Mu Longhe issued his second order.

As the Xia army unleashed its arrows, it continued its advance. After more than a dozen volleys of arrows, the army was only a little over a hundred meters away from the gate. Yang Qin's decision to abandon the exchange of arrows made the Xia army's advance even smoother. Upon receiving the order from Commander Mu Longhe, the 4000 soldiers of the Yellow Armored Red Sun Army, with their shields erected in the front row, immediately began their charge.

The 4000 soldiers in the back row moved a little slower, but most of them kept their bows and arrows flying. Only the thousand soldiers in the very center, escorting ten iron-wheeled carts, followed the column at an extremely fast pace.

"The divine crossbows are all set up; Great Xia is getting serious!"

When Yang Qin saw the ten iron-wheeled carts, his pupils contracted slightly. He had been present at the Battle of Hongmen four years ago. At that time, he was only at the Cold Resistance level. He had an extremely deep impression of such powerful weapons that could threaten the Manifestation level.

"put!"

boom…………

In just over ten breaths, the Xia army at the front reached the edge of the wide ditch in front of the village gate. Almost simultaneously, five small teams of more than twenty men each rushed out from both sides of the army formation, each team carrying a giant iron plate that was three meters wide and twenty meters long.

After the first person in the squad reached the edge, he shouted, and more than twenty people pushed hard, sending the long iron plate flying through the air towards the ground in front of the village gate.

"Start the fire! Yang Ping, follow me!"

Seeing Xia Jun build a bridge, Yang Qin finally couldn't stand still. He suddenly drew his long sword from his waist, gave an order, and called out to his cousin Yang Ping. The two Xianyang-level soldiers ignored the large wave of arrows in front of them and rushed directly to the landing point of the pontoon bridge. Their purpose was self-evident.

Whoosh...whoosh...

Unfortunately, before he and Yang Ping even reached the gate of the village, they were forced back by a long stick and a large knife, respectively.

Simply saying they forced them to retreat is probably not accurate enough.

boom!
Mu Longhe's strength was clearly far superior to Yang Qin's. The moment he chopped down with his long staff, before Yang Qin could retreat, he swept his staff horizontally, hitting Yang Qin directly on the shoulder.

"At least 18 jun, how can it be so strong!" Yang Qin was forced back more than ten meters and almost crashed into the gate of the village. He clutched his shoulder wound and looked at Mu Longhe in front of him with horror in his eyes.

Two years ago, during the Chuishan rift, Mu Longhe made a public move. His third uncle, Yang Jian, was present at the time and remembered it clearly. He only had 12 jun of strength, but he increased by more than 6 jun in two years. This was clearly not the improvement speed of the Nine Towns.

Why would his father, Yang Zun, entrust Zhongyang to him to guard?

Because he already possesses 9 jun of strength, and with the added enhancement of his cultivation techniques, he can unleash strength of over 12 jun.

But now, it's clear that they've miscalculated.

"Yang Ping, retreat!"

After a brief exchange, realizing she couldn't stop Xia Jun from building the bridge, Yang Qin didn't rush forward recklessly. Instead, she quickly called Yang Ping back, and the two of them retreated back to the village gate together.

Sizzle sizzle...

Just then, his order to start the fire also came into effect.

The so-called "ignition" refers to the wide ditch in front of the village gate, which is directly below the iron bridge that the Xia army has just built.

When the ditch was first dug, Yang Qin had people lay a large amount of flammable dry grass and coal underneath. At this moment, with a command, the people who had been arranged above the village gate immediately fired rockets down, which instantly ignited the entire ditch.

boom………………

A fire suddenly rose up, instantly illuminating the entire village gate area.

"That damn Xia Jun, he built an iron bridge..."

When Yang Qin saw that Xia Jun, who was not hindered at all, was still frantically stepping onto the iron bridge and rushing towards the gate of the village, her expression instantly became extremely ugly.

The ditch at the entrance of Zhongyang Camp is only ten meters wide. Normally, you could just cut down a few big trees and build a bridge. If a wooden bridge were built, then the raging fire he prepared in advance would be effective.

Who would have thought that Xia Jun had prepared an iron plate in advance!

Without his obstruction, the five squads of the Huangjia and Chiyang scout battalions had already set up the five iron plates.

More and more Xia Jun soldiers charged over, stepping on the iron plates.

"Come on!"

"A little fire is just right, so I can see things clearly, haha!"

"We can't stay here too long, brothers, or we'll become scorched on a hot plate."

"Charge in and kill!"

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

The fire in the ravine was truly fierce.

They could even clearly see the five iron plates heating up and turning red, but this did not dampen Xia Jun's enthusiasm for the charge. The Cold-Resistant level was already at the stage of perfect membrane, and unless a great fire was about to engulf them, the mere high temperature could only cause them some pain and not any harm.

On the contrary, the increasing pleasure only fueled their ferocity. Realizing they couldn't stand on the iron bridge for long, they charged even more fiercely and aggressively.

The commander-in-chief, Mu Longhe, who was already at the forefront of the army, made a move when the soldiers at the front were still more than ten meters away from the gate!

He leaped into the air, raised his long staff high, and chopped down directly at the gate of the village.

Clang...

The gate of the stronghold must not be allowed to be breached by the Xia army so quickly.

At the critical moment, Yang Qin appeared. Even knowing he couldn't defeat Mu Longhe, he still stood in front of the gate, blocking the blow. Then, he looked down at the quivers on the Xia soldiers below and shouted:
"The Xia army has run out of arrows! Fire! Fire! Fire!"

Swish swish swish swish…………

Upon receiving the order, all the guards above and behind the gate raised their powerful bows in unison and began to fire fiercely at the Xia army rushing towards them.

Clang clang clang………………

"You really think only shields can stop you? This is just a single-stranded iron bow, and you dare to think you can hurt us? Dream on!"

Xiahou Cen, the commander of the Chiyang Army and general of the Sixth Battalion of the Allied Forces, leaped to the foot of the stockade gate. He cleaved through dozens of iron arrows in front of him, raised his eyebrows slightly, looked at the stockade gate which was only eight meters high, let out a cold snort, threw down his shield, and used the iron bars of the side railing to jump up.

Pfft...

Xiahou Cen was the first to climb the city wall, and the pressure he faced was immense. He was surrounded by dozens of guards almost instantly, including six middle-aged men dressed as generals who immediately attacked him with swords.

call…………

However, faced with this situation, Xiahou Cen was not afraid at all. Instead, a sinister smile appeared on his face. He suddenly turned around and drew a horizontal arc with the nine-hole silver ring greatsword in his hand, creating a horizontal blade of light.

Before the blade flashed out, three vertical blood-red cloud patterns suddenly appeared between his brows. The blade flash instantly widened by two or three meters, sweeping away all six generals in front of him.

Not only that, nearly half of the dozens of guards who were originally surrounding him were swept away, and many of them were even cut in two, armor and all.

With the addition of sacred runes and martial arts, my strength is almost approaching that of a hundred-mane cultivator. Without a cultivator at the Manifestation Yang level, who can stop me!

Xiahou Cen hadn't had such a satisfying fight in a long time. He hadn't been with the Great Xia for very long, and his desire for military merit wasn't that strong yet. Right now, he only wanted contribution points, and he was just a little short of exchanging them for the Sheng Yang Pill.

Once this battle is over, things should be pretty much settled...

"Brothers of the Red Sun Army, charge forward! I will clear the way for you!"

Xiahou Cen roared and continued fighting in place, intending to reserve an area for the brothers coming from behind.

"Everyone, do not retreat! If the Xia army cannot breach the gate, they cannot break in. Hold the line! Hold the line!"

Yang Qin and Yang Ping had been blocking Mu Qinghe and his son Mu Longhe from above the village gate. Although they were clearly no match for their opponents, they had no intention of fighting. Whenever the Mu family tried to break down the gate by force, they would immediately rush up and cause a disturbance. In this way, they actually managed to hold the village gate.

Unfortunately, with the soldiers of the Chiyang and Huangjia armies surging up the gate like a tide, the significance of guarding the gate seemed to be diminishing.

boom…………

"If we can't hold them, it doesn't matter if we let them in..."

Yang Qin blocked Mu Longhe's long staff once again. He retreated several meters and saw that several hundred Xia soldiers had occupied the area above the gate. He first let out a cold laugh, then turned his head to look inside the camp, as if he wanted to say something.

Before he could even utter a word, his gaze fell upon something, his pupils constricted, and his body jolted.

Smoke, it's smoke...

Smoke is rising from the center of the camp.

Moreover, the scale of the smoke appears to be quite large.

that is not……

"The warehouse is on fire! The warehouse is on fire!"

Several screams suddenly came from the rear of the army. Yang Qin's face turned pale instantly, and her expression became extremely ugly.

(End of this chapter)