Endless Winter: My Camp Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 566 River Valley Meeting, Joining Forces with Cai to Defend Chen

Given Xia Hong's current status, it's indeed not easy to get a meeting with him.

It wasn't that his subordinates acted on their own initiative; the key was that as the lord, he had far too many things to do, especially since such a large-scale battle had just ended, and people wanted to see him in waves.

Yuwen Tao wanted to report the results of last night's battle to him, and the two of them sat down to summarize the gains and losses of the Xia army after the great battle.
Yuan Cheng brought a message from Xia Chuan, explaining the general situation of the five towns on the southern slope and discussing the subsequent handling of the five towns.

Qiu Peng then made a list of the supplies in the five town treasuries, explaining to him which items should be transported back to Xia City and which items should be left in the town for future use.

As early as yesterday's battle, Lin Kai had summoned the scouts sent by Yuwen Tao, compiled the intelligence they had gathered, told him the important information, and then personally led a team to survey the entire Changqing Valley area to the north. News was sent back from time to time.
...............

There were too many things waiting for him to decide, so from the fourth day after the great battle, he didn't have a single spare moment. It wasn't until the daytime of the fifth day that he finally had a little free time to start discussing the Xia army's follow-up plans with Yuwen Tao and others.

Although Xia Jun's main force has entered Hegu Village, no one has yet given a definite answer as to whether they will take the initiative to attack and fight Cai Qiu's army in Guangning Mountain, or wait and see what happens and react when Cai Qiu's 70,000-strong army makes its move.

"My lord, according to the news Lu Yang brought back last night, Cai Qiu is too preoccupied with Changqing Valley. Why not take advantage of the situation and advance to wipe out Cai Yunzhou's 70,000-strong army, then swallow up the entire Changqing Valley, and perhaps even take Qinghua City further...?"

Inside the main hall of the building, there were six people present. Xia Hong sat at the head of the table, while Yuwen Tao, Yuan Cheng, Qiu Peng, Lin Kai, and Xu Ning stood on either side.

The one who spoke was Yuan Cheng.

Yuan Cheng has a bad temper and is relatively impatient. He volunteered to fight as soon as the battle ended last night, but Xia Hong refused him and asked him to go back to Nanlu to inform Xia Chuan of the results of last night's battle. That's how he ended up bringing back a message from Xia Chuan.

Seeing that Xia Hong had finished his work and was about to discuss the follow-up arrangements for Xia Jun, he couldn't wait to volunteer for the battle a second time.

To be honest, as soon as he opened his mouth, the others were somewhat tempted.

"The lord is a brilliant strategist. Before the battle, he sent Lu Yang to Weibo to inform them of the battle in Linchu County. Li Gangfeng was also very decisive. He actually brought more than a dozen people at the Tribulation Realm and managed to rescue Cai Qianshan, who was doomed, from Linchu County. In this way, although Cai Qiu was injured, he was not directly annihilated by Chen Cang."

Weibo's rescue of people must have come at a price; Chencang, not satisfied with swallowing most of Linchu County's territory, continues to advance eastward, seemingly aiming to take over the entire county; Hecang, though silent, according to information Jiang Xinfan gathered from Chencang, has been almost entirely aligned with Weibo in foreign affairs in recent years, so Weibo's attitude represents theirs.

It now seems that all three feudatories want to tear a piece of flesh from Cai Qiu!

Upon hearing Yuwen Tao's first sentence, Xia Hong immediately smiled. The Great Xia Dynasty was indeed growing bigger and bigger, and even someone as aloof as Yuwen Tao was learning to flatter.

However, it was indeed his doing to send Lu Yang to Weibo to deliver the message before the battle.

Xia Hong was naturally aware of Xia Chuan's cooperation with Chu Tianming on behalf of Da Xia. The 100,000 troops in Chencang remained stationary in Dongchuan City, and then Heyang County launched a surprise attack on Caiqiu Linchu. Da Xia did not want to, nor was it capable of, waging war against both vassal states at the same time. The great war with Caiqiu was already inevitable, so agreeing to Chu Tianming's proposal was simply going with the flow.

This collaboration could have been a win-win situation for both parties, with Cai Qiu being the only one who suffered.

But now that things have progressed to this point, Xia Hong is starting to feel uncomfortable.

He originally thought that Chencang would be enough after conquering part of Linchu County, but who would have thought that Caiqiu would be so incompetent that he couldn't even defend the city of Linchu County.

The four prefectures are the base of Caiqiu. The importance of Linchu Prefecture is self-evident. Xia Hong had even lived in Linchu Prefecture for a period of time, and he knew very well how fortified the city was.

Chen Cang actually managed to break through it!

Thinking about it this way, even if the Great Xia takes over the entire Changqing Valley, or even if it conquers Qinghua City, Chencang will still benefit the most from this three-way battle.

Moreover, once Chencang takes over the entire territory of Linchu and Caiqiu suffers this loss, will the 100,000 troops in Dongchuan City on the southern slope continue to remain inactive?

Their next target will inevitably be the Great Xia.

Although they defeated Cai Qiu's twenty-five armies, the Great Xia was still at a disadvantage overall in the face of the three vassal states of Mo'aochuan, a fact that Xia Hong never forgot.

Therefore, he had to plan ahead.

"Lord Yuwen is right. Since the Three Feudatories are fighting tooth and nail, our Great Xia cannot lag behind. We should first take Changqing Valley, and once reinforcements arrive, we can then take Qinghua City in one fell swoop. Perhaps, we can even take Baishui County..."

Yuan Cheng had probably figured something out, and once again asked Xia Hong to join the battle.

Yuwen Tao and the other three showed some interest upon hearing his words, but when they turned their heads and saw Xia Hong's slightly furrowed brows above them, they guessed what was going on and chose to remain silent.

"If we continue fighting and join forces with Chencang, can we destroy Caiqiu?"

Yuan Cheng was clearly prepared. Upon hearing Xia Hong's question, he immediately cupped his hands and replied, "Of course not, unless both the Wei Bo and He Zang families abandon Cai Qiu. However, the probability of that is very small, almost non-existent."

But the destruction of Caiqiu is not a good thing for our Great Xia. After all, Chencang's 100,000 troops are still stationed in Dongchuan City. Once Caiqiu is destroyed, Chencang will probably start to deal with us..."

The fact that Yuan Cheng could say these words is enough to prove that although he has a bad temper, is reckless, and acts aggressively, he is not a clueless brute.

Thinking about it, it makes sense. More than a decade has passed, and Yuan Cheng is now one of the eight chief officials of the Great Xia Dynasty. Having held a high position for many years, how could he not understand the current situation?

Even though they understood it, they still volunteered to fight.

Xia Hong raised an eyebrow slightly, looking at Yuan Cheng, waiting for him to continue.

Seeing that everyone's eyes were focused on him, Yuan Cheng remained focused and continued to bow to Xia Hong, saying, "Lord, Caiqiu is far from being destroyed. The intelligence that Jiang Xinfan sent back said that Caiqiu has about 2000 million registered residents, and the total number of the county guards, town guards, and Silver Scale Army is 50. Now it seems that this intelligence is definitely problematic. Caiqiu's true strength is far more than that!"

Yuan Cheng's words immediately brought Xia Hong's thoughts back to three years ago, when he had just set foot in the southern foothills from the Bone-Eating Path.

He remembered clearly that as soon as he left the Bone-Eating Road, he encountered a group of soldiers from the Caiqiu County Guard. When questioned, they replied that Caiqiu had a total population of 1800 million and an army of 30.

After living in Qinghua City and Linchu County for a period of time, he soon realized that the two numbers mentioned by the soldiers were absolutely wrong.

The two new data points that Jiang Xinfan subsequently sent back, which were somewhat valuable before, are now basically confirmed to be problematic after Xia Jun and Cai Qiu's direct confrontation.

Cai Qiu casually dispatched 200,000 troops south. Although Linchu County had already been captured by Chencang, according to scouts, Cai Qiu had at least 100,000 troops defending the city that night.

Adding the 70,000 troops currently stationed at Guangning Mountain, the total number of troops is 370,000.

The key point is that this army of 370,000 is only the force of the two prefectures of Baishui and Linchu, and it is not even the entire force of the two prefectures.

Cai Qianshan's Silver Scale Army has yet to be deployed.

Therefore, when Yuan Cheng said that the intelligence Jiang Xinfan sent back was problematic, all five people, including Xia Hong, nodded in agreement.

Thinking about it, that makes sense. Jiang Xinfan had only been in Yanling for less than a year, and he wouldn't dare say he had a deep understanding of the situation in Chencang, let alone Caiqiu.

"Since there is no danger of collapse, Caiqiu now has no choice but to cede territory and seek peace. They definitely cannot take back Linchu County. If they do not put up a strong resistance against Chencang, losing Linchu County will not be enough to satisfy Chencang's appetite."

Under such circumstances, Cai Qiu would inevitably be unable and unwilling to invest too much in the barren land of Changqing Valley; Qinghua City would most likely be their bottom line.

Yuan Cheng didn't continue speaking; he left some things unsaid.

At this point, the five people in the hall naturally understood his meaning. It must be said that Yuan Cheng's words were reasonable and well-founded, and were absolutely sufficient and justifiable as a reason for the Great Xia to continue its northward advance.

Changqing Valley was too barren, and in Cai Qiu's eyes it was like a chicken rib. Rather than wasting troops here to deal with Da Xia, it would be better to concentrate on resisting the attack from Chencang first.

"You said it yourself, Changqing Valley is too barren, and Caiqiu doesn't want it, so what's the point of my Great Xia taking it?"

Faced with Xia Hong's sudden question, Yuan Cheng was taken aback and stammered for a long time before failing to give an answer.

In Xia Hong's eyes, Evergreen Valley was not actually barren. The extremely high vegetation coverage alone was enough to show that this place was not only not barren, but was a real treasure.

Its true function has not yet been discovered.

However, at this moment, he wanted to change Yuan Cheng's mind, so he naturally had to follow his lead.

"The battle of Jinyang, and the battles at the north and south entrances of the Bone-Eating Road—these three battles have shown not only Caiqiu, but also the entire Mo'aochuan Four Feudatories the strength of our Great Xia. To be honest, Great Xia does not yet have the strength to compete with the Four Feudatories for territory..."

At this point, Xia Hong paused slightly, glanced at the five people, and continued, "The Great Xia doesn't even have a single person at the Tribulation Realm right now. You don't really think that I can confront the Four Feudatories head-on with those Beast King-level puppets I have, do you?"

Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent.

The Frost Beast Stake can only be used within the radiation range of the Sacred Cauldron, which is considered a top secret in the Great Xia Dynasty, but all five people present at the moment know it.

Logically speaking, as long as this restriction is not discovered by outsiders, it will not have much impact on the Great Xia Dynasty. After all, the Sacred Cauldron is movable, and even if Xia Hongren is not present, they can still use the Frost Beast Puppet.

The problem is, the people of the warlords are not stupid.

A full-scale war and a localized battle are two completely different concepts. If we really get bogged down in a protracted war, the regional warlords will probably figure this out soon, and then we'll be in big trouble.

As long as they fight on two or even multiple fronts, the Great Xia's Frost Beast Stakes will collapse on their own without a fight.

Without a powerful expert at the Tribulation Realm to oversee things, relying solely on Beast King-level puppets is indeed insufficient to support a full-scale war between the Great Xia and the vassal states.

Furthermore, of the three battles Xia Hong just mentioned, the one in which he directly clashed with Cai Qiu's army was actually the one at the entrance of the valley on the south side of the Bone-Eating Path.

To be fair, if the Xia army did not have an absolute numerical advantage, it would most likely have lost that battle.

The key point is that Xia Jun is still on the defensive.

They were still guarding that narrow valley entrance.

To put it bluntly, the strength of the Xia army is still quite different from that of the Cai Qiu army. As for their resources, that goes without saying. Even if the Cai Qiu army loses both of its battles, it will only suffer minor damage and will not be in danger of collapse. However, if the Xia army is defeated, even if it is only in one battle, the consequences will be extremely serious.

At the beginning of the war in the southern foothills, the total number of the cold-resistant troops in the entire camp was less than 300,000, and the size of the army was even smaller, which was incomparable to that of the vassal states.

Of course, including the five northern towns that were just captured, the number of Great Xia's cold-resistant level towns is far more than that. However, capturing them does not mean absorbing them. Such a large territory and population will take time to digest and truly transform into Great Xia's own strength.

The Xia army is the source of confidence, and the experts at the Tribulation Realm are the ballast. Compared with the four vassal states of Mo'aochuan, the Great Xia is at a disadvantage in both of these aspects.

"Since we cannot confront the warlords head-on, what we need to think about is not how to seize territory from them, but how to survive under their control. Caiqiu has suffered three defeats against us and is currently struggling to defend Chencang. Cai Qianshan almost died in Linchu County. In the foreseeable future, they will no longer be able to pose a threat to our Great Xia..."

Having said that, Yuwen Tao and the others naturally understood.

The greatest threat to Great Xia has now shifted from Caiqiu to Chencang.

"Does the lord mean that Evergreen Valley should maintain the status quo, and we should remain inactive, allowing Caiqiu to focus on defending Chencang?"

Xia Hong did not want to continue northward, a fact that everyone had long realized, and Yuan Cheng's repeated requests to join the battle stemmed from this reason.

Therefore, after accepting Xia Hong's words and realizing that Great Xia's current strength was still lacking, they immediately changed their thinking and followed Xia Hong's ideas.

Upon hearing Qiu Peng's question, Xia Hong first nodded, then shook his head and said, "Yes, but simply remaining inactive is not enough..."

He paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "The three vassal states all regard Chencang as a tiger or wolf, which shows how strong they are. We cannot let them take over Linchu County so easily."

At this point, everyone finally understood.

My lord, we must join forces with Caiqiu to conquer Chencang!

Thinking of this, everyone's expressions became somewhat strange.

"My lord, isn't this change of heart a bit too fast? We just joined forces with Chencang to deal with Caiqiu, and suddenly we've changed our allegiance to Cai to deal with Chen. How will the other four vassal states view us in the future? It's likely that our Great Xia will find it very difficult to find true allies among the four vassal states in the future."

Yuwen Tao hesitated for a moment, but finally couldn't help but speak.

Xia Hong immediately turned to look at him, her face full of admiration.

Compared to the others in the hall, Yuwen Tao's ability to think of this level truly demonstrates his commanding presence!

"Being fickle and constantly shifting between sides is ultimately a desperate measure taken by the weak to survive. The four vassal states will probably despise, curse, and look down on the actions of our Great Xia, but precisely because of this, they will not consider our Great Xia as the primary threat..."

As Xia Hong explained, Yuwen Tao nodded repeatedly, his eyes growing brighter. The other four people in the hall also looked on with understanding, their gazes towards Xia Hong filled with even more admiration.

"As for allies, they always change with the times. The relationship between towns is different from that between people. Everything is driven by interests, so there is no need to worry at all!"

After Xia Hong finished speaking, he turned his head to look at the north side, a hint of anticipation in his eyes.

"Almost a day has passed, Cai Qiu's envoy should be arriving soon..."

Although he wanted to join forces with Cai Qiu, he had to keep the initiative firmly in his own hands. Right now, it was Cai Qiu who needed to cooperate more.

He set up a tent in Hegu Village to discuss matters, specifically to wait for Caiqiu's envoy.

Judging by the time, it should be about time.

"Reporting to the lord, sirs, Hou Bing, the commander of the Flying Peng Army, has sent a scout to report an urgent military situation."

Instead of Cai Qiu's messenger, they received an urgent military report.

Hou Bing!

Xia Hong immediately looked curious, then turned to look at Yuwen Tao.

Yuwen Tao immediately understood and said to the Imperial Guard soldier who had delivered the message, "Let the scout in."

(End of this chapter)