Endless Winter: My Camp Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 570 A desperate breakout, Cai Yunzhou, enraged and frustrated.

Xia Hong and Yuwen Tao were exchanging witty remarks in the sky, which was naturally unrelated to the battlefield below. Hou Bing and Yuwen Yong were also unaware that their rash advance had brought trouble to Yuwen Tao.

At that moment, all the two of them knew was that they had made the right bet!
Cai Qiu's 70,000-strong army had been completely scattered, and the entire Guangning Mountain camp was in chaos. However, the 30,000 Xia troops were divided into six groups and were orderly attacking the stubbornly resisting enemy.

In contrast, the 90,000 rebels were far more frenzied. Their individual strength was no match for the soldiers of Caiqiu, but they had the advantage of sheer numbers. They charged forward in a massive swarm, and the already scattered soldiers of Caiqiu were unable to organize effectively, leaving them with no chance to fight back.

"Lord City Lord, it's too late to save the situation. Let's go!"

Although Cai Qiu's army was in disarray, the situation of those Xianyang-level soldiers was, to be fair, quite safe. They were all standing in mid-air, completely unaffected by the Xia army. The Xia army's Xianyang-level soldiers, being limited in number, dared not get too close to them, keeping watch from low altitudes to prevent them from joining the battle.

The only remaining threat to them was the crossbows in the rear of the Xia army, but the Xia army had obviously prepared a limited number of crossbow bolts this time. Apart from using a large number of rapid shots to force them back in the first round, they did not make any large-scale moves afterward, and only used them at some key moments.

However, this safe situation is only temporary.

Once the Xia army has cleared out the camp, those Xianyang-level soldiers will have no more worries and can focus on dealing with them. With the powerful support of the Divine Crossbow, it won't be so easy for them to escape.

The change of ownership of Guangning Mountain was a foregone conclusion, and their continued presence there would be of no use. General Cai Qiu, who had noticed the signs of trouble, had already asked Cai Yunzhou to allow them to retreat.

"With 90,000 troops currently trapped, you're already thinking of escaping? You're unworthy to be the commanders of my Caiqiu army! Fangbo was blind to have entrusted you with command! Even if I die here today, I will never escape with you! Brothers of Caiqiu, don't panic! Quickly assemble and break through to the north! I will carve a bloody path for you!"

However, faced with the requests of those Xianyang-level generals, Cai Yunzhou, who had just been somewhat dazed, immediately regained his composure, and then flew into a rage, responding to them with extremely resolute words.

He brought only 70,000 troops from Qinghua City, but later he gathered more than 20,000 defeated soldiers from the Battle of Shigudao, so the total number of troops stationed at Guangning Mountain was more than 90,000.

Losing Guangning Mountain was bad enough. If all 90,000 troops were to perish here, how could he possibly face his uncle and the governor?

"The city lord has not abandoned us! Brothers, break out to the north!"

"We can still be saved! Break through! Break through!"

"Follow the city lord and break through the encirclement, brothers!"

………………

Cai Yunzhou's words undoubtedly gave a shot in the arm to the retreating Caiqiu soldiers below. Their faces were full of emotion, and they roared as they raised their weapons again and quickly turned to charge towards the north.

Especially when they saw Cai Yunzhou disregard the obstruction of the two Xianyang-level generals of Daxia and rush down to the ground on the north side of the camp, desperately breaking through the gap to help the breakout, their fighting spirit surged even more fiercely.

Those Xianyang-level warriors who had been considering retreating were also embarrassed by Cai Yunzhou's words, their faces turning red with embarrassment. Their eyes blazed with fighting spirit, and they drew their weapons and charged to the ground, following behind Cai Yunzhou as they charged towards the north.

Clang...

At the breach on the north side, Yuwen Yong was forced back by Cai Yunzhou's sword. Looking at the continuous stream of Caiqiu soldiers coming to reinforce him from behind, a hint of anxiety appeared in his pupils.

"Hou Bing, quickly send reinforcements to the north to stop them. With such a commotion, the main camp of Hegu Village must have already received the news. The main force will arrive soon. As long as we intercept them, we'll be fine!"

"Understood, brothers. Forget the east flank, charge north, hold off the defeated soldiers of Caiqiu, don't let a single one escape..."

Hou Bing was already working with Yuwen Yong to deal with Cai Yunzhou, so he responded almost without thinking when he heard the voice.

Taking over Guangning Mountain, a region that is easy to defend and difficult to attack, certainly has certain strategic significance for the Great Xia Dynasty. However, compared to that, eliminating Caiqiu's manpower is undoubtedly more important.

In the two battles at the Bone-Eating Road, Cai Qiu's 200,000-strong army was not completely wiped out. The Xia army killed or captured a total of just over 90,000 on the battlefield. The remaining 100,000 were scattered. Later, he led his army to wipe out another batch in the surrounding area, but in total, it was just over 10,000.

Guangning Mountain sheltered more than 20,000 defeated soldiers. By this calculation, there are at least 60,000 scattered defeated soldiers from Caiqiu hiding in the area south of Guangning Mountain. These soldiers were blocked by the defense line set up by the Xia army. Although they could not join the group in the Guangning Mountain camp, the Xia army would definitely have to spend a lot of effort to slowly wipe them out.

Considering the complex environment of the Ice Abyss, they may not be able to wipe them all out. Once these soldiers return to Qinghua City, they will still become enemies of the Xia Army on the next battlefield. In fact, since this group has already fought against the Xia Army once, they will become formidable enemies.

All things considered, the Great Xia had won two battles earlier, annihilating a total of over 100,000 soldiers from Caiqiu. Although the Great Xia had secured victory in this major battle, a closer look reveals that the overall losses suffered by Caiqiu were actually not significant, at most 20%, or less than 20,000 men.

It's easy to understand. Although the 90,000 laborers were eager to fight, they were limited by their strength. Let alone killing them, it would be difficult for them to even wound the fully armed Caiqiu soldiers. The main force killing the enemy on the battlefield was still the Xia army.

But the Xia army only has 30,000 men in total, how many can they kill?

Cai Yunzhou's shout boosted the morale of the remaining 70,000 soldiers, who then rallied together and attempted to break out to the north. If all of them managed to escape, the outcome of the battle would undoubtedly be greatly diminished.

Hou Bing has never forgotten that this proactive attack on Guangning Mountain was a huge gamble. So far, the result has been a correct gamble, but the magnitude of the final outcome will undoubtedly influence the lord's attitude towards them.

Therefore, we cannot allow them to break through successfully!
"what…………"

Seeing Yuwen Yong cleaved in two by Cai Yunzhou's sword, and the opening on the north side widened by several meters, Hou Bing roared and slammed his long staff down at Cai Yunzhou.

call out…………

"you wanna die!"

Cai Yunzhou let out a sinister laugh. The reason he had been blocked for so long was that he was fighting two against one. If Hou Bing and Yuwen Yong hadn't joined forces, would he have been so restrained?
Yuwen Yong had already been cleaved in two, and Hou Bing, having lost control of her emotions, actually charged at him alone, which was simply courting death.

Cai Yunzhou unleashed the Heaven-Slaying Sword Technique once more, the brilliant light drawn by his sword instantly rising from the ground and piercing towards Hou Bing's throat with lightning speed, covering the distance of tens of meters in almost an instant.

Clang!
Hou Bing was also prepared. As he felt the chill of the sword's edge on his neck, he suddenly thrust his silver staff upwards.

Unfortunately, even with the use of sacred runes and martial arts, his strength was still far inferior to Cai Yunzhou's.

Therefore, his long staff only caused Cai Yunzhou's sword tip to shift slightly upwards by a few inches.

laugh…………

It was those few inches of deviation that caused Cai Yunzhou's sword, which was originally aimed at his neck, to pierce his left chin and then slash upwards, leaving a deep gash more than ten centimeters long on his left cheek.

Cai Yunzhou's basic strength is close to 30 jin. At this moment, he attacked in anger, and the deep wound was pierced into his weakest point, the face. The terror of this wound can be imagined.

The deep scar started from the left side of his chin and spread upwards to the corner of his eye, just half an inch away from reaching his eyeball. His facial tissue was cut open, and blood gushed out instantly, staining half of Hou Bing's face red.

Injuries don't just stop at the level of skin and flesh.

"what!"

Even Hou Bing's left skull was cleaved open, and dozens of fragments of bone flew out. The bone fragments were so powerful and fast that the Cai Qiu soldiers who couldn't dodge in time were directly pierced through their bodies.

Of course, the one who suffered the most was Hou Bing!
Although a Xianyang-level expert is powerful, they are not immune to pain. Their skulls are incredibly fragile; to be cleaved open like that caused excruciating pain that instantly surged into their minds, causing Hou Bing to let out a bloodcurdling scream.

But his screams contained not only pain and panic, but also a hint of hysterical ferocity.

call out…………

The Cai family has spanned more than ten generations, with hundreds or even thousands of descendants in Baishui County alone. Even if we only consider the third generation of the Yun family, there are at least hundreds of them.

Cai Yunzhou was able to stand out from the crowd and become a high-ranking official in a region; he was no ordinary person.
He keenly sensed something amiss in the scream, and the sword that was about to strike Hou Bing was abruptly stopped at the last second.

At the same time, an extremely sharp sound of air being torn apart came from beside his ears. A look of fear flashed in his pupils, and he quickly turned around and held his sword horizontally to his head.

call out…………

A black shadow shaped like a sword suddenly attacked from behind, clashing fiercely with the sword in his hand. Then, the shadow ignored the sword and slashed directly at his neck.

"Trickery!"

Cai Yunzhou was unaware of the origin of the dark figure, but he instantly realized that it was Hou Bing's trickery. A look of fear flashed in his eyes, and he quickly retreated to avoid it.

As he dodged, he also noticed that the source of the shadow was none other than the campfire atop the main tent of the Guangning Mountain camp.

"No, it's not a campfire, it's a light source..."

The thought had barely crossed Cai Yunzhou's mind when a sharp pain suddenly shot through his left eye.

laugh…………

The black shadow, shaped like a sword's edge, possessed terrifying power and extreme speed, slicing off the flesh of his left cheek, along with his entire left eye.

"Um…………"

Half of his face, including his eyeballs, was shaved off, but ultimately no bones were damaged. The pain Cai Yunzhou felt was far less intense than that Hou Bing had just experienced.

So he just made a muffled sound.

"Yuwen Yong, quickly join forces with me and kill this fiend!"

But with Hou Bing's next angry shout, Cai Yunzhou's expression turned genuinely panicked.

He still had to lead his men out of the encirclement and face the counterattack of the massive Xia army and rebels. Given the current danger of the battlefield, losing an eye had almost fatally reduced his combat power. How could he continue fighting?
Clang...

Fortunately, the other Xianyang-level officials in Caiqiu did not stand idly by.

Before Yuwen Yongren could even charge forward, dozens of Cai Qiu's Xianyang-level warriors rushed towards him, immediately repelling Hou Bing. Then, several of them lifted him up and quickly took to the air.

"What do you want? I'm not leaving! I'm not leaving! I'm going to lead my brothers to break through the encirclement and fight the Xia army to the death!"

Cai Yunzhou instantly realized his subordinate's intentions, immediately swung his sword to try to sweep away the people next to him, and kept roaring that he wanted to continue fighting.

"Lord, the breach has been opened, and the brothers have all rushed out!"

"Lord, as long as we live, we can fight on! Many of our brothers have already broken through the encirclement. Let's retreat back to Chihu Ridge first. There are still garrison troops in Qinghua City. Xiao Fangbo is already gathering the city's elite forces. It's not too late to fight the Xia army again once we've regrouped!"

"Brothers, take the city lord and run! River Valley Village is too close. If Xia Hong comes in person, none of us will be able to escape."

………………

Now was their last chance to escape, and those Xianyang-level generals naturally wouldn't listen to Cai Yunzhou. They directly withstood several sword strikes and managed to fly away with Cai Yunzhou from the sky.

Cai Yunzhou would never swing his sword to hurt his own men. Realizing he was powerless to stop his subordinates, he could only suppress his anger. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that most of the soldiers inside the breach had not yet managed to rush out, and his remaining right pupil was filled with sorrow.

The Guangning Mountain camp had a total of over 90,000 men, but only about 60,000 were able to break through to the north with them. At least 40,000 men were still trapped in the Xia army's encirclement.

In other words, Caiqiu lost at least 70,000 men in this battle!
With the loss of Guangning Mountain, the scattered Caiqiu soldiers on the south side, except for a few lucky and clever ones, never had another chance to cross the Xia army's defenses in large numbers.

"The 270,000-strong army has been wiped out in an instant, completely destroyed! The entire Changqing Valley is likely to fall into enemy hands. It's over, it's over! The Xia army is advancing unimpeded, and with the support of Chencang on the west, Qinghua City is in grave danger. Yunzhou has failed Fang Bo, failed my uncle... *pfft*..."

From mid-air, Cai Yunzhou saw the routed Caiqiu soldiers who had broken through the encirclement below. Thinking of Caiqiu's three defeats against Daxia and the loss of its 270,000-strong army, he was filled with grief and indignation. In his extreme anger, he spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Why must the city lord do this? My Caiqiu still has hundreds of thousands of garrison troops, and the Silver Scale Guards under the command of the governor have not yet been mobilized. Although the Xia army won three battles, in the end, they only occupied the small territory of Changqing Valley. For my vassal, the loss is not significant."

“That’s right. Once Fang Bo has rallied his forces, he can first retreat from Chencang and then drive the Xia army out of Changqing Valley.”

"Xia Hong only relies on a few puppets. As long as we figure out the key to his puppet technique, I don't believe that a mere town-level camp can turn the world upside down!"

………………

Hearing his subordinates' words and recalling how they had only wanted to escape, and how they dared to show such disdain for the Great Xia after escaping, Cai Yunzhou, who was already furious, was so angry that his chest almost exploded.

"You...you..."

His face was flushed as he pointed at the group, his lips trembling, but he was too angry to speak. In the end, he turned his head to the side and fainted from anger.

The remaining generals, who were supporting him, looked at each other in bewilderment when they saw him faint. They were worried that someone from the Great Xia would come after them, so they could only speed up and drag him northward.

However, they hadn't flown more than a kilometer or two when they were intercepted by a figure in blue.

Upon seeing the newcomers, the generals were momentarily stunned, but then excitement rose in their eyes, and they quickly bowed and prepared to pay their respects.

"bye……"

However, they were interrupted by the man as soon as they bowed and began to speak.

"What's all the fuss about? Send three men to escort him back, and the rest of you go down and gather the defeated soldiers. Lead them back to Red Tiger Ridge first. I, Ben Taiyi, will be in full charge of everything after Evergreen Valley."

The person who arrived was none other than Cai Qiutai!
(End of this chapter)