Endless Winter: My Camp Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 592 Chen Cang's Intention to Retreat, Two-Pronged Preparation
"This subordinate...this subordinate doesn't know either!"

Hearing Chu Tianhe's question, He Tianyuan was also dumbfounded. He hurriedly stepped forward and said in a panic: "After the Great Xia signed a ceasefire agreement with Cai Qiu in March, Yuwen Tao's right wing army has been stationed in Guangning City north of Shigu Road, without any signs of being moved."

"To the southeast, to our southeast are the Shuanglong Mountain cliffs. For months, the Great Xia hasn't made any troop movements. How could 100,000 troops suddenly appear? Impossible, impossible! Something's definitely wrong!"

"Am I asking you, or are you asking me? Two hundred thousand troops suddenly appeared and are already at our doorstep, and you, the general in charge of battlefield reconnaissance, didn't notice a thing? Useless, useless, useless..."

Chu Tianhe was now blinded by rage. He pointed at He Tianyuan and cursed him as a piece of trash three times in a row, his tone already somewhat out of control.

As the governor of Xichuan County and the son of Fang Bo, Chu Tianhe was also a second-stage Tribulation Realm expert. When he unleashed his anger, the generals in the hall immediately fell silent. He Tianyuan, who was the first to be affected, was so frightened that he knelt down on the ground.

"My lord, please calm down. The most urgent task is to find out the Xia army's intentions. General He's fault for oversight can be dealt with after the battle!"

Fang Tianqing was the only one in the room who stood up to say something. In fact, when he heard the report, his face was even more unpleasant than Chu Tianhe's, but now was not the best time to hold people accountable, so he had to speak up.

"Originally, there were only 150,000 troops in the Dongchuan camp, but now there are suddenly another 200,000, for a total of 350,000 Xia troops. Defending the city is not a problem. In the past three months, we have also mobilized a large amount of military supplies. Even if the Great Xia blocks Beining Mountain and Mo'ao Pass, making it impossible to hunt and resupply, we can hold out for half a year. The problem is that there are no reinforcements. Once the city is breached, all 100,000 troops will be wiped out here."

After Chu Tianhe finished speaking with a grim expression, he first glared at He Tianyuan, then looked at the man who had just delivered the message and asked, "What is the overall military appearance of the other two Xia armies, besides the large number of siege weapons they are carrying?"

The man was clearly of high rank, having likely gathered information from multiple scouts before arriving. He immediately bowed and replied, "The vanguard of the two armies are wearing light gold thousand-forged armor; they should be the Great Xia's numbered army, totaling over 20,000. The rest are all clad in thousand-forged iron armor, though the styles and colors differ; they were likely plundered by the Great Xia from the five northern towns..."

Upon hearing this, Chu Tianhe and his generals all turned pale.

They were stationed in Dongchuan City, confronting the Dongchuan camp for almost half a year. They were very familiar with the situation of the 150,000 Xia troops in the Dongchuan camp. Moreover, they had never stopped investigating all aspects of the Great Xia during these six months, so they had a lot of information on hand.

The armor of Xia soldiers was divided into four grades.

The highest grade is the Xuanlin Silver Armor, but there are not many of them. Only the Dragon Guards are equipped with it, but the total number is only a thousand. In addition, the Dragon Guards are the guards of the Summer Palace, so it is unlikely that they will be encountered on the battlefield. Therefore, they are not a concern.
The second-ranked item is the Thousand-Forged Lei Kui Golden Armor, which they have obtained through special channels. After verification by the craftsmen within the domain, this iron armor, which is made with Lei Kui skull, has a defensive power comparable to the Ten-Thousand Forged Iron Armor they forged in Chencang.

The third is the thousand-forged iron armor. The armor-making technology of the Great Xia is not much different from that of the Four Feudatories. The thousand-forged iron armor is the main combat equipment currently used by the soldiers of Chencang and even the entire Mo'aochuan Four Feudatories.
The fourth grade is the Hundred-Refined Thunder Kui Golden Armor, which is forged using the same principles as the Thousand-Refined Thunder Kui Golden Armor, but its defensive capabilities are slightly inferior to the Thousand-Refined Iron Armor.

According to their inquiries, the Great Xia Dynasty has a total of 30 elite units, which adopt a nine-level legion system, with a total of 56000 people. Currently, only the Yunjiao and Longwu legions, both level eight legions, are equipped with thousand-forged Lei Kui Golden Armor, totaling 10000 people. The remaining 46000 people are equipped with either hundred-forged Lei Kui Golden Armor or thousand-forged Iron Armor.

This is the most elite numbered army of the Great Xia. In addition to the numbered army, the Great Xia also has the Zhenyu Army. Previously, they only wore hundred-forged iron armor, but now they have all changed to thousand-forged iron armor, which is on the same level as the vassal army!
The scouts said that the Great Xia must have plundered the land from the five northern towns, but Chu Tianhe knew immediately that this was not true.

Forging thousand-refinement-grade iron armor requires not only a massive amount of iron materials but also extremely skilled craftsmen. Even if both are available, the forging process is so intricate and complex that it still takes a considerable amount of time to mass-produce the armor.

Given the current manpower and resources available in the southern foothills, it is absolutely impossible to equip all 300,000 Xia soldiers with thousand-fold forged iron armor by simply plundering the treasuries of the five northern towns.

"Caiqiu, it's those hundreds of thousands of surrendered soldiers from Caiqiu! The Great Xia must have confiscated all their armor, otherwise how could they have gathered so many!"

Chu Tianhe already had the answer in his heart, but he didn't have the time to correct the scout right now. He turned to Fang Tianqing and asked, "Hold on?"

"Of course!"

Fang Tianqing answered almost without hesitation, looking up and saying, "We finally managed to get 100,000 troops into the southern foothills, how could we possibly retreat? The vassal army and Caiqiu have entered a stalemate, and the fighting will gradually subside soon. The road from the Nine-Bend Blood Corridor to Danxue Peak southward has been repaired. As long as we can hold out for several months, we won't need the vassal army to come to our aid. As soon as the Great Xia receives news that the fighting in Linchu County has subsided, they will retreat on their own..."

After explaining his reasons, Fang Tianqing suddenly realized something, stopped immediately, looked up at Chu Tianhe, and frowned slightly.

Chu Tianhe's previous words had already revealed his unwillingness to defend the city, and now asking him directly whether he wanted to hold Dongchuan was a further declaration of his intentions.

Is this a sign that they don't want to defend it?
Chu Tianhe is the governor of Xichuan County and the second son of Fangbo. He is the same mother as the lord Chu Tianming and is the most steadfast force supporting Chu Tianming's attempt to seize the throne. It is impossible for him to have any bad intentions.

Fang Tianqing pondered for a moment, seemingly understanding why Chu Tianhe was unwilling to hold out. He cupped his hands and said, "My lord, although our lord helped Fang Bo take Lin Chu on the eastern front, no one would complain about having too much merit. Besides, it was Fang Bo's idea to intervene in the affairs of the southern foothills. My lord should know what the situation is with the Nine-Bend Blood Corridor. If we withdraw from Dongchuan, we can only retreat back to the Blood Corridor. At that time, Da Xia will definitely send heavy troops to guard the southern exit of the Blood Corridor. It will be much more difficult to go south again in the future."

Even if we disregard the greater good of our domain, we should at least consider Lord Fangbo. What would he think if he knew that we withdrew from the southern foothills without engaging the Xia army...?

Before Fang Tianqing could finish speaking, he was interrupted by several generals in the hall.

“That’s an army of 350,000! And all the elite troops of the Xia army are here. Mr. Fang, you are a staff member of the Heyang Bafu, so of course you only think about the Tianming County Governor. But the 100,000 troops here are all from our Xichuan County. Knowing that no reinforcements will come, why do you still hold this place to the death? Is that useful?”

"The battle at Mo'aochuan will subside soon, Mr. Fang makes it sound so easy. But Caiqiu's counterattack is getting more and more intense, and there are reports that Weibo and Hezang are about to send troops at any time. Right now, Caiqiu's counterattack alone has tied up the Fangbo and the main army of the vassal state. If the two vassal states send troops, there will be even less chance of reinforcements coming to our aid. With 100,000 troops stuck in this isolated and helpless place, one wrong move could lead to the annihilation of the entire army!"

"The war in Sichuan is of utmost importance. The most urgent task is to capture Caiqiu. What good is it if we hold onto Dongchuan City? The entrances to Beining Mountain in the east and Mo'ao Mountain in the west have been blocked by the Great Xia. We can't even be self-sufficient and can only survive by relying on supplies allocated from within the vassal state. There is no point in occupying this place!"

"Having won all three battles against Caiqiu, the Great Xia is no ordinary force. Moreover, they didn't deploy such a large army in the previous three defeats of Caiqiu. This is an army of 350,000! What if they really trap us here?"

…………

General He Tianxin, Vanguard General Lu Qinghu, Vanguard Deputy General Gongsun Bai, and the last Rear Guard Deputy General Chu Xuanying.

Upon seeing the four generals speaking, Fang Tianqing's expression immediately turned quite grim.

The military organization of the four domains was largely the same. The army in Chencang Domain was also divided into three parts, just like Caiqiu Domain. The most elite Red Dragon Army under the governor was comparable to Caiqiu Silver Scale Army. Below them were the garrison troops and county guards, which were respectively led by the shogunate and the various counties.

At the beginning of the year, Fang Bo set a test for his lord Chu Tianming, with a prerequisite: he could only use the army and provisions of Heyang County. Heyang was so far from the southern border, and at that time, speed was of the essence in war. If Chu Tianming really transferred troops from his own territory to the south, it would be too late.

Logically speaking, the closest place to the Nine-Bend Blood Corridor is Yanling County, but the governor of Yanling County, Chu Tianxu, is Chu Tianming's biggest rival in the struggle for the throne. How could he possibly send a large army to help?

The 100,000 troops currently stationed in Dongchuan City were all transferred by Chu Tianhe from Xichuan County. The 20,000 vanguard troops were garrison troops under the command of the Mufu, but they were usually stationed in Xichuan. General Lu Qinghu only came because of Chu Tianhe's influence. The 60,000 central troops and the remaining 20,000 rear troops were the local garrison troops of Xichuan County, which were transferred by Chu Tianhe using his authority as the prefect.

Although Chu Tianhe did not speak, the fact that He Tianxin, the general, along with Lu Qinghu and the other two deputy generals spoke was essentially equivalent to his attitude. How could Fang Tianqing not see it?

He even suspected that the four people's statements at this moment were very likely at the behest of Chu Tianhe himself.

He Tianyuan was still kneeling on the ground reflecting on his mistakes. Having made a grave error, he was naturally not qualified to speak. Of the three generals, only Wu Qingshan had not spoken. In addition, the central army general Chu Xuanlong and the rear army general Zhang Shiyan also remained silent.

Wu Qingshan was the eldest grandson of Wu Dongyang, the commander of the Red Dragon Army. It was common knowledge in Chencang that Wu Dongyang had always looked down on Chu Tianhe, and the two had a long-standing feud. Therefore, although Wu Qingshan was one of the three generals of Xichuan County, he had little presence, and whether he expressed his opinion or not was completely irrelevant. Chu Xuanlong was Chu Tianhe's son, and Zhang Shiyan was his son-in-law. These two had no need to speak; they would simply do whatever Chu Tianhe said.

After going through the matter in his mind, Fang Tianqing suddenly realized that the fact that the four of them had spoken up basically meant that Chu Tianhe's idea of ​​retreating instead of defending the city had become the mainstream.

this…………

"My lord, you mustn't! If we retreat from Dongchuan City, we can only head north through the Blood Corridor back into Sichuan. It will be much harder to intervene in the Southern Foothills after that, and Lord Fangbo will surely be furious..."

"Mr. Fang, you are overthinking it. How could I, the prefect, flee without a fight? Of course I must defend against the attack of 350,000 Xia troops, but the vassal state must give me a definite answer. I can't be left here with 100,000 troops trapped to death, can I? Don't forget those dozen or so Beast King-level puppets. If Xia Hong is determined to take back this city at all costs, can you, me, and the generals in the palace really defend it with 100,000 troops?"

Upon hearing this, Fang Tianqing's expression darkened slightly, and he immediately clenched his fists.

It wasn't that Chu Tianhe's words were unreasonable; rather, they made him even more certain that the other party genuinely didn't want to fight.

This is troublesome!

Dongchuan City only had him and himself, two experts at the Tribulation Realm, plus more than forty experts at the Manifestation Realm, and an army of 100,000. With this strength, let alone the 350,000 Xia army, even if the Great Xia mobilized all its troops to attack, they were confident that they could hold out for three to five months.

But Chu Tianhe's last sentence wasn't wrong either. If the Great Xia was determined to take back Dongchuan City at any cost, how long could they hold out?

Especially with Xia Hong's dozen or so Beast King-level puppets, if they were all deployed, could they hold out for three to five months?

“The Great Xia could never muster its entire army to attack. 350,000 is already beyond their limit. The five northern garrisons have only recently been incorporated, and their morale is low. The Great Xia has only recently established prefectures, and there are still many hidden dangers within its borders that have not been dealt with. The old guard we have bribed in the five garrisons are still around. As long as you, sir, can lead the army to hold out for a while, and I, Fang, can send someone to sow discord a little, the Xia army will be too busy to care about anything else. They have no reason to pay too high a price for a single city like Dongchuan…”

Fang Tianqing was confident. Annexation and complete assimilation are two different things. The Great Xia had swallowed up the five northern towns in one go, adding tens of millions of people. Less than half a year had passed. Whether it was population integration or territorial governance, there were a lot of problems to solve, and he wouldn't have much time to focus on other things.

Having confidence is one thing, but being unable to make decisions at this moment is another.

Seeing that Chu Tianhe remained unmoved and clearly still insisted on his idea, Fang Tianqing was worried that he might actually make a rash decision to retreat. He cupped his hands and continued, "My lord, I suspect that the Great Xia's move is intended to intimidate, rather than to actually intend to use force against Dongchuan. Why should we panic? Let's go to the Xia army and see what's going on. Let's meet Xia Hong and sound him out, shall we?"

This time, Chu Tianhe didn't refuse and nodded.

"There's only a little over an hour left. General Wu, go and inform the army to prepare and get ready."

"Yes, sir!"

Chu Tianhe didn't say what he was preparing, but Wu Qingshan seemed to understand. He nodded, cupped his hands, and then withdrew.

Fang Tianqing frowned slightly, but said nothing. He followed Chu Tianhe out of the main hall and flew towards the Dongchuan camp to the south.

He Tianxin, He Tianyuan, Lu Qinghu, and the generals of the other two armies, Chu Xuanlong and Zhang Shiyan, also followed behind the two.

The two deputy generals who had just spoken, Gongsun Bai and Chu Xuanying, exchanged a glance as they watched Chu Tianhe lead the group away, a strange glint flashing in their eyes.

"We can't fight anyway. Besides, the lord has already asked and the vassal state can't spare any troops. Even if we risk our lives to hold out for a while, what good will it do?"

"Xia Jun has won all three of his head-on battles against Cai Jun. How long can we hold out with just this one city? The war in Linchu County won't end anytime soon. We didn't pay any price to take Dongchuan City, so we won't lose anything by returning it now. Besides, once Lord Fangbo destroys Caiqiu, what will Daxia be? They might even invite us to come south."

Both of them looked visibly guilty as they spoke.

It's like doing something bad, knowing it's wrong, but still forcibly finding a bunch of excuses to justify it.

………………

"Of the 500 million taels of silver, Chu Tianhe took 300 million, and He Tianxin, Lu Qinghu, Gongsun Bai, and Chu Xuanying each took 50 million taels. If we were only 50% sure before, now that these five have taken the silver, we have 70%, or even 80%!"

North of the Dongchuan camp, the mighty Xia army was marching at a faster pace. At the head of the column, Xia Chuan nodded slightly upon hearing Qiu Peng's words. Looking at the vast Xia army below, he said in a deep voice, "Five hundred million taels of silver. At the beginning of the year, we only managed to plunder a total of twenty-seven billion taels of silver from the treasuries of the five northern garrisons. That's almost one-fifth of the total."

Chencang has been a vassal state for hundreds of years, and its system of government administration is far more sophisticated than ours. Although Chu Tianhe is the son of Chu Longteng, his official salary as the Prefect of Xichuan is only thirty million taels a year. He also has a large number of descendants to support, so three hundred million taels is not a small sum for him.

Qiu Peng nodded and smiled, "And he won't bear any responsibility. I was crossing the border from Caiqiu, and I delivered it to Xichuan County through someone else. He doesn't need to worry about the source of the money at all. Our request isn't excessive either; we just want him to withdraw from Dongchuan City. Dongchuan City was given away by us voluntarily in the first place, so they won't lose anything by returning it..."

He paused slightly, then said with a strange expression, "To be honest, I really didn't expect that the people from the Xichuan Prefectural Governor's Office would actually accept the money. I thought that He Tianxin and the other three were only at the Xianyang level, and not from the Fangbo lineage, and the conditions we proposed weren't unreasonable, so it was understandable that they accepted the money. But Chu Tianhe, the son of a Fangbo, is so lax in managing his household, tsk tsk..."

As he continued speaking, Qiu Peng shook his head repeatedly, clearly expressing his utter contempt for Chu Tianhe's acceptance of bribes.

"Don't be too naive. The bribe is secondary. The core reason is that Chencang is unable to fight on two fronts. Caiqiu's counterattack is too fierce, and Weibo and Hezang are also showing signs of being defeated. Chu Longteng definitely cannot mobilize a large army to go south, which is why Chu Tianhe dared to accept this batch of silver!"

Xia Chuan's eyes flashed slightly, and he immediately saw through the essence of the problem.

"Besides, they've only accepted the money; their army hasn't made a move yet! Ultimately, the battlefield will decide the outcome. If they don't show Chu Tianhe and the others what's what, these people might still be harboring the intention of embezzling those five hundred million taels of silver!"

Bribery is just a minor measure, a backup plan. To drive the 100,000-strong army from Chencang out of the southern foothills, we must ultimately rely on strength.

Two Tribulation Realm experts, over forty Manifestation Realm experts, and one hundred thousand Cold Resistance Realm soldiers!
Even without my elder brother, Great Xia can handle things perfectly well now.

Xia Chuan turned his head to look in the direction of Chilong Lake to the south, a gloomy look flashing in his eyes, and he clenched his fist under his sleeve slightly.

Despite his worries about his elder brother's safety, Xia Chuan quickly composed himself, remembering that Xia Hong's ancestral tablet in the Xia City ancestral temple had shown no abnormalities. He then turned to Liu Yuan below and loudly gave the order:
"Slow down the march for now, and send someone to inform Yuan Cheng and Luo Yuan's two armies to speed up their march. When the three armies are roughly in the same position, they should advance side by side. They must reach Dongchuan City within an hour."

"Yes, sir!"

Liu Yuan cupped his hands in a respectful gesture and answered loudly, immediately beginning the scheduling and arrangements.

(End of this chapter)