Endless Winter: My Camp Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 593 The Mighty Army Presses In, the Azure Xun Divine Crossbow and Increased Strength
The thirteenth year of the Great Xia Dynasty, the ninth day of the sixth month
As night fell, less than a quarter of an hour after Xia Chuan's 150,000-strong central army slowed down, long lines of fire appeared on both the left and right sides, clearly torches lit during the march.

"Reporting to the Chief Clerk, the 100,000-strong army on the left flank has arrived!"

"Reporting to the Chief Clerk, the 100,000-strong army on the right flank has arrived!"

Commanders Luo Yuan and Yuan Cheng arrived together. After bowing to Xia Chuan in the sky and reporting their findings, they looked down at the three armies below, their expressions exceptionally excited.

It's no wonder that these two were so successful. Since the Northern Expedition officially began at the end of December last year, the Great Xia only took less than half a month to destroy the five northern towns. After that, they defeated Caiqiu three times and forcibly expanded the territory of the Great Xia to the Changqing Valley of Mo'ao River. Their gains were considerable.

However, the 100,000 troops stationed in Dongchuan City by Chencang remained a thorn in their side. So much so that, despite the merit-based reward ceremony held in Xiacheng in April, these high-ranking officials still believed that the Northern Expedition was not yet over.

Indeed, after years in high positions, both Yuan Cheng and Luo Yuan had a vision and perspective that were vastly different from before. They were well aware that as long as the 100,000 troops in Chencang were stationed there, the Great Xia would not have achieved absolute control over the entire southern foothills, and there would be no security for the entire northern territory in the future.

So how can it be said that the Northern Expedition has ended?
Only by completely annihilating or driving out the 100,000-strong army in Chencang can this Northern Expedition be considered a complete success, leaving no further worries.

Those in positions of power must fulfill their duties. Soldiers and their subordinates, having received military merits, rewards, and promotions, can, of course, disregard everything and live their lives happily. But generals, those in high positions, cannot do so. They cannot be short-sighted; they must always keep their eyes on the future. Especially with their increasingly frequent contact with the four northern vassal states of Mo'aochuan, and their growing understanding of them, they are well aware that these four northern neighbors are not to be trifled with, especially Chencang.

"With a combined force of 350,000 troops from three routes, including 50,000 special forces, capturing Dongchuan City, which we built ourselves, will not be an easy task, but it shouldn't take too much effort. Cai Qiu's fourth counterattack should have already begun, and we can attack the city at any time!"

Seeing that the three armies had merged and were less than five kilometers away from Dongchuan City, Yuan Cheng took off the double-edged giant axe from his back and couldn't wait to speak to Xia Chuan.

They had been preparing for this great battle for four months, making thorough preparations. Thinking of how the two previous ultimatums issued by the Minister of Justice to Chencang had been ignored, Yuan Cheng's eyes were filled with coldness. He wished he could rush to the gates of Dongchuan City right now, break through the gates, and storm in.

"No need to rush, the ones who should be in a hurry right now are not us..."

After replying to Yuan Cheng in a low voice, Xia Chuan glanced at Dongchuan City to the north, then continued with a cold smile: "Trying to gain a foothold on the southern slopes with an army of 100,000 is a pipe dream! They ignored two ultimatums, and now that they've come to our doorstep, I'd like to see if Chencang still has the guts!"

"After occupying Dongchuan City at the beginning of the year, Chencang did not relocate any of its population, clearly intending to use it as a garrison. With the cooperation of the Ministry of War, our troops have completely blocked the entrances to Beining Mountain and Mo'ao Mountain. The food, drink, and lodging for the 100,000 troops in Chencang all have to be supplied from Mo'ao River. According to intelligence reports, if they use the supplies they have stockpiled in the city sparingly, they should be able to last for five months!"

The one who spoke was Luo Yuan, who was not only the commander of the left wing of the three armies, but also the director of the hunting department of the eight tribes of the Great Xia.

The Hunting Department is second only to the Military and Prison Departments among the eight departments. It controls the resource areas of the entire Great Xia territory. After destroying the five northern towns at the beginning of the year, the mountain passes of Beining Mountain and the northern Mo'ao Mountain all belonged to Great Xia and were naturally under the jurisdiction of the Hunting Department.

The idea of ​​blocking the entrance to resource-rich areas and preventing the Chencang army from resupplying freely was proposed by Luo Yuan himself. Although it did not deal a fatal blow to Chencang, forcing them to resupply from within the territory caused considerable trouble.

Upon hearing this, Qiu Peng nodded and smiled, "The Great Xia has only opened trade channels with Caiqiu so far. Chencang can only be supplied from within the vassal state. I heard that in order to facilitate supplies, they have paved all the roads north of Dongchuan City, which has saved us a lot of trouble!"

Dongchuan City is fifty kilometers away from Danxue Peak to the north. Such a long road, built to the highest standards of the Xia Zhidao, would have cost a lot. Chencang's construction of the road has indeed saved the Great Xia a lot of trouble.

At this moment, neither Qiu Peng, Luo Yuan, nor Yuan Cheng seemed to take the 100,000-strong Chencang army in Dongchuan City seriously. In their eyes, that fortified city seemed as easy to breach.

"The most unexpected thing is that the lord entrusted such a big matter to us. There are only two Transcending Body Realm experts in the city, which is a bit of a problem..."

Upon hearing Luo Yuan's words, Qiu Peng and Yuan Cheng's eyes flickered slightly, and they both turned their gazes toward Xia Chuan ahead, but said nothing.

Although Xia Chuan said that the lord had been in seclusion at Chilong Lake, he had not shown up in Xia City for more than five months. Apart from the three years he went to Mo Aochuan, this had never happened before.

Xiacheng has been without Shengding heating for six months.

Qiu Peng and Yuan Cheng were both from the Tupo era. Putting aside their understanding of Xia Hong himself, they could roughly guess from the matter of the Sacred Cauldron that Lord Xia Hong had most likely encountered some kind of trouble.

But Xia Chuan didn't say anything, and his wife never mentioned it either. In addition, Xia Hong's ancestral tablet in the ancestral temple had always been normal, so even if Qiu Peng and Yuan Cheng had doubts in their hearts, they never took the initiative to ask.

Neither of them were the young men they once were. They knew very well that at this critical juncture, if the news of the lord's absence spread to the four vassal states of Mo'aochuan, Great Xia would face extremely serious consequences.

At the same time, they could fully understand Xia Chuan's eagerness to resolve the Dongchuan City issue.

The less the lord is present, the tougher the Great Xia's attitude towards foreign countries must be. The Great Xia now has a vast territory, and the four vassal states have planted quite a few spies within its borders. Moreover, the population of the capital has increased sharply in the past six months, and with the official opening of trade channels with Caiqiu in March, it is inevitable that spies from the four vassal states will infiltrate the area.

The lord doesn't know when he will return. If too much time passes, these spies will eventually notice something amiss. Once Chen Cang becomes suspicious, he can send someone to test the waters, and Great Xia will definitely be unable to cover it up. At that time, the news of Xia Hong's absence will be completely exposed.

By then, not only will the problem of Dongchuan City not be solved, but Chencang and even the other three vassal states may also move south to bite Daxia.

Therefore, Dongchuan City cannot be delayed and must be resolved quickly!
"What trouble are two Tribulation Realm cultivators? We've brought all twenty Azure Sun Divine Crossbows; dealing with them is more than enough. We've already tampered with the walls of Dongchuan City; breaching the city will be a piece of cake."

As soon as Yuan Cheng finished speaking, Qiu Peng, Luo Yuan, and even Xia Chuan in front of them all perked up slightly, their eyes filled with excitement.

The Great Xia Dynasty invaded Changqing Valley at the beginning of the year and had already incorporated the entire Corrosion Path into its territory. Naturally, the Great Xia Dynasty made use of such a resource-rich land as soon as possible.

The most precious thing in the Bone-Eroding Path must be the Azure Sun Treasure Tree.

In fact, among the many supplies that Xia Hong entrusted Qiu Peng to transport back to Xia City at the beginning of the year were fifty Qingxun tree vines and one Qingxun treasure tree. When the craftsmen saw these things, they immediately thought of making bows. They then tested the toughness and elasticity of the vines and found that it was indeed so.

Even with minimal processing, the Qingxun tree vine can withstand a pulling force of 3 jin (approximately 1.5 kg). This stuff is simply a naturally superior material for bow making.

Thanks to the early lords' emphasis on this, the artisan department is now extremely enthusiastic about the research and development of materials. Whenever a new material is discovered, they will work tirelessly to develop it, find the limits of its properties, explore more uses, and maximize its potential.

When this bow-making material, capable of withstanding a 3-pound pulling force, was sent back to the craftsmen's workshop, it caused a huge stir. Mu Dong and his craftsmen worked day and night to research and develop it. In less than a month, they used special methods to increase the pulling force limit of the vine by 4 times, reaching 12 pounds.

Subsequently, having already incorporated the Bone-Eroding Path into its territory, the Logging Department quickly discovered large tracts of Azure Xun Forest within it, thus solving the problem of material sourcing. Great Xia's bow-making skills improved rapidly, reaching a level where they could even create Azure Xun Divine Bows specifically for Xianyang-level users, with a draw weight of 20 jun. Bow-making was only the first step; Mu Dong's second step was to improve Great Xia's original Divine Crossbow, which primarily used Tengjiao sinew as its material. The power of the Divine Crossbow was determined by the string tension on the crossbow frame; with the more resilient Azure Xun vines, the Azure Xun Divine Crossbow naturally came into being.

“A single Azure Sun Divine Crossbow requires five hundred Azure Sun Tree vines. The main frame of the crossbow is forged from ten thousand pieces of silver. Even with wheels, it would take thousands of Cold Resistance level experts to move it, let alone use it.”

After Qiu Peng finished speaking, he paused and looked down at the middle section of the army below.

Twenty small teams of a thousand men each moved a giant ballista that was over thirty meters long by pulling from the front and pushing from the back. Because the ballista was covered with a black tarpaulin, its exact appearance could not be seen.

"To activate the Azure Sun Divine Crossbow, not only do we need two Manifest Yang level cultivators with strength of over 10 jun to act as the main operators, but we also need five hundred Cold-resistant level cultivators with strength of over 20 jun and skilled techniques to pull the crossbow strings. We tested it in Mount Mo'ao. The arrows shot by the Azure Sun Divine Crossbow have a normal impact force of over 300, and under extreme conditions, they approach 400 jun, which is equivalent to an ordinary fourth-stage Tribulation Body Realm cultivator using their full strength."

Yuan Cheng was in charge of testing the Azure Sun Divine Crossbow at the beginning of the month. He couldn't help but speak up now, and added, "Not to mention the speed, even a Manifestation Yang level expert can't see it clearly and has no chance of dodging it. It's just that we don't have any Tribulation Body Realm experts right now, so this is a good opportunity to test its power on Chu Tianhe and Fang Tianqing, who are both Tribulation Body Realm experts."

The only flaw in this Azure Sun Divine Crossbow is its rate of fire; each arrow requires at least a hundred breaths to prepare. Mu Dong probably has ways to further improve it, but the situation is urgent, and there's no time for that.

After listening, Xia Chuan nodded slightly, a hint of excitement showing in his eyes.

Although the elder brother is no longer here, the Green Xun Tree Vine he left behind has inadvertently provided the Great Xia with a huge advantage. The power of 300 to 400 jin is enough to make the Great Xia fearless of the top experts of the vassal states for a short period of time, regardless of the speed of fire.

"Even the Cloud Dragon Army doesn't have a level of 20 or higher in cold resistance. We can only draw crossbowmen from various military units. Fortunately, the soldiers' cultivation has increased quickly enough in the past six months, so we managed to gather enough."

One Qingxun Divine Crossbow requires 500 units, so twenty units would require 20000 people, or 20,000 soldiers with a strength of 20 or above at the Cold Resistance level. If it were half a year ago, the Xia Army really wouldn't have been able to produce that many.

"Thanks to the batch of pills that the lord asked me to bring back to Xia City, since April, the alchemy pavilion has been constantly launching new types of pills, including many for us at the Xianyang level. As a result, the soldiers, including us, have seen their cultivation levels improve rapidly."

Recalling the batch of supplies that the lord entrusted him to bring back to Xia City half a year ago, Qiu Peng's face was full of emotion. In fact, he had a premonition at the time that this batch of supplies would bring huge changes to Great Xia, but looking back now, the changes were not just huge, they were earth-shattering.

"There have been quite a few breakthroughs in the Xianyang level in the past six months, but it is still not easy to find Xianyang level with a strength of more than 10 jun. Even if we send Shangguan Yang, Qinhe Qinshan and other surrendered generals from the five towns to fill the gap, it will still not be enough. We must also fill the gap."

Hearing Yuan Cheng's words, Xia Chuan frowned slightly, but quickly relaxed and waved his hand, saying, "It's nothing serious. The Azure Xun Divine Crossbow came suddenly. After all, it's a divine artifact that can threaten those in the Tribulation Realm. As long as it can be used normally, that's good enough!"

One Azure Sun Divine Crossbow requires two Xianyang-level cultivators with strength of 10 jun or more to activate it; twenty crossbows would require 40 cultivators.

So far, there are quite a few Xianyang-level generals in the Great Xia Dynasty, but there are very few with a strength of 10 jun or more. If it weren't for the fact that a group of Xianyang-level generals were taken in from the five northern towns at the beginning of the year, there would be no way to find them.

"The Yang family has been completely wiped out. We only received one Xianyang-level expert from Huang Yuhe in Beishuo, but Jinshan has five, Wuchuan has six, and if we include Li Yangtian and his son from Longgu, there are a total of fourteen."

In the past six months, another 16 people in Xia City have broken through to the Yang level. The number of people at the Manifestation Yang level in our Great Xia has now exceeded 80. In the past few months, the Logging Department has had frequent good news. A total of six Heavenly Yang Branches were discovered in the eastern Mo'ao Mountain, and more than a hundred Heavenly Yang Fruits were brought back. They have all been refined into Yang-Rising Pills. Cheng Feng successfully replicated the Breaking Yang Pill last month. There should be another batch of people breaking through in the second half of the year. It is expected that the number will reach 100 or even more..."

However, this number is still not enough, far from enough!

After pondering for a while, Xia Chuan shook his head.

Each of the four fiefdoms of Mo'aochuan, if taken individually, has over a thousand Xianyang-level experts. Even if the Great Xia had surpassed 100, it would still be far behind.

"Compared to the regional military governors, the foundation of our Great Xia is far inferior. We barely have the qualifications to talk to them. The core reason is still our elder brother. Last year, he won all three battles against Caiqiu. First, Caiqiu was careless; second, he took advantage of the geographical advantage of the Bone-Eating Road; third, Chencang helped to contain them on the western front; and finally, it was our elder brother who turned the tide. All four factors were indispensable..."

Today is different!

Xia Chuan took a slight breath. In theory, facing Chen Cang's army of 100,000 today, he not only had the advantage of three times the number of troops, but also twenty newly developed Qingxun Divine Crossbows. Furthermore, Dongchuan City was a city personally supervised by the Great Xia Dynasty, and they had already left some loopholes in the city walls.

At this moment, with favorable timing, location, and popular support, Great Xia had all the advantages. Considering the bribery tactics employed against Chu Tianhe and his four generals, they had taken everything into account, both on and off the battlefield. Great Xia clearly had no chance of defeat.

But he was still a little nervous inside.

There's only one reason: my older brother isn't here!

Xia Hong had left Great Xia before, the most recent time being the three years he spent in Mo'aochuan. The problem was that during those three years, Great Xia did not directly face a powerful opponent like Chencang.

Moreover, before leaving, Xia Hong left behind the Sacred Cauldron and the Frost Beast Stake, and made arrangements for every aspect of Xia City.

This time was different. The eldest brother disappeared suddenly, taking the Sacred Cauldron and the Frost Beast Stake with him without leaving any message.

In other words, this was his first time truly taking charge of the camp to solve external problems, and he was facing such a powerful opponent as Chen Cang.

He was somewhat nervous inside.

"Since I set foot in the southern foothills, I have often heard people say that the Xia people are polite, strict with themselves, and act with integrity. Lord Xia Hong has launched a war without declaring war today. Such despicable behavior is deeply despicable to me. If even the ruler of the Great Xia is like this, the Xia people must be no better. This shows that the rumors are not to be believed!"

Just as Xia Chuan felt a slight sense of unease, a cold laugh suddenly came from above. He immediately put aside his complicated thoughts, looked up, and his eyes became extremely sharp.

Chu Tianhe, we've arrived!

And he brought five people with him.

He came ahead of time to scout out Xia Jun's strength and weakness; this man is indeed impatient.

(End of this chapter)