NOVEL NEXT Chapter 594 - 277: Battle across the River_3
Chapter 594: Chapter 277: Battle across the River_3
However, being an Inborn Grandmaster, as long as he had hope and an opportunity, he would never lack the will to fight.
Even a decrepit old man of more than 140 years like Yan Wangqiu, had managed to rejuvenate towards the end of his life, founding a base for Nanhai Country just before his death.
He himself was just over fifty years old, in the prime of his life, with endless possibilities. Could he be inferior to that old man?
Provided he could secure two thousand miles of Kunhai, and the million people residing there, Li Xiong believed that with his youth and capability, he could definitely make another great accomplishment.
“Anything you can do, I can do too…..”
Li Xiong whispered with his eyes gazing profoundly.
He didn’t know who the “you” he was referring to in his mouth was. Was it Yan Wangqiu, who was bedridden and unable to move?
Or someone else whose name he could not mention…?
The river flowed quietly, and the boats buoyed by the water gently swayed.
Fortunately, all the boats along the coast had been anchored securely, so there was no need to worry about them being swept away.
In this silence, the noisy hustle and bustle along the riverbank gradually disappeared.
All that remained were rows of boats moored by the river, each full of people.
“Brother, all the troops have boarded,” Li Shou reported after returning from his mission.
“Since everything is ready….”
Li Xiong turned around, suppressed the many thoughts in his mind, took a deep breath and declared, “Set sail and cross the river!”
At his command, the sailors immediately sprang into action.
The rowers rowed, the signal flag bearers waved their flags. Under their efforts, the battleship slowly moved away from the shore, sailing towards the centre of the river.
As soon as it did, it was like a signal to the nearby boats, which then follow in succession.
Soon, the shadows in the dense fog appeared like a long black dragon, winding and slithering towards the centre of the river.
It looked just like a dragon emerging from the depths, with its fierce claws exposed.
…
Since the second month of Shenwu Year Five, the entire southwestern Barbarian States had been ignited by intense battles, plunging the entire regions of Kunhai, Erhai Lake, and Lihai into unending chaos.
The first outbreak of war took place between Chu State and Da Changhe Country.
After half a year of standoff, with Dali and Nanzhao each being held back by their own battles, the Chu Army, which had been prepared for a long time, finally launched the river-crossing battle in the thick fog of an early morning.
This battle was led by Li Xiong, the former ruler of Xi Shu who had already pledged allegiance to Chu State. He personally commanded an army of 30,000 to cross the river and strike.
The Da Changhe Army, which had been gradually numbing as a result of the half-year standoff, was completely unprepared. The Chu Army crossed the river in an instant, easily capturing a base along the riverbank.
Following this, 30,000 Chu soldiers crossed the river one after another, and in just a few hours built a large camp near this base.
By the time the Da Changhe Army responded and sent troops to retake the base, it was already too late.
With the defences of a camp, the Chu army feared no sort of counterattack.
Several intense battles erupted between the two sides over the possession of the camp, finally ended with Da Changhe Army leaving behind thousands of corpses.
After occupying a base on the western bank, the Chu Army’s reinforcements and various supplies and fodder were delivered to the western base one after another during the next half of the month.
By the end of the second month, Li Xiong’s base on the western bank had assembled an army of 50,000 along with enough supplies and fodder for a month’s use by these troops.
With ample supplies and long periods of rest, Li Xiong no longer delayed and waited.
He then drove the large army to launch a fierce attack on Dragon City, which was defended by the Da Changhe Army.
This city was defended by 30,000 Da Changhe soldiers, and the Divine Palace Great Witch Priest was stationed in the city. It could be said to be impregnable and very hard to conquer.
But facing such a fortress, Li Xiong wasn’t afraid at all. He just incessantly drove his soldiers to launch one wave of attacks after another, risking their lives.
The two sides erupted in a bloody siege battle under this city.
During this time, Li Xiong appeared on the battlefield more than a dozen times, leading the assault on the city, and engaged in countless life-threatening battles with the Divine Palace Grand Witch Sacrifice, getting severely injured multiple times.
But after returning, he only rested for a few days before reentering the battlefield, truly displaying his disregard for his own life.
The commitment shown by their commander led to even greater determination from his soldiers.
When he drove these tribesmen into battle, he had no regard for their lives, relying on his shock troops, he ruthlessly forced them to assault the city again and again.
If one team was wiped out, he would dispatch another, if one team dared to rebel, he would massacre them and replace them with a new team.
Using these gruesome tactics, the entire river-crossing army launched a relentless siege on Dragon City, day and night.
After enduring a bloody combat for months, and being continuously reinforced from the rear several times, sending all of the ninety thousand tribal soldiers and ultimately resulting in the death of seventy thousand,
the Da Changhe army couldn’t hold on any longer. The Divine Palace Grand Witch Sacrifice, who had been terrified by Li Xiong’s relentless tactics, was eventually forced to abandon the city, leading a few thousand remaining soldiers to escape into the rear.
Consequently, Dragon City was finally captured.
The Chu army achieved its first stronghold fortress in the Kunhai area on the western bank.
With their war against the Great Changhe, the Chu State had once again made a crucial breakthrough.
Meanwhile, the west of the Barbarian Territory wasn’t only experiencing a great war at Dragon City.
In Dali’s Tong Hai Country, Su Xuange led a hundred thousand Su soldiers, waging a fierce battle against fifty thousand Dali soldiers who rushed to their relief,
After enduring several bloody battles, the Su army finally defeated the allied forces of Dali and Tong Hai countries, killing or capturing a total of seventy thousand enemies, eventually conquering Tong Hai Country.
The few remaining ten thousand Dali soldiers, looking haggard and dishevelled, fled to the rear and began to reorganize their defense lines around Yingsheng.
Meanwhile, in the Black Tusk Kingdom, Xie Ning led the Song army northwards quickly after swiftly defeating the kingdoms in this area.
They encountered resistance in Profit City near the Yingsheng area.
The enemy was led by King Pingchuan of Dali, an Inborn Grandmaster from the Dali Royal Family, and the biological younger brother of the current King of Dali.
They clashed multiple times with Xie Ning’s forces near Profit City, with no clear victor emerging.
The Song army was unable to defeat them and was blocked outside of Profit City.
However, the news of the Su army’s progress to Yingsheng slowly arrived in the vicinity of Profit City.
After hearing this, Xie Ning promptly sent messengers over for dialogue, preparing to join forces with Su Xuange to confront the Dali army.
Over there, preparations for a new major battle were swiftly brewing.
As for the Xichuan army,
Upon receiving Lu Yuan’s order, Han Shun led ten thousand soldiers from Xichuan County to rendezvous with them, reigniting confidence in Jihui, who had initially considered withdrawal.
They finally led the troops and retreated to the Xiang City of Moxie Kingdom, where they fought the Jianchuan Kingdom’s army consisting of one hundred and fifty thousand soldiers.
Based on the current situation, with Jihui, an Inborn Grandmaster, as the overseer, the Allied forces from the two countries held their ground. The Jianchuan army was unable to shake Xiang City, so this place temporarily didn’t pose any worry.
However, the behavior of the Nanzhao country behind the Jianchuan Kingdom was a bit strange.
Although their vassal state was being attacked, the Nanzhao Country did not send troops to help. They simply let the Jianchuan Kingdom deal with Jihui.
With the Great Changhe and Dali countries being invaded one after another, and the pleas for help were received one wave after another, the Nanzhao country remained unresponsiv.
They neither announced to send any help nor explicitly refused, simply dragging it out.
Aside from assembling a hundred thousand soldiers near the capital, the Nanzhao Kingdom had no other unusual moves.
No one knew what they were planning, and their elusiveness was somewhat frightening.
But, just looking at the current situation, among the three major barbarian nations in the southwest, facing the alliance initiated by Lu Yuan, two have been continuously beaten and lost a significant amount of territory.
The remaining Nanzhao Kingdom was eerily calm.
From the surface, the alliance of Chu, Su, Song, and Xichuan had already achieved a glorious victory, accumulating a significant advantage.
The current joint Alliance Against Barbarians seems to be moving towards a victorious end, just like the Northern Expedition in the seventh year of Hongdao.