World Online

by Srtyi

Earth Online – a virtual MMORPG that takes place in the future year of 2190 – a game that everyone will bet their futures on. Set in a map that is ten times the size of real-world Earth, players battle for supremacy in the first game to feature personal adventure, territory construction, and grand warfare. For every death you experience in the game, your level would drop back to 0.

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Chapter 729-Misdirection

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

"What exactly does Shanhai City want?"

In the command center of the Yunnan City-State, the main Lords had gathered. Everyone was discussing the weird actions of the enemy. Shanhai City not attacking left them feeling rather awkward.

"Is the enemy trying to make us numb? When we put down our guard, they will attack us then?"

"That is a possibility, our enemy is really cunning." Qin Feng nodded in agreement, "I have already ordered the frontlines to maintain their alertness and get ready for war at any moment.

When they heard this, one of the local Mengding Prefecture Lords explained, "I do not think it's that simple. Mengding Prefecture is mainly mountains and hills, so it is not suited for the large-scale strikes of cavalry forces. Even if they try to sneak attack, it would not be of great effect. To make such a weird formation just for a little gain, it does not seem like the style of Shanhai City. I'm guessing that there are other reasons within."

"Then what would be the reason?" Their brains were about to explode, "They cannot be just playing with us, right?"

"Who cares what their goal is, why don't we just attack!" someone suggested.

"No!"

At basically the same time, five to six Lords stepped out to reject this suggestion.

Qin Feng was one of them, "If we defend against Shanhai City's attack, not only can we gain the help of the other City-States, Handan City will also send us troops per the agreement. However, if we initiate the attack, everything changes."

At the very least, the other City-States would not help us contain the Shanhai City Army.

"This cannot work that cannot work, so what should we do?"

"Wait in silence."

"That's right, what we need to do now is to keep calm and not be rash."

"I think Shanhai City will not continue to drag matters on like this. In a few days, they will definitely make big moves." Qin Feng concluded.

The entire meeting hall was silent.

This silence was the last calm before the storm.

9th month, 17th day, Consonance City.

The stars in the sky were covered by clouds, dull with no light.

As it was already passed the curfew time, the city was absolutely silent. Apart from a few bailiffs patrolling the night, there were no other living people.

Occasionally, there were stray cats that jumped across the roofs, stepping on the tiles and making Da Da! sounds, causing dogs to bark. All of a sudden, the wild cat would jump into some house and disappear from sight.

The silence resumed.

On the roads outside the city, an iron armored army appeared at some point. Looking out, the army stretched out for 10 odd miles, their armor shone, and they had knives and spears in hand.

The army sneakily lined up to enter the city, going along the streets that were specially 'cleaned out.' Quietly but swiftly, they moved to the teleportation formation outside of the city.

To prevent spies, based on the agreement, the outer city teleportation formation would stop operation after the curfew time.

Hence, when it reached the curfew time, the most busy teleportation formation in the day would be empty. No one would brave the wind at night to come here to look at the scenery.

Tonight was different. The teleportation formation that was previously stopped now gave out a mysterious blue light. The army did not stop, directly entering the teleportation formation and disappearing.

As there were too many of them, this entire process lasted two hours before coming to an end.

Following which, the city east gate was once again closed, and the bridge was raised up. As darkness covered Consonance City, it was like nothing had actually happened, and things returned to normal as they quietly waited for the arrival of the next day.

As all the planning was top secret, all of this happened sneakily. No one knew how this mysterious operation would affect the situation in the Battle of Nanjiang.

The night sky became darker and darker.

Even the last star was buried in the clouds, disappearing from view. The entire Nanjiang was covered by the clouds of war, destined to not be peaceful.

Under the clouds, who was the chess master and who was the chess piece?

Night, Lingnan Province, Zhenhai City.

Zhenhai City was a lone city outside the territory and was a chess piece that Ouyang Shuo had nailed into the hearts of the Lingnan City-State. Yuan Ping wanted to remove this nail several times but had returned without success.

After all the training, City Magistrate Song Wen had swiftly grown up, becoming really stable and calm when dealing with matters. The Administration Bureau Director Xiao He had a rather high opinion of him and even recommended him to become a governor.

Ouyang Shuo supported Xiao He's opinion. As long as the time was right, his promotion was around the corner.

Obviously, the acts of the Song Family children previously did not affect Ouyang Shuo's trust in Song Wen and Song Wu.

On the other hand, it was Song Jia's father that was uneasy and strengthened his control of the descendants of the family. When Ouyang Shuo returned to Shanhai City, he even personally went to apologize.

Toward him knowing his place, Ouyang Shuo was very happy. He did not wish that before Shanhai City even established a country to have people messing around in the name of being the Lord's relative.

Such things needed to be killed off before they sprouted.

However, all of this was a little too troublesome for Song Jia. Ahe was stuck in the middle in an awkward situation.On this night, the Zhenhai City that was thousands of miles away from Consonance City was similarly not peaceful.

The Consonance City Army that disappeared into the night walked out one by one from the teleportation formation. Under the leadership of the officer, they quietly entered the barracks that had already been prepared.

The entire process was similarly quiet without noise.

They too were waiting for the sun to rise once more.

If one looked closely, one would find out that the army that appeared here was larger than the one that left Consonance City. This meant that there were other troops that teleported from other cities.

Evidently, this was a large-scale deployment and was not something that was sudden.

Even the barracks that housed the troops had been built in advance, and the granary in Zhenhai City had amassed tens of millions of units of grain, pretty much waiting for their arrival.

Housed in Zhenhai City was the 3rd legion of the Tiger Legion Corps. All of the members were taken from the Garrison Divisions of the various prefectures and its Legion General was Fan Lihua.

In the tent, an oil lamp was lit bright.

Fan Lihua did not sit at the main seat but at the first seat on the left. Below her sat City Protection Legion General Er'Lai, opposite was the General of the 2nd legion of the Dragon Legion Corps Shi Wanshui.

At the Lord seat sat a young general, the genius general Huo Qubing.

Hence, this time, the Guards Legion, the 2nd legion of the Dragon Legion Corps, and the City Protection Legion had all discreetly teleported over.

Every one of them were littered with war contributions.

Speaking of which, the City Protection Legion and the 3rd legion of the Tiger Legion Corps were built before Ouyang Shuo went out to sea. When he was building them, the goal was to expand the military and also to prepare for this battle.

There was a reason why the Tiger Legion Corps 3rd legion chose Zhenhai City.

A small city along the ocean housed a full legion; if this news was spread, probably no one would believe it.

Shanhai City gave the reason of defending against a sudden attack from Lingnan City-State. In truth, without the legion, they really would not be able to take the few attacks.

When Yuan Ping and the others found out that a full legion was housed inside Zhenhai City, only then did they put aside the thought of taking it down.

"He's such a maniac!" Yuan Ping said.

Even so, Yuan Ping and the others did not make any moves. After all, Shanhai City had always shown the outside that it was going to attack west and the east line was mainly defense.

As for the City Protection Legion being sent to Stone City for training, the meaning within became more obvious.

Hence, for this battle, Shanhai City had prepared for more than half a year. Troops, resources, Intel, and more; every aspect was considered and planned out.

If not, Ouyang Shuo would not be so confident.

After the Guards Legion and the 2nd legion of the Dragon Legion Corps reached the border and set up camp, they left in the dead of night, going into Kunming Prefecture and quietly entering Consonance City.

Ouyang Shuo's high profile visit to Consonance City followed by the high profile review of the 3rd legion of the Dragon Legion Corps was all to attract attention, to allow the Guards Legion and the 2nd legion of the Dragon Legion Corps to break away.

The merger and the news conference were also for that purpose.

Of course, another reason was to confuse the Lingnan City-State.

With that, all the attention was gathered onto Ouyang Shuo, and no one would have noticed that two-thirds of the Baiqi Army had disappeared.

Even till now, Qin Feng probably still thought that the Baiqi Army housed at the border of Mengding Prefecture was three legions and not just the 1st legion of the Dragon Legion Corps.

Ouyang Shuo's strategy or performance for a better word was really successful and baited the enemy. Apart from Qin Feng who fell for it, the most pitiful one should be the Lingnan City-State.

Since the start of the Battle of Red Cliff, Ouyang Shuo had pointed his troops at Yunnan City-State. His most elite Guards Legion did not even join in the Battle of Red Cliff and made a high profile advance to the Mengding Prefecture border.

After the Battle of Red Cliff ended, the clouds of war kept hanging over Yunnan City-State. Anyone in China would know that Shanhai City was determined to take it down.

Who knew that since the start, the plan of the Military Affairs Bureau was to destroy Lingnan City-State before going back for Yunnan City-State?

The reason was simple.

Looking at the map of the China region, it was easy to see that Yunnan City-State was just a lone land without any strategic advantages. To take it down was something he could do any time he wanted.

In comparison, the situation in Lingnan City-State was more complicated.

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Chapter 730-Troops Split Four Fronts

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

In contrast to Yunnan City-State, Lingnan City-State was connected to Xiangnan City-State and was also the starter and core member of the alliance of the four City-States.

Furthermore, Yuan Ping was one of those that wanted to destroy Shanhai City.

Hence, the moment they wiped out Lingnan City-State, it would be like half of the alliance was wiped out. If they took the chance to wipe out Yunnan City-State as well, the enemy would just fall apart without them even attacking.

However, Lingnan City-State was the first City-State in China and the most mature and developed one; their bond was exceedingly solid, and they had a relationship with the Yanhuang Alliance.

To take it down through conventional means was extremely difficult.

One could foresee that if Shanhai City chose to attack Yunnan City-State and destroyed it, the three other City-States would reach a new level of cooperation.

If the three of them combined into one entity, they could lock down Shanhai City's road up north.

All things considered, to break this situation, they needed to take down Lingnan City-State.

Another good matter was that east of Lingnan was Gong Chengshi's Chuanbei Province and Xunlong Dianxue's Minnan Province.

Getting pass Lingnan City-State, the pressure on the east would be greatly reduced. Then they could redeploy forces to face Chuanbei City-State and Xiangnan City-State.

Even to say that Ouyang Shuo could directly go and handle ASEAN.

The only accident would be the matter with Xunlong Dianxue. Even so, it would not change the strategy set by Shanhai City.

Zhenhai City, general tent.

The oil lamp light flickered; Huo Qubing was dressed in martial attire. Standing up, his expression was solemn, "Monarch's secret orders!" As he spoke, he took out an imperial decree.

"Receive the orders!"

With a Shua! Fan Lihua, Shi Wanshui, and Er'Lai all bowed toward the imperial decree.

Seeing the decree was like seeing the Monarch himself.

Huo Qubing slowly opened it and read, "Imperial decree, Guards Legion, Dragon Legion Corps 2nd legion, Tiger Legion Corps 3rd legion, and City Protection Legion will become the East Conquering Army. Appointing General Huo Qubing as the East Conquering Army Commander, any matter will be decided by the commander like it's an order from me."

As he spoke, Huo Qubing took out the talisman and showed the three generals.

"We will follow the orders!"

Out of the four generals, not only was Huo Qubing the only God General; his military rank was the highest and he was a legendary general. With him leading, the other three naturally did not have anything to say.

"Greetings, commander!"

Shi Wanshui and the other two bowed, forming a commander-subordinate relationship.

Huo Qubing nodded, his eyes shining with excitement. This was the first time he had truly led troops to battle since joining Shanhai City. Moreover, he could lead close to 300 thousand troops.

Even during the Hanwu Emperor time, Huo Qubing had not ruled over such a huge army.

The troops under him were also exceedingly star studded, the vicious Er'Lai, the ferocious and courageous Shi Wanshui, and the heroic Fan Lihua; they were all famous generals. The 20 Major Generals under the four legions were all great generals.

Huo Qubing knew that he had to prove that he was worthy of being a God General through this battle. After calming himself down, Huo Qubing started to assign the roles of the generals, "Shi Wanshui!"

"General is present!"

"I order you act as the front general to enter through Jiaozhou Prefecture and annihilate all enemies and take down all the cities." Huo Qubing handed out the first soldier talisman.

"Yes general!"

Shi Wanshui looked rather excited, receiving the soldier talisman with both hands.

The front general was the undoubted vanguard. The commander gave such an important task to the 2nd legion of the Tiger Legion Corps was enough to prove his trust in them, and it was the utmost praise to them.

Er'Lai and Fan Lihua had envious expressions.

"Fan Lihua!" Huo Qubing continued.

"Present!"

Fan Lihua was similarly dressed in martial attire; her voice was crisp but filled with killing intent.

"I appoint you as the right general, leading troops through the east of Jiaozhou Prefecture to destroy the cities. At the same time, get ready to help the front troops; do not act on your own." Huo Qubing solemnly ordered.

"Yes commander!"

Fan Lihua nodded solemnly. She had led the troops housed in Zhenhai City, so she could be considered familiar with half of Lingnan Province. Hence, she was exceedingly suited to lead them.

As for helping out the front troops, there was meaning within.

During the ancient cold weapons era, when the troops exceeded the hundred thousand scale, they could not all gather and needed to split up.

There were three main reasons.

First, the grain problem.

The biggest problem in ancient warfare was the grain problem. If the army exceeded a hundred thousand, the grain needed would reach a sky high amount. The grain support troops in charge of sending the grain would need to be increased by several times.

The burden on a country was enough to drag a rich country down into the depths; they could fall to an irrecoverable state.

There were many related situations in history, the most famous one being Suiyang Emperor taking down Goguryeo, sending a large quantity of grain from the south to the far north.

Before a cart of grain reached the destination, a large portion was eaten by the person transporting it. Finally, when they handed it over, all that remained were broken chariots.

Luckily, in this battle, the grain supply was not too big a problem.

In the 3rd year of Gaia, the territories that were able to survive basically did not have a grain shortage problem. Hence, the granaries of the cities en route were all filled with grain.

Not to mention it was already the 9th month and the first rice harvesting season was over, so the grain supplies were plentiful. The army could use war to build up their grain supply along the way.

Secondly, the war commanding problem.

In olden times, they did not have such advanced communication systems, so one person commanding so many troops was impossible.

During the start of a war, the commander could only move the troops on a large scale. If he was not careful, there might be communication breakdown and that would result in the army fighting for themselves or escaping in all four directions.

Even a God General could not control over a hundred thousand troops by themselves.

A professional army like Shanhai City was still okay. After all, they were well trained, and the military conscription followed modern day armies so it was reasonable.

In olden times, it was different and many armies were formed all of a sudden.

If they were not careful, it would result in all of the soldiers escaping.

In history, there was a famous Battle of Fei River where before the army led by Fu Jian fought the Dong Pu Army, they fell by themselves.

The Battle of Fei River was going to be the next battle map.

Thirdly, the traveling problem.

After all, an official path had limited space. If over one hundred thousand troops moved at once, they would form a terrifying long dragon.

Not mentioning that one would not be able to see the end of it, for a cavalry unit to run from the back to the front would take a few hours. Many times, the front would have already engaged while the back was still casually strolling to the front.In the tent, the assignments continued.

"Er'Lai!" Huo Qubing called out the last name.

"Present!"

Er'Lai was like an iron tower, walking out confidently.

"I appoint you as the left general to lead the troops through the west of Jiaozhou to crush and siege cities. Get ready to assist the front troops and do not act on your own." Huo Qubing gave similar orders.

"Understood!" Er'Lai received the soldier talisman.

With that, the troops became a trident that would stab into the heart of the Lingnan City-State.

Jiaozhou Prefecture was not only the biggest prefecture in Lingnan but also the most developed one. Taking it down would mean removing more than half of the soldiers of the Lingnan City-State.

More importantly, the 150 thousand Alliance Army of Lingnan City-State was gathered at the border of Zhaoqing Prefecture. At the moment, they were facing off with the 1st and 2nd legions of the Tiger Legion Corps.

Huo Qubing's goal was to work with the Tiger Legion Corps to destroy the 150 thousand Alliance Army.

"After taking down the Alliance Army, this battle will already be half won." Huo Qubing said confidently and excitedly.

"But," Ouyang Shuo's words changed, his expression solemn, "The enemy has the home court advantage and can teleport. If things go wrong, they could break through our army."

Since Shanhai City could do the teleportation trick, they enemy naturally could to.

Teleporting the three legions had cost 210 thousand of Shanhai City's gold. At the crucial moment, Yuan Ping and the others definitely would not mind spending gold to pay for the teleportation costs.

With that, the Alliance Army could form a teleportation network. Teleporting two to three times was something that they could definitely afford.

"With that, it also means that the enemy could appear in every territory that we did not destroy. Hence, the various troops must ensure that no one is left out." Huo Qubing continued, "More importantly, you all must keep in contact."

"The moment the enemy sets an ambush in a city and tries to trap us, the other two groups must rush over to help."

"Understood!" Shi Wanshui and the rest nodded.

Such things had happened when Shanhai City fought in Leizhou Prefecture and Zhaoqing Prefecture.

Huo Qubing knew that those present were all famous generals and did not need further instructions from him. He smiled, "The enemy setting ambushes is a crisis but also an opportunity. The Black Snake Guards and the Shanhai Guards have set up an intel network around Lingnan. No matter which city they teleport to, we can find out right away."

The current Shanhai City intel network was not something that could be compared to when they attacked Zhaoqing and Leizhou Prefecture. Ouyang Shuo had spent millions of gold on them, so how could they be useless?

If Lingnan City-State wanted to use this chance to set a trap, they would be making a grave mistake.

"The moment we confirm the enemy teleportation location, we will lock them down. Along with the Tiger Legion Corps on the west, we will surround them and trap them in the city." Huo Qubing said.

"Understood!"

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Chapter 731-Dragon Stunning the World

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

The sun rose, shining down on the earth.

In the morning sun, the three legions were like three dragons coming out from the sea, going out from the west, north, and east city gates of Zhenhai City and onto their own paths.

After sending them away, Huo Qubing did not remain in Zhenhai City.

According to his plan, they would not leave any troops to protect the city, not even a reserve force.

Huo Qubing would personally lead the Guards Legion from the northeast direction to stab into the Chaozhou Prefecture at the most east of Lingnan Province. Then he would go up north and attack Shaozhou Prefecture, which was the north part of Lingnan Province.

Further north of Shaozhou was Xiangnan Province.

Huo Qubing excelled at long distance consecutive battles.

At the same time, the Jiaozhou Squadron housed in the Jiaozhou Port had moved off, going through the Zhujiang water system to enter Lingnan Province.

Their mission was to provide cover for the army from the seas and transport grain and resources to the army if needed.

In the Lingnan province waters, the Jiaozhou Squadron was an invincible presence. If any territory had its main city around the coast, they could only blame their luck.

The Fleet Admiral of the Jiaozhou Squadron, Shi Lang, could be said to be an extremely experienced navy general. Under his leadership, one could definitely look forward to how they would perform in the Battle of Lingnan.

At 9 AM, Shi Wanshui's legion that left the earliest crossed the Zhenhai City border and officially entered enemy territory. The neighboring defending army was destroyed before they could even react.

The flames of war were officially lit.

In just one morning, the various fronts all found their own targets and started to siege and destroy cities.

The entire Jiaozhou Prefecture was engulfed in flames and peace was broken.

At this moment, the news of Shanhai City changing their targets had spread around and shocked the land.

Yunnan Province, Alliance Army command center.

"Is your news true?" Qin Feng asked the intel officer for the third time.

"Definitely, based on the reports, we can confirm that the Guards Legion, 2nd legion of the Dragon Legion Corps, City Protection Legion, and the 3rd legion of the Tiger Legion Corps is in Lingnan Province."

Phew!

Qin Feng let out a sigh of relief, not knowing whether to feel fortunate or furious.

From start to finish, the enemy's target was Lingnan City-State and Yunnan City-State was just a smoke bomb, a fake out that drew all their attention.

"Damn it!"

As the massive pressure had passed, Qin Feng started to feel fury from being overlooked, "So Shanhai City does not think we are the same level of opponents?"

"Now, what should we do, counterattack?" someone suggested.

Qin Feng suppressed the emotions that swelled up within him and shook his head, "Counterattack what? Do not forget the enemy still has two War Fighting Legions at our border. Which one of you has the confidence to destroy those two with just 200 thousand troops?"

Being asked this question, the various Lords all looked at one another; the atmosphere was truly awkward.

Not mentioning the 3rd legion of the Dragon Legion Corps, the 1st legion of the Dragon Legion Corps led by Baiqi was one of the oldest legions in Shanhai City, and its combat strength could even be compared to the Guards Legion.

No one felt confident about defeating that Asura.

Observing the expressions of the other Lords, a look of despise flashed across Qin Feng's eyes. He solemnly said, "So let's just wait and see; let's not go provoke that asura."

The Lords all nodded, truly believing in that statement.

As for the life and death of Lingnan City-State, there was nothing they could do about it. After all, during their discussion in the four City-State meeting, Yuan Ping's promise was just to contain the Tiger Legion Corps.

Now, they were the ones who were in charge of containing the Dragon Legion and could be considered doing their duty.

"Friends, ah, good luck!"

Xiangnan Province, Caiyun City.

In the Lord's Manor, when Caiyun Zinan received the news, he quickly summoned Zhang Liang to discuss strategy, asking anxiously, "Zi Fang, Shanhai City has attacked the Lingnan City-State; what should we do?"

"What are the others thinking?"

"Them? They are a bunch of tortoises!" Speaking of which, Caiyun Zinan's expression was exceedingly ugly, "They intend to stick to the plan and not change. We are in charge of containing the Leopard Legion Corps, so we cannot move as we wish."

Zhang Liang nodded; he did not feel surprised by it.

"Mister also thinks we should not do anything?" Caiyun Zinan's bows frowned.

"No!"

Zhang Liang shook his head, "Lord, the situation might be much worse than you expect." Following which, Zhang Liang started to analyze the situation at hand and how it was going to affect the Liangheng Plan that he had started.

"It is foreseeable that the moment Lingnan City-State falls the Lianheng situation will immediately collapse. When that happens, we would have to face a Shanhai City that is more than one times stronger. When that time comes, does the Lord still have confidence in stopping the invasion of Shanhai City?" Zhang Liang said in the end.

Zhang Liang's analysis was basically what Shanhai City had planned out.

The title of strategy saint was something he truly deserved.

Without even walking out of his house, Zhang Liang was able to see the strategic goal of Shanhai City so clearly, making one truly respect him.

When Caiyun Zinan heard this analysis, he felt a shiver run down his spine.

"I'll go discuss this matter with them." Caiyun Zinan stood up and left, anxious beyond belief.

When Zhang Liang saw Caiyun Zinan leave, he silently shook his head.

As expected, in less than an hour, Caiyun Zinan returned once more with a depressed expression.

"Damn it, they are a bunch of short-sighted people!" Caiyun Zinan scolded. Evidently, the meeting with the Lords of Xiangnan City-State did not go as he had wished.

Not everyone had the courage to go all out.

To defend their own land, the Lords naturally would do that as they had a responsibility to do so.

But to ask them to take the initiative to send troops to Lingnan and directly face off against the Shanhai City Army, they were not willing to do so.

"The current situation is not clear, and the war has just started. Let's just wait for a while. When the Lingnan City-State requests for help, it would not be too late to make a decision then." The Lords tried to avoid the situation like that.

Caiyun Zinan was not a confrontational person, so he was left speechless to their words.

Anyone was clear that saving someone was like saving a fire.

Based on the rules of Gaia, City-States was just an alliance in name; internally, they could not form a second alliance. This meant that for Xiangnan City-State to assist Lingnan City-State, they could not directly teleport troops over.

At most, they could only teleport to the border and move in from there.

Hence, the earlier the better if they wanted to assist the Lingnan City-State.

'When the situation becomes clear, the dish is already cold!' Caiyun Zinan thought with hatred.

Zhang Liang saw that his Lord's expression was unstable; he knew that his conjecture was correct. After being around Caiyun Zinan for so long, he knew the attitude of his Lord like the back of his hand.

"Too careful, and not enough charm and confidence!"

Such an attitude could not be said to be bad, but it would be difficult for one to become a true ruler and hard for one to rule in a cruel environment like the wilderness.

In comparison, their opponent, Shanhai City, was on the right path.

They were more careful than anyone when needed and bolder than anyone when it was time to take a risk.

Just like the current Battle of Lingnan. Such large-scale misdirection was a bold plan and even Zhang Liang did not expect that.

"Zi Fang, what should we do now?"

The Lord's question broke Zhang Liang's train of thought.

Zhang Liang had already thought it through and said, "Lord, we cannot wait any longer. Ally with a group of your close allies and build a huge army to go down south toward Shaozhou Prefecture."

"Directly send troops?" When Caiyun Zinan heard this recommendation, he was a little unsure.

"That's right."

"Do we truly have to do that?"

"We have to."

"Okay." Caiyun Zinan gritted his teeth, "Let's go all in. I'll go gather the army now."Compared to Xiangnan City-State, the neighboring Chuanbei City-State was totally quiet.

Regardless of if Shanhai City was attacking Lingnan or Yunnam, the Chuanbei City-State was a mess internally, and they could only contain the Leopard Legion Corps.

Everything else was not within their scope of consideration.

Lingnan Province, Alliance command center.

Three days ago, Yuan Ping had already built up the command center to prepare for the Battle of Nanjiang.

The earliest goal was like what Yuan Ping had promised Qin Feng: Be in charge of containing the Tiger Legion Corps. When needed, they would consider sending troops to attack Zhaoqing Prefecture.

Hence, during these few days, Yuan Ping was located in the command center.

Who knew that his local land that was so peaceful yesterday would end up in chaos all of a sudden?

Undoubtedly, Shanhai City entering Jiaozhou Prefecture had the biggest effect on Yuan Ping and the others.

"Oh my god, what is happening?"

After the Lords who were killed revived in the imperial city, they were filled with shock and confusion.

The other Lords in the command center panicked and did not know what to do.

"We're finished; it's over!"

"Damn it, the script did not go like this!"

The Lords all felt helpless. All of a sudden, they did not know what to say, some sat there in panic, and some paced all around the room, their faces ashen white.

Some of them chose to return to their territories; some knew that they could not defend against the Shanhai City Army and chose to stay in the command center to hope that they could come up with a solution.

Even the relatively calm and stable Yuan Ping felt like his legs were made of jelly when he got the news and nearly collapsed onto the ground. This news, to the Lingnan City-State, was like lightning on a sunny day.

Think about it, apart from the four legions led by Huo Qubing, even adding in the Jiaozhou Squadron, as well as the two legions led by Sun Bin, Shanhai City was attacking the Lingnan City-State with over 500 thousand troops.

This was a full two times the number they were going to use on Yunnan City-State, just thinking about it made one feel chills run down their spines.

"Shanhai City really shows respect to us!" Yuan Ping mocked himself.

None of the other Lords could laugh; this was totally not a laughing matter.

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Chapter 732-Abandoning a Chess Piece

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

"Guys, do not panic!"

Yuan Ping was the first to calm down; he looked at his allies and coolly said, "Guys, the City-State is far from collapsing. Not only do we have 150 thousand troops, we still have armies in each territory. If we all gather up, we can at least gather another 150 thousand troops."

"But that's also not enough; the enemy has 500 thousand elites," someone said dejectedly.

Yuan Ping was not angry either, "Do not forget that we are not fighting alone, we still have allies!"

Like he was replying to Yuan Ping's words, a guard hurried over and passed Yuan Ping a letter.

Yuan Ping opened it; a smile appeared on his face, and he said, "Look at what I said, this was a letter from Caiyun City; they have gathered 50 thousand troops and would like to immediately come down south to assist us."

Some of the Lord laughed, "Caiyun City truly has conscience."

"It's Caiyun City not Xiangnan City-State?" There were some sensitive Lords that identified the problem.

"Strictly speaking, Caiyun City and a few allies are sending troops together." Yuan Ping tried his best to explain, "No matter what it's a good start, right? Who knows, maybe after a while the other City-States will also come to help us."

Yuan Ping was destined to be disappointed.

For the entire morning, apart from the letter from Caiyun Zinan, no sounds were heard from the other City-States.

The atmosphere in the command center that had become excited instantly dropped to the freezing point.

"Those people have no sense of camaraderie!"

The Lords were furious toward Yunnan City-State for leaving them to die. Why did they support Yunnan City-State so much? These people were truly a group of snakes.

When Yuan Ping heard these words, his expression was also extremely awkward. He had already sent a letter to Qin Feng to seek answers.

Unfortunately, Qin Feng did not even reply to him.

What shocked Yuan Ping and the others was that Yanhuang Alliance did not move either.

This was the first step to totally crushing Yuan Ping.

Based on what he had discussed with Di Chen and the others, the Yanhuang Alliance had promised that once Lingnan City-State was invaded, they would definitely send troops to assist.

For this, they had specially left a territory within the province that did not enter the City-State to ally with Handan City for them to teleport troops over.

How could Yuan Ping have known that the moment the war started, this would be the outcome?

"This should not be happening!"

Yuan Ping felt bitter. No matter how he thought about it, he could not understand.

Jingdu Province, Handan City.

Di Chen could not be considered a person who betrayed his friends. However, he had his own difficulties.

The moment Shanhai City invaded Lingnan City-State, Di Chen found Fenghua Juedai to discuss sending out help, who knew that things would change.

"Difeng has sent news that during this week, Wufu has been connecting with the big mercenary guilds in the imperial city. Based on reliable info, he is willing to hire 100 thousand mercenaries." Juedai Fenghua said.

The reason behind Stone City hiring mercenary troops was pretty obvious. They only had one opponent - Handan City.

"When did that kid get so much money?" Di Chen could not understand.

Speaking of which, Wufu used to be in the same camp as Di Chen and the others. When Di Chen was at his lowest point, Wufu was invited to his camp and helped get Di Chen out of that scenario.

However, the two of them had only worked together for a short time. As their ideals did not match and their statuses were different, they had left on separate paths.

Hence, Di Chen knew some things about Wufu.

"It might be the loans from the Four Seas Bank." Juedai Fenghua made a conjecture, "The biggest possibility would still be Qiyue Wufu lending money to him. All signs show that Qiyue Wuyi earned a huge sum during the voyage trip."

"Dog sh*t luck!" Di Chen scolded.

"Do you think Wufu is doing that because the old fox instructed him to? Their goal is to contain us, but in truth, they did not even hire mercenaries?" Di Chen guessed.

Juedai Fenghua nodded, "I won't exclude that possibility. But I'm leaning toward this being a scheme. If we do not send troops, both sides would remain at peace; if we do send troops to help Lingnan City-State, they could use this chance to bite off a large chunk of meat."

"Many signs show that Qiyue Wuyi does not only want to nail down a piece in the north but to develop someone that could go up against us. Hence, Stone City definitely has the objective and reasoning to attack us." Juedai Fenghua used this chance to remind Di Chen not to underestimate his neighbor in the north.

"So the old fox is using money to suppress us and is warning us not to act without thinking?"

Di Chen's expression became a little ugly. Weren't such methods the specialty of aristocratic family descendants like him? Why was it the old fox using such moves on them in the blink of an eye?

"What irony!"

"It can be understood in that way." Juedai Fenghua saw through the entire situation.

The game still had game rules and wealth distributions were obviously different from real life. If the aristocratic families still thought they had the advantage in funds, they were going to be in for a rude awakening.

"If we do not send troops, how will we answer Yuan Ping?" Di Chen was placed in a tough spot.

Juedai Fenghua's expression was stale but her words were chilling, "Why do we need to answer to a dead person?" Regarding the Battle of Lingnan, she did not have any high hopes for Lingnan City-State.

A chess piece that had no practical use was destined to be thrown away.

Di Chen kept silent.

It was not that he could not bear to abandon Yuan Ping. On this point, he held the same view as Juedai Fenghua. However, he was reluctant to once again give up on the chance to stop Shanhai City from rising up.

In the first half of the year, the work done by Handan City had closed the gap between the two by a large degree. However, in the blink of an eye, it was going to become an even bigger deficit.

Such a hit was an exceedingly deep one, straight to the bones.

"Do not overthink." Juedai Fenghua's expression became gentler, calming the anxious heart of Di Chen, "Calm down, laying down the roots is the most important. Difeng reported that there are many resistant forces hidden in the territory that can start chaos."

When Di Chen heard these words, his face showed signs of struggle before he sighed. This kind of feeling of being plotted against by your enemy made someone as arrogant as Di Chen feel extremely uncomfortable.

If it was not for his training, Di Chen would have exploded.

As for now, Di Chen could already easily control his emotions. He could rein it even with the defeat during the Battle of Red Cliff; he did not say much. His mentality was getting better and better.

"I'll just listen to you; we will watch from the side!" Di Chen nodded.

Fenghua Juedai smiled gently.

"Oh right." Di Chen suddenly thought about something and asked, "Two days ago, Xiong Ba suggested during the meeting that we activate the hidden power to plot against Xunlong Dianxue, what do you think about that?"

Juedai Fenghua thought about it and said, "We can do it, but do not hold too high hopes."

"Why so?"

"Toward him as a person, I specially asked Difeng to investigate his info. He is a quest maniac and likes to walk a path to its end. He pays attention to all the small details."

"That's right. If not, he would not have fought with Ouyang Shuo because of a small matter, truly stupid." Di Chen nodded, supporting that statement.

"I do not think he's stupid. For him to be selected by Qiyue Wuyi shows that he has skill. At the very least, he is not truly dumb." Jurado Fenghua shook her head, "If we try to plot to make Xunlong Dianxue betray them, it might end up with both sides using one another. He definitely would not genuinely trust us."

"That's true." Di Chen nodded.

In his eyes, an alliance was just a mutual interest relationship.

"There's one more point. Xunlong Dianxue hates the rich; he has the mentality of a small city boy who does not have a good impression of rich people." Juedai Fenghua reminded.

"I've heard about that."

Speaking of which, his expression changed. Suddenly, he remembered the 1st system auction. Wasn't he humiliated by the two of them?

If it was before, Di Chen would not even be interested in coming into contact with Xunlong Dianxue.

However, now was different; for interests, Di Chen could choose to forget the past.

Juedai Fenghua continued to speak, "Xiong Ha is trying so hard because he wants to build a barrier between King City and Shanhai City. Especially the start of the Battle of Lingnan, if Xunlong Dianxue stays on their side, Xiong Ba would be faced with a headache."

"Scoff, that fellow was so gleeful when he took down Yizhou Island. Now he knows to be afraid? Assassinated during the Battle of Red Cliff, so embarrassing." Di Chen did not have a good relationship with Xiong Ba.

"On the topic of Yizhou Island, I do not believe that Qiyue Wuyi will let it go."

"You're right. Let him fight with the old fox; let's just watch." Di Chen also understood, and he suddenly felt delighted.

At this time, Di Chen felt fortunate that his territory was so far away from Shanhai City.

"Regarding the matter with Xunlong Dianxue, let's just spectate from the side and let Xiong Ba worry about it. Even if it fails, we have nothing to be sad about, so why not?"

"Let's do that!" Di Chen nodded.

In the reading room, it slowly became quiet once more.

Taiyuan Province, Fallen Phoenix City.

For the matter of Shanhai City changing targets, even Feng Qiuhuang did not know anything about it.

"Even hiding it away from me; I'm going to deal with you later!" Feng Qiuhuang was just that dominant.

"Lord, should we do something?"

The one who asked was a middle-aged strategist; he was Cheng Yu from Cao Cao's Camp.

Feng Qiuhuang truy had skill. Although she did not recruit him during the battle map, she managed to recruit him when she returned to the main map.

Who knows how she managed to do that.

"Naturally, we should. No matter what, we need to create some problems for Di Chen."

Feng Qiuhuang smiled; however, her eyes were filled with killing intent.

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Chapter 733-Scheming Against One Another

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

To the Lingnan City-State, the 9th month, 10th day was an exceedingly hard day to pass.

On this day, the Shanhai City Army split up into four fronts and moved with the navy squadron; they roamed around Jiaozhou Prefecture and took down four main cities in a short day.

One must know that the entire Lingnan City-State had less than 40 such cities.

Shi Wanshui, Er'Lai, and Fan Li Hua's three legions formed a trident that swept from south to north; they did not leave any stone unturned and did not let any fish escape their net.

The three legions played it out extremely safely. They did not want a quick win. Instead, they aimed to just ensure that they could push forward in a stable manner.

Naturally, they formed an untouchable aura, causing any enemy standing in their way to feel a chill down their spine; it felt like they were being suppressed and could not breathe.

The Guards Legion led by Huo Qubing followed a completely different style.

They did not stop in Jiaozhou Prefecture, rushing over toward Chaozhou Prefecture without stopping for the night. In just a few days, they reached the border and were ready to sneak attack.

Before the war began, the Military Affairs Bureau had circled a few key targets for the Guards Legion. As long as they took down that main city, no one could stop the Guards Legion.

Huo Qubing's troops were fighting with extreme precision.

Even if there were territories behind the Guards Legion that were not cleared out, Huo Qubing was confident that he would not be surrounded by the enemy as they could not even catch the trail of his troops.

Only Huo Qubing could use such a unique fighting method to such an effect.Lingnan Province, Alliance Army command center.

Their territory was being stepped on by the enemy, and they lacked reinforcements, making Yuan Ping and the others worried till their hair turned white. The next morning, the Lords who did not even sleep during the last night all had black eye circles. They once again gathered in the meeting hall.

"We cannot keep waiting and do nothing!" Yuan Ping exclaimed, "We need to act!"

"That's right; we cannot hope to get lucky. Their target is really apparent, which is to wipe out the Lingnan City-State without giving us any way out."

"At this moment, we can only fight!""We can only fight!"These people forced into a corner gave out their loudest roar.

"Our greatest advantage now is the ability to enter the teleportation formation at any time." Yuan Ping was the first to speak, "We need to make use of that to give the enemy a deadly blow."

"I suggest apart from the territories that are still fighting the Shanhai City Army, gather the troops of the other territories and gather with the Alliance Army. Gather them up and remove a legion of theirs."

"I agree!"

"I agree!"

The City-State had no way out, so they could only go all out with their backs against the wall.

"Which legion should we attack?"

Yuan Ping arrived before the battle map and said, "Based on the intel from the frontlines, the Guards Legion is alone deep in. Originally, they would be the best target. But their commander is Huo Qubing, so the risk is too big. Hence, I suggest we choose their right front, which is led by Fan Li Hua."

All the Lords agreed; they did not feel confident about fighting Huo Qubing.

First, the Fan Lihua's legion was a side flank and it had much more room to control; secondly, she was a female general; hence, the Lords all said that she was the weakest general.

There was also one more point. Fan Lihua was located on the right wing, so there were many ambush points that could be chosen.

One had to say that Yuan Ping had some skill; he managed to precisely decipher the problem right away.

Yuan Ping pointed at one of the cities on the map and said, "I suggest we set the ambush here!"

The Lords all moved forward to have a look, understanding the reason immediately.

The city that Yuan Ping chose was surrounded on three sides by mountains and only the south side was a plain; it was like a huge pocket. With that, the Fan Lihua army would have to come in from the south and shove its head into the pocket, struggling without any way to get out.

The brilliant part was that the city did not have a river, which basically meant that the enemy navy could not come over.

"Genius!"

"Brilliant!"

"Smart!"

The Lords all exclaimed, making Yuan Ping smile.

Obviously, this was not something that he had thought of on the spot; it was the idea he came up with after pondering about the matter all of last night. Now it seemed like doing sufficient prep work had its pros.

"Since everyone agrees, let's start going to work!" Yuan Ping knew that every moment they wasted, cities would fall and the strength of the City-State would dwindle.

Hence, they were in a race against time.

Xinjiang City was located at the border of Jiaozhou Prefecture and was a castle for the Alliance Army. It was the main grain base of the Alliance Army.

Hence, moving the army to Xinjiang City was also considering that point.

"Will the Tiger Legion Corps let us retreat so easily?" Someone was worried.

However, Yuan Ping was not worried and smiled, "Do not worry, no matter what, we have 150 thousand men, and they are elites. They only have two legions. As long as we plan our retreat well and take preventive measures, they would not dare to act. At most, they chase us, but they definitely would not dare to attack."

"That makes sense!"

"Okay, quickly go arrange everything!"

"And also, immediately inform the troops housed in your territories to be prepared. When we reach Xinjiang City, we will teleport there simultaneously." Yuan Ping instructed.

"Why not let them teleport over first?"

"Are you dumb!" Yuan Ping did not even need to raise the matter himself and another Lord asked, "The Shanhai City intel officer is staring at us. If we all teleport over, even if he is blind, he would know what is going on. Would he still fall for it?"

"Oh!" The Lord who asked this question was instantly embarrassed as his face turned red.

"Go make the preparations quickly!"

Yuan Ping changed the topic to help get that Lord out of the awkward situation.

The entire Alliance Army command center instantly became busy.

With a specific target and plan, at least they were not like ants on a hot pot, in chaos. The Lords and soldiers were all united, and the will to fight burned in their hearts.

In a chaotic world, no one was willing to sit and wait for their death.

At the same time, Alliance Army Tiger Legion Corps camp.

A brutish-looking soldier opened the tent and walked in, kneeling with one foot on the ground and respectfully said, "Commander, the troops are moving. Looking at the situation, they are making preparations to retreat!"

The tent was extremely simple. Apart from military books scattered around, the most eye-catching aspect would be the map of Lingnan Province in the middle. This was the hard work of many military intelligence spies.

Sun Bin sat on the wheelchair that the Mohism school of thought and the No.7 Research Institute had designed for him, staring at the battle map. Speaking of which, the wheelchair he sat on was not simple.

The bearings and wheels were all made from elite steel, and the outer layer of the wheels was sewed with two layers of rubber. Although it was not pumped with air, it could travel across complicated terrains.

The bearings, the iron wheels, and the moving parts could be considered a result of industrialization in Shanhai City.

Apart from that, the wheelchair was designed by geniuses from the Mohist school of thought and included many mechanisms. It had poisonous sharp arrows and an ejection escape mechanism.

Even the moving system of the wheelchair was something that the Mohists had played a part in.

Such intricate designs made even some of the mechanic experts in the research institute feel stunned. The complex skills of the ancient Chinese were something that the descendants could not understand and replicate.

When Sun Bin heard the report, he was not surprised. He did not even turn his head and smiled, "The fish have finally started to move. Inform General Di Qing to come over for a meeting."

"Yes commander!" The soldiers quietly left.

After a short while, the copper-masked Di Qing walked in.

"Commander!"

Di Qing bowed from afar.

Speaking of which, both of them had words on their faces. Sun Bins's words came from torture while Di Qing had words on his face because he used to be a slave. The difference was that Sun Bin never hid it while Di Qing chose to wear a copper mask.

Through this aspect, one could see the personalities of the two.

Sun Bin had placed down everything in his past. After all, no matter how much he tried to cover up, the truth was that his legs were paralyzed and could not be covered.

With that, why not show it to the world.

"A Legion Corps marshal sitting on a wheelchair can be considered a different kind of sight!"

Di Qing was different. Born as a slave, he was still a little inferior and was used to hiding his face. With that, it also added another kind of charm.

On the battlefield, when one saw the copper mask, one would know that General Di Qing was present.

The two were the same type and were coincidentally gathered together; this could be considered fate.

As a result, Di Qing greatly respected Sun Bin. After entering Tiger Legion Corps, Di Qing always listened to Sun Bin's words.

Sun Bin turned around and smiled, "You already know, right?"

"I know; the enemy troops have already started to move!"

"Yes; let's just follow the plan." Sun Bin nodded, "I'll lead the 1st legion to chase the enemy to help the East Conquering Army pincer them. You lead the 2nd legion up north to sweep into Shaozhou Prefecture and meet up with General Huo Qubing."

"Understood!" Di Qing nodded.

The plan was set long ago and Sun Bin was just confirming things.

"General, remember. You can be slow, but you cannot be quick." Sun Bin instructed, "The cities along the way, you must take them all down. Do not let the enemy see through your intentions before the Guards Legion enter Shaozhou."

No matter how quick the Guards Legion was, they needed to pass through the entire Chaozhou Prefecture. Hence, they needed to give them enough time. Sun Bin's instructions were naturally to avoid alerting the enemy.

"Commander do not worry, I know what to do!"

Di Qing was a stable and intelligent general.

"Then let's get to work!"

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Chapter 734-Private Flying Device

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

9th month, 19th day, White Stone City.

Under the pitch black night sky, the teleportation formation flashed with white light after white light. The 150 thousand Alliance Army troops as well as the 100 thousand gathered soldiers all teleported here

There were also 50 thousand reserve forces lying in wait and ready to teleport over to help.

The massive army filled the unassuming city to the brim. Moreover, since an hour ago, the entire city was placed on full alert, and no one was allowed to enter or leave.

At the teleportation formation, Yuan Ping gathered the generals and solemnly instructed, "General, immediately arrange soldiers to guard the various relays and teleportation formations to prevent anyone from walking into the relay or approaching the teleportation formation. The moment you see someone unusual, kill him."

"Understood!"

During the Battle of Zhaoqing, Yuan Ping used a scheme to crush Tianshuang County. Now, it was his turn to defend. Naturally, he needed to prevent the enemy from using the same trick.

Defending the relay was an attempt to reduce information leakage.

Of course, Yuan Ping's actions naturally could not stop the Shanhai Guards and the Black Snake Guards. That night, many Feng Birds flew up from various corners, disappearing into the night sky.

The next morning, the various legions received relevant news.

City Lord's Manor.

Yuan Ping and the other Lords had all gathered together.

"Where has Fan Lihua's legion proceeded to?" This was the problem most of them were concerned about.

The intel officer stepped out to report, "Based on the enemy's speed, her troops will reach outside the city at tomorrow afternoon at the latest. This afternoon, the patrol troops have already noticed their vanguard forces."

"Did they notice you?" Yuan Ping asked.

"Definitely not!" The intel officer was extremely confident.

No matter what, the area around White Stone City was their land. If even such bit of covertness was not achieved, the intel officer would not have the face to stand here.

"Since that's the case, let's just stick to the plan!" Yuan Ping said.

"Yes my Lord!"

The generals all bowed orderly.

That night, White Stone City was destined to be sleepless. They would wait within the city and even outside of the city, forming a spider web to trap Fan Lihua's legion.

Next, they discussed the specific tactics. Only till late into the night did they part ways.

In a small courtyard in the west of the Lord's Manor, Yuan Ping was looking up at the sky, deep in thought. Thinking about happy things, a flash of excitement appeared in his eyes.

If this battle went smoothly and they managed to exterminate Fan Lihua's legion, it would prove that their strategy was correct. With that, they could replicate the strategy once or even twice more.

The invincible Shanhai City Army would be invincible no more.

"Ouyang Shuo, I will not let you get what you wish!" Madness appeared on his face.

19th day afternoon, Kunming Prefecture, Dragon Legion Corps, 3rd legion camp.

The sky was covered in tens of thousands of clouds; the weather was gentle and peaceful.

At this very moment, a mechanical noise sounded from the skies; then, a giant dolphin flew past.

"A dolphin flying through the air?"

Looking up at this magical sight, one could not help but have their mouths gape open.

The 3rd legion soldiers who were doing their drills were no exception. They all looked up at the sky and pointed out. If it was not for military discipline holding them back, chaos would have ensued.

"What is that, a giant bird?"

Not everyone recognized the dolphin. Especially the normal civilians, they had only heard of it through word of mouth.

To them who did not live near the sea, they did not know any ocean organism like the dolphin. Some soldiers who came from fishing villages hesitated, "Looking at the shape, it looks like the dolphin that the elders in the village mentioned."

"What is it?"

"Haha, dolphin; are you joking? Although we do not know what it looks like, at the very least it would have something to do with the ocean, right? Have you ever seen any ocean organism fly in the air?"

The young man from the fishing village instantly lost confidence.

"Look, it is flying toward us!"

"Oh no, is it a spirit beast? Do not allow it to attack our camp!"

"Quick, inform the archers!"

"Stupid, go inform the general!"

Seeing the giant bird flying closer and closer, the soldiers who had never seen such a thing panicked.

"What are you all going on about, form up, form up!"

Just at this moment, the officer stepped out and started to enforce order.In the tent, Zhang Liao received the news and walked out of the tent, looking up toward the sky. Looking at the big bird, his mouth was agape too.

"Is that the Mohist machine bird?" Zhang Liao guessed.

Just when Zhang Liao was unsure about what to do, Ouyang Shuo walked over with a smile, "Do not worry general; that is our flying device. Immediately clean out an area and wave the red flag."

"Yes, Monarch!"

Zhang Liao did not think about anything else and just followed the military orders.

After which, he asked, "Monarch, what is the flying device that you spoke of?"

Ouyang Shuo smiled; this was not anything surprising. Consonance City had just merged into Shanhai City and the No.7 research Institute had not introduced the civil servants and generals there to the industrial revolution.

"Simply put, it's something that we can control and drive. It's a special item that I got from my voyage." Ouyang Shuo gave a simple explanation.

"Oh!"

Zhang Liao was astonished. Although he was only a general, he was the right hand man of Bai Hua. He knew some things about the Shanhai City voyage.

Furthermore, Bai Hua purposely developed him, so Zhang Liao knew some things about the modern world.

"Since the flying device has been sent here, I'll be returning to Shanhai City."

The Battle of Nanjiang had already started; the east, north, and west borders had started moving. At this time, Ouyang Shuo needed to return to Shanhai City to calm down the hearts of the troops.

The Military Affairs Bureau had already built a command center back in the city; they were waiting for Ouyang Shuo to return.

The fastest way would naturally be to fly via the mimicry flying device. In only a day, Ouyang Shuo could fly past Zhen An Prefecture and return to Shanhai City.

"Monarch, you are going back?" Zhang Liao was a little surprised.

"That's right." Ouyang Shuo nodded, "General, I'll leave the defense of the western front to you."

Although it looked rather calm now, that did not mean that no war would break out.

Without mentioning whether or not Yunnan City-State might take some small actions, even Di Chen and the others would want to motivate Qin Feng to attack Shanhai City.

The 3rd legion had the responsibility of defending Kunming Prefecture, so they could not be careless.

When Zhang Liao heard this, he said, "Do not worry, Monarch. With us here, the enemy would not be able to take a step past the border."

"Great!"

Ouyang Shuo nodded; he admired such spirit from Zhang Liao.

Zhang Liao in history was also a defensive master, and his ability to hold up against pressure was extremely strong.

After giving some simple instructions, Ouyang Shuo left.

With a simple handing over, Ouyang Shuo took the device from the pilot and used the purple ohlite crystal on his chest to activate the flying device, flying into the air and disappearing into the sky.

The soldiers who witnessed the scene instantly thought of their Monarch as a true god. Their loyalty rose and the barrier between them and Shanhai City was smashed into bits.

With such a Monarch, what other request would soldiers like them want?

If Ouyang Shuo knew that this had helped to solve the side effects of the merger, he probably would cry from laughter.

The pilot who sent over the flying device used a blue magnetic ohlite. Mid way, he needed to stop to recharge. Ouyang Shuo's purple magnetic ohlite was different and could last the entire journey.

Riding the mimicry flying device and flying in the clouds, looking down at the mountains and small villages, Ouyang Shuo was filled with emotion. His feelings opened up; he wanted to occupy all the land beneath him.

Such grand ambitions, such experiences made for a truly unusual journey.

The next day noon, Ouyang Shuo returned to Shanhai City.

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Chapter 735-Number 32

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

Shanhai City, Military Affairs Bureau.

The command center was set at the yamen of the Military Affairs Bureau. Du Ruhui, Zhao Kuo, and the newly appointed Xiahou Dun were all present. Apart from them, the Military Intelligence Division, the War Division, and Combat Logistics Department all sent their elite members to join in.

When Ouyang Shuo walked into the command center, he saw a busy sight.

On the north wall of the hall was a nine meter long, five meter wide giant map of Nanjiang. From east to west the map included Yunnan Province, Chuanbei Province, Chuannan Province, Xiangnan Province, Lingnan Province, Jiangchuan Province, and Minnan Province.

Amongst these locations, Yunnan, Chuanbei, and Lingnan Province were the most detailed and located at the middle of the map.

In the middle of the hall was similarly a nine meter by five meter giant sand boar. They most crucial Battle of Lingnan wsa being played out on the board; the three prefectures of land of the Lingnan City-State could be seen clearly on it.

Especially White Stone City in Jiaozhou Prefecture; it was marked with a red flag.

Intel was sent periodically to the command center. The War Division strategist would refresh the details on the board based on the intel for Du Ruhui and Zhao Kuo to make decisions.

"Monarch!" Du Ruhui rushed over.

Ouyang Shuo's arrival caused the command center to instantly quieten down.

"Keming, what's the situation?"

Du Ruhui pointed to White Stone City in the center of the sand board and reported, "Monarch, as expected, the enemy chose the teleport ambush tactic and the first location they chose was White Stone City."

Ouyang Shuo took a look at the land around the city and smiled, "They chose a great place."

"That's right. This time, they are going all out, gathering 250 thousand troops. I just got news that Fan Lihua's legion has already reached outside White Stone City and are setting up camp."

Fan Lihua knew that White Stone City was a trap but still acted like nothing was wrong and arrived outside the city. They made their final preparations before sieging like usual; their goal was to not alert the enemy.

Without mentioning Fan Lihua's legion, even Shi Wanshui and Er'Lai's legions did not show any signs of moving toward Fan Lihua's legion.

Only the Tiger Legion Corps 1st legion led by Sun Bin was proceeding toward White Stone City.

All of this was to confuse the enemy.

In truth, this was a risky move that required Fan Lihua's legion to hold off the attacks of 250 thousand soldiers before any reinforcements arrived.

Going one against three, one really had to sweat for her.

Such a scenario was only because the chess pieces that the Shanhai Guards placed down in the Alliance Army had not succeeded.

The Black Snake Guards and Shanhai Guards had different roles. The Black Snake Guards spies were mainly players while Shanhai Guards were mainly NPCs. Hence, it was easier for the Shanhai Guards to infiltrate the enemy.

Around three months prior, the Shanhai Guards had buried more than 10 chess pieces in the Alliance Army. The three legions were waiting for the key piece to do his work.

"Has Number 32 sent any news?" Ouyang Shuo asked.

Number 32, the most outstanding spy of the Shanhai Guards, occupied the position of colonel in the Alliance Army. Ouyang Shuo even participated in the workings for Number 32. He had a formation breaking talisman that was the key to this battle.

During the Battle of Zhaoqing, Yuan Ping used a formation breaking talisman to take down Tianshuang County. Ouyang Shuo wanted to use Yuan Ping's own poison against him to break the teleportation formation of White Stone City and lock the Alliance Army in.

With that, the Battle of Lingnan would become an encirclement.

If they win this battle, Lingnan Province would be in the bag.

The China region was complicated and had too many uncertain factors. Ouyang Shuo did not want to play any cat and mouse games with the Alliance Army. The moment he locked onto his target, he was going to kill them all.

Their weakness this time was naturally the teleportation formation.

However, breaking the teleportation formation when they enemy was prepared against it was highly difficult.

Now, they could only hope that Number 32 could work his magic.

"Number 32 has sent news that with the workings of the other spies, it's his regiment turn to defend the formation tonight. The chance to break the formation is tonight." Du Ruhui smiled as he reported.

"Great, then let's wait for it." Ouyang Shuo was prepared to just camp in the command center. Without a confirmation, he was not even going to sleep.

The huge command center went into overdrive once more.

Lingnan Province, Jiaozhou Prefecture, White Stone City.

The enemy troops coming as expected made Yuan Ping and the others delighted. Now they just needed to wait for Fan Lihua's legion to siege, and the 250 thousand troops lying in wait would give them a huge surprise.

Everything went smoothly; the only exception was that they were taking too long to get prepared.

Fan Lihua's legion reached the surroundings at noon. An entire afternoon has passed, but they still had not taken action. Based on what the spies reported, the enemy was building a camp.

As the sun set, a huge camp started to rise up from the plains.

"They are being too careful, right?" Some of the Lords did not understand.

Based on the fighting-style of the Shanhai City Army, not mentioning noon, even in the afternoon after they reached the city they would siege.

"White Stone City has a different geography so playing it safe is also pretty normal."

"That's right, no matter, what she's an Emperor Rank general. It's in her nature to think that there's a scheme going on, so she did not want to siege."

The Lords all tried to give various logical explanations.

In the afternoon, they were starting to hesitate, thinking about whether they should sneak attack before their legion settled down.

In the end, they gave up on that tempting idea.

If they attacked, they would be exposing their target. In the end, they would not be able to kill all of them.

If they only crushed them and did not annihilate them, it would be a failure for the Alliance Army. That was because Shanhai City would not give them so many chances to set up an ambush.

Secondly, the enemy was the Shanhai City Army.

Their soldiers were extremely strong, and their abilities were recognized by the world. Even when they were setting up camp, Yuan Ping and the others did not think that they would not be wary.

Thinking about that, the chances of succeeding became even slimmer.

Hence, the most stable way would be to wait for the enemy to siege before surrounding them.

In the City-States, there were some conservative Lords and some excited ones. Everyone gathered to discuss strategies. In the end, they chose the safer option.

This was the pros of discussing ideas but it was also a con.

There would never be a case where they settled on a bold and risky decision.

With that, they had wasted a golden opportunity for the Alliance Army to fight back. If they chose to strike out, Fan Lihua's legion could only try their best to hold on.

With or without the fortress, moat, and other defenses, whether or not they could hold on or not was a mystery.As night fell, it was total silence.

Fan Lihua's legion camp was still busy; the high camp walls blocked the eyes of the Alliance Army spies. Within it, various defense works were being built up.

Along the wooden walls of the camp fortress, a large number of soldiers were digging out moats. Within the moats, numerous arrow turrets and barricades were being placed up.

Weirdly, at the center of the fortress, the army was repairing the area, similar to an inner city. If the Alliance Army spies saw this scene, they would immediately see through the intentions of Fan Lihua's legion.

How was this fortress preparing for a siege? They were obviously getting ready to defend.6 PM, White Stone City.

The soldiers guarding the teleportation formation had a change of guard. After checking their identity tokens, they passed by one another.

The officer was a young general called Song Gui. He came from Huadong County in Jiaozhou Prefecture and joined the County three months ago. He used his skills to be promoted to colonel.

His family background was clean.

How would Yuan Ping and the others, including the Lord of Huadong County, know that Song Gui was a spy nurtured by the Shanhai Guards? He mixed into the refugees and entered Huadong County like nothing had happened.

More than half of the Shanhai Guard spies used such a method to enter their target areas.

Three hours had passed and everything went about as usual.

The night sky got darker and darker. At this point, there was only moonlight left. Under the light, the faces of the soldiers became blur and hard to see.

The sentry that stood for a full three hours without moving and on full focus felt their attention start to wane, and their body started to reject it.

Just at this moment, on the streets that were listed as a prohibited area, the sound of pushcarts could suddenly be heard. 'Gulu gulu!' During the quiet night, this sound pierced the ear.

"Who is it? This is a prohibited area, you cannot enter!"

As expected, the small pushcart was quickly intercepted.

"Sir, I'm here to bring supper." The person pushing the cart was an old man with a hunched back. He had a wide smile on his face.

He opened one of the wooden barrels and instantly a wonderful scent spread out.

"Sir, take a look; it is barbecued chicken!"

'Gulp!'

The soldier could not help but swallow his saliva.

"Who asked you to send supper, don't you know this is a prohibited area?" The soldier's attitude became gentler.

"I'm the one!"

Just at this moment, noises sounded out from behind their backs.

The soldier was stunned; he turned around and bowed, "Colonel!"

The one who came was Song Gui; he exchanged glances with the old man before turning to the soldier that was still standing at his sentry post. He smiled, "Boys, you have all worked hard. Today, I'll treat all of you to supper, so fill your stomachs up."

"Yay!"

Since it was the words of the colonel, the soldiers who were famished were naturally delighted.

"Come, come, come, fresh from the oven!"

The old man pushed the cart and walked through the middle of the military formation.Like he was performing magic, he took out chicken after chicken.

"Sir, there's also some wine here; would you like some?"

"Sure!"

The soldiers smiled in delight, giving the old man the thumbs up.

Great wine with chicken, what in the world could be compared to that? Under the temptation of good food, the soldier formation instantly slackened and the place became chaotic.

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Chapter 736-Sun Rises as Usual

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

During the chaos, Song Gui acted like he was drunk and quietly approached the teleportation formation.

Using this chance where no one was looking, he swiftly took out the formation breaking talisman and pasted it onto the teleportation formation. A white light flashed and disappeared; the formation instantly stopped working.

As the teleportation formation was a prohibited area, no one noticed this anomaly.

Right after Song Gui sneaked away from the teleportation formation, a furious roar sounded out; the fury within the voice could burn one into ashes, "A*holes, what do you think you are doing?"

Raising their heads, it was actually Yuan Ping and his Personal Guards.

Who knows why, but Yuan Ping felt uneasy during this entire night. He felt that something was off, so he brought the Personal Guards into the city to patrol.

Who would have thought that when he came to the most important teleportation formation, he would see the soldiers eating chicken and drinking wine, playing as if they were having the time of their lives. Obviously, he would be furious.

"Who's your officer? Tell him to see me."

Yuan Ping's face was dark; his eyes were cold like that of a venomous snake.

When the soldiers heard his words, they felt a shiver run down their spines, and they did not dare to speak.

"It's me!"

Song Gui had smoothly completed the mission, so his mood was extremely good. However, he acted like he was terrified on the surface, stumbling to the front of Yuan Ping and bowing.

"Bastard!"

Seeing Song Gui's flushed red face, Yuan Ping was filled with anger and kicked out.

'Wu!'

This kick was not soft; Song Wu grabbed his stomach, shriveling up in pain.

When the surrounding soldiers saw this scene, they were furious.

No matter what, Song Gui was their officer, so how could he be humiliated like that?

Within alliances there was never a master-servant relationship. Strictly speaking, Yuan Ping had no power over them.

Seeing that, with a 'Shua!' the Personal Guards behind Yuan Ping orderly pulled out their weapons. When the soldiers saw that, they were all the more furious and some bold ones even took out their weapons.

The atmosphere on the streets instantly froze, and it looked like a conflict was about to occur.

Despite that, Yuan Ping was expressionless.

"No one move!"

Song Gui tried to get up, preventing his men from doing anything foolish.

"Colonel!" The soldiers were aggrieved.

Song Gui waved his hand, once again bowing to Yuan Ping, "I've failed my job; I'm willing to be punished!"

When Yuan Ping saw his actions, he paid attention to this person for the first time.

This person was not simple!

"What's your name and which territory do you belong to?" Yuan Ping asked.

"I'm Song Gui from Huadong County."

"Are you interested in joining my camp?" Yuan Ping asked unexpectedly. Due to his desire for talents, he was actually poaching in public.

When the surrounding soldiers heard his words, they all exchanged glances.

"Thank you mister, but the Huadong County Lord has treated me well. I'm indebted to him, so I will not leave him."

Yuan Ping liked him more and more, "Loyal, not bad."

"But!"

Yuan Ping's face changed quickly, his expression becoming exceedingly solemn, "You did not do your duty, so you have to be punished."

"Men!"

"Present!"

"30 strokes of the whip immediately!" Yuan Ping did not give him any face.

"Yes, my Lord!"

"Execute the one who sent the chicken. I've already said that this place is a prohibited area and anyone who gets close will be killed." Yuan Ping said.

Song Gui was being brought down. When he heard those words, his body froze, and his fist was clenched tight.

Gritting his teeth, he loosened his fist in the end.

'That was a brother that had fought alongside him!'

In olden times, whip punishment was extremely cruel. After 30 whips, Song Gui could not even stand, and he had to be helped to the infirmary to treat his wounds. At the same time, his regiment was also swapped with another one.

After that slight hiccup, the night regained its calmness once more.

Just as Yuan Ping was ready to leave, the regiment followed the procedure to check the teleportation formation.

This check scared them silly.

"Lord not good!"

"What happened?" Yuan Ping's heart shook.

"The teleportation formation is broken."

"What?"

Yuan Ping charged toward the teleportation formation like he was crazy. Looking at the teleportation formation that was totally quiet, his face turned ashen white, "It's the formation breaking talisman."

"Damn it, it was Song Gui!" Yuan Ping's eyes were red with fury.

"Men!"

"Present!"

"Capture Song Gui and torture him for answers."

"Yes my Lord!"

"Don't tell me this is all part of an elaborate scheme?"

Yuan Ping suddenly felt a shiver run down his spine. The news of the teleportation formation being broken swept through the entire Alliance Army like a hurricane.

All of the Lords of the City-State instantly felt a chill.

White Stone City, City Lord's Manor.

The various Lords and their generals had all gathered up for the meeting.

Before this, the Huadong County Lord had already been locked up and interrogated. Yuan Ping and the others suspected that he was the mastermind and a chess piece planted by Shanhai City.

The atmosphere in the meeting hall was close to a freezing point, and no one wanted to speak. The broken teleportation formation was like a dark spirit lingering in the air of the meeting hall, unable to fade away.

The Lords were not fools and very easily understood that all their actions were under the control of Shanhai City and was planned by the enemy.

What was amusing was that they had thought they were smart and had thought that they could deal a deadly blow to the enemy.

"Aren't we all clowns?" The Lords were mocking themselves.

All the excitement, and all the hope had pretty much all disappeared. All that remained was an empty shell without a soul.

All of a sudden, their world was flipped upside down, and they became a group of people without a tomorrow. A moment ago, they were among the top players of China, respected by many.

"Guys, say something!" Yuan Ping's voice was hoarse and filled with sadness.

"What more can we say?"

"That's right; it's useless. We cannot win this."

"But we cannot give up either!" Yuan Ping was not willing to just give in.

The other Lords did not react to Yuan Ping's statement; their faces were expressionless.

"I'll say something."

The Lord of White Stone City suddenly stepped out, "White Stone City has a small path that leads outside. However, it is mountainous and really desolate. An army definitely cannot pass, but if we bring our little groups out, it can still be done."

"Really?" Yuan Ping's face did not show any delight.

At this time, their only path was to escape.

The other Lords felt the same. Without an army, what was the point even if they made it out?

"Guys, do not be dejected. At least we can return to our territories, take away the money, and be rich men in the imperial city!" The Lord of White Stone City consoled; his attitude was truly optimistic.

"That's the only way I guess."

The other Lords smiled bitterly; they were all people with money in real life.

Becoming rich men? Truly ironic.

"Since we have no way out, we cannot just let them win like this. Do not forget that we still have 250 thousand troops. If we really rush out, can that woman even block us?" Yuan Ping did not want to lose, trying his best to rile up their spirits, "Even if we fail, we can bite off some flesh from Shanhai City. Furthermore, we still have options."

"That's right, if we just back off like this, it would be too easy for Shanhai City."

"Let's bury Fan Lihua's legion with us!"

"We must bury her!"

In the meeting hall, a determined atmosphere rose up.

Under these circumstances where they had no way out, the Lords started their journey to revenge.

"Tomorrow morning, let's not make an ambush. The enemy will not fall for it. I suggest we directly go out and charge at them. Let's fight head on and crush them. I do not believe these 250 thousand cannot take care of that sissy army."

"I agree!"

"I agree!"

"Great, this will be the final glory of our Lingnan City-State; we cannot mess it up!"

"Fight for honor!"

"Fight for honor!"

In the meeting hall, all the Lords felt a desire for vengeance, and their blood boiled once more. However, this blood boiling was not fueled with passion but with their lives. This was like wood without roots; it was not endless and would dry up.

As there were no tactics to speak of, the meeting ended quickly.

White Stone City became quiet once more.

The only difference was that after the Lords returned, they summoned their trusted right-hand men to plan the retreat. Those that were cowardly decided to retreat from the back mountains. On the other hand, the courageous ones chose to retreat from the main battlefield.

One must not look at how passionate they were during the meeting. If they managed to return to their territory and smoothly take all the gold, being a stable rich person was something they all wanted.

It was better than nothing, right?

A person's heart was just that complicated.

Especially to Lords, there were no pure ones among them anymore. A truly pure Lord would be wiped out in the battle between territories.

That night, there was some more action.

Song Gui and the Huadong County Lord were both tortured to death.

The guarding County Lord was innocent, but at this time, no one bothered to investigate. Hence, he could only blame his misfortune.

His sacrifice definitely pained one's heart.

That very night, another nameless hero sacrificed themselves for Shanhai City.

As long as the war continued, as long as Ouyang Shuo's ambitions were present, as long as Shanhai City continued to expand, there would be many more of such nameless heroes.

The truth was just so cruel.

Luckily, the night was going to pass, and the sun was about to rise.

When the sun rose up, a new day beckoned.

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Chapter 737-Fighting for a Tomorrow

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

9th month 21st day, White Stone City.

The orange red sun rose up from the east, slowly climbing up the mountains and over the mountain peak, shining rays of light over White Stone City, making the green olden city look golden.

Yuan Ping and the others stood on the south city wall and solemnly looked on at the Alliance Army walking out of the east, west, and south gates. Their expressions were exceedingly serious.

"Shanhai City does not want us to see a tomorrow, so we will fight for one!" Yuan Ping said.

The three armies were like three giant dragons gathering on the plains outside of the south city wall. The color of black covered all the grass – there was no other color in sight.

Even so, there were still troops gathering within the city. The vast plains were not large enough to hold the entire Alliance Army.

The ones at the front were the six thousand Huadong County soldiers.

The Lord was tortured to death last night, but his army still remained. As they had not obtained any intel, Yuan Ping and the others did not dare to put the Huadong County Army by their side.

The best method was to push them up to the front lines.

Weren't these six thousand the best death squad? Additionally, Yuan Ping and the others arranged a full 10 thousand troops to keep their actions in check.

The moment they made any weird movements, the six thousand of them would be shot with arrows till they looked like porcupines.Fan Lihua's legion camp.

The abnormally in White Stone City had alerted Fan Lihua's legion.

Last night, Fan Lihua had already received the spy message from within White Stone City and knew that Number 32 had succeeded and broken the enemy teleportation formation.

Whilst she heaved a sigh of relief, her heart also felt a chill.

She was extremely clear that tomorrow would be the toughest day for her legion.

Shi Wanshui, Er'Lai and Sun Bin's legions had already obtained the orders and were rushing over to White Stone City. Shi Wanshui's legion was the closest, but they could only arrive in the afternoon.

The furthest Sun Bin legion would need to wait till the afternoon of the 22nd.

Whether or not they could defend against the all out attacks of the Alliance Army and last till that crucial day would be the toughest test since this legion was built.

It was also a key battle for Fan Lihua.

She needed to prove to the armies of Shanhai City that she was worthy of the Monarch's trust.

"Send my orders, the divisions must defend their formations and stick to the defense plan, pushing each line of defense to its max. Whoever loses their formation will be punished by military law."

"Yes general!"

After a full night of constructing this fortress, it was like a ferocious beast waiting for the enemy to take the bait.

During the military meeting last night, Fan Lihua had said, "If the enemy crosses the defensive line of the 3rd legion and manages to break out, I'll tell the Monarch that I'll resign. But before I do that, I'll sack all of you Major Generals and colonels."

Her eyes lacked any killing intent, but it made everyone shiver in fear.

One of the Major General's recollection of the event described the scene extremely accurately, "Being swept like that, the blood in my body that was boiling instantly became cold. My heart felt cold like an invincible sword aura was held at my necks. If we make a mistake, our heads would roll."

"We are thinking that we would rather die on the battlefield than lose the defensive line."

Her prestige in the 3rd legion was truly exceptional.The war horns sounded.

The 250 thousand Alliance Army moved into their battle formation and headed toward the enemy along with the beat of the drum. Before they even got close, they already emitted a suppressive and invincible aura.

The camp opposite them was extremely quiet without any noise; the silence was terrifying. Within the fortress, all the soldiers were focused and ready to claim the lives of the enemy at any moment.

The moment the Alliance Army got into range, a rain of arrows pelted down at them.

Many black arrows formed layer upon layer; these closely packed arrows formed an iron flood and rained down from above, massacring the Alliance Army.

The arrow rain left not a single living body in its wake.

Insta kill!

As the arrow rain was too closely packed, the soldiers had no way to avoid it. The sword-shield soldiers were better off and had shields to block. If they were lucky, they could survive. On the other hand, the archers just died under the arrow rain before they could retaliate.

Of the six thousand Huadong County troops, only a few remained after this initial blow.

"Charge!"

The commander was not afraid of death and ordered the troops to speed up.

Since they were attacking a fortress, the calvary forces of the Alliance Army were not useful and were hence assigned to the wings. The main attacking force was more than 100 thousand sword-shield soldiers.

They braved the arrow rain and launched their strongest assault.

The army was like a black flood, drowning the camp instantly.

After paying a heavy price, many sword-shield soldiers stepped onto simple scaling ladders and climbed onto the wooden walls, engaging in battle with the Fan Lihua legion troops defending the walls.

Right at the start, the two sides entered an intense and cruel close combat battle.

A camp fortress was just a camp fortress after all.

Even though they were well prepared, they did not have stone, wood, alchemical fire oil, cannons, etc. They only had arcuballistas at most.

Under the wooden walls, there were hundreds of trebuchets.

Be it the arcuballistas or the trebuchets, they were originally prepared to let the 3rd legion siege White Stone City. However, they were now used to defend, so one could imagine how much damage they caused the enemy.

In the battlefield covered with killing cries and shouts, wave after wave of Alliance Army soldiers charged fearlessly at the wooden walls. The corpses were like rain, falling to the bottom of the wall.

In the blink of an eye, a huge pile of corpses piled up.

And just as they were sieging, the trebuchets and arrow rain killed their backline. As the Alliance Army was too close together, the fireballs the trebuchets threw could cause a massive wave of damage.

A single fireball would often cause an area of death.

A full hour had passed and the camp fortress was still as stable as a mountain. Moreover, a total of 20 thousand Alliance Army troops had died; the brutality of the situation exceeded all expectations.

The 1st division guarding the wooden walls was originally the Leizhou Garrison Division; they were the strongest division out of all Garrison Divisions.

During the Battle of Zhaoqing, they showed their strength and impressed even Baiqi.

After moving into the 3rd legion, the division had undergone a change, becoming even stronger; they could be considered a flag of this legion.

Hence, Fan Lihua gave the toughest mission to the 1st division. The performance of the 1st division was truly worthy of all the praise.The first battle not going well for them caused the Alliance Army to feel some pent up frustration.

Thinking about the various Lords watching the battle from the city walls, the commander did not dare to take this matter lightly

"Send down my order, let the assault regiment attack!"

The alliance commander was ready to throw in their most elite assault regiment to force the attack.

"Yes commander!"

A total of three assault regiments received the orders and immediately charged up; they were like a trident as they stabbed into the crucial areas of the wooden walls.

The strength of the assault regiment was quickly revealed.

These opponents stood on the same level as the 1st division. Under the help of numerous Alliance Army soldiers, they suppressed the 1st division that had already suffered many loses.

Now, they had a chance to break through the first line of defense.

"Great, follow up!"

The commander grew more and more excited, and soldiers were sent to the front lines like they were free.

This made the fight even more arduous for the 1st division.

At this moment, the number of casualties of the 1st division started to increase exponentially.Inner circle tent, within one of the towers.

"General, let the 1st division back off; they cannot hold on any longer!" The deputy officer reminded Fan Lihua.

Fan Lihua looked at the situation at hand with a determined expression, "Wait a little longer!" The time the first defense line managed to hold on was half an hour away from her expectations.

"General, the 1st division is being crushed, let some of them live!"

"Even if all of them die in the end, they have to hold on."

Fan Lihua's expression did not change. She was not stone-hearted, but the fate of the entire legion and even the entire Battle of Lingnan was on her shoulders, and she could not afford to be soft hearted.

The 1st division had to hold on!Wooden walls.

The massacre continued. Every moment, every second people fell down.

The 1st division made use of their incredible mental strength and discipline to stay strong under the attacks of the Alliance Army.

However, such perseverance could not last for long.

The key to this battle was still the numbers of both sides, and it was not something that morale and strength could change.

From the start of the battle till now, each soldier of the 1st division was pretty much covered in blood.

"Boss, the general asks us to last for half an hour more." A messenger ran over.

Major General Zhao Yan was similarly covered in blood; he looked at his comrades around him, "Fellows, you heard that? The General does not seem too pleased with us. F* their mother, even if we die, we cannot drag down the prestige of the 1st division!"

"Boss, it's your prestige you're worried about, right? Are you afraid that the general will teach you a lesson if you do not complete your mission? Haha." The colonels around him did not bother with his words and did not give this boss any face.

Zhao Yan also knew how his men acted, so he said seriously, "Let's cut the crap, it is not just fighting with our lives, we are not afraid of that. We cannot let the other division kids laugh at us, much less the enemy. If we cannot last this half an hour, I'll die together with you guys."

"Boss, you are not a beauty, who wants to die with you!"Zhao Yan stepped on their feet. He raised his blade and headed forward; this time, they were truly going all in with their lives!

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Chapter 738-Chain Formation

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

Zhao Yan fulfilled his promise.

The 1st division lasted for the most arduous half an hour. They paid a heavy price; in the end, less than two thousand members were left out of the entire division. Ten thousand of the most elite soldiers died on the battlefield.

Major General Zhao Yan suffered heavy injuries and fell unconscious, and the Personal Guards carried him out of the battlefield.

Along with the 1st division retreating, the enemy officially broke the first defense line of the camp fortress. The Alliance Army paid the price of 40 thousand soldiers in total.

Corpses piled up against the wooden wall, making it hard to pass, and blood dyed the wooden walls with a fresh crimson color.

After taking down the wooden wall, the Alliance Army commander let out a sigh of relief.

Logically speaking, after the walls of the camp fell, the enemy would basically lose their defensive ability. Close quarters combat would follow, and they would win for sure with their numerical advantage.

The Alliance Army commander felt confident about taking the enemy down within a day.

Who knew that after heading past the walls, he would see this scene:

A second layer stood hundreds of meters away from the first wooden walls.

Between the two walls there was a five meter deep moat every five meters. There were paths connecting one moat to another, connecting all the moats into a complete defensive system.

Barricades, arrow towers, etc. were scattered everywhere. There was a three-bow arcubalista or a trebuchet at every crucial point.

The more terrifying part was the tens of thousands of archers hidden in the moats.

This was the second defense line of the camp fortress; it was defended by both the 2nd and 3rd divisions.

As there was a limited time to build the camp fortress, Fan Lihua did not design a squarish fortress but one that went from east to west, forming a narrow and long channel.

The entire fortress basically stopped the Alliance Army from heading down south.

The Alliance Army could not break this enclosure by going around it. They needed to break through all the defenses before they could pass.

To prevent this, Fan Lihua planned many soldiers on the frontlines while arranging the 5th division to protect the wings. The 4th division would defend the 2nd wooden walls, which were the last line of defense.

The north side of the camp fortress did not even have any walls as they did not have enough time to construct more.

Such an arrangement could be called the most efficient use of resources and the best way to arrange troops.

The three defensive lines complemented one another and formed a massive chain formation.

This was one of the reasons why a famed general was famous. No matter if it was logistic calculations, troop traveling arrangements, or camp arrangements, they were proficient at them all.

Of course, this had something to do with the logical army troop allocation of the Shanhai City Army. That was because its division had construction units, so they could miraculously build a camp fortress.

To the Alliance Army, this posed a huge problem.

"General, what should we do?" The deputy officer asked.

The commander's face was black as he solemnly declared, "What else can we do? Attack!"

After a short rest, the Alliance Army launched their second wave of attacks.

From the start till now, their attacks had not been smooth.

The vast army crossed the wooden walls and entered the empty land, engaging in close quarters combat battle with the sword-shield soldiers. At the same time, they were also shot by the archers in the moat.

Under the cover of the moat, the archers were basically merciless grim reapers. They all became marksmen and accurately claimed life after life.

They also had arrow towers and arcuballsitas covering them.

Hence, the Alliance Army found it extremely hard to push forward.

Pretty much every moat layer was pushed through using human life. Even so, sometimes a moat that they spent a lot of effort in taking would be taken back by the enemy in the blink of an eye.

At the highest count so far, the two armies exchanged control of a moat four times.

Fan Lihua looked down from the second wooden wall and moved troops based on the situation of the battle. She ordered the archers in the moat to change their focus of fire to the toughest locations.

The secret of her commanding lied in the five-sided flag.

Each moat was separated into east, middle, and west.

Hence, each region had their specific code.

Through different flag combinations, Fan Lihua could send different orders, even some relatively complicated orders like ordering the second moat in the middle to assist the west side.

In the moats there were messengers who passed on the orders based on the flag colors.

With that, the commands were like a beautiful concert. Each note was like a killing machine; each melody was like a tune to take a life.

Although the music was beautiful, the scene was truly gruesome.

The countless Alliance Army soldiers could not do anything against such a formation, so they could not use their numerical advantage. The hundreds of thousands of cavalry soldiers were like decorations and manage to accomplish absolutely nothing.

Even by noon, the second defensive line still stood as stable as a rock.

The terrifying part was that another 20 thousand Alliance Army soldiers had fallen. In just a single noon, a fifth of the Alliance Army had died.

More than 70 percent had died from the archers.

Based on incomplete data, the 3rd legion had used up 150 thousand arrows during this morning. If it was not for the perfect combat logistics system of the Combat Logistics Department, this would be a difficult consumption to stomach.

If one was not personally fighting, one would not be able to imagine the cruelty of war.

On the backs of the 50 thousand fallen soldiers were 50 thousand families, a total of 200 thousand people. The population was similar to a Grade 3 County.

In the wilderness, this was extremely terrifying.

In just one morning, the dreams and hopes of 50 thousand families were crushed.White Stone City, above the south city gate.

"What happened; why did we not gain any progress after a full morning?" Yuan Ping and the other Lords summoned back the commander and scolded him.

In their eyes, taking down the wooden wall was to be expected.

"I'm sorry!" The Alliance Army commander could not voice his problems as he did not dare to do so.

"Just push on; do not bother about the lives of the soldiers. We must break the enemy camp fortress by this afternoon." Yuan Ping ordered.

He could not be too frank with some words. Obviously, he could not say that they just wanted to destroy them to take revenge on Shanhai City.

If they really said that, the frontline soldiers would be furious.

The NPC army was not just a cluster of data, and each soldier had a full past and their own thinking. If they knew what was going on, they would lose their will to fight.

How could an army without a will to fight win?

"Yes, my Lord!"

The Alliance Army commander replied bitterly like he could sense something weird from their expressions. His heart felt chilly, and he did not dare to think anymore.

Looking at the back view of the commander, Yuan Ping fell into deep thought.

It was not that they were eager to fight, but in truth, they did not understand their opponent; especially with the teleportation formation being broken.

The Shanhai City Army had traversed the land so quickly, and they were everywhere. However, they were hard to track too.

The moment they acted, they would not give the enemy a chance to fight back and would use their strength to claim certain victory. Hence, there was not much time left for the Alliance Army.

Yuan Ping was worried that if this really dragged on, the other legions would bear down on the city. Facing such an opponent, Yuan Ping did not dare to leave anything up to luck.

"If we can go all out, let's just go all out!"In the afternoon, the war continued.

With Yuan Ping's scolding, the Alliance Army commander decided to be vicious and use the soldiers to buy time. To accomplish this, he arranged a supervising army to force soldiers to charge forward.

"Anyone who dares to retreat will be killed!"

Apart from that, he also set rewards, "Whoever reaches the second wooden wall first will receive five thousand gold and become a colonel."

Under the promise of a heavy reward, there would definitely be brave people.

The dumb Alliance Army soldiers stepped onto the corpses of their comrades and charged forward. No matter how strong the arrow rain was, it could not stop their desire for fame and riches.

The 3rd division soldiers could feel that the enemy attacks grow more ferocious.

"What a bunch of sick freaks!"

The 2nd division Major General was Song Jia's younger brother, Song Wu.

Although he was shocked, he was a true warrior. During this entire morning, Song Wu was charging at the front. In the midst of battle, he was stabbed in the leg by the enemy. However, he charged forward again after some bandaging.

Others would not leave the battlefield if they suffered light injuries while Song Wu would not leave unless he suffered heavy injuries. If he did not posse the physique of a player and a strong cultivation, he would not have been able to hold on.

In the afternoon, it was still the case.

When he saw the Alliance Army pay such a high price but still continue to charge forward, Song Wu really could not understand it.

This was the difference between an army from the wilderness and an ancient army.

The Shanhai City Army was composed entirely of professional soldiers like the elites from other territories.

The Lords were not fools and knew that if they did not build a professional army, they would not be on the same level as the other Lords.

Hence, a battle in the wilderness was far more brutal than one during ancient times.

Like the Alliance Army, one fifth of them had died but their morale was still incredibly high.

"Damn it, they are really going all out!" Song Wu spat a mouthful of saliva.

The last person who said those words was the Major General of the 1st division, Major General Zhao Yan, who still had not woken up.

Who knows what kind of fate awaited the 2nd and 3rd divisions.

The cruel massacre continued.

A thick scent of blood lingered in the air. If one was a normal civilian, this smell would make them vomit instantly. Even the soldiers fighting could not stand the smell.

Of course, there were a few exceptions.

Some soldiers with special bodies were motivated by this bloody aura and grew stronger; the blood in their bodies boiled, and they slowly lost their rationality.

All that was left was to kill.

The battle had entered its crucial stage.

This was the Alliance Army's highest morale attack.

Now, it was all up to whether or not the 3rd division could block this wave.

Victory and defeat all depended on this.

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Chapter 739-Snapping the Wings off the Alliance Army

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

Another setting sun.

Under the dusk sky, birds flew, leaving a slight shadow.

The battlefield beneath the skies was a total mess. Smoke bellowed, and a bloody aura slowly gathered into blood red clouds in the air. The clouds were a perfect match for the orange red color of the setting sun, looking more and more eye-catching.

The moats in the camp fortress were already filled with corpses and blood; one could not see a single familiar sight. Across the narrow and long battlefield, only corpses and scattered weapons remained.

Barricades were crushed into pieces, the exquisite arcubalistas and trebuchets were taken apart, their parts left right there on the battlefield, no one bothering to salvage them.

The arrow towers were either chopped down or were still bellowing with smoke. Many arrows were stuck all over the ground, and one could not find a single section of empty land.

Occasionally, there would be one or two survivors, moaning out as they soaked in blood, waiting for the arrival of death.

The massacre in the afternoon exhausted both sides.

Another 40 to 50 thousand soldiers fell forever; their sacrifice was a goodbye to their youth and passion.

The entire battlefield was like a giant gladiator arena, the gladiators were none other than the soldiers of both sides. Whist they went all out to kill their enemies, they too were targeted by their enemy.

"Luckily, we finally took it down!"

The alliance commander looked at the messy battlefield and heaved a sigh of relief. After paying great sacrifices, the Alliance Army had finally crushed the enemy troops, taking down the second line of defense.

The strength of the 3rd legion had exceeded the expectations of the commander.

"What kind of enemy are they? Fearless and strong; they are an iron army!"

During the battle, 30% of the 2nd and 3rd divisions fell; close to eight thousand soldiers lost. If they did not rely on the moats for cover, the number of casualties would have at least increased by 20%.

At the finally moment, Fan Lihua had no choice but to order them to give up the formation and retreat to the second layer of wooden walls.

The 3rd legion had no way out.

They could only defend this wall, tiding through this horrid time.

As long as they manage to defend, it would be the greatest victory.

No matter how big the sacrifices were, it was worth it to achieve this strategic goal."Send my orders, continue the attack!"

The commander raised his head and looked at the sky; it was already scattered with the night clouds, but it was not fully dark yet.

The mission that the Lords gave him was not to take down the second line of defense but the entire camp fortress. Hence, they needed to make use of this last bit of time to break through the second wooden wall.

"Victory is right in front of our eyes!"

The commander muttered to himself like he was trying to build up confidence.

The war horn blew once more.

The exhausted soldiers all climbed up from the ground like zombies.

When the battle had come to a stop, the exhausted soldiers did not have any more worries and just laid on a pile of corpses to rest.

To the experienced old soldiers, using this time to regain some strength would mean a little more insurance to survive. Compared to their survival, what would a mountain of corpses mean?

They had no time and could not bother to debate about that.

Even the weakest soldiers were already used to the bloody and gory smell of the battlefield.

The soldiers were like zombies rising up from their graves, picking up their weapons. As the horn sounded out, they once again entered a battle-crazy state.

"Kill!"

The vast Alliance Army once again charged toward the frontlines.

The Alliance Army commander truly spent a lot of effort to take down this second city wall.

Outside the battlefield, there was a 30 thousand reserve force that had not been thrown in from the start and was well rested.

At the crucial moment, the commander threw this reserve force into the battlefield without hesitation to give the enemy camp stronghold a fatal blow.

From the reignition of the battle, the 30 thousand energized troops charged at the front, using their vigor to charge at the defenses of the third defense line.

Unfortunately, the Alliance Army was facing the famous General Fan Lihua, a commander many times better than the Alliance Army commander.

"In any battle, one must have a reserve force, be it a thousand or many squads. One must grasp the situation to use it and go on the offensive to obtain true victory in battle."

Even the Alliance Army commander knew this simple theory, so how could Fan Lihua not?

In China, the first to raise the reserve army thinking was the commander of the Tiger Legion Corps, Sun Bin.

Sun Tzu stated, "Ones formation must have three parts; each formation must have a front and each front must have a back; one to attack, two to defend. If the enemy is weak and chaotic, choose soldiers to counterattack. If they are strong, use the front soldiers as bait."

This meant to logically split up the army and not charge into battle like a swarm of bees.

Even when the massacre in the afternoon had reached its most intense moment, Fan Lihua still did not send the 4th division located in the second wooden walls to help. The goal was to defend against this sudden attack.

Reality proved that her choice was truly wise.

The soldiers of the 4th division watched on as their brothers in the 1st division died in the morning, watched as their brothers in the 2nd and 3rd division bathed in blood during the afternoon.

They had a lot of pent up energy in their bodies. Now, it was finally their turn. They said to the soldiers of the other three divisions that backed down, "Brothers, leave it to us!"

"It's up to you!"

A simple exchange of words brought out the invincible army spirit of the Shanhai City Army.The final battle before night fell slowly started.

This battle would not only decide the fate of both sides but also the entire Battle of Nanjiang.

On the White Stone City wall, a row of torches were lit, causing the area around the city to shine bright.

Yuan Ping and the other Lords had not left for the entire day, looking nervously at the battle proceedings.

"Can we still win?" Some Lords started to waver.

The Fan Lihua legion in front of them was like a monster with an infallible body.

Before the battle, no one could imagine that the enemy could block a 250 thousand soldier army with a camp fortress they built in such a short time.

If this spread, probably no one would believe it.

But the bloody truth was placed before their eyes; they had to believe it.

Hence, the Lords did not have much confidence that the Alliance Army could break through this last line of defense, at least not today. Since night was about to arrive, they had less than two hours left.

"Difficult!"

The Lord's eyes started to flicker.

Some Lords who were originally determined had started to plan their way out.

Yuan Ping noticed that five to six Lords had unknowingly left them. Some of them were unwilling to stay any longer upon seeing their troops wiped out, so they left though the little mountain path from the back.

Other Lords were genuinely scared and did not hold any hopes for this war at all, so they took their Personal Guards and left. After all, the mountain path was just a small path. If they all swarmed out, who knows what kind of chaos would ensue. Rather than that, why not just leave early? At least they would not need to queue.

The earlier they left, the earlier they could settle matters back at their base.

The Lords in the city wall who stayed, apart from those who were bold, were people whose territories had already fallen to the Shanhai City Army.

These Lords were the most tragic bunch as they could not even claim their gold to live a life as a rich person in an imperial city. The only chip left in their hands was this army.

As for those who did not even have an army left, they had already committed suicide.Just as the Lords were unsettled, on the horizon in the distance, they heard the rumbling sounds of horse hooves.

Looking out, one could see a giant army that seemed vast and endless. Under the shine of the setting sun, with a strict military formation and an unbeatable aura, they rapidly and resolutely charged at White Stone City.

The huge golden dragon flag was eye-catching to say the least.

"It's the Shanhai City Army!" A Lord immediately recognized it.

The one who reached the vicinity first was the vanguard forces of Shi Wanshui; they arrived at their expected timing.

"We are finished!"

Some Lords closed their eyes; they were unwilling to witness the brutality that was about to occur.

Most of them did not say anything, directly leaving the city wall and disappearing.

One Fan Lihua legion already posed enough problems for the Alliance Army. With one more Shi Wanshui legion, the Alliance Army totally stood no chance.

One could foresee that following this there would be more legions coming toward White Stone City to gather.

There was no more meaning in waiting, and the Lords did not want to stay and be humiliated.

Leaving was the best choice.

If they did not leave now, they would not have the chance to.

All of a sudden, before Shi Wanshui's troops even reached the frontlines, the city wall became empty. Not only did the Lords leave, even their Personal Guards left too.

In the end, only Yuan Ping remained. He stood there alone; his face ashen white.

He did not want to leave. During the Battle of Zhaoqing, he was already a deserter. He did not want to be a deserter once more in front of Shanhai City; this was his last shred of dignity.

Maybe a miracle would occur?The arrival of Shi Wanshui's legion shocked not only the Lords on the city wall.

To the Alliance Army, it was similarly a huge blow. They were facing a hard time attacking the second wooden walls, who knew that now the enemy even had reinforcements?

The Alliance Army commander's face was pained; he looked up at the empty city wall and sighed. In the end, he could not bear to let his soldiers die in vain.

This was the first time the commander told the troops to retreat before he even received any orders.

When the low morale Alliance Army soldiers heard the war drums signaling retreat, they ran without hesitation.

As for the 4th division soldiers, they similarly stopped firing.

Fan Lihua knew that the Alliance Army had lost their ability to resist. Since that was the case, they should not kill the helpless and just leave some more people for the military reorganization.

No famous general was a person who killed people for fun.

Killing was only a method but not the goal.

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Chapter 740-Fall of White Stone City

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

Along with Shi Wanshui reaching the battlefield, the Battle of White Stone City finally came to an end.

Who knows whether it was to make up for his sins or to keep that last shred of dignity but that night, knowing that all hope was lost, Yuan Ping committed suicide on the south city wall and completed his final act as a Lord.

His suicide made one sigh.

One could not say that Yuan Ping did not work hard; he was not an ignorant rich boy. He even obtained many glorious achievements and stood at the peak of China for a time. His fall only once again described the cruelty of the wilderness.

The wilderness was like eating poisonous bugs. Only the strongest could survive till the end and stand unchallenged in the world.

This was a winner takes all; loser lost everything kind of world.

In the end, there would only be a handful of winners but many losers would become stepping stones.Along with Yuan Ping's suicide, the Yuan family officially stepped out of the race to rule the wilderness.

At this point, the four families of Lingnan were chased out of the wilderness. The ones doing the best was the Song Family; they were now a large-sized chamber of commerce. The remaining three were not faring so well.

The experience of the four families pretty much described the situation with all middle-sized powers in China. They had used their resources in real life to obtain a head start.

Following which, because of the cruel competition in the wilderness, 90% or more of them were eliminated.

The ambition of most of these families, along with their territories being occupied, turned to dust. Those crazy ones who exchanged their achievement values for gold lost more than they could ever imagine.

Earth Online provided everyone on earth with a clean slate but not everyone would become a winner from this.

90% of the players would just have a go; only the lucky few could use their luck, talent (or plot armor) to come back and walk to the peak of life.

As for Ouyang Shuo's experience, it could not be replicated and had no reference value.After Yuan Ping suicided, White Stone City did not even have a single Lord left. Even the Lord of White Stone City had killed himself.

The news caused the Alliance Army to explode; they had fought to the death for an entire day and sacrificed close to 100 thousand of their troops but were abandoned in return. This was something that was hard for them to accept.

Filled with emotion, the camp quickly lost control.

That night, many soldiers left the camp for the opposite camp stronghold to surrender. Fan Lihua welcomed all of them.

First, it was one by one. Next, squadron by squadron; then it became unit by unit. During the entire night, the situation outside of White Stone City did not even stop; what a boisterous sight.

The next morning.

When the Alliance Army commander who still wanted to defend saw the half-empty camp, he spat furiously. He gritted his teeth and decided to just bring all the soldiers to surrender.

The cowardice of the Lords of the City-State had turned the hearts of all the generals cold.

To be loyal to such Lords was just stupid to the max. With that, why not switch sides to the more vibrant and glorious Shanhai City and start a brand new journey?

So one could say that the Alliance Army was not the true group of failures.

As long as one lived, it was sort of a victory. The true losers were those Lords who lost everything and those soldiers who died on the battlefield.Knowing that the entire Alliance Army wanted to surrender, Fan Lihua contacted the Shi Wanshui legion while moving into the camp stronghold to accept the surrender of the Alliance Army.

That night, Shi Wanshui's forces had arrived.

Fan Lihua did not want the settled situation to be messed up once more. Regarding military matters, playing it safe was always the best option.

Reality proved that Fan Lihua was worrying too much.

The Alliance Army's surrender was genuine. To prevent the Shanhai City Army from misunderstanding, they even removed their equipment and weapons and let Shanhai City organize them.

In the camp fortress, the Alliance Army commander passed Fan Lihua the commander seal and the Alliance Army name list. This move alone helped saved a lot of work for the Military Affairs Bureau.

Hence, Fan Lihua had a truly good impression of this commander.

During the battle yesterday, his commanding was also decent, and he was not a total nobody. If not, he would not have been able to become the commander of the Alliance Army.

If Ouyang Shuo was here, he would immediately recognize this general.

He was also a historical general, the East Han general Feng Yi.

Name: Feng Yi (Emperor Rank)

Dynasty: East Han

Identity: temporary nil

Occupation: Special Rank General

Loyalty: 65

Command: 84

Force: 68

Intelligence: 75

Politics: 72

Specialty: Intelligent General (Raises troops morale by 30%, raises combat strength 20%, increase supply ability by 30%)

Cultivation Method: nil

Equipment: nil

Evaluation: Feng Yi is both talented in civil servant duties and military duties. Not only did he have many war contributions, but the land he ruled also had results. He is an exceedingly humble person and did not grow arrogant because of his results.

Such a general was rare even in Shanhai City.

Feng Yi was originally an official from the Xin Dynasty Yingchuan Prefecture. Later on, he worked for Liu Xiu, following him to battle, helping him build East Han.

After Liu Xiu became emperor, Feng Yi was given the title of West Conquering General and Yang Xia Lord.

In the 10th year of Jianye, he died in the army due to an illness.

During the 3rd year of Yong Ping's rule, Hanming Emperor drew the portraits of 28 generals in the Luoyang Yuntai Pavillion, calling them the 28 generals of Yuntai.

The 28 generals referred to the 28 members under Liu Xiu who helped him rule the world.

Amongst which, the ones who did the most were Feng Yi and Cen Peng.

In the wilderness, Feng Yi was originally from Chaozhou Prefecture Dayong County. Since he was talented, he was appointed as the Alliance Army commander.

He was an extremely straightforward person. During the battle yesterday, he sent the troops from his territory first to prevent people from saying he was abusing his power.

After the battle, the six thousand troops basically all fell.

Just yesterday, Dayong County was felled by Huo Qubing's legion. When the Dayong Lord saw that, he lacked the mood to stay and just left White Stone City.

If it was not for Yuan Ping and the others stopping him, he would have brought Feng Yi away too.With Feng Yi's help, it instantly became much easier to deal with the surrendered soldiers.

In the end, a total of 150 thousand Alliance Army troops surrendered; there was a hundred thousand cavalry alone. The Fan Lihua legion had paid a heavy price, losing 20 thousand.

After a short while, Fan Lihua, Shi Wanshui, and Er'Lai arrived at noon and moved into White Stone City.

At this point, the battle was completely over.

Next, hey would take a short rest here before moving off one more.

Shanhai City, Military Affairs Bureau command center.

The illustrious battle results of the Fan Lihua legion exceeded their expectations. The goal they set was just to stop the 250 thousand Alliance Army. Who knew that when they woke up, the Alliance Army would have already ceased to exist?

Du Ruhui was already creating a military organization squad to teleport over to Zhenhai City and move toward White Stone City to take charge of this 150 thousand.

At the same time, the tired Fan Lihua legion would rest up in White Stone City. They would use this chance to fill up the shortfall from the casualties and take charge of the surrendered soldiers until they were organized.

This organization was just a preliminary one.

The true military organization would have to wait till the entire Battle of Lingnan ended.

"Keming, I'll leave it to you!"

After a grueling and sleepless night, Ouyang Shuo finally put down the worries in his heart and was going to go catch up on some sleep.

"Monarch, do not worry. In this half a month, we can definitely take down the entire Lingnan." Du Ruhui did not even look tired; he was filled with energy and vigor.

Surprisingly, the victory was a true mental boost.

Ouyang Shuo smiled as he nodded, "Do not rush it. We should still defend against what's defendable, especially Xiangnan City-State in the north. I heard they have sent out troops?"

"That's right." Du Ruhui smiled and nodded; he knew what the Monarch was worried about.

When attacking Taiping Country, Shanhai City Army lost focus after their huge victory and Guilin Prefecture was snatched from their hands.

This was also one of the few stains in their war history.

Now that Xiangnan City-State was sending troops into Shaozhou, the Monarch naturally did not want history to repeat itself.

In truth, Du Ruhui felt that that was not possible. Any rational opponent after learning that White Stone City fell would retreat and not take this risk.

After all, this was not like before.

When attacking Taiping Country, the Shanhai City Army was held up and could not run back to assist in time.

However, it was different this time. Only Fan Lihua's legion was trapped. The other three did not even have a chance to fight during this battle.

Not to mention Huo Qubing and Di Qing's legions, which were pushing toward Shaozhou.

If the Xiangnan City-State did not know their place and wanted to taint Shaozhou Prefecture, Shanhai City would start a war with them without hesitating.

The enemy would definitely not gain anything from the hands of both Di Qing and Huo Qubing.

Ouyang Shuo only instructed as usual; he wished that Caiyun Zinan would act bolder. If that happened, Shanhai City would have a chance to infiltrate their matters.

Considering the presence of Zhang Liang, there was pretty much no chance that it would happen.

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Chapter 741-Zhili Prefecture

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

Ouyang Shuo returned to the manor, where Qing'er had been waiting for him.

"Big brother!"

Qing'er's eyes were flushed red; it looked like she had just cried.

Ouyang Shuo frowned and expressionlessly said, "Wang Feng rejected it?"

"He's just a stubborn bull!"

During these past few days, Qing'er had bumped into many walls with Wang Feng, and the outcome was unideal. Wang Feng's pride was extremely strong. No matter what Qing'er said, he would not agree to the wedding because of his arm.

"What can I do?" Ouyang Shuo asked.

Ouyang Shuo definitely could not use his identity as the Monarch to force Wang Feng into agreeing with this marriage. Not to mention it would leave a sour taste, but it would be a blow to the prestige of the Governor-General House.

As a Monarch, Ouyang Shuo had to consider the effects.

Qing'er raised a surprising proposal, "Big brother, can you temporarily remove him from his duties and send him to Dongli Sword Sect to cultivate?"

"You gave up?"

"No." Qing'er shook her head, her eyes determined, "I also found that with his temper, if he is not treated, no matter what I try will be useless. I will wait; wait for the day that he finally stands up."

"Good, that's great!"

Ouyang Shuo looked at the girl in front of him; he was filled with thoughts.

The magic of love could cloud one's mind but could also make one grow quickly.

"I'll arrange this matter." Ouyang Shuo did not hesitate.

"Thank you, big brother!"

Qing'er bowed. She noticed that Ouyang Shuo was a little tired, so she did not disturb him and left.

In the next half a month, the Battle of Lingnan proceeded smoothly.

The Battle of White Stone City shocked the entire China region. Shanhai City's lightning quick moves ended the Battle of Lingnan before other people with intentions could act.

Amongst which included King City.

Xiong Ba had already made plans to send reinforcements. However, when he learned that White Stone City had fallen, he immediately canceled that thought. Instead, he planned to turn all his attention to Xunlong Dianxue.

Caiyun City was the next one to back down. As Du Ruhui had expected, the moment they knew about what happened to White Stone City, the Alliance Army that Caiyun Zinan had gathered immediately retreated from Shaozhou Prefecture.

Following which, they strengthened the border troops.

The entire China region was respectfully looking at Shanhai City rise up once again. In less than a month, they had taken down half a province.

Along with the various powers retreating, the Guards Legion, City Protection Legion, Dragon Legion Corps 2nd legion and the two legions from the Tiger Legion, a total of 350 thousand troops started to spread out and sweep the three prefectures.

No place was left out in the three prefectures.

As the battle came to an end, the Nanjiang Governor-General was prepared to move a large number of officials to take over the city, calming down the people and reinstating order.

For this expansion, the Nanjiang Governor-General House prepared for half a year, gathering many officials to wait for this battle to end.

Shanhai City, Nanjiang Governor-General House.

Within the reading room, Ouyang Shuo gathered the four directors to discuss the arrangements of governor for the three prefectures.

The Zhenhai City City Magistrate Song Wen would become the Governor of Jiaozhou Prefecture.

No one had any objections about this personnel arrangement. First, Song Wen's achievements at Zhenhai City were there for everyone to see. Secondly, Zhenhai City was still under his name. To maintain the teleportation formation, he could not leave Zhenhai City and Jiaozhou Prefecture.

This time, Song Wen was truly lucky.

Jiaozhou Prefecture was not only the biggest prefecture in Lingnan Province. Even in the entire Shanhai Territory, it was one of the biggest prefectures, even exceeding Kunming Prefecture.

Furthermore, the geographical location of Jiaozhou Prefecture was great, connected with rivers and possessing a natural port. It had many natural resources and a dense population, truly the heart of Lingnan.

If it was not because of Zhenhai City, no matter how capable Song Wen was, he would not be promoted to such a position.

Apart from Jiaozhou Prefecture, there was also Chaozhou and Shaozhou prefectures. Based on the intel, they did not find any exceptional officials when occupying the various prefectures.

At most, they possessed a little skill and could become a prefect.

Hence, the three governors must all be provided by the Nanjiang Governor-General House.

Xiao He suffered for Taxation Director Huo Guang to become the Shaozhou Prefecture.

Huo Guang was an incredible talent so being the Taxation Director was a waste of his talents.

Ouyang Shuo had wanted to put him outside but just could not find a chance to do so. Since Xiao He had raised the suggestion, Ouyang Shuo did not stop it.

Huo Guang was all rounded and truly incredible. Since he was taking charge of Shaozhou Prefecture, he could pay attention to the neighbor in the north. Shaozhou Prefecture was a live volcano that could explode at any moment.

Only with someone like Huo Guang present could Ouyang Shuo relax.

Although Xiao He's request was suitable, there might be some selfishness motives. Huo Guang was born in West Han, so he had something to do with Xiao He, this first prime minister of West Han.

Their relationship was quite close.

To Xiao He, promoting him was a win-win situation.

Ouyang Shuo saw through all this but chose to remain silent. He opposed his men abusing their power but he would not go as far as to ban any connections.

In the ancient official field, it was hard to remove relationships.

Ouyang Shuo's attitude was that officials could use their relationships but they could not abuse it.

Out of all the officials in the Governor-General House, there were many that could be appointed like Zhang Tingyu, Su Zhe, Xiahou Dun, etc.

However, these ministers were in important positions and could not leave.

Just as the meeting entered a stalemate, Financial Bureau Director Fan Li suddenly said, "Lord, I have a suggestion."

"Please speak!" Ouyang Shuo was surprised.

Apart from financial matters, Business Saint Fan Li had been keeping a low profile and had remained silent on other matters since he joined Shanhai City.

One must know that his ability was not limited to just business.

He was also an all rounded person, and his strategic thinking was better than normal strategists.

Ouyang Shuo guessed that he was playing it safe, using the university to increase his knowledge. After all, he was born in the Spring and Autumn Warring States Period. At this time, the ruling systems were the most perfected.

Regarding how to rule a territory, Fan Li had many things he needed to learn and absorb.

Secondly, he was judging both Shanhai City and the Monarch.

He was truly a careful person.

Now that he suddenly spoke during the meeting, maybe it meant that he had truly recognized Ouyang Shuo as his Lord and was ready to show his abilities here?

With that, Ouyang Shuo was excited.

Weird lights flashed in the eyes of the other three directors.

Everyone seated here was sharp and intelligent and could catch the hidden message. What kind of blow would his sudden high profile words give to the official scene in Shanhai City?

Toward this problem, they needed to think deeply about it.

Fan Li was extremely calm, "Based on what the Lord says, the territory needs to establish the country by next year and Shanhai City will become the capital city. Since that's the case, some matters need to be prepared in advance. For example, the matter of direct rule. I feel that it's time that Lianzhou Prefecture becomes directly governed by Shanhai City."

Zhili refers to a region that was directly governed by the capital city.

This term started off in the Ming Dynasty and followed to the Qing Dynasty. Even in modern day society, there were similar concepts. In the Qing Dynasty, the Zhili Viceroy was the head of all the officials governing land and was a truly important role.

Fan Li's suggestion was building on this foundation to move the entire Lianzhou Basin under the direct rule of Shanhai City and there would not be a Lianzhou Prefecture.

"I agree to list Lianzhou Prefecture as Zhili; it also makes it convenient to move the resources of Lianzhou Basin and speed up the construction of Shanhai City to reach the population upper limit quicker."

The one who spoke was Internal Affairs Director Wei Yang, who took charge of anything population related. The population migrating work regarding Shanhai City was all his responsibility.

"That's right, as the Shanhai City population increases, the agricultural needs will increase. The provisions of nearby counties are not enough. We now need to ship resources from Lianzhou Prefecture, so moving it as a Zhili would break that dividing line between the two." Xiao He agreed.

With that, only Military Affairs Director Du Ruhui did not speak.

If one said that Fan Li's low profile was to quietly look on, then Du Ruhui was the true low profile. This director with exceptional judgment pretty much would not speak up unless it affected the military. Most of the time, he took the role of listener.

Militants do not walk into the field of civil servants was the line he drew for himself.

Ouyang Shuo smiled, "Since all of you have come to a consensus, this is set. Immediately disperse Lianzhou Prefecture and any land in Lianzhou Basin will be a Zhili of Shanhai City with Zang Wenchong in charge."

Ouyang Shuo was not ready to move Shanhai Magistrate Zang Wenchong. What pleased Ouyang Shuo the most about him was his lack of involvement in any faction; he was completely unbiased.

"Monarch is wise!"

Seeing the Monarch acting so decisive, the various directors were not surprised at all.

After settling the matter of Zhili, Ouyang Shuo returned to the main question and smiled, "Fan Li is saying to let Lianzhou Governor Wei Ran become the Chaozhou Governor?"

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Chapter 742-Forming the Leopard Tiger Cavalry

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

"I only suggest we establish the directly governed prefectures. As for specific personnel arrangements, it's up to the Monarch to decide." Fan Li tried to avoid the question.

'Old fox!'

Ouyang Shuo exclaimed in his heart. Fan Li was as careful as usual. Even though he had started to comment about territory administrative matters, he did not dare to tread into the sensitive personnel questions.

Although Fan Li did not talk, Wei Ran's appointment was quickly passed. He was removed from his role of Lianzhou Governor and was now the Chaozhou Governor.

Moving Wei Ran away from the core area would definitely make some heave a sigh of relief.

Although Wei Ran was good and had strong abilities, he was greedy. While he was the Lianzhou Prefecture Governor, the sprouts of greed had already started to show. Shen Buhai had reported it many times to Ouyang Shuo.

The people's evaluation of Wei Ran had changed. Even Xiao He did not hold such high opinions of him anymore. To keep such an official in the core area, Ouyang a Shuo could be considered magnanimous.

Moving Wei Ran away could be considered a wake-up call for him.10th month, 8th day, the appointment of the three governors was announced to the public.

Apart from the three governors, the name of the Taxation Director replacing Huo Guang was also released to the public. This person was recommended by Fan Li and was one of the best disciples of the business school of thought.

As the news spread, waves rose up in the territory.

When the Song Family received the news, they naturally danced in happiness and the gloomy clouds from before were swept away.

Of course, Song Tianxiong did not forget to warn his family members to not be arrogant because of this. He reminded them not to use the name of Song Wen to commit crime or else they would be looking for death.

Song Tianxiong could feel from the words of Song Jia that Ouyang Shuo held a secret organization that monitored all officials.

With that, Song Tianxiong could not help but think back to the famous Jinyi Guards.

Thinking about this, Song Tianxiong felt a chill run down his spine.

One could foresee that the moment a Song Family member commited a mistake, the fair Ouyang Shuo would not save them. Song Wen and Song Wu, these two brothers, had become the core pillars of the Song Family.

The Song Family grandfather had even praised and shown his partialness to these two grandchildren on different occasions.

Although Song Tianxiong and the others were delighted because of the fall of the Yuan Family, they felt a chill just by thinking about it. In reality, that small kid had grown into a person that they worshipped and respected.

Even in the Song Family, when the Song Family grandfather talked about Ouyang Shuo, he did not dare to voice his name.

Some people were happy while some were not.

Little loli Huo Chengjun was unhappy as she needed to move with her dad to Shaozhou. With that, she could not go to the Nanjiang Governor-General House and play with sister Bing'er.

More importantly, she could not meet her brother Monarch anymore.

Before leaving, Ouyang Shuo personally sent the Huo Guang Family off. Huo Chengjun was in tears, making one unable to help but dote on her.

When Huo Guang saw this scene, he could only smile awkwardly with an apologetic expression.

Compared to the unhappy Huo Chengjun, Wei Ran was dejected. He could be considered one of the most experience governors in the territory but now the younger generation like Song Wen was riding on his head.

Wei Ran was not a fool, and he knew that the Lianzhou Prefecture would be a Zhili. He truly wanted to be the Zhili viceroy.

Who knew that he would actually lose in the battle with Zang Wenchong?

Dejection was dejection, but he did not dare complain. Wei Ran also noticed that his actions in Lianzhou Prefecture were seen by the Monarch.

Along with his son in law Baiqi not being the only God General in the territory, his speaking rights had been reduced tremendously. Furthermore, with Baiqi's personality, he would not help speak up for his father in law.

With that, Wei Ran could only proceed toward the Chaozhou Prefecture.

Ouyang Shuo did not truly give up on Wei Ran.

Before leaving, Ouyang Shuo told him to run Chaozhou well. As long as he performed well, he would return to the core in the future. He might even go higher.

"Thank you Monarch!" When Wei Ran heard the Lord's words, he was touched.

10th day, 10th month, White Stone City.

The Battle of Lingnan had completely ended, so Ouyang Shuo brought Du Ruhui and the Military Affairs Bureau elders to rush over to chair the new round of military organization.

They chose White Stone City because the 150 thousand Alliance Army troops were housed here and this place held great meaning.

Sun Bin, Huo Qubing, Shi Wanshui, Er'lai, Di Qing, and Fan Lihua; these six generals left their forces and rushed back to White Stone City to report their battle results.

Fan Lihua's legion was the greatest contributor to this battle, capturing 150 thousand Alliance Army troops while losing 20 thousand. The other five legions lost around four to five thousand each and captured 90 thousand in total.

Basically, they had swept up all the war fighting troops in the three prefectures.

Apart from that there were also the various city protection squads, which numbered around 50 thousand. However, compared to the war fighting soldiers, their qualities were lacking, and it would not be good to put them in a legion.

To the city protection forces, there was nothing much to say. Apart from forming three Garrison Divisions, the rest either entered reserve forces or retired.

The crux of this military organization was the 240 thousand war fighting troops. Deducting the losses from the various legions, they could still form three more legions.

Ouyang Shuo had already thought of the plans for these three legions before he came to White Stone City.

First, creating the 2nd Guards Legion.

From the 100 thousand cavalry troops in the Alliance Army, they would choose the most elite 70 thousand to form the 2nd Guards Legion.

The Alliance Army was basically the most elite troops in Lingnan City-State, so they were well trained and their qualities were good. Choosing from them and directly placing the chosen ones into the Guards Legion was fine.

To choose 70 thousand from the 100 thousand cavalry was to choose the best from the best.

This legion would follow the standards of the Tiger Leopard Cavalry in history for organization and training. The Tiger Leopard Cavalry were originally a guard army system, so they were one and the same.

The Guards Legion commander Huo Qubing was the best at cavalry battle. However, due to previous restrictions, the original Guards Legion only had two cavalry divisions, one of which was still the special iron armored beast cavalry division.

This time, building the 2nd Guards Legion was undoubtedly to fill up this void. At the same time, it gave the genius general Huo Qubing more room to show his abilities.

For the role of Legion General of the Tiger Leopard Cavalry, Ouyang Shuo selected Ma Chao, who was still studying. At true same time, Cao Chun, the Tiger Leopard Cavalry commander in history, became the deputy Legion General and the Major General of the 1st division.

Ma Chao and Cao Chun would work together while keeping each other in check.

Apart from the two, Ma Chao's brother Ma Xiu would be appointed as the Major General of the 3rd division. The original Guards Legion 1st division Major General Lin Yi would move to the 2nd legion and become the Major General of the 1st division.

The place that was left would be filled up by Ma Teng. The Xiliang Five Ma were all experts at cavalry. Naturally, Ouyang Shuo would use them to their full potential.

As for the remaining two Major General slots, they were decided directly from the fallen generals. The Alliance Army had many great generals. After all, they were the best ones from their own territories.

Shanhai City never bothered about previous statuses when using people.

Speaking of which, wasn't their current army formed through using prisoners step by step?

From the very beginning, Shanhai City had stopped recruiting soldiers in the territory.

This was also because of the nature of the wilderness; the frequent wars allowed Shanhai City to do that. After every battle, not only would they not have a drop in members, they would capture large amounts of prisoners.

Such a model was something other territories could not copy.

Secondly, creating the 3rd legion of the Leopard Legion Corps.

Out of the three legion corps, only the Leopard Legion Corps had two legions. Hence, to expand the army, Ouyang Shuo naturally would not forget the Leopard Legion Corps.

The Legion General Ouyang Shuo chose was the Alliance Army commander Feng Yi. He definitely had enough ability to lead a legion.

He also made use of the promotion of Feng Yi to calm down the surrendered Alliance Army soldiers.

At the same time, Cao Hong and Ma Tie would become the 1st and 2nd division Major Generals.

The last Ma of the Xilang Five Ma would be sent to the 3rd legion of the Dragon Legion Corps and be the deputy Legion General and the Major General of the 1st division.

For Zhang Liao's legion, Ouyang Shuo naturally needed to send some generals over to balance it out.

Thirdly, creating the 4th legion of the Dragon Legion Corps.

Logically speaking, this was the Tiger Legion main battlefield, so the last legion should have been given to the Tiger Legion Corps.

Ouyang Shuo arranged it this way because of strategic considerations.

As Lingnan Province entered Shanhai City's rule, the east would connect with Minnan Province, and the northeast with Jiangchuan Province, so the overall situation would become much better.

The only threat would come from Xiangnan in the north.

In comparison, Yunnan Province where the Dragon Legion was located became the next main battlefield and just with three legions seemed lacking.

Considering all factors, Ouyang Shuo decided to build the 4th Dragon Legion first.

For the position of Major General, Ouyang Shuo chose the young general Luo Shixin.

Luo Shixin was extremely talented but because he died early, his name in history was not that resounding. Under the teachings of Baiqi, he had become a great cavalry general.

Furthermore, he was also one of the longest serving generals here. He had contributed in many battles, so would be no resistance against him taking charge of the 4th legion.

At the same time, Ouyang Shuo also arranged Xiahou Yuan as the deputy Legion General and the Major General of the 1st division to help Luo Shixin.

With these two there along with Baiqi commanding, there would be no big problems.

At this point, the three legions had been assigned properly.

The Xiliang Five Ma, the Cao brothers, Xiahou Yuan, and other Three Kingdom generals were all given their appointments.

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Chapter 743-Four Marshals

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

This round of military organization involved three War Fighting Legions and a total of 200 odd thousand troops, a huge expenditure for the territory.

Based on calculations, if one considered the pension money as well, it would result in a one-time cost of 1.5 million.

The more terrifying part was the daily military expenses.

When the three legions were fully formed, Shanhai City would have 13 legions and just the salary alone would reach 500 thousand gold.

Along with the five squadrons of the Nanyang Navy, considering the monthly grain usage, equipment, war compensation money, and more, Shanhai City's monthly costs would be over a million.

Around 60% of Shanhai City's financial profits would be passed to the military. Deducting all the other expenses, although each month Shanhai City earned over a million in tax, it had truly limited profits.

Even to say that some of the large projects needed loans from the Four Seas Bank to be completed.

The cost for this military expansion was paid right out of Ouyang Shuo's pocket. If not, the Financial Bureau would have to borrow from the Four Seas Bank again.

With that, Ouyang Shuo's personal wealth had shrunk to 6.5 million. If he deducted the 500 thousand in expenses he promised to the No.7 Research Institute, then he would be left with just six million.

During the 4th year global auction, Ouyang Shuo needed at least 5 million. Hence, the amount of funds he could currently take out was not much.

This was also something only Shanhai City, with the help of a prosperous commerce, shipbuilding, military industry, garment industry, steel industry, and others supporting them could handle.

If it was any other territory, it would have been crushed by such large military expenses.

Hence, it was not hard to understand why Ouyang Shuo was pushing for voyage trading so badly. Without the profits from the voyage squadron, Shanhai City would not be able to maintain such a large scale army.

To truly expand like that, the construction all around the territory would have to be stopped.

For Shanhai City to be able to lead the territory industrialization, build basic facilities, perfect education and medical facilities, it could be considered a huge miracle.

So if a territory just focused on conquering the outside and did not bother about internal affairs, building a solid base, and promoting various industrial developments it would be dragged down by the army.

It would be exhausting all the resources to build up the military.

As the military organization plan was settled, the various legions also started to move.

This was without mentioning the City Protection Legion that left after the battle. They would rush to Zhenhai City and board the warships back to Shanhai City.

During the Battle of Lingnan, Ouyang Shuo did not keep a reserve force in his hand, so it was a really risky choice. If an emergency had happened in the west or the north border, he would not have been able to send help in time.

The City Protection Legion housed outside Shanhai City would be a reserve army that could use the teleportation formation to go anywhere to assist the frontlines.

When they established the country, to protect the capital city, they could not move the City Protection Legion. Unless it was an emergency, they would be permanently housed outside the city.

Similarly, it would not be easy for the Guards Legion to go out often.

If not, and a large capital city lacked a strong army defending it, it would be easy to cause unrest. The people would feel uneasy and hidden powers would rise.

If they were not careful, an empire might fall.

In history, every dynasty was like that. Even when they were nearing death, the emperors would not easily move out the city protection army or guards out of the capital.

The reason was just that.

Apart from the City Protection Legion, the 1st legion of the Guards Corps as well as the 2nd legion of the Dragon Legion Corps would rest up before leaving. They would use the mountain path, going past Zhaoqing Prefecture, Wuzhou Prefecture, Xunzhou Prefecture, and Zhen An Prefecture all the way back to the Yunnan Battlefield.

The entire journey would take close to a month.

A con of long distance deployment of troops was that half the time was wasted on the road.

As a consequence, they needed to set up war zones.

In the future, normal battles would be taken charge of by that warzone and there would rarely be cross warzone movement of troops.

As for the Guards Corps 2nd legion that was still forming and the 4th legion of the Dragon Legion, they would follow the same path back to Yunnan Battlefield.

The time to organize them would be around a month.

Hence, by the time the legions were officially formed up, the Three Kingdom generals who were appointed would have basically finished their learning in the Army Military Academy and could meet up with their forces right on time.

The four legions of the Dragon Legion Corps and the two of the Guards Legion Corps, for a total of 420 thousand troops; this would be all they had to conquer the enemy.

The 3rd legion of the Leopard Legion Corps would move towards the Withered Flower Stronghold.

In the end, the various legions left and the defenses of Lingnan were left to the Tiger Legion Corps. the Lingnan War Zone that was formed was now truly that.

Based on the idea of Tiger Legion Corps Marshal Sun Bin, the war zone command center would be set in Shaozhou. The 1st and 2nd legions would be housed in Shaozhou.

The 3rd legion led by Fan Lihua would be housed in Chaozhou. The uncertain factor that was Xunlong Dianxue made Ouyang Shuo feel that there was a need to house a War Fighting Legion at the Minnan Province border.

As for what Xunlong Dianxue would think when he found out, it was not within Ouyang Shuo's consideration. Regarding the defensive measures that he had to take, Ouyang Shuo would take it and would not let his heart go soft.

The various prefectures in Lingnan Province all had their own Garrison Divisions so no War Fighting Legions were needed.

The main defensive region for the Tiger Legion Corps was the north. As for the Xiangnan City-State neighbor, the Leopard Legion Corps would be in charge of that.

Along with the Dragon Legion shifting away, the Leopard Legion was in charge of the defenses of the entire Chuannan Province. In truth, they only needed to defend the north. The east of Chuannan Province was Lingnan Province, west was Yunnan Province, so there was no need to worry.

The south side's Zhili Prefecture had the City Protection Legion and Guards Legion Corps defending so there was no need to worry about that either.

At the same time, the Chuannan War Zone was set up as expected.

To the Leopard Legion Corps, the most important mission now was to take back Guilin Prefecture. At that time, the legion did not need to be cooped up in the Withered Flower Stronghold and could move into Guilin.

Guilin Prefecture's vast border was connected to both Chuanbei and Xiangnan Prefecture. Hence, even if they only needed to defend one side, it was not going to be easy for the Leopard Legion.

As for how to take down Guilin Prefecture, the Military Affairs Bureau had already done due diligence. Based on the time, Han Xin had probably started work.

Along with the Battle of Lingnan ending, the Dragon Legion Corp led by Baiqi would move their command center to Consonance City.

At the same time, the Yunnan War Zone would be set up. The command center and the Dragon Legion Corp headquarters would be one in the same.

Baiqi was appointed as the Yunnan Warzone Commander, short form was Yunnan Commander. Similarly, Sun Bin was called the Lingnan Commander, and Han Xin the Chuannan Commander. Each of them was in charge of one warzone, leading one legion corp and in charge of all the Garrison Divisions in their war zones.

At the same time, Huo Qubing was appointed as the marshal of the Guards Legion Corps.

Using this time, Ouyang Shuo fixed the term of the commander of the legion corps as Marshal, and they would be the highest position in the army.

The four marshals were only second to Ouyang Shuo, the true four giants.

At a more appropriate time in the future, Ouyang Shuo planned to build a comparable Military Affairs Bureau, a better military matters organization, something similar to the Central Military Commission and the Office of Military Affairs.

This organization would cross the line between army and navy, cross the war zones, and become the highest-level military organization in Shanhai City; they would be in charge of deciding the highest level decisions.

Without a doubt, the marshals would be a fixed member in this organization.After the military meeting ended, Ouyang Shuo truly started to get busy.

As a Lord, he was the highest presence in Shanhai City, so there were some matters that Ouyang Shuo had to do. For example, he needed to meet the fallen generals and accept their loyalty.

The fallen generals did not refer to just Feng Yi, who was just appointed as legion general, there were also five others who were chosen as Major Generals.

Apart from that, Ouyang Shuo visited all the generals that Huo Qubing and the others recommended to evaluate and question them.

Ouyang Shuo at least had to meet them to let them recognize this Monarch and have an impression of him.

Apart from that, he had to review all the surrendered troops, go to every prisoner camp to send his regards and solve their problems, raise their morale, and more.

If not, how could he complete the military organization and make them fully loyal to him?

Objectively speaking, the various generals did not think about making the troops under them into their own personal army, but if Ouyang Shuo did not remind them of his presence, problems would slowly arise.

After three years of commanding troops, Ouyang Shuo firmly believed in that idea.

Apart from the control of the army, Ouyang Shuo needed to go through the three prefectures, going to each territory and at the very least every main city.

Only then could he calm down the hearts of the people and the local powers.

Although the wilderness was not as complicated as real life, Ouyang Shuo needed to be right at the front if Shanhai City wanted get the three prefectures under their rule in a short time.

The appearance of the Monarch had huge meaning and significance.

Ouyang Shuo's presence was not something any governor or official could replace.

All things considered, Ouyang Shuo would at least spend a month in Lingnan Province. This month would be his busiest month, he needed to meet people, attend feasts, and more.

At the same time, it gave the territory some breathing room.

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Chapter 744 - Qin Feng's Reaction

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

Yunnan Province, alliance army command center.

The lightning quick fall of the Lingnan City-State filled Qin Feng and the others with regret.

Especially after they found out that the two legion corps Shanhai City pulled out of the Yunnan battlefield were already on their way back.

"If we knew that was going to happen, we would go all out to assist them."

Many dark clouds gathered above the skies of Yunnan.

Qin Feng and the others hoped that Lingnan City-State could cause heavy casualties to Shanhai City and eat up two to three legions at the very least.

With that, Shanhai City would not have the strength to attack Yunnan City-State. That would also help buy them some precious time to expand the army once more.

One had to say that their calculations were quite good.

"Who knew that the Lingnan City-State was actually so weak?" Some Lords mocked when they saw that their plans had failed, "So, so weak!"

In the end, not only did Lingnan City-State not cause any problems for Shanhai City, it also gave them a wave of people, increasing their army by three legions.

The situation was simply too awkward.

"In my opinion, Caiyun Zinan and the others are just too scared. They moved their army to the border. Before war even broke out, they shriveled up, such spineless garbage!" Some Lords started to ridicule their allies.

To say that was actually unreasonable.

At the very least, Caiyun Zinan had sent troops to assist. Meanwhile, they were the ones that were just watching on from a side. Now that things happened, they point at their allies and scolded them.

It really felt like a thief shouting out to ask for help to catch another thief.

The Lords spoke such words just to use the chance to vent out the uneasiness in their hearts.

The impact of the fall of Lingnan City-State was simply too huge and had caught them off guard. It was like they had lost all sense of direction, and all of them felt terrified.

They were afraid that the moment they woke up, they would be the next batch of prisoners.

"What should we do?"

A huge problem had appeared in front of the various Lords.

Fan Lihua used one legion to block 250 thousand alliance army troops and even killed 100 thousand of them.

The results of that bloody war let the Lords of Yunnan City-State realize the vast gap between their armies.

"We are totally not on the same line!" Some Lords sighed.

"Gap, huge gap!"

The weakness of the alliance army was not only based on the combat strength of individual soldiers but also the commanding ability of the Lords.

During the Battle of White Stone City, Fan Lihua's commanding had a crucial effect and really showed why she was an Emperor Rank general.

Thinking back to it, the Lords trembled.

This was because they were going to have to face a God Rank general, the Asura Baiqi.

Even amongst God Generals, Baiqi stood at the pinnacle. In the wilderness, Baiqi had continued his legend of being invincible, and he was the war god of Shanhai City.

The Dragon Legion Corps under his charge was the strongest legion corps in Shanhai City, even stronger than the Tiger Legion Corps.

Thinking about that, the future of Yunnan City-State seemed even bleaker.

The situation was obvious. Based on just themselves, they would not be able to block this wave of attack.

To expand the army now would not do much.

The newly recruited newbies had not undergone any training, and they had never been to war or seen blood. Not only would they not aid in anything, they would drag down the overall standard of the military.

To make matters worse, if the battle entered a crucial moment, and they could not take it anymore and started escaping, the situation would be awkward.

At that time, they would drag the entire army down with them.

This was also why Shanhai City loved to make use of war prisoners. No matter how weak the prisoners were, at the very least they had seen blood and were not true newbies. Just that alone made them several times better than newbies.

The cons of a City-State were displayed through this point.

To face off against the giants in the wilderness, gathering up the power of the province to build the City-State, it was obviously done to prevent internal conflicts and to consolidate their strength against the outside. At the same time, it also meant that there were no wars between the territories.

Without war, the soldiers would not receive true training and would not grow.

During the Battle of White Stone City, the alliance army's defeat definitely had something to do with that. Feng Yi's commanding did not have many problems, but the alliance armies were not trained killers and were not resilient enough.

Only then was Fan Lihua's legion able to last for an entire day.

If the one attacking was the Dragon Legion Corps, the ending would have been changed really quickly.

Such a theory could be applied to the Yunnan City-State, and it was even crueler. As Yunnan Province was filled with mountain paths and had many mountains between the territories, their combat experience was close to zero.

On the contrary, every soldier in the Shanhai City Army had bathed in the fires of war. Especially Dragon Legion Corps - the oldest and most experienced force in Shanhai City.

There was basically no way to compare the two.

"Our future is bleak, we have no way forward!" The Lords felt despair and could not help but sigh.

"Who can help the City-State?"

Qin Feng gave out the answer, "Now, the only one in China that can help us is Yanhuang Alliance. No one else has the courage to face off against Shanhai City."

The retreat of Caiyun Zinan let Qin Feng automatically exclude asking Xiangnan City-State for help.

As for Chuanbei City-State, it was all the more impossible.

It seemed like only Yanhuang Alliance had enough motivation to butt in.

"Di Chen and the others did not join the Battle of Lingnan, so would they help us?" Some Lords doubted Qin Feng's analysis.

That was not surprising.

Yanhuang Alliance not appearing in the Lingnan Battlefield really surprised everyone. News had spread that Yanhuang Alliance wanted to snipe Shanhai City in Lingnan but the news turned out to be wrong in the end.

Qin Feng seemed to have understood a lot more as he laughed awkwardly, "It was not that they did not want to interfere but the battle started even before they got ready."

"So if that's the case, would Di Chen and the others be willing to assist us?"

When the other Lords heard this question, hope flashed in their eyes. They were like shipwreck survivors, grabbing onto any plank to survive.

"That's right; there is no free lunch in the world." The Lords were not fools.

"Think about it, if we fall, Shanhai City would have three provinces of land, three times that of Di Chen and the others. At that time, would they even be able to shake Shanhai City?"

"You're saying that the Battle of Yunnan is the last chance for the Yanhuang Alliance to take him down?" The faces of some of the Lords lit up.

"That's the theory. On this matter, we both have something to gain." Qin Feng nodded, "The Shanhai City Army is still a distance away from Yunnan. The time lapse is our last chance. We have to come to an agreement with Yanhuang Alliance within the shortest amount of time possible and make our preparations."

Qin Feng's words made sense.

The fall of Lingnan City-State had something to do with the strength difference but another factor played a key part.

That was the attack being a sneak attack.

Shanhai City used the Yunnan City-State as a smoke bomb and diverted attention to catch Lingnan City-State off guard, tricking everyone.

Before the battle, Lingnan City-State did not make any preparations for such a battle.

Not only Lingnan City-State, even the other allies and people like Xiong Ba and Di Chen did not expect Shanhai City's move.

When war truly broke out, they tried to make preparations, but it was already too late.

Hence, Xiong Ba and the others felt regret.

In comparison, Shanhai City had considered all areas, and their plans had already been designed half a year ago.

With that, how could they not win?

The various machinery and weapons the Fan Lihua Legion brought was proof. Without strategic planning, how could Fan Lihua build such an unusual camp stronghold?

The following Battle of Yunnan would be different.

Shanhai City would not be so dumb to use the same tactic. After all, it would not work again.

Not to mention that be it Yunnan City-State, even Xiangnan City-State and Chuanbei City-State would be wary and not give them a chance.

News spread that Caiyun Zinan had already suggested in the City-State committee meeting to expand the army to 250 thousand and place them at the south of the province.

Chuanbei City-State would probably do something similar.

The ferocious expansion of Shanhai City had given his neighbors no choice.

According to a small piece of news, the Battle of Lingnan had even startled the person in Chengdu. Feng Qingyang from Swordsman City had been appearing in Chengdu, apparently with intentions.

Some people guessed that these two giants in the Shu land were probably going to work together.

In contrast to Qin Shihuang and Hanwu Emperor, Liu Bei was more ambitious.

Liu Bei had huge animosity with Shanhai City. Hence, he was unwilling to stay in the palace and did not want his influence to expand to just the Chengdu Prefecture.

Some people guessed that Liu Bei wanted to take over the entire Shu land.

What a coincidence that the biggest Lord in Shu, Qing Fengyang, did not have any interest in fighting and only wanted to be an alliance leader. With that, the two of them did not have any reason for conflict.

The two of them working together would be enhancing their strengths, a great choice.

However, this matter was truly complicated and outsiders could not understand. Despite this, one thing was for certain. In the future period of time, there would be a huge change in Shu.

Regardless of how it would change, it would be a bad thing to Shanhai City.

It was because those two were enemies of Shanhai City.

Hence, the following Battle of Yunnan was going to be a battle of the century.

"If Yanhuang Alliance sends troops, what terms would they have?"

The Lords of the City-State definitely did not believe that Di Chen would not want some benefits in return as that was how aristocratic families operated.

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Chapter 745-Sezairan

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

The terms the Yanhuang Alliance raised were not simple, there were three core terms.

Firstly, the Yunnan City-State would pay all the military expenses.

The military expenses included but were not limited to teleportation fees, grain supply consumption, equipment losses, and war reparations.

Apart from that, after the war ended, Yanhuang Alliance had priority in choosing soldiers from the prisoners to add to their armies to avoid losses in their numbers.

Di Chen and the others had truly considered everything and wanted to take a bite at Shanhai City without suffering any loses.

Of course, this was the simplest term out of the three.

Secondly, the Yunnan City-State needed to pay a mercenary fee.

Based on Chun Shenjun's words, "Nowadays, even mercenary guilds earn money, much less proper armies like ours."

This time, Di Chen and the rest surprisingly agreed with Chun Shenjun.

As for the specifics, the Yunnan City-State needed to pay 300 thousand. After the war, they would need to pay a sizeable sum each year, no less than 200 thousand.

No matter what, this price was not too expensive, and it was also paid in parts.

Yanhuang Alliance's actions were also aimed at calming the Yunnan City-State. They wanted to tell them that this was not a one-off deal and that they were willing to provide them with long term protection.

Thirdly, Yunnan City-state recognizes Yanhuang Alliance as their suzerain.

Simply put, Yanhuang Alliance wanted to have some say in their politics.

Suzerainty was a western colony country concept, referring to how the suzerain had power in the internal affairs and diplomacy of the servant state. The suzerain had powers but the servant state had independence in rule for the most part.

Strictly speaking, be it Yanhuang Alliance or Yunnan City-State, both were scattered alliances and did not have the ability to be a true representative.

To talk about suzerainty seemed a little odd.

But the goal of Di Chen and the others was truly obvious; they wanted tie the Yunnan City-State under them to control their rival, Shanhai City.

This point was what the Lords of the Yunnan City-State found the hardest to accept.

No matter how one looked at it, suzerainty made them a colony, making it a master-servant relationship. Both sides would be on different levels, and it was like an insult to the servant 'state'.

Qin Feng was not pleased with it but remained rational, "But we have no choice. To be their vassal state is much better than being uprooted by Shanhai City, right?"

When the Lords heard his words, they all kept silent. Their eyes were filled with loneliness and sadness.

In the wilderness, the weak submitting to the strong was normal. Just like what Qin Feng had said, they had no choice; it was either submit or they die.

"Talk to them, try to get some better terms."

In the end, the Lords gave Qin Feng the power to represent Yunnan City-State to discuss with Yanhuang Alliance for more specific terms. The three terms were just the general structure, and there were still many specifics that needed discussion.

"Do not worry; the interests of the City-State are the most important. If I harm the interests of the City-State, you can keep me out of it."

From the day the City-State was established to now, each one of them had a sense of belonging and relationship with one another.

No matter what, they were allies in the same boat and were different from people like Di Chen.

Xiangnan Province, Caiyun City.

The defeat in Lingnan made Caiyun Zinan feel extremely depressed. As the battle came to an end, Shanhai City was like a huge mountain pressing down on him, making it difficult for him to breathe.

During the City-State committee meeting that had just ended, the expansion of Alliance Army policy that Caiyun Zinan proposed was unanimously accepted.

Even so, he did not feel relaxed in the slightest. Expanding the scale to 250 thousand would still not be enough to defend against one Tiger Legion Corps.

"Zifang, what should we do next?" After returning, Caiyun Zinan asked Zhang Liang, his eyes filled with hope. At such a time, only Zhang Liang could give him hope.

The tactical level that Zhang Liang showed was truly shocking. During these few days, Zhang Liang had been studying relevant info to try to find a way to break the situation.

Now, Zhang Liang already had a rough idea.

"Lord, the only plan now is to ally with the outside while increasing internal affairs infrastructure." Zhang Liang did not hide anything and voiced his thoughts.

Furthermore, in terms of construction speed, Caiyun City was definitely not a match for Shanhai City. One must know that Shanhai City was the construction textbook and model of the entire world.

Hence, the gap between the two would only widen.

The internal affairs that Zhang Liang referred to were learning from the lessons of Lingnan City-State and avoid the cons of a City-State. The most core point was to get rid of the group discussion and decision making mechanism.

"Lord, you need to obtain more speaking rights in the City-State. At the crucial moment, you need to be able to make decisions yourself." Zhang Liang said.

"How?" Caiyun Zinan's eyes glimmered.

Making decisions himself, wasn't that his goal from the start?

Zhang Liang said, "I suggest we take a look at the merging model between Shanhai City and Consonance City. First, we act in the neighbouring territories and slowly consolidate the resources within the City-State."

"This, won't this break the unity of the City-State and make them revolt?" Although Caiyun Zinan wanted to make it big, he still had to consider the reaction of his allies.

Zhang Liang shook his head, "Lord, desperate times call for desperate measures. The Xiangnan City-State is already on the verge of dying, at such a time, a crisis is also an opportunity. As long as we can survive, some territories would not put up a resistance."

"Furthermore, merger is also a win-win. Even a giant like Consonance City could accept it, much less these small territories?"

When Caiyun Zinan heard that, his heart calmed down; he gritted his teeth and steadied himself, "Good, I'll follow what mister said. As for the specific merger plan, I'll have to busy mister."

"No worries." Zhang Liang nodded.

From his viewpoint, be it for Caiyun City or the entire Xiangnan City-State, a merger was a win-win situation. Caiyun City could use this chance to expand, and this would in turn raise overall strength of the City-State.

The only thing they needed to be careful about was to not annoy their allies. Merger was not swallowing up, so they could not make the allies angry and cause any internal problems.

At the same time, they also needed to know when to stop.

One could foresee that the moment Caiyun City started doing taking such ation, the other big Lords in the City-State would follow.

The end result would be that the 50 to 60 Lords in the City-State would end up being ruled by a few powerful people.

However, this was an improvement to their situation.

The entire process concerned too many interests and was really complicated. It could cause a crisis at any moment and tested the ability of the Lord to control the situation.

If this succeeded, Xiangnan City-State would be totally reborn, its strength taking a huge step forward. They would have the chips and foundation to go up against Shanhai City.

However, if they failed, the City-State would completely collapse and fall to an irrecoverable state.

Zhang Liang believed that he could control the situation. After all, he was a confident person.To go up against Shanhai City, purely focusing on internal affairs would not cut it; they also needed to proactively participate in diplomatic activities.

Yunnan Alliance cooperated with the entire Yanhuang Alliance while Zhang Liang targeted Pill Sun City in the north as well as the Shu lands northwest.

The Shu lands that had animosity with Shanhai City were a really good target. However, the Shu lands were mountainous and hard to travel in and out of, so the amount support they could provide was really limited.

As for Pill Sun City, it was because of strategic considerations.

Like how Xiongba did not wish for Shanhai City to pierce past Minnan Province and was hence trying to make Xunlong Dianxue betray the Shanhai Alliance, Chun Shenjuan did not want Shanhai City to take down Xiangnan City-State.

One must not look at how Yanhuang Alliance was shouting so ferociously. In truth, none of them wanted a head-on confrontation with Shanhai City.

They especially did not want to have their territory connected to Shanhai City.

If that really happened, Chun Shenjuan and Xiong Ba would not be able to sleep at night.

No matter whether they were willing to admit it or not, Shanhai City was the overlord of the China region, its position was unshakeable, a mighty lion.

No one wanted to be neighbors with a lion.

Hence, Pill Sun City had enough reason to support Xiangnan Province to go up against Shanhai City together.

"I heard the Pill Sun City Lord is really rich and also has the Huitong Bank. Lord, why not contact him and see if we can get a sizeable loan." Zhang Liang smiled as he said.

As expected from the Strategy Saint. Not long after appearing in the wilderness, he had understood many things about modern society.

When Caiyun Zinan heard that, his eyes lit up, smiling, "Zifang is a genius, why didn't I think about this point. The territory is still worrying about funds, now that's settled."

It seemed like Caiyun Zinan was going to seek a push from Pill Sun City.

Caiyun Zinan was not really a fool and knew all the weaknesses of the Lords in Yanhuang Alliance. Chun Shenjun was a pure merchant who had money but not a strong army.

With just that weakness, Caiyun Zinan was confident in biting off a huge chunk of meat from Pill Sun City.

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Chapter 746-Lu Bu's Arrival

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

Lingnan Province, Chaozhou Prefecture.

Hidden powers moved outside of the territory while Ouyang Shuo remained still, continuing his journey as planned.

In his review of the cities, he also had to deal with the memorials from the Nanjiang Governor-General House.

Currently, Ouyang Shuo was spending the day at Xingning County.

In a certain courtyard within Xingning County that was tightly sealed by three thousand Divine Martial Guards, not even a fly could enter. Within it, the Personal Guards took charge and every corner was under supervision.

After the Battle of Red Cliff ended, Xu Chu became the Personal Guards Captain. Ouyang Shuo took the chance to expand the Personal Guards to 200 people, splitting into two shifts to protect him around the clock.

Each Personal Guard was highly skilled and could fight one against 10.

While traveling outside, Ouyang Shuo naturally would not be arrogant and took all safety and protective measures. Apart from the Divine Martial Guards and Personal Guards, the Shadow Guards were also following him in the darkness.

Before Ouyang Shuo had arrived in Chaozhou, he had already sent the 3rd legion of the Tiger Legion Corps to comb the entire prefecture to remove any enemies that had escaped.

Each layer of protection work combined together, ensuring that no stones were left unturned.

Within the reading room, Ouyang Shuo was burning the midnight oil and reading the memorials. During the day, many people had wanted to meet him. He went to two feasts in the noon and at night, but that did not burn away at his mental strength.

He was still filled with energy and would read batch after batch of memorials every night.

The current memorial he had picked up came from the Agriculture Division.

After the voyage journey ended, Ouyang Shuo had smoothly exchanged for the sewing machine crafting technology from William. The No.7 Research Institute had begun to work on it and there would be results by the end of the year.

The prosperity of the garment industry was something to look forward to.

Hence, while Ouyang Shuo placed focus on the sewing machine and garment-related technologies, he also ordered the Agriculture Division to make a specific silkworm breeding plan.

Ouyang Shuo's goal was to push out silkworm breeding, especially coloured silkworm breeding, to the entire territory. He wanted to allow the scale to break a million hectares and to let the units of silk produced reach the tens of millions.

Only then could they sustain the garment industry.

Ouyang Shuo was really clear that under the circumstance that they were using sewing machines on a large scale, the demands for silk and raw materials would be terrifying. He did not wish for raw materials to not keep up with the available sewing machines, which would then affect production.

Each industry needed to form its own industrial chain, only then would it have a future.

The memorial submitted by Agricultural Secretary Sun Yannong expressed that there had been breakthrough developments. After intense discussions, the Agricultural Division had agreed on a plan that all sides could agree to.

The Textile Association would invest 100 thousand gold, Financial Bureau 300 thousand gold, borrowing another 200 thousand from the Four Seas Bank, a total of 600 thousand gold to form a silkworm breeding fund to support the farmers in the various prefectures to breed silkworms.

At the same time, the various prefectures would also reserve a certain amount from their own finances to support silkworm breeding. With that, the most core funds problem had been solved.

Toward this, Ouyang Shuo did not interfere nor did he need to take funds out of his own pocket.

To the entire territory, the six million in his pocket really could not be considered much. If everything required this Monarch to pay from his own pocket, what were the ministers and officials doing?

Territories had their own running rules.

Setting up the joint fund was a groundbreaking solution. The tertiary finances, associations, local houses and main organizations all worked together.

In olden times, this was pretty much perfect.

After Ouyang Shuo read through it, he noted at the bottom of the memorial, "Follow this plan. The setting up of the fund can be pushed out to other industries and regions."

Closing the memorial, Ouyang Shuo took up the next book.

The memorial came from Du Ruhui, it only reported one piece of news. The Three Kingdoms General that Ouyang Shuo had been waiting for - Lu Bu - had finally arrived at Shanhai City to reunite with Diao Chan.

Along with him were two more people, the strategist Chen Gong and General Gao Shun.

Chen Gong was a strategist under Lu Bu during the ending years of East Han. He had a really direct personality and was extremely intelligent, coming up with many plans and strategies. When he was young, he had dealt with many famous ministers in the country.

192 A.D., the provincial governor of Yanzhou died in crusade against Huangjin. Chen Gong and the others supported Cao Cao in taking over Yanzhou and were hence trusted by him.

But after this, as Cao Cao killed famous Han scholars, Chen Gong lobbied Zhang Miao to betray Cao Cao, leading Lu Bu into Yanzhou. He helped Lu Bu beat Cao Cao, obtaining Yanzhou and Xuzhou.

In Xiapi City, Lu Bu did not listen to Chen Gong and failed in the end. After Lu Bu lost in battle, they were all captured and killed.

Even during the Three Kingdoms Period where strategists were as common as clouds, Chen Gong could be considered a top class strategist.

However, as he was too direct and unable to take the brutality of Cao Cao, he directly went up against Cao Cao. In the end, he chose an unwise master like Lu Bu, causing him to die.

In history, being executed along with Lu Bu was his general, Gao Shun. General Zhang Liao under Lu Bu's charge had chosen to follow Cao Cao.

Gao Shun's ability was no less than Zhang Liao.

If one read into the Three Kingdoms, Gao Shun was a general that was buried in history.

Gao Shun was pretty much a perfect soldier. Not only could he fight, he was also great at training troops. The army he brought out had the name of 'Formation Crushing Unit', a true elite unit in the Three Kingdoms history.

Apart from that, Gao Shun was also exceedingly all rounded; he had the brains and could give suggestions to Lu Bu at the Xue Xiao moment. He was also really smart and flexible when dealing with sudden matters.

In terms of virtues, in the Han end heroes memorial, it recorded him as someone who did not drink and did not gamble.

Gao Shun was also extremely loyal. He did not claim credit, he was not arrogant, and even if Lu Bu did not give him good roles, he would not grumble.

In the face of life and death, he chose brotherhood and did not care about whether his choice was worth it or not. From a moral standpoint, he was undoubtedly a model soldier.

Shanhai City did not lack generals, and they only lacked generals that knew how to train troops like Gao Shun. Without mentioning how to deal with Lu Bu, Gao Shun would be able to get a high position to train troops.

Lu Bu, Chen Gong, and Gao Shun coming over was undoubtedly good news. Ouyang Shuo noted in the memorial to ask Du Ruhui to care for the three of them. Ouyang Shuo would arrange their appointments after he returned to Shanhai City.

Putting down the memorial, Ouyang Shuo raised his head and looked outside the window.

The moon hung high in the sky, the moon was bright and stars were rare. It was a special day with good weather.

Looking at the night sky, Ouyang Shuo could feel that there was a huge dragon breathing amongst the clouds above.

During the Battle of Lingnan, Shanhai City territory expanding by three prefectures had undoubtedly benefitted the fate dragon the most. As a result, its body grew much larger.

Now, the fate dragon was using the strength of the moonlight to temper its body.

Ouyang Shuo could feel the purple inside the body of the fate dragon becoming brighter, which was a good sign for the prosperity of the territory.

Looking back down, Ouyang Shuo continued to look at memorials.

The territory matters were really complicated. Even with many officials helping him out, he could not wash his hands off them completely. In the wilderness, the chaotic times made ruling by not doing anything a stupid idea.

Of course, this was also training for Ouyang Shuo.

From village to town, from county to prefecture, and now to the verge of establishing a country, Ouyang Shuo's personal ability had soared.

In reality, Ouyang Shuo could be considered a young genius.

The last memorial was from Cui Yingyu and had something to do with the industries. As the various industries in the territory prospered, they also faced many problems and bottlenecks.

First, the money sucking shipbuilding industry.

During the Gaia 3rd year, the brightest light would have to be the shipbuilding industry.

The shipbuilding industry had set the basis for Shanhai City's sea travel and allowed the Nanyang Navy to expand to such a crazy scale.

One could say that without the rise of shipbuilding, there would not be the five squadrons. Naturally, they would not be able to create the legend of them sailing through the oceans and showing off to the world.

Everything was supported by numerous shipbuilders behind the scenes.

The shipbuilding industry not only brought a lot of honor but crazy profits as well. Based on reports from the Financial Bureau, in just the first six months of the 3rd year, the territory had earned four million from selling merchant ships.

Apart from that, there were also the crazy profits from warships.

Shipbuilding had already become a key pillar of territory finances and helped support half of the territory. Even the military industry could not be compared to it.

One had to say that the profits truly could make one crazy.

Beneath all these matters, there were worries too.

As they opened the voyaging path, the request for merchant ships only grew, and the orders for the big shipyards were filled till the next year.

An increase in orders was supposed to be a happy matter.

The situation reported by Cui Yingyu made Ouyang Shuo frown instead. The game only added a construction completion bar, but the resources it needed were real and could not be skimped on.

Each boat was built with large amounts of wood.

However, the requirements for wood meant that only the high quality wood could be used. Moreover, different units needed different types of wood.

A complete ship often used up fir, pine, cedar, teak, eucalyptus, nanmu, and many different types of wood.

With this, there had been large-scale deforestation. The 100 thousand mountains between Lingnan Province and Lianzhou Basin had become a barren land.

Now, the territory had started to have a wood shortage crisis.

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Chapter 747-Disrupting Alliances Through Diplomatic Means

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

On the topic of wood, Southeast Asian countries Annan, Siam, Johor, and Java were all big producers of wood. Amongst which, both Siam and Johor traded with Shanhai City.

Shanhai City also constructed a large-sized shipyard in Lion City and had the convenience of geography.

Cui Yingyu mentioned on the memorial that the Business Division had already arranged some trading negotiation groups to contact the two countries to try to strike up a trade partnership.

Of course, this was not a long term solution.

Not mentioning the high transport costs, neither the Lords in Siam or Johor could give Shanhai City much price discounts as the purchase costs were not low either.

Both sides were just simple trade partners and were not even friends, much less allies.

With money to earn, the Lords on both sides would not act soft-hearted.

In history, the Southeast Asian countries were all colonies of the west and became bases for raw materials. The western suzairans used the price difference between industrial products and raw materials to rip off the labour of the local civilians, hence obtaining large amounts of materials.

The current Shanhai City did not have enough power to do that.

ASEAN in the game was like a powder keg; it could explode at any time. The moment a large war started, trade could be affected and the territory shipbuilding industry could suffer as a result.

Hence, the most stable method would be to take down one of them through a country war. The target that Shanhai City chose was naturally Annan, which they have had some conflicts with.

Between the two of them, war was unavoidable.

However, before the Battle of Yunnan ended, Shanhai City did not have the energy to start a country war. The ASEAN countries were all linked to one another; they might act together, so one must make ample planning.

When Shanhai City started a country war against Annan, they needed to be ready to face the entire ASEAN.

Attacking Annan would be a difficult systematic war mission, and it was something that was totally impossible to complete in the 3rd year of Gaia. At most, they could act in the 4th year at the earliest.

Not talking about the matters that were far away, the Battle of Yunnan right in front of them was not simple.

Be it the cooperation between Yunnan City-State and Yanhuang Alliance, or the Xiangnan City-State expanding their army, all of this information was passed back to Ouyang Shuo through informants.

Ouyang Shuo was not surprised at all by the interference of the Yanhuang Alliance.

Ouyang Shuo wanted to use this chance to teach Yanhuang Alliance a lesson and let them suffer losses when they were trying to take advantage of others.

No matter what, the Battle of Yunnan was going to be much more complicated than the Battle of Lingnan.Cui Yingyu also mentioned another key pillar of the territory in her memorial – steelmaking.

Similar to the shipbuilding industry, the steelmaking industry was restricted by raw materials, more accurately energy. The need for coal had not been solved till date.

Fallen Phoenix City was located inland, so itransportation posed a serious issue.

In recent times, Ouyang Shuo started to turn his eyes to Jingdu and Ludong Province, these two top-level coal regions.

Compared to Taiyuan Province, although these two did not produce as much coal, they had a natural advantage; they were close to the sea and had naturally ports.

The China region coastline was extremely long. From north to south, the region had over 10 large natural harbors, including northern Jingdu Province Binhai Bay, Haijin Bay in the south, Jiaodong Bay in Ludong, Haizhou Bay in Donghai Province, Zhoushan Bay in Jiangnan Province, Quanzhou Bay in Minnan Province, Jiaozhou Bay in Lingnan Province, and more.

In comparison, Shanhai City's Beihai Bay was not much.

The Binhai Bay in Jingdu was coincidentally located within Stone City territory.

Shanhai City's Business Division had already discussed with Stone City to use the sea routes to build a stable coal transport channel. The prerequisite would be that Stone City increased their digging of coal.

Coal digging and mining not only needed large amounts of labor but also gold investment.

For this, the Four Seas Bank provided a massive amount of 500 thousand gold to help Stone City increase their production of coal. The guarantor of the loan was Shanhai City's Financial Bureau.

Before even receiving any coal, the Financial Bureau paid a 100 thousand gold deposit.

Cui Yingyu, who was managing territory industries, had already given the word. No matter how much coal they dig out, Shanhai City would purchase it all.

Hence, this made it a win-win situation for both sides. Shanhai City obtained the coal that they needed while Stone City obtained the funds that they needed to develop.

There was a phrase, 'Do not put all your eggs in one basket.'

Apart from Stone City, Shanhai City also looked at Ludong Province. Compared to Stone City, not only was Ludong Province bigger, it was also closer to Shanhai City.

Currently, the entire Ludong Province was occupied by the West Chu regime.

Speaking of which, the relationship between Xiang Yu and Ouyang Shuo was rather complicated. During the Battle of Julu, it was him who pushed Xiang Yu to the depths. Hence, they could be called enemies.

But an overlord was still an overlord.

Before Xiang Yu left, he had promised Ouyang Shuo that he owed the latter a favor.

Ouyang Shuo suddenly realized that it was time for him to make use of that favor.

Thinking about that, Ouyang Shuo immediately wrote a letter to Zhang Yi to ask him to arrange an envoy to travel in secret to West Chu. It was both to form relationships and to activate the coal trade deal.

Obviously, his goal was not limited to coal, which was why he took it this seriously. He also wished to use this chance to remove the barrier between the two and form closer relationships.

For example, forming an alliance.

Yanhuang Alliance doing such despicable actions every day truly annoyed Ouyang Shuo. It was time to give them some problems so that they could join in the Nanjiang Battle when they wished.

Ouyang Shuo had heard that the West Chu Army was huge, sweeping across the Ludong Province, merging with the Zhangchu Regime and becoming one of the giants.

However, West Chu had their weaknesses.

The greatest weakness of the West Chu Regime was that the civilians were all scattered, and their economy was weak. Xiang Yu wanted to expand once more but was restricted by finances, so he had no choice but to stop.

With that, naturally Ouyang Shuo would not mind helping him.

Ouyang Shuo believed that Xiang Yu would be interested in Shanhai City's kind intentions.

West Chu maintained their strength in the mid regions. If they went north, they could threaten Di Chen's Jingdu Region, and if they went south, they could subdue Zhan Lang's Donghai Province.

With such a regime existing, Di Chen and Zhan Lang would both face immense problems.

Apart from the West Chu Regime, Ouyang Shuo also instructed the Honglu Temple to work with the Shanhai Guards to come into contact with the aristocrat territories in Wannan Province.

Maintaining a chaotic Wannan Province was best for Shanhai City's interests. The same theory could be used in the complicated Zhongyuan Province.

Without a doubt, as the Honglu Temple rose up, Shanhai City would use more diplomatic means to fulfil its interests; they wold form allies to subdue enemies.

Sun Tzu once said, 'The best form of using troops is to counter your enemy's plan, followed by breaking up his alliance using diplomacy, then by sending troops in a head on battle, the worst would be to siege.'

One could predict that Shanhai City's diplomatic route would play a greater and greater important role in the future.By the time Ouyang Shuo finished writing the secret letter to Zhang Yi, the sky was already dark, and there was total silence all around.

On the table were many stacked memorials; they were all annotated and read through, and each and every one were approved at the end by Ouyang Shuo. The next morning, these memorials would be transported back to the relays through the Nanjiang Governor-General House.

Ouyang Shuo placed down his pen, stretching his hands backward. He rotated his neck and took a long stretch. Instantly, his body gave out the sound of bones cracking; one could see that he had sat for too long.

Although it was tiring, Ouyang Shuo felt that it was truly meaningful. Seeing the territory prosper under his leadership, such a sense of achievement was unparalleled.

After leaving the reading room, Ouyang Shuo returned to his sleeping quarters and started his habitual cultivation.

Along with the Yellow Emperor Internal Cultivation Technique breaking through to the 11th layer, Ouyang Shuo's golden primordial energy was like that of a river, gushing about and splashing around.

The position of his dantian already became a golden eye fountain, and primordial energy flowed down the eye of the fountain, forming a truly majestic sight.

After the fortuitous encounter on the dragon island, his meridians had grown much stronger. With the constant brushing of the golden primordial energy, it even had a golden luster.

Even his bones started to emit a golden color.

Based on what the Yellow Emperor Internal Cultivation Technique recorded, once all the meridians turn gold, it was a sign of completing the 11th layer. If one's bones turned gold, the person in question would have finished the 12th layer.

Helplessly, although it had been five months since he broke through to the 11th layer, his progress was still extremely slow even with daily effort.

Based on his current speed, to break through to the 12th layer would take a really long time.

Even so, Ouyang Shuo was not anxious and just trained as usual. He believed that the daily accumulation would pay off in the end.

Cultivation was the training of the heart.

One must be able to bear the loneliness and toughness.

Till date, the first 10 levels were all so smooth. He either found treasures or had the help of fortuitous encounters.

At the current stage, it was time for him to face some problems.

Hence, Ouyang Shuo was not worried at all.

The daily cultivation was a form of enjoyment for Ouyang Shuo.

The next morning, Ouyang Shuo started packing up to rush to the next county.

Just at this moment, the guard reported.

"Monarch, there's a player lady outside who wants to meet you."

"Player lady?" Ouyang Shuo frowned.

Based on the rules of the wilderness, after a territory fell, the players living in it would be teleported back to the imperial city. Hence, Ouyang Shuo rarely saw any players on his journey.

Not to mention there would be players who wanted to find him themselves.

At his current position, the players who were able to speak directly with him were not many.

Ouyang Shuo asked, "What's her name?"

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Chapter 748-Wu Ping Cheng

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

"Replying to the Monarch, she calls herself Wu Qing Cheng." The guard replied.

"Wu Qing Cheng?"

Ouyang Shuo's eyes narrowed.

China region players were not unfamiliar with Wu Qing Cheng. She was ranked 5th out of the 10 beauties in China.

In reality, she was a celebrity, a top actress that was famous across the world. The rare part was that not only she could act, but she could also direct and had her own studio.

In the game, this celebrity lost the field to show her skills almost instantly, slowly leaving the line of sight of players. The only thing that players remembered about her was her appearance.

Her ranking was not high because her position in the game was apparent. Based solely on looks, she was definitely top three and could not be compared with Feng Qiuhuang and Juedai Fenghua.

Ouyang Shuo had a different impression of her.

Ouyang Shuo clearly remembered that in the last life, she shot her first movie Jiangshan Beauty and instantly got famous around the country. Close to 20 million people in the country paid to watch it.

All the scenes in the movie were shot in the game and totally did not need modifications or editing; the actors and actresses were all professional players, so they did not need substitutes or special effects.

Even the equipment and dresses were real equipment in the game or items personally designed by top work occupation players. They were exceedingly exquisite and beautiful, making a huge impression.

The camera tools were requested by Wu Qing Cheng from Gaia, and the high-level AI cameras were much better than the ones in real life.

Along with a great script and perfect editing, it would have become popular even if it did not want to.

Of course, the most crucial matter was still with Gaia's support. Apart from the camera spirits they provided, Gaia also opened up a new sub forum for watching movies.

Thanks to this sub forum, paying players would be sent to a virtual space and could enjoy a 5D viewing experience.

Gaia's actions were not solely for Wu Qing Cheng. Its real goal was to use this chance to increase the entertainment in the lives of players.

After all, players were going to spend 10 years in the game. Without more forms of entertainment, one could imagine how tough it would be.

The appearance of Wu Qing Cheng was just a case of right place at the right time. Before shooting, she was already extremely nervous and did not think that it would actually become that popular.

Shooting in the game was not truly zero cost. Hiring over ten main actors, thousands of side actors, costumes, and more would cost 600 to 700 thousand gold.

The cost of the entire film would be around a million gold.

However, the risk she took had finally been repaid.

With just one movie, she had earned a million in profit, pushing herself up to the famous people rankings of China Region, becoming a shining star in the country.

The popularity of Jiangshan Beauty unveiled the rise of the entertainment industry in the game. In the later stages of the Gaia 4th year, the movie industry would break the ten million gold barrier.

One could say that this was an unexplored ocean.

Looking at the time, Jiangshan Beauty should be in the midst of shooting. Thinking about that, Ouyang Shuo smirked and guessed the reason why she had appeared here to look for him.

"Invite her to the side hall." Ouyang Shuo instructed.

"Yes Monarch."Side Hall.

Wu Qing Cheng picked up a cup of tea, her brows locked tight.

She was an extremely prideful person. The arrival of the apocalypse, the migration, and other such factors had all disrupted the flow of her life.

When she entered the game, she noticed that she actually had no talents.

In the game, she was not the celebrity that was the focus of everyone; the celebrities in the game were all the top occupation players or the Lords.

As for a celebrity in real life, no one would care no matter how pretty she was.

Before entering Earth Online, Wu Qing Cheng had not played any games before. In her memory, it was either work or work.

Everything she did was under the lights of the silver screen.

After lying in silence for two years, Wu Qing Cheng finally could not take it anymore; she wanted to do something.

And the only thing she was good at was filmmaking.

When Gaia released the achievement value exchange event, Feng Qing Cheng gritted her teeth and exchanged for a total of 500 thousand gold.

As a mega film star, her achievement value was not low, but it definitely could not be considered high.

This exchange meant that she had no way out anymore.

Following which, Wu Ping Cheng gathered members of her studio in real life, building the Ping Cheng Studio in the game. She started to write scripts to plan movie-making in the game.

However, things did not go smoothly at the start. Most members of the studio did not believe that they could make money from shooting movies in game so they rejected Wu Qing Cheng's request.

Even so, she gritted her teeth and persevered.

The rise of the electronic newspaper in game truly let her see some hope.

Finally, thanks to the introduction of a friend in real life, Wu Ping Cheng came to an agreement with the Xingning County Lord to co-invest and shoot Jiangshan Beauty.

Xingning County invested 100 thousand and provided the land to shoot in. Apart from that, he also provided equipment and skilled talents.

Without these factors, the movie could not even be shot.

After a few stumbles here and there, everything was prepared, and the movie finally started shooting.

Who knew that tragedy would strike?

Less than a month from the start, Xingning County was occupied by Shanhai City. The Xingning County Lord was teleported to the imperial city and could not keep the contract. Hence, the entire movie was delayed.

Wu Ping Cheng felt despair once again.

Especially during war time, where the entire film group was nearly destroyed by the Shanhai City Army. After the war ended, they were checked and investigated repeatedly.

To restart shooting basically became an impossible matter. Her investment was going to crash and burn, and the actors she had spent so much effort to invite all broke their contracts.

It seemed like the entire group was going to disband.

Just at this moment, she heard the news that Qiyue Wuyi was touring Chaozhou Prefecture. Wu Ping Cheng was like a drowning person who saw the light at the end of the tunnel.

Hence, today's visit occurred. Who knows what kind of effect their conversation would have?Half an hour later, Ouyang Shuo came to the side hall.

"Lord Wuyi, I've heard of your name for so long!"

Who knows why, but when she saw the young man slowly walk in, Wu Ping Cheng felt nervous.

The man in front of him was similar in age to her. His features were distinct, and he was quite handsome. He remained expressionless and acted neither warm nor coldly like the type who would chase people out.

His body emitted an overbearing aura.

Wu Ping Cheng could not help but feel panicky.

In reality, Wu Ping Cheng was a global star and had seen all kinds of occasions and situations.

The man in front of her was like an ocean that she could not see through.

Even the elders she saw in real life did not give her such a suppressive feeling.

She felt less and less confident.

"Miss Ping Cheng, I've heard of you too. I'm your loyal fan." Ouyang Shuo smiled and sat down.

"Really?" Wu Ping Cheng's eyes lit up, but her expression slowly turned into a sad one, "Unfortunately, that was last time." As a top actress, she was good at grasping any kind of expression. One frown or smile was able to touch one's heart.

Ouyang Shuo was not affected and simply smiled, "How so? In my opinion, the movie industry would be just as good in the game."

Time was precious, so Ouyang Shuo did not beat around the bush and went straight to the point.

"You really think so?" Wu Ping Cheng was astonished.

This was the first time that someone she spoke to expressed the same views as her. Even the Xingning County Lord just accepted her suggestion because of her beauty.

During the shooting, Wu Ping Cheng was constantly harassed.

Even so, she did not give up, smartly dissolving the approaches while speeding up the shooting.

"Naturally." Ouyang Shuo nodded.

Wu Ping Cheng looked at him. When she saw that he meant his words, she finally had some confidence in her heart. She also knew that with Ouyang Shuo's position, he would not tell lies.

With such confidence, she talked about the problems that she was facing.

"You want Shanhai City to take over?" Ouyang Shuo asked.

Wu Ping Cheng nodded, "If filming can resume, I'm willing to let out 10% more of the profits." Then she introduced the previous contract with the Xingning County Lord.

In the previous agreement, they settled on a 6:4 split. Letting out 10% meant that they would end up sharing the profits evenly.

For this movie, Wu Ping Cheng had invested 500 thousand. If profits did not reach the expected amount, she would end up going bankrupt.

Ouyang Shuo took the agreement and briefly scanned through it.

"How is it?" Wu Ping Cheng was really nervous.

Ouyang Shuo shook his head.

"This is the most I can go." Wu Ping Cheng frowned as her face slowly turned ashen white. She did not think that he would be so greedy and push her to the edge.

Ouyang Shuo smiled, seemingly seeing through her thoughts, "I think you misunderstood."

"How so?"

"Since Shanhai City occupied Xingning County, as the Lord, I hold the responsibility. Naturally, I would take over all the previous agreements; this agreement can proceed as planned."

"Really?" Wu Ping Cheng was delighted.

"Thank you! Really thank you!"

She emotionally stood up and wanted to shake his hand. When she saw that Ouyang Shuo did not have such intention, she awkwardly sat back down.

Her excitement could not be hidden.

It was not Ouyang Shuo being arrogant. Rather, he was already used to such customs.

Shaking hands? No one would dare to do that.

Ouyang Shuo laughed to dissolve the awkwardness, "I have a suggestion, would you be interested in it?"

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Chapter 749-P1 Type Cannon

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

"What's your suggestion? I'm all ears."

After solving her greatest problem, Wu Ping Cheng instantly relaxed and became rather cheerful.

Ouyang Shuo asked, "I personally really support the movie industry and want to have long term cooperation with experts. Are you interested in this matter?"

Since he saw this clear and unexplored ocean in the game, Ouyang Shuo had no reason to let it go. How could simply investing in one movie fill his appetite? His goal was to control the entertainment industry and be a magnate.

The Ping Cheng Studio was the first prey that Ouyang Shuo was interested in.

Wu Ping Cheng's eyes looked like she was on guard, and she hesitated as she said, "You want to acquire my studio?" Wu Ping Cheng was not unfamiliar with such acquisition matters done by sharks in real life. Now that Ouyang Shuo held the life of Jiangshan Beauty in his hands, it was difficult to reject him.

Ping Cheng Studio was Wu Ping Cheng's life and definitely could not be tainted by others, not even Shanhai City. Wu Ping Cheng was already prepared to totally lose everything.

"Not acquisition." Ouyang Shuo shook his head, "It is an investment. I would like to use my personal name to invest 200 thousand gold into the Ping Cheng Studio, taking 40% of the shares. Moreover, I will not interfere in your how you run things. In terms of movie shooting, Shanhai City can give you all areas of support. Without mentioning other things, the Four Seas Bank is willing to provide loans for the next movie. How about that, are you interested?"

Ouyang Shuo's terms were not strict. He just wanted a win-win situation and a bigger cake. He was not trying to rake in short term profits.

When Wu Ping Cheng heard his words, her heart started thumping. She noticed that a huge chance was placed in front of them.

Even in the game, the movie industry was truly a money burning industry. Wu Ping Cheng used up all she had, yet she still could not manage to support one movie and needed to find partners.

If Jiangshan Beauty could not help her get her money back, Ping Cheng Studio would have to announce their bankruptcy. The best way out was to find a huge rich shark to work with.

Shanhai City was undoubtedly the biggest shark in China. Not only did they have sufficient funds, they were the biggest shareholders of the Four Seas Bank, and they were extremely strong. More importantly, they could provide all items and resources for shooting a movie.

The key was that they were not greedy and did not want to have the bulk of the shares. Furthermore, they would not interfere in how she ran things.

It was obviously a pure investment act.

In the wilderness, there was no one more suitable for her to work with than Shanhai City. Before which, Wu Ping Cheng had fantazised about working with Shanhai City. Unfortunately, she could not even walk into the gates of the imperial city.

If it was not for his image of being a pure and loyal man who rejected the love of Feng Qiuhuang, Bai Hua, and more, Hua Ping Cheng would have thought that Ouyang Shuo was interested in her.

"I agree."

Wu Peng Cheng did not hesitate, and she directly nodded her head. Even if it was a big hole in front of her, she was still going to jump right in.

Chances come and go quickly. Wu Ping Cheng was a really decisive person.

"Great!" Ouyang Shuo nodded, "Let the discussions end today. Someone will contact you shortly."

Ouyang Shuo did not intend to control the entertainment industry himself and wanted to let Song Jia control it. Apart from investing in Ping Cheng Studio, Ouyang Shuo would take out 800 thousand more gold to invest and hire more industry big shots.

This one time investment would reach a million gold.

With that, Ouyang Shuo only had five million gold left in his pockets.

And to truly get the entertainment industry up and running, a million gold was too little.

In order to not use up too much of his liquidated funds, the best way would be to proceed slowly, investing in two to three films at first and using the profits to increase the scale.

The matters within were rather complicated.

Ouyang Shuo believed that with Song Jia's ability, she could handle this matter well.

After Wu Ping Cheng Left, Ouyang Shuo penned a letter to Song Jia to describe in detail what happened and also sent her a million gold.

From now on, Song Jia would take charge of following the filming of Jiangshan Beauty as well as investing in the Ping Cheng Studio.

Ouyang Shuo was looking forward to a totally unexpected entertainment industry breaking out in the future two years; this would help bring huge amounts of cash into Shanhai City.

After the short interruption, Ouyang Shuo and his group set off once more.

And just as Ouyang Shuo was calming down the three prefectures in Lingnan, the Leopard Legion Corps finally acted.

10th month, 20th day, Chuannan Province Guilin Prefecture, Xuanwu Pass.

A year ago, Chuanbei City-State and Xiangnan City-State had worked together and made use of the chance where the Shanhai City Army was busy with Taiping Country to snatch food out of the tiger's mouth, taking Guilin Prefecture.

Guilin Prefecture was the north shield for Chuannan Province and had an extremely good strategic location. Only two passes connected them.

During the battle at the passes, Guiping Pass was kept by the Shanhai City and the Withered Flower Stronghold was constructed; this place became the headquarters of the Leopard Legion Corps. Xuanwu Pass, on the other hand, was occupied by the Alliance Army till date.

At this date, Xuanwu Pass was defended by the Alliance Army like their lives depended on it. And today, Zhang Han led the 2nd legion of the Leopard Legion Corps out, bearing down on the pass.

The Leopard Legion Corps was in charge of the north border, and Han Xin led the 1st legion to guard the Withered Flower Stronghold. Zhang Han's 2nd legion built a long-term camp in charge of monitoring the Alliance Army.

In this year of standing off, the 2nd legion had many conflicts with the Alliance Army in Xuanwu Pass. Helplessly, Xuanwu Pass was a stronghold, so even with only 50 thousand Alliance Army troops defending the place it was still extremely difficult to take down.

Hence, when they saw the 2nd legion coming at them once more, the Alliance Army in the pass was not shocked. The enemy pretty much came once a month, so it was not much of a surprise.

"Look, they are back again!"

"Haha, a bunch of fools that are just looking to be humiliated."

On the city walls of the pass, the Alliance Army soldiers mocked their enemy.

Amongst the 2nd legion troops, Zhang Han was riding on his horse. His eyes narrowed as he gazed at the pass with an exceedingly complicated expression.

One year!

The 2nd legion held it in for an entire year.

"It is finally time to end it." Zhang Han muttered.

Zhang Han waved his flag, and the middle troops slowly broke away. They revealed 32 elite Qingfu Horses pulling eight cold cannons, appearing at the front of the troops.

These cannons were not the Ming Dynasty Cannons but the new type of cannons designed by the No.7 Research Institute - codename P1 Type.

Compared to the cumbersome cannons of the Ming Dynasty, the P1 Type cannons were a big improvement. First, the barrels, frame, and other parts were built with steel.

With that, not only did it greatly reduce the chances of the cannon imploding, it reduced the weight greatly while the size was decreased by 50%.

The problem with industrialization was that the production speed of the P1 Type was extremely low. At their current rate, they could only produce 10 a month.

The main problem was that the industrialization process was just starting out, and their technology level was low. Most parts did not have machines, so they could only be manually handled.

The second change would be the cannon system.

The Ming Dynasty cannons were two-wheeled, which made them hard to transport. Hence, the newest results of the No.7 Research Institute were to create a new steel four-wheeled cart for the P1 Type Cannon.

The wheels were specially designed, being two times wider than normal. At the same time, a gear system was added. Four warhorses could easily pull one cannon, greatly increasing their mobility.

Of course, as rubber tires were not invented yet, the new four-wheeled chariots still had weaknesses. Not only were their speeds slower than warhorses, it was easy for the wheels to get stuck when it was rainy or if the ground was muddy.

This was also just on paths. If it was in the wilderness, it was much worse. Any hill or drain would stop them in their tracks.

To ship these eight cannons to the 2nd legion base, the Combat Logistics Department had spent a full month, facing many difficulties.

The moment this toy fell into mud, getting it out was more difficult than ascending the heavens.

12 cannons were moved out from the city but only eight reached the front lines. The remaining four were spoilt during the transportation process.

Hence, the P1 Type Cannon did not have a chance of appearing in the Battle of Lingnan.

The third change was the essence of the P1 Type Cannon.

With the changes done by Liu Mo and the others, along with combining the strengths of the Spanish and English cannons, the P1 Type Cannon could finally shoot at a trajectory.

With that, not only was the range greatly increased, it could directly shoot at the city wall and even into the city. The cannons were no longer a weak weapon that could only shoot at the city gate.

The P1 Type Cannon became a siege weapon, and its first target was Xuanwu Pass.

At the same time, to coordinate with the trajectory shooting, the cannon also had aiming tools to increase the accuracy. It did not rely solely on the cannoneer's experience anymore.

The No.7 Research Institutes did thousands of experiments to make an aiming tool suited for the P1 Type Cannon, obtaining plenty of data before it finally took shape.

The above three aspects were the big changes when compared to the Ming Dynasty Cannons. There were also many other smaller changes, each one the hard work of the researchers.

Along with the Atlantis Mimicry Flying Device Crafting Technology being digested by the research institute and the steam engine and sewing machine, the territory industrialization standard had a chance of stepping to a new level by the year end.

At that time, they could start their research on a P2 Type Cannon.

One could foresee that the P2 Type Cannon would be the true killer weapon and could even change the way of war. This weapon could truly lead the thermal weapons era into the cold weapons era and play a crucial and defining role.

The current P1 Type Cannons was just using a butcher knife to kill a chicken.

Even so, it was enough for Xuanwu Pass. With the assistance of the cannons, Zhang Han was confident in taking down the pass in just a single day.

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Chapter 750-Yan Liang

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

"What is that?"

When they saw the P1 Type Cannon, the Alliance Army was stunned. The smooth lines on the body of the cannon, the cold metal sheen, and the exquisite cannon frame; it was totally different from the cannons that they had heard of.

The rumbling of cannon explosions arrived as a reply.

Zhang Han did not hesitate; he immediately ordered his troops to fire once the cannons were in position; it was a swift and deadly move.

The cannons formed a brilliant arc in the air, accurately striking the defending soldiers on the city wall before bursting apart. All of a sudden, the Alliance Army soldiers that had been mocking them were blown into pieces, creating a truly gory scene.

The embattlements on the city wall were also blown apart.

Unceasing cannon fire followed, sweeping through the entire city wall of the pass.

Blood and flesh flew around, and smoke bellowed.

The Alliance Army archers wanted to retaliate. Unfortunately for them, Zhang Han was prepared. Each cannon was protected by an entire unit of sword-shield soldiers, who used their shields to protect the cannoneer.

As for the cannon itself, it was totally unaffected by arrows.

Only arcuballistas and trebuchets could destroy the cannons. Unfortunately, their range could not be compared with the cannons.

Hence, the alliance army in the pass could only passively take the hits and could not do anything in return.

"General, we cannot go on like this!"

The Alliance Army did not even dare show their heads on the city wall. After suffering heavy causalities, their morale plummeted.

"Damn it, what devilish weapon is the enemy using?"

"Who cares what weapon it is? The enemy is obviously prepared to take down the pass."

"Let them dream!"

"Why don't we charge out?" someone suggested.

"General, let me, I'll definitely kill those clowns." A general requested to fight.

Witnessing the heavy casualties, the Alliance Army defending general could not sit still.

Speaking of which, this defending general could also be considered half a famous person. He was under Yuan Shao's camp during the Three Kingdoms Period - General Yan Liang. Yan Liang in history was truly killed by Guan Yu. However, in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, he was more of a tragic character.

As the top general under Yuan Shao's camp, Yan Liang was famous for his courage and could not be underestimated.

A year ago, after taking down Guilin Prefecture, Chuanbei City-State and Xiangnan City-State had split the work.

Chuanbei City-State would be in charge of defending the west side Xuanwu Pass, and Xiangnan City-State was in charge of defending the newly built pass on the east that was opposite to the Withered Flower Pass.

Yan Liang was a general under West Gate Big Official. A month ago, he was sent here to be the pass defending general.

The current situation was obvious. If they did not destroy the cannons, they had no chance of victory at all.

Yan Liang was also a fierce general. He did not have any plans, so he listened to the words of his men. He gritted his teeth and decided to use the method he was best at, "Fang Jin!"

"Present!"

A young general received the order and stepped out, filled with anticipation about the fight.

No matter if it was due to face or other considerations, the troops that the various territories sent to the Alliance Army were their best. Even if the generals they sent were not historical generals, they would be generals from the wilderness like Zhao Si Hu.

To fear before even fighting was not their style.

In their eyes, no matter how strong the enemy cannons were, the enemy only had eight of them. There was no reason a 50 thousand strong alliance army would be scared of just eight cannons, where would their face go if this news spread out.

Yan Liang ordered, "Lead five thousand elite cavalry out of the city to break their cannons."

Since it was a sneak attack, they could not send too many troops.

If five thousand cavalry were utilized well, it would be good enough to complete the mission.

From this order alone, one could see how experienced Yan Liang was.

"Yes!" Fang Jin cupped his fists, "If I do not destroy the cannons, I'll give you my head."

"Go!" Yan Liang waved him off.

Fang Jin nodded, turning his head and leaving.Amongst the cannon noises, Fang Jin led five thousand elite cavalry and charged over.

When Zhang Han saw this move, a cold smile flashed across the corner of his mouth, "I've been waiting for you!"

"Crossbowmen, get ready!"

With a 'Shua!' tens of thousands of crossbowmen suddenly appeared behind the sword-shield soldiers.

"Shoot!"

The moment the cavalry got into range, an arrow rain that covered the skies rained down.

All of a sudden, numerous bolts and arrows fired out, causing the cavalry and the enemy troops at the front to topple.

"Shoot again!"

After the first round, the cavalry had covered 50 to 60 meters.

The second row of crossbowmen received the order; this time, they shot straight instead.

Another round of insane firepower.

During this period of time, the eight cannons aimed at the cavalry formation, and the cannonballs were exploding in the midst of it. Many of the horses were startled when they heard such a loud sound for the first time. Instantly, the entire formation was thrown into chaos.

After two rounds, half of the cavalry were lost.

"Charge!"

Fang Jin charged at the front; he was truly passionate and crazy.

Cavalry were still cavalry. Using this short time, after just two rounds of attacks, they managed to close in on the cannon. Although the P1 Type Cannons had been modified, they still could not be taken down from the battlefield, and it looked like they were going to be destroyed.

Fang Jin looked at the cannons that were getting closer and closer with a look of excitement.

As long as he was able to destroy the enemy cannons, any sacrifice was worth it.

Without the cannons, the enemies would not be able to take down Xuanwu Pass.

Just at this moment, the cannons stopped firing and the archers moved aside.

The eight sword-shield soldier units that were originally guarding beside the cannons swiftly formed up in front of them, making the first line of defense. Following which, the spearmen followed up, forming the second line.

At the same time, light armored cavalry troops flanked from the left and right wings, stabbing directly into the enemy cavalry formation.

When Fang Jin saw this situation, his eyes narrowed.

The strength and ability of the Shanhai City Army had far exceeded his expectations. In such a short amount of time, they actually efficiently and perfectly changed their formation. The entire process was like flowing water, without a single pause.

What Fang Jin did not know was how many times the 2nd legion had practiced this in the camp. They had done no less than ten practical battle situations.

With Zhang Han's ability, pretty much any enemy reaction was predicted and was matched with a formation. When they reached the battlefield, it was just using what they had practiced.

With such planning, how could they not win?

The reason why a famous general was famous was because of such ability, much less a top class famous general like Zhang Han. The pre-battle plans were so precise, considering every possibility.

Along with the battle commanding, how could someone of Yan Liang's caliber compare with him?

Sword-shield soldiers, spearmen, and light armored cavalry formed a killing formation, wrapping up the Alliance Army cavalry. In less than an hour, they all fell.

Under the three-sided combination attack, the five thousand elite cavalry could not advance and tried to escape, resulting in their deaths.

On the city wall, Yan Liang and the other generals looked on as their cavalry were cornered to death; their eyes were filled with fury. While they felt angry, a thread of fear rose up.

"Don't tell me that this is the true ability of the Shanhai City Army?" Some of the general's faces were ashen white.

It was like they had fallen into a perfectly crafted trap. No matter how they tried to struggle, the end result proved that it was all useless. A sense of helplessness rose in their hearts.

"Damn it!"

Yan Liang's face was really ugly; he appeared extremely anxious and defeated. Yan Liang, who was born in the Three Kingdoms Era, had not been exposed to modern technology, so he knew nothing about cannons.

Even though he was strong, he did not dare to raise his head in front of such a monster.

The 50 thousand Alliance Army troops that were housed in the pass were mainly infantry with less than 10 thousand cavalry. After losing five thousand, the remaining cavalry would not be able to do much.

As for arranging the infantry to launch a sneak attack, Yan Liang totally had no confidence that it would work.

Yan Liang was not stupid. Looking at the enemy formation, he could see that they came prepared. No matter what the alliance army did, they were prepared.

In truth, as long as the Aliance Army fought outside of the city, their strategy was a losing one.

The 50 thousand Alliance Army's key to winning was the Xuanwu Pass. The moment they came out, no matter how they struggled, they would not be able to win.

The only difference would be how many casualties the enemy had to pay.

Hence, with the cannons, the enemy could not lose. On the contrary, the alliance army had no way of winning.

After thinking about the outcome, Yan Liang felt more pent up frustration.

During the Three Kingdoms Era, Yan Liang had fought many city defense battles. For the sieges during the Three Kingdoms, each and every one was stacked up with losses in human life.

Using such a weapon to ensure victory was a method that totally did not exist at that time. Facing the situation at hand, Yan Liang was helpless and had no idea about how to handle it.

Yan Liang looked around and asked, "Do any of you have any ideas?"

When the others heard his words, they all looked at one another; their faces were not as excited and as willing to fight as before. They were not fools, since Yan Liang could understand the situation, they could too.

The situation at hand was that destroying the enemy cannons was impossible.

Defending was not an option either.

The only option was to retreat; if not, they would only be buried in the Xuanwu Pass.

The problem was that every general present was clear about the importance of Xuanwu Pass. The moment they lost it, not to mention how the City-State would deal with them, their own Lords would not let them leave.

Hence, no one wanted to call the retreat.

Everyone present was smart, and no one wanted to bear the blame.

When Yan Liang saw this situation, his temper flared, and he wanted to kick all of them. However, they were not his subordinates, so there was nothing he could do.

Taking a step back, as the defending general, he had to take the blame.

Gritting his teeth, Yan Liang ordered the retreat, "Since you all have no good ideas, let's back off to Weiwu Pass and wait for the decision from the command center!"

The Weiwu Pass he referred to was a pass that the City-State built at the side of Guilinn. It was a last form of defense if Xuanwu Pass was lost.

Now, it seemed like constructing it was the right decision, and it would help win some breathing space for the alliance army.

When the generals heard that they were going to retreat, they heaved a sigh of relief.

When Yan Liang saw their reactions, a cold smile appeared on his face. Under the situation that the enemy attacked Xuanwu Pass, in addition to the narrow retreat route, it was easy to be chased up.

If they wanted to retreat, they needed to arrange for a backline to cover for them.

"Who will stay back?"

Yan Liang looked at all of them with a mysterious look in his eyes.

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Chapter 751 - Famous in One Battle

Yan Liang chose two scapegoats to continue defending Xuanwu Pass while the army quietly retreated towards Weiwu Pass. Under the heavy cannon fire, Xuanwu Pass was devoid of all forms of life and was filled with death.

The unusual situation with the Alliance Army was quickly noticed by the 2nd legion.

"General, the situation is not right, is the enemy falling back?"

Zhang Han also had such doubts, thinking about it, he ordered decisively, "Shoot the city gates and get ready to enter!"

"Yes commander!"

Amongst the rumbling of the cannons, the city gates broke apart.

The army was like a black flood as they swarmed into Xuanwu Pass, but only five thousand defending soldiers met them.

These two scapegoats lacked courage and righteousness. When they saw the enemy fight into the pass, they cleanly chose to surrender. They answered all the questions of Zhang Han willingly.

After learning that the main force of the Alliance Army had already retreated, Zhang Han immediately ordered, "Chen Yucheng!"

"Present!"

A young general answered and stepped out; this was one of the two great cavalry generals of the Taiping Country - Chen Yucheng.

Chen Yucheng was fearless in battle; and his comprehension ability was extremely high, obtaining the trust and recognition of Zhang Han. This general had grown into a pillar of the 2nd legion.

Ouyang Shuo had instructed long ago that be it Chen Yucheng or Li Xiucheng who was under the charge of Di Qing, the various legion generals needed to focus on developing these kids with potential and help grow them into true talents.

Especially generals such as Li Xiucheng, who was born in the Qing Dynasty, and Chen Yucheng from the Taiping Country. They were familiar with firearms and were the best choices for leading the future firearm forces.

"I order you to lead five thousand cavalry and chase them. Remember this: do not be greedy for credit. Before you reach Weiwu Pass, immediately stop." Zhang Han ordered.

"Yes commander!"

Chen Yucheng cupped his fists and went to follow the order.

After a short while, five thousand elite cavalry charged out of Xuanwu Pass and chased after the enemy.

Zhang Han led his troops to take over Xuanwu Pass and take charge of the fallen soldiers and clean up the battlefield. At the same time, he needed to write the battle map to the Leopard Legion Corps Marshal Han Xin and wait for orders regarding the next course of action to take.Chen Yucheng led the troops to chase. Just as he entered the middle portion, he found the retreating Alliance Army.

"Kill!"

Chen Yucheng did not hesitate at all and directly charged toward them.

Between the two passes, there was only a narrow connecting mountain pass. This narrow path and was only three to four meters wide, so the 40 thousand Alliance Army troops formed a long dragon. The front troops had entered the Wuwei Pass while the back troops were still halfway there.

Facing the attacks of Zhang Han's forces from behind, Yan Liang was prepared.

Apart from the five thousand soldiers that were left back at the Xuanwu Pass, Yan Liang arranged forces to be in charge of defending the backlines. However, he had made one mistake; he had underestimated the decisiveness of Zhang Han.

The moment he noticed that the situation was not right, Zhang Han immediately ordered troops to enter the pass. Furthermore, when he received the intel that the enemy had backed off, he arranged an elite cavalry force to chase them.

With that, he had caught the back troops totally off guard.

On the narrow mountain path, the sword-shield soldiers in charge of covering their retreat were stabbed into by the cavalry Chen Yucheng that led before they could even form up.

If someone looked down from the skies, they would see the five thousand elite cavalry act like a sharp arrow stabbing right into the enemy lineup. Then, they were like a skewer stabbing through meat, penetrating all the way through.

The cavalry passed anything they charged through, be it sword-shield soldiers or spearmen. They were either crushed to death or pierced through by the spears of the cavalry. Even more of them were pushed off the mountain path and down the valley.

The situation was complete chaos.

Chen Yucheng was extremely smart, and he did not intend to kill all the enemies. His mind was only filled with one thought – to charge, charge and charge; he aimed to split the enemy troops apart and crush their mental strength.

On the narrow mountain path, the field of sight seemed really small.

The troops at the back felt terrified when they faced such a charge by the cavalry. They totally did not know how many enemy troops there were, and they were only occupied with running to the front.

"Run, the enemy is here!"

The soldiers threw down the heavy resources and items that they were carrying and squeezed forwards like rabbits.

"How many are there?" The sergeant asked.

Another soldier replied, "At least five thousand!"

"What, five thousand? At least ten thousand!" Another one retorted.

The sergeant's face turned ashen white from fear as he threw down the stuff that he was carrying and tried to escape as well.

The soldiers were like a group of terrified rabbits as they hobbled forward.

Their emotions were like dominos as the fear spread toward the front.

During this entire process, the enemy numbers they reported seemingly snowballed. First, it was five thousand, then ten thousand, and then 20 thousand. At the very end, the numbers had reached 100 thousand.

"100 thousand? The enemy legion only has 70 thousand men, where did 100 thousand come from?" The sergeant felt doubtful.

Another soldier once again said confidently, "You do not know this, but the enemy sent more than one legion."

"Brother your words make sense."

When the sergeant heard these words, he did not care whether or not the words made sense. In fact, he just wanted to quickly escape into Weiwu Pass.

The troops that had not entered the Weiwu Pass were in chaos. During this period of time, stepping on comrades, brother betraying brother, and similar incidents were numerous. Solely soldiers being stepped on by their own men numbered no less than 500.

At this point, Yan Liang who had entered the pass realized that the situation was not right, "What's happening?"

"General, the enemy has chased over." the deputy general replied.

"How many people came? Why have you all panicked?"

"100 thousand!"

The deputy general stammered; it was obvious that he was uncertain, and he did not know whether he should trust this intel. The problem was that all the soldiers who escaped into the pass all claimed that the enemy numbered 100 thousand.

Each of them swore on their lives, and they looked really honest about it.

Such sincerity; if their officer said they did not trust them, the soldiers would reply that they would rather just jump down the city wall to prove their innocence.

'Pa!'

A crisp sound rang as the furious Yan Liang could not take it anymore, whipping out and giving the deputy general a blue black.

"Scumbag! 100 thousand troops? Are you joking, you can even believe that?"

The foolishness of the deputy general had totally enraged Yan Liang.

"I'm sorry!"

The general did not dare to retort; he just kneeled down onto the ground.

"You fool!"

Yan Liang could not stand seeing such an idiot; it was killing him, "Scram!"

After dealing with the deputy general, Yan Liang went up to the city wall and looked toward the mountain path, and his expression became solemn all of a sudden.

On the long mountain path, the Alliance Army was in total chaos.

The enemy cavalry roamed fearlessly amongst them; it was like they were harvesting wheat as they collected the lives of the Alliance Army. The chaotic Alliance Army did not have any intentions to fight as they just ran; they were just trying to keep their lives.

On the two sides of the mountain foot, numerous Alliance Army soldiers were trying their best to escape.

"General, should we send an army down to assist?" Another deputy general suggested carefully.

Yan Liang shook his head, "It's no use. The mountain path is too narrow, so sending troops now will only block their way of retreating and will only add to their fear."

'It might even chaos greater panic and chaos!' As for this sentence, Yan Liang did not say out loud.

"Then, then what should we do?"

Yan Liang expression was extremely cold, "Wait for another half an hour. After which, immediately close the city gates."

"Yes general!"

The deputy general felt his heart tremble; he did not dare to say anything.

Yan Liang could not be blamed for being cruel. Although he did not believe that the enemy troops would number 100 thousand, he still did not know how many enemies there were. What if the enemy took this chance to charge into Weiwu Pass? That would be fantastic.

A merciful person would not be placed in charge of troops; this was the reason behind it.'Honglong!'

Half an hour later, the Weiwu Pass city gates slowly closed, determined and resolute.

One city gate helped separated two worlds.

Those who entered were safe while those who did not were like fish on the chopping board; they were there for the slaughter.

Some of the soldiers who escaped to the city gate with much difficulty were mercilessly blocked outside of the city gate. Each one of them was desperate. The despair they felt contained rage and craziness.

The despair from being abandoned spread amongst the soldiers.

"Open up, open the gates!"

"Open the gates; let us in."

"General, save us!"

In contrast to Xuanwu Pass, Weiwu Pass only had 20 thousand troops present. Hence, as a general under West Gate Big Official, the moment Yan Liang moved in, he immediately took charge of command.

The Weiwu Pass did not even dare make a fart.

Not to mention other matters, West Gate Big Official was the top Lord in Chuanbei City-State, the true giant.

Yan Liang did not loosen his stance and no one dared to open the city gates.

In such a short while, Chen Yucheng led his troops and rushed near Weiwu Pass. When he saw the shut city gates, he smiled coldly. The reaction of the enemy was as expected.

"Stop your advance."

Chen Yucheng was not blinded by all the killings and remembered the instructions of Zhang Han.

With a 'Shua', the 5 thousand cavalry that had suffered basically no loses even in such a chaotic environment all stopped in unison.

Such strong discipline was not something the Alliance Army could compare to.

"Send the orders, anyone who surrenders will not be killed."

Chen Yucheng followed up the orders as he saw that the Alliance Army troops outside were already on a different page with the troops inside the city.

"Yes general!"

All of a sudden, hundreds of light armored cavalry went out and scattered to spread the order for the enemy to surrender.

The moment the Alliance Army soldiers heard this news, since the city gate in front of them was closed, what loyalty was there to speak of? They rather not do anything and chose to directly surrender.

With someone taking the lead, more and more people decided to surrender.

All of a sudden, there were countless people who surrendered. At the later stages, those soldiers who were still hesitating trembled and surrendered as well when they saw that all their allies had surrendered.

They were really worried that if they dragged on, they would be tied up by their allies and dragged to claim war merits.

Rather than that, why not just surrender now?

They had heard that the strength of the Shanhai City Army far exceeded them, so why would they hesitate?

On the city wall, when Yan Liang saw this situation, his face became even uglier.

This day was really hard to pass for Yan Liang.Chen Yucheng did not dare to waste any more time. Moreover, he did not want to provoke the Alliance Army troops on the wall at this moment. After cleaning up, he led the tens of thousands of surrendered soldiers back on the route to Xuanwu Pass.

During this battle, Chen Yucheng used five thousand cavalry to kill six thousand enemies and capture 10 thousand, a great win.

Even Zhang Han who ordered this chase would not have expected such great results.

General Chen Yucheng had gotten famous in one battle!

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Chapter 752 - Last Chance

When Chen Yucheng moved the prisoners back to Xuanwu Pass, news about the fall of Xuanwu Pass had already been spread. Ouyang Shuo, who was still touring Shaozhou Prefecture, had decided to give Chen Yucheng a special reward.

After taking down Xuanwu Pass, the Leopard Legion Corps was still not satisfied. The two legions gave the impression that they could enter Guilin Prefecture through both the Weiwu Pass and the new Guiping Pass.

With the P1 Type Cannons helping them, the fall of these two passes was just a matter of time.Both Chuanbei City-State and Xiangnan City-State had received the news, and they were not as calm.

Shanhai City had just taken down Lingnan City-State with lightning speed, and their troops were at their sharpest. As their neighbors, the two City-States felt extremely terrified and were worried that someday the flames of war would burn into their territory.

However, Shanhai City had made it very clear that they wanted to first get rid of Yunnan City-State, which gave them some breathing room. Who knew that at such a sensitive time, Shanhai City would suddenly take down Xuanwu Pass?

The Lords from the two City-States gathered together once more to discuss their plans.

"What is the goal of Shanhai City? Are they trying to divert our attention once more when their true goal is to attack both of us?" The Lords were terrified.

"No way, with their current soldier numbers, there is no way they can deal with us both at the same time."

'Then, what if their goal is actually just one of us?"The situation instantly quietened down, and the Lords all exchanged glances with one another.

The atmosphere of the entire hall instantly became rather queer.

If Shanhai City was truly going to choose from one of them, they would naturally wish that Shanhai City would choose the other party.

The Lords of Chuanbei City-State were even more terrified.

After all, the one that the 2nd legion attacked was their Alliance Army.

Just at this moment, someone stepped out and said, "It's impossible, Shanhai City definitely would not start a war with us at this moment."

"What makes you think so?"

Seeing that the one that spoke was Zhang Liang, they did not dare to take his words lightly. The strength and intelligence of Zhang Liang was something they had all witnessed before.

At the current moment, the two City-States desperately needed some news to lift their spirits.

"The time is not right, the location is not right, and the tactics are not right." Zhang Liang said three reasons that were not right.

"Let's mention the time. Currently, the Shanhai City Army is organizing itself, and the three new legions have not been formed yet. At such a time, it is really stupid to fight, and it does not fit the style of Shanhai City.

"Let's talk about the location. After taking down Lingnan City-State, the Shanhai City Army could have used Shaozhou Prefecture to directly attack Xiangnan Province, but they did not do that. They could also use Kunming Prefecture to attack Chuanbei Province. Why would they choose a central location like Guilin Prefecture and alert both of us?

"The last one would be the tactics. Looking at how they fought, each battle they would use many legion corps. This time, only the 2nd legion was sent out, and not even the 1st legion was sent out to attack Guiping Pass. If they really wanted to attack us, they definitely would not do this."

"Furthermore, the 2nd legion did not chase the win to attack Weiwu Pass. If they were really going to take us down, why didn't they continue to use their cannons?"

Zhang Liang looked around at the various Lords and said confidently, "So Shanhai City definitely would not fight here."

The moment they heard his words, the Lords could not help but clap. All of them were fully energized, like they had placed down all the weight on their shoulder. The gloominess from before was swept away.

"Well said, it could not be more correct!"

"That's right; this must be the case!"

The various Lords did not hold back their praises.

The emotions they were feeling was something only someone they could understand.

When Xuanwu Pass had fallen, everyone present had panicked; they felt that their world had become much darker.

Only after going through a real war did they truly feel so much fear toward Shanhai City. Unknowingly, Shanhai City had become a giant mountain that was making it hard for them to breathe.

The Lords who had now regained their senses once again asked Zhang Liang respectfully, "Mister, since Shanhai City has no intentions to fight, what is their goal in taking down Xuanwu Pass?"

Zhang Liang's expression was rather complicated, "According to my expectations, they want to take back Guilin Prefecture."The Lords all realized that they had no way to fight back.

A year ago, when they had taken down Guilin Prefecture, they were all gleeful. How would they have expected that in just a year, Shanhai City would have already become so strong?

The originally beautiful Guilin Prefecture had instantly become a hot potato.

"Then, should we just return it to them?" Some Lords asked carefully.

"What return? They are our sworn enemy. If we give it back to them, what face do would we have left? Before Zhang Liang even said anything, some of the Lords had already opposed the suggestion.

"If you do not return it, they would just take it. At that time, when the Shanhai City Army charges into Guilin Prefecture, what troops do we use to block them?" A Chuanbei City-State Lord retorted.

"If they want war, let's have war. What can they do to our two City-States?"

"It's easy for you to say that. Did you forget how Lingnan City-State was destroyed?"The Lords debated, and the whole situation was an unhappy one.

Furthermore, Caiyun Zinan, West Gate Big Offical, and the other top Lords of the City States did not make a clear stance. Zhang Liang as a strategist did not have the right to speak, so the entire situation was chaotic to the extreme.

In the end, everyone left unhappily.

Just as the two City-States were unsettled and had conflicting views, on the 24th day, the Nanjiang Governor-General House Honglu Temple sent out their envoy to the two City-States to send out the last warning by their Monarch.

Ouyang Shuo announced:

'A year ago, you two took the opportunity to use unscrupulous means to take down Guilin Prefecture. A year later, Shanhai City is ready to take back Guilin, so I hope you two will not make any useless resistance.

If you two City-States are willing to return Guilin Prefecture peacefully, not only will we not take any action, we are also willing to open up trade channels with you to and allow the two City-States to use our naval trade routes.

If you two reject to return Guilin Prefecture, the Shanhai City Army will protect the honor of our territory and use force to take back Guilin. Even if we have to pay a heavy price, we will still take action.

You two do not need to doubt our determination and honor we hold to defend our territory.

As for what choice you make, we give you three days to give a reply.'This warning used both hard and soft methods, hanging a carrot on a stick for them.

In the words of Caiyun Zinan, "This is shameless to the max. Them attacking Lingnan City-State was logical and fair, but us taking down Guilin Prefecture is unscrupulous?"

When Zhang Liang heard Caiyun Zinan's words, he frowned. Does his Lord still not understand till now that as a Lord, especially in the wilderness, being shameless was a virtue?

Shanhai City knowing when to use the moral high ground was in itself a smart act.

If a normal citizen said such words it could be understood, but Caiyun Zinan was a famous Lord in the wilderness. It was really childish to say such words.

Shanhai City's act was truly ingenious.

Just as Zhang Liang had guessed, Shanhai City had no intentions of fighting with the two City-States. Occupying Xuanwu Pass was just to make a cushion for this diplomatic act.

The real goal was to take back Guilin Prefecture without spilling a single drop of blood.

With that, not only would they wash the shame of losing Guilin Prefecture, they could also stabilize the north and help clear a ticking time bomb for the upcoming Battle of Yunnan.

More importantly, it would bury seeds of doubts in the two City-States that Shanhai City could not be stopped and give them the psychological advantage.

This was killing three birds with one stone.

The current Shanhai City could be considered to truly have the power of an overlord. It did not just use force to settle matters and instead used various methods.

Meanwhile, the two City-States were still having internal conflicts.

Zhang Liang had less and less hope for the future of Xiangnan City-State. However, since he had already gotten on this boat, he would not get off it.

Even if it sinks, he was going to sink with it.

As for the opening of trade channels, and the reconciliation mentioned, it was obvious that Shanhai City had set some traps inside; it would not be that simple.

However, such bait was something that the Lords would find extremely hard to reject.

Any person could have the mentality of an ostrich, and the Lords were no exception. Since they could reconcile with Shanhai City, they could survive without trepidation and even engage in ocean trading. Such bait was one that they would find truly hard to reject.

The truth was just that.

The first to break was Chuanbei City-State.

During the Battle of Xuanwu, Chuanbei City-State lost at total of 26 thousand troops.

Heart pained!

But terrifying!

Facing the troops of Shanhai City, they had no confidence at all to defend Guilin Prefecture.

Thanks to the attacks of the Honglu Temple, the internal circle of Chuanbei City-State had many Lords that were friends with Shanhai City and had limited animosity for them.

The current Shanhai City had reached out with an olive branch, so why wouldn't they accept it? Not just them, even top Lords like West Gate Big Official was hesitating.

The huge profits from ocean trading were something that very few Lords could reject.

Under the support of people with intentions, along with the persuasion from the envoy, Chuanbei City-State agreed internally to back away from Guilin Prefecture.

The situation was proceeding just as Ouyang Shuo wished.

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Chapter 753 - Han Xin vs. Li Mu

Jingchu Province, Pill Sun City.

When he received the news, Chun Shenjun was furious, breaking out, "Useless!"

The two City-States' flirtatious attitude was something that Chun Shenjun could not stand. The reconciliation message that Shanhai City sent out to the two City-States was what he felt uneasy about.

One must know that Xiangnan City-State was the last barrier between Pill Sun City and Shanhai City. The moment Xiangnan City-State reconciled with Shanhai City and engaged in trade, it would be a pretty awkward situation for Pill Sun City.

This chess move by Shanhai City was totally unexpected.

Chun Shenjun did not believe that Qiyue Wuyi truly desired reconciliation. It was just his plan to slow down the situation.

However, the Lords in the two City-States seemed to not notice this point and willingly jumped into the trap. Obviously, Chun Shenjun would be furious about it.

"No, we definitely cannot let Shanhai City get away with this!" Chun Shenjun's expression was really dark, "Men!"

"Lord!"

The one who came was the head of the Pill Sun City intel organization, Chun Xiao, his codename was Xiao.

"Activate all our hidden pieces in Xiangnan City-State, and try your best to prevent Xiangnan City-State from handing over Guilin Prefecture." Chun Shenjun ordered.

When Xiao heard this request, he hesitated, "Lord, the intel organizations of Shanhai City have been active in Xiangnan City-State. The moment we activate our hidden chess pieces, our entire plan there would be exposed."

Xiangnan City-State was an important guest of Pill Sun City, so it had been one of the focuses of Xiao. To bury and hide these hidden chess pieces, Xiao had spent a lot of manpower and money.

Occasionally, they would have some blood conflict with the Shanhai City intel organizations. The battle in the darkness was always incredibly cold and merciless. As everyone was nameless, it was even crueler.

Now, the Lord wanted to activate all of these hidden chess pieces, so Xiao was naturally worried about it.

Chun Shenjun sighed, "We are only doing this as we have no choice. If we do not do it, we cannot succeed."

In truth, even if he activated all of them, Chun Shenjun still was not confident about winning.

"Since we are going to try, let's go all out." Chun Shenjun was not a person who did not dare to take a gamble.

Xiao nodded his head with a serious expression.

"I understand; I will prepare everything well." Intel was a strategic goal of the territory. Since the Lord had already made his decision, Xiao would naturally follow it resolutely.

During the next three days, with the workings of Chun Xiao, the two City-States, especially the number of voices in Xiangnan City-State that opposed giving up Guilin Prefecture, suddenly became more louder and much more common.

The situation became blurrier and blurrier.

With that, Caiyun Zinan was all the more unwilling to take a stand, and even West Gate Big Official and the others became uncertain.

Because of Xiao, the situation that was slowly becoming clear was becoming more uncertain. A layer of fog hovered over these two City-States, making it hard for one to see what was going on within.

The huge show in Nanjiang slowly attracted the attention of everyone in China.

Players that understood what was going on in the inside knew that this was a battle between Shanhai City and Pill Sun City. However, the two City-States that were a part of the situation did not know that they were the chess pieces.

Only the outcome would reveal the superior party.

It seemed like Pill Sun City had the advantage but everyone knew that Shanhai City was yet to strike out.

The truth was exactly that.

10th month, 28th day, Guiping Pass.

Shanhai City was prepared to give them some medicine to cure the uncertainty of the Xiangnan City-State.

The following were the words of Leopard Legion Corps Marshal Han Xin, "The enemies are a group of worthless creatures. If we do not hit them where it hurts, they would not know the situation that they are facing."

On this day, the 1st legion of the Leopard Legion Corps officially moved toward Guiping Pass.

The P1 Type Cannons that were used to attack Xuanwu Pass had already been transported over. The huge army did not even bother to hide their tracks, traveling casually on the mountain path.

The ones defending Guiping Pass was the Alliance Army of the Xiangnan City-State; they had a total of 50 thousand troops. The defending general was the overall commander of the Guiping Prefecture Alliance Army; it was the warring states General Li Mu.

And within Guiping Prefecture, behind the Guiping Pass, Li Mu also planned 30 thousand reserve troops to help out at any moment. The number of troops in the three passes and the 30 thousand reserve forces added up to 150 thousand.

When Li Mu received the news, he sent out big words that he was going to bury the Leopard Legion Corps in the valley.

Speaking of which, Li Mu was one of the heaviest contributors to them taking down Guilin Prefecture. To the Shanhai City Army, especially to the Leopard Legion Corps, he was definitely a sworn enemy.

The pinnacle battle between Han Xin and Li Mu attracted the eyes of everyone.

It would be much harder for Shanhai City to take down Guiping Pass compared to Xuanwu Pass.

It was not because of how dangerous the pass was, or how majestic or how well built it was. It was only because Guiping Pass had a mountain path that could not be considered large and a large army could not fit on it.

This was the epitome of a land that was easy to defend and hard to attack.

To the attacking side, this was a land of death. Even if one sent many troops over, if the defenders took a rational and smart defense route, all of the attacking side's attempts would fall.

Hence, Li Mu's big words were not without reason.

In truth, if he did not have P1 Type Cannons, Han Xin pretty much would not have any confidence in taking down Guiping Pass. The Leopard Legion Corps had been housed in Withered Flower Stronghold for close to a year, yet they did not even think about attacking Guiping Pass. Their lack of action was not without reason.

Han Xin's title of War Immortal meant that he was good at grasping the situation and definitely was not a reckless person.

Apart from the P1 Type Cannon, Han Xin had made other preparations.

Taking down Guilin Prefecture was part of the military strategy for the second half of the 3rd year. It was a strategic goal that Shanhai City definitely must accomplish.

Regarding this matter, the various departments of the Military Affairs Bureau all wrote various plans to solve the scenarios that could crop up.

In the words of the Monarch, "It's best if Guilin Prefecture could be taken back peacefully. If it cannot, we can just start war. Hence, the Leopard Legion Corps has to make preparations to start a war."

To take down Guiping Pass, Han Xin had spent a lot of effort and time thinking of ideas.At 10 AM, the 1st legion of the Leopard Legion Corps proceeded on the mountain path.

Walking at the front of the Leopard Legion Corps 1st legion was their 1st division, which was the Heavy Armored Mountain Barbarian Infantry Division.

In terms of hatred toward Li Mu, nobody could compare to the mountain barbarian soldiers.

During the battle at the pass a year ago, the ones defending Xuanwu Pass and Guiping Pass was the 1st independent Mountain Barbarian Division led by the young mountain barbarian general, Shihu.

In that battle, the entire independent division was nearly wiped out, and they did not even get a call sign for their division.

Hence, the mountain barbarian soldiers held a deep hatred toward Li Mu and the Alliance Army that he led. Not being able to join in the Battle of Xuanwu Pass already made the mountain barbarian soldiers feel extremely unhappy.

Now that they finally had a chance to face off against Li Mu's Alliance Army, the blood of all the mountain barbarian soldiers boiled.

Just at this moment, the sounds of horse hooves rang in front of them.

Turning a corner, a cavalry appeared. Upon closer inspection, it was the vanguard sent to scout ahead.

"Emergency report, the enemy is sneak attacking!"

The cavalry was panicking; he swung the flag that represented danger in his hand.

When the 1st division Major General Liao Kai saw this signal, he immediately ordered, "Stop the advance!"

Before Liao Kai could step up to ask him what exactly was happening, a sharp arrow shot through the air and pierced the chest of the vanguard. He fell off his horse, seemingly devoid of life.

Along with the sharp arrow were even louder horse hooves sounds.

The rumbling caused the ground to shake, dust flew up, and the stones on the ground jumped up.

"Enemy sneak attack, form up!"

Instinctively, Liao Kai gave emergency orders.

The well trained mountain barbarian warriors immediately formed up on the mountain path, pointing their shields forward.

Before they could stabilize their footing, the enemy cavalry swept toward them like a hurricane.

"What a Li Mu!"

He truly was special, sending troops to attack when the Leopard Legion Corps was still travelling. Such a strategy where the defending troops started the attack was totally unheard of.

Li Mu's plan was rather simple; he wanted to destroy the enemy cannons while they were still transporting them.

His actions were also to send a warning to the enemy.

Regarding the fall of Xuanwu Pass, Li Mu had conducted some rather detailed research. He had been thinking of ways to break the cannons in the enemy's hand.

Such a sneak attack was just one of his bold ideas.

As for the outcome, only time would tell.

For Li Mu to destroy the cannon whilst they were travelling was pretty much an impossible task. With Han Xin's ability, he naturally would place the cannons in the safest center of the troops. How would he give the Alliance Army a chance?

But the warning did succeed.

Even Han Xin did not expect that the Alliance Army would attack at such a time.

When the 1st division stopped, the troops behind them were shocked and confused.

Just at this moment, killing shouts spread out from the front.

"What's happening?"

In the middle of the troops, Han Xin called over the messenger.

"Commander, the front troops have suffered a sneak attacked by the enemy cavalry, and they are defending with their lives."

"Sneak attack?" Han Xin was astonished, but he could roughly guess the enemy's intentions, "What a guy, he probably is here to show his superiority."

"Send orders to the 1st division, take down the enemy." Han Xin ordered decisively.

Han Xin naturally had a lot of confidence in the Mountain Barbarian Division.

Luckily, the 1st division was at the forefront. If it was a normal Infantry Division, they would definitely be in chaos.

Han Xin knew some things about Li Mu.

Speaking of which, Li Mu could be considered Han Xin's senior. This Warring States general had gotten famous during the war against Xiongnu. In the end, he conquered the land and became one of the top generals of the Zhao State.

Li Mu's cavalry army was one of the top 10 armies in history.

Hence, Li Mu was extremely familiar and proficient with cavalry tactics. Based on the intel from the Military Intelligence Division, the cavalry forces under him now had the style of the Zhao Country cavalry and were exceedingly strong.

Even their weapons were the crescent knives from that time.

Within the territory, probably only Huo Qubing, that god of cavalry, could compete against Li Mu.

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Chapter 754 - Spiral-style Cavalry Tactic

The battle between Li Mu's cavalry and the Heavy Armored Mountain Barbarian Infantry Division was like a clash between the sharpest spear and the strongest shield. Especially on the narrow mountain path, it was a massive test of the technical ability of both sides.

The cavalry forces stabbed into the mountain barbarian formation like a sharp knife. With their exquisite riding skills, they made the mountainous terrain look like flat ground.

"Block!" The mountain barbarian major on the front row ordered.

With a 'Shua!' many exquisitely crafted steel shields were raised up, forming shield walls at the front. They stacked up three layers, resulting in a wall that was even half a meter taller than a horse's head.

There was a black leopard carved into the outer portion of the shield, looking cold as ice under the rays of the sun. Behind the shield, there would be a mountain barbarian who held onto a war axe in his other hand, using all his energy to hold up the shield.

As they were hurried into the battle, the entire formation process was not that smooth. If one looked closer, they would be able to see the sweat on the palms on the mountain barbarians and the popping out veins on their foreheads.

They were both nervous and excited.

'Hong!'

The high speed charging cavalry was like tanks, crashing into the mountain barbarians on the frontlines with an unstoppable aura.

The shield wall was immediately crushed. Group after group of elite war horses leaped into the air under the instructions of their riders, jumping over the collapsed shield wall.

In mid-air, the white light from the crescent knives shone as fresh blood splattered.

The mountain barbarian soldiers who could not dodge in time were either slain or crushed into a paste.

The first line of defense was broken just like that.

The attack from the cavalry was just too sudden, and the mountain barbarians did not have any time to prepare. No matter how well trained they were, they could not instantly go from a resting mode to a battle mode.

Whilst traveling, the weapons and equipment of the soldiers were all kept.

Hence, to hurriedly prepare for battle was a difficult task.

More crucially, since they were traveling on a mountain path, the frontline was not equipped with archers. One could imagine how scary it was when the enemy cavalry charged forward without the distraction and interference of archers.

Moreover, Li Mu's cavalry was truly strong.

However, the mountain barbarian warriors were still mountain barbarians.

After that early setback, the forces at the back immediately reacted.

In such a short while, an even bigger shield formation was formed. Li Mu's cavalry could feel that the resistance from the front was evidently growing stronger and stronger.

Occasionally, they would be struck from the sides by war axes.

What was even worse was that the leading cavalry general could only see closely packed mountain barbarians and could not even see any cannons.

Wanting to break through the entire mountain barbarian defense line was pretty much an impossible task.

"Retreat!"

The leading cavalry general was extremely decisive, giving up immediately.

With his order, the well trained cavalry forces immediately changed their formations, and the frontlines became the back as they returned from the path they came from.

On such a narrow mountain path, the cavalry forces could actually totally turn around. If one did not witness it personally, they would find it hard to believe.

Li Mu's cavalry was truly worthy of its fame.

In such a short while, the enemy cavalry was like a whirlwind, coming quickly and leaving quickly. All they left in their wake was a pile of corpses.

The mountain barbarians looked on at the state of the messy battlefield then gazed toward the enemy. They could only watch on as they left; there was nothing they could do about it.

Li Mu's actions were very successful if one looked at the dejected expressions of the mountain barbarian soldiers. It sent out a clear signal: the Alliance Army does not fear the attacks of the Leopard Legion Corps!

When Han Xin received the frontline report, he muttered, "We got off on the wrong foot!" This was the first time Han Xin had witnessed Li Mu's style of fighting first hand.

In this round one of their faceoff, Li Mu had taken the lead.

After the short interruption, the troops continued forward.

A small loss would not be able to decide the outcome of the entire battle.

The true battle between the two would still be decided during the battle at Guiping Pass.

At 3 PM, the vanguard forces of the 1st legion, the Heavy Armored Mountain Barbarian Infantry Division, finally arrived outside Guiping Pass, and they set up camp.

Compared to the mountain path, the land in front of the pass was far more spacious. It was a total of 30 meters wide. Even so, it was still too narrow for the huge army.

The mountain barbarians panted; they sent deadly stares toward the stronghold in front of them as they started to form up.

In an hour, the various divisions arrived at the frontlines. The entire army stretched for 10 miles, but the ones that could truly threaten the fortress was only the 1st division.

The remaining four divisions were there to just look on.

After they moved into their formations, the P1 Type Cannons were finally pushed to the front and unveiled. The moment they were shown, they were instantly guarded by the mountain barbarian soldiers.

On the city wall, Li Mu looked at the cannons in the enemy formation with a rather complicated expression.

The cavalry sneak attack had not obtained the desired results. When he got the news, Li Mu knew that he was about to face a tough task.

Now, it was time to see if the second strategy he had planned would work.As the cannons fired, the following battle scene was an exact carbon copy of what happened when the 2nd legion attacked Xuanwu Pass. Under the cannon fire, the Alliance Army in the pass had no way to fight back.

The only difference was that Han Xin ordered them to directly blow apart the Guiping Pass city gates. Under the heavy cannon fire, the giant city gates were left with many holes in them.

Han Xin was extremely sure that Li Mu would not easily give up on attacking the cannons. Hence, he would rather destroy the city gates right away than give the enemy a chance to sneak attack from it.

As expected, less than half an hour later, the Li Mu cavalry charged out once more. Compared to the last sneak attack, the scale this time was much greater, and it seemed like they had sent all they had.

The large cavalry army charged out of the wreckage of the city gates.

"Get ready!"

The moment the Li Mu cavalry showed themselves, the cannon fire immediately stopped.

If eight cannons fired at the same time, they would definitely cause damage to the cavalry. But it definitely would not stop them from charging to the front.

Although the P1 Type Cannon was modified by the No.7 Research Institute, its firing speed was still inferior to crossbows and even bows.

With such a short distance, the cannons could only fire once. How much damage could one round of cannon fire from eight cannons even cause?

At the current stage, only the infantry or more accurately put, the heavy armored infantry, could face the cavalry. Moreover, the Heavy Armored Mountain Barbarian Infantry were the best of the best.

The mountain barbarians had been lying in wait, ready for this battle; they quickly formed up in front of the cannons.

This time, they were prepared, and they were determined to make the enemy pay a blood price. After a few losses against them, the mountain barbarians hated the Li Mu cavalry.

"Come jerks, your grandfather will show you his strength!" The mountain barbarians were pumped.

Moreover, the bowmen planned by Han Xin were behind them.

This strategy was exactly the same as the one Zhang Han took. There was only one difference - Han Xin could not arrange cavalry on the sides due to space constraints.

Would a similar scene replay itself?

Han Xin looked at the Li Mu cavalry charging over, his brows locked tight. He definitely did not think that Li Mu would be so dumb to follow the strategy Yan Liang tried to use to destroy the cannons.

He definitely had a scheme.

Compared to Yan Liang, Li Mu was a strategic master.

What happened next proved that Han Xin's conjecture was correct.

After they charged out, they did not spread out following conventional tactics. Instead, they maintained their formation and moved in a narrow formation like an arrowhead.

Weirdly, after they broke through the 1st line of defense, they did not proceed. Instead, they split into two and turned toward the two wings.

The cavalry following them followed the hole that was formed and launched their second round of assault. After breaking the second line of defense, they too turned toward the two wings.

This process was repeated.

The entire cavalry force was like a drill. With lightning quick speed, they bore a hole into the mountain barbarian formation.

At the same time, the cavalry that went to the sides blocked the mountain barbarians from filling up the void and maintained this hole.

Needless to say, this strategy was designed by Li Mu specifically to destroy the cannons.

"How bold!"

The mountain barbarians in the formation hollered. Such humiliation made it feel like their dignity was being trampled on.

The mountain barbarian soldiers that reacted quickly moved toward the middle, cornering the cavalry that broke to the sides and killing them.

To cause more efficient damage, the mountain barbarians chose to give up the shields in their hands, chopping down at the legs of the horses. The moment a soldier was flung off their horse, they would be chopped into pieces.

In just a short amount of time, the Li Mu cavalry suffered heavy losses.

On the other side, the spiral-type attack tactic of Li Mu was working miraculously.

In less than 10 minutes, they had totally broken through the defensive formation. Two P1 Type Cannons were revealed in front of the cavalry.

The fate of the cannons went as expected.

Under the strikes of the cavalry, the two cannons were destroyed on the spot.

However, they still were not satisfied. The cavalry behind still wanted to follow the breach to attack the cannons on the two sides to destroy all eight of them.

Unfortunately, the strong mountain barbarians would not give them the chance.

The further they went in, the longer their formation was stretched. This meant that more and more of them were exposed. With that, the cavalry at the back was unable to spread to the sides.

Before they could even spread out, they were hacked down.

After the cavalry soldiers destroyed the two cannons, the mountain barbarians were furious to the max as they blocked up the breach from both sides.

The entire battlefield was like a pocket, and the mountain barbarian soldiers stitched up the pocket that had opened. Unknowingly, the entire cavalry army was mixed up with the mountain barbarians and tangled together.

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Chapter 755 – First Air Strike in the Wilderness

The chaotic battle in front of Guiping Pass ended with the Li Mu cavalry retreating.

After the battle, the battlefield was in tatters.

Using the spiral cavalry sneak attack tactic, Li Mu had successfully destroyed two P1 Type Cannons; this was the maximum he could do. As for the remaining six cannons, there was nothing he could do about them.

In this battle alone, he had lost four thousand cavalry.

Similarly, a full 2500 mountain barbarians would be forever buried in this land.

The spiral cavalry tactic was undoubtedly a suicidal tactic. For every 800 enemies you kill, you would lose one thousand of your own. Even so, Li Mu would be famous across the wilderness because of this battle.

Not for other reasons but simply because he had provided an idea for the wilderness armies to destroy cannons. There was finally a way to counter the Shanhai City cannons.

The prerequisite would be that one was willing to make sacrifices.

When the P1 Type Cannons showed their strength during the Battle of Xuanwu Pass, the Lords of the wilderness all felt a chill run down their spine.

Some people even said that with the existence of the P1 Type Cannon, any fortress in front of them was useless and could not block their advances.

The only way to win was to directly fight outside of the city. Conventional tactics like defending the city walls would be totally useless before the P1 Type Cannons.

Yanhuang Alliance, on the other hand, invested a lot of money into quickening their cannon technology research and development.

Now, Li Mu had given them all a different solution.

"Well played!" Han Xin could not help but clap toward Li Mu's ingenuity. His expression changed, and a light shone in his eyes, "But it will end here."

"Send the orders, continue firing!"

"Yes commander!"

'Hong! Hong! Hong!'

The cannon fire sounded once again, breaking out as they pelted Guiping Pass.

Weirdly, no matter how the cannons shot at them, there was no reaction from atop the city wall. Despite an entire half an hour of cannon fire, Guiping Pass remained totally silent.

"Commander, did the enemy forces retreat?" The deputy general asked.

He was obviously worried that the enemy had chosen the same tactic as the one at Xuanwu Pass.

Han Xin shook his head and said confidently, "That's impossible. Guiping Pass is the last barrier, and the moment they retreat, they would be giving up Guilin Prefecture."

"Then what should we do?"

"The enemy has obviously given up on city defense; they are ready to fight us inside the city. Send the orders for the cannons to aim into the pass and clear out everything. Use the 1st division as the vanguard with the 2nd division helping to attack. Remind them to be careful in case there's a trap."

Han Xin had a whole new understanding of Li Mu's craftiness. He only gave up the city wall defense because he had no choice, and it was a truly smart decision.

As they put it, one would only make gains if they were willing to give up something.

Furthermore, even if they fought inside the city, the Alliance Army still held the advantage.

Li Mu's plan was smart, but it was also relatively risky. The moment they did not defend well in the pass, the entire Guiping Pass might just fall just like that.

Leading the wolf into the room will expose one to the risk of getting eaten.

Reality proved that Li Mu had prepared heavily for this battle, no wonder he dared to spread those big words before the battle.

The moment the 1st division entered the stronghold, a shocking scene greeted them. Apart from the region near the city walls that were in ruins, every other area was modified into a concentration of traps.

The Alliance Army used the streets, houses, and other buildings as a foundation for modification, setting up numerous traps. Barricades and arrow towers were small matters. On the streets, there were massive holes and many hidden crossbows on the roofs.

Silently, many bowmen lay on the two sides of the streets.

If they really attacked like this, they would suffer heavy casualties.

"Men, report the situation to the commander." Liao Kai was not going to take such rash action.

"Yes general!"

When Han Xin received the news, he did not know whether to laugh or cry.

"Is there really a need to do that?"

Han Xin was speechless. How stubborn must one be to go so far?

The trap that Li Mu set up could only slow down their attacks, and it was only temporary. It could not change the outcome of the battle and obtain any decisive advantages.

The diplomatic attacks launched by Shanhai City had already caused the mental strength of both City-States to wane. Taking down Guiping Pass was just to send a signal and to increase the chips in their hands.

Who knew that Li Mu would be stubborn to such a level?

"Does he truly want to drag both armies into a total war?" Han Xin had nothing to say.

As a God General, Han Xin knew more than fighting wars. He knew how to think from a larger perspective. Hence, he knew the strategic goal for attacking the pass, so he was not going to make too heavy sacrifices for nothing.

"It seems like we can only use our ultimate card! Send down the order for the Flying Squad from Withered Flower Stronghold to lay waste to Guiping Pass early tomorrow."

"Yes commander!"

The purple magnetic ohlite that Ouyang Shuo wore could give birth to one blue and two green magnetic ohlite every month. The green magnetic ohlite could already lower the flying devices.

Since he had left Atlantis, Ouyang Shuo already had three blue and six magnetic ohlite. These were all used to create a Flying Squad.

When Zheng He led the voyage squadron back to Gilbratar Port, Ouyang Shuo had instructed him to purchase 12 flying devices from Gaia.

After the Battle of Red Cliff ended, these 12 were transported to a secret base in Lianzhou Basin. The Military Affairs Bureau had recruited the first batch of pilots to be trained in the air force base.

Two months had passed, and this Flying Squad could finally show themselves in the wilderness. Their first showing was chosen to be at the north border battlefield.

During the Battle of Xuanwu Pass, Han Xin had requested to borrow the Flying Squad. The Military Affairs Bureau considered the needs of the battle and agreed.

However, the battle had proceeded rather smoothly, so the Flying Squad did not need to show themselves.

At this moment, their time had finally arrived.

Before they reached the frontlines, Han Xin ordered the 1st and 2nd division to back out of the pass, officially signaling the end of the first day of battle.

That night, the 1st legion camped in the wilderness.10th month, 19th day, morning.

Welcoming the morning sun, the defending soldiers who were still deep in sleep were woken up. Before they could even react, specially modified burning bombs were dropped from the skies and split apart.

These were a type of 'bomb' specially researched and developed by the No.7 Research Institute for the flying devices. Naturally, it could not be compared to the bombs in real life, but they were easy to carry.

A flying device could carry 10 of these and each one was enough to light up an entire building.

The Flying Squad formed from nine flying devices had thrown all their burning bombs into the pass in a short 10 minutes before returning.

After they returned to Withered Flower Stronghold to resupply, they launched their next round of attacks.

Although these bombs were not as powerful as the ones in real life, it was enough to burn barricades, arrow towers, wooden buildings, and more.

As they did not have any aiming tools, and the newly trained flying squad was not that good at this yet, this was all experience-based. Naturally, it was a total mess, and their bombs fell everywhere.

If a modern officer saw their display, all of them would be removed from their posts.

Even so, it was enough to terrify an ancient army like the Alliance Army. The psychological blow was unprecedented.

There were some lucky shots that caused the soldiers laying in ambush in some of the hay stacks to be burned.

Since such an attack method had never been used before, the entire alliance panicked. The flames were like stars, shining bright all over, a truly majestic sight.

"Extinguish the fire, quickly!"

A proper army instantly became a firefighting squad.

Li Mu patrolled the cities, and his face was scarily gloomy. He did not expect that apart from cannons, the enemy would have such an unheard of weapon.

This time, Li Mu had totally lost confidence in the battle.

Before the troops regained their composure, the second round of attacks arrived. This time, the Flying Squad was much more accurate.

The fire that had not been put out blazed once more.

When the Alliance Army soldiers saw this situation, they really wanted to cry.

These assaults happened three times. Soon, it was already noon.

The Flying Squad used this mission as a training exercise, with Guiping Pass as a live target. They threw down the flaming bombs and gave their enemies a nightmare.

The endless bombing crushed their mental strength.

To make matters worse, the fires grew stronger and stronger; it looked like it could not be extinguished. If they continued to stay here, they truly would perish.

"General, let's retreat!" The deputy general said carefully, "Our entire army might revolt if don't give the order."

In truth, the reason why the Alliance Army could hold on till now was because of Li Mu. It was his prestige that saved them from collapsing on the spot.

Even so, there was a limit to how long they could hold on.

Li Mu said bitterly, "I know. Let's retreat!"

Their loss was not a loss in battle.

As a result, he felt even more annoyed. Now, he truly felt how strong Shanhai City was, and it was not just a military gap.

A sense of helplessness rose up in his heart. He had spent so much effort to think of new tactics but all of that could not compare to one round of bombing.

Li Mu felt that after he went back, he needed to catch up on his knowledge.

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Chapter 756 – Taking Back Guilin Prefecture

Along with Li Mu ordering his troops to retreat, the Battle of Guiping officially ended.

The first appearance of the Shanhai City Flying Squad had stunned the wilderness, making everyone feel a chill run down their spine.

When Han Xin led the 1st legion into the Guiping Pass, he only found a deserted city. All the buildings inside were buried in an ocean of fire and were in ruins.

Broken walls and leftover buildings were there for everyone to see.

One could occasionally see charred corpses of Alliance Army soldiers who failed to retreat in time. Luckily, there were no commoners living in the pass, or else it would be a total tragedy.

After taking down Guiping Pass, all that stood in front of them was a vast plain.

Military experts and advisors once again concluded that under the cooperation of both the P1 Type Cannon and the Flying Squad, there was no city in the wilderness that could defend against the Shanhai City Army.

The wilderness was totally silent.

Unknowingly, Shanhai City's technology level had reached a step higher than other territories.

"If we do not catch up, we will never be able to lift our heads!" Di Chen tried his best to convince the members of the Yanhuang Alliance to set up a common research fund to share all their technology and data they had.

At the same time, this was the first time Di Chen and the others had turned their eyes to the world outside of China. If they wanted to break the technological bottleneck, without a base of western technology, it was useless no matter how many top scientists they had.

The restriction of the technological tree was like a curse.

During the silence, a technological battle was slowly taking place. In this battle, the people who fell behind would lose their chance to be an overlord of the wilderness.

The butterfly effect caused by Ouyang Shuo was slowly turning into a storm.As the battle came to an end, the ripples continued.

Li Mu led his troops and retreated into Guilin Prefecture. After joining up with the 30 thousand defending forces, he reported the specific details of the battle and awaited further instructions.

The two City-States that had hidden powers lurking, upon learning that Guiping Pass had fallen, ended up in total chaos. Combined with the effects of the two envoys sent out by the Honglu Temple, it caused even more waves.

Persuasion, assassination, betrayal, schemes, and more occurred in the two City-States. Under the night sky, solely the rounds of battle between the Shanhai Guards and Xiao numbered no less than seven.

The Lords of the two City-States were all wrapped up in this chaotic whirlpool, unable to pull themselves out. Between war and peace, between Shanhai City and Pill Sun City, they had to make a choice.

The first to give up was still Chuanbei City-State.

The fall of Guiping Pass meant that they had lost their barrier. Guilin Prefecture was like a defenseless lady that was right there for the taking. It could be invaded at any moment.

What was worse was that the Alliance Army housed in Weiwu Pass could be attacked by the Shanhai City army at any moment. They had already lost 26 thousand troops in the Battle of Xuanwu Pass, and they could not take any more such losses.

11th month, 1st day, without consulting Xiangnan City-State, Chuanbei City-State pulled out their troops housed in Weiwu Pass back into Chuanbei Province.

The army did not even stop in Guilin Prefecture, directly returning to the Chuanbei Province border.

The Guilin Prefecture situation was becoming clearer and clearer.

The retreat of the Alliance Army meant that Chuanbei City-State had totally given up on Guilin Prefecture. The truth was just that. As the army left, the officials in the prefecture belonging to Chuanbei City-State also left.

The relevant personnel and resources were all moved out of Guilin Prefecture in a short time.

Chuanbei City-State did not go too far; they only took the important items and people. They did not burn the land or take all the people.

With that, they did Shanhai City a huge favor in the future running of Guilin Prefecture.

The message sent out by the actions of Chuanbei City-State could not be any clearer. They were not willing to have such a bad relationship with Shanhai City and hoped that they could come to a good trade agreement.

When the news spread, everyone was shocked.

The sudden allegiance of Chuanbei City-State caused the originally unsettled Xiangnan City-State to crack apart.

The Lords who supported Shanhai City had already sent out word that if the City-State did not agree to move out of Guilin Prefecture, they would leave themselves.

The disbandment of the City-State was imminent.

At such a time, Caiyun Zinan, who had been keeping silent, had no choice but to stand out and personally meet the envoy of Shanhai City. He agreed to leave Guilin Prefecture and come to an agreement with Shanhai City.

To protect and maintain a complete City-State was Caiyun Zinan's bottom line.

The moment the City-State fell apart, Xiangnan Province would not have any ability in future wars. They would either be occupied by Shanhai City or become the puppets of Yanhuang Alliance.

With Caiyun Zinan's agreement, combined with the fact that Chuanbei City-State had already retreated, the chess pieces that Chun Shenjun had buried were all rendered useless.

The City-States backing out of Guilin Prefecture was going to happen.

If they tried to hold on or even declare war, it would be like throwing an egg at a stone. Without the support of other allies, they would not be able to stand a chance.

The Honglu Temple, Black Snake Guards, and the Shanhai Guards worked together to utilize all sorts of methods to remove and eradicate the chess pieces buried by Chun Xiao.

In the end, there were only three or four stubborn fellows left who were unable to cause any problems.

The only thing they could do was kill people and sow chaos when they left Guilin Prefecture.

Chun Shenjun's actions were a display of his pettiness. He had already lost and still did such things, becoming a huge joke in the wilderness.

With that, Chun Shenjun grew even more furious.

Pill Sun City, Lord's Manor.

Chun Shenjun pointed at Xiao's nose and asked, "Damn it, who revealed the news?" The prideful Chun Shenjun was furious when he became the joke in the wilderness for no reason.

"I'm checking." Xiao was really calm. This was not the first time that Chun Shenjun had vented his anger.

It was okay once one got used to it.

"Have you found anything?" Chun shenjun's anger still had not passed.

Xiao said, "There are clues to suggest that the intel organizations from Shanhai City have fabricated rumors to spoil our reputation."Chun Shenjun was stunned, and his face turned totally red.

What was this called? Carrying a rock and smashing one's own foot.

Chun Shenjun wanted to cry out; he had brought this onto himself. If he knew that this would happen, he would not have tried so hard.

"Ok, ok, go down!"

Looking at Xiao, Chun Shenjun felt annoyed. The thing he found out was totally useless.

"Yes my Lord!"

Like a gust of wind, Xiao disappeared into the shadows.

In the huge trading room, only Chun Shenjun remained. After a short while, he muttered, "Scoff, even if you reconcile with them, Qiyue Wuyi, I will not let you off."

"Didn't you so magnanimously allow Xiangnan City-State to use your ocean trade channel? Then I'll use that shell to sneakily trade. Let's see who wins and who loses."

In terms of business, Chun Shenjun was the true expert. He had been worrying about his products not being sold. With the ocean trading route, he could naturally earn big bucks.

Just thinking about it, Chun Shenjun felt delighted, and the depressed atmosphere was swept aside.

11th month, 5th day, Guilin Prefecture.

On this day, the two City-States had totally left Guilin Prefecture. They returned this strategic zone that they spent so much to build up back to Shanhai City, accepting the olive branch that Shanhai City had handed to them.

Matters regarding the Guilin Prefecture had been totally settled.

A year ago, probably no one would have expected this to happen. The way Shanhai City solved this would become a classic case study in wilderness ruling and became something all experts studied.

Shanhai City had combined military strength, diplomacy, and their technology to take back the prefecture without taking much loses, a truly genius act.

There was so much in it for other Lords to learn from.

Anyone in the inside could understand that the military acts and envoys were all for show.

The true reason was Shanhai City's immense strength. It was because they had enough military strength to settle Guilin Prefecture that gave Honglu Temple a lot of space to work with.

If other Lords tried it, who would care about them?

If not, why would people say that weak countries had no diplomacy?Ouyang Shuo instructed the Leopard Legion Corps to take charge before the officials from Nanjiang Governor-General House arrived.

The deeper layer of meaning was for them to clean out Guilin Prefecture. After all, the two City-States had run it for a year, so who knows how many spies they had hidden.

No one would truly believe that they had pulled everyone out.

Apart from the remnants of the two City-States, Ouyang Shuo did not forget that Guilin Prefecture was the planned escape route of Taiping Country. Hence, there was the hidden evil of that religion to deal with.

How would one be at ease before removing them?

Apart from military operation, the ones in the dark were also really important. The Military Intelligence Division, Shanhai Guards, and the Black Snake Guards worked together once more, targeting different groups to investigate all of them.

In this year, the three intel organizations had not stopped their infiltration of Guilin Prefecture. All the people or groups who were on their blacklist became the target of this operation.

These people were naturally removed before Ouyang Shuo arrived in Guilin Prefecture. When Ouyang Shuo arrived, it would be to bribe and persuade people.

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Chapter 757 - Guilin Governor

11th month, 6th day, Ouyang Shuo finished his tour of the three prefectures in Lingnan and set off toward Guilin Prefecture. As the roads they used were all official paths, their speed was really quick.

In three days, Ouyang Shuo and his group reached Chiyou City.

In the 10th month of last year, the Shanhai City army had crushed the Chiyou Army at the border of Wuzhou Prefecture, slaying Chiyou. Ouyang Shuo had awakened the bloodline and was also crowned as the Barbarian King.

Wuzhou during that period of time was not peaceful, and there was a strong animosity around. The mountain barbarian nobles had enjoyed too many privileges, and there were too few humans in the prefecture. The economy was totally backward, truly a mess of a place.

Fan Zhongyan was appointed under those circumstances, and he moved from his role of Administration Director to help Ouyang Shuo run Wuzhou Prefecture.

A year had passed and Wuzhou Prefecture was now totally different.

During his entire journey here, Ouyang Shuo saw Han people and mountain barbarians coexisting peacefully. When he went past some counties, he even saw mountain barbarian men marrying Han ladies.

Wuzhou Prefecture was one of the first places that the mulberry and silkworm breeding strategy was pushed out to. On both sides of the roads, one could see mulberry trees.

Even the mountain barbarians accepted the farming culture of the Han Race and learned how to grow mulberry trees and breed silkworms.

Wuzhou Prefecture made use of the 100 thousand mountains to promote the medicinal herb industry. Based on the report from the Industry and Development Planning Department, Wuzhou Prefecture had become the biggest provider of herbs to the Medical Department.

For the territory to push out basic healthcare, Wuzhou Prefecture played a huge role in the matter.

The people were well off, and the place was really orderly and peaceful.

All things considered, Fan Zhongyan had done really well. He was like a magician, using just a year to bring about such amazing change.

The importance of civil servants to a territory could be seen from Fan Zhongyan.

For Shanhai City to successfully consolidate their power in just half a year, a lot of it had to do with the various governors.

Hence, Ouyang Shuo naturally wanted to stay a day when he passed Wuzhou Prefecture. Apart from seeing Fan Zhongyan, Ouyang Shuo also needed to deal with some mountain barbarian matters.

Ouyang Shuo had not been doing his duty as a Barbarian King, only coming to Chiyou City for a second time after so long.Chiyou City, Lord's Manor.

Ouyang Shuo inspected the life of the people under the accompaniment of Fan Zhongyan. No matter where he walked, it caused a huge frenzy as many swarmed the streets.

In Chiyou City, this Barbarian King had an unusually high prestige. To the mountain barbarians, the return of their king was a hugely important day.

Making use of the free time, Ouyang Shuo also met all the officials in the prefecture house to motivate and thank them. Based on the words of Administration Director Xiao He, the officials sent out from Wuzhou Prefecture could be ranked in the top three in the territory.

Out of the hundreds of officials chosen to go to Lingnan Prefecture, fifty came from Wuzhou Prefecture.

Just by thinking for a while, one would know that this was because of Fan Zhongyan, the Ex-Administration Director. In terms of developing talent, Fan Zhongyan was truly exceptional.

At noon, Ouyang Shuo accepted the feast invitation by a few of the medical herb groups. These herb groups were extremely rich and were giants amongst the territory herb organizations.

They could single handedly decide the prices of herbs in the market.

Ouyang Shuo naturally needed to give some face to these gods of fortunes.

In the afternoon, Ouyang Shuo listened to the prefecture reports. A total of two hours of this was a huge torture. After which, Ouyang Shuo took time to personally talk to Fan Zhongyan.

In the reading room, Fan Zhongyan was really emotional.

This was no surprise as Ouyang Shuo had praised Fan Zhongyan and the territory so much during the prefecture report. It was a huge honor for civil servants like Fan Zhongyan to gain the recognition of the Monarch.

"Xiwen, do you have any thoughts of changing your environment?" Ouyang Shuo's words were astonishing.

On the way here, Ouyang Shuo had been contemplating about the choice of Guilin Prefecture Governor. Xiao He had also sent a letter to ask him to make a decision soon so that Guilin Prefecture would be able to get up and running.

The first person Ouyang Shuo had decided on was now at Xingzhou Prefecture. He was at such a crucial place now. Naturally, Ouyang Shuo could not ask Pei Mo to return.

Thinking about it, he could only choose from other sources.

Guilin had a truly important strategic location that even exceeded that of Lingnan Province's Shaozhou Prefecture. It was also under the rule of the two City-States for a year, which made the entire situation extremely complicated.

Hence, Xiao He recommended that it was best to choose from the current governors.

Ouyang Shuo supported his suggestion. Although the two City-States had come to an agreement with Shanhai City, the friendliness on the surface could not hide the hidden workings beneath.

Ouyang Shuo's trip was also to sign agreements with the City-States.

Even Chuanbei City-State, which was first to accept the olive branch, did not return to their territories but remained at the border in the south.

The meaning within did not need to be voiced.

The two City-States were naturally wary toward Shanhai City. Everyone was clear that the so-called reconciliation was just a power play forced by circumstances.

In the future, any movement would cause Guilin Prefecture to become a battlefield. To say that Guilin was the pillar of the north of the territory was not an exaggeration.

Such a strategic land naturally needed a strong governor to work with the Leopard Legion Corps to make relevant battle preparations and defenses.

Fan Zhongyan, Tian Wenjing, and Bao Shuya; these three experienced governors naturally entered Ouyang Shuo's field of sight. Hence, Ouyang Shuo needed to make a decision and choose one out of the three.

Without a doubt, Fan Zhongyan was a good choice.

The model governor of the Qing Dynasty Tian Wenjing was similarly a suitable choice. Speaking of which, he was the first governor of the territory, the one with the most experience and ability.

The huge Qiongzhou Prefecture was ran really well by Tian Wenjing.

Relying on shipbuilding, salt, wood, and spice industries, Qiongzhou Prefecture became one of the most prosperous prefectures. Its income was even higher than Lianzhou Prefecture, which was just disbanded and second to only Shanhai City.

The rise of ocean trade would push Qiongzhou Prefecture to a whole new level.

Under Tian Wenjing's coordination, the Li Race people walked out from the mountains and entered the plains. As the negotiator with the mountain barbarians, Tian Wenjing's ability to deal with natives was even stronger than Fan Zhongyan.

Apart from those two, Xunzhou Prefecture Governor Bao Shuya was also a suitable choice. The person that Xiao He recommended was Bao Shuya.

Before becoming the Xunzhou Prefecture governor, Bao Shuya was the Leizhou Prefecture Governor. The Xunzhou he took over was similarly a tough task, and he was in charge of a place worst hit by Taiping Country.

In less than half a year, he had basically cleaned out the mess left by Taiping Country. Furthermore, Xunzhou Prefecture was the neighbor of Guilin Prefecture, so Bao Shuya understood the local situation and had a great understanding with the Leopard Legion Corps too.

These two points were the reason why Xiao He recommended Bao Shuya.

The three of them were all suitable choices, so choosing one out of them was really difficult.

Only when he reviewed Wuzhou Prefecture did Ouyang Shuo come to a decision and pick Fan Zhongyan. Not because of other reasons, just that out of the three prefectures, only Wuzhou did not need Fan Zhongyan present anymore.

Wuzhou Prefecture was already on the right path without any huge problems. Any governor would be able to run it well.

On the contrary, be it Qiongzhou Prefecture or Xunzhou Prefecture, they both needed their governors. The rise of ocean trading in Qiongzhou had just started, and it was at a crucial stage.

Xunzhou Prefecture held the role of connecting Shanhai City to Chuannan Province and was also the support of the Leopard Legion Corps.

Just based on these few points, Fan Zhongyan was the victor in this small race.When Fan Zhongyan heard Ouyang Shuo's question, his heart could not help but shake. If it was not thanks to his calm temperament, he would have immediately showed his excitement.

It was not that Fan Zhongyan had any problems with his current position, but the role of Guilin Prefecture Governor involved too many things.

Fan Zhongyan had heard of the difficult task of running Guilin Prefecture.

He was the first Administration Director of the territory and used to lead all the civil servants. He heard that when merging with Kunming Prefecture, the Lord had raised up the idea of a Provincial Governor.

Out of the three provinces, the Yunnan Provincial Governor position definitely belonged to Bai Hua. The remaining two were tempting options.

Especially the Provincial Governor of Chuannan Province, it made one a Zhili Viceroy, one of the most important Provincial Governors.

More recently officials had spread rumors that the future Chuannan Province Governor would be chosen from the various Prefecture Governors.

Hence, the appointment of Guilin Prefecture Governor was really important.

The situation was really obvious, Guilin Prefecture played a key role in Chuannan Province; if one could rule it well, it would be a huge testament to their ability.

Hence, one would hold a huge advantage in the battle for the position of viceroy.

Some people even spread rumors that the person the Lord chose for Guilin Prefecture Governor would become the best choice for Chuannan Province Governor.

No matter how calm Fan Zhongyan was, his heart definitely shook when he heard those rumors. It was not that he was greedy for power, but it was sort of an innate part of being born in the Song Dynasty.

"Monarch, please arrange for me!" Fan Zhongyan said.

Ouyang Shuo looked into Fan Zhongyan's eyes, deep in thought. He had obviously heard of the rumors in the territory. Shen Buhai had suggested investigating those who spread the rumors but was stopped by Ouyang Shuo.

The role of Zhili Viceroy affected the entire core of the territory, so Ouyang Shuo naturally treated it with the utmost care. Those rumors were simply too childish.

But Ouyang Shuo was happy to make use of this to cause some friendly competition between the various governors.

Hence, Ouyang Shuo did not interfere nor did he make his thoughts known.

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Chapter 758 - West Conquering Army

"Since that's the case, Xiwen, make preparations for the handover and travel toward Guilin Prefecture!"

At the same time as he chose the Guilin Governor, Ouyang Shuo also chose the replacement of Fan Zhongyan. He was the current Deputy Zhen An Prefecture Governor -Cui Shousi.

Cui Shousi was a member of the Cui Family and was the second member of the Cui Family that became a civil servant of Shanhai City after Cui Yingyu. He had previously taken the roles of Country Magistrate and Prefect and also helped Mulan Yue run Zhen An Prefecture for so long.

Now, it was time for his promotion. Officially becoming a governor meant that he was also the first native governor developed by the territory.

If nothing surprising happened, this would be the maximum that Cui Shousi could go. After all, compared to historical civil servants like Fan Zhongyan, there was still a gap in their ability.

At the same time, Cui Shousi's promotion helped to balance the negative effects brought about by Song Wen's promotion. The battle between the Cui and Song Families had now reached equilibrium.

"Yes Monarch!"

Fan Zhongyan got up and bowed respectfully. Inside, he could not help but feel excited. For him to be able to become the governor of Guilin Prefecture was undoubtedly a significant win in his journey.

How sharp was Ouyang Shuo? Especially after training the Yellow Emperor Internal Cultivation Technique, Ouyang shuo's perception of human emotions had reached a whole new level.

To be more specific, he could touch a person's heart.

Naturally, he would not be able to know what you were thinking but any small emotion would he caught by him.

Hence, ever since Ouyang Shuo returned from the voyage, the officials of Shanhai City all became more careful when they reported to him.

The reason within was that their actions and thoughts could not escape the eyes of the Lord. How could one not feel terrified about that?

Without a doubt, this was also a special talent of a Monarch.

Following which, the two of them talked until dinner time before their conversation came to an end.

7 PM, Ouyang Shuo went to the small courtyard.

The cool breeze blew across, and the air was filled with the scent of osmanthus, making one drunk from the scent. Chiyou City at night was not as hot as during the day, and the breeze shook one's brain.

Such a night was perfect for talking to other tribe members.

His schedule in the day was just too busy, and Ouyang Shuo did not have any time to meet the mountain barbarian tribe leaders. Only at night did he invite the four most influential ones to his little courtyard.

As this was not an official meeting, Ouyang Shuo instructed them to bring wine and dishes. The specially made osmanthus cake was soft and delicious while the territory specialty Three Flowers Wine was mellow.

Talking about the Three Flowers Wine, it was truly amazing.

As it had gotten famous early on in the imperial cities, the current Three Flowers Wine was one of the most popular wines in the wilderness. Especially after wine masters modified it, the taste became more mellow and purer, becoming a representative item of Shanhai City.

After taking down Guilin Prefecture, they would heavily promote the wine industry. After all, the water there was a lot better than the water of Lianzhou Basin.

Wine produced locally in Guilin would definitely get one drunk and addicted.

The pavilion only had a round table. Ouyang Shuo sat with the four old men beside him. The mountain barbarian tribe was originally one that was really brutish, but they had learned all about Han Race customs by now.

When Ouyang Shuo saw that, he was stunned.

Out of the four, two of them were brothers of Chiyou who appeared with him in the wilderness, and of the remaining two, one came from 100 thousand mountains while the other came from Yunnan Province.

After becoming the Barbarian King, only then did Ouyang Shuo learn that the layout of the mountain barbarians in Nanjiang far exceeded his expectations. Apart from the traditional Chuannan Province, Lingnan Province, there was also Yunnan Province, Chuanbei Province, and the Shu lands.

Apart from the 100 thousand mountains, the Shu lands were the place with the second largest mountain barbarian population.

The mountain barbarian gathered by Chiyou mainly came from the 100 thousand mountains while a portion came from Chuanbei and Yunnan Province. However, as there was a huge distance and there was Taiping Country in the middle, there were still many mountain barbarians living in those two provinces.

"Tribe leader Mu, do you still contact the people in Yunnan?" Ouyang Shuo raised his cup and asked the tribe leader who came from Yunnan Province - Mu Yao.

"Yes, they really admire our life here."

Speaking of which, Mu Yao was filled with emotion, "Not long ago, I went to Yunnan to catch up with some of my brothers. When they heard of our life here, they all wanted to immediately move over."

"However, because the Battle of Yunnan is about to start, it is not appropriate for them to leave."

Ouyang Shuo nodded, "The Battle of Yunnan is about to begin. Can you tell your tribesmen there to prepare to help the army? When Yunnan is taken down, a good life awaits them."

"I'll definitely spread the words of the king."

"That's great."

Ouyang Shuo did not specially mention this; it was just something that had cropped up. He did not have any hopes of the mountain barbarians in Yunnan being of much help. At most, they would just be the guides of the attack.

Yesterday, Ouyang Shuo had received reports that the Guards Legion Corps 1st legion and the 2nd legion of the Dragon Legion Corp led by Shi Wanshui had reached the frontlines.

At the same time, the 2nd legion of the Guards Legion Corps and the 4th legion of the Dragon Legion Corps had been formed up. Ma, Cao Cun, Xiahou Yuan, and the other Three Kingdoms generals had already completed their studies and were on their way to meet up with their forces.

The two legions would immediately move toward the Yunnan battlefield.

If everything went well, the battle would begin at the start of the 12th month.

Based on the reports from the Black Snake' Guards, the deal between Yunnan City-State and Yanhuang Alliance had been completed. Yanhuang Alliance was truly putting in a lot, gathering 200 thousand troops to support Yunnan City-State.

Just Handan City alone had sent 60 thousand.

Chun Shenjun, whose embarrassment turned to rage due to the Guilin Prefecture incident, sent out 50 thousand.

If one considered the 200 thousand Alliance Army troops from Yunnan City-State, it was enough to go up against the Shanhai City Army. After all, out of the six legions they were sending out, two were just formed.

In terms of overall combat strength, both sides were basically on the same level.

Ouyang Shuo was guessing that the change in Guilin Prefecture was enough to make Yanhuang Alliance decide to snipe Shanhai City.

Since they acted, Fallen Phoenix City and Stone City who both did not need to act during the Battle of Lingnan would appear once more. The gift that Ouyang Shuo prepared for Yanhuang Alliance could also be given earlier than planned.

Ouyang Shuo believed that his gift would give the Yanhuang Alliance a really huge

surprise.

Gong Chengshi had also taken the initiative to contact Ouyang Shuo to say that he would move the army in Jiangchuan Province to monitor Xiangnan City-State and Pill Sun City.

As for Xunlong City, Ouyang Shuo did not have any instructions for him and left him to decide on his own.

At this point, the Yunnan battle that was about to start was not just a simple battle.

One could foresee that this battle that wrapped in millions of troops would be the pinnacle act of the 3rd year of the Gaia.

The results of this battle would directly affect the fates of the two alliances in the following year.

Guilin Prefecture had been reclaimed, Kunming Prefecture was merged into Shanhai City, and Baiqi had started to reorganize the troops. The six legions were all moved into Kunming Prefecture to await orders.

Based on the plan from the Military Affairs Bureau, the six legions would be called the West Conquering Army with Baiqi as the West Conquering Commander. Huo Qubing would be the deputy and Bai Hua would be the senior advisor.

Even the Nanjiang Governor-General House Chief Secretary was sent to the West Conquering Army as a strategist.

The command center of the Chief Secretary was located in Consonance City.

The current West Conquering Army would most likely use Kunming Prefecture as the core to spread out on all sides.

At the same time, due to Guilin Prefecture being reclaimed and Shanhai City coming to an agreement with the two City-States, the strategic need at the Withered Flower Stronghold had been reduced. The Military Affairs Bureau had ordered the 3rd legion of the Leopard Legion Corps led by Feng Yi to move west to Zhen An Prefecture.

Without a doubt, they would be the reserve force for the Battle of Yunnan.

As for Chuanbei City-State in the north, the two strong legions of the Leopard Legion Corps would be in charge. Similarly, the Leopard Legion Corps would be in charge of monitoring Xiangnan City-State.

This battle pretty much involved the entire Shanhai City Army. If they won this battle, Shanhai City would be the undoubted overlord of Nanjiang, creating a stable foundation for the establishment of the country in the 4th year of Gaia. If not, everything was just talk.

As a result, neither side would strike out easily.

Like now, the 200 thousand Yanhuang Alliance troops had already teleported to Yunnan Province. However, as for which city or which cities, no one knew.

Due to the terrifying intel ability that Shanhai City had displayed in the Battle of Lingnan, Di Chen and the others had made careful plans so that their tracks would not be found.

Even if they knew that Shanhai City had two legions that had not reached the battlefield, they still did not choose to strike.

Di Chen and the others were not fools. Kunming Prefecture had a total of four legions in it. If they struck, they would lose the geographical advantage. It would be like using your weakness to attack the enemy.

What they needed to do was to set up numerous traps in the various prefectures and wait for the Shanhai City Army to take the bait.

Hence, the initiative for this battle still lay in the hands of Shanhai City. The order to start the war would be given by Ouyang Shuo.

And where was Ouyang Shuo? He was thousands of miles away in Chiyou City, drinking Three Flowers Wine and eating osmanthus cake while talking to four old men.

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Chapter 759 - Trade Protectionism

The next morning, Ouyang Shuo and his group set off once again.

On the 11th month, 13th day, they reached Withered Flower Stronghold.

A large part of why Ouyang Shuo rushed back to Guilin Prefecture was because of Withered Flower Stronghold. A year ago, the defeat here became a humiliation that could not be wiped away in his journey as a Lord.

After the battle, Pei Mo recommended they build a stone plaque here to remind them of the disgrace.

Now that Guilin Prefecture had been taken back, it was time to reopen this page.

When they learned of the Monarch's itinerary, the soldiers from the 1st division of the 1st legion of the Leopard Legion Corps made the trip back from Guiping Pass to welcome the Lord.

Along with them was also the marshal of the Leopard Legion Corps, Han Xin. Even Zhang Han had specially returned.

On this day, the usually sunny day became really gloomy and dark. The dark clouds covered the skies, filling the land with a solemn killing intent.

The blistering heat suddenly became unusually chill.

In front of the stone plaque, Ouyang Shuo stood upright. Behind him were Han Xin, Zhang Han, and the other soldiers. Each one of the mountain barbarians stood straight like a pencil, their expressions extremely solemn.

It was totally silent as if the focus of the entire land was on Ouyang Shuo. At this moment, Ouyang Shuo's body gathered a power that could shock the heavens.

Even the winds miraculously blew around Ouyang Shuo.

When Han Xin and the others saw this, their eyes were filled with worship and respect as they could not help but bow. From Han Xin's memory, even Liu Bang did not have such a power.

If Di Chen and the others were there, their hair would probably stand on their ends. Till now, they still did not understand what kind of power supported a normal young man like Ouyang Shuo, allowing him to carry Shanhai City forward and create a huge miracle.

Letting the name of Shanhai City shock the world.

And this innate power was what Di Chen and the others lacked. If they did not understand this, they would never be able to keep up with Shanhai City or even chase up to them.

Han Xin looked up at the sky. Seeing that the time was right, he ordered, "Fire!"

In front of the stone plaque was one P1 Type Cannon. When the order to fire was given, a black cannon ball shot out, smashing the stone plaque into pieces.

As the wind blew across, the dust from the shattered stone plaque was picked up and flew into the air.

"Let's go!"

Ouyang Shuo turned around, taking the lead to move to the other side of the mountain.

On the greenish mountain slope, there were rows and rows of tombstones. These were the tombs of the mountain barbarian warriors who died during that battle; they were the most loyal soldiers that had continued to guard the Withered Flower Stronghold.

On the left of the hill there were new tombs; this time, they were those who died in the battle against Li Mu. It was another huge cluster, truly eye-catching and tragic.

With Ouyang Shuo as the witness, a memorial stone was erected here to remember the brave warriors.

Their sacrifice was not in vain!

Ouyang Shuo held onto an osmanthus flower before placing them solemnly in front of the memorial stone. This osmanthus flower was not ordinary, and it was one he had especially picked when he passed devil's slope.

The devil Chiyou was buried on devil's slope. Till this day, it was still a holy land for the mountain barbarian race. Last year, under the solemn atmosphere and killing of the wilderness, the osmanthus flowers on devil's peak had all withered.

This year was different. They all bloomed brightly.

"Brothers, Rest in peace!"

Ouyang Shuo said as he gave a deep bow.

"Bow!"

The soldiers behind Ouyang Shuo all bowed in unison.

These soldiers had tears in their eyes due to all the emotion.

The sight of the Lord bowing would forever be etched in their hearts. In the olden times, it was unimaginable for a Monarch to bow to fallen soldiers.

The shocking part of all of this was not something a person not from that time could understand.

That afternoon, Ouyang Shuo set off and left Withered Flower Stronghold. But everything he did today would be firmly remembered by the mountain barbarian race, by every soldier in the army.

11th month, 16th day, Guilin Prefecture, Bushan City.

Before Ouyang Shuo arrived in the governing area of Guilin Prefecture, the officials sent there had already arrived, and they were led by Official Ruling Department Director Zhang Tingyu.

Naturally, the administrative matters of Guilin Prefecture would temporarily be chaired by Zhang Tingyu.

With him present, the chaos from the handover of the Houses was basically calmed down. The various Yamens, including Bushan City, had already been restructured based on the Shanhai City structure.

The transitional period would follow.

Even the Garrison Division was formed by Han Xin. Half the members were from the Xunzhou Garrison Division while the other half was recruited locally.

Han Xin was not only the marshal of the Leopard Corp but the commander of the Chuannan War Zone. The four prefectures of Chuannan Province were all under his jurisdiction. Hence, regarding building the Guilin Prefecture Garrison Division, apart from the Military Affairs Bureau interfering, Ouyang Shuo did not do anything from the start.

Han Xin was even the one who recommended the person to be Major General.

Since he had confirmed the positions of the four marshals in the territory, this power was something Ouyang Shuo had to put down. He could not give them such a bright name but no power with it, right?

That would be preposterous!

What Ouyang Shuo needed to do was just perfect the system and increase surveillance. In history, many Lords tasted defeat because they were not willing to give up power, like Chu Overlord Xiang Yu.

Even during the Three Kingdoms Period that had just ended, Lu Bu could be considered a similar Lord.

Apart from the Garrison Division, the Leopard Legion Corps was also adjusted and reorganized.

During the Battle of Xuanwu Pass, the 2nd legion had captured a total of five thousand people. As Yan Liang did not want to fight, the 2nd legion basically had little to no casualties.

During the Battle of Guiping, due to Li Mu's decision to retreat and the traps blocking their way, there were basically no prisoners. The 1st legion, on the other hand, had six thousand soldiers that died, and they were all mountain barbarians.

Although there were already a lot of mountain barbarians in the army, recruiting them in such a short time was an extremely tough task. Helplessly, the Military Affairs Bureau sought Ouyang Shuo's advice and decided to use five thousand prisoners to form an independent division.

The remaining prisoners were simply sent to the Garrison Division.

As for the casualties to the mountain barbarians, they would try to fill in as many as they could. As for the numbers that could not be filled, they would just be left empty and arranged after the Battle of Yunnan ended.

Ouyang Shuo would rather lack members than lower the quality when dealing with such an elite division.The military and administrative matters of Guilin Prefecture were handled really smoothly and there was nothing for Ouyang Shuo to worry about. At most, he just needed to calm down the people along the way to Bushan City.

If he really needed to interfere, it would look bad for Zhang Tingyu and Han Xin.

Hence, Ouyang Shuo just spent a day in Bushan City before setting off. He met up with Financial Director Fan Li and moved toward the Guilin Prefecture border.

The reason he rushed here was to sign the trade deal with the two City-States. As it involved too many interests, he needed to personally take charge of it.

On the sides of the City-States, West Gate Big Official and Caiyun Zinan were similarly the representatives.

With that, this was the first time the three giants met.

It was weird talking about it. Just two month ago, during the Battle of Red Cliff, both of them had tried to sabotage Shanhai City. Just two months later, they needed to shake hands and cooperate.

Life was just so weird.

If not, why would one say that in the wilderness, there were no people who were forever enemies or forever friends?

The signing location was chosen to be an area where the three provinces connected in a small town known as Sanjiang Town.

When the agreement was signed, this place was going to be famous all around.

On the way to Sanjing Town, Fan Li reported the main terms of the trade to gain Ouyang Shuo's approval.

Shanhai City had many trade partners. Nearer to home, there was Consonance City that already merged with them, Stone City, Xunlong City, and also the West Chu Regime.

Furthermore away, there was Johor, Siam, and other ASEAN countries. Even further there was Somalia, France, Atlantis, and finally England.

These trading partners helped form Shanhai City's voyage trading network and helped make sea trading prosperous.

Hence, in terms of signing trade agreements, Shanhai City was the expert.

However, the two City-States were different, and they had special terms. The Financial Bureau had summarized the matter into three main clauses.

First, tax.

Compared to the other allies, in terms of border tax, they had to pay more. The tax was an important source of revenue for Shanhai City. Naturally, the Financial Bureau would not be soft-hearted.

In the end, based on what the Industry Division said, it was raised to 20%.

Secondly, records of trading products.

Shanhai City had different restrictions on import and export goods based on different partners. Hence, toward the two City-States, the restrictions were stricter.

The Financial Bureau basically only allowed them to sell their own territory specialties through the trade channel. As for products that were in conflict with Shanhai City, their exportation would be banned.

As for imports, it was not too strict.

This was only to protect Shanhai City's own industries such that it would not be impacted by the two City-States, so this could not be considered a really primitive 'protectionism' strategy.

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Chapter 760 - Assassinating Fan Li

11th month, 17th day, Sanjiang Town.

10 miles north of the town was a little hill. On its three faces were three different territory stone plaques, forming a triangle. This was where the three provinces met.

Three days ago, this place had been locked up.

The Leopard Legion Corps, Chuanbei City-State Alliance Army, and Xiangnan City-State Alliance Army each guarded one side, lying in wait. How was this agreement signing? One would actually think that this was a sect battle.

On the top of the hill there was a table and three wooden chairs, one in the south and two in the north. Be it the table or the chairs, they had the simplest structures so that no one could hide anything there.

At 9 AM, three groups of people came up the hill from three different directions.

From the south, there was Ouyang Shuo, who was riding Little Green. Xu Chu rode on a Qingfu Horse and followed behind, looking rather menacing and scaring everyone away.

Further behind were the Personal Guards and the Divine Martial Guards.

When they reached the foot of the mountain, Ouyang Shuo dismounted and brought Fan Li up the hill.

At the same time, West Gate Big Official and Caiyun Zinan came from each side. Behind them each followed a Lord and an official. The Lord was arranged by the City-State in charge of internal monitoring; the official was like Fan Li, the financial official who was in charge of looking through the terms of the agreement.

Ouyang Shuo smiled and took the initiative to greet them, "Lord West Gate, Lord Caiyun, please sit!" Following which, Ouyang Shuo sat on the chair in the south with Fan Li standing behind him.

West Gate Big Official and Caiyun Zinan both exchanged glances.

This was not the first time they saw the fellow before them, but it was the first time they had interacted with him. As expected, he was rather mighty, making it seem like they were guests here.

At this time, the two of them could not say much and greeted him rather stiffly before sitting down. The Lord and official that followed similarly stood behind them.

Ouyang Shuo's frowned as he felt that the Lord standing behind Caiyun Zinan was extremely nervous.

'Is it because of the occasion?' Ouyang Shuo asked himself.

He could not predict why this person was nervous and only quietly put on his guard. Regarding this agreement signing ceremony, there were many people who held bad intentions. Ouyang Shuo naturally would not let anyone break it.

"Let's begin!"

Ouyang Shuo turned to signal for Fan Li to begin; his face did not reveal that he found anything wrong.

Fan Li understood, picking up the agreements that were already prepared, he placed them on the table.

The exchange of views on the trade agreement had already begun several days ago, and the details were already set. Fan Li emphasized on the few terms that Ouyang Shuo did not have any objections to; hence, it was set.

The two City-States did not have much bargaining power. Even with the terms set, they would still be able to gain huge profits from this deal.

Who knew how many territories in the wilderness desired to work together with Shanhai City?

Apart from the safety concerns of the north border, the other reason Ouyang Shuo decided to work with them was because of his other ambitions. Since he entered the wilderness, his poisonous bug breeding strategy had not stopped.

However, the stages were different, and there were many different types.

Be it Taiping Country or Lingnan City-State, they were allowed to grow fat by Ouyang Shuo before they were harvested.

Although the process was risky, the rewards were huge. The foundations of each prefecture were decent. After a period of time, they could all provide huge profits.

At such a stage, the poisonous insect strategy was still underway. The only change was that the target had switched to the two City-States. If their territory trade was prosperous, Shanhai City would benefit when they took them down in the future.

Growing together with the neighboring territories and eventually harvesting them when they were mature was the essence of the plan.

If not, the gap between them and Shanhai City would be too huge. Even if they took the enemy down, it would take a lot of effort to run.

This was a scheme that no plan could break.

"Do any of you have any problems with the details?" Ouyang Shuo smiled and asked.

"No."

West Gate Big Official and Caiyun Zinan did not know what kind of trade agreements Shanhai City had with the other territories, so they could not tell what was different with theirs.

Even if they felt that it was unfair, they had no way to fight.

"That's great; let's sign the agreement then!

Ouyang Shuo took up the pen and was the first to sign his name.

This document was legally binding and was not a joke. If any side went against it, they would have to bear huge risks.

Such an agreement was also one that let the two City-States rest easy.

'With this, it seems like Shanhai City will not attack us.' That was what the Lords thought.

In truth, how could it be so simple?

Ouyang Shuo was not sure how the two City-States ran, but Shanhai City had several hidden pieces in both of the City-States. To create the false impression that the other party broke the contract was just too easy.

So, even if there was a legally binding trade agreement, in the eyes of smart people, it would not be a permanent protective talisman.

This was the wilderness, so where could there be true long-term peace?

Just as Ouyang Shuo was about to sign the third agreement, an accident happened.

Ouyang Shuo suddenly felt a killing aura charge toward him. What shocked him was that it was not aimed at him. Instead, it was aimed toward Fan Li who was standing behind him.

"Not good!"

Ouyang Shuo did not even think about it; he directly stood up to block the assailant.

'Peng!'

Along with the sound of a gunshot, a bullet pierced through the air and drilled into Ouyang Shuo's left shoulder. The current Ouyang Shuo had not totally stood up.

The bullet was incredibly close to entering his brain.

Ouyang Shuo immediately felt a piercing pain, and his entire left arm could not move immediately. He could clearly feel that the bullet had shot through his skin and ripped apart his flesh, nearly smashing the bones.

If it was not for the Yellow Emperor Cultivation Technique strengthening the toughness of his skin and the strength of his veins and bones, the gun would have immediately blasted his bones into powder.

With a 'Shua!', Ouyang Shuo pulled out the Chixiao Sword by his waist, the cold light glistening.

"How bold!"

Looking out, he activated the Traveling Dragon Body skill from the Cloud Dragon Nine Pattern War Boots. He turned into an afterimage and appeared right in front of the attacker and held the Chixiao Sword held by his neck.

"If you move, I'll send you to hell!" Ouyang Shuo uttered coldly.

The Lord was also a young man; he looked at the sword by his neck and did not know how to react.

Based on the plan, he was supposed to one shot Fan Li. The weapon in his hand was a specially made western gun and was a highly accurate weapon that the mastermind had spent loads of money on.

Fan Li was the Business Saint and was one of the heads of the civil servants of Shanhai City. If he was killed in such a place, Qiyue Wuyi would be furious and the agreement would definitely be called off.

An angry Qiyue Wuyi would definitely declare war on the two City-States.

Hence, the goal of the mastermind would be achieved.

This person never thought that Qiyue Wuyi's senses would be so sharp. He was able to notice such little killing intent, saving Fan Li in the nick of time.

As for destroying one of Qiyue Wuyi's arms, it would not achieve much.

To players, every kind of illness and injury could be cured. In their eyes, a Lord like Qiyue Wuyi definitely had substitute dolls with him.

Hence, they targeted Fan Li from the start. Who knew that it would be for nothing in the end?

"Since I have failed, there's nothing to say." The young Lord regained calm. Since he had accepted the mission, he was clear that no matter if he succeeded or not, there would be no place for him left in the alliance.

His way out was already planned for him by the mastermind.Only after Ouyang Shuo subdued the assassin did everyone finally come to their senses.

"What are you doing, Lin Fen?!"

Caiyun Zinan was really furious, and his eyes were blazing. The reason why he was angry was not only because of the assassination but because he felt betrayed. For a person from his City-State to take such action basically caused him to lose all face.

Seeing West Gate Big Official's gloomy expression, one would know how furious Caiyun Zinan's ally felt.

"I know what I'm doing." Lin Fen, the assassin, remained extremely calm.

"You!" Caiyun Zinan was furious and viciously said, "I'll deal with you later."

Caiyun Zinan turned toward Ouyang Shuo and sincerely said, "Lord Wuyi, I swear that this was his own actions and has nothing to do with Xiangnan City-State. As for how you want to deal with him, I will not interfere."

Caiyun Zinan only wanted to clear the misunderstanding to try and save the cooperation.

Before Ouyang Shuo even spoke, the guards and Divine Martial Guards at the foot of the mountain were furious. Xu Chu did not even think and wanted to lead the men up.

Seeing that, the Alliance Army members in the other two directions prepared to move. The huge army further away slowly moved when they received the news.

If this went wrong, it would cause a huge war.

When Ouyang Shuo saw this situation, he did not bother about Caiyun Zinan and shouted down the mountain, "Stop!"

"Monarch!" Xu Chu panicked.

Ouyang Shuo had no choice but to emphasize, "Do not come up!"

Xu Chu gritted his teeth and nodded. He looked around in high alert; he was getting ready for a huge battle.

Caiyun Zinan and West Gate Big Official also reacted and stopped their men from rushing up, hence dissolving a potential crisis.

Just thinking about it made them feel a chill in their hearts.

If things went wrong, the outcome would be catastrophic. The one behind all of this had such ill intentions.

Ouyang Shuo's shoulder was still bleeding, but he did not mind it. A smile appeared on his face. He said to Caiyun Zinan, "Lord Caiyun, do not mention it. I can see through such small tricks. I hope it does not affect our cooperation."

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