Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Chapter 1256 – The Great Wind Blows and the Clouds are Scattered
8th month, 19th day, the Great Xia Army started to move according to plan.
At 9am, the 650 thousand troops housed outside of the city teleported from Handan City to Hetao province’s Naypyidaw City. They were prepared to charge into Tibet from Hetao Province and would be the left wing of the army.
Leading this army was the former Pill Sun legion corps marshal Tian Dan.
At the same time, the 380 thousand strong Song army teleported from Xiangyang City to Dali City. They were planning to charge into Tibet from Yunnan Province and would act as the middle protection army.
Since Great Song lacked good generals, the Imperial Court especially sent Beijiang legion corps marshal Yue Fei to command this Song army. As the Beijiang legion corps still had a deputy marshal in Chen Yucheng, Yue Fei’s absence was not that important.
500 thousand Tang troops under the leadership of Li Shiji teleported from Chang An City to Chengdu. They would charge into Tibet from the Shu Lands. They would act as the main middle force of the army.
Similarly, the 500 thousand Qin troops set out from Xianyang. They were led by Wang Jian west into Xihai Province then into Tibet to act as the right wing.
Li Jing would command the two Warfighting legion corps of the northwest warzone as the reserve forces.
To make these two million troops willingly charge to the frontlines, Ouyang Shuo made it clear that whether these soldiers could enter the Great Xia Army and whether the generals could receive good appointments would depend on their performance in this battle.
The families of anyone who perished during this battle would obtain the standard Great Xia military compensation.
Ouyang Shuo even personally went to each camp to speak and said, “The four countries submitted because of the situation, and it is not the fault of any of you. You might be unwilling and unhappy, and you might want to wipe out the humiliation on the battlefield. Since that’s the case, the war of Tibet is a chance for you to prove if you’re a dragon or a worm.”
The moment they heard those words, all the soldiers felt pumped up.
In the past month, news regarding how the Imperial Court would arrange them had never stopped. The most popular rumor was that the Imperial Court wanted to disarm them.
Naturally, such rumors made them unhappy.
Especially those from Qin and Tang, who felt that they were no weaker than Great Xia’s army. However, they were unable to prove their strength in war. Truthfully speaking, the soldiers had some resentment in their hearts.
Now, the Imperial Court was giving them a chance to prove themselves.
“This is not a China internal war but a fight against an overseas army. I hope that all of you can fight valiantly and spread the honor of China. This is also the last bit of glory you will fight for your old home.” Ouyang Shuo said.
This time, the eyes of some of the soldiers teared up.
Soldiers were responsible for defending their land. As the last shield of their dynasties, they were unable to do that, making them feel really ashamed. News had it that when Qin Shihuang died, the 500 thousand Qin troops had broken down into a deafening wave of cries.
That kind of situation was enough to make anyone feel emotional.
Hence, when they learned that the Imperial Court was sending them to Tibet, the 500 thousand Qin army did not even need to think about it. Their morale was really high, and they were determined to protect their names on the Tibet battlefield.
A large portion of them were even prepared to die.
Ouyang Shuo clearly remembered the words of one of the Qin soldiers who said, “Unable to die together with the Qin king is my life’s regret. I can only throw my old body onto the battlefield to keep the honor of the Qin army.”
The Great Qin army, even if they had not appeared in the wilderness for long, still had a lot of pride and an iron backbone.
“Majestic Great Qin!” Ouyang Shuo personally held up his wine bowl and sent the soldiers on their way emotionally, “I do not want you all to die on the battlefield. I hope that all of you can spread down this spirit and merge into the Great Xia bloodline. Do not forget that we are all one entity; we have a common home, and its name is China.”
“Bottoms up!”
Ouyang Shuo drank it all before smashing the bowl onto the ground, creating a clean breaking noise.
“Bottoms up, your majesty!”
The Great Qin soldier’s eyes were watery as they all drank up and smashed their bowls onto the ground. Even Wang Jian and Wang Ben were filled with emotions.
Their ‘your majesty’ referred to both Qin Shihuang and Ouyang Shuo. Ouyang Shuo used his personal charm to win over these men to make them willingly charge to the battlefield.
The scene that day was simply too memorable and stunning to the point where Ouyang Shuo would not forget it for his entire life.
China with its five thousand years of glorious history had such iron backbone. Such fighting spirit was actually present in the blood of each and every child. As long as the country was in trouble, they would be able to show shocking ability.
To be born as a Chinese was something that Ouyang Shuo was really proud of.
…
Two million troops from four different countries, a mixed bunch. Some were prepared to valiantly fight for their past, some were afraid of war, and some were even filled with hatred toward Great Xia.
The Imperial Court had made some preparations for this group of people.
First was naturally the northwest warzone’s Eagle and Bear legion corps. They were the reserve army but were actually the supervising army and execution army.
Anyone that did not go all out would be executed.
Secondly would be their families.
Although the two million soldiers were going out to war, their families were still in the mid plains. If they dared to get out of hand or go against orders, one must not blame the Imperial Court for acting against their families.
With such a bargaining chip, the soldiers would have no choice but to go all out.
After submitting to Great Xia, they should be considered Great Xia troops. Since they were soldiers, fighting for their country was expected, so they should not have any unhappiness.
The war of Tibet was a proper war; it was not purely sending them to their deaths.
The Imperial Court had made it clear that this war was like previous wars. All kills on the battlefield would be calculated and relative rewards would be handed out.
The only difference would be that this battle would be crueler.
However, cruelness was a normal part of wars. On the day that they enlisted, they should have been clear about this. Hence, logically speaking, they had nothing much to complain about.
The Imperial Court did so much work because they hoped that the two million troops could take out their spirit to fight well and help the empire build a proper base to ruling Asia.
They did not want some low morale weaklings. If that happened, they would not be wearing down the Ashoka Dynasty. Instead, it would be training the enemy up and giving them experience.
For this battle, the Imperial Court had wracked their brains and spent a lot.
Not to mention the close to two million gold in teleportation costs, compared to the other expenditures, this was just a small amount. The largest expenditure was the huge amount of resources and grain.
Furthermore, they had to transport to a place like Tibet, which required a much higher cost.
Next would be the foreseeable sky-high death count and compensation fees. From the attitude of Ashoka, one could see how intense this war would be, and there definitely would not be only a few deaths.
Without this war, the Imperial Court would only need to give them a retirement fee. Moreover, after they retired, they could add their productivity to other aspects of the empire.
With all these expenditures, the sum was almost too difficult to calculate.
