Translator: ryangohsff Editor: Nora
Chapter 1013 – Chain Plan
After the Annan Players finished arguing, they decided to send 200 thousand troops down south.
The intel from Haiphong City showed that apart from Danang and Luping, the Great Xia Army did not disembark at any other location.
Apart from that, there were no other abnormalities.
If it were not for the 500 thousand troops being trapped, the Hanoi players would already be ready to form a north conquering army to sweep out the Great Xia troops.
Great Xia had one War Fighting Legion in Danang City. Based on the intel from Haiphong City, all their members were housed within the city and did not show any signs of going out.
Even if there were, it was only a small number of them.
As for the Guards Legion Corps cavalry that had already gone down south, based on the intel from the cities there, within a day, three cities were attacked.
Obviously, this force was already deep into the south and could not appear at Hai Van mountain.
With such an analysis, the Annan players were more at ease and the chances of their reinforcements getting ambushed were close to zero unless the Great Xia Army had a teleportation technique.
That was impossible.
200 thousand troops went down south. Once they saved the trapped soldiers, they could continue south and reclaim Danang City as well as the south regions that the Great Xia Guards Legion Corps cavalry were attacking.
The two strategic goals that were previously set had a possibility of success.
After thinking carefully, the Annan players did not hesitate any longer, choosing 200 thousand of their brave soldiers to form another south conquering army.
The Battle of Annan seemed like it had a fog covering it.
The huge number of players meant that even if Annan was hurt in this country war, they would still have the ability to turn around a negative situation.
In front of absolute numbers, all schemes and plans were useless.
Annan was far from falling.
When the huge army left the city, millions of players came out to send them off. Although there was no true death in the game, the repercussions of death were great, so the scene was really touching.
Who knows whether they would be able to achieve what they wanted on this trip or not.
************
A day ago, the Yanhuang Alliance Army had already arrived at the West Chu border, and the war between the two started instantly.
Overlord Xiang Yu was as overbearing as usual, and he announced, “The Yanhuang Alliance is going to die here. They are asking to be humiliated!”
Di Chen and the others quietly moved their armies. They were like a pack of wolves, pincering West Chu from north and south. There was also the threat from the ocean and the Great Han Dynasty on the west.
West Chu was surrounded by enemies on all four sides.
At the same time, to prevent Great Xia from entering this battle, the Handan Squadron, Blood Red City Squadron, and Zhoushan Squadron linked up and locked down the yellow river to prevent Great Xia from helping from the ocean.
Although the Binhai Squadron was in the Yellow River, it was unable to break through the lock and could only watch on.
This time, Great Xia seemed to be out of options. Not to mention assisting West Chu, but they could not even see Xiang Yu. As both sides were not actual allies, they had not opened up the teleportation formations.
…
Shanhai City, Xia Palace.
Pretty much at the same time as Annan sending out their second round of troops, the Great Xia Honglu Temple’s secret envoys had returned with two letters.
Ouyang Shuo enjoyed the letters, especially the one from Great Tang. He smiled as he said to Zhang Liang, “Mister, how were you so sure that Tang Taizong would agree to our requests?”
Zhang Liang replied, “Great Tang is a place with many generals and do not lack one Li Jing. What they lack is land for these generals to show off. This business was one that Great Tang did not lose out on. With his ambitions, his decision was understandable.”
“Well said. Hanwu Emperor has the huge Zhongyuan Province, which triggered the two of them. Without enough land, what was the point of having so many civil servant and officials?”
As the Xia King, Ouyang Shuo could understand their thoughts.
Cooperation was just understanding the biggest need of the other party and fulfilling it while reaching your own goal.
Ouyang Shuo placed the letter down and smiled, “Since the matter of cooperation has been settled, we should fulfil our promise.” As Ouyang Shuo said that, he looked toward the southwest land.
There, who knows what kind of show would appear.
************
Gaia 5th year, 4th month, 12th day, Annan, Hai Van mountain.
At 10 AM, Annan’s second south conquering army arrived in Hai Van mountain. Along the way, the army did not meet a single Great Xia soldier. Everyone heaved a sigh of relief, as it seemed like their conjecture was right.
Arriving at the foot of the mountain, they saw the 300 meters high pile of rocks blocking the mountain path. They could not help but suck in a breath of cold air, “This really is….”
They could not find a suitable phrase to describe it.
“Guys, stop standing there, start working. There are probably people in there who have fainted from hunger!”
Four days had passed, and the players stuck inside were hungry, leading to chaos. To snatch food, they turned one one another and fought amongst themselves.
Humanity was twisted.
People did not even dare to sleep alone because they were afraid that their grain would be stolen.
Helplessly, the guild members could only huddle together.
Between life and death, only the strong would survive.
In the mountain path, fighting and killing was constantly taking place. It could just be for two small bags of buns.
Only when one survived could one talk about humanity.
…
Since they had arrived safely, there was nothing to say, let’s begin!
Although everyone brought various tools, the game did not have tools like excavators or similar machinery. As a result, clearing out this pile of rubble was not an easy matter.
All of a sudden, the foot of the mountain became really bustling.
200 thousand players worked together. Some were in charge of breaking the stone apart, while some were in charge of forming a transportation line to transport pieces of stone.
As it was blown apart using gunpowder, the stones were not stable, and if one was not careful, they could cause even more stones to fall.
The entire process was really arduous.
However, no matter how tiring it was, in front of the destruction of the country, they had no complaints. They could only turn this pain into hatred toward Great Xia. They would try to take revenge on the battlefield.
Close to night, the clearing job was less than one-fifths complete. Based on this speed, before they could even complete the job, the soldiers inside would die from hunger.
The helpers were helpless.
There were 200 thousand men, but only a limited number of them could actually work. They used the most primitive methods and to make such progress was actually the result of their common determination.
Gritting their teeth, everyone decided to fight through the night.
Those in charge of moving the stones in the day backed off to eat dinner, while the ones that replaced them was a batch of well rested troops.
Such a spirit was worthy of recognition.
War was cruel, and it was not something that you would win if you did well. That was because the army could do better than you. When the last bit of sunlight dropped under the horizon, calamity struck.
The rumble of horse hooves spread out around the camp, shaking one’s ears.
“What’s happening?”
“There are cavalry charging over.” Some people listened carefully, “Listening to the sound, there are less than 50 thousand of them, maybe even more.”
“Cavalry? Are they the Haiphong Army? I did not know they were coming.”
The players were confused.
This confusion did not last for long; it only lasted for just 10 minutes.
The cavalry troops waving Great Xia flags were like death gods, charging at the south conquering troops with zero preparation. Everyone was stunned.
“How is that possible! How can the Great Xia cavalry appear here?” Seeing the Great Xia iron cavalry strike them, the Annan players could not believe their eyes.
“Is the Haiphong City intel wrong?”
This seemed to be the only logical explanation.
“Ruan Tianque, you have killed us all!” People cursed as they were buried under the horse hooves of the enemy.
The timing that the Great Xia cavalry chose to sneak attack was really opportune. It was dinner time, and the players were having their meals in the outer circle. Those in the inner circle were the second batch of players still hard at work.
The cavalry charged right into the weak point of Annan.
Panic could not help but spread.
Using the moonlight and the light from torches, the Great Xia cavalry launched a slaughter.
The sneak attack cavalry was the Ma Chao led 2nd legion. After the Battle of Danang ended, it looked like Huo Qubing had taken the entire legion down.
In truth, not long after the forces left, after getting away from the spies, they split into two groups. Legion General Lu Bu led four divisions up north to camp near Hai Van mountain.
The group that truly went down south was the Huo Qubing led 1st division.
Under the leadership of this genius general, just one division was enough to slaughter so efficiently, misleading the entire south region.
Taking down two cities within a day, and it seemed like it had happened at the same time.
In truth, Huo Qubing had used the strong maneuverability of the Tiger Leopard Cavalry to abuse the time difference.
With that, the south cities believed that all of the Great Xia Guards Legion was fighting in the entire south region. What they could not imagine was that there was only a single division.
It was such a misjudgment that cause catastrophe for the second south conquering army.
Ma Chao’s sudden strike was like a heavy punch, smashing at their soft ribs and giving them a fatal blow.
This night was destined to be a bloody one.
