Ouyang Shuo’s words made every member of the Grand Council emotional, and all of them agreed to Jia Xu’s plan.
When the meeting ended, everyone started to work.
Due to the exceptional performance of Wuqi, Ouyang Shuo suggested to not only bring him into the Grand Council, but also appoint him as the overall commander.
After Lu Xiufu died, Ouyang Shuo was the undoubted leader of the Grand Council.
At the same time, the military forces did a reorganization.
The gate that they would open up was chosen to be the north city gate that was facing the north barracks of the Mongols. If things went as expected, Kublai Khan’s golden tent would be set up there.
In Ouyang Shuo’s words, they needed to use their strongest forces to face off against the strongest side of the Mongols.
Trump card against trump card.
For this, the players moved all their 150 thousand cavalry forces. Apart from that, they also used up 50 thousand infantry forces. As such, there were a total of 200 thousand men led by Guo Ziyi.
Only 90 thousand player infantry forces and 50 thousand Song Guards were left in the city. To the huge Lin’an, this was far from enough.
The moment the Grand Council meeting ended, the Imperial Court’s soldier recruitment order was given.
The Mongol army killing the civilians was their normal practice. The South Song army had just won a battle and given them a huge blow, which was why the moment the Imperial Court sent the order, the people immediately believed them. They all eagerly joined in and jumped into the upcoming war.
Young strong men bid farewell to their parents and wives and went toward the recruitment point. Next, they followed the general out and started to collect equipment from the battlefield before the Mongols arrived.
South Song itself was not famous for its military, so the armory was not like Chang An city of Great Tang. There was not much equipment and weapons left. As such, to solve the lack of equipment for the newbies, they could only rely on such a method.
Luckily, after the sneak attack, close to 200 thousand corpses of the Mongol army laid around the battlefield.
Two days had passed, and the corpses lying under the sun had started to decompose and gave out a disgusting smell. As one got close, one could scare a huge bunch of flies that were like a black cloud, sending a shiver down one’s spine.
Since this was a battlefield, there were many different ways of death. Losing arms and legs was normal. Some were directly chopped in half, their intestines exposed in the air, making one vomit. Some had their brains broken and the juice flowing all around.
The entire battlefield was like hell.
The newbies suppressed their fear and disgust, walking into the blood ocean and picking up the equipment on the dead bodies. Some of the brutes did not care and wore them right away.
A large portion of them did not have the courage, and these people were ashen white and vomiting. Finally, when they did not have anything else to vomit out, they only coughed out bitter water.
Before joining in, they were just normal people who had never seen a dead person in their lives. Now, they had to face such a bloody scene, so vomiting was a normal reaction.
No one had such a strong mental strength.
This could also be considered a meeting gift for the newbies to let them understand the brutality of the battlefield. Only by seeing blood could they be unfazed during the upcoming battle.
Apart from the young and the strong, the other people were also used.
The ladies took out the vegetable oil that was really precious, gathering all of them up in a huge pot and transporting them to the city wall.
Artisans under the leadership of the generals started to demolish houses. Then they transported the wood and stone to the city walls.
Temples also fell because these buildings were often really majestic and used up good wood and great pillars that were good for defending.
Seeing the temple being demolished, the monks could only sigh, “The way of the world is changing!”
There were also some young monks who had turned around and jumped to join the military. These men were trained in martial arts and had some skill.
The various workshops in the city ran overnight to make arrows. Every moment, there would be civilians sending over their iron pots, iron basin, and other iron items.
Even the royal family participated, not only opening up their treasury but also gathering up ironware. The eight year old emperor even wanted to demolish the palace to take revenge for Mister Lu, but he was stopped by the officials.
Some of the officials could not help but tear up and choke, “Your highness, no matter the state of the Imperial Court, we have not reached the level of demolishing the palace. It’s a sign of the empire and cannot be demolished.”
“That’s right. If you want to demolish something, you should demolish our residences.” Some officials agreed and directly demolished their own homes.
Before this, this was an unthinkable matter. It was like their views had suddenly changed overnight.
The Imperial Court and its people were united as one to save the country in need.
Reality proved that a group of desperate people would often show shocking strength when forced into a corner.
The Battle of Yashan in history was one where the 100 thousand troops and civilians would rather jump into the ocean than surrender to the Yuan Dynasty. This was the most obvious show of that strength.
Earlier in history, the Qin country during Qin Xiaogong’s time gave land in return for peace, facing both internal and external problems, being forced to a corner by the Wei country.
At this very moment, all of the people united and worked together, officially giving rise to Qin ruling China.
There were simply too many examples of similar feats in the five thousand years of China’s history.
Lin’an City was destined to be a legend.
…
Overnight, the entire Lin’an City had sprung into action.
In front of life or death, people would only grumble that time was not enough and wish that the Mongol army would arrive later.
Of course, that was only their one-sided wish.
On the 20th day of the Battle Map, the frontline scouts reported that Kublai Khan had already set off from Sanhe City and was personally leading the expedition. Based on their travelling speed, next morning at the latest, their group would arrive.
The moment the news was released, the entire Lin’an City had a busy and uneasy atmosphere.
As they say, ‘When a forest is big, there are all kinds of birds.’ When the country was on the brink, there were many valiant soldiers but also scums who would come out to sow chaos.
Ruffians went around the city to rob and even rape women. Along with the Mongol spies hiding within the city, Lin’an city panicked.
When Ouyang Shuo got the news, he arranged the Divine Martial Guards to patrol. The moment they saw robbers, people disrespecting women, or people spreading rumors, he would punish them on the spot.
In a chaotic time, one needed to rule with an iron fist. Under Ouyang Shuo’s strict rule, the Divine Martial Guards killed many batches of ruffians, finally calming down the situation.
Amongst all this chaos, it seemed like the final battle was about to arrive.
…
21st day of the Battle Map, Lin’an City.
Right at midnight, Lin’an City that had not slept for long quietly awakened.
‘Pu~Chi~’
In the pitch black darkness, the drawbridge at the north city gate was slowly placed down, along with the city gates opening up. On the nearby streets, groups of soldiers had already gathered up.
On both sides of the streets and the city wall, torches were lit up and placed around. Under Zhuo Ziyi’s commanding, the soldiers used the light from the torches to swiftly travel in the dark and pass through the city gate.
First, there was the cavalry, and then there was the infantry.
The entire process was nervous but orderly, and there was no panic.
Once the 200 thousand troops gathered up outside of the city, it was already 7 AM. The sun had just risen, and it shone its rays all over.
On the north outskirts, the 200 thousand troops formed up in a square formation, looking really majestic.
The light shone on their iron armor and their spear tips, flickering brightly.
Only if one looked down from above could they truly see the formation of the 200 thousand troops. The left and right wings were led by Er’Lai and Zhao Zhuang, each leading 50 thousand elite cavalry forces.
The backlines were personally led by Lianpo, who specialized in defense. They had 50 thousand infantry there.
The most special one was the middle troops.
At the front, there were the 25 thousand Fallen Phoenix City cavalry, while the middle consisted of the 25 thousand Guards Legion Corps troops. At the back, there were the three thousand Divine Martial Guards led by Xu Chu.
Ouyang Shuo was dressed in martial gear, riding on God beast subspecies Little Green. He stood in the middle of the Divine Martial Guards.
This also meant that Ouyang Shuo was personally leading.
At the start, be it Feng Qiuhuang, Er’Lai, Jia Xu, or the like, none of htem supported his decision. However, he had his own reasons.
Since the establishment of the dynasty, as the king Ouyang Shuo, had very few chances to personally lead troops. Even if he did, he did not truly go on the battlefield to kill.
However, this was different.
Who knows why, but since the start of the Battle Map, the killing intent in his body had jumped uncontrollably. After seeing the cruel methods of the Mongols, his hatred turned into killing intent and no one could curb it.
Ouyang Shuo needed to release this on the battlefield.
The past Ouyang Shuo’s blood was boiling, and he did not wish that after he ascended the throne it would turn cold.
Apart from personal reasons, Ouyang Shuo led because of the plan that Jia Xu had given him. As a top strategist, Jia Xu’s plan obviously was not as simple as saving the civilians.
That could only solve the problem but not the root of it, and it was not enough to turn the battle around.
To try to settle it once and for all, the best way would be to kill Kublai Khan like how they killed Bayan. If not, they needed to harm him heavily and scare him away, making him call the retreat of the troops.
Hence, Jia Xu crafted a full battle plan.
The 200 thousand army outside of the city was the core to executing his plan. Moreover, this plan needed a core person to be in charge of the final blow.
No matter how one looked at it, Ouyang Shuo was a top choice. Apart from his personal combat strength, he also held two secret weapons.
Even so, Feng Qiuhuang and the others did not support it until Ouyang Shuo showed them the substitute doll. After that, they were finally convinced.
In the military formation, Ouyang Shuo, who was heavily guarded by the Divine Martial Guards, looked out toward the north and muttered, “Kublai Khan? Let’s have a battle of kings!”
The blood in Ouyang Shuo’s body started to slowly boil.
