Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Chapter 1180 – Plotting Against One Another
When a legendary hero appears, one that could unite the universe, what he would attract was not the support of everyone, but the rise of powers to work together against him.
Like the Qin country of the past, who went alone against six countries.
Along with Great Xia becoming the authority of China, sweeping bases overseas and stealing the limelight, they attracted a fate similar to Qin Country.
Before the 5th month, Qin, Han, Tang, Song, Ming, Qing, and Zhou, a total of seven states, with Great Zhou as the middle man, formed an alliance to go against the rise of Great Xia.
Along with Great Xia attacking Han, trying to wipe out Great Han right after the end of the country war, exposing Great Xia’s ambition to unify China, the six countries finally acted together.
Gaia removing the summoning of the imperial city guards gave the various dynasties a calming pill.
A scattered anti Xia alliance had formed.
To form the six country alliance, Di Chen spent a lot of effort and also spent a lot of resources.
Amongst the six countries, Great Qing and Great Xia had some animosity. Di Chen did not spend much effort and managed to recruit them. Song and Ming were located in Great Zhou and were of the first few that Di Chen focused on.
To take down the two countries, Di Chen made many promises, giving Jingchu Province where Xiangyang was located all to Great Song. On the other hand, Donghai Province, where Jianye was located, was completely given to Great Ming.
The conditions were that these two dynasties must promise to take up the defensive responsibility of the border such that Great Zhou would be freed up to attack Great Jin when Great Xia attacked Great Han.
Even to say that Di Chen was prepared to take down Great Han after he took down Great Jin. Of course, such a thought would not be revealed to his allies until he took down Great Jin.
Funnily, Han was part of the alliance, but since its power was reduced, Di Chen abandoned it, and it became their target instead.
It was truly the phrase, “A leopard cannot change its spots.”
If Di Chen’s plan could succeed, Great Zhou would earn back the two provinces that they had given out. Moreover, they would have recruited two allies, a huge win in this business deal.
As for Beijiang Province, Di Chen had magnanimously promised it to Great Qing.
The addition of Great Qin and Great Tang was due to the worry of them being next. They had not had much interaction with Great Zhou, only promising not to join in the battle between Great Zhou and Great Jin.
The good relationship between Qin and Jin instantly became nothing.
In front of a country’s interest, an alliance contract was only a piece of waste paper and achieved no restrictions.
It was obvious that be it Qin Shihuang or Tang Taizong, neither wanted Great Xia to continue expanding and squeeze at their living space.
Luckily, Qin and Tang remembered Great Xia’s kindness toward them, only promising not to reinforce Great Jin. However, they did not want to go head on against Great Xia.
As for how to circumvent their rule of not attacking Great Xia, Di Chen had his own ways.
…
7th month, 7th day, Han Xin led his forces after taking down the two passes at the north of Luoyang and smoothly arrived below Luoyang City. In a short week, they broke through two successive passes, so one could see how god-like Han Xin was at using troops.
The relationship between Han Xin and Great Han had dissipated long ago in history.
As a top-class city in the world, Luoyang City was known for its defense, and it would naturally be impregnable. This battle would also be the first time a China Lord attacked a China-based imperial city.
If he won this battle, Han Xin’s name would spread far and wide; if he lost, his name would be buried in the dirt.
Due to that, Han Xin did not to dare treat the battle lightly. He seemed to be rushing all the way, but in truth, he had left checkpoints to protect the grain routes. Once the army arrived outside of the city, they built a camp there.
Before the camp was built up, Han Xin had no intentions of sieging.
Great Han’s approach was also really rational. Long ago, when the guards were summoned, Hanwu Emperor had sensed the danger and ordered general Wei Qing to move all the guards in the border back to Luoyang.
Rather than using 200 thousand guards to protect an undefendable Zhongyuan province, why not gather them all up for a final gamble?
On the contrary, as a giant city, not only was Luoyang’s defenses stable, but it also had sufficient grain. They would have no problems defending for a month and more.
Close to the end of the country month, seeing that Great Xia was preparing their attack, Hanwu Emperor gave the order for the civilians of Luoyang to go their own ways, hiding in the surrounding counties and prefectures to prevent grain usage.
With the character of the Great Xia Army, the civilians would feel safer going out of the city.
With that, if Great Xia was unable to immediately take down Luoyang, just the grain storage would buy them two to three months. In such a long time, anything could happen.
Unfortunately, Hanwu Emperor had underestimated Great Xia.
In the following week, the battlefield of Luoyang was really calm. The Great Xia Army did not show any intentions to siege, just building up their camp and gathering up grain from surrounding regions.
Huge amounts of grains was being transported endlessly to the frontlines, solving the worries of the army.
Han Xin was not someone who stuck stubbornly to rules. Although he would not harm civilians, grain had to be gathered up. With his judgment, the Battle of Luoyang would last for long, and grain was the lifeline of the army.
Such a lifeline definitely could not be placed in the hands of Great Jin.
Apart from grain, Han Xin was also waiting for the arrival of a batch of secret weapons. A long period of time has passed since the P1 Type Cannon appeared in the world. The Industrialization Department had new developments and developed second generation cannon.
Compared to the P1 Type Cannon, strictly speaking, the P2 Cannon was more cumbersome. On the contrary, its power and range was not something the P1 Type could compare to. It was a weapon especially designed for sieging.
The secret weapon of a country.
At the start, to push forward Great Jin’s industrialization progression, Great Xia had built two military works factories in Great Jin to make use of the coal and ores in Hedong Province.
Who would have known that these two factories would play such a crucial role in the Battle of Luoyang?
A month ago, these two factories started to rush production of the P2 Type Cannons, amassing them for use in the Battle of Luoyang.
After Great Xia pushed out full scale industrialization, the transport problem of cannons was solved. Iron structures as the bone along with rubber tires allowed the cumbersome P2 Cannon to pass through mountains and ridges such that it would reach the frontlines.
Han Xin was waiting for this batch of equipment.
Facing a city like Luoyang, if one relied on a human ocean tactic, no matter how many men they could send, it would not be enough. They would just be sacrificing troops for nothing.
The only way would be to use cannons to blow open the city walls and fight within the city.
7th month, 15th day, the 200 P2 Type Cannons finally arrived at the frontlines.
Han Xin did not hesitate, leading the troops out of the camp the next day and officially attacking Luoyang. Their method of attack was simple; they fought around the P2 Type Cannons.
The 200 cannons were pushed to the frontlines, and under the protection of the army, they started to attack the Luoyang City walls.
‘Hong! Hong! Hong!’
The cannonballs drew a beautiful arc in the air like a shooting star as it viciously smacked into the city wall. Right away, it let out a deafening explosion. Just one cannonball caused many pieces of stone to break away from the solid wall.
“Great!”
When Han Xin saw that, a joyous expression appeared on his face.
The P2 cannons were great siege weapons, and even the 10 meter thick wall of Luoyang City could not take successive hits. If they were not disturbed, one side of the city wall could be taken down in just two days.
“Be alert!”
Han Xin did not let victory get to his head. At such a time, the most worrying thing would be if the Great Han army tried to charge out to break the cannons. This was the only way the enemy could solve this problem.
With Han Xin’s experience, he would obviously defend against that.
The truth was rightly so.
On the city wall, the Great Han troops saw the Great Xia Army that had been calm and peaceful for a week suddenly popped out of their camp, making Wei Qing who was in the city wall realize that something was up. He immediately ordered the army to be on alert.
When the 200 cannons were pushed out by the enemy, Wei Qing felt his heart stop.
The Great Han that appeared in the wilderness would not remain at the same technological level as they were in the past. If not, how would they be able to compete?
On the Luoyang City wall, one could see cannons, but they were all original cannons.
The part that made Wei Qing uneasy was that the enemy cannons stopped before they entered range of the cannons on the city wall and started to arm themselves. It was obvious that the enemy cannons had a range exceeding that of the Great Han cannons.
Once the cannons were fired, Wei Qing’s face was even more solemn.
As a God General as famous as Han Xin, he naturally made the same judgment as Han Xin. He knew that if he did not immediately take action and destroy the cannons, Luoyang City would definitely be lost.
“Send down my orders, let the 1st division of the 1st legion get ready!”
Right away, Wei Qing was ready to send out his trump card force. With the city gates having limited width, sending a division was already the max. If they sent any more, the enemy might have a chance to slip through the city gates.
If things went badly, the enemy would not even need to blow up the city walls, and they could occupy the city gates.
Naturally, Wei Qing would not make such a low-grade error.
However, could his plan succeed with only one division? That was a difficult question.
