Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Chapter 1198 – That’s Very Ouyang Shuo
The scheme of the Alliance Army went far deeper than what Linapo had thought.
Meng Tian led the Great Jin Guards Legion Corps to strike was not to charge out of the canyon. Instead, it was to delay the Great Zhou palace guards to allow the Great Xia Guards Legion Corps to leave the battlefield and enter the vast wilderness.
One intercepting and one delaying.
One feeling confused about the battle happening in the canyon was understandable.
After witnessing the majestic and stunning ability of the Great Xia Guards Legion Corps in breaking the formation, the Great Jin Guards Legion Corps soldiers were eager to go. They were not willing to ‘lose’ just like that, and under the commanding of Meng Tian, they grabbed the weakness of the enemy and completed a beautiful assault.
Since the enemy had misread their intentions, Meng Tian naturally did not mind. He used this chance to weaken the enemy’s strength, and anyone they could kill was considered as one.
The two armies had a blood debt between them that needed to be paid.
Once the setting sun went down in the west, this battle finally came to an end.
The palace guards were struck by two armies, and the ground was in ruins with corpses strewn everywhere. Black smoke from the grass being burned was all around, a chilling sight.
Even so, Lianpo still let out a delighted smile.
“No matter what, at least we blocked off the Great Jin Guards Legion Corps. if not, I’ll have no face to meet the king.”
Meng Tian laughed too.
For the battle to reach such a state meant that the Great Jin Guards Legion Corps had completed their mission, and their spoils of war were far better than they had expected. Within a day, the Alliance Army had slain close to 70 thousand Great Zhou palace guards.
Through this battle, even if the Great Zhou palace guards were not paralyzed, they had at least lost a leg.
“Now, it all depends on the performance of the Great Xia Guards Legion Corps.”
Meng Tian rode on his black war horse. He turned his head around to take a look at the entrance of the canyon. He was filled with hope.
…
Night, Great Zhou Dynasty, Handan City.
Di Chen placed down the battle report from the frontlines. Currently, he was both happy and worried.
He was happy that under Wuqi’s leadership, the blazing legion corps operation proceeded really smoothly. In just a day, they wiped out 80 thousand men, which was the biggest result that Great Zhou had obtained since the start.
If no surprises occurred, the spoils of war would continue to be expanded tomorrow.
Without the core pillar of the blazing legion corps, even if Great Jin was able to survive fortunately, they would become a toothless tiger, unable to jump up anymore. Great Zhou would be able to take care of Great Jin anytime they wanted.
Of course, Di Chen hoped to settle this in one battle. He wanted to end it all cleanly.
He was worried about the Battle of Phoenix Castle.
In just two days, the Lianpo led palace guards were hit till their faces swelled up, and they even allowed the Great Xia Guards Legion Corps to break out, creating a huge uncertainty in this war.
The palace guards were Di Chen’s personal army and was his most important chip to keep power in the dynasty. Now that they had suffered heavy casualties, Di Chen felt pained in his heart.
Due to that, Di Chen even gave Wuqi the order to try to capture blazing legion corps soldiers to try to get enough to make up for the loses.
If not, this entire matter would be a huge loss.
Luckily, Lianpo did not let the Great Jin legion corps troops escape. If not, he really would have to deal with Lianpo.
Compared to God General Wuqi, although he was loyal and reliable and had a lot of experience, he still disappointed Di Chen in the end. Their performances on the battlefield were like the difference between heaven and earth.
One achieved a huge victory, while the other was barely not losing.
“Unfortunately, I cannot truly utilize him.”
Di Chen let out a long sigh. If Wuqi was not Xiong Ba’s, Di Chen would want to use this chance to make him the Great Zhou commander in chief. He would have made Quqi the true giant in the Zhou army.
One must know that Lianpo was still a Great General now.
However, thinking about Xiong Ba, Di Chen quelled that thought and did not dare to take the risk.
Since he was given the appointment of Wu Marquis, he was really well behaved and low profile, basically disappearing from sight. Apart from when Di Chen summoned him, he stayed in Jiangnan Province and did not step out of his jurisdiction.
It seemed like he had accepted his fate.
However, Di Chen did not think of it in that way. Di Chen was really clear what kind of person Xiong Ba was. Such an ambitious person would not be happy being secluded and lying low.
Once Xiong Ba grabbed the chance, he would rise up.
Hence, since Great Zhou established the country, Di Chen had started to suppress Xiong Ba and lower his influence in the dynasty.
In comparison, Di Chen was much more magnanimous toward Chun Shenjun and Zhan Lang.
Chun Shenjun’s family took up half of Great Zhou’s industry system. Di Chen turned a blind eye to this in return for his loyalty.
As for Zhan Lang, he was even more low profile than Xiong Ba.
Especially as they entered the 6th year of Gaia, the once hot blooded Zhan Lang suddenly lost his fighting spirit, not even bothering about the Blood Red legion corps.
Although Di Chen felt that this was weird, he was happy about it.
“Difficult!”
Sometimes, Di Chen admired Ouyang Shuo for being able to control everything himself.
One must not look at how Bai Hua and Gong Chengshi had such high positions. Di Chen was clear than with Ouyang Shuo’s control, he could take back all these things anytime he wanted to.
But could Di Chen?
Not to mention taking back the power of Xiong Ba and the others, it was difficult for him to infiltrate the Pill Sun, King, and Blood Red legion corps. Di Chen was not like a ruler, rather, he was more like an alliance leader of marquises.
If not, Di Chen would not have chosen to cooperate with Song and Ming and try to give away the places where Chun Shenjun and Zhan Lang were rooted in.
As long as he took down the two of them, the remaining Xiong Ba would not be powerful enough and would be at his disposal.
Di Chen was confident about that.
“Let’s hope that everything goes smoothly!”
In the end, the Battle of Great Jin was not just a crucial battle for Great Zhou to turn the tides, but it was also a crucial battle in his plot to control Great Zhou, which he injected all his hard work into.
Di Chen could not afford to lose this battle.
…
The night faded, and the white light descended.
After the Great Xia Guards Legion Corps charged out of the canyon and broke away from the Phoenix Castle battlefield, apart from resting up for an hour to manage their equipment and replenish water, the Guards Legion Corps rushed all the way and traveled through the night.
Even their meals consisted of military grain pills on horseback.
The Combat Logistics Department was unusually generous, providing the three legions with two million units of military grain pills.
If they conserved the pills, it could last both the troops and the horses for a week.
At the same time, in order to not influence the overall movement speed of the army, the 4th legion left 10 thousand infantry troops to hide around Fallen Phoenix City. They would not travel along with the cavalry.
Was the Guards Legion Corps rushing so much to save the blazing legion corps?
Obviously not.
Ouyang Shuo had mentioned before that he was going for a big one.
The Guards Legion Corps rushed day and night not to go up north but to go east right and into Great Zhou. They wanted to start a huge wave within Great Zhou at the most impossible time.
Close to dawn, the army rested up for an hour on the ground.
Huo Qubing rode on a white horse. Looking out at the morning sun, he turned around, “Everyone, continue to rush. We must arrive at the border by tonight.”
“Yes, general!”
In less than 10 minutes, the 200 thousand troops were ready to proceed.
There was a reason why they were so quick. Even when they rested on the spot, they did not take off their armor. Instead, they rested on their horseback and were ready to set off at any moment.
As a result, the moment the order was given, they were able to quickly gather up so quickly.
The huge army faced the sun, galloping across the vast wilderness. It was an eye-catching sight.
…
Di Chen paid as much attention to intel as Ouyang Shuo.
When they attacked Great Jin, apart from the Difeng spies, Great Zhou had scouts all over the Great Jin dynasty. The movement of the Great Xia Guards Legion Corps caused such a huge commotion, so it naturally could not be hidden from these people.
Very quickly, their unusual movement pattern caught the attention of the spies along the route.
At 11 AM, Di Chen received relevant intel.
At the start, Di Chen was not too sure about the motives of Great Xia and thought that they were just moving normally and would go up north in the end.
At noon, upon learning that the Great Xia Guards Legion Corps did not stop their easterly advance, he realized that something was up.
“Don’t tell me?”
An uneasy feeling rose up in his heart, and he could not sit still anymore. He charged out of the door and shouted, “Men!”
“Present!”
“Send message to the spies and follow Great Xia’s tracks. If they continue to move east, immediately report. At the same time, let the cities and grain forces strengthen their guard and take this seriously.”
“Yes, my king!”
After giving the order, Di Chen was still worried, and he nervously paced up and down the room.
“If that really is a case, it would be horrible.”
Di Chen’s face was really dark. For the first time, a strong sense of unhappiness toward Lianpo rose in his heart, “That old thing. How did he allow the Great Xia Guards Legion Corps to run out so easily? That’s great, what a bother.”
Taking in a deep breath, Di Chen tried his best to calm himself down.
Based on his intuition, without needing spies to confirm, he was certain that the goal of the Guards Legion Corps was Jingdu Province or maybe even Handan City. They wanted to have a ‘head killing operation’ at the most impossible time.
This was really like Ouyang Shuo’s style.
That made the weird moves of Great Xia understandable.
“So all of this, including the blazing legion corps going north, was a trap?”
For some reason, Di Chen was actually really clearheaded suddenly. His brain moved really quickly and linked everything that happened during these few days together to guess what Great Xia was up to.
The blazing legion corps used itself as bait to draw the three legion corps of Great Zhou up north. The palace guards were badly hurt, and a totally defenseless Jingdu Province was in front of the Great Xia Guards Legion Corps.
The Great Zhou army had entered Great Jin from Jingdu Province. As such, the border should be the safest. However, when Great Jin and Great Xia worked together, it ended up being the most dangerous border.
This time, Di Chen totally panicked.
Not to mention the Jingdu Province, in the entire Great Zhou, apart from the Song, Ming, and Qing guards, Great Zhou only had the forces in charge of defending the beast caves as well as a few scattered local defense troops.
With just these people, how could they stop the Great Xia Guards Legion Corps?
“No, I cannot sit here and do nothing. I cannot lose; there has to be a way.” Di Chen’s eyes flushed red as he paced up and down the room like a drowning mad man grasping at straws.
