Chapter 704: Flames of War
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The dark storms of war had been spread all over the continent!
While it was different from his original plan, Ling Tian wasn’t afraid in the slightest! If not for him being clothed in dragon robes, he probably would have personally gone to war. However, at the very end of the war, Ling Tian would have to enter the war personally even if he didn’t want to! Once Yu ManLou took action, Ling Tian would have to join in as well!
The endless snow continued to fall and as though the heavens were crazy, the entire sky was still filled with dark clouds despite the thick layer of snow covering the ground!
Many large pine trees in the forest were crushed by the endless snowfall and after accumulating a great deal of snow on their leaves and branches, the pine trees finally collapsed under the merciless snowstorm.
The timing of the war between both empires was the first of its kind and how the war broke out was almost crazy!
Towards the direction of the Swallow County, 500,000 Yu Family soldiers made their way towards the borders. The distance between both their armies could be covered by a couple of arrows!
This was an extremely awkward and delicate distance!
Of course, it was also a distance which had a great deal of military knowledge within it!
This was the distance that was the most miserable for the Divine Prefecture Empire!
While an arrow wouldn’t suffice, a horse would cover that distance in a flash.
If they took the initiative to attack, they would suffer a huge loss in this weather! But if they were to remain on defense, their enemy would be able to attack at any time and they would be on the losing end. After all, it would only take a few breaths for both armies to clash in battle!
Either attacking or defending wasn’t an option!
Of course, the Yu Family army also faced the same problem as the Divine Prefecture Empire! However, this situation was intentionally created by the Yu Family.
Since this was the case, they would naturally have their reasons! The intentions of the Yu Family was extremely obvious. They wanted to use blood to have their revenge! So what if they had to send some cannon fodders to their deaths? They had to drag down the soldiers of the Divine Prefecture Empire to be buried with their grandchildren!
This is something that the generals of the Divine Prefecture Empire were worried about. While the Yu Family could treat the lives of their soldiers as dirt, their Divine Prefecture Empire couldn’t do the same.
Facing such circumstances, the three marshals of the Divine Prefecture Empire dealt with it using different methods. The eldest and most stable Yu YanHai chose to fortify his defenses and dug out countless traps in front of their camp before retreating a hundred miles.
By doing so, the troops would have the time to rest and they wouldn’t need to be on high alert at all times. While they would still have to be on guard, they would be able to take turns to get some sleep and wouldn’t have to worry about losing their heads while they were dreaming. They wouldn’t be afraid even if the Yu Family filled up the traps that they set with sand. At the very most, they could just dig more traps again. While they would still be on the passive side, they would be able to protect the lives of their soldiers!
Shen RuHu also chose to fortify his defenses by arranging for archers to be lined up along the two wings of the army camp. They also made use of the thick trunks of the trees to build a large tower and formed a water-tight defense around their camp. Under the tight surveillance of the archers, even a fly wouldn’t be able to make it through!
The Eastern Zhao army being led by DongFang JingLei did not have such patience. The flames of war had been ignited and both armies had already broken out in war. They would either take the initiative to attack or be forced to defend. Even if there were occasional breaks in between the battles, they would still sound the war drums now and then to ensure that the Yu Family army wouldn’t dare to relax. In just a short few days, both armies were extremely fatigued. Because the Yu Family fought in an almost suicidal manner, they currently had the upper hand. However, this slight advantage of theirs came with a heavy price and their casualties amounted to more than 10,000 of DongFang JingLei’s men.
On the western battlefront, Xiao FengYang’s army faced XiMen Sa and the two young and old genius commanders began their face-off. The outcome was one that was completely out of Xiao FengYang’s expectations.
With an exception like Ling Tian, Xiao FengYang was extremely wary towards this young genius commander who was a match for Ling Tian in the eyes of the world! Since XiMen Sa could be ranked alongside Ling Tian, even if he wasn’t a match for Ling Tian, he shouldn’t be too far away! Even if XiMen Sa only had half of Ling Tian’s abilities, he couldn’t be underestimated! Besides that, he would be representing his Xiao Family in this battle and the outcome of the battle would have a great significance to their family’s future.
With cautiousness in his heart, Xiao FengYang stepped onto the battlefield with a heavy heart but the outcome of his battle of wits with XiMen Sa had dumbfounded him!
It wasn’t because this legendary youth was too outstanding and difficult to deal with but because he was far too easy to deal with! The battle was smooth to the point it was shocking and it was smooth to the point Xiao FengYang felt that it was a trap!
This battle was one which Xiao FengYang felt was the easiest in his entire life. He felt as though the genius commander, XiMen Sa, was far too stupid! All of his opponent’s plans and schemes would be easily dealt with by him and seen through completely. In his eyes, XiMen Sa’s plans and schemes were no more than child’s play. The couple of ambushes that XiMen Sa planned were easily seen through by Xiao FengYang and XiMen Sa would end up losing his soldiers and suffering a huge loss instead. If not for Xiao FengYang being extremely careful, the current situation of the battle definitely wouldn’t be as such!
He truly does not live up to his reputation! Being filled with delight, Xiao FengYang also began lamenting about how such a character could be called a young genius. How does he live up to being comparable to Ling Tian?! If that’s the case, wouldn’t the title of young genius be too worthless? This old man is truly going to die from laughter!
However, Xiao FengYang didn’t know how difficult a task it was for XiMen Sa to perform such a feat! The wits required were ten times more than Xiao FengYang!
His plans had to ensure the defeat of his army and he also had to ensure that the generals under his leadership wouldn’t be able to spot anything fishy. Furthermore, he had to think about whether or not Xiao FengYang would be able to guess his plans. If Xiao FengYang was unable to guess his plans, the false may end up becoming the truth!
XiMen Sa had to rack his brain to create a losing scenario and he had to lose without revealing the slightest flaw. Every plan of his even had to be approved by all of the generals under his charge…
It was truly too miserable for XiMen Sa to fight such a battle. There was even once when Xiao FengYang was unable to guess his intentions and went towards the wrong direction. In the end, XiMen Sa realized that something was wrong and had no choice but to retreat while pretending to be paranoid. The most exasperating thing was the fact that Xiao FengYang did not even dare to give chase when his army had already been defeated…
Just what is going on?! I really wonder how his reputation of being a military expert came about!
XiMen Sa sat in his tent and let out a long sigh of frustration. All the generals under his charge had already been subdued by the personal charisma of their undefeatable marshal. They all began to console him, “Marshal, it is normal for a general to lose in battle and it would be best to act with caution. You do not need to take it to heart!”
XiMen Sa was speechless.
I really do not wish to take things to heart. However, can I not take things to heart? The moment my army wins a battle, how will I lead my life in the future? Even if young noble is understanding, there are another fifty pairs of eyes looking at me…
Is it truly so difficult for me to seek defeat? I just wish to be XiMen QiuBai (seek defeat)! To think that Xiao FengYang still dares to call himself a military expert!
From afar, the scolding of Xiao FengYang’s army could be heard, “XiMen Sa! A scum who doesn’t know how to lead an army or fight a war! A useless and worthless scum who only knows how to run with his tail between his legs!”
XiMen Sa let out a groan. Oh my goodness! I didn’t complain about you and you are now complaining about me?!
Using the words that young noble likes to use…. what the flying f***!
“Marshal! This general requests to go out to battle! Let me teach Xiao FengYang a good lesson!” One of the generals rushed out with anger, “They are truly going too far! They are too arrogant!”
“Let me think for a moment and discuss a flawless plan.” XiMen Sa rubbed his head and begun thinking about a plan where he would lose for sure…
Not a single person dared to doubt this young marshal of theirs! This young marshal of theirs had given them far too many surprises and this time wouldn’t be an exception!
Ling Feng, Ling Yun, and Feng Mo were already trapped in an extremely deadly situation.
Their troops had gathered almost all of the Yu Family’s aggression and they were the ones who the Yu Family truly wanted to kill! Of the four large armies, each army sent out 20,000 soldiers and began surrounding them. There were even more than 100 experts from the headquarters of the Yu Family! Amongst these experts, the weakest one was the white jade level expert and there were more than ten gold jade level experts. Furthermore, there were even two middle gold jade level experts who were comparable to Ling Feng and Ling Yun.
The Yu Family had never sent out such a lineup before this!
Ling Feng, Ling Yun, and Feng Mo had truly touched the tiger’s tail this time and stirred up a hornet’s nest. A total of 37 Yu Family upper echelons lost their descendants and the eyes of these old fellows all turned red. Just when the army of the Yu Family gathered beneath the mountain, they immediately launched a thunderous attack without any hesitation. The ferocity of their attack had startled even the experienced Feng Mo.
Their dense attack came wave after wave, and with every defeated wave another wave would quickly launch their attack. The Yu Family army charged forward clenching their teeth with hundreds of archers lining behind them getting ready to shoot anyone who dared to escape!