Book 9: Chapter 61: Day of Decisive Battle
Book 9: Chapter 61: Day of Decisive Battle
The sky is about to brighten again.
Jadefall Border Army’s number two figure who hadn’t sleep all night, temperament heavy like deep waters, Cheng Yu was still standing in front of the sand table, waiting for new military intelligence and thinking about the battle situation.
Right now, on the sand table in front of him, Jadefall East’s small flag’s positions were already entirely different from the previous day.
There were six small black flags crowded around the entrance of Mountain Sun Passage, these six armies clearly there to prevent Yunqin’s local military from breaking through on a large scale from this location.
Of the original seven small red flags, there were only five left. They were gathered in the intersecting region between treasure bowl hill region and Mountain Sun Path. Meanwhile, there were thirteen small black flags that already formed a half circular stance, the red and black sides clearly about to clash in a decisive battle.
Unknown as to what kind of difficult question he was thinking about, Cheng Yu’s brows furrowed, furrowing tighter and tighter.
The curtains into the camp were opened. The moment wind blew in, Cheng Yu’s face immediately revealed pleasant surprise and respect. He turned around, bowing respectfully towards the one who walked in. “Great General.”
In all of Jadefall City, there was only a single person who could make Cheng Yu like this: Wenren Cangyue, Great General Wenren.
Wenren Cangyue whos brows were thick like ink, body like iron nodded his head slightly, not uttering a word as he walked up to the sand table. After just giving it a single look, he seemed to have seen through what Cheng Yu was currently thinking. He turned around to look at Cheng Yu whose brows still haven’t completely loosened, saying with a direct and simple voice, “Xiyi’s people won’t come, someone from Sanskrit Temple interfered. I wasn’t able to kill Gu Xinyin.”
Cheng Yu understood clearly the meaning these words represented. His face paled slightly, but he didn’t say anything, only nodding.
“What else are you still confused about?” Wenren Cangyue looked at him, calmly asking this.
Cheng Yu knew that Wenren Cangyue didn’t like wasting time, and he didn’t like wasting time either. As such, he gave the sand table a look, and then said with a heavy voice, “I just cannot understand why even though the enemy only has five armies, in this situation where they cannot compare to the thirteen armies I transferred over at all, still insists on assuming this type of stance by Mountain Sun Path, as if they want to carry out a decisive battle against me.”
“You have to understand that even if the local armies’ mediocre troops had the courage to take us on as their enemy… from the very start, the emperor and those nine elders behind the curtains never planned to use great armies to directly crush us. If they want to directly overwhelm our Jadefall Border Army, at least half of Yunqin Empire’s local armies would be beaten by us until they cannot recover.” Wenren Cangyue gave Cheng Yu an indifferent look, his usual demeanor releasing indescribable confidence and might. “Yunqin Emperor and those nine elders cannot bear the price of the death of two to three hundred thousand troops, so you don’t need to worry about a large scale local army forcefully breaking into Jadefall City at all. What they are doing right now is just purposely gathering our army for a decisive battle. There are definitely extremely important figures in their troops who can instantly change the battle situation.”
A bit of shock flashed past Cheng Yu’s eyes. “Your respected self’s intention is that… the enemy is purposely guiding so many of our troops over, and then they have someone who can instantly crumble our side’s morale, or make many people defect?” Suddenly, he thought of a possibility, saying in disbelief, “Could it be that the emperor will personally lead his troops into battle?”
“If we are talking about the imperial princess, then there is a chance, as for Changsun Jinse… he wants to establish a completely unprecedented foundation, so he cherishes his life more than anyone else, so how could he possibly come?” Wenren Cangyue sneered, “The imperial princess is only a woman. Only that crown prince who had never shown himself before has a chance of shaking the wills of my subordinates.”
“Crown prince?”
Cheng Yu’s heart immediately became cold. He naturally understood what kind of prestige power the future Yunqin Emperor had. If this type of person revealed his identity before a great army, then that would be enough to destroy the wills of most troops.
“Then should I avoid fighting them… try to eliminate them one by one?” Cheng Yu understood clearly that in this type of great army decisive battle, even if they had three times the other party’s strength, once their morale collapsed and troops entered chaos, they would still suffer a great defeat. According to his current calculations, if it really was the crown prince who was leading the army, and then revealed himself on the battlefield, their side’s defeat would definitely be above eighty percent.
If Jadefall City East completely fell to the enemy in this battle, not only would a third of Jadefall City’s military force collapse, be used by the other side, Mountain Sun Path and Jadefall City’s border would be completely open to Yunqin’s soldiers and cultivators who wished to enter. From then on, Jadefall Border Army wouldn’t have any chance of turning things around.
This meant that the point in which he was confused over, was a crucial point in deciding this entire war.
If Wenren Cangyue didn’t return, this battle would completely erupt in half a day’s time. After just saying a few words, just a few breaths of time, his back was already completely covered in cold sweat, even his nose clearly covered in fine droplets of sweat.
“You are still mistaken.” Wenren Cangyue shook his head. “There is no need to change anything. I want you to precisely do as they want, fight a great battle against them, have all of these troops gathered together, and then force this person to show himself. You only need to seize the timing well, wait for me to arrive before starting this decisive battle.”
Cheng Yu had lost track of just how many battles he had commanded before in his life, but he had never felt as shaken to the core as this time. He couldn’t help but wipe at his sweat, nodding, and then said with a deep breath, “Your respected self wishes to kill the crown prince in front of the army?”
“This is one of the two things I must do.”
Wenren Cangyue released a light laugh.
Because he was powerful and dignified, an ordinary smile instead seemed extremely strange and disturbing. He smiled as he looked at Cheng Yu, saying, “Changsun Jinse only has a single son, and this son is someone he had already appointed a long time ago to succeed the throne, so one can see just how much love and hopes he has entrusted to this son. I have always wondered if this crown prince were to die, how crazy Changsun Jinse would become… this type of thing really is just too interesting, worth looking forward to.”
“This is a battle between me and Central Continent to begin with… In the end, we’ll have to see if Jadefall Border Army feels more loyalty and reverence towards me, or towards the crown prince.” Wenren Cangyue shook his head, and then with a smile said, “If it was Cangsun Jinse himself who came, then it might actually be something…”
When he saw how Wenren Cangyue clearly spoke a bit more than normal, Cheng Yu clearly sensed Wenren Cangyue’s feverishness. He took another deep breath, and then said, “I will go with you.”
“Alright.”
Wenren Cangyue gave him a look, and then nodded. “Since those Central Continent Elder thought of so many sinister methods, pushing their bargaining chips here, we naturally have to crush them with full force.”
…
The sky gradually brightened.
Lin Xi was roused away by some strange sounds. When he opened his eyes. He saw Gao Yanan and the others were already walking towards him. Meanwhile, on the opposing mound, there were large waves of smoke rising.
“Iron Core Army has already taken the initiative to withdraw, from the looks of it charging towards Mountain Sun Path.”
Jiang Xiaoyi quickly informed Lin Xi about the current military situation.
Lin Xi got up, directly walking to Meng Su who was at the side. He bowed slightly and asked in guidance, “Sir Meng, even though I do not know what your previous post was, in terms of military management, you clearly have more experience than me. In your opinion, with Iron Core Army’s composition, if we are trying to pull a snake from its hole, what distance should we maintain for the greatest degree of safety?”
Meng Su’s expression immediately became sluggish. Right now, anyone could see that Lin Xi was one of Yunqin’s rising star generals, and these types of talented figures would normally be extremely self-confident, proud, and aloof. However, Lin Xi actually showed such humbleness… this made him feel even more so that Lin Xi was extraordinary, made him feel even more respect. “Iron Core Army’s power mainly lies in their soul weapon heavy armors.” He immediately bowed, returning the greeting, quietly explaining in detail, “Soul weapon heavy armors are things those under State Knight level cannot break through at all. If thirty sets of soul weapon heavy armors charge, even if all of our cultivators fought them, we will suffer serious casualties… However, normal soul weapon heavy armors can only be supported for a halt of time. After charging around a thousand steps of distance, the soul force of soul weapon heavy armors would completely disappear. That is why the threat of the soul weapon heavy armors we need to consider, is just roughly a thousand steps.”
Lin Xi nodded without any hesitation. “I want to lead the army in following them. What do you think?”
Meng Su said quietly, “In my opinion, this is also the best choice at the moment… if the other friendly forces arrive at Mountain Sun Path, then there will definitely be a great battle that will take place.”
Lin Xi didn’t hesitate anymore. He clenched his fist, and then the military orders were quickly transmitted out. The army began to chase after Iron Core Army at full speed.
…
As time flowed on, Jadefall City’s skies finally became bright.
The red sun scattered the mists, a Jadefall Border Army carrying several dozen sets of Mountain Piercing Crossbow Carts entered Mountain Sun Path Region.
What dragged these Mountain Piercing Crossbow Carts weren’t ordinary warhorses, but rather giant brilliant white tigers!
These giant brilliant white tigers that were even more massive than tall warhorses even had golden armor covering their heads and other key areas. Under the sun’s radiance, they seemed even more valiant and astonishing.
When they saw the arrival of this troop, saw the dozen or so green banners fluttering high above the troop, a ‘Cheng’ character embroidered on their surface, the military officers up ahead and at the sides who had arrived earlier all revealed expressions of pleasant and fanatical expressions.
They knew that Great General Cheng was personally commanding the Fierce Tiger Army, participating in this battle!
Fierce Tiger Army continued forward. When they arrived at the center of the dozen or so troops scattered across this field, they stopped on a mound that only had an elevation of fifty or so steps.
A completely sealed golden war chariot was pulled by eight golden armored fierce tigers, arriving at the very front.
The doors opened. Cheng Yu who had already changed into golden armor that covered his body, a long golden cape behind him appeared before all of Jadefall Border Army’s line of sight.
His face, when offset by the golden armor and golden helmet, seemed a bit too pale. However, with the first step he took out of the carriage door, all of the runes on his armor flickered about. Golden light patterns quickly spun about like dozens of shooting stars, his body erupting with majestic vitality. In front of him, a brilliant white tiger with a pair of giant wings appeared in front of him, as if it was real.
With a rumbling noise, cheers and roars immediately shook this entire region.
A powerful individual was a powerful individual. Just by standing there, even without saying anything, revealing a bit of power, could already increase the great army’s morale to the peak.