Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Chapter 1588: Chapter 499: What Is Yuwen Dao Waiting For? Taking the Initiative

The entire Southern Slope Territory, with Moao Mountain in the northeast, Xing River in the south, and the west obstructed by the cliffs of Twin Dragon Mountain, results in the nine towns of Southern Slope having relatively small territorial areas.

For example, the smallest, Dragon Valley Town, with four zones in its entirety, covers more than 7,000 square kilometers; while the largest, Jinshan Town, with nine zones in its entirety, covers only 12,000 square kilometers, and the total area of the remaining towns is roughly around 10,000.

Of course, this was before Great Xia expanded eastward to replace Bashang.

Before Great Xia expanded eastward, the total territorial area was already more than 20,000 square kilometers. After expanding eastward and capturing Xing River’s north bank, occupying Hongmen, taking Bashang, and then successively annexing the three towns of Muyin, Jiangxia, and Chui Mountain, the current total territorial area now roughly approximates at least over 60,000 square kilometers.

With small territorial area, it lacks strategic depth.

10,000 square kilometers, when calculated in detail, is roughly an area 100 kilometers long and wide; the actual map of the nine towns is not that neatly organized, but the difference is not too large based on this estimation.

Take the largest, Jinshan Town, for instance, its territory largely stretches horizontally east to west, with a significant portion embedded into Moao Mountain’s interior, giving it the greatest east-west depth among the nine towns. Yet, even the largest stretch is only over 180 kilometers.

……

The twelfth year of Da Xia, December 28th, during the first half of the night

Jinshan Town, West Yuan Camp, main building

“Report to the General, not only here in West Yuan, but also the Ice Peak, Hanzhao, and Qing Valley camps have all been evacuated, and Jinshan Town has moved all personnel and materials from these four locations to Aikou. Aikou Camp currently has 30,000 troops gathered, fortifying the city defenses. Shangguan Ning is unlikely to retreat further, so it appears to align with the General’s expectations that our first encounter with Jinshan will be at Aikou Camp!”

Yuwen Dao was seated at the main position and, hearing the report from Hou Quan below, immediately turned his head to look at the map of the entire territory of Jinshan Town behind him, a smile appearing on his face.

The entire territory of Jinshan is longitudinally narrow east to west, divided into eastern and western parts across nine zones: the eastern part has Lin’ao, Qingcang, Mutai, and Aikou; the western part comprises Ice Peak, Hanzhao, Qing Valley, West Yuan, and Yinhe Valley.

The town of Jinshan is located in the east, at the juncture of Qingcang and Aikou Camp.

“More than half of Jinshan Town’s territory extends into the interior of Moao Mountain, and the key to this extension is the Aikou Camp. This Aikou is a small fault zone in Moao Mountain, eleven kilometers in length, but merely over a hundred meters wide, making it inherently difficult for an army to deploy here. Further, Jinshan Town has managed this place for years and established a city here, so breaching this location will be even more challenging, possibly tougher than storming Jinshan Town itself!”

Hearing Yuwen Dao’s words, Hou Quan showed no surprise, having witnessed Yuwen Dao bringing him and Yuwen Yong personally to observe Aikou Camp from above right after the Right Army captured the entire Yinhe Valley yesterday.

“The terrain is a secondary factor; the key point is that the eastern side of Aikou is Jinshan Town. Once engaged in battle, military supplies and troop reinforcements become extremely convenient. As long as Jinshan Town people aren’t foolish, they will move all personnel from the four camps in the west to this Aikou. Just watch!”

Remembering Yuwen Dao’s words in the sky over Aikou City yesterday, Hou Quan felt a deep sense of admiration and immediately cupped his hands, saying, “Since the General has already predicted Jinshan Town’s deployment, then you must already have a strategy in place to defeat them?”

Yuwen Dao’s face instantly showed a smile as he shook his head, saying, “Don’t try to get me to reveal strategies. When the time comes for you to know, you will naturally know.”

Hearing this, Hou Quan’s mind was slightly stirred, and his eyes suddenly revealed a gleam.

After emerging from Yinhe Valley yesterday, Yuwen Dao decided to split the army into two routes; at that moment, he guessed the commander must have a plan not fully disclosed to them. Now it proves his instincts correct.

Yuwen Dao naturally didn’t concern himself with what Hou Quan was thinking, instead turning his head to the Jinyang Alliance Army’s Second Camp General Yuwen Yong below, inquiring lowly, “All soldier food pills have been distributed, yes?”

Yuwen Yong immediately stood up, nodding as he replied, “Reporting to the General, there was an inventory of 4 million soldier food pills in Jinyang City, and yesterday, Director Qiu delivered another 6 million during our time at Yinhe Valley Camp, totaling around 10 million. Our 50,000 troops at Jinyang have each been given 200 pills, and they have been instructed these are to be kept on hand as reserves for now.”

Currently, the soldiers are consuming army provisions stocked with beast meat, which nearly depleted Jinyang City’s entire beast meat reserves for this expedition, enough to last about three months.”

Upon hearing this, Yuwen Dao’s expression slightly brightened.

Soldier food pills, crafted by the Craftsmen Department based on the Green Food Pills from Dajue Temple, mainly consist of the blood and flesh of a type of water cold beast from the Qinghepu waters, aptly named. The primary function is to replace beast meat in sustaining human needs, with one small pill sufficing for a day’s consumption.

In the eighth year of Da Xia, the Craftsmen Department developed soldier food pills and immediately classified them as war-ready supplies, then manufactured and stored them en masse, demonstrating their purpose through Mu Dong’s naming.

“Jinyang’s beast meat reserves are sufficient for three months, coupled with each person holding 200 soldier food pills, my right army of 50,000 troops won’t need to worry about food supply for nearly ten months. Yesterday, I divided them, sending 10,000 to advance into Wuchuan’s East Valley. The central army under Luo Yuan has stationed 30,000 at Fushan. The Three Northern Towns will hear about this and likely misconstrue our intent, thinking we aim to secure the supply line; once they grasp what’s happening, it will already be too late…”

Yuwen Dao gazed at the map featuring Aikou Camp, then slowly shifted his sight towards the east, finally resting on Jinshan Town, his gaze growing increasingly frosty.