Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Chapter 1791: Chapter 571: Yielding the Initiative, Strengthening Oneself, Awakening with a Single Sentence (Part 2)

Li Xuanling reacted quickly, pondering briefly before understanding Xia Hong’s intent. However, after nodding, she continued to look at Xia Hong, clearly waiting for him to provide an answer.

“The hundred thousand troops of Chen Cang cannot be resolved through external forces; we can only rely on ourselves. Cai Qiu’s situation is actually quite similar to ours. The two vassals’ armies won’t cross borders to help them. To reclaim Lin Chu…no, it should be resisting Chen Cang’s subsequent attacks. They can only rely on themselves.”

Li Xuanling naturally understood the reason for Xia Hong’s rephrasing. Currently, Cai Qiu’s hope of reclaiming Lin Chu County is quite dim. In the ensuing battle with Chen Cang, the core goal can only be preventing further encroachment of territory.

“Having been dealt such a blow, Cai Qiu should be able to see the true colors of the two vassals, Hezang and Wei Bo. Although ‘true colors’ doesn’t quite fit, this is simply how diplomatic strategy works. If you lack strength, you will be schemed against. Wasn’t Cai Qianshan quite sure of Great Xia’s inability to continue the fight, hence Liang Hengzhang’s visit for negotiations?”

After speaking, Xia Hong smiled subtly. With the experience of two lives spanning the Eastern Zhou and Spring and Autumn Period, he had ample knowledge to tackle the current situation. What he needed to do now was to secure a broader time window for Great Xia.

“Ceasefire, then send back the tens of thousands of prisoners of war at a low price, granting Cai Qiu a favor. This can both foster goodwill with them and allow them to focus on battling Chen Cang. Moreover, a starved camel is still larger than a horse; Cai Qiu has managed to maneuver among the Three Vassals in this contested land for hundreds of years, not such a small feat. Losing a single Lin Chu County is not yet the point of desperation; once Chen Cang encounters resistance in the east, our opportunity arises, and…”

At this point, Xia Hong paused, then turned his head to look westward.

Guangning Mountain is located in the southern region of Evergreen Valley, with the towering Moao Mountain on both its eastern and western sides. However, Xia Hong’s gaze was clearly not on the mountain itself; his sight seemed to penetrate through the mountain, seeing beyond it.

“Remember, there’s a troublemaker behind the disputes involving Chen Cang, Cai Qiu, and Great Xia, who has remained hidden behind the scenes.”

The deceitful monsters of Blood Miasma Plain!

Upon hearing this, Li Xuanling’s gaze slightly tensed. Following Xia Hong’s eyes westward, her expression also grew a bit somber.

The Jiuqu Blood Corridor and Bone-Eroding Path were intentionally left open by the deceitful monsters of Blood Miasma Plain. In other words, during this period, they have observed all the battles outside Moao River along with those in the Southern Slope Territory.

The way deceitful monsters grow stronger is through killing. Logically speaking, after so many battles, the total military forces involved should amount to over a million. Counting the populations affected by the wars, the total number should be easily in the tens of millions. The deceitful monsters should have emerged long ago.

The fact that they haven’t acted indicates only one thing: they have a larger scheme at play. What plan could possibly be more important than a population in the tens of millions?

Reflecting on this, it’s somewhat chilling!

“Once the negotiation results are settled, you should return. Building a city at Guangning Mountain can only be considered a forward base. If we truly want to guard against Cai Qiu, we must seize control over Bone-Eroding Path. Previously, it was the domain of Black Wind General. I need to thoroughly investigate it to ensure they haven’t left any fallback. You should take Yao’er and Sheng’er back first; I’ll return after my work is done.”

“Understood!”

Li Xuanling readily nodded in agreement.

The two youngsters were somewhat reluctant, both wanting to speak. However, sensing their mother’s hand holding theirs with a slight force, they promptly shut their mouths.

Seeing this, Xia Hong couldn’t help but smile faintly, but he didn’t indulge them as he had earlier.

Three years ago, when traversing Bone-Eroding Path, he had a confrontation with Black Wind General. At that time, the opponent had a strength of Hundred Jun or more, and now would only be stronger. Moreover, he now knew that Black Wind originated from the same source as the deceitful monsters of Blood Miasma Plain, which naturally added more risk to his reconnaissance. He couldn’t let the two children fool around.

“After just halting combat with Cai Qiu, Evergreen Valley temporarily can’t do without the Holy Tripod. It’s just an opportune moment to thoroughly assess the risks at Bone-Eroding Path and make arrangements to prevent any future issues.”

Both being human camps, engaging in battle with Cai Qiu ultimately relies on top-tier power, overall military strength, and other hard assets; however, combating deceitful monsters is entirely different. Great Xia currently has plenty of ways to deal with deceitful monsters.

……

Great Xia had a total of ninety thousand troops pass through Bone-Eroding Path. After the final battle at Guangning Mountain, apart from ten thousand troops staying at River Valley Village to oversee the prisoners, the remaining eighty thousand were stationed at the military camp on the mountain.

Fortunately, Guangning Mountain was originally a place where Cai Qiu stationed troops, so the mountain was not short of barracks and tents. The eighty thousand Xia Army, along with the newly captured tens of thousands of Cai Qiu prisoners, were all settled orderly.

Since Lord Xia Hong himself was present, the mountain top was centered around the main tent, with the command tent placed on the right side, becoming more of an accompaniment.

Though an accompaniment, Great Xia has many rules and regulations nowadays, especially within the Military Department which is inherently strict. With Lord Xia Hong leading by example in compliance, military affairs during wartime are still left to the command tent’s decisions. Thus, at the bustling mountain-top military camp, besides the main tent, the right-side command tent is the most lively.

However, the usually lively command tent was now surprisingly quiet.

The command tent, a strategic military hub, naturally had elite soldiers maintaining guard. With too many Cai Qiu prisoners at Guangning Mountain right now, Xia Army found itself critically understaffed. A portion of the Dragon Forbidden Captain troops originally guarding the lord’s encampment was allocated to guard the command tent here.

Outside the command tent door, Su Xing’er and her three elder brothers stood upright, their sights fixated on the tent entrance, expressions unusually anxious.