Chapter 580: Sudden Winds of Change
Translator: chuchutrain Editor: DavidT, Rock
For the Xiao Family, this abrupt news was akin to having the sky just fall straight down on their heads. This was especially so since their 450,000 strong army was out on a campaign. They were the elite forces of the Xiao Family and their hand for world domination! While they had similar forces of that size around the Northeastern regions, they were too scattered, and to form them into a huge army was not something that could be done in a short time.
As for their strongest ally, the Above Heavens, they had also sent out a good half of their experts to coordinate with the Xiao Family. The Xiao Family was already public enemy number one, and the loss of their entire logistics supply line would have consequences beyond their imagination!
Could it be that their ancestors’ sayings were true? “If the Xiao Family focuses just on commerce, then it will remain for many eras to come. However, if their ambitions grow too wild, and they attempt to obtain dominance, then the entire clan would die without a grave to be buried in!
When the Xiao Family Head, Xiao FengHan heard this piece of news, he immediately vomited out a mouthful of flood and fainted!
If the sky dies, so will I!
After a series of medical treatments, the resuscitated Xiao FengHan immediately gave down a series of commands as though he had gone crazy. No matter the price, no matter what, they had to clear the river channel in the fastest time possible!
In addition, they were to organize troops to pass through the water to reinforce and provide supplies to the other side, or else their army outside would surely perish!
This was undoubtedly the best idea, but this best idea was just merely wildly searching for a random doctor to treat one’s illness. For a country that was mostly comprised of flatlands, how many ships could they actually have? Furthermore, even if they could gather up the necessary members to form a crew, they could not operate the boats. While the water level right now was already on the level of a calamity, it still was not deep enough for actual ships to travel! Although the water level had increased by more than 2 meters, which they considered a disaster, it was not even enough for a tiny ship to float, let alone a battleship that could hold hundreds of people!
All the various Xiao Family members who looked like they had lost their souls immediately started to remember the sayings of their ancestors!
A thought rose unbidden in the minds of everyone’s heart, ‘Is the beginning of the end of the Xiao Family?’
As for the complete opposite of the Xiao Family, that was the Ling Family!
Upon receiving the tentative plan from Ling Tian, Meng LiGe immediately understood the intentions behind Ling Tian’s plan. Initially, no matter how confident Meng LiGe was in Ling Tian, he still did not dare to fully believe he was able to cover the rains and overturn the clouds. After checking multiple times with another person he respected, Miss Li Xue, he finally took action.
However, he did not strictly adhere to Ling Tian’s instructions in the plan, for Miss Li Xue’s suggestions had increased the scope of Ling Tian’s plan by more than two times! As someone belonging to the School of Diplomacy in the military, Meng LiGe was, of course, aware of the hidden meaning behind such a matter. If Ling Tian really managed to block the Blue Jade River, then the commotion it would cause as well as the benefits that the Ling Family could reap were clearly known by him!
As such, he gave out the highest level command available in the Ling Family Courtyard, that other than the hidden cards inside the West and North that were not to be activated, the rest of the hidden cards that Ling Tian possessed would now be put onto the playing field. All were to gather and ceaselessly flow towards the east.
On the side of Sky Bearing, they left a small portion of guards and soldiers for Ling Chen to hold the fort. Meng LiGe then gathered another 100,000 troops and warhorses, as well as pulling out 10,000 people from the Violent Wind Gang before bringing the army out for the expedition, led by him personally. Li Xue served as his hidden guard, and together they rushed towards the Southeast.
This time, Meng LiGe intended to not only totally swallow the 450,000 elite troops of the Xiao Family, but also to unify Eastern Zhao and Southern Zheng. If it was possible, he would even slaughter his way into the lands of the Xiao Family that they had held for centuries!
Meng LiGe’s thinking was even more extreme than Ling Tian himself!
The Ling Family Courtyard also sent down the highest order towards Ling Xiao’s troops, commanding them to take down the Golden Jade City within five days. They believed that Ling Xiao, having the advantage, would not find it a difficult task. Once Southern Zheng was taken down, they could trap another group of soldiers from the Xiao Family outside of Southern Zheng. Through harassing them, be it poison, arson or attacking, they had to ensure that all their logistic support was destroyed. As time passed and their food and supplies dwindled, the army would also begin to panic.
However, Meng LiGe did not know that he had actually sent out the command a little late. Just as he had sent down the command, Grand Marshall Ling Xiao had already taken down Golden Jade City, confronting the 150,000 Xiao Family soldiers head-on. It was likely that war would be the first to break out over there!
As for Shen RuHu’s side, Meng LiGe strictly commanded him to retract his attitude of an observer, mobilize his army, and cooperate with DongFang JingLei to arrange a pincer attack. They had to ensure that the Eastern Zhao imperial soldiers, as well as the other 150,000 troops of the Xiao family, were firmly trapped!
Meng LiGe’s intention was to deal with the important matters first. Nothing could surpass swallowing up the 150,000 soldiers stationed in the middle with Xiao FengYang!
Any other matters could be pushed aside for now!
Just one day after the troops set off, Meng LiGe received the good news from Ling Tian. The Blue Jade River had been successfully cut off and Ling Jian was already making haste towards Eastern Zhao to assist Shen RuHu. On the other hand, Ling Chi had set off by himself to visit Southern Zheng in order to assist Ling Xiao. As for Ling Tian himself, he had already retreated based on the arranged route, and once he had gathered Ling Seventeen as well as Feng Mo, they would attack Xiao FengYang from the rear!
Upon receiving this news, Meng LiGe felt his anxiety burn even higher.
The war situation was highly tense at this moment, their opportunity fleeting. They had to completely eliminate Xiao FengYang’s army and return to Sky Bearing before the Yu Family in Northern Wei got hold of the news. This was in order to remain absolutely safe! And it was only if they managed to do so that they would be able to swallow this big piece of meat that was the Xiao Family army in peace.
Thus, Meng LiGe set down the order once more, to throw out all excess baggage, and make full speed for the road!
At the Sobbing Ghost Mountain pass, the troops belonging to the Ling Family increased over and over, with many similar banners flapping in the wind. All those indicated their allegiance to Ling Family.
Of course, it was the peerless military strategist Xiao FengYang that felt as though his five organs were truly smoldering!
Concerning the news about the Blue Jade River being cut off, Xiao FengYang would naturally be the last to find out!
Before this, the Xiao Family only had a hypothesis and did not dare to inform Xiao FengYang. In the event that they were wrong and disrupted the mental state of the army, then that would be a terrible consequence! By the time the pigeon letter was sent off, almost a day and night had passed!
At that time, Xiao FengYang himself was still calm and unruffled, awaiting the news of success from Meng RuoYun.
But when the pigeon letter arrived, it was more akin to a stick that hit him right in the head! Xiao FengYang vomited blood and passed out!
No one could blame Xiao FengYang for his actions. Anyone in his shoes would probably do the same.
With the Blue Jade River suddenly having its flow interrupted, flooding and devastating the riverbanks, this caused the Heavenly Water Ravine to no longer have a passable road, cutting off his retreat route! The worst part was that without supplies from the homeland, he only had less than half a month’s rations for his army. This was a surefire path to defeat!
The only option they had left was to rush and conquer the Sobbing Ghost Mountain in front of them, entering the Ling Family’s lands to plunder and rob for themselves!
However, was it still possible at this time?
No, it was too late!
If Xiao FengYang had really attacked the moment Yu YanHai arrived, ignoring his losses, he might have really broken through, but it was already too late now.
The iron had already gone cold!
Right now, there were more than 50,000 men standing guard at Sobbing Mountain Pass! And this figure was in the process of increasing. Xiao FengYang could be said to have lost his last and final chance.
But no one could blame him. After all, with the route of Heavenly Water Ravine Pass, he could constantly receive supplies and choose when to attack or retreat without fear for any future consequences. Not only Xiao FengYang, any general when placed with this scenario, would do the same! Who would have thought that someone actually existed in the world who could blast off part of a landscape countless years old?
That was supposed to be the work of a god!
But now, that miracle actually happened. The world’s most majestic mountain city had turned into a city surrounded by water. The people outside could not enter, nor the people inside exit! Xiao FengYang and his 150,000 troops were placed in an awkward position.
Only death awaited!
In his despair, Xiao FengYang almost went crazy.
There was no chance for him to still remain sane, faced with defeat at this juncture, as well as to be reduced to a mere prisoner. He was even more unwilling to see the 500 years of hard work and accumulation of the Xiao Family all destroyed in his hands! Under this extreme despair, Xiao FengYang took the action of burning all his bridges!
Or maybe, this was the only thing left that he could do!
To gather all his soldiers and do a head-on assault at Sobbing Ghost Mountain! Whatever the losses, he had to cut out a path of safety for himself! This was the only chance of survival he had left right now!
As such, before the flames of war had cleared, while the scent of blood was still fresh in the pass, the silence that had reigned for six days was shattered once more! Furthermore, this attack was more desperate than the previous times by over a hundred times!
The Xiao Family soldiers who knew that their supply lines were cut off went all-out in desperation!
This sort of madness even let Yu YanHai, who was purportedly the number one commander for defense, feel a great headache!
The Xiao Family soldiers had no fear of death. Even if they had to sacrifice a hundred lives just to take one step or even half a step, they had no hesitation in doing so, to the point that they could not wait to die! They were even more swift and fierce as compared to the Ling Family’s troops. Yu YanHai was depressed and thought to himself, ‘When did this group of soldiers suddenly convert their occupations to become death warriors?’
Yu YanHai was actually over-complicating matters, for the underlying reason was with the Xiao soldiers. All of them knew that their retreat route had been broken, and if the status quo didn’t change, they would sooner or later starve to death. There was no difference between them dying from hunger or dying from an enemy’s sword, and furthermore, even if it was a slim chance, there was still a possibility of breaking through Sobbing Mountain Pass. Under such circumstances, all that filled their heads was to kill one to break even, kill two to profit! Thus they displayed such madness.
This was also the meaning behind an army burning with righteous indignation would be bound to win!
It was this sort of grieving soldiers that posed the worst nightmare to the Ling Family soldiers! The death count rose to an extreme level, such that even those injured Blood Iron Warriors that Wang Han had left recuperating in the pass were forced to clench their teeth and pick up their weapons to rush into the battlefield!
Both sides were fully immersed in the war, and with every second, someone would fall. Every now and then, a group of people clashing would be left with a bunch of corpses, and Xiao FengYang who had his heart steeled to break past the defenses was staring with reddened eyes at the war zone. So long as he saw that the battle was not in their favor, he would wave his red flag, and a fresh batch of soldiers would then rush up!
Human wave tactics, that was right! Even if he had to use the lives of all his men present, he had to forge an escape route!
Xiao FengYang knew that if he could not break through Sobbing Ghost Pass, he would die either way. Thus he made up his mind to succeed or die trying!
This bloodbath continued for two days straight!
Under the perversely many attack commands given by Xiao FengYang, the Xiao Family soldiers rushed up like waves striking against the shore continuously. Yu YanHai had bloodshot eyes, as he was only left with 5,000 reserve troops that he had yet to send out. However, the Xiao Family’s attack showed no signs of ceasing!
Sobbing Mountain Pass looked as though it was about to be lost!
Even if Yu YanHai was an expert in defense, even if he was the best at it, but he could not do anything without troops, just like how even the cleverest housewife could not cook a meal without rice! His opponent had already turned into a lunatic, a completely insane person who disregarded life and death that he could not resist!
Yu YanHai could only let out a long sigh, and with a ‘shua’, his saber was drawn. His eyes turned bitingly cold at this point as he thought, ‘Since things have already gotten to this point, then let me accompany Sobbing Ghost Pass to live or die! To have led such a rag-tag army to defend against the elites of the Xiao Family soldiers for eight days, furthermore with the acclaimed military expert Xiao FengYang in command!’
‘This is good enough! The order that the Ling Family Courtyard gave me was to obstruct them for six days. It’s the eighth day now, what should I be unsatisfied about?’
Yu YanHai let out a mocking smile as he raised his saber, his left hand gripped the horsewhip, ready to command it to charge forward.
So long as the horsewhip came down, the warhorse would fearlessly charge straight into the fray. With Yu YanHai’s frail body and weak cultivation, he would immediately become meat paste!
“General! Look!” Beside him, his aide pulled on the whip, his other hand pointing to another direction. A look of joy was on his face as he spoke, “It’s our armed forces troops and horses! It’s our main army! They’ve arrived!”
Where the aide pointed, countless red flags dotted the area in a sea of red, as though it were the clouds at sunset covering the entire sky and earth! Strong and steady hoofbeats sounded with earth-shattering momentum as they rushed over!
The front-most flag was raised above all others, fluttering in the wind. Painted in gold were the two words “Ling” and “Tian”! These two words on the flag seemed to have given it some sort of spirit, as though a monarch had descended from the heavens to earth in the most majestic manner possible, looking with disdain from the corner of his eye at the world below him!