Chapter 330- A Black Cloud Tries to Destroy the City
Translator: TeamTWO
Editor: Jun
The Battle of Lianzhou was the biggest main map war between aboriginals and lords since the game was started.
Both sides added up to over 100 thousand troops.
Such a sudden war had made Shanhai City the focal point of the China region once again. Ouyang Shuo not being there also added a layer of mystery in this war.
The eyes of everyone were all focused on the Lianzhou Basin.
Many supported Ouyang Shuo who was a commoner player, and were sweating for him.
The current situation was highly disadvantageous for Shanhai City. 3 forces working together, whether Shanhai City was able to withstand this was a huge question mark.
No one felt that Shanhai City could easily get out of this situation. The best situation would be for them to hold on, leaving a broken Shanhai City.
Some people even started taking bets and betting how long Shanhai City could hold on for.
Not only players from the China region, even everyone in the world was looking at it. This was only because the main person was the best lord in the whole world. Hence, attention was being paid to him.
American Region, Free Territory.
Jack Dawson muttered, "Our old friend is going to take another step forward!"
"Are you so sure that the Lianzhou Marquis will win this battle?"
"Heh, if he cannot handle this small problem, how is he worthy to be my opponent?" Jack was confident.
"...."
"We must start to prepare to act against the aboriginals. We are too merciful." Jack said as he laughed, but his words were cold and ruthless. "Tell them if they don't surrender, we will wipe them out."
"No problem."
British Region, Avic Ford
William shouted unhappily at his secretary. "The Lianzhou lord already has the ability to start a 100 thousand man war, look at what we are doing?"
"..."
The secretary kept silent and the atmosphere was a little awkward.
William calmed himself down and asked, "How's the research on the steam machine?"
"Everything is going smoothly. In about 1.5 years, it would be good."
"1.5 years? Too slow! Too slow!" William was furious and was unhappy with the efficiency, he looked like he was going to rage again. "To reach the glory of the old British empire, we must be quicker!"
William was a noble in real life, and his dream was to rule the seas and colonize the Earth.
"Yes, I will quicken things up." The secretary said carefully.
"1 year, remember. I only give you 1 year! If you can't give me a good answer after a year, you know the consequences."
"No problem!"
The secretary was feeling really bitter, but he didn't dare to object.
Annan Region, Haiphong County
Haiphong County lord Ruan Tianque was solemn. "Our neighbor is really shocking!"
"Ya! He just destroyed Black Shark who was disturbing the seas."
Talking about Black Shark pirates, Ruan Tianque's face twitched. The Haiphong Town had nearly died under their hands, and when they wanted to retaliate, Black Shark was killed by Shanhai City.
"I really hope the Lianzhou Marquis will lose. If not, he will be a problem for Annan." Thinking about the future country wars, Ruan Tianque frowned. To have such a strong neighbor, one would definitely worry.
"To talk about country war now, would it be too early?"
"Early? No, not at all. If he wins this, the Lianzhou Lord wouldn't have any opponents. Who would he turn his eyes to?"
"..."
"Locate the northern territories and tell them that forming an alliance must proceed quickly." Ruan Tianque had a weird expression on his face, as ruling the north of Annan had been his dream, and now it was hard to succeed.
"It isn't easy; these fellows are all arrogant. Why would they submit?"
Ruan Tianque gave a mysterious smile. “Hasn't the chance presented itself? We just use the Lianzhou Marquis as an enemy and see how they could be at ease."
"Lord is smart!"
Lianzhou Lord's Manor, Meeting hall.
The 4 directors and Baiqi were all having a meeting. Military intelligence secretary Songsan, 2nd division major general Luo Shixin, City Defense Division deputy Zhao Sihu and Shanhai City prefect Wei Ran were all here.
As it was war time, Baiqi was in charge.
After Songsan reported military intelligence, the meeting hall was in a silence.
Military affairs director Du Ruhui spoke first, "The outer wall definitely can't be defended. Since that's so, why don’t we give it up and retreat to within the inner cities?"
"No!" Wei Ran immediately objected. "The outer city is building has large living areas and Commerce regions. Once we leave it, our economic loses will be immeasurable."
Since Wei Ran was appointed, he spent all his work on the outer city. For the army to desert the outer wall would mean all his hard work would have gone to waste.
"I also have doubts." Zhao Sihu said. "Not talking about the outer city being destroyed. If we retreat and defend the inner city, we will have to split into 3, the grassland troops are all cavalry, so they can cut off the contact between the three inner cities and make us fight for ourselves."
Baiqi wasn't affected by Wei Ran and Zhao Sihu, looking at Du Ruhui. "Do you have other plans?" Although he had known him for less than a mouth, but he was impressed with his ability. He had foresight and definitely would have thought about the problems raised.
The moment Baiqi said those words, Zhao Sihu's face flushed red; he was ashamed. He was too rash and eager to prove himself so he didn't consider the deep meaning in Du Ruhui's words.
Wei Ran looked really bitter as the outer city was his brainchild and he didn't want to see it lost.
Du Ruhui looked at Zhao Sihu, and his eyes brought with them encouragement and consolation. "Retreating to defend the inner city doesn't mean giving up the outer city. Giving up the wall doesn't mean not defending. Just as General Zhao said, the enemy is cavalry and aren't good at sieging.
"The outer city could act as our frontline defence. As for economic losses?" Speaking up to here, Du Ruhui was expressionless. "This is war. We are the defending party, so we definitely will have losses. Not talking about the outer city, even the city will have losses. This is a large-scale war, and to win we need to be able to make sacrifices."
Du Ruhui was expectedly a determined and quick thinking person.
Wei Ran was still very bitter and was about to retaliate. After thinking about it, he returned to his seat and didn't say a word.
Baiqi, seeing the situation, heaved a sigh of relief. He was afraid that Wei Ran wouldn't agree. The splitting of army and administration wasn't for nothing. Du Ruhui during wartime had absolute power over everything.
The reason he invited Wei Ran was because there were some military operations that needed his help. As for affecting military plans, he wasn't powerful enough as a prefect.
In the territory, only the lord could affect military plans.
The rumours were that of the father-in-law and son-in-law, one controlled the military, and the other the prefecture. Now that the lord wasn't here, the territory was all theirs.
Although Baiqi never had such a thought, he had to pay attention to it.
Wei Ran was also an old fox, and he obviously heard the rumors. Hence with such considerations, he suddenly gave up the argument with Du Ruhui.
As for his losses, he would be the one to have to deal with them.
"Director Du can relax, the Administration Department and Internal Affairs Department will help to calm down the masses." Fan Zhongyan helped the civil servants express their attitude and support.
Du Ruhui nodded.
What was next was the reorganization of troops. With only the 2nd division and city protection division, it would be hard to defend. But to attack and destroy the enemy was too difficult.
Although the marquis didn't make it clear, Baiqi guessed that he wanted to use this battle to settle the Lianzhou Basin and set the foundation for territory expansion.
Hence, he needed to move the other divisions to help out.
The 3rd division was blocked off by Broken Blade County. The 1st division would definitely be moved and the defenses of the west region could temporarily be given to the various city protection squads.
The crux of the problem was whether or not to move the 4th division.
The 4th division had always been a secret. Be it the scouts from the grassland or the spies from Broken Blade City, no one knew it existed.
They only knew that Mulan City had a large city protection squad. Hence, the grassland tribes arranged 8000 people to pay attention to the city.
The 4th division had basically switched up all their equipment and their combat strength had increased a level. The grassland army thought that their defensive power was still at the regiment stage.
This, this was the greatest battle changer.
After discussing, Baiqi decided to not use the trump card.
The last problem was whether the Beihai Naval fleet needed to join in.
The Beihai Squadron who returned from Yazhou. As the shipyard hadn’t completed the turreted ships, the 2nd expedition was delayed and the squadron remained in Shanhai City.
"Let them wait for orders just in case." Du Ruhui being decisive didn't mean he wasn't careful. In this kind of battle, one more strength was another chance.
"I agree!" Baiqi supported this, and hence everything was decided just like that.