Chapter 441- South Alliance Strikes
Translator: ryangohsf
Editor: Nora
An hour later, Song Jia and her mother returned to the loft.
When Song Jia saw Ouyang Shuo and her father casually drinking tea, she knew that they had settled the official matters. Even so, Song Jia looked at Ouyang Shuo with worry. Only after he nodded did she cease to fret.
At night, Ouyang Shuo held a feast in the manor to welcome them. From his side, Cui Yingyu and Qing'er attended the feast. Oh, and of course, little Bing'er attended too.
Seeing Ouyang Shuo treat the two NPCs sisters so well, Song Jia's mother could not help but frown. However, she did not mention the matter during the feast.
Song Jia's parents spent a night in Shanhai City before leaving the next afternoon.
In all likelihood, a massive storm awaited in Tianshuang County.
However, Ouyang Shuo did not need to worry about this matter.
In their short interaction, Ouyang Shuo had already ascertained that his future father-in-law was not a simple person. Although he seemed invisible in the game, in truth, one could not underestimate the influence he had in his family.
Song Jia’s father was highly supportive of Ouyang Shuo's proposal to establish a Song chamber of commerce.
Just as Ouyang Shuo was planning for post-war Zhaoqing matters, little did he know that a storm was slowly sweeping over Zhaoqing.
Lingnan Province, Jiaozhou Prefecture, Jade Buddha County.
Jade Buddha County was located at the southeast tip of Jiaozhou Prefecture. It was similarly a port city, and outside the city was the biggest harbor in Lingnan Province, Jiaozhou Harbour.
The seventy odd members of South Alliance had gathered here to discuss certain matters. The leader of the meeting was the Lord of Jade Buddha County, and the alliance leader, Hefu.
"Guys, Zhaoqing is about to fall. We can't just sit and wait." Hefu said solemnly, “If we don't take action, Shanhai City will target either Shaozhou or Jiaozhou next. In the end, the entire Lingnan Province will fall into their hands. Qiyue Wuyi building the Nanjiang Governor-General House shows his ambition."
"That's right. We must stop their invasion."
The one who spoke was Yuan Ping, the previous love rival of Ouyang Shuo. This aristocratic family son had watched his marriage attempt fail. Ouyang Shuo’s actions had insulted and humiliated him, making him a laughing stock amongst aristocratic families.
When he mentioned Shanhai City, Yuan Ping gritted his teeth.
The Yuan Family was a pinnacle existence in South Alliance. Hefu and Yuan Ping's expressing their opinions caused an uproar in the meeting hall, as the Lords discussed amongst themselves.
They would need a lot of courage to go up against Shanhai City. Amongst the Lords, more than half had joined the Battle of Julu, where they had witnessed the strength of the Shanhai City Army.
Especially the final battle of the palace Guards. Their red capes were basically the stuff of nightmares.
It left such a lasting impression.
They could not imagine how an army could be so strong. Even the invincible Jiangdong Warriors lost. In comparison, their armies were basically uselessness.
Most crucially, that was in the battle map. The Lords did not know how many elite forces Shanhai City had in the main map.
After a period of time, Shanhai Territory was not a secret anymore.
A single Lord taking over Lianzhou Prefecture, Qiongzhou Prefecture, and Leizhou Prefecture, a simply terrifying affair. The other Lords could not dare to imagine how many troops Shanhai had.
The thought alone made people feel despair.
Now, they wanted to face Shanhai City head on, which obviously required courage aplenty.
However, Hefu’s words made undeniable sense.
Before this, the fall of Leizhou Prefecture had stunned all the Lords in Lingnan Province. They did not expect Shanhai City to possess such a huge the appetite. Directly after occupying Leizhou Prefecture, they instantly turned their sword to Zhaoqing Prefecture.
If they watched on as Zhaoqing fell, it would be their turn next. The theory of slowly heating water to kill a frog was something they all understood.
However, knowing it was one thing, acting was another. Luckily, at the crucial moment, Hefu had stepped out. He insisted they start a war with Shanhai City.
"Leader, just say it. What should we do?"
After a tough battle, the members of South Alliance finally came to an agreement to act together.
When Hefu heard this response, he laughed heartily. At least they were not stupid. He looked around and said, “Send our troops to Zhaoqing and chase the Shanhai City Army out; it is best if we destroy them."
"Ah?"
The other Lords did not expect their alliance leader to have such a huge appetite. They thought that just stopping Shanhai City’s attack was good enough.
Who would have expected that Hefu even wanted to destroy the Shanhai City Army.
Undeniably, if they could win this battle, South Alliance could gain great fame.
"Guys, please don't have doubts. Half of the Lords in Zhaoqing have already agreed to join South Alliance."
"Leader is a genius!"
Hefu had not even finished his words, and he had already won himself praise.
One could only say that Hefu was a man that placed a lot of heart into his actions. Long before Leizhou Prefecture fell, he had started to contact the Lords in Zhaoqing to discuss the formation of an alliance.
He really had foresight.
If not, in Ouyang Shuo’s last life, Hefu could not have led the South Alliance to take control of Lingnan Province.
The current Zhaoqing Prefecture was split into three factions. Apart from a few that were neutral, they either were in the Shanhai alliance - Tianshuang Alliance or they had joined South Alliance.
On the verge of death, no Lord would willing just wait there.
With that, the situation in Zhaoqing grew more and more complicated.
After roughly knowing one another, they focused on the specific battle plans. South Alliance had seventy Lords, above half of which were grade 3 counties. Some of the leading ones were just a step away from upgrading to a prefecture.
Hefu suggested that for fairness sake, each territory would sent three thousand troops to form a 210 thousand alliance army to assist Zhaoqing Prefecture.
The three thousand army number was similar to the amount one would send to a battle map.
In that case, the teleportation fees and logistics was something each territory could somewhat afford. Even if they lost three thousand troops, the territory would not be badly hurt.
Even in the worst case, Shanhai City attacked Jiaozhou Prefecture or Shaozhou Prefecture, each territory would have enough soldiers to defend themselves.
Three thousand was a number that Hefu had chosen after much contemplation. Any higher would cause opposition.
Expectedly, even three thousand was a number that worried some grade 2 counties. To them, three thousand was a third of their troops.
Soldiers were important to a territory. They determined the life of death of a territory.
Each battle and war must be treated carefully.
If one was not a Lord, they would completely fail to understand the pressure from within.
One must know that in the wilderness, one mistake would cause a Lord to lose. At that point, even their entire territory might suffer destruction.
Additionally, sending out troops to help Zhaoqing Prefecture was to defend against a common enemy. Even if they won, they would not receive any rewards.
They could not say that once they won the war, they would stay in Zhaoqing and not leave, right? If that was the case, the entire South Alliance would break in minutes.
Hefu would not be so dumb.
Hefu took care of all their doubts.
Toward certain territories with problems, the alliance lowered the number of troops they had to send to two thousand. After these adjustments, the alliance army reached a nice two hundred thousand men.
In addition to the local armies of Zhaoqing Prefecture, Hefu was confident in their attack. He believe that they would not only chase Shanhai City Army out of Zhaoqing, they could even attack Leizhou Prefecture.
Of course, the prerequisite would be that Shanhai City would not send reinforcements.
Shanhai City was not foolish; they definitely would have some countermeasures.
The Battle of Leizhou and its happenings had already spread in South Alliance. The only change was the alliance Yanhuo Yaonie created.
After the Battle of Leizhou, Shanhai City had prepared for such a scenario.
Even so, Hefu was confident that Qiyue Wuyi would never have thought that not only the Zhaoqing Lords had allied, even the entire Lingnan Province Lords had gathered up.
"The wolf is coming!" These were not just empty words, as Shanhai City's threat to the neighboring territories was simple too great.
On the forums, some people said that the uprising armies in the wilderness were less scary than Shanhai City. They would rather face the threat of the uprising army than face Shanhai City.
However, a strong dragon was only equal to a local snake.
Hefu was confident that with 200 thousand troops, even though Shanhai City was a dragon, they could force Shanhai City to bow their heads.
After discussing the number of troops to send, they had to choose the target.
Based on the news from the Zhaoqing Prefecture Lords, the current Zhaoqing battlefield was locked in a stalemate. Thirty odd territories, which belonged to different factions at different positions, were biting at one another.
The three divisions of Shanhai City had split into three, as they pushed toward the south.
Any faction that stood in the attack path of the army surrendered without exception. Baiqi was calm; he did not move the troops rashly.
They would need to renovate and modify each city that they occupied.
He would wait until the city, as well as the subsidiary territories, formed some level of retaliation ability. Then, he would move forward. Step by step, he pushed Zhaoqing Prefecture to the edge of the cliff.
Baiqi saw it clearly. The Lords in Zhaoqing were unable to form up, and they did not dare to gather up to go all out against the Shanhai City Army.
With that, the battlefield proceeded as expected for the Shanhai City Army. If nothing went wrong, they would slowly swallow up Zhaoqing Prefecture.
To break out, the only way was to shift the army to the north of Zhaoqing. They would need to gather up the local armies to form unified a fighting strength.
With that, two hundred to three hundred thousand troops waltzed from north to south, searching for the Shanhai City Army for a head on battle.
However, Hefu did not think that way.