Chapter 1839: Chapter 589: Chen Cang’s Desire to Withdraw, Preparing Two Plans

"I... I have no idea either!"

Upon hearing Chu Tianhe’s questioning, He Tianyuan was also at a loss at the moment. He hurriedly stepped forward, his expression flustered and said, "After Great Xia signed the ceasefire agreement with Cai Qiu in March, Yuwen Dao’s Right Route Army has been stationed in Guangning City north of the Bone-Eroding Path without any signs of movement;

To the southeast, our southeastern direction is the cliff of Twin Dragon Mountain, Great Xia hasn’t had any troop movements in the past months, how could tens of thousands of troops suddenly appear? It’s impossible, there must be something amiss!"

"Am I asking you, or are you asking me? Suddenly twenty thousand troops appear, they’re already knocking on our door, and you, responsible for battlefield reconnaissance, didn’t notice a thing—useless, useless, useless..."

At this moment, Chu Tianhe had been overwhelmed with anger. He directly pointed at He Tianyuan, cursing three times in a row, his tone already somewhat uncontrollable.

Chu Tianhe, being the Prefectural Governor of West River County, son of the Landgrave, and himself a Second Turn Tribulation Body Realm expert, his rage caused the assembled generals within the hall to be scared into silence. He Tianyuan, bearing the brunt, was so frightened that he directly knelt to the ground.

"Please calm down, sir. Right now, our urgent task is to first ascertain the intentions of the Xia Army. The negligence of General He can be dealt with after the battle, there’s no hurry!"

Only Fang Tianqing stood to speak. In fact, upon hearing the report earlier, his expression was even worse than Chu Tianhe’s. But the present was indeed not the best time for accountability, so he had to step forward and say something.

"Originally, there were only fifteen thousand troops in Dongchuan Camp, but now suddenly there’s an additional twenty thousand, totaling thirty-five thousand Xia troops. There’s no issue with defending the city. In the past three-plus months, we’ve gathered a large amount of military necessities, so even if Great Xia blocks off Beining Mountain and Moao Pass, preventing hunting and resupply, we could last for half a year. The problem is, without follow-up reinforcements, once the city encounters a problem, the tens of thousands of troops could all be lost here."

After saying this with a grim expression, Chu Tianhe first glared at He Tianyuan and then looked at the person who just reported, asking, "Regarding the other two routes of Xia Army, besides carrying a large number of siege weapons, what is their overall military situation?"

The person, apparently not of low rank, seemed to have compiled reports from multiple scouts before rushing over. He immediately clasped his fists and answered, "The forces leading the charge on the two routes are wearing light gold Thousand Forged Armor, which should be Great Xia’s Numbered Army, totaling over twenty thousand. The rest are wearing Thousand Forged Level Iron Armor, though their styles and colors differ, likely gathered by Great Xia from the Northern Five Towns..."

Upon hearing this, Chu Tianhe and the generals under his command appeared grim.

They were stationed in East River City and had been confronting Dongchuan Camp’s fifteen thousand Xia troops for nearly half a year. Naturally, they were well aware of the situation with Dongchuan Camp’s Xia army. Throughout this half-year, they never ceased their inquiries regarding the various aspects of Great Xia, thus possessing considerable information.

The Xia Army soldiers’ armor is categorized into four levels.

The highest level is the Profound Scale Silver Armor, but it’s scarce, equipped only by the Dragon Forbidden Captains with a total of just a thousand members. Furthermore, Dragon Forbidden Captains are the Forbidden Guard of the Xia Palace, making them unlikely to appear on the battlefield, hence they are not a concern.

Ranked second is the Thousand Forged Level Thunder Kui Golden Armor. They’ve obtained it through special channels, verified within their feudal craftsmen. This kind of iron armor mixed with Thunder Kui’s skull has defensive capabilities comparable to their casting of Ten Thousand Forged Iron Armor in Chen Cang.

Third is the Thousand Forged Level Iron Armor, which Great Xia’s armor crafting technique is not much different from the Four Vassals. The Thousand Forged Level Iron Armor is currently the primary combat equipment used by their Moao River Four Vassals’ soldiers, including those from Chen Cang.

Fourth is the Hundred Forged Level Thunder Kui Golden Armor, which uses a forging principle nearly identical to the Thousand Forged Thunder Kui Golden Armor, though its defensive capabilities are slightly inferior to the Thousand Forged Iron Armor.

According to their findings, Great Xia has a total of thirty elite Numbered Armies, utilizing a Ninth Level Army system with a total of 56,000 personnel. Currently, only the Cloud Jiao and Long Wu two Eighth-level Legions, totaling 10,000 personnel, are equipped with the Thousand Forged Level Thunder Kui Golden Armor. The remaining 46,000 are either equipped with the Hundred Forged Level Thunder Kui Golden Armor or the Thousand Forged Iron Armor.

This is Great Xia’s most elite Numbered Army. Besides the Numbered Army, Great Xia also has a Defensive Army. Previously, they wore only Hundred Forged Iron Armor, but now they’ve all switched to Thousand Forged Iron Armor, matching the Feudal Town Army’s level!

The scout reports say that Great Xia likely gathered the equipment from the Northern Five Towns, but upon hearing this, Chu Tianhe knew it was incorrect.

The forging of Thousand Forged Level Iron Armor not only requires an enormous amount of iron material but also extremely skilled craftsmen. Even if both are available, due to the exceedingly cumbersome and complex crafting process of the armor, the batch production still requires ample time.

With the current manpower and resources of the Southern Slope Territory, relying on gathering material from the treasury of the Northern Five Towns to outfit thirty thousand Xia troops entirely in Thousand Forged Level Iron Armor is absolutely impossible.

"Cai Qiu, it’s the tens of thousands of surrendered soldiers from Cai Qiu! Great Xia must have seized their armor, otherwise, where would they come up with so many?"

Chu Tianhe already had the answer in his heart but was in no mood to correct the scout’s report. Turning his head, he asked Fang Tianqing, "Hold firm?"

"Of course!"

Fang Tianqing answered almost without hesitation and said, "It’s not been easy to place ten thousand troops into the Southern Slope Territory, how could we retreat? The feudal army and Cai Qiu have already entered a stalemate. The conflict will gradually calm down soon. The road from Jiuqu Blood Corridor to Danxue Peak southward is all repaired. As long as we hold firm for several months, without needing support from the feudal army, just upon Great Xia receiving news of the battle in Lin Chu County calming, they will withdraw on their own..."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.