The coalition forces had undergone a significant change and were sharpening their blades when Li Xing, the Military Leader of Jiangyuan City from the Heavenly Star Army, was feeling troubled.
A few days ago, a senior official had informed him that Wu Qingfeng, the Sword Master of Spirit Sword Valley, had entered the coalition forces, presumably to reorganize the troops.
From any perspective, this news held no good tidings for the Heavenly Star Army.
The Heavenly Star Army had won twice.
The first victory was easy, as the enemy didn’t understand warfare, resulting in a substantial win.
The second victory occurred because of internal issues within the coalition forces, with their military formation being broken by the Heavenly Star Army.
Both were victories, but the second was not only harder but also fetched less reward than the first.
This time, a very capable military leader had joined the coalition forces.
During the battle, Li Xing felt that the coalition forces’ commander had anticipated their loss from the beginning and, upon their defeat, had managed to withdraw most of their troops.
This left the Heavenly Star Army with little to gain.
Li Xing had a premonition that if the coalition really resolved their internal issues, in a third battle, they would, at best, stand an even chance of winning, or even lag slightly behind.
At this point, he couldn’t deny that once the coalition forces were truly organized, their strength would be formidable.
Regarding the crucial logistics of war, the coalition forces undoubtedly outmatched them.
Speaking treasonously, it seemed like the King had taken Shuzhou, seemingly controlling the territory, but in reality, he was trapped in Shuzhou.
Whether in terms of supplies or reserve forces, they were far inferior to the original Jiangyuan.
Although Jiangyuan had Spirit Sword Valley, if the King had been in Jiangyuan, it wouldn’t have been a one-against-two scenario.
And the pressure in all aspects would be much less.
Of course, these were merely his thoughts; he couldn’t understand why the King insisted on coming to Shuzhou, but now there was no room for regret.
Since they were in Shuzhou, they had to defend it well.
They absolutely could not let the coalition forces breach them.
“Summoned men, carry out my order—begin fortifying Jiangyuan City and do not meet the enemy in open battle.”
The coalition forces might not have been reborn, but their strength had significantly increased, and they had a formidable commander; meeting them head-on was not a wise decision.
With Jiangyuan City unable to fall, defending it was the best choice.
But Li Xing was well aware that this was by no means a long-term solution.
“Let’s hope his Majesty achieves some results!”
…
“With time, the Heavenly Star Army is bound to lose!” Yang Jian decisively told the ten newly arrived Grandmasters.
“Why?”
The new Grandmasters were far politer, given that the graves of some before them had not yet grown grass!
“Because they’re practically out of soldiers to replenish their ranks—I’m talking about Martial Artist soldiers. The previous battles between King Yong Nian and River King have almost entirely drained Shuzhou’s war potential; it’s very difficult to extract any more Martial Artist soldiers in the near term.
This means King Yong Nian is merely depleting his own military’s depth, and they are under far greater logistical pressure than us. We could grind them down even by passive attrition.”
Yang Jian was well-informed of the situation in Shuzhou.
In the short term, Shuzhou would definitely not have many Martial Artist soldiers—this was their chance.
Seizing this opportunity, taking Jiangyuan City wouldn’t be difficult.
“What should we do?”
A Grandmaster inquired.
“If I’m not mistaken, the City Lord of Jiangyuan will choose to fortify Jiangyuan City next, and what we have to do is keep attacking, depleting their living forces. In terms of Martial Artists, we have the advantage.”
This type of siege warfare essentially rendered military formations useless.
This leveled the disparity in military formations between the two armies, giving them the advantage with their greater number of Martial Artists.
Of course, as the attacking party, they had constraints.
But being twice as many Martial Artists as the Heavenly Star Army, the coalition could afford these losses.
Of course, these were not words Yang Jian would explicitly utter. He had to offer two options so that people from both factions could choose: “We have two choices now—one is to gradually wear them down, minimizing our losses.
The other is to relentlessly assault the city; this will incur heavy losses but is the quickest way.
Generals, please speak freely and decide how we should proceed.”
The major direction of the siege remained unchanged, yet the method differed.
Soon, a decision was reached.
A rapid attack!
Yang Jian was not surprised at all.
Most of the coalition’s Martial Artists, including those from Spirit Sword Valley and Heavenly Saber City, essentially didn’t care about the losses.
“Good, then we’ll launch a direct assault!”
In the year 537 of the Great Zhou Era, March.
After regrouping, the coalition forces of Spirit Sword Valley and Heavenly Saber City once again advanced towards Jiangyuan City.
This time, the coalition forces displayed incredibly strong combat power, and the City Lord Li Xing chose to defend.
But with each successive attack, the losses of the Heavenly Star Army kept mounting.
Although the coalition suffered greater losses, judging by the situation of both sides, it was clear who would collapse first if this continued.
“General, let’s sortie and have a decisive battle outside; continuing like this is also a death!”
“Yes, General, this can’t go on!”
Li Xing, listening to his subordinates, rubbed his head—he understood these truths all too well.
But once they left the city, the Heavenly Star Army might be directly annihilated, never to exist again!
Ever since the first siege battle, he had seen that the Heavenly Star Army was already at a disadvantage.
If they left the city, and if the coalition commander employed attrition tactics, they were powerless against the coalition, and their losses would be even greater.
But as his subordinates noted, continuing to drag this out would only lead to a slow death.
“Then let’s prepare…”
Before he could finish, he noticed someone at the door.
“General Zhou Hu, what brings you here?”
Everyone stood up when they heard the name.
Zhou Hu, the absolute confidant of King Yong Nian, Zhou Wutong, possessed Great Grandmaster strength and was also the guarantee that King Yong Nian could still cling to his power.
“His Majesty has sent me to inform you all to abandon Jiangyuan City and directly retreat to Tianfu City and plan our next moves slowly!”
“Retreat…”
Li Xing had not anticipated that, after holding out for over a month, the end result would be a direct retreat.
He felt somewhat melancholic yet relieved at the same time.
His subordinates shared the same sentiment.
Why should they fight to the death?
Because they couldn’t see any hope of victory!
Now by retreating, they could stay alive.
No one wanted to die if they could live.
Even the reasons for the retreat, they could guess—it was probably because the King had made a compromise.
In the year 537 of the Great Zhou era, in May, the battle for Jiangyuan City that lasted almost two months finally concluded with the retreat of the Heavenly Star Army.
The casualties from both sides added up to over two hundred thousand.
Of those, tens of thousands were martial artists.
Countless people were buried here; near Jiangyuan City, there were numerous mass graves.
“Interestingly,” during the second siege, no Grandmasters perished.
In the game of power between major forces, it was the martial artists below the Grandmaster level who died the most.
The weak, in war, are always the sacrificial lambs.
As the news of Jiangyuan City being breached and King Yong Nian’s Heavenly Star Army retreating spread, within a mere few days, all the powers large and small in Shuzhou were informed.
Everyone knew that with the arrival of Spirit Sword Valley and Heavenly Saber City into Shuzhou, the situation in Shuzhou would soon undergo significant changes.
Why did these two Great Grandmaster forces insist on entering Shuzhou?
The forces stationed in Shuzhou for a while only saw one possibility: it was for the Spiritual Medicines and even the Medicine King that were almost omnipresent.
Once these two forces entered, it would surely cause harm to their interests.
They wanted to resist, but—
Two Great Grandmaster-level forces.
Absolutely not something they could contend with, unless King Yong Nian were brought in.
But the fact that King Yong Nian abandoned Jiangyuan City had already clarified his stance.
Yet to give up their own interests was something they were reluctant to do.
Without a Great Grandmaster, they had no way to resist… Therefore, the search for that Great Grandmaster battling in the forests became even more diligent.
The tranquil existence of the Three Counties was once again disturbed.
The people of the Three Counties had grown accustomed to their current lifestyle, but now with the entry of two immensely powerful forces into Shuzhou.
They would most likely be affected.
Most crucially, the person protecting the Three Counties was a Grandmaster—could he still protect them now?
It wasn’t just ordinary citizens pondering this; some hidden forces in the Three Counties were thinking the same.
For instance, the people from the Three Great Families, each of which had three Grandmasters, yet against powers like Spirit Sword Valley and Heavenly Saber City, they were mere ants.
Or like Wu Yuancheng’s family from the Imperial City, formerly the Minister of War, who had been very low-key but had come to the Three Counties to develop quietly after assisting the Valley Master of Stargazing Valley.
He, too, did not wish for this peace to be disrupted.
But no matter how much they resisted, Spirit Sword Valley and Heavenly Saber City’s entry into Shuzhou had already become a matter set in stone.
The elders from the Zheng, Jiang, and Zhao families gathered to discuss the situation.
“What should we do next?”
“I don’t even know which territories those two powers will occupy.”
“What if they take over the Three Counties?”
Silence followed.
Eventually, Elder Zhao spoke up, “Could the master be that Great Grandmaster we could seek help from—”
“If you want to die, don’t drag us with you, haven’t you understood that master’s character by now? If he wants to protect us, he will, but it’s not his obligation.”
After being interrupted, Elder Zhao didn’t speak again, realizing he was perhaps too desperate.
In the end, the three family elders still came to no conclusion, only deciding to wait and see how things unfolded.
As for thoughts of leaving, they did not entertain them.
In Great Zhou, where else could truly be safe?
The Three Counties were already considered quite good.
Ultimately many factions made a similar decision.
They all awaited the arrival of the two forces.
What they did not know was that some members of the two forces had already entered Shuzhou, just moving through the forests, temporarily unnoticed.
These individuals weren’t many, just about fifty.
But if one could discern their aura, they would find that all these people were of Grandmaster-level strength.
Fifty Grandmasters!
Wherever placed, they represented an extremely terrifying force.
This group had a leader who was constantly speaking.
The mission was urgent; they were all suddenly assembled.
“We must not reveal our mission to intercept King Yong Nian’s supply lines. If we encounter anyone on the way, don’t talk, just kill them on the spot! Study the map carefully, follow the route strictly to make it on time, and the most important thing is to remember the escape routes… otherwise, if you die, nobody will care!”
“And to ensure survival, every group of ten will have a different escape route; make sure to memorize your own path.”
Everyone carefully examined the map.
The map showed two routes, one for the approach and one for the return, and each person committed their routes to memory.
Upon closer examination, someone’s route… passed by the location of Qingshan Village…