Chapter 463: Chapter 234: Fleeing Upon Hearing the Wind
Translator: 549690339
“As for escapism, Li Xiong was seriously considering it.
Firstly, given the current situation, the prefecture city in Xiangyang was under siege, and the massive Yue army was pressing on the border. It was uncertain whether it could be held or not.
On this side of the Xichuan Prefecture, Lu Yuan also led a sneak attack from the rear. Now, more than half of the Xichuan Prefecture had been captured, and the entire rear route of their hundred thousand troops was cut off.
Now the other side was guarding the fortified city, and reinforcements were constantly pouring in from the rear.
In contrast, with a hundred thousand men on his side, the rear route was cut off, and even the food and fodder were running scarce due to the loss of the Fu City in Yuzhong.
What were the consequences of lacking food and fodder?
One only needed to look at the example of the Wuan Marquis before to know.
Even Bai Mengyang, who had defended Yuzhong Prefecture before, had been driven to retreat in embarrassment and run back to Tianmen Prefecture alone due to the Miao people’s capture of Baling Prefecture and the severance of the grain road at the rear.
Li Xiong didn’t think that he and Yuwen Chong, the Grand General and pillar state of the Zhou people in Wushan Prefecture, could surpass Bai Mengyang.
Since even the Wuan Marquis, the Military God, couldn’t accomplish this, they were even less likely to succeed.
Therefore, this side of Xichuan Prefecture had already become a dead end.
To stay here and wait for the Yue people to gather their strength, and for their own food supplies to run out completely, the army would disintegrate. When the enemy attacks then, it would indeed be a matter of life and death.
Although it was hard for Li Xiong to give up the foundation he established on this side of Xichuan Prefecture, it had to be done.
The Emperor of Xi Shu, or rather the Shu King now.
Ever since he had sided with the Zhou People, Li Xiong had already abandoned his emperor’s title and been demoted to king in order not to clash with the emperor of Zhou Country.
Moreover, not only that, but the affairs of Xichuan Prefecture had gradually been taken out of Li Xiong’s control after the Zhou people’s arrival.
As for the Shu King, apart from the tens of thousands of Qiang soldiers under his command, he could no longer control anyone else.
The other prefectures and counties, as well as the palace officials, were all controlled and infiltrated by the Zhou people.
Although Li Xiong was a Shu King in name, in reality, he had long been a puppet, merely a general commanding tens of thousands of troops.
It was precisely because of this that it was especially easy for him to give up what he had already mostly lost.
Compared to dying here and losing everything,
At this moment, leaving behind these tens of thousands of troops, Li Xiong was still an Inborn Grandmaster.
With this level of strength, he could dominate in any region he went to.
‘I could even go to the southwest and find a small barbarian state, dominate them by force, and become a king.’
With this thought, Li Xiong’s heart was suddenly moved.
Instead of being a puppet in this place and taking the risk of dying in battle, it would be better to go far away and live in leisure.
As an Inborn Grandmaster, why should I be trapped in this kind of dead end?
The more he thought about it, the more tempted he became.
However, although this was the case, hesitating to abandon his tens of thousands of Qiang soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Qiang tribespeople still made Li Xiong somewhat reluctant.
After all, they were his family and his most trusted followers. It wasn’t so easy to make this decision to abandon them at this moment.
‘Forget it, let’s try to fight first and see the outcome later.’
Li Xiong suppressed the urge to leave immediately and sighed, “In any case, if I really want to escape, it won’t be difficult for me to save my life from the chaos. As long as I don’t go looking for the likes of Lu Yuan.
I was born in the Qiang tribe, and my achievements today are all thanks to the support of these people.
I can’t bear to abandon them now.”
With the last bit of conscience in his heart, Li Xiong took a deep sigh and then turned and went down the hill.
After a day of busyness, the fifty thousand Zhou-Shu United Army finally set up camp outside Yuzhong Prefecture City.
Once they had settled in, Li Xiong dispatched ten thousand troops to attack Yuzhong Prefecture City vigorously.
However, after a few charges and thousands of casualties, they couldn’t even get close to the city gate and were beaten back halfway up the mountain.
Seeing that the assault was not successful was disheartening, and with the loss of the rear retreat, it suddenly dampened the United Army’s morale.
Luckily, Li Xiong’s prestige was still okay, barely maintaining the army’s morale.
On the second day, he continued to deploy twenty thousand troops, offering gold and silver rewards on the spot, allowing the soldiers to take turns to attack Yuzhong Prefecture City.
This time, the soldiers of the Zhou-Shu United Army also knew the situation was critical.
If they didn’t capture Yuzhong Prefecture City and seize the grain in the city, they would all die without a proper burial. With Li Xiong’s heavy rewards, they took the offensive eagerly in the city attack.
Several times, they even managed to launch an attack outside the city and even made it onto the city walls.
In the end, Lu Yuan had no choice but to take action personally, using the power of the Innate to kill thousands in formation and repel the offensive.
During this time, however, Li Xiong hid behind his troops, watching his soldiers be wantonly massacred by Lu Yuan without daring to interfere.
This kind of behavior immediately led to the plunge of the hard-won morale of the Zhou-Shu United Army.
With a commander who was cowardly and afraid to fight,
What was the point for the soldiers?
Not to mention the divine might of Lu Yuan, who dealt with ordinary soldiers with ease, as if slaughtering them.
With their leader scared and hesitant, the soldiers naturally followed suit and began to fear and fight timidly.
Thus, on the third day, when Li Xiong gathered another twenty thousand troops and sent them to attack the city,
These soldiers of the Zhou-Shu United Army fought with minimal effort.
They only made a few random charges. Then, when the defenders resisted fiercely and made it difficult to attack, they threw down more than two thousand corpses and fled down the mountain.”