Chapter 472: Chapter 237: Dangerous Situations Arise
Translator: 549690339
Outside Xiegu Pass.
The camps stretched out, and the Zhou People’s camp spanned several tens of miles on the Xiegu Pass road.
When the fifteen hundred thousand soldiers of the Zhou People came from the north, even if they were accompanied by civilian workers, they could reach an astonishing three hundred thousand. Such a majestic force could overshadow the sun and the moon, and make heaven and earth look pale.
Lu Yuan stood on the tower, watching the Zhou People’s main camp in the distance.
After a long watch, he finally asked, “The one leading the Zhou People’s troops is the Grand General He Basheng of the Northern Pillar State, right?”
Chu Wei, the disciple who was also watching from the side, quickly replied, “According to the interrogation of the captured spies, it is indeed him.”
Upon hearing this, Lu Yuan’s expression became somewhat solemn: “Things are a bit tricky now.”
He Basheng, the grand general of Zhou People’s Northern Pillar State, was a famous general of Zhou country. Ever since he made his debut, he led troops in warfare, defeated numerous enemies, and was considered a military god of figure like Bai Mengyang in Yue Country.
Not only was he formidable in leading troops, but He Basheng’s cultivation was also strong. It was said that he was close to breaking through the second realm of the Inborn stage.
This kind of cultivation was by no means comparable to Gui Lianyun and Zhang Chanyi, whom Lu Yuan killed previously.
If he were to face this person in a direct battlefield, even he was not sure if he could defeat his opponent.
‘He Liansheng, as the grand general of Zhou People’s North Pillar State, was often dealing with the northern Wei Country in the Shuofang Prefecture of the North. He was considered the Northern Border mythical pillar of China.
This time, Zhou People sent him, as the chief commander of the southern expedition to Hanzhong Prefecture, to win at all costs.’ Lu Yuan thought secretly.
Zhou Country was located in Yong State and occupied most of it. To the north of Yong State was Yan State.
The land of Yan State was like Yong, Qing, and Yang states, with three great nations like Zhou, Liang, and Yue.
This country was Wei Country.
Because of the close border and both being two major states, Zhou and Wei often had friction and conflicts. A great war would break out every ten years or so, and there would be no end to it.
Therefore, in the Shuofang Prefecture of Zhou Country’s northern border, over two hundred thousand soldiers had to be stationed year after year to guard against Wei Country.
Under such circumstances, Zhou Country still transferred He Basheng and the elite one hundred thousand northern border soldiers to come.
From this, it could be seen that Zhou People was really desperate this time.
To achieve a big victory, they would risk the northern border and send troops to the southern expedition.
“Boom, boom, boom.”
As Lu Yuan pondered the situation, the dull sound of drums echoed in the mountains. Groups of Zhou People’s soldiers came out of the camp, carrying various engineering equipment, and made difficult progress on the small mountain road.
After setting up the camp, the Zhou troops coming from the north finally started to test their attack on the city.
Watching the slow-advancing Zhou People’s army, Lu Yuan focused and turned to Chu Wei: “Prepare to defend the city.”
“Yes!”
Chu Wei took the order and began directing the soldiers for defense.
In no time, the city was filled with flying arrows and boulders, powerful crossbows, and various long-range weapons raining down on the approaching Zhou People.
The fierce siege battle had officially begun.
However, as the battle raged on, Lu Yuan turned and descended from the city wall.
The Zhou People had traveled a long way and were exhausted. This time they were just testing their attack on the city. With Chu Wei handling the defense, there was no need to worry too much.
Xiegu Pass was a magnificent stronghold and was as solid as the Wushan Pass. It was a dangerous place where one man could hold the pass and ten thousand could not break through.
Now there were thirty thousand defenders in the city. Even though there were three hundred thousand Zhou People outside the city, as long as no Inborn masters took action, the enemy would not be able to break through even after fighting for months.
Therefore, Lu Yuan did not need to worry too much about the city’s defense.
All he had to do was stand up and block He Basheng when the latter took action, and defend against the threat from the Inborn level.
As for the rest, the people below could handle it.
After descending from the city wall and returning to the official residence of Guan City, Lu Yuan immediately issued two commands.
The first was to send orders to the rear, directing twenty thousand of the fifty thousand troops responsible for immigration work in Hanzhong Prefecture to go north and reinforce Xiegu Pass.
The second was to send a message to Zhou Qing, who was guarding Xichuan, to recruit more soldiers from Xichuan Prefecture and send them to the front line to replenish the wartime losses.
By this time, the number of Zhou People soldiers present had greatly exceeded Lu Yuan’s original estimate.
Previously, he thought that at most, Zhou People would bring no more than one hundred thousand soldiers and one Inborn Grandmaster as the limit.
In that case, with him and Lan Cai’er working together, even though they were somewhat weaker in terms of troops, they would still be able to hold their own against Zhou People.
But when Zhou People came this time, they brought one hundred and fifty thousand soldiers, which amounted to three hundred thousand if civilian workers were included. Two Inborn Grandmasters accompanied them, with the leader being a military god like He Basheng.
It could be said that such a formation was luxurious.
The strength of Zhou People was now more than twice what Lu Yuan had originally estimated.
As such, the thirty thousand defenders currently in the city were insufficient, let alone the originally prepared one hundred and ten thousand soldiers in Hanzhong Prefecture.
So it was imperative to increase the number of troops.
By pulling people from the rear of Hanzhong and having Xichuan Prefecture continue to send militia, it would be efficient to replenish the front line losses.
However, doing so would bring great calamity to the suffered Xichuan Prefecture, which had just been retaken not long ago.
After all, Lu Yuan had previously levied one hundred thousand righteous army and militia from the western Sichuan prefecture. If he levied more troops from there again, it was feared that by the end of this battle in Hanzhong, the population of Xichuan prefecture would drop below one million.
Yes, that’s right, it would drop below one million.