Chapter 264- Shocking Mystery
Translator: TeamTWO
Editor: Jun
There was also a registration point set up in Guanglang City, with a Qin Army lieutenant who was in charge of the registration.
After Ouyang Shuo registered, he didn't immediately leave but asked, "General, how was today's battle?"
When the lieutenant was helping them register, he knew that Ouyang Shuo brought 10 thousand troops, hence he answered his question simply, "The King of Wu An used his troops well and sent General Ying Bao who led a group of iron cavalry to the back of the enemy, taking down Changping Pass and cut off the passageway between the Zhao troops and Handan. General Wang Ling led another group into the valley at Dongcang River and cut off the Zhao army from Gu Pass. Now, the 40 thousand odd Zhao army is stuck in the mountain plateau of Changping, becoming trapped animals."
"What?" Ouyang Shuo was astonished; he didn't expect that Gaia would actually place them at such a point. Based on normal logic, when it reached such a step, the Zhao Army was destined to lose.
Something was wrong, something was definitely wrong. First, Gaia definitely wouldn't make such a battle quest. Second, why would Di Chen and the others choose the Zhao camp even when they received insider news?
If one said that there wasn't something fishy going on, Ouyang Shuo wouldn't believe it.
In contrast to Ouyang Shuo’s reaction, the lords that were queuing up were elated upon hearing the lieutenant. They felt that they had chosen the right camp and had picked up an easy win.
Ouyang Shuo shook his head in amusement, leaving the registration point and looking for his allies.
Out of the allies, Bai Hua and Feng Qiuhuang were both 1st class Earls and could bring 3000 troops. The remainder of them, other than Song Wen, were 3rd class earls and could bring 1000.
Hence, the total strength of Shanhai Alliance was 20,500 men and they were all cavalry troops.
Out of them, the cavalry from Consonance City and Xunlong City were the most elite, their commanders being Zhang Liao and Qinqiong.
Of course, no matter what, they couldn't compare to the strength of Shanhai City.
Out of all the generals from Shanhai City, Shi Wanshui and E'Lai had both shown themselves. Only Luo Shixin was revealing himself for the first time, naturally attracting the envy of Bai Hua and the others.
Especially Feng Qiuhuang, whose territory didn't have a good general. Seeing Shanhai City having 3 great generals, she drooled, having none of the image of a mature woman.
Talking about that, Luo Shixin and Qin Qiong had known each person there, and upon meeting each other, many emotions were invoked.
Out of all the generals, Shi Wanshui was the most experienced at riding horses and also the oldest. As such, he was appointed the commander. Zhang Liao was the deputy, and Qin Qiong and Luo Shixin were one grade lower.
If one counted Mu Guiying, the leading forces of the Shanhai Alliance were really luxurious.
To make it easier to command, after discussing with Bai Hua and the others, Ouyang Shuo split the troops into squads of 10 thousand men. Shanhai City's 10 thousand cavalry formed a team with Er'Lai as the general, with Luo Shixin and Lin Yi as the deputies. The remaining 10,500 were in the other squad with Zhang Liao as the general, Mu Guiying and Qinqiong as the deputies. Shi Wanshui would be the commander to help lead and command both squads.
As for Bai Hua and the other lords, they didn't need to go on the battlefield. As for Ouyang Shuo, after gaining the Tianmo spear, he was raring to try it out. With his current strength, it was definitely sufficient to protect himself in battle.
Just as the Shanhai Alliance was busy organizing, the battle report sounded out.
"Battle Report: Battle of Changping, 100 lords participating, total strength 73 thousand men. Qin has 28 lords, and 31 thousand men; Zhao has 72 lords, and 42 thousand men."
In this battle, all 100 lords who reached the requirement had joined, and no one missed out. Out of all these lords, 80% and above were all rank 3 earls and could only bring 500 troops. Those remaining were mostly rank 2 earls and could bring 1000 troops. As for the higher ranked, there were only Ouyang Shuo, Bai Hua, and Feng Qiuhuang.
Di Chen and the others made use of their connections to successfully pull over 2/3 of the lords over to their side.
Unfortunately, Ouyang Shuo, Bai Hua and Feng Qiuhuang's rank had totally made up for the difference in numbers, and the strength of both sides wasn't too far apart.
"Battle Report: Qin camp is at a numerical disadvantage. Based on battle rules, Qin troops have received a 20% movement speed buff."
It was actually an increase in movement speed! To the Shanhai Alliance who were all cavalry, this was definitely a good thing.
"Battle Report: Based on the results from rank and merit points, the Qin player representative will be Qiyue Wuyi, rank 3 marquis. Zhao representative is Di Chen, rank 2 Earl."
Ouyang Shuo's position as the player representative was one that no one could touch. On the other hand, Di Chen, after the Battle of Muye had surpassed Chun Shenjun and became the representative of the Zhao.
The 30 thousand troops of the Qin were all sent to the Guanglang City barracks. After dealing with the military matters, Ouyang Shuo and his allies rushed to his tent for a meeting.
Ouyang Shuo told them all about what he had heard and learned of.
The Wu An lord had 5 generals under him, Wang He, Meng Ao, Wang Ling, Huan He and Ying Bao, after successfully surrounding the Zhao forces, they had around 500 thousand men.
Wang He didn't need any introduction. He faced off against Lianpo for 3 years, and at that time he and his 200 thousand men were camped at Laoma Ridge, building a fortress to block the passageway.
Guanglang City protector, Meng Ao, led 150 thousand men to build the southern line camp to block the Zhao army from going south down the Dan River.
Wang Ling and Ying Bao, the two secret units, had already been sent into play.
Wang Ling led 25 thousand cavalry and 30 thousand infantry to set up camp at the Gu Pass and Dongcang River intersection, blocking off the Zhao army from their supplies.
Ying Bao led 25 thousand cavalry and 10 thousand infantry to set up camp to the northeast of the rock wall, blocking any way out east from the Taihang Mountains.
Lastly was the 50 thousand cavalry led by Huan He, who hid in Guanglang City and acted as the reserve squad.
As for the manor of General Baiqi, it was set up outside the city and on top of Lang Mountain.
Similar to the Qin Army, the Zhao Army also had 500 thousand men, 400 thousand of which were trapped in the Changping Region. The remaining 100 thousand were at Gu Pass, which was the main granary of the Zhao army. Even without the support of Handan, this grain would be enough to last them for 2 months.
Such a one sided situation was something that Bai Hua and the others couldn't understand.
"This... Is Gaia fooling around? With such a situation, the Qin is bound to win. What kind of war is this? It's just free contribution points waiting for us to obtain them," Gong Chengshi said first.
"Stop fooling around. Gaia definitely has its reasons for arranging things like this," Xunlong Dianxue retorted.
"You!"
"Ok, stop fighting." Feng Qiuhuang interrupted both of them. "Even if Gaia is fooling around, Di Chen wouldn't be such a fool to jump into a loss and even challenge us outright."
"Qushou, if the Zhao army wants to break this situation, what can they do?" Bai Hua didn't join in the debate and wanted to see what Qushou had in mind. She was similar to Ouyang Shuo and trusted the professional advisor.
"Based on the current situation and what happened in history, the next step would be to fight to the death and attack Wang Ling's camp to meet up with his troops at Gu Pass and obtain their supplies." Qushou didn't immediately express his opinion and just analyzed the current situation first, "In history, this attempt to break through the trap ended in failure. In the end the 400 thousand strong Zhao Army had to surrender due to the lack of grain."
"Hence, I feel that their greatest chance would still be to try and break out. At the moment, they have numerous days worth of grain and also have their backs against the wall, their morale is their highest and its similar to fighting at their peak. In history, this attempt nearly succeeded but failed at the last moment. Now with the additional 40 thousand player troops, they might have a chance to overturn the situation.”
Ouyang Shuo frowned and asked curiously, "Based on what you said, although they have 40 thousand more men, we have 30 thousand more too. Based on strength, I don't think we will lose out to their 40 thousand player troops."
"That's right, not to mention the elite cavalry that big brother brought, with our cooperation and strength, the 10 thousand man disparity wouldn't be enough to change the direction of the war." Xunlong Dianxue was doubtful.
"Also, with Di Chen and their carefulness, they wouldn’t take such a huge risk with only such a small advantage. There are definitely other factors," Feng Qiuhuang said.
"If, I'm just saying if, they brought large amounts of military grain pills for the Zhao army?" Wufu raised a bold guess.
Ouyang Shuo thought about it and shook his head, "That's not possible. The Zhao army has a total of 400 thousand people, together with the war horses and player army's own use, they would use 600 thousand pills a day. That would be 6,000 gold a day, in not even 10 days, I think that they would definitely go bankrupt."
"Furthermore, even with the production power of Shanhai City, we can only produce 5000 a day. Millions of pills needed to be prepared so far in advance and make use of so many units of grain. With their strength and also the grain crisis from before, it’s impossible."
All of the sudden, the meeting was at a standstill.