Endless Winter: My Camp Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 529 Good News from Donggu City at the Pass
"Aikou City shouldn't be taken in a short time, and Jinshan Town will probably take some time to capture. You probably won't be able to go back for the Cold Festival this year!"

On the west side of the pass city, above the main tent of the right wing army of the Great Xia, Xia Hong turned his gaze away from the pass city on the east side, looked back at Yuwen Tao and the others, and spoke softly.

Dawn will break in half an hour. Today is December 30th. Once the sky brightens, the twelfth year of the Great Xia Dynasty will officially come to an end, and we will enter the thirteenth year of the Great Xia Dynasty.

The Great Xia Dynasty has accumulated quite a few festivals over the years, including the Hanyuan Festival which lasts for half a month at the end of the year, the Tianyuan Festival which is held on the eve of the martial arts competition in the middle of the year, the Hunting Festival which is held on the fifteenth of August in the second half of the year after the martial arts competition, and the Ancestral Sacrifice Festival on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month...

However, in the hearts of the Xia people, the most important festival is definitely the Hanyuan Festival.

The Cold Yuan Festival represents the beginning of a new year, signifying that the Great Xia Dynasty has continued its legacy in the Ice Abyss for another year, which is of great significance in itself. Not to mention that on the last day of the Cold Yuan Festival, the Summer Palace will hold a Cold Yuan Banquet to review the development and achievements of the camp over the past year, and to summarize and reward the performance of the officials of the Eight Tribes and various jurisdictions over the past year...

Moreover, hunting, mining, gathering, land reclamation, cultivation... the life of the Xia people is actually quite busy overall. They basically don't have much time to rest throughout the year. The half-month of the Cold Yuan Festival each year is the time when they can completely put down everything they are doing and spend time with their families in peace.

With its inherent significance and deliberate emphasis, the Hanyuan Festival naturally holds an extremely high position in the hearts of the Xia people.

Unfortunately, with the great battle in the north, many people are destined not to be able to return home for this year's Cold Festival, especially the soldiers of the four armies stationed in the north and those who serve in the war effort.

The Cold Yuan Festival was established by Xia Hong, so he was well aware of its importance in the hearts of the Xia people, which is why he offered words of comfort to Yuwen Tao and the others.

"My lord, you are overthinking it. What is a festival more important than military affairs? Three of the five northern towns have already been captured. Once we take Wuchuan and Jinshan, the southern foothills will be unified. After the brothers receive their military merits, we can go back and celebrate the festival. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

However, Yuwen Tao clearly did not need his comfort.

"We finally have a chance to earn military merit, why bother with a holiday!"

"I'm just 1200 military merits away from being a fifth-rank nobleman. I'm just waiting for the battle to begin."

"My lord, we can't let the magistrate's left flank army steal the limelight!"

"Showing off is nothing, the key is military merit. This time, many people in the Left Route Army are probably on the verge of being ennobled!"

…………

Not only Yuwen Tao, but the remaining generals also spoke with smiles. Their voices were full of excitement, and it was clear from their voices that they were not only not opposed to the war, but were extremely excited about it.

Hearing what everyone said, Xia Hong shook his head and chuckled twice.

For the Xia people today, being granted titles and promotions is probably the most important thing.

The so-called conferment of titles is, to put it bluntly, a privileged class. Xia Hong understood this very well, so from the very first day that he created the conferment of titles system, he had instructed Xia Chuan that the number of people conferred titles must be strictly controlled.

Xia Chuan clearly took his words to heart. The nine-rank nobility system was implemented after the conquest of Longyou, which was the second year of the Great Xia Dynasty. It has been promulgated for eleven years now. The population of Great Xia has now exceeded 600 million, but there are still no more than 500 people who have been granted nobility.

On average, it's less than one per 10,000 people.

It is time to bestow a batch of titles to motivate people. The camp has sufficient resources to support them.

"No rush. After the southern foothills are unified, titles and promotions will be granted based on military merit. Moreover, I brought back many good things from the four vassal states. After the war ends, I will reward those who have made outstanding military achievements!"

Upon hearing Xia Hong's words, everyone's pupils immediately lit up with a hint of fervor.

Yuwen Tao's right wing army originally numbered 50,000. After transferring 10,000 troops from Xiang Fuhai's army to Luo Yuan, he still had 40,000 troops left. Among these 40,000 troops were nine different units: Longwu, Xuanwu, Feipeng, Chilin, Tiance, Qinglang, Zhuhan, Luoyang, and Tieying.

Besides the Longwu, Xuanwu, and Feipeng armies, the remaining six numbered armies were all newly established during the three years Xia Hong was away. The commanders of these six armies were Jiang Yuanlong, Zou Yuankai, Hong Gang, Wang Tao, Luo Ming, and Chen Ying, respectively.

Jiang Yuanlong is a member of the Jiang family of Jiangxia Town. Four years ago, he led his troops to fight against Dajue Temple at Hongmen. Hong Gang, Zou Yuankai, Chen Ying, and Luo Ming are all former members of the Hongmuling period. Wang Tao is from Longshan. After the defeat of Longshan in the second year of the Great Xia Dynasty, he officially became a Xia person.

Xia Hong was naturally very familiar with these six people. He had observed them before arriving last night, in addition to the cultivation levels of Hou Quan, the commander of the Longwu Army, Hong Guang, the commander of the Xuanwu Army, Hou Bing, the commander of the Feipeng Army, and the nine commanders of the Right Route Army.

Of the nine, five are at the Xianyang level: Hou Quan, Hong Guang, Hong Gang, Zou Yuankai, and Jiang Yuanlong. Among the remaining four, Luo Ming is the strongest, with a base strength of 63. Chen Ying, Wang Tao, and Hou Bing are slightly weaker, but their base strength is also around 60.

Without the support of a top-tier battle physique, the base strength of a cold-resistant level can only be raised to around 60 points. If it can be raised to above 60 points, breaking through to the Manifestation stage is practically a certainty.

This is what Xia Chuan said to Xia Hong after he captured Beishuo City.

Clearly, during the three years he was away, the number of people breaking through to the Manifestation Yang level had been increasing, and the Great Xia Dynasty had accumulated enough experience in this regard to deduce the power threshold for breaking through to the Manifestation Yang level.

“I’ve inspected all four armies. There are at least 100 generals with a strength exceeding 60, which means that in the near future, these people are very likely to break through to the Manifestation Yang level. As for those below 60, there are even more. Adding to that the things I brought back from the vassal states and Yang City this time, the surge of Manifestation Yang level experts should be coming very soon…”

Xia Hong's gaze swept over the nine people, and his heart couldn't help but burn with excitement.

It is foreseeable that once the current war ends and the southern border region is completely unified, the Great Xia will usher in an extremely rapid development. The surge in the number of Xianyang-level beings is secondary; the key is the leap in overall strength, which will definitely bring about earth-shattering changes.

thump thump thump...

A sudden burst of war drums interrupted Xia Hong's thoughts. He turned his head and saw the drumming formation in front of the military tent. A smile appeared on his face as he turned to Yuwen Tao and asked, "So, according to you, they've started digging tunnels?"

Yuwen Tao smiled and nodded, about to speak, when Xia Chuan flew over from the west first.

"Too fast! I can roughly sense that the tunnel is less than nine kilometers from the exit. At the current pace, it will be completed in half a month at most. Then, with the tunnel connected from the inside and outside, we can break through the pass city in one fell swoop!"

Xia Chuan spoke with unusual agitation, clearly shocked by the tunnel that Yuwen Tao had dug out in the past few days.

Xia Hong smiled and turned to look at Yuwen Tao, a hint of appreciation appearing in his eyes.

Last night, as soon as he arrived with Xia Chuan, Yuwen Tao immediately explained his strategy for breaking through the pass to him.

The city of Aikou is flanked by the Mo'ao Mountains on both sides, and the city gate is too narrow. Behind the city gate is a narrow passage that stretches for eleven kilometers. This is a classic example of terrain that is easy to defend but difficult to attack. The difficulty of breaching the gate itself is extremely high, and how to break through the passage after breaching the gate is another major challenge.

Yuwen Tao's idea was to dig tunnels.

The idea of ​​digging a tunnel has been around for a long time.

According to Yuwen Tao, as early as two years ago, after annexing Chuishan, he realized that the Great Xia would eventually take action against the Five Northern Garrisons. Therefore, he ordered the military to begin drawing detailed maps of the Five Northern Garrisons.

During this process, Jinshan Town, a strategically important pass, had come into his view early on. Over the past two years, he had visited the pass many times to investigate it and concluded that the possibility of breaking through the pass from the front was extremely low, which had little to do with troop strength.

The pass was only a hundred meters wide from north to south, so even a large army couldn't spread out properly and could only charge in in formation. Meanwhile, the enemy only needed to hold one pass to keep them firmly at bay. This kind of terrain was truly a case of "one man can hold the pass against ten thousand."

If a direct approach doesn't work, then the only option is to take a roundabout route and find a way to bypass it.

However, the pass is flanked by the Mo'ao Mountains, which are thousands or even tens of thousands of meters high, making it impossible to go around them.

That leaves only one option: dig a tunnel.

Realizing that this was the only way, Yuwen Tao made preparations early on. He had Mu Dong cooperate and dispatched a large number of craftsmen in batches to infiltrate the vicinity of the pass and explore the underground to find the easiest tunnel to open.

Previously, fearing it would alert Jinshan Town, Yuwen Tao sealed the map after surveying the tunnel route and did not take any substantial action. Now that they were preparing for a direct confrontation, he naturally began to utilize the tunnel route and started having people dig it.

"The entire army was equipped with three thousand toothed chisels, all made from the teeth of high-grade rodents. Following the route we scouted in advance, we could dig five hundred meters forward in an hour. I arrived at the pass on the night of the 28th. We beat the drums every five hours, and so far we've beaten them four times. Each time, we sent them to the pass to shout and clamor..."

When the Great Xia Lei Kui war drums sounded, not only the underground commotion but also the sound of the surrounding cold wind would be drowned out. Therefore, the beating of the drums and the clamor for battle were entirely to cover up the noise of digging tunnels.

From Xia Hong's perspective, Yuwen Tao's strategy was not particularly brilliant, but that was because he had lived two lives. You must know that this is the Ice Abyss, where there are no famous military strategies and war books that everyone knows from his previous life. Large-scale wars involving tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people are unprecedented for both the Great Xia and Jinshan Town.

Everything has a difficult beginning. Yuwen Tao, a native of Bingyuan, actually came up with such a wonderful and ingenious way to break through the city on his first battlefield. It is no exaggeration to describe him as a war genius.

When Xia Hong arrived, he was deeply shocked by Yuwen Tao's ingenious idea and couldn't help but marvel at it.

If even he was like this, then Xia Chuan was even more so. After learning that Yuwen Tao had sent people to dig tunnels, he lost all interest in inspecting the battlefield with Xia Hong and wanted to go see the tunnels for himself.

That's why we have this scene now, where Xia Chuan returned after inspecting the tunnel.

Xia Chuan's words caused Yuwen Tao and his generals to become somewhat agitated.

The narrow passage behind Aikou City is only 11 kilometers long. The tunnel route that Yuwen Tao explored two years ago can lead directly to the back of the passage.

In other words, once the tunnel is completed, they can send a large part of their army to sneak through the tunnel and reach the rear of the passage. At that time, they can attack from both sides and the pass city will surely fall.

"Our only concern was Cai Qiu's Xianyang level, but now that the lord has arrived..."

"Don't worry, just do it your way..."

Xia Hong waved his hand to interrupt Yuwen Tao, a confident glint in his eyes, and said, "Cai Qiuhu probably brought quite a few Xianyang-level warriors with him, but it's no use no matter how many they bring. Even if he brought all of Cai Qiuhu's Xianyang-level warriors, Jinshan Town would still fall!"

Everyone present, including Xia Chuan, sensed the domineering tone in Xia Hong's words, and their expressions subtly changed.

"Two Beast King-level puppets, it seems this is not the Lord's limit!"

Yuwen Tao had already learned about what happened in Beishuo City from Xia Chuan. Hearing Xia Hong's words, he immediately grasped the key point and felt much more at ease.

The strength of the Beast King is comparable to that of a human at the Tribulation Realm. Judging from the information Jiang Xinfan sent back this year, two Beast King-level puppets are clearly not enough to make the Great Xia fearless of the vassal states.

Therefore, the fact that Xia Hong dared to say this at this moment must mean that he has other, even stronger trump cards up his sleeve.

"I just don't know how strong the lord himself really is..."

At this moment, what Yuwen Tao was most curious about was Xia Hong's strength.

Knowing that Xia Chuan had witnessed Xia Hong's two actions in Baimu City and Beishuo City, Yuwen Tao had just asked him about it. Xia Chuan's answer to him was that he couldn't see through it, not only could he not see through it, but he couldn't even make a rough estimate.

This answer is already quite convincing.

"Si Cheng once told me about the transformation rules of the Frost Beast Stakes, so the lord must now have the strength to kill a Beast King. Otherwise, where did the two Beast King-level puppets come from? No, there might be more..."

Thinking of this, Yuwen Tao felt both shaken and somewhat defeated.

Although he knew there was a gap between his aptitude and Xia Hong's, Yuwen Tao had been thinking about closing the gap with him for so many years since joining the Great Xia Dynasty. Especially in the past three years when Xia Hong was away, the Great Xia Dynasty developed by leaps and bounds, and Yuwen Tao's cultivation progress naturally rose accordingly. Now his basic strength was more than 9 jun, which was slightly higher than Xia Chuan's.

Originally, they thought that when Xia Hong returned this time, the gap in strength between the two would be smaller than before, but who would have thought that not only did it not narrow, but it actually widened.

"With two Beast King-level puppets and the Lord himself present, breaching the pass city shouldn't be too difficult. The immediate concerns are minimizing casualties during the breach and dealing with the Caiqiu vassal state behind Jinshan..."

Once Yuwen Tao understood this, he immediately felt much more relaxed.

Yuwen Tao already knew that Cai Qiu was coming, but the fact that someone at the Tribulation Realm was showing up was completely unexpected.

Xia Hong has just told him about Xiao Fangbo Cai Qiuhu.

"Alright, follow me..."

After surveying the battlefield, Xia Hong was about to call all the generals back to the main tent, but he stopped abruptly and turned to look to the west.

Confused, everyone immediately turned to look in the direction he was looking.

Upon closer inspection, they discovered that someone was flying towards them from a distance.

"My lord, great news! Lord Luo has led the central army and captured Donggu City. Qin Feng's 50,000 troops are trapped outside the city. They cannot return to Zhencheng to reinforce it, nor can they return to Donggu City. Wuchuan has fallen without a fight!"

The visitor was Xu Ning, who was all smiles. Before he even got close, he told us about the situation in Donggu City.

Upon hearing this good news, everyone's faces immediately lit up with smiles.

Luo Yuan certainly didn't disappoint me.

Xia Hong thought to himself for a moment, then chuckled softly, “Come back to the main tent with me and tell me properly how Luo Yuan took Donggu City.”

"Qin Feng led 50,000 troops, pretending to leave..."

Xu Ning was clearly eager to go, and as he followed Xia Hong to the main tent, he recounted everything that had just happened in Donggu City.

(End of this chapter)