Chapter 1501: Chain Reaction

Xin Yi nodded: "If there is a chance, I will definitely not miss it." A strong wind blew, whistling, bending the heads of the reeds in patches by the river.

"The wind has risen—" He Lingchuan spread his five fingers, as if combing the autumn wind, "The wind direction has changed recently, and it has been blowing from the opposite bank at night."

"Have you been observing this all along?"

He Lingchuan nodded: "Heavenly timing, geographical advantages, and human harmony, we originally occupied them all. Now, the heavenly timing is about to change."

Once the heavenly timing changes, the battle is about to come.

He Lingchuan's intelligence was very accurate. The Beijia army indeed arrived at the front line two days later, but the hidden dangers within the Jinchi Nation also began to erupt at this time.

The two-thousand-strong Xiluo army was stationed on the front line, and its supplies basically relied entirely on the Jinchi Nation. The latter was already a bit stretched, but fortunately, they harvested grain during the autumn harvest season, filling their reserves.

Just at this time, Xin Yi burned the transfer warehouse, and the other teams sent by He Lingchuan also burned down several major granaries within the Jinchi Nation, with about fifty thousand shi of grain reduced to ashes.

You must know that back then, He Chunhua tried every means to raise twenty thousand shi of grain for the northern front of the Yuan Nation, which was enough for Zhao Pan's fifty-thousand-strong army to eat for a month; He Lingchuan's several big fires directly burned away the enemy's rations for several months on the front line.

The Jinchi Nation didn't expect that besides burning the transfer warehouse on the front line, he also burned its major granaries in the country together. Now, let alone supplying the Xiluo army, it was very difficult for the Jinchi Nation to even feed its own citizens.

Just at this time, the Beijia army arrived.

It marched in a hurry and didn't bring much supplies, so as soon as it arrived, it had to ask the Jinchi Nation for food and drink.

The Xiluo army still had twenty-three thousand people, and the Beijia army had fifteen thousand, totaling nearly forty thousand people. The Jinchi Nation was suddenly under great pressure.

The transfer warehouse was burned away, but the army couldn't go hungry for a day. The Jinchi Nation had no choice but to scrape grain from within the country again to supply the front line.

At this point, the civilians wouldn't have it.

Much of what the Jinchi Nation officials scraped away was the life-saving grain or seeds of the common people. To rob even these was to take people's lives.

The civilians couldn't understand why the officials were so vicious in robbing grain from their hands, only to supply the invading army and support their aggression against the Panlong territory! This war had nothing to do with the Jinchi Nation at all, so why should the people of the Jinchi Nation suffer? The grain-scraping incident caused a huge uproar, with conflicts between officials and the people everywhere, and civilian uprisings everywhere.

While the Jinchi Nation was in a state of chaos, the Xiluo army and the Beijia army on the front line were also urging for grain, without a moment's pause.

However, the two armies knew very well that the Jinchi Nation really couldn't afford to supply them, and in the end, they had to get their own food and drink.

Where to get it? Very naturally, both sides set their sights on the Maohe Plain.

This autumn, the Maohe Plain had another bumper harvest. Although Yuheng City led the farmers to rush to harvest the grain, the land was vast and the grain was abundant, so how could they finish harvesting it in a short while?

If the Beijia people and the Xiluo people wanted to be full, they had to go to the Maohe Plain to rob! However, He Lingchuan had thought of this step long before burning the granaries. The Maohe Plain was on high alert, strictly guarding against it.

The two armies huddled on the border of the Jinchi Nation wanted to enter the Maohe Plain; either they had to break through the obstruction of Yuheng City, and then behind the city was a large stretch of fertile land, where they could rob as they pleased; or, the two armies had to enter from Longchuan.

Yuheng City, after years of management by Wen Daolun, was financially prosperous and willing to spend money on defense. It had long ago built an auxiliary city at each of the two gaps in the original camp defense on the border, specifically for stationing troops. The three cities formed a triangle, supporting each other and keeping watch, and combined with other defensive fortifications, making the Xiluo army, which had been a bit contemptuous of the enemy, suffer a big loss as soon as they arrived.

If they were to hard-charge Yuheng City, it would be like grabbing a wolf-tooth club with bare hands. The Beijia army also felt a bit of a headache, so they prioritized the second method, which was to take the route through Longchuan.

Unlike the previous Mobile Corps Commander harassment by the Xiluo army, the Beijia army this time had to tear a gap in the defense of the Maohe Plain and establish a foothold before they could rob grain, kill people, and advance on the Maohe Plain.

Although Longchuan had been developed into a land of fish and rice, the terrain here was very complex and was also known as the Thousand Island Swamp. The Beijia general Fushanlie had once entrenched himself in Longchuan for more than a year and had returned to draw detailed maps and make annotations for the military, serving as important data for this invasion of the Maohe Plain.

But when the Beijia army tried to enter Longchuan from the upstream river, they found that the terrain here had become unrecognizable. Some islands were merged together, some large islands were cut into small pieces, and the waterways and tides were incomparable to the past. But generally speaking, the waterways had narrowed, only allowing four or five small boats to sail side by side, and the water depth everywhere was a mystery, so large ships couldn't sail in at all.

If large ships couldn't sail, they couldn't transport a mighty army.

Of course, there were wide lake surfaces deep in Longchuan, but there were water fences set up by Yuheng City everywhere, and the underwater of Longchuan was not safe to begin with—

Water monsters were rampant.

After Fushanlie was beaten away, the aquatic monsters of Longchuan were all recruited by Yuheng City. Those who refused to surrender either died or fled, and none could stay. In the eyes of these monsters, no matter how big the name of Beijia was, it was not as good as Yuheng City, which was the current manager.

These guys were everywhere. Although they didn't confront the army head-on, it was easy for them to chisel and damage boats, ambush sentries, and pass information to the military and civilians of Longchuan.

Although Beijia claimed to be the "Demon Nation," the journey from the local area to here was long, and the aquatic and amphibious monsters in the country couldn't come over at all.

The Beijia army tried several times here and found that it was truly very difficult to gain a foothold.

Longchuan is filled with outposts and stockades everywhere; some were left behind by former water bandits, while others were added later by Yuheng City, scattered across the waters like nails. The Beijia army struggled to pull out a few, only to end up with blood on their own hands, and within two days, the enemy had snatched them back.

The Beijia army had all kinds of skills, but in this narrow, cramped, humid, and dark place, they couldn't even exert one or two percent of them.

How difficult it was for Yuheng City to attack Fushanlie and the Longchuan water bandits back then, the Beijia army now felt that kind of deep pain.

The commander of the Beijia army, named Bai Mojie, fought with Yuheng City in Longchuan for six or seven days, only to feel that his patience was about to be exhausted. He brought troops here to cooperate with Beijia's "concern" for the northwestern front of Panlongcheng; if the northwestern front didn't start fighting, Beijia and Panlongcheng wouldn't be considered to have officially torn their faces, so he couldn't officially launch a large-scale attack here.

So all he could do at the moment was small-scale "sparring," which had no advantage in front of Yuheng City. After all, the Beijia army was unfamiliar with the place, and wanting to suppress the local snake as soon as they arrived was purely looking for trouble for themselves.

Bai Mojie also knew that fighting like this was wrong and would diminish Beijia's prestige.

Originally, wherever the Beijia army passed, it was like autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves, like a sharp knife cutting through tangled hemp, and thus outsiders were submissive; the military and civilians of Yuheng City would have definitely feared Beijia, but if they were allowed to win a few battles, their awe would drop in a straight line.

Psychological game has always been one of the main factors in the outcome of war.

But Bai Mojie also had his own bitterness. The Xiluo army and the Beijia army together totaled nearly forty thousand people, and the Jinchi Nation truly couldn't afford their daily food and drink. Even if Bai Mojie threw the ruler of the Jinchi Nation into the pot, he couldn't squeeze out much oil and water.

Reducing grain supply in the army was too damaging to morale. Wherever the Beijia army went, it was rampant, so why couldn't they even get a meal as soon as they arrived at the Jinchi front line?

So Bai Mojie turned around and cut the grain ration of the Xiluo army. The other side had more people than them, so if they ate a few mouthfuls less, wouldn't they be able to eat a bit more? At this point, the Xiluo army exploded.

Originally, they didn't want to attack the Panlongcheng territory, and it was all forced by the ruler, so there was no subjective motivation; after they came, they were beaten miserably by the Yuheng army, intimidated by Beijia's military supervisors, and casually ordered around by the Beijia army next door, and now they weren't even given food? They wouldn't do it, they truly couldn't do it.

As soon as the news of grain reduction spread, before it was even issued, two battalions of the Xiluo army ran away.

They knew they couldn't beat the Beijia army and didn't intend to rebel, they just wanted to escape. The swords of the supervision team were chopped dull, but they didn't stop their determination to escape, and several supervision team members were dragged down and killed in reverse.

Fortunately, the Jinchi Nation and Yuheng City were separated by a river, and now it was the high-water season, the river was surging, and the opposite side couldn't come over for a while. Otherwise, if the Yuheng army took advantage of the chaos to charge and kill, the Beijia army would definitely have a headache.

This chaos was only quelled after Lu Wushuang, who had just taken office as a military supervisor, spent a lot of effort, and then she went directly to find Bai Mojie to discuss a solution.

"General Bai, there are actually only two solutions at the moment." She said realistically, "Either, request grain allocation from Lingxu..."

Before she finished speaking, Bai Mojie frowned: "Request grain from the country? Do you also want to request a portion for your Xiluo army?"

"If it can be requested, that would be best." Lu Wushuang smiled, "One matter should not trouble two masters."

Bai Mojie said unhappily: "You have to make it clear, the grain shortage on the Jinchi front line is not my problem! My army hadn't arrived yet, and the grain and grass here were burned out. Executive Assistant Lu, you have neglected your duty!"

Not even starting the war and already not having food to eat, his army hadn't encountered such a bad environment for a long time.

Even in the battle of the Yuan Nation twenty years ago that made the whole country talk about it, the Beijia army didn't go hungry for a day.

I don't know what route Qinggong took in Lingxu City to send such a female disciple without military experience! What was even more unlucky was himself, having to cooperate with Lu Wushuang.

Lu Wushuang knew that the Beijia army had no lack of experience in long-distance warfare, but firstly, they were all small-scale battles, and secondly, they hadn't gnawed on such a hard bone for a long time.

She hadn't fought head-on with Yuheng City on the opposite bank yet, but she knew that the opponent's leader was not simple. Before she arrived, he had forced the Xiluo army to the verge of collapse, and just as she arrived at the Jinchi front line and hadn't yet familiarized herself with the work, he burned down several major granaries of the Jinchi Nation.

The fire in the transfer warehouse was indeed beyond her expectation.

As soon as she arrived, she realized the problem of grain shortage and specially strengthened the control of the rear granaries. She couldn't control the other granaries in the Jinchi Nation, but the transfer warehouse was ostensibly managed by the Xiluo army, but in reality, there were Qinggong disciples stationed there, whose cultivation and spiritual sense were far beyond what ordinary soldiers could compare to, and there were even magic arrays secretly guarding them.

Even so, five of the seven large granaries were burned down, leaving only one granary of grain.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 1502 =====