Chapter 301: Hou Jing Surrenders, Bai Yuan Broken, Zhaoyang Changes Flags

"Hou Kong is twenty-six years old this year, with a superior battle body. At the mid-stage of the Cold-Resistant Realm, he has the strength of four manes. He can be considered the one with the strongest talent among the Hou clan descendants of the same generation. Even Hou Hu was only like this back then. It's a pity!"

On the snowfield, Hou Jing sighed slightly to Xia Hong, regretting that he had failed to persuade Hou Kong to surrender to Great Xia.

"No matter. His heart is toward Hou Hu; no matter how much you persuade him, it's useless. How are the remaining three Cold-Resistant Realm experts and the rest of your Zhaoyang doing?"

A twenty-six-year-old superior battle body, in Xia Hong's view, could at most only earn a "not bad" evaluation. He waved his hand, looked at Hou Jing, and asked with a smile about the situation of the others in Zhaoyang.

Successfully winning over Hou Jing could be considered an unexpected surprise brought by Xia Chuan.

On April 17th, after Xia Chuan led people to take Wu Shuang, in order to test the attitudes of Longshan and Zhaoyang toward Great Xia, he sent Qiu Peng and Zhao Long to serve as envoys to the Longyou army camp and Zhaoyang in Pinggu, respectively.

The process of Zhao Long going to Pinggu as an envoy went very smoothly, but on the way back, he was targeted by this Hou Jing. Hou Jing's original intention should have been to capture Zhao Long and use him as a threat to make Great Xia hand over Hou Bing.

At that time, Zhao Long had just broken through to the Cold-Resistant Realm, and his basic strength was less than three manes. How could he be a match for Hou Jing, who was at the peak of the Cold-Resistant Realm with fifteen manes of strength? There was no suspense at all; he was captured directly.

The subsequent development was very interesting. Hou Jing did not go through Hou Hu but brought Zhao Long to Wu Shuang alone to find Great Xia, indicating his intention to exchange captives.

Xia Chuan, who received him at that time, keenly sensed that Hou Jing was likely not of the same mind as Hou Hu, so he happily took him back to Xia City for a trip, let him experience the magnificent scenery of Xia City, and after seeing Hou Bing, who was unharmed but whose freedom was restricted, he directly tried to win him over.

At that time, Great Xia, although it had successfully taken the Hive and Wu Shuang, had not yet swallowed all the population of Longyou. Xia City only had over forty thousand people, and Xia Chuan only had the strength of six manes. Even though many things in Xia City made Hou Jing marvel, and it did indeed arouse his interest in Great Xia, wanting to successfully turn Hou Jing with just these was naturally impossible.

What truly made Hou Jing start to waver was a bet Xia Chuan made with him.

"Elder Hou likely feels that our Great Xia only has this little strength, and rashly inserting ourselves into Longyou will ultimately be a dead end. Xia Chuan dares to make a bet with Elder Hou. Let's bet on whether our Great Xia can completely establish a foothold in Longyou during the process of your encampment contending with Longshan. If I lose, not only Hou Bing, but Hou Ying, Hou Ming, and Lin Ye, including all the Zhaoyang Earth-Digging Realm experts we captured at the Hive, I will release them all. How about that?"

"And if you win?"

"If I win, there is no need for the Elder to do anything. For this bet, the Elder only needs to do one thing: let Hou Bing continue to stay in Great Xia as a witness. If I win, I will still release Hou Bing. How about that?"

If he loses the bet, his son will still be handed over to him;

If he wins the bet, not only his son, but Hou Ming, Hou Ying, Lin Ye, and all the Earth-Digging Realm experts, Xia Chuan will release them all back to Zhaoyang.

This is a bet that is guaranteed to win and not lose.

Hou Jing is over eighty years old; what has he not seen? He immediately realized that Xia Chuan had already seen that he was not that loyal to Zhaoyang, and was deliberately using the bet to let him observe Great Xia further, or was trying to win him over.

The key is that Great Xia was indeed willing to pay a heavy price to win time.

Three Cold-Resistant Realm experts, hundreds of Earth-Digging Realm experts—he said he would bet them, so he bet them.

At that time, Hou Jing still did not agree but asked Xia Chuan a question.

"I captured Zhao Long and came to exchange captives with you. Listening to your meaning, you are unwilling to take Hou Bing and exchange him for him?"

In Xia Chuan's bet, Hou Bing was mentioned, which clearly showed he didn't intend to use Hou Bing to exchange for Zhao Long, which is why Hou Jing asked this.

"Great Xia has never had a precedent for exchanging captives, and there won't be one in the future. Zhao Long being captured can only be considered his bad luck. If Elder Hou proposes other material requirements, Xia can consider them, but don't think about exchanging captives. However, I have a word of warning in advance: Great Xia's lives are precious, especially those of Cold-Resistant Realm experts. If Zhao Long has any mishaps in the Elder's hands, then let alone Hou Bing, Hou Ming, Hou Ying, Lin Ye, and the other hundreds of Earth-Digging Realm experts will all have to be buried with him. Xia, says what he means!"

According to what Xia Chuan said later, Hou Jing was deterred by these words at the time, not only releasing Zhao Long but also agreeing to let Hou Bing stay to complete the bet.

Xia Hong shook his head slightly. He was not as simple as Xia Chuan.

An eighty-year-old man, what wind and rain has he not seen? How could he be deterred by a mere few harsh words? This Hou Jing was clearly not getting along with Hou Hu and had long had the heart to rebel against Zhaoyang.

Xia Chuan used a cost-effective bet to gamble on Great Xia's subsequent performance, which would make him tempted, and Hou Jing agreeing to it was a matter of course.

To put it bluntly, if Great Xia performed well in Longyou later, he would take the opportunity to rebel against Zhaoyang and throw himself into Great Xia, and his son Hou Bing and the others in Zhaoyang could live; if Great Xia performed poorly later, then Xia Chuan would have to fulfill the bet, and in the end, he would still release everyone.

A bet that is guaranteed to win and not lose—how could he not agree?

In May, Xia Hong also learned from those captured Earth-Digging Realm experts of Zhaoyang the reason why Hou Jing and Hou Hu did not get along.

Thirteen years ago, when the previous leader of Zhaoyang, that is, Hou Hu's father Hou Luan, passed away, he passed the position of leader to his younger brother Hou Jing.

At that time, Hou Hu was still a hostage in Longshan.

Calling him a hostage, he was actually Li Tianhua's disciple.

Hou Hu naturally felt that only he was qualified to inherit the position of leader. Coincidentally, Li Tianhua was willing to back him up, borrowing people and grain, and stubbornly sent Hou Hu back to Zhaoyang, snatching the position of leader back from Hou Jing's hands.

At that time, Hou Hu's strength was actually inferior to Hou Jing's. Hou Jing ultimately softened, more because of the pressure given by Longshan and Li Tianhua.

In short, from then on, the feud between the two was formed.

Hou Hu was also extremely wary of his Second Uncle, only giving him respect on the surface. When it came to cultivation resources, especially the share of Jade Bone Great Medicine, when it was the turn of the Cold-Resistant Realm experts in Hou Jing's branch, it was very little.

This is why he was able to come from behind and surpass Hou Jing in strength, and why even the Cold-Resistant Realm experts in the encampment were mostly united around him.

In the final analysis, it was Xia Chuan throwing out a straight hook, and then being deliberately bitten by Hou Jing, who had the heart to rebel.

Great Xia's development after May naturally made the balance in Hou Jing's heart increasingly tilt, especially after his identity as Hong Xia was exposed, Great Xia took Hanqiong, occupied one-third of Longyou's territory in one fell swoop, and then used Yangyuan Pills to lure him. Hou Jing, who had long had the heart to rebel, rebelling against Zhaoyang and turning to Great Xia naturally became a matter of course.

Hou Jing's rebellion certainly made Xia Hong happy, but it could also be considered a disguised reminder to him to pay attention to the centripetal force of the encampment's high-level personnel. Once these people have problems, it is different from the Earth-Digging Realm experts, and the consequences caused are extremely terrifying.

Like Hou Jing before him, a solid Hou clan member, and still Hou Hu's own Second Uncle—his rebellion would not only cause more than half of Zhaoyang's Cold-Resistant Realm experts to defect to Great Xia, but even left behind nearly sixty thousand people of Zhaoyang in one fell swoop, which is almost ninety percent of the encampment's population.

That is to say, he was unwilling to make things difficult for the relatives of those Cold-Resistant Realm experts who refused to defect; otherwise, he could have directly detained these five or six thousand people tonight, making Hou Hu in Longshan completely become a bare-handed commander.

Great Xia now has nearly forty Cold-Resistant Realm experts, and it is still continuously rising. If we count the ones brought by Hou Jing's rebellion, the total number will break through fifty, and it will only get more and more later.

Once there are many people, it starts to become mixed. At that time, we must find a way to dilute the influence of these people on the encampment; otherwise, we will definitely suffer a big loss one day in the future!

………………

Thinking is thinking, but it was actually just a moment's work. Hou Jing had probably already figured out that he wanted to turn to Great Xia, and when answering Xia Hong's words, his posture was much more respectful.

He bowed slightly and said: "Leader, rest assured, Hou Xing, Zhang Ying, and Kong Fan have all been persuaded by me. All three are willing to lead their families to join Great Xia's command. I didn't explain to the remaining fifty thousand or so people of Zhaoyang one by one, but as long as the army enters tonight, they will naturally be clear."

Within a short period of time, wanting to reverse the thoughts of fifty thousand people is naturally impossible. There must still be many people loyal to Hou Hu in the middle. Xia Hong naturally wouldn't blame Hou Jing for this.

Human hearts are like water. As long as Great Xia's subsequent battles in Longyou go smoothly, and at the same time, these people's lives get better and better, their mentality will naturally turn around slowly.

But that is a matter for later.

The most important thing right now is to fight this battle with Longshan well!

Hearing Hou Jing mention the army entering Zhaoyang, Xia Hong raised an eyebrow, said nothing, but turned and took him toward the east side.

They were currently located on the west side of Bai Yuan, and walking east was the direction of the Bai Yuan encampment. Hou Jing was originally somewhat unclear, but after walking east for a while, looking at the scene of the Bai Yuan encampment from three or four hundred meters away, his pupils tightened.

"Fire arrows!"

"Brothers, kill with me."

"Trample Bai Yuan, kill!"

"Where did this army come from? How could there be an army coming over?"

"This is not the Longyou army, nor is it the Blood Guard Army. Aside from these two..."

"It's that army of Great Xia. Isn't Great Xia blocked at Wu Shuang by Longshan? How could there be an army coming to us?"

"Can't fight, absolutely can't fight. This iron arrow's force is too strong; ours simply can't block it."

"They are all at the limit of the Earth-Digging Realm. Run, run quickly..."

"Can't run. Closing the iron gate is the only hope. If they attack into the encampment, it's over. Give me all the Earth-Digging Realm experts, close the iron gate."

"Quick, everyone push for me, close the main gate, quick, quick, quick."

………………

At the main gate on the north side of the Bai Yuan encampment, golden light was flickering at this moment, and the sound of charging and killing was earth-shaking.

Looking closely, one could see that those flickering golden lights were actually soldiers wearing pale golden armor.

This army had about a thousand people.

The front row of about three hundred people holding large broadswords had already stuck to the iron gate, frantically charging and killing the defensive personnel around the iron gate; the back row of about six hundred people were all holding strong bows, frantically shooting arrows at the top and flanks of the iron gate;

There were also nearly a hundred people holding various different weapons, climbing up along the terrain around the iron gate. Under the cover of the archers in the rear, a small portion had actually climbed onto the stone platform above the iron gate, charging and killing the Bai Yuan Earth-Digging Realm experts who were trying to close the iron gate.

The strongest was a figure who rushed to the very back of the stone platform.

That was a young man in black holding a broadsword in his right hand and a four-meter-high banner in his left hand. He was waving the broadsword in his hand with great force, and almost every strike could sweep away more than a dozen Earth-Digging Realm experts on his left and right.

He rushed all the way to the back of the stone platform like this. When he saw the iron gate below that had not yet completely closed, he fiercely inserted the banner in his left hand downward.

The seven or eight-meter-high flagpole was inserted in the middle of the iron gate, the black banner fluttering in the wind, the "Xia" character on the front and the golden soaring dragon pattern on the back immediately entering everyone's eyes.

"Scout Battalion, charge onto the stone platform. Mo Dao Battalion, continue to advance. Heng Dao Battalion, shoot arrows for the last ten breaths. After ten breaths, abandon the bows and charge into the iron gate for me to protect the banner!"

The moment Director Yu Wen Tao inserted the banner behind the iron gate, Liu Yuan's roar also sounded on the stone platform.

"Kill!"

"Charge..."

"The iron gate has fallen, brothers, charge in."

…………

As the roar fell, the three hundred soldiers in the front row holding Mo Dao seemed to have been injected with stimulants. One by one, they let out incomparably excited roars, held their Mo Dao high, and frantically charged into the iron gate.

The six Heng Dao battalions behind were not to be outdone. In ten breaths, they quickly emptied the quivers behind them, then directly abandoned their bows, drew their Heng Dao, and also surged toward the iron gate like a tide.

The first Mo Dao battalion soldier finally charged into the iron gate, and what awaited him were more than a dozen sharp broadswords.

The Bai Yuan people were not stupid. At such an important position as the iron gate, the hundred or so guards deployed in the rear were also at the limit of the Earth-Digging Realm, and at the same time, the weapons and iron armor in their hands were also Hundred-Forged level.

Slash…………

More than a dozen sharp Hundred-Forged broadswords slashed onto his body, and the iron armor of that Mo Dao battalion soldier immediately broke several holes. Not only was the iron armor broken, but with such terrifying force pressing on his body, he also fell toward the ground. If it weren't for someone supporting him from behind, he would definitely have knelt down and never been able to stand up again.

"Only broke a few holes, how is this possible?"

"His weapon didn't break either, this..."

"His sword is so big, how could it be so sturdy."

"Aren't they all Hundred-Forged level?"

………………

Clearly, they had almost knocked that soldier down, but no one on the Bai Yuan side showed a smile. Instead, their pupils shook violently, and their expressions were horrified.

The cultivation was the same, and the equipment was also Hundred-Forged level weapons. The iron armor of the Great Xia soldiers, under the attack of more than a dozen of them together, actually only broke a few holes.

How could this be possible…………

"Although they are all Hundred-Forged level, the Lei Kui iron armor I wear is different from yours!"

After that Mo Dao battalion soldier gave a cold laugh, he suddenly raised his head, held the Mo Dao in his hand, swept it horizontally in front of him, and then roared as he charged directly into the iron gate.

"Kill!"

"Kill…………"

With the first one, the second one quickly appeared. The three hundred soldiers in the front row held large Mo Dao. As long as one charged in, they could sweep away a large area. As long as they maintained their position for three or four breaths without retreating, more Mo Dao would immediately come in from the rear.

And so, the collapse of the iron gate began!

After the surging Mo Dao battalion soldiers charged in, they created a space of more than a hundred meters in radius behind the iron gate in less than ten minutes.

The six Heng Dao battalions behind had no more obstacles and surged in like a tide.

Puchi…………

Liu Yuan led more than a hundred elite Scout Battalion soldiers and had long since cleared the stone platform above the iron gate, killing and scattering the group of Earth-Digging Realm experts who were trying to close the iron gate. Seeing that the Nine Battalions soldiers had all charged into the iron gate, he no longer had any scruples and directly led the Scout Battalion to charge down.

"The main gate is broken. Bai Yuan people, listen clearly: surrender and you won't be killed!"

Liu Yuan was, after all, at the Cold-Resistant Realm. With one charge, he could sweep away a large area. In less than four or five breaths, he rushed to the side of the group of Earth-Digging Realm limits who were retreating, frantically harvesting their lives with his broadsword while also shouting "surrender and you won't be killed" at them.

"Surrender and you won't be killed!"

"Surrender and you won't be killed!"

………………

A group of elite Scout Battalion soldiers also followed him to kill, and they also began to shout "surrender and you won't be killed" with him, constantly destroying the psychological defense line of the Bai Yuan people.

"Where is the Leader?"

"Where did the Second Leader go?"

"They are all in the back, didn't you see? The main building has already collapsed."

…………

The people of Bai Yuan who were still resisting, in despair, pinned their hopes on the Leader Bai Qiucheng. But after a reminder from someone with a heart, they realized that the top floor of the main building in the middle of the encampment had already collapsed.

Above the collapsed building, there were a total of six figures fighting. Among them, two were being beaten back steadily—they were the Second Leader Bai Qiuping and the Third Leader Wu Ningyuan. It seemed the First Leader Bai Qiucheng had the upper hand.

But the problem is, the young man in black who had just inserted the banner on the stone platform had already rushed toward the direction of Bai Qiucheng on the main building with a broadsword in hand.

That is to say, Great Xia would soon be four against three.

The encampment was broken, and the Cold-Resistant Realm experts were also completely defeated.

Bai Yuan, it's over!

Ping…………

I don't know who it was, but the first one dropped their weapon, and then the second and third followed. Aside from some die-hard people who were still expecting some change in the main building battlefield, more and more people began to drop their weapons and kneel on the ground to surrender to the Cloud Dragon soldiers.

"Bai Qiucheng, surrender. The Leader didn't take action personally, which is giving you a chance. If you remain stubborn, there will only be a dead end in the end."

"Bai Yuan has no feud with Great Xia, why attack my encampment!"

"Don't talk nonsense, Bai Qiucheng. Since you have the intention to merge into Longshan, you must accept your fate. I will ask you one more time: surrender or not?"

"Peng Bo, you are dreaming. Longshan will destroy Great Xia sooner or later. Qiuping, Ningyuan, come with me..."

As Bai Qiucheng's voice fell, before Director Yu Wen Tao could get close, two figures on the main building took the opportunity to flee toward the west side in the direction of Longshan.

Only the one fighting Chen Yingba hesitated, but ultimately gritted his teeth and dropped his weapon.

"I am Wu Ningyuan, I am willing to surrender, I hope Your Excellency will show mercy."

Chen Yingba stopped his hand abruptly, turned to look at the fleeing Bai Qiucheng and the other, and shook his head, a trace of helplessness flashing in his eyes.

Not just Chen Yingba, but Peng Bo, Wu Tianxing, and the three who arrived later, Director Yu Wen Tao, all showed helplessness as they watched the fleeing Bai brothers.

Coincidentally seeing this scene, Wu Ningyuan thought that the few were helpless because they couldn't keep the Bai brothers.

But soon, he realized that he was somewhat ridiculously wrong.

………………

"The Bai brothers sent their families to Longshan in advance, that Wu Ningyuan should not have sent his family away yet, so he can only surrender."

Not far from the west side of the Bai Yuan encampment, watching the fleeing Bai brothers, Hou Jing immediately cupped his hands and explained the reason to Xia Hong.

"Kill them!"

"Subordinate obeys."

After Hou Jing cupped his hands and agreed, his eyes shone, and he immediately chased in the direction the two were fleeing.

Bai Qiucheng's nine-mane strength, Bai Qiuping only has six manes. It shouldn't be difficult for Hou Jing, who has fifteen manes, to kill the two, but it would be a bit difficult to capture them alive.

Of course, more importantly, he had no intention of capturing the two alive.

At the beginning of the attack on Bai Yuan, Peng Bo took Wu Tianxing and Chen Yingba to sneak into Bai Yuan to talk to Bai Qiucheng. He didn't agree to surrender, and the great battle started.

The great battle in the main building clearly already had a result, but Bai Qiucheng was still stubborn and determined to turn to Longshan, which made Xia Hong somewhat irritable.

Furthermore, the matter of Bai Yuan tonight still needs to be blocked for a while; otherwise, if Li Ying Xuan Ling knows too early, it will affect the subsequent actions.

"Exactly, I needed to win them over before, so I tried not to kill people. Now that it's a showdown with Longshan, it's time to kill some people to establish prestige; otherwise, these Cold-Resistant Realm experts in Longyou will really think Great Xia's temper is not as big as Longshan's!"

After Xia Hong pondered for a moment, he directly leaped toward Bai Yuan and soon arrived at the location of the Bai Yuan main building.

"Greetings, Leader!"

"Greetings, Leader…………"

Director Yu Wen Tao, Peng Bo, Chen Yingba, Wu Tianxing, and Liu Yuan were the first to bow to him, and the group of Cloud Dragon soldiers who were dealing with the captives around them also bowed respectfully to him.

"No need for formalities, get up! Hurry and clean up, count the number of Earth-Digging Realm captives in Bai Yuan, and control their families well."

"Subordinate obeys!"

Liu Yuan immediately answered with a salute and quickly took the soldiers to handle it.

The Cloud Dragon Army Commander is Xia Chuan, but Xia Chuan didn't come this time, so he, the Scout Battalion Commander, could only act as the temporary commander and be responsible for all affairs.

"Wu Ningyuan, right? Knowing to surrender, not bad!"

Wu Ningyuan's expression was stunned, and he didn't know if Xia Hong was praising him or insulting him. Helplessly, he could only cup his hands to him and bow his head:

"Greetings..."

Bang... bang...

Suddenly, two objects of unknown nature were thrown to Xia Hong's side, hitting the ground and making two successive loud noises, interrupting Wu Ningyuan's salute.

Wu Ningyuan and several other Cold-Resistant Realm experts, including many people around the main building, all turned to look at Xia Hong's side.

After seeing those two objects clearly, aside from the Great Xia group led by Director Yu Wen Tao and Peng Bo who showed no surprise, Wu Ningyuan and the group of Bai Yuan surrenderers had their pupils shrink suddenly, and their faces were full of horror.

Those two objects were none other than the Bai brothers who had just fled.

Bai Qiucheng's chest had completely collapsed, and his eyes were wide open, clearly in extreme terror when he was killed;

Bai Qiuping's state of death couldn't be called miserable, just a bit strange. The back of his head had completely broken open, clearly hit by a club, but his expression was as usual, obviously having no premonition of his own death.

Two leaders, just like that, died...

Wu Ningyuan didn't know what others were thinking, but looking at the two leaders on the ground whose strength far exceeded his own, his body shuddered violently, and he immediately knelt down to Xia Hong, respectfully saying: "Subordinate pays respects to the Leader!"

Only now did he understand what the helplessness in the eyes of Peng Bo and others just now, including Xia Hong's later sentence, meant.

If he didn't surrender, the outcome would inevitably be becoming the third corpse on the ground.

"Alright, all get up. Peng Bo, Chen Yingba, Wu Tianxing, you three guard around Bai Yuan and don't let anyone leave here. Hou Jing, Director Yu Wen Tao, you come with me to Zhaoyang, let's go!"

Hou Jing!

Hearing this name, Wu Ningyuan's pupils tightened suddenly. Looking up and catching a glimpse of the old man jumping down from the main building, his heart beat violently.

Zhaoyang has a traitor. Hou Jing has turned to Great Xia. Then what about the five or six thousand people who borrowed the road through Bai Yuan to Longshan tonight?

Xia Hong also wants to take Hou Jing to Zhaoyang. Hou Hu is in Longshan now!

Zhaoyang, is it going to change flags?

Isn't it said that Li Ying Xuan Ling led a large army and blocked Great Xia at the Hive?

What is going on? The Xia army ran to the north, not only took Bai Yuan but also wants to occupy Zhaoyang. What do they want to do?

Wu Ningyuan's thoughts were put aside for now. After Xia Hong left with Hou Jing and Director Yu Wen Tao, Bai Yuan was completely taken over by Liu Yuan.

Peng Bo and the others pulled Wu Ningyuan and guarded the periphery of the Bai Yuan encampment directly, not allowing anyone to enter or exit at will; Liu Yuan led the Cloud Dragon Army to continue checking the Earth-Digging Realm population and their families in the encampment, clearly preparing for something.

………………

Walking more than ten kilometers along the snowfield northeast of Bai Yuan, one soon saw the towering and magnificent outline of Mount Beimang.

"Hiss... this height of Mount Beimang, is it three or four times that of Twin Dragon Mountain?"

Unlike Xia Hong who was seeing it for the second time, Director Yu Wen Tao, seeing the magnificent Mount Beimang for the first time, couldn't help but let out a sigh.

"Although Zhaoyang has lived in Pinggu for decades, no one has ever climbed to the top of Mount Beimang, so we don't know exactly how high it is. It should be over four thousand meters. We are also curious about what exactly is up there."

Even Hou Jing doesn't know; the mystery of Mount Beimang is evident.

Director Yu Wen Tao pondered for a moment and said to Xia Hong: "There is Mount Mang in the north, Twin Dragon Mountain in the east, Longshan in the west, and the Xinghe in the south. Then it can basically be inferred that the overall terrain of Longyou is surrounded by mountains on the east, west, and north sides, and cut off by the Xinghe in the south. If one can control Longshan, one almost holds this entire piece of treasure land in one's hands. Even if other encampments want to plot against Great Xia in the future, it will be as difficult as ascending to heaven!"

Xia Hong withdrew his gaze from Mount Beimang upon hearing this and revealed a look of admiration toward Director Yu Wen Tao. When he first saw Mount Beimang, this thought was also in his mind.

From a geographical concept, Seeing Hong Mu Ridge should also belong to Longyou, but because of the isolation of the arrow bamboo forest in the middle, it caused inconvenience in communication between the two places, so it was divided into two territories.

As Great Xia's control over the arrow bamboo forest becomes deeper and deeper, the connection between the two places is becoming tighter and tighter. It is foreseeable that in the future, the two places will inevitably merge completely.

Water areas cannot be involved for the time being. Grabbing Longshan is equivalent to taking down Longyou's last piece of resource land. The entire territory of Longyou is almost within Great Xia's map.

At that time, with Mount Mang in the north, the Xinghe in the south, Longshan in the west, and Twin Dragon in the east, guarded by four natural moats, Great Xia will be the uncrowned king of Longyou. If other encampments want to attack Great Xia, aside from attacking from that slope on the north bank of the Xinghe, which he had previously named "Yinggu Pass," there will be no other roads.

This is an excellent treasure land suitable for being a great rear area!

Clearly, Director Yu Wen Tao also saw this point.

A few glints flashed in Hou Jing's eyes; he should have seen it too.

Xia Hong did not continue to discuss this issue in depth. Seeing that there were only a few kilometers left to Pinggu, he directly changed the subject and asked Hou Jing: "How many Earth-Digging Realm experts does Zhaoyang have now?"

Hou Jing immediately replied: "Zhaoyang has a total of 5,700 Earth-Digging Realm experts. After the Blood Guard Army was wiped out, 4,700 remained. But the five thousand or so people sent away last night included over 1,700 Earth-Digging Realm experts, so there are only a little over three thousand Earth-Digging Realm experts left now."

Mentioning that the five thousand or so people sent away last night included over 1,700 Earth-Digging Realm experts, Hou Jing's pupils flickered slightly.

Xia Hong also raised an eyebrow and cast an inquiring look at him.

Hou Jing nodded directly and said: "Leader, rest assured, I have already arranged it."

"Good, then I won't say much more. There are only two hours left until dawn, time is not enough. You go back and gather these three thousand Earth-Digging Realm experts directly, have them wear all the existing battle armor in Zhaoyang, and let Hou Xing, Zhang Ying, and Kong Fan lead them to depart for Bai Yuan immediately after nightfall tomorrow."

"Subordinate obeys."

Hou Jing didn't ask anything either. After nodding and obeying, he rushed to the encampment directly.

"Leader, you wouldn't be wanting to…………"

Director Yu Wen Tao clearly guessed Xia Hong's subsequent intention. After revealing a look of shock, he couldn't help but exclaim to him.

Are they going to attack Longshan directly?

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 302 =====