Chapter 498: Unwillingness and Determination, Dongchuan Dispatches Troops

"... Beishuo has violated the alliance treaty. The Alliance Leader has resolved to lead all towns at the southern foothills to punish them together. Considering Longgu's strength is insufficient, it is ordered that the Longgu Lord dispatch 10,000 troops and send them all to the Qingyang camp for use within two days!"

Just as Yang Qu received the alliance leader's call to arms, the Long Valley Zhencheng in the northwest received it at almost the same time.

Above the main hall of the Long Valley Zhencheng lord, Deputy Marshal Murong Chui of the Central Route Army threw the call to arms down toward those below and left directly with Commander Hong Guang of the Divine Martial Army, without giving the group of people in Long Valley Garrison any chance to respond.

Longgu Town Lord Long Mingyuan, Military Chief Li Yangtian, Town Chief Long Wenhai, and a group of core high-level officials looked at the two people leaving in the sky, their expressions extremely ugly.

"Hmph! Enter the hall and continue the discussion."

Similar to Yang Qu, Long Mingyuan and the core high-level officials had been suddenly interrupted by Murong Chui and Hong Guang during their discussion. Murong Chui was so disrespectful, acting bossy toward him in front of everyone in the town. Long Mingyuan naturally couldn't save face. After the two left, he snorted coldly and led the core personnel back into the hall.

"The Great Xia's arrogance has reached this point. Does the Longgu Lord still want to hesitate?"

Inside the hall, a middle-aged man dressed in black saw everyone enter and spoke in a deep voice. Seeing Long Mingyuan ignore him and continue walking toward the main seat, the middle-aged man's expression sank slightly, and he continued: "Longgu Lord, the three northern towns began deployment seven days ago. Beishuo has 70,000, Jin Shan 60,000, and Wu Chuan 60,000. The three towns have an army of 190,000. Adding the Longgu and Yang Qu towns, the five-town coalition has reached 240,000."

"The Great Xia currently has a maximum of 300,000 troops. The difference between the two sides is not large. As long as your five northern towns work together, resisting the Great Xia's military edge will be easy!"

"Last night, the Great Xia severed both arms of my uncle Chu Xuankong, beheaded nine people from Chen Cang, and beheaded eight from Cai Qiu. Does the Longgu Lord think the two vassal states will just let this go?"

"I, Chu, will not hide it from the Longgu Lord anymore. Before dawn this morning, we learned that the Xia army had large-scale movements. My uncle and the Cai Qiu heir, Cai Shiqi, have both sent people back to the vassal states to ask for reinforcements. Although our two vassal states cannot send large armies south for the time being, we have as many Xianyang-level experts as you want."

"As long as the five northern towns can unite, plus the strong reinforcements from our two vassal states, the Great Xia's dream of unifying the southern foothills is just wishful thinking..."

Listening to Chu Renjie's endless rhetoric, the hesitation on Long Mingyuan's face gradually disappeared. When Chu Renjie finished speaking, he turned his head to look at the Military Chief Li Yangtian on his left and asked in a deep voice: "Yang, what are your thoughts?"

"Fight!"

Li Yangtian gave the answer directly, then said in a deep voice: "Longgu has a hundred years of town history; how can we hand it over to others? Although the Great Xia's military edge is strong, the five towns united may not necessarily fear it, not to mention the support from the two vassal states of Chen Cang and Cai Qiu!"

Long Mingyuan heard his answer and did not show any surprise. He then looked at the group of Longgu core layers below.

"Fight! The Great Xia wants to annex us? Dream on!"

"Fight! Lord, our Longgu has stood at the southern foothills for over a hundred years; how can we be intimidated by upstarts like the Great Xia?"

"The five towns are united, and the troop strength is not much different from the Great Xia. The strong reinforcements from the two vassal states can fully make up for it. Longgu Town will never bow its head!"

"Fight! The Great Xia is strong, but it's just one family. Muxin, Jiangxia, and Chuishan are willing to be dogs for Xia Hong; we can't control that. Our Longgu will never surrender!"

"Longgu will never surrender!"

………………

"Good!"

Long Mingyuan slapped the table and stood up. After taking a deep breath, he had clearly made up his mind. A cold light flashed in his eyes as he said: "Didn't Xia Hong ask us to dispatch 10,000 troops? Just take this opportunity to summon all the Yuhan-level experts in the town back to the city and form a coalition army."

"This subordinate will go and arrange it now!"

Military Chief Li Yangtian stood up directly, bowed, and then took a few deputies down to make arrangements.

"Lord Chu, Longgu has now joined the coalition. May I ask what specific arrangements Brother Yang has made for the Great Xia's offensive this time?"

From the moment Long Mingyuan made his decision, Chu Renjie's face was full of smiles. Hearing his question, he nodded and smiled: "The Longgu Lord's temporary task is to form the army and raise all military supplies. The Great Xia has only made military adjustments for now. It won't be too late for us to respond when they truly make a move. By the way..."

He paused slightly when he said this, and then continued: "If nothing unexpected happens, Lord Cao of Yang Qu should have also made a decision. Since the anti-Xia coalition of the five towns has been formed, we must distinguish between primary and secondary. I will inform the Longgu Lord here first: the three towns discussed it last night. This anti-Xia coalition will be uniformly dispatched and commanded by Lord Yang Zun. The Longgu Lord has no objections, right?"

Long Mingyuan did not hesitate at all and nodded directly.

Among the five northern towns, Beishuo Town naturally has the strongest strength. Plus, the relationship between Beishuo and Chen Cang is clearly extraordinary. The coalition should naturally be led by Yang Zun.

"Lord, the Wanbao branch building in the city..."

Suddenly, Long Mingyuan's nephew, Longgu Chamber of Commerce President Long Wending, thought of something, raised his head, and spoke to Long Mingyuan at the head.

Everyone in the hall, including Long Mingyuan at the head, had their expressions move slightly upon hearing this.

Two years ago, the Great Xia used the name of the alliance to open Wanbao Buildings in the five major northern town cities. Now that they were going to tear their faces with the Great Xia, they could theoretically take action against the Wanbao Building openly.

The precious materials inside the Wanbao Building are not few...

"Too late!"

Just as Long Mingyuan's expression was moving and he was about to give the order, an old man in white at the back of the hall suddenly spoke.

It was Military Chief Li Yangtian's son, Li Zihe, the deputy military chief responsible for the town's defense.

Everyone turned to look at Li Zihe, their faces showing confusion.

Li Zihe's expression was very ugly. He bowed to Long Mingyuan and said: "Lord, last night, five large carts left the city from the Wanbao Building. The leader was the building owner Zhang Fan, along with many high-level officials from the branch building. This subordinate was puzzled at the time, but now it seems they received the news in advance."

Ran away in advance!

Long Mingyuan's expression sank upon hearing this, and then he waved his hand violently: "It's just a branch building; it doesn't matter if they ran. Zihe, you immediately seal off the town. From today on, no one is allowed to leave the town. Strictly prevent the news of the coalition from leaking."

"This subordinate obeys!"

Li Zihe hurriedly bowed and quickly went down to make arrangements.

"Longgu Lord is resourceful. It seems Longgu is safe. I, Chu, will return to Beishuo to report the news first. If Lord Yang Zun has any subsequent military orders, I will definitely bring them as soon as possible. Farewell."

"Lord Chu, walk slowly!"

Chu Renjie had already achieved his goal, so there was naturally no need to stay. After bowing to Long Mingyuan to take his leave, he turned and left directly.

Long Mingyuan made arrangements for everyone in the hall separately, finally dismissed them, and left only his eldest son, Long Wenhai.

"Wenhai, how many people in our Longgu can fight?"

As the Town Chief, Long Wenhai naturally knew the situation of the whole town like the back of his hand. He immediately bowed and replied: "Reporting to Father, in the past two years, our Longgu has developed rapidly. There are a total of over 24,000 Yuhan-level experts in the whole town, including 14,000 combat soldiers, 13,000 town defense troops, plus the 1,000 Iron Caltrop troops under Military Chief Li. Of the remaining 10,000, 2,000 are in the coalition army, 5,000 are in the hunting teams, and 3,000 are scattered in other towns."

Long Mingyuan frowned upon hearing this and said in a deep voice: "The 2,000 in the coalition army and the 3,000 scattered in other towns cannot be counted on. That is to say, the Yuhan-level experts we have available are at most 19,000?"

Actually, compared to Longgu four years ago, this number is already earth-shattering. Long Mingyuan remembered very clearly that four years ago, the total number of Yuhan-level experts in Longgu Town was only over 6,000.

And now, there are already 24,000, a full fourfold increase.

A few years ago, he wouldn't have dared to dream of this.

But at this moment, he couldn't be happy at all. Not only could he not be happy, but his expression was extremely solemn, and he even felt very frustrated inside. ===== CHAPTER 499 =====