Chapter 908: Overall Situation

"Beitiao Chuanqing and Ono are moving down along the western coast; please allow this subject to go and intercept them!" As Watanabe An was deploying his troops, one person stood up.

It was Watanabe An's Vice General, Yamada Haruno.

"This battle is a life-or-death struggle between our southern domain lords and the four northern domains. This subject is willing to offer his life to the Great General's supreme cause!" Yamada Haruno's eyes were bloodshot, his right hand gripping his Japanese Sword tightly.

The failure of the Gaoli campaign had left him subject to the mockery of other generals.

It was Watanabe An's trust that allowed him to retain his position as Vice General.

For this, he was willing to die in battle for Watanabe An.

At the same time, intelligence gathered from various sources indicated something.

This was a joint encirclement and suppression campaign against them by the Yan Wang's forces and the four northern domains.

Whether for the sake of their Great General Watanabe An or for his own hatred, he would not allow the Yan Wang's plan to succeed.

"Go. I give you two hundred thousand troops; bring back the heads of Beitiao Chuanqing and Ono," Watanabe An said coldly.

He had two hundred thousand elite soldiers under his direct control, and the southern domain lords had also scraped together two hundred thousand troops.

Their available force reached four hundred thousand.

However, this was not at all the original strength of their southern domains.

In the past, they could have even gathered a million-strong army.

But the Yan Wang's forces' continuous harassment of the south during this period had severed their trade, and farming had also been severely affected.

Furthermore, many Dongying commoners, unable to endure the chaos of war, had fled to the northern domains, causing their strength to diminish greatly.

Yet even so, he still had the confidence to defeat the northern domains.

This was a derogatory term used by the victor for the defeated.

Back then, he had unified the entire Dongying relying solely on the Watanabe clan.

A wounded lion would not fear a flock of goats!

"Yes, Great General!" Yamada Haruno bowed deeply.

Afterward, Watanabe An assigned tasks to each of the generals.

Finally, he stood up and roared with all his might: "The Yan Wang and the lackeys he supports want to destroy us; we must use our own strength to tell them that this is wishful thinking."

He paused to encourage the generals: "You all know that the Sam Country's warships have arrived, the Westerners have returned, and Britain must also be dealing with the Yan Wang right now. They will soon launch a war against the Yan Wang and grind him to dust."

"And here is one of the battlefields of this war. As long as we hold on, victory will belong to us. In the future, whether it is Gaoli, Da Song, or other Dongtu nations, all will crawl at our feet."

"Think of this supreme glory! For this supreme glory, even if Dongying is shattered like jade, it is worth it!"

As the last word was spoken, Watanabe An's chest heaved violently.

"Banzai! Banzai..." The generals were inspired by Watanabe An and shouted repeatedly, their morale soaring.

"Set off for the battlefield and make our enemies tremble!" Watanabe An looked at the generals loyal to him, feeling the ambition he had when he first unified Dongying revive.

This time, he would not only unify Dongying but also the Dongtu continent.

Upon receiving the order, the generals turned and left.

That afternoon, Watanabe An personally led the two-hundred-thousand-strong Eastern Route Army toward Baihe City.

The army marched along the road in the valley plains, the soldiers in front holding the long banners unique to Dongying, winding like a long dragon.

Meanwhile, the Western Route Army led by Yamada Haruno set off from Fukuoka, heading north, preparing to fight Beitiao Chuanqing and Ono at Wutian Cheng.

At the same time.

After a short period of preparation, the twenty thousand marines stationed on Wufeng Island boarded the Troop Transport Ships under the command of Pan Zhang.

These Troop Transport Ships were towed by Steamships as they sailed north.

To protect the safety of the Troop Transport Ships, Gong Ying personally led the fleet to provide escort.

Their direction of advance was toward Edo.

The operational plan for this time was formulated by them personally, with the four northern domains only responsible for execution.

After analysis, he and Pan Zhang believed that the Beitiao and Ono clans could be solely responsible for one route.

As for why they were assigned the Western Route instead of the Eastern Route, the reason was simple.

The Edo City region was the largest plain in Dongying.

Watanabe An would certainly prioritize defending this area.

Although the Beitiao and Ono clans had formidable strength, it was not certain they could defeat Watanabe An in a crushing manner.

Thus, the war would easily turn into a war of attrition.

And this was not what the Yan Wang wanted.

Therefore, it was better to let them be solely responsible for the Western Route.

Their marines would not provide support to the Western Route but would instead fully support the Zhida Jia and Maoli clans on the Eastern Route.

Let those two clans pin down Watanabe An's main army head-on while they sought an opportunity to launch a surprise attack.

"It's finally coming to an end." On the Flagship leading the fleet, Gong Ying looked toward Edo, appearing to heave a sigh of relief.

Pan Zhang laughed, "Are you impatient to engage with the Westerners' fleet?"

"Hahaha, you know me well. Come to think of it, don't you want to?" Gong Ying laughed loudly. "Actually, when it comes down to it, His Highness only cares for the lives of the soldiers and left time to cultivate the four northern domains, which is why he let Watanabe An live until now. How could a tiny Dongying require a separate fleet and twenty thousand marines to garrison it?"

"This is our Highness's character; sometimes we are taken too good care of by him." Pan Zhang gave a wry smile. "But we are not afraid of death. It is said that the Westerners are coming aggressively; this time, let us risk our lives to protect His Highness."

Having said that, the two looked at each other and smiled.

After a day and a half of sailing, the fleet arrived in the waters off Edo.

Gong Ying ordered the fleet to anchor far from the port, making it impossible for those on shore to observe the fleet's position.

At the same time, he dispatched a Warship to continue north to establish contact with Dong An.

This time, Dong An was also among the Coalition of the Zhida Jia and Maoli clans.

Another day and a half later, the Warship returned, bringing back the current situation on the battlefield.

"General, we have made contact with Chief Dong An; the Coalition is currently at Baihe City, and Watanabe An is personally leading an army of two hundred thousand to garrison Baihe City, resisting the Coalition's southward advance," the scouting Warship reported.

Upon hearing this, Gong Ying immediately spread the map of Dongying out on the table.

"Baihe City is located in the valley plain north of Edo and is the essential path for moving south; this is about what we calculated," Gong Ying said.

"Since that is the case, we shall land directly at Edo, cut off Watanabe An's retreat, trap him in the valley, and attack from both sides to annihilate him," Pan Zhang said sternly.

Gong Ying nodded, "Let's do it that way; let's finish this early so we can go meet the Westerners."

"Hehe, Watanabe An treats the Westerners like his father; just the arrival of one Warship from Sam Country made him grow a backbone. This time, we won't just deal with him, we'll deal with his wild daddy too," Pan Zhang sneered.

Just as Gong Ying said, it was not that their Marine Corps could not deal with Watanabe An.

Yan Wang simply did not want them to crawl through mountain gullies and sacrifice themselves in vain.

Now, they had the Four Domains of the North to take their place in crawling through the mountain gullies to mop up.

They only needed to defeat Watanabe An's main force.