Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 675 - 673

Chapter 675: Chapter 673

The Eastern Jin Dynasty lies in the northeast, pirates reside on the southeast coast, while Nangong Country is to the south, and Xiyue Country to the northwest.

The Imperial Court’s military force has always been dispersed and stationed at different borders, each place requiring soldiers every single day.

General Li has been leading sixty thousand soldiers stationed in the northwest.

His rebellion has put considerable pressure on the various borders.

An internal conflict should not be prolonged, otherwise, if the neighboring countries join forces to wage war, it would truly be a case of being threatened both internally and externally, causing a loss of national power.

The Emperor pulled together sixty thousand soldiers from different places to quell the civil unrest for Di Shaowei and only gave him less than half a year. He was instructed to completely annihilate Li’s army within this time, factoring in that marching there and back alone would require over two months.

Di Shaowei led sixty thousand soldiers to battle with Li’s army several times, and now both sides are left with just over forty thousand soldiers, with the Imperial Court having a slight numerical advantage, hence both armies hold considerable power.

Desperate people throw their own lives away since both advancing and retreating end in death, so they might as well risk everything.

Equally matched in strength and number of soldiers, the battles between the two sides are fiercely fought.

Di Shaowei is waiting for the arrival of the troops led by Shangguan Xuanyi to quickly start and end the battle.

General Li is also waiting for the arrival of the fifty thousand new soldiers, to bring about a decisive victory.

The distant black cloud brings boundless hope to both.

"Hold on, brothers, Vice General Li is rushing over with fifty thousand reinforcements!" Seeing hints of retreat among his own soldiers, General Li said this loudly, using his strong inner strength.

The soldiers who heard this, despite their physical weakness from hunger and fatigue, seemed to have been injected with new energy, coming back to life.

Hearing this, Di Shaowei sneered and mimicked, "Hold on, brothers, Sixth Prince is on his way with seventy thousand troops! At dawn, we can return home!"

Seventy thousand troops? The soldiers of Li’s army were slightly panicked upon hearing this. Seventy thousand plus forty thousand, that’s a total of one hundred and ten thousand people against their forty thousand. That’s almost three on one.

Those odds promised certain death! Why should one still fight? It’s better to surrender directly!

Seventy thousand troops? General Li almost laughed when he heard this!

This bluff is ridiculously exaggerated!

Each border must maintain a minimum number of stationed soldiers. If too many soldiers were mobilized from the borders, it would give the enemy an opportunity to take advantage!

The sixty thousand soldiers stationed in the northwest are entirely under his control.

Di Shaowei has already led sixty thousand soldiers gathered from various places, and it’s impossible to mobilize more from the borders!

General Li has already considered this, the Sixth Prince could at most bring twenty or thirty thousand soldiers.

The Emperor has tens of thousands of Royal guards, the exact number unknown.

But those would not be released until the situation is most dire, and the foundations of the nation are shaking, unless the Emperor himself was leading the campaign.

As per Di Shaowei’s claim of Sixth Prince leading seventy thousand troops, he figured it must have been to intimidate those soldiers who were unaware of the actual situation!

Even if the Imperial Court had the soldiers, they wouldn’t run the risk of facing internal and external threats by mobilizing so many to deal with him!

Sixty thousand plus seventy thousand equals a total of one hundred and thirty thousand soldiers, General Li didn’t think so highly of himself as to assume that the Emperor valued him this much!

"Everyone, don’t fall for the enemy general’s deceitful words. The Imperial Court simply doesn’t have that many soldiers to deploy!" General Li calmed his men confidently.

The difference between the strength of those who eat and drink well and those who starve and freeze is clear, as Li’s army’s increasing reluctance is becoming more and more apparent.

General Li looked at his army a bit worried. The military strategist had researched a new battle formation, originally hoping to seize the moment the Imperial Court’s army lost its vigilance, deal them a big setback, and recapture some supplies.

He wasn’t so naive as to think that they could wipe out the Imperial Court’s army tonight, his main aim was just to rob them of their food!

Unexpectedly, the enemy was ready and deliberately tempted his troops into action. Since they were on enemy territory, the Imperial Court’s force just needs to take their positions, meaning their formation was practically assembled right from the start, preventing his own from developing.

If things continued this way, the soldiers wouldn’t be able to hold on.

He couldn’t let more soldiers make pointless sacrifices.

Due to the darkness of the night, one couldn’t see faces in the distance clearly, General Li saw the approaching black cloud.

He loudly ordered, "Retreat!"

The new soldiers led by Advisor Situ had arrived, these new soldiers were the key to his unexpected victory!

Furthermore, on his own territory, the military strategist had already laid a trap.

Relying on the environment to create the formation, combined with the troops’ formation, these two combined would definitely ensure the defeat of the Imperial Court’s army!

Upon hearing this, the soldiers quickly began retreating.

The Imperial Court’s army followed in hot pursuit.

Thousands of troops crossed the wooden bridge, nearly sinking the wooden ship!

Li’s army deliberately lured the Imperial army across the river. Living up to expectations, they all crossed over.

General Li and all his soldiers believed that Advisor Situ had arrived with fifty thousand soldiers.

General Li, waving his battle flag, directed his soldiers to guide the Imperial Court’s soldiers towards the pre-planned battlefield.

After Di Shaowei commanded the majority of the Imperial Court’s soldiers to cross the river, he left a few hundred behind to dismantle the ship in the river.

This would permanently block Li’s army’s retreat.

If they wanted to escape, they could jump into the river. In this freezing weather, jumping into the half-frozen river would surely result in death, if not a loss of vitality!

After all the soldiers crossed the river, Di Shaowei waved the flag, signaling for the thirty thousand plus soldiers to stop.

As the black cloud drew closer and the day gradually brightened, General Li finally saw who was leading the troops.

Sixth Prince? It really was Sixth Prince! Moreover, the army behind him was definitely more than twenty or thirty thousand, it was seventy thousand! Di Shaowei wasn’t bluffing, and it was seventy thousand!

Having spent his life with soldiers, General Li could estimate the number of neatly arranged soldiers with a single glance!

How is this possible! How can the Imperial Court mobilize so many soldiers against him!

Isn’t this overestimating him!

General Li looked into the distance, hoping to see another black cloud approaching.

Unfortunately, there was nothing. The only things in the distance were the endless yellow sand and the faint dawn.

His, power, was, gone!

The words ’His power was gone’ emerged heavily in General Li’s heart!

"General Li, I’m giving you a final chance. For the sake of the Li family’s ancestors having rendered meritorious service to the Imperial Court, I can spare your life! If the other soldiers lay down their weapons and surrender, I can spare them as well!" Shangguan Xuanyi said earnestly, looking at General Li.

Thousands and thousands of soldiers, not easy for the Imperial Court to train and nurture.

Fifty thousand soldiers, representing tens of thousands of families, their concealed force cannot be underestimated.

Of course, Shangguan Xuanyi does not wish to simply kill off these soldiers!

The soldiers under General Li’s command are all trained by the Imperial Court with a lot of manpower and resources! Just because they were stationed in the northwest with General Li for many years, living and dying together, and were cared for by General Li, they only rebelled with him out of gratitude.

But the ones who truly raised these soldiers were the Imperial Court, the ones funding these soldiers’ families were also the Imperial Court!

General Li was only doing his duty!

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