Kays Translations

Chapter 269: You Have to Be Brave

Run, run, keep running! Li Lishong dared not stop his footsteps. All the soldiers were fleeing south in a frenzy; they needed to return to the Jin Kingdom as quickly as possible to rest!

At this point, after breaking through the blockade of Dongyuan County, the army seemed to be temporarily safe. Only then did Li Lishong’s anger finally erupt. Gritting his teeth, he swore, “Nanyang County, the Kong family, Dongyuan County, the Yuan family, I, Li Lishong, have never suffered such a loss in my life! I won’t forget you, and one day, you will regret your choice and actions today!”

Anger—truly anger—an indescribable, uncontrollable rage. Li Lishong never expected that Nanyang County and Dongyuan County would actually dare to strike at the Jin Kingdom. He never expected Kong Donglai to change sides so quickly, and there were so many other unexpected things!

The most perplexing thing to Li Lishong was what exactly Anyang had offered Nanyang County’s Kong family and Dongyuan County’s Yuan family to make them turn on the Jin Kingdom?!

For Li Lishong to become the commander of the Jin Kingdom, he must have real ability. He suppressed his anger and began to think, reflect, and deduce based on the slightest clues.

“What kind of benefits or guarantees could have given Nanyang County and Dongyuan County the courage to attack the Jin Kingdom?”

Everything must have a purpose, especially for people like Kong Donglai; if there were no benefits, these people wouldn’t even bother to look at it. Similarly, the benefits or incentives that could have swayed Kong Donglai must not be simple. They had to be incredibly valuable: such benefits must have been enough to shield Nanyang County from the wrath of the Jin Kingdom and offer Nanyang County a glorious future.

Could the future of Nanyang County be… to invade south?!

Upon reaching this conclusion, Li Lishong froze for a moment, then began analyzing: If my 300,000 troops were buried, and if Anyang County, Nanyang County, and Dongyuan County joined forces, there would indeed be a possibility of invading the Jin Kingdom from the south.

And if the Jin Kingdom couldn’t even defeat the various breakaway factions of the Great Xia Kingdom, everyone would suddenly realize—oh, the Jin Kingdom has already declined! This would inevitably trigger even more serious consequences: the Qi Kingdom in the west and the Liu Kingdom in the south might send troops to attack the Jin Kingdom.

Between nations, it’s always the survival of the fittest.

Li Lishong took a deep breath, “Anyang must have promised technical support on one hand, and a joint attack on the Jin Kingdom on the other. With the current powerful combat and killing capabilities demonstrated by Anyang’s military equipment, even if the Jin Kingdom wins, it would be a tragic victory.”

Hiss…

But this is a direct battle. What if we send experts and conduct guerrilla warfare?

Li Lishong continuously devised various scenarios and countermeasures, but the speed of the march did not slow at all. In order to save time and increase speed, all the soldiers used magic and talismans to accelerate, not caring about consumption at this point.

In addition, Li Lishong dared not return via the same route—who knows if there were any traps in the route Nanyang County’s army took? Considering Kong Donglai’s character, the chances of there being a trap were 90%! Moreover, going back the same way would mean taking a detour, which would be too far. So, Li Lishong headed straight south, planning to pass through Dongyuan County and return to the Jin Kingdom.

Once I return to the Jin Kingdom and rest briefly, I’ll come back for revenge, a heavy revenge. I will destroy Nanyang County and Dongyuan County, and make Anyang pay a heavy price.

Unfortunately, Li Lishong still didn’t know that Anyang hadn’t yet paid a heavy price. Instead, it was the Jin Kingdom that had paid a heavy price. Anyang had already begun retaliating against the Jin Kingdom, and after replenishing military supplies, five ironclad ships set off again.

Sometimes, what you fear most happens. Li Lishong, leading his troops, had been running for over an hour, retreating madly for more than 80 miles. A booming sound finally came from above.

The sound was unforgettable. Li Lishong looked up and saw only one airplane.

Only one airplane, and it was coming down! Li Lishong immediately prepared to take off. However, the idea was good, but reality was cruel. Soon, a roar came from the distant sky, and he saw a mass of “dark clouds” approaching.

“Prepare the Ten Thousand Swords Formation, intercept the bombs!” After losing a large number of foundation-building experts, the Ten Thousand Swords Formation, formed by the elite soldiers of the Qi Refining stage, had a control range of only a few dozen meters, which was not enough to reach the airplane in the sky. But it was barely enough to intercept the bombs.

It didn’t require thousands of people to form the formation; thirty or forty people could form a small sword formation that would be enough to protect themselves. However, this self-protection severely drained the soldiers’ true energy and stamina. After performing the sword formation once, many soldiers became like noodles, only able to be carried by others.

Li Lishong was anxious but had no choice but to “drink poison to quench thirst.” The bombardment ended quickly, and because the sword formation had been prepared, there weren’t many deaths, but more than 5,000 soldiers were weakened.

Li Lishong gritted his teeth, “Carry the wounded and move forward. Throw away the armor and other gear!”

What must be abandoned should be abandoned. Right now, survival is the priority. These remaining 200,000 troops must be brought back. If not, not only would the northern defense of the Jin Kingdom have gaps, but the consequences of losing over 300,000 troops would be unimaginable.

But after the bombardment, the army continued advancing for more than fifty miles. Finally, Li Lishong’s expression changed. Ahead, there was already a temporary defense line built with magic. Yuan Yong was personally overseeing it!

“General Li, we’ve been waiting for you!” Yuan Yong said, suddenly releasing his aura. The mighty pressure surged upward, and Yuan Yong was actually a Nascent Soul stage expert!

Along the way, there were thirty to forty thousand soldiers, blocking Li Lishong’s army. The number wasn’t huge, but these thirty to forty thousand soldiers were all elite, much more elite than those on the front lines, with many foundation-building and even golden core stage experts!

This was the change brought to the Great Xia Kingdom by Li Yulong—because Li Yulong had extended the Great Xia Kingdom’s lifespan by 15 years, all the breakaway factions had quietly cultivated elites and absorbed experts. Although the Great Xia Kingdom’s breakaway factions appeared to have no top experts, a few factions with ambition and long-term plans had already secretly recruited experts.

Now, at this critical moment, Yuan Yong revealed his claws. The experts he had been gathering over the years finally made their appearance!

Seeing Yuan Yong, Li Lishong growled in a low voice, “Yuan Yong, do you want to challenge the dignity of the Jin Kingdom?”

Yuan Yong stood in the air, facing Li Lisong from a distance. Hearing Li Lishong’s question, Yuan Yong sneered, “I don’t know what kind of dignity a stray dog has. General Li, don’t run, you can’t escape. How about staying and being a guest?”

“What if I don’t?” Li Lishong’s voice was deep, like a tiger growling softly.

Yuan Yong took his time, “As the saying goes, a wise man knows how to recognize the right moment. General Li, what do you think?”

Li Lishong stood tall, his voice firm, “There are only warriors of the Jin Kingdom who die in battle, no cowards who kneel and beg for life!”

“No, no, no…” Yuan Yong waved his hand, “When a person is dead, there’s no meaning left. General Li, if you don’t think about yourself, you must think about your subordinates. Every warrior has a family waiting for his return, maybe an old father waiting by the door, or children praying for their father’s return, or a wife waking up in the middle of the night, tears streaming down her face.

General Li, you must fight for the victories that are possible, of course; but for battles where there is no hope of victory, you must be brave. You must be willing to bear the eternal shame to secure a way out for your soldiers.

A general who surrenders out of fear of death is, of course, a coward; but a general who refuses to surrender for the sake of his own face, isn’t he also a coward?

To care more about his face than the lives of two hundred thousand soldiers, such a general is not only a coward, fond of face, but also cruel and ignorant.

I swear, I will not mistreat prisoners of war. I will completely follow the way Anyang treats prisoners. I will even allow their families to visit them.”

Li Lishong was so angered by Yuan Yong’s words that he laughed, “Lord Yuan, I agree with what you say. But we have more than 200,000 men, and you have fewer than 40,000. It should be you who are brave, just surrender. I promise not to kill a single one of you, not to mistreat a single soldier.”

Upon hearing this, the Jin army erupted in laughter. The tense atmosphere was immediately defused by Li Lishong’s clever words. Even the soldiers of the Jin Kingdom, whose confidence had been shaken by Yuan Yong’s words, regained their confidence.

But Yuan Yong was not angered. With a confident smile, he said, “General Li, do you know why we dare to oppose the Jin Kingdom? Do you want to understand why Anyang is only passively defending instead of actively attacking?”

“No!” Li Lishong refused immediately without even thinking. Yes, before, Li Lishong wanted to understand the issues and changes behind it, but when the enemy brought it up, Li Lishong’s first thought was—he couldn’t let them say it, or it would shake the morale again!

Confidence is a strange thing. If it shakes for the first time, it can be corrected; but if it shakes again, it becomes infinitely harder to restore. Clearly, Yuan Yong wanted to shake the Jin Kingdom’s soldiers’ confidence again, so Li Lishong decisively refused.

But how could Yuan Yong give up? He directly ignored Li Lishong’s rejection and continued on, “Actually, the specific reason might even be unknown to Kong Donglai of Nanyang County. The reason I knew in advance is because we are close to the Jin Kingdom, or more specifically, close to the Jin Kingdom’s coastline.

You might not know this, but early the day before yesterday, at dawn, Anyang’s five ironclad ships bombarded the Jin Kingdom’s coastline, starting from Baize Town, and firing southward for a full five hundred kilometers, that’s about a thousand miles.

It is said that Baize Town’s Major General Cheng Liqiu, the son of Cheng Yunbo, the Eastern General of the Jin Kingdom’s Four Directions Generals, is missing, and Baize Town is in ruins. Less than a hundred of the ten thousand stationed troops survived. Some say Cheng Liqiu has been captured.

And that’s not all. Anyang also deployed the latest four-engine planes to drop bombs on all the prefectures within 500 miles of the coastline. The exact damage is unknown, but rumors say that the east of the Jin Kingdom is already in a state of panic.

Furthermore, based on the estimated speed of Anyang’s ironclad ships, the replenished ships will arrive at the Jin Kingdom’s coast as early as tonight or at the latest, tomorrow morning.

Tsk tsk… I’d love to see it in person. It is said that the latest cannons of Anyang’s ironclad ships are so large that a man can fit into the barrel, and one shell can blow up a city wall and kill a Golden Core expert.”

Li Lishong was stunned. No wonder Anyang focused on defense on land, no wonder Dongyuan County dared to intercept him, and no wonder Nanyang County dared to betray…

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