Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 266: Shock of the Jin Kingdom
Once again, night falls. However, the battle at Xiantai River is still ongoing. The artillery from Anyang keeps falling intermittently, preventing the southern bank from finding peace.
The Grand Marshal of Jin, Li Lishong, was filled with fury. Today, he had launched three river-crossing campaigns, but all had ended in failure halfway through.
The first attempt was a disaster. The soldiers from Nanyang and Dongyuan were surprisingly “clever.” As soon as the machine guns on the opposite side opened fire, these bastards immediately dove into the water. Meanwhile, the Jin army, which had no experience, was slaughtered mercilessly, with over 20,000 men killed. The river was blocked up to Xiantai River! In a special effort to “take care” of the Jin army, Anyang even brought in “machine cannons.” The 30mm machine cannon was a killing machine.
After retreating, Li Lishong found Kong Donglai and shouted, “Why didn’t you warn me that Anyang had such terrifying weapons?!”
Kong Donglai felt “wronged”: “Grand Marshal, you came here so confidently, and yet you were unprepared? I thought you had a preparation like the ‘Ten Thousand Swords Formation’ or something! Besides, Anyang had used machine guns before, why didn’t you pay attention to that?”
Upon hearing this, Li Lishong was so angry he nearly tore Kong Donglai apart on the spot!
The second attempt, Li Lishong used a strategy of combining real and feigned attacks to confuse the judgment of Anyang’s Grand Marshal, Yan Zhengqing. Then, he led his army to suddenly strike from a weak point.
But this attack was no better. Li Lishong had the soldiers from Nanyang and Dongyuan go in front. The result… the result was so infuriating that Li Lishong nearly vomited blood. These soldiers from Nanyang and Dongyuan reached the southern bank but refused to move forward. When the two sides were at a standstill, Anyang sent planes and cannons to begin surrounding them.
In the end, the advantage and opportunity Li Lishong had fought for were wasted.
For the third attempt, Li Lishong had no choice but to reveal his trump card, organizing 20,000 elite soldiers (of which only about 8,000 were at the Foundation Stage) and activated an even more powerful “Ten Thousand Swords Formation.” Yan Zhengqing was caught off guard, and the northern bank was cleared, creating a two-kilometer stretch of empty ground. Over 10,000 soldiers from Anyang were killed, and the situation became perilously urgent.
Of course, this was an opportunity for the Jin army.
But Yan Zhengqing was ruthless and personally led 10,000 Foundation Stage experts to cross the river and engage in combat. The 20,000 weakened soldiers from Jin were slaughtered mercilessly by Yan Zhengqing.
Meanwhile, the soldiers from Nanyang and Dongyuan just stood by, watching Yan Zhengqing’s brutal slaughter without doing anything to stop it!
It was easy to imagine how furious Li Lishong, the Grand Marshal of Jin, was!
And Kong Donglai sneered.
Unfortunately, Li Lishong was just a commander, while Kong Donglai, the Governor of Nanyang, and the current head of Dongyuan, Yuan Yong, were both seasoned political foxes. These two old foxes had perfectly coordinated to deceive Li Lishong! Despite his military genius, Li Lishong was no match for the scheming of these two political masterminds—this was a natural flaw of military commanders. Civil officials, by nature, were skilled at playing mind games.
Looking back, the Governor of Nanyang, Kong Donglai, was not truly seeking “help,” but had instead drawn the Jin army into the battlefield so that everyone could suffer together! Only by causing a collision between Anyang and Jin could Nanyang free itself.
There were several layers to this situation:
The first layer: Making Jin and Anyang fight each other would breed hatred between the two, making cooperation difficult. This was Kong Donglai’s counterattack to the previous rumors spread by Li Xian.
Before, Li Xian had spread a rumor about collaborating with Guangling County and Jin to wipe out Nanyang County. Now, Kong Donglai had turned the tables brilliantly!
“I’ll make sure you and Jin can’t cooperate now!”
The second layer: With Anyang and Jin at odds and unable to cooperate, Nanyang County, situated between the two, could now gain the most benefit by playing both sides.
The third layer: To maintain the ability to influence the situation, Nanyang needed to form an alliance with Dongyuan County. Only then could they make both Jin and Anyang take Nanyang seriously.
Besides these, there were other considerations. If Anyang’s military strength proved insufficient, Nanyang would have no qualms about completely swallowing Anyang and appeasing Jin. But now that Anyang was showing strength, the situation was different.
To become the Grand Marshal of Jin, Li Lishong wasn’t stupid. He had just not considered this before. Now, upon reflection, everything finally made sense.
“Good, good, Nanyang!” Once he understood it, Li Lishong smiled bitterly in anger. “I will make you regret this!”
At dinner time, Li Lishong sent a trusted confidant to leave the military camp amidst the chaos. This confidant headed west, entered the mountains, openly revealed his identity, crossed the river, and met with Yan Zhengqing to deliver a personal letter from Li Lishong.
After reading it, Yan Zhengqing shook his head: “Go back and tell your Grand Marshal: I, Yan Zhengqing, representing Anyang, refuse!”
What?! The confidant could hardly believe his ears. Jin had taken the initiative to show goodwill… cough, had shown friendliness, and yet you refuse?!
After the Jin Grand Marshal’s confidant left, Yan Zhengqing sneered.
The letter from Li Lishong was quite simple: “We were provoked by Nanyang County, and admittedly, we did have some selfish motives (actually, greed) when we rashly sent troops. However, we, Jin, are still a great power (threat), and retreating now would not be ideal. What do you think, Anyang? Perhaps you should compensate us a bit?”
The three technologies Li Lishong was most interested in were: firearms and artillery, underground dirty air refining, and production machinery. If Anyang could send these three technologies, they would leave immediately and later establish an alliance with Anyang. But if not, they would stay.
Yan Zhengqing finished reading the letter and sneered again, handing it to his confidant: “Send this back to Anyang.”
After personally leaving, Yan Zhengqing picked up three more letters:
The first was sent earlier from the coast of Jin via aircraft from the navy: “We have already launched retaliatory bombings against Jin, and it seems we are locked in a death match. According to the speed of the ironclad, we should be back in Anyang tomorrow morning to resupply; the day after tomorrow, approximately 40 hours from now, we will launch the second wave of retaliatory actions against the eastern part of Jin.”
The second letter was sent by Xu Ren: The situation at the front has already been assessed. In the past two days, the Jin Kingdom has been unable to break through the Xian Dai River defenses, and it is feared that Nanyang County and Dongyuan County are hindering their progress. As a result, there will inevitably be hatred and rifts between the Jin Kingdom and Nanyang County, as well as Dongyuan County.
You can attempt to contact Kong Donglai, the governor of Nanyang County, and Yuan Yong, the current temporary head of Dongyuan County. Offer them “great benefits” to incite them to turn against the Jin Kingdom. By doing so, we can unite and ensure that the Jin Kingdom’s 300,000-strong army remains trapped.
One of the “great benefits” is as follows: Bury the 300,000-strong army of the Jin Kingdom. If we remove 20% of their main force, remove the Jin Kingdom’s commander, and remove one of the Jin Kingdom’s four great generals, then Dongyuan County and Nanyang County will be able to invade the southern part of the Jin Kingdom and expand their territory. We can assist by sending troops and providing sufficient ammunition.
The second “great benefit” is technical support. This would involve the most basic machine tools, specifically the original machine tool technology we developed.
We are now the target of widespread criticism, and only by releasing a portion of our technology strategically can we maintain our advantage. Moreover, only by releasing a portion of our technology will we be able to “lead others by the nose.”
The third letter is from Li Xian: Full authority to handle all matters at the front.
After reading these letters, Yan Zhengqing smiled slightly and muttered to himself, “The Jin Kingdom wants to negotiate? It’s too late! You want to soften up, but we aren’t interested in that!”
“Hmm, I’ll contact Kong Donglai and Yuan Yong secretly first and see how they react.”
Thinking of this, Yan Zhengqing immediately wrote a letter and instructed a trusted confidant to head cautiously to the southern bank of the Xian Dai River. The letter to Yuan Yong was easier to deliver, although farther, there was no need for secrecy. The letter to Kong Donglai, however, required more caution. If necessary, the letter could first be handed to Nan Gongzhi, who would then pass it on to Kong Donglai.
Delivering the letter to Kong Donglai wasn’t out of fear that the Jin Kingdom’s general Li Lishong would find out—if he found out, that would actually be better. It was just a concern that it might alert Li Lishong and prevent the plan of leaving the entire 300,000-strong army of the Jin Kingdom stuck in place.
After the letters were sent, Yan Zhengqing waited patiently. Sending messages like this was actually quite dangerous—many messengers died halfway, and some even got caught and executed in public as a warning.
The black night was brewing a new storm.
General Li Lishong of the Jin Kingdom wanted to use the power of the Jin Kingdom to extort the technology of Anyang, and then leave, leaving behind the armies of Nanyang County and Dongyuan County to face the wrath of Anyang County.
Meanwhile, Governor Kong Donglai of Nanyang County and Yuan Yong of Dongyuan County intended to make Anyang and the Jin Kingdom collide, watching from the sidelines while preparing to exploit both sides.
As for Anyang, they seemed to have the upper hand in terms of strategy. Xu Ren had deduced hidden information from the slightest clues and was preparing to ally with Nanyang County and Dongyuan County to jointly outmaneuver the Jin Kingdom. For this, Anyang was even willing to let go of the enmity between themselves and these two prefectures.
All three sides had their own considerations and calculations.
Furthermore, Anyang had sent five ironclad ships, ready to bomb the eastern coast of the Jin Kingdom into a desolate beach!
The black night hid countless filth, and the most intense battles were unfolding among the various parties. The loser might suffer catastrophic losses. Especially for Dongyuan County, the weakest of the three, a failure could lead to irreversible destruction!
Anyang had not ceased bombardment. While the number of shells was not large, they at least ensured that none of the soldiers on the southern bank dared to sleep. They feared that the next shell might land right on their heads.
As for cultivators, it wasn’t unusual for them to go without sleep for several days; some could meditate for weeks or even months. However, in a wartime situation, the mental toll was incalculable.
These soldiers were exhausted but had no choice but to keep their eyes open, unable to risk falling asleep.
The atmosphere along both banks of the Xian Dai River was incredibly heavy and oppressive!
……
The same black night, the same oppressive feeling, and the imperial court of the Jin Kingdom.
During the day, the eastern coast had suffered unprecedented bombing and destruction. However, the Jin Kingdom was vast, and the distance from the coast to the imperial capital, Lequan City, was over 3,000 miles. Even a Golden Core expert flying at full speed would take nearly four hours, or two hours of flight time; but cultivators are still human—they get tired and need rest.
Thus, six hours passed, and by the time the messenger arrived at the capital late at night, his face was pale as he shouted, “Urgent! A disaster that could destroy the nation!”
“A disaster that could destroy the nation!” The cry echoed across the skies of the Jin Kingdom’s imperial capital. The emperor was dragged out of bed by his attendants and hurried to the court. The civil and military officials scrambled to get up, hastily putting on their everyday clothes, skipping the usual protocol of being carried in sedan chairs, and flew directly to the palace.
Then, the imperial court of the Jin Kingdom heard about an unprecedented tragedy!