Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 275: The Situation Has Changed
Dongguan Town, at this moment, had fifty thousand troops gathered. Jin Kingdom also had its own talents—someone had actually deduced that Anyang was very likely to launch a second wave of attacks here. And this talent was none other than General Cheng Yunbo of the East of Jin Kingdom!
After Anyang’s first attack ended, they returned to Anyang to resupply ammunition and other supplies; the Nascent Soul-level expert who had come to Baize Town, the Grand General Ling Yun, Qiao Pengfei, naturally came up empty-handed.
For over a day afterward, Anyang’s ironclad ships didn’t appear. Everyone understood then that the ironclads must have returned to resupply—the ironclads were powerful, but their supplies and ammunition clearly weren’t unlimited.
So, once resupplied, from where would Anyang launch their next attack?
Some said Anyang might not come back; but to this, General Cheng Yunbo sneered—since Anyang dared to attack in the first place, and even gained an advantage in the first attack, they would certainly come again for a second, perhaps even a third time.
Some speculated that Anyang’s ironclads would return to their original location and continue the attack from where they left off. The reasoning was solid: Anyang seemed intent on completely destroying Jin Kingdom’s eastern coastline, especially targeting the salt-drying operations there, which would in turn impact the livelihood of Jin Kingdom’s people. Therefore, Anyang’s ironclads would surely return in full force to continue their glorious strategy.
This reasoning was very compelling and gained widespread support.
But only a few believed that Anyang had other motives—while Anyang did aim to destroy Jin Kingdom’s salt industry along the coast, they would likely also take the opportunity to destroy military outposts on both the northern and southern flanks of Jin Kingdom. Hence, represented by General Cheng Yunbo, a small group believed that Anyang’s next target would definitely be the southeastern coastal town of Dongguan Town.
With his son’s fate still unknown, General Cheng Yunbo performed beyond his usual level. Once he believed something, not even ten dragons could drag him back. He then ordered the mobilization of thirty thousand elite troops southward to station at Dongguan Town.
Dongguan Town already had twenty thousand stationed troops due to its role in defending against Liu Nation, which was stronger than Great Xia Kingdom. With the newly arrived forces, the total garrison reached fifty thousand.
Upon arriving at Dongguan Town, Cheng Yunbo decisively gave up the obviously exposed position of Dongguan Town itself. He left only a token force to maintain appearances while moving the rest of the elite troops to hide around the vicinity of Dongguan Town.
Afterward, Cheng Yunbo began a massive construction effort. To defend against artillery bombardment, extensive underground fortifications were dug, and numerous temporary structures were constructed using spells.
According to Cheng Yunbo’s plan, as long as they could withstand Anyang’s artillery strikes, they would immediately launch a counterattack; with fifty thousand troops charging in, how could they not capture one or two ironclads? And as long as they captured one ironclad, they could surely trade it for his son’s return.
Though his son’s life or death remained uncertain, Cheng Yunbo had already learned some information from a few survivors—primarily from someone named Han Xiaowei—who revealed that the young general Cheng Liqiu was not killed at the time, but captured by Anyang.
Sure enough, the heavens reward the diligent. When Anyang’s ironclads finally arrived, they were discovered by Foundation Establishment-level experts who were flying invisibly in the sky.
Cheng Yunbo cautiously used a Nascent Soul-level invisibility talisman on himself and flew to a thousand meters high to observe Anyang’s ironclads from a distance. No matter how many times he had heard about them before, when he saw them with his own eyes, Cheng Yunbo still couldn’t help but gasp.
Three 52-meter-long ironclads and two 80-meter-long ones floated on the sea like five small mountains.
“So big! Anyang can actually build such enormous steel ships… We really shouldn’t have provoked Anyang!” Cheng Yunbo had a sharp eye. Seeing those five ironclads slicing through the waves and cruising steadily like mountains, he felt a deep shock in his heart.
Cheng Yunbo had his own standards for comparison—he knew how difficult it was to forge a suit of armor; he knew how challenging it was to construct a ballista; and he had seen firsthand how hard it was to build a 25-meter-long wooden-hull ship.
Yet Anyang had five completely steel-built ironclads! Never mind the production techniques and other logistics—just the amount of steel alone was staggering. Melting down one ironclad could re-equip an entire army of one hundred thousand!
Using the steel meant for producing weapons and armor for a hundred thousand soldiers to build an ironclad warship—this is what’s called “industry” in “industry and commerce”?!
Suddenly, Cheng Yunbo noticed someone on the ironclad ship of Anyang looking at him, and the two of them locked eyes! This person had actually seen through the invisibility array.
“At least a mid-stage Nascent Soul expert!” Cheng Yunbo’s heart raced, and without hesitation, he began to burrow downward.
Whoosh… a streak of light flew toward him—it was a flying sword from a Nascent Soul expert. Before the sword arrived, the coldness had already reached him. Cheng Yunbo’s soul nearly left his body. The opponent had sent the flying sword from nearly five miles away—this was simply unimaginable! Normally, a Nascent Soul expert’s flying sword would rarely exceed two miles.
In fact, due to the scarcity of materials, even Nascent Soul experts often used advanced magic tools rather than true magic treasures. As a result, the combat ability of Nascent Soul experts was severely limited.
In ancient times, there were legends… legends! It was said that a Nascent Soul expert could kill someone from ten miles away. But today, being able to kill from one mile away is already considered impressive. The main reason is the lack of resources and the scarcity of magic treasures.
Of course, the world is vast, and there are always some Nascent Soul experts who manage to acquire good materials or inherit magic treasures passed down by their ancestors.
Could it be that the Nascent Soul expert in front of him is using a magic treasure? While thinking, Cheng Yunbo began to use all his means to block the attack.
Puchi… puchi…
The shield was pierced, the spells were pierced, and the armor was pierced. But after several consecutive blocks, the power of the flying sword had been reduced to its limit, and it finally could not penetrate Cheng Yunbo’s body, dissipating into light!
“Really… really is a… magic treasure!” Cheng Yunbo spat out a mouthful of blood, horrified. Cheng Yunbo himself was a Nascent Soul early-stage expert, but facing the enemy’s long-range attack, he was so vulnerable. This is the power of a magic treasure. Cheng Yunbo only had one set of advanced magic tools, which was a reward from the emperor when he became a general.
Magic tools are like wooden sticks, while magic treasures are like steel knives. This is the difference, a qualitative difference.
Having barely saved his life, Cheng Yunbo landed and roared, “Enemy attack, prepare for cover!”
He then quickly wrote a letter himself and sent a trusted subordinate in the Golden Core stage to report to the rear, requesting support from Qiao Pengfei, a mid-stage Nascent Soul expert. Only Qiao Pengfei, who possessed a magic treasure, could fight against the Nascent Soul expert from Anyang.
After handling everything, a shadow rose in Cheng Yunbo’s heart—was Anyang too powerful? Could it be some legendary, long-hidden family or something?
Meanwhile, at Anyang, after the flying feather master severely injured Cheng Yunbo with a sword strike from afar, he immediately notified Bei Chen Yuqing, “The situation has changed. I just discovered a Nascent Soul early-stage expert hiding outside Dongguan Town, spying on us.
The people from Jin must have already predicted our return here. Most likely, everyone has retreated outside the city, and Dongguan Town is probably just an empty shell now.”