Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 280: Anyang Becomes a Pig Teammate
Jin Kingdom, the imperial capital, the Prime Minister’s residence. Sima Xuan sat in his seat, lost in thought. The last time he went to Anyang, he went as an envoy from a “Superior Kingdom,” and he almost looked down on people. Unexpectedly, in less than twenty days, he was about to go to Anyang again, but this time it was to show humility—quite frankly, it was to surrender.
“How ironic,” Sima Xuan sighed, preparing to fly to Anyang on his sword, to initially gauge their intentions and get Anyang to stop attacking as soon as possible. If this continued, countless people would die in Jin Kingdom. The war had escalated beyond the expectations of all the rulers and officials of Jin.
“Master, everything is ready.” The steward came over and handed him a small package. The package wasn’t large, containing a “royal decree,” the Prime Minister’s seal, and five spiritual herbs. The spiritual herbs were meant as a meeting gift. While small, the five spiritual herbs were worth 150,000 taels of gold, making them a perfect gift. To be exact, this was technically a “tribute.”
Sima Xuan took the items and left, flying on his sword, determined to reach Anyang by early morning.
On the eastern coast of Jin Kingdom, the armored ships continued to ravage the area. Under the bombardment, all wealth turned to nothing. The people were in a panic, and the soldiers lacked morale. The Nascent Soul stage expert Qiao Pengfei, who had been sent to provide support from the East, couldn’t defeat Fei Yu. Fei Yu Zhenren was not only a mid-stage Nascent Soul expert but also possessed numerous magical artifacts, carrying a large amount of liquid spiritual energy and pill liquid, capable of recovering at any time.
In the end, it was Fei Yu Zhenren who pursued the three Nascent Soul experts, including Qiao Pengfei. The armor of the three Nascent Soul experts couldn’t withstand Fei Yu Zhenren’s attacks; each strike created a hole.
In the north, Li Lisong finally arrived at the border of Nanyang County in the evening and witnessed the fierce battle.
At the border of Nanyang County, over a hundred machine guns roared, fiercely blocking the elite border troops of Jin Kingdom heading north for reinforcement. At the same time, they also blocked the Jin forces attempting to break through—General Zhenwei Chen Zhongping initially led 70,000 elite troops and 20,000 soldiers to break through, but had already suffered over 10,000 casualties.
Planes circled above, and whenever Jin Kingdom tried to use military formations, the planes would relentlessly bombard and the machine guns would sweep across. As a result, the formation failed, and because they gathered so many times, many were wiped out.
When Li Lisong arrived, the military formation looked like a sandwich. To the north was the joint army of Anyang, Nanyang, and Dongyuan counties. Further south were the remaining 90,000 soldiers led by General Zhenwei Chen Zhongping. Below them were the border defense troops of Nanyang County and the guard soldiers at the border. Further south were the border defense troops sent by Jin Kingdom to aid the region.
Even further north, there were over 200,000 prisoners from Jin Kingdom. Beyond that was the military base of Anyang.
Li Lisong flew directly to the side of General Zhenwei Chen Zhongping. After a brief exchange of “insights,” Li Lisong immediately took over the command. This time, Li Lisong was very comfortable in his command, especially with nearly 70,000 Imperial Guards, who were very elite and easy to command.
Under Li Lisong’s leadership, the 90,000 troops became lively in an instant. They attacked here, then there, sometimes scattering, sometimes regrouping, sometimes attacking the left, sometimes the right, entirely attacking instead of defending. Li Lisong knew well that when fighting against artillery and machine guns, one couldn’t just sit back and defend; that would only lead to danger.
However, although Li Lisong was excellent, Nanyang County had two formidable opponents: Nangong Zhi and Yan Zhengqing. Both were no pushovers. The three commanders kept maneuvering their armies.
What Li Lisong most wanted was for both sides to get entangled and interspersed, so the enemy’s artillery couldn’t hit. However, Yan Zhengqing was very “ruthless.” Whenever he saw any signs of such a tactic, the rear soldiers would throw freezing, decelerating, and binding talismans, freezing both the enemy and their own troops together. Then, they would slay the enemy, and after removing the spells from their own men, they would temporarily retreat from battle.
After several attempts, the Jin forces suffered heavy losses and could no longer complete the entangling and interspersing tactics, causing Li Lisong’s anger to rise.
After several rounds of confrontation, Li Lisong suddenly made a brilliant move. Instead of breaking through to the south, he chose to break through to the north. As long as they could break through to the north, they could rescue many prisoners and create a counter-encirclement against the joint forces of Anyang, Nanyang, and Dongyuan counties.
The idea was beautiful, but reality was cruel. Yan Zhengqing played right into the trap, letting a portion of the Jin Kingdom’s army, about five thousand elite troops, charge forward. But halfway through, they were suddenly surrounded, and planes began to drop talismans. Tens of thousands of talismans exploded simultaneously, freezing an area of three miles in all directions. Afterward, not a single one of the Jin Kingdom’s five thousand elite soldiers managed to escape.
The battle lasted for half a day. Li Lisong used every trick he knew, but he couldn’t break through the encirclement. All he had done was prolong the inevitable defeat.
“No! I can’t fail again!” Li Lisong had begun to lose himself. However, faced with Anyang’s relentless attacks, he tried several times but was still unable to organize the Ten Thousand Swords Formation. As soon as there were more than a thousand soldiers forming a formation, it would be bombarded relentlessly.
Battle formations were vastly different from regular combat formations. Combat formations were neat, straight, or layered, but battle formations used people as the foundation to arrange the formation, and the difference was immediately apparent. Therefore, whenever Jin Kingdom soldiers arranged a formation, planes would immediately come to bomb and sweep them.
The sky was nearing dawn, and Li Lisong’s mood seemed to fall into darkness as well. The battle grew more intense, with the Jin Kingdom army, whose numbers and weaponry were at a disadvantage, starting to crumble. Many soldiers’ faces showed clear signs of despair.
In the middle of the battle, a sudden change occurred. While fighting, Li Lisong noticed that Anyang’s army had started to slowly retreat. Soon, there were obvious sounds of arguing in the front.
The planes overhead suddenly dropped by over two hundred, and the artillery dropped by more than four hundred. Only Nanyang County and Dongyuan County continued their assault.
“What’s going on?” Li Lisong didn’t believe that such good fortune could fall from the sky. Faced with this sudden and inexplicable change, the first thought that crossed Li Lisong’s mind was—could this be a trap?
While waiting, Li Lisong saw Anyang’s army hastening their retreat. Soon, the encirclement was completely broken. Once Anyang’s army had withdrawn, the troops from Nanyang County and Dongyuan County also stopped attacking and began to slowly retreat.
At that moment, Yan Zhengqing appeared, bringing only a few men to the front of the Jin Kingdom army, hovering in the air. “General Li Lisong, are you there?”
Li Lisong was puzzled but still flew out. “I am here.”
Yan Zhengqing looked at Li Lisong and delivered a piece of news that shook his very core: “General Li, two hours ago, your country’s Prime Minister, Sima Xuan, arrived in Anyang with His Majesty’s letter of repentance and formally surrendered. The two sides have already sworn an oath.”
“Upon receiving the command of the wise king, my Anyang army is withdrawing from the war immediately. Farewell.”
Surrendered… surrendered… surrendered…
Li Lisong’s heart shook violently. He couldn’t describe the overwhelming feelings of bitterness, regret, pain, and helplessness that flooded his mind.
Suddenly, Kong Donglai blocked Yan Zhengqing, his expression fierce but his voice trembling: “You can’t leave!”