To achieve immortality, I cultivate using Qi Luck-Chapter 853 - 364 The Fall of Nanhai Country

Chapter 853: Chapter 364 The Fall of Nanhai Country

On the river surface of Jiangxia, Chu State’s naval forces could not overpower Ning Country’s navy, but it wasn’t just due to their weaker military strength.

Last year during the naval battle, Chu State had captured over a hundred of Ning Country’s warships, as well as more than eight thousand naval prisoners.

With the help of these captured warships and prisoners, after a winter of assimilation, Chu State’s naval forces had already recovered to a scale of fifty thousand.

With this strength, coupled with the sharp morale from last year’s great victory, and battling Ning’s army, even without Chu Wei’s command, Chu State’s chances of victory were not small.

Nevertheless, on the front line, Chu State still only retained forty thousand naval forces, allowing Ning Country’s navy to swagger around; within this, there certainly was reason.

The reason was that Lu Yuan had already secretly withdrawn over ten thousand naval soldiers and a large number of ships, transferring them ahead of time to Xichuan for this troop movement.

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Because the operation was done so covertly, and also because Hanzhong Xichuan was thousands of miles away with numerous mountain ridges blocking the way and a great distance from the front line battlefield.

This resulted in no one from Ning Country being aware of Chu Army’s covert actions.

As for the fifty thousand Forbidden Army troops that Lu Yuan had called upon, and Huang Xuan’s Second Innate Realm avatar, there were no precautions whatsoever, making them truly a surprise force.

Now, this surprise force was being transported by the navy. As long as they arrived at Changsha Prefecture through Dongting Lake, they could directly strike towards the front line and, in coordination with Sun Siwen within Changsha city, catch Xiang Duan’s hundred thousand troops utterly off guard.

As long as they could break this enemy force, Ning’s army would lose a hundred thousand soldiers, and might even lose an Inborn Grandmaster in battle.

Afterwards, whether Huang Xuan continued to lead troops south to attack Ning’s armies in Luyang and Hengyang prefectures,

or turned eastward to directly invade Yuzhang Prefecture and cut off the retreat of Shen Qiu’s large army at the front line in Jiangxia,

he would be able to break the stalemate at Dongting battlefield.

Shen Qiu wanted to attack Dongting’s hinterland to reverse the disadvantage.

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Lu Yuan, likewise, aimed to invade Yuzhang Prefecture by attacking its rear to cut off Ning’s army retreat path, while simultaneously threatening the enemy capital.

Therefore, after being reminded by those aristocratic high-level officials who wanted to secure a retreat for themselves and learning of Shen Qiu’s strategic plans, he followed suit, formulating a similar but opposing plan.

Looking at it now,

with the changes in the overall situation, Ning Country’s plan had fallen apart, transforming from a stealth attack into an overt strategy.

On Chu State’s side, with no one being the wiser, a sneak attack had already been prepared and was in motion.

The outcome at this moment depended on whether Shen Qiu could achieve his objective and swiftly defeat the hundred thousand Ning troops in Changsha to claim victory.

However, given Huang Xuan’s strength and the abruptness of the attack, coupled with insider support within the city, it would be nearly impossible for Ning’s unprepared army to block them.

The demise of Xiang Duan’s army was almost certain.

Of course, the risk for Lu Yuan in deploying a large army from thousands of miles away for this surprise attack was not small.

The greatest risk being that, once Huang Xuan left, Chu Country’s western prefectures like Hanzhong, Xichuan, and Hegu would no longer have an Inborn presence.

At the top-tier power level, they would essentially become voids, extremely vulnerable.

Furthermore, after the withdrawal of fifty thousand Forbidden troops, Chu State’s military forces in these three western prefectures would be left with only seventy thousand Forbidden army troops and local prefectures and counties soldiers.

All these troops put together amounted to about one hundred and fifty thousand or so, quite sparse given the complex situation of the west.

If at this point an enemy dispatched a large army and suddenly invaded the three western prefectures, then Chu Country’s situation in the west could completely collapse.

Luckily, Zhou Country to the north was preoccupied with its own troubles and lacked the strength to move south. To the west, the Snowy Wilderness only had dangerous mountain paths leading to Hegu Prefecture and being allies with Chu, they would unlikely dispatch a large army to attack.

The only threat left was Nanzhao Country to the south.

Yet at this moment, given Chu State’s imposing reputation, along with the restraint of vassal states like Jianchuan and Chilih, and the recent deterrence from the conquest of Su Country, it was unlikely that Nanzhao and Dali of the southwest would dare make a move.

Also, Huang Xuan leading the large army’s departure was done in secrecy without causing a stir.

Outsiders were unaware that Chu State’s west was now vulnerable; this was yet another layer of concealment.

With these many factors in place, there was no immediate concern for Chu State’s security in the west.

Nevertheless, being cautious as he was, Lu Yuan did not place all his trust in the enemy not invading.

When he reassigned Huang Xuan’s armed forces to support Dongting, he also arranged for his two disciples, Han Shun and Zhang You, to rush urgently to Xichuan and Hanzhong prefectures to defend those locales.

Both disciples, like Chu Wei, had been nurtured by Lu Yuan and were attempting to break through to Innate.

However, without the Teacher’s daily teaching and slightly less accumulation of foundational strength, their progress towards breaking through Innate lagged behind Chu Wei’s.

But they weren’t behind by much.

According to estimates, by early summer, in about one or two months, both would likely breakthrough to Innate.

Therefore, they just needed to endure through this one or two months of peak vulnerability in the west, and once Han Shun and Zhang You completed their breakthrough, their presence alone would be enough to stabilize the overall situation in the west.

Even if Nanzhao Country attacks at that time, they would be capable of repelling it.

Lu Yuan believed that with the layers of smoke screens he had set up and Chu Country’s current reputation, he could secure that small window of one or two months.

All they had to do was endure through this most challenging time.

In the end, even if the world saw through his plans, everything would be settled, and it would be too late to turn the tide.

Taking a relatively small risk could exchange for a swift victory over Ning Country.

This move was yet another certain gain for Chu State.

…

Mists wafted, the sky vast and waters broad.