Chapter 1703: Chapter 539: Jinyang’s Dilemma, Cai Qiuning’s Horror

The thirteenth year of Great Xia, the first day of the first lunar month

In the last moments before dawn, Cai Qiuhu finally led the remaining soldiers to the outskirts of Jinyang City. However, upon seeing the formidable city wall, constructed from gigantic twenty-meter-high iron stakes, a mile to the north, he and the other higher-ups of Cai Qiu all faced a dilemma.

The sturdy city wall was a secondary concern. The key issue was the countless armored soldiers atop it, all prepared and vigilantly watching the south side, evidently well-informed and aware of their arrival.

A somewhat disheveled figure swiftly approached from the direction of the city wall, and upon nearing, immediately bowed and cupped his hands towards Cai Qiuhu: "Reporting to the Little Landgrave, we have just advanced near enough to survey the city wall. There remain over ten thousand defenders within the city, and Great Xia still has six Xianyang Level practitioners. As soon as we approached, we were spotted. Although we didn’t see much, conservatively estimated, there are over fifty thousand in the Earth-digging Realm within the city."

As early as when the army entered the Yinhe Valley area, Cai Qiuhu had dispatched Xianyang Level scouts to probe Jinyang City’s defenses. This scout appeared somewhat disheveled, obviously having been discovered by Great Xia’s Xianyang Level practitioners and had engaged in combat.

Cai Qiuhu’s already grim expression turned even darker.

"Ten thousand defenders are not to be feared. If the eight of us strike together, with fifty thousand troops and so many Xianyang Levels, half an hour would suffice to breach the city!"

The previous chaos after the Tribulation Body Realm, though Qin Feng and Shangguan Yang both personally intervened to calm things, still saw more than half the people flee. Cai Qiuhong’s claim of fifty thousand troops was somewhat exaggerated; the soldiers from the two towns below added together amounted to no more than 45,000 people.

Though it’s a siege, realistically forty-five thousand against ten thousand, and with their side having eight in the Tribulation Body Realm and over a hundred Xianyang Levels, breaching the city shouldn’t be too difficult.

However, before Cai Qiuhu could speak, Qin Feng urgently said: "Milord, we must not. Great Xia has the Sunlight Pill, and dawn is imminent. The fifty thousand in the Earth-digging Realm within the city can also help in its defense. We’re not just dealing with those ten thousand defenders alone..."

The Sunlight Pill!

He almost forgot about that.

Cai Qiuhu’s expression darkened. Though it was his first time in the Southern Slope Territory, he knew quite a bit about Great Xia’s situation, including the Sunlight Pill.

This kind of pill permits those in the Earth-digging Realm to appear during the day. While it isn’t considered valuable in the Moao River area, it’s a different case in the Southern Slope Territory.

Especially now, it was enough to instill dread regarding this city.

"What of it if they have the Sunlight Pill? It’s just fifty thousand in the Earth-digging Realm. Are your two towns’ troops utterly useless? With such a small..."

"Brother!"

Seeing Qin Feng and Shangguan Yang’s expressions grow increasingly gloomy, Cai Qiuhu interrupted his elder brother Cai Qiuyang’s speech and continued: "Even if we could breach it, it’s no good. Great Xia’s three armies are only 20 kilometers away from us. At most, they’ll arrive in half an hour. Do you have confidence to breach Jinyang in half an hour?"

Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent.

"Unless the Landgrave intervenes!"

In the end, Zhu Huorong spoke up.

But Cai Qiuhu directly shook his head: "Even the Landgrave’s intervention wouldn’t work. Would Xia Hong just watch us breach the city? If those fourteen Beast Emperor-level Puppets were unleashed, we still couldn’t handle it. If entangled here, I’m afraid none of the fifty thousand troops would be saved..."

Zhu Huorong had the notion to counter this statement, but after glancing around, he chose to remain silent.

Top-tier strength certainly has the ability to influence the battlefield, but that is only when one side possesses it and the other does not. Since both sides have it, there is little room to alter the battlefield substantially.

Master Cai Qianshan is undoubtedly powerful, but Xia Hong’s fourteen Beast Emperor-level Puppets are no weaker. The key is that these are puppets that fear neither death nor pain. Should the battle drag on without resolution, they would inevitably incur a loss.

The recent defeat at Aikou sufficiently demonstrated that Cai Qiu’s intent to use the Tribulation Body Realm and numerous Xianyang Levels to dominate the battlefield could not be realized.

Moreover, given how the battle has unfolded, with Cai Qianshan having appeared, would Xia Hong not fixate intensely on them?

The army’s advance from Aikou saw only a little more than 20 kilometers separating them; while they kept an eye on Xia Hong, Xia Hong also kept an eye on them.

Master Cai Qianshan hasn’t shown himself since his defeat at Aikou, but Zhu Huorong is confident he is nearby, vigilantly guarded against Xia Hong.

"Fourteen Beast Emperor-level Puppets; even if Great Xia deployed not a single soldier, these sudden puppets alone are enough to give the fifty thousand troops a hard time. Depending on the coalition of the two towns directly cannot prevail; it’s better to retreat—to retreat near Bone-Eroding Path, wait for my town’s reinforcements, then fight Great Xia!"

After pausing to consider, Zhu Huorong suggested his opinion.

Upon hearing this, the expressions of the others were not pleasant, but they understood that this was the best choice at present, so none spoke out.

Retreating to near the Bone-Eroding Path is not only to evade the sharp edge of the Xia Army but to first seize the southern exit of the Bone-Eroding Path.

Cai Qiu’s army advancing south must pass through the Bone-Eroding Path. If the exit is not seized first, considering the Bone-Eroding Path’s exit is less than fifty meters wide, should the Xia Army block it, no matter how formidable Cai Qiu’s army is, they might not break through.

"Retreating to the vicinity of Bone-Eroding Path, can that alone block the Xia Army?"

However, Cai Qiuhu directly questioned, effectively rejecting his elder brother Zhu Huorong’s proposition.

Zhu Huorong and others, hearing this, looked at him with a mix of puzzlement.

Cai Qiuhu shook his head: "Our town’s army can’t arrive until the day after tomorrow. Even if the fifty thousand troops retreat to near Bone-Eroding Path, the Xia Army would quickly catch up, necessitating a battle with them outside Bone-Eroding Path."

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