Chapter 739: Four States at War

"Master Dao, Zhao's Grand Commander-in-Chief Pang Teng has personally led an army to attack Nanzhou!" Guan Fangyi hurried over with the message from Nanzhou, without even checking whether anyone else was nearby.

Everyone in the forest turned toward Niu Youdao, who stood leaning on his sword. They all knew what Nanzhou meant to him. If it could not withstand Zhao's attack and Nanzhou was lost, then Nanzhou's forces would have been defeated, his influence there would be gone, and the foundation he had painstakingly built over these years would disappear with it.

Weak and sitting beneath a tree, "Su Zhao" secretly watched Niu Youdao's back. Cut off from news, she had no idea what was happening or why Zhao had entered the war.

Wen Mo'er shifted her gaze away from Niu Youdao and swept it across the reactions of the others. She still could not make sense of exactly who these people were.

Niu Youdao's mood was heavy. No matter how many schemes he had, when one state threw its full strength directly against another in open war, there was very little he could do.

In manpower, they were outnumbered.

In cultivators, there was no comparison either.

A battlefield was a place for head-on collisions, where real strength had to be smashed against real strength. Clever methods had their uses, but there was no second Chao Jing for him to seize by the throat and use to reverse the course of the war. His reach was not so vast that he could find such leverage in every state.

Manipulating Chao Jing had worked only because Meng Shanming already possessed the strength to win. Niu Youdao had merely broken the unusual trump card Chen Shaotong relied upon.

If Meng Shanming had possessed only the paltry strength Chen Shaotong commanded at the time, no matter what Niu Youdao did, Meng Shanming still could not have won.

Why had he agreed to Zijin Cave's demands so readily?

Because the danger Nanzhou might face was precisely his weak point.

Nanzhou's own strength was limited. At a time like this, he could not afford to offend Zijin Cave. He needed to use Zijin Cave's influence to mobilize the strength of all Yan and help Nanzhou fight this war.

Only if Zijin Cave regarded Nanzhou as its own territory would it truly throw its full strength into the defense.

"Master Dao!" Yuan Gang came over to his side.

Niu Youdao glanced back. He knew what Yuan Gang wanted to say. He gave him a cold look, then lifted his sword and walked unhurriedly deeper into the forest.

Guan Fangyi and Yuan Gang exchanged a look and followed side by side.

After they had gone some distance, Niu Youdao said evenly, "Hongniang, notify Liuxian Sect, Fuyun Sect, and Lingxiu Mountain. They are to cooperate fully with the Prince and obey his commands. Also send a request to Ghost Mother. I hope the ghost cultivators under her will give their full support as well. As for Duyun Mountain, I know they are based inside Zhao and it is inconvenient for them to offend Zhao, but Nanzhou is in grave danger. Ask Yun Ji to lead the demons of Duyun Mountain in giving us their full support. Tell her that so long as Nanzhou survives, I will carve out a piece of Nanzhou territory for the demon cultivators of Duyun Mountain to establish themselves."

"All right!" Guan Fangyi nodded.

"One more thing." Niu Youdao stopped her. "Tell Situ Yao that this is no time to distinguish between yours and mine. Jinzhou's troops and the disciples of Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion must be placed under a unified command. The Prince and Meng Shanming are clearly more suited to issue orders. If anyone dares drag their feet at a time like this, don't blame me for turning hostile!"

"Understood." Guan Fangyi accepted the order. This time she did not quibble or add any unnecessary words. She left quickly to handle it.

Niu Youdao stopped and turned toward Yuan Gang, who had followed him. "Contact Xiaoyue Pavilion. Ask them to carry out destructive harassment against Zhao's army. So long as they can produce results, any condition is open to discussion."

This time, he was not merely working from behind the curtain.

He intended to mobilize every force he could mobilize and throw them directly into support of the war.

Before Yan's large-scale reinforcements could arrive, Nanzhou could only rely on its own strength to resist Zhao. Niu Youdao had no choice but to bring out his own people and use them in support as well.

Yuan Gang nodded, then asked, "Should we go to the Prince's side?"

Niu Youdao tipped his chin toward the forest behind them. "You still haven't figured out where she comes from?"

"..."

Yuan Gang had nothing to say.

The benefits of keeping Zijin Cave firmly on his side were obvious.

The moment Nanzhou fell into danger, Zijin Cave dispatched a substantial group of experts and sent them at top speed aboard flying mounts to reinforce Nanzhou. Otherwise, no matter how well Nanzhou's troops fought, their lack of top-tier cultivators would make it very difficult to contend with Zhao's cultivation forces.

Afterward, Gong Lince once again spoke from the standpoint of Yan and persuaded Xiaoyao Palace and Lingjian Mountain to draw out another batch of experts and send them to reinforce Nanzhou.

When Wei's grain support finally reached Yan, it was again Gong Lince who persuaded Xiaoyao Palace and Lingjian Mountain to leave half of the grain for Nanzhou, ensuring that Nanzhou had the supplies needed to continue fighting.

Fortunately, Yan still had cultivation forces sent by Jin, Wei, and Qi to assist it, even though the cultivators Jin had sent had by now become little more than decoration.

Grand Commander-in-Chief Pang Teng of Zhao and Prince Yong Shang Chaozong of Yan each led their armies into one earthshaking clash after another.

Facing Zhao's enormous troop strength and the powerful cultivation forces it had assembled, Shang Chaozong showed not the slightest fear.

He gathered together Nanzhou's troops, Jinzhou's forces, and support from every quarter and launched fierce counterattacks. He refused to yield a single inch. If Zhao took something from him, he would seize it back. His posture was that of a man determined to fight to the death rather than lightly allow the foundation Nanzhou had built over all these years to be destroyed.

Nanzhou had been developed bit by bit. Its livelihood and infrastructure had only just begun to form a foundation after tremendous difficulty. All of it had been built with blood and effort.

Building it had been hard.

Destroying it in war was far too easy.

Once destroyed, everything would have to begin again from nothing.

Train troops for a thousand days to use them in a single hour.

Facing an offensive by nearly two million Zhao troops, Shang Chaozong roared before the whole army:

"Defend Nanzhou! Defend Great Yan! Defend our homes and our state!"

Nanzhou's soldiers fought bloody battles. No one knew how many stained the battlefield red with their blood, or how many people's blood and tears soaked the earth.

And it was not only two million troops.

Zhao had come with fierce momentum. Another two million men were gathering in the rear and preparing to advance.

Zhao was determined to achieve its objective against Yan.

The condemnations from Wei and Qi had no effect on Zhao. Zhao had simultaneously assembled two other forces and positioned them to guard against Wei and Qi. Jin might be putting on a hypocritical show by condemning Zhao as well, but Zhao knew perfectly well that so long as Jin continued watching from behind like a tiger waiting to pounce, neither Wei nor Qi would dare commit too much strength to intervention.

Once word spread that Nanzhou had been invaded and was in danger, the eighty thousand iron cavalry that had gone east with Nanzhou's campaign rode day and night to return.

When Meng Shanming learned that Shang Chaozong was fighting desperately on Nanzhou's front line against superior numbers, rage burned in his heart as well.

He issued a mobilization order to the army.

Only one sentence:

"Invade Zhao. Destroy Zhao!"

He too led the two-million-man army returning from Song in a rapid march toward Nanzhou, determined to fight Zhao to the end.

On another front, Han saw that Zhao and Yan had finally gone to war.

Its objective had been achieved.

Han immediately sought a secret peace with Yan.

Why in secret?

Because publicly doing so would leave Han unable to answer to Zhao.

Yan understood perfectly well, but it was also happy to accept. Fighting on two fronts was simply too much to bear.

The two states quietly ceased hostilities.

On the surface, they continued fighting.

In reality, it was only for show.

Han left behind a small force while the great bulk of its army rapidly turned around and rushed toward Song.

Movement on that scale could never escape the eyes of those watching.

Zhao quickly learned that Han's forces had changed direction and immediately sent an envoy to condemn Han.

Han's excuse was that Song had launched an attack against Han.

In truth, it had been Han's troops on the Song border who deliberately provoked the clash first, forcing Song to retaliate.

Zhao knew it had been played, but by then it was already riding the tiger and could not get down.

Emperor Hai Wuji of Zhao had overruled opposition and chosen to attack Nanzhou. If they failed to deal with Jinzhou's forces and simply withdrew after paying such an enormous price, how would he explain himself?

That consequence should have been anticipated before the war began.

It was precisely why Zhao's court had opposed this campaign in the first place.

And in any case, Zhao was no longer free simply to leave.

It had invaded Yan—or, more precisely, Nanzhou—and inflicted terrible losses on Nanzhou.

Now Nanzhou's follow-up reinforcements were almost there.

You beat me bloody and then want to walk away as though nothing happened?

Where beneath Heaven was there such a bargain?

Shang Chaozong and Meng Shanming were both military men.

Neither was the sort to swallow humiliation and let matters rest.

They had already gathered their forces and were coming.

Without extracting an accounting, they would not stop.

Both sides had now dug in.

Each had its own war cry.

Pang Teng demanded that Nanzhou hand over Jinzhou's troops.

After being attacked, Shang Chaozong was equally blunt. He ordered Zhao to hand Jinzhou's territory back to the people of Jinzhou.

Yan could barely feed itself and had to beg everywhere for resources to fight this war, yet it still dared interfere directly in how Zhao divided its own territory?

How could Zhao possibly accept such a humiliating surrender of sovereign authority?

Shang Chaozong, for his part, had no intention of making peace easily.

Before, he had lacked the conditions to do anything else.

Now the follow-up strength of the entire State of Yan was arriving.

Of course he would seize the opportunity to recover Jinzhou for Jinzhou's people and preserve it as a forward shield against future danger from Zhao.

Otherwise, with Yan already so badly weakened, once the various supporting powers withdrew and brawny Zhao remained standing directly across from them, bullying the weak whenever it pleased, Nanzhou would never again be able to sleep or eat in peace.

...

Han's main force reached the Song border.

The excuse for provocation had already been prepared.

Han launched a brazen invasion of Song.

Meng Shanming's troops also reached Nanzhou afterward and immediately collided with Zhao's forces in vicious fighting.

The two sides slaughtered one another until Heaven and earth seemed to go dark.

For a time, four of the Seven States were directly embroiled in war.

Wei and Qi did not remain idle either. Both poured resources from behind the scenes into supporting the sides they wished to support.

Once Yan's main force had fully engaged Zhao, the cultivators sent by Wei and Qi to reinforce Yan rapidly changed direction and hurried toward Song instead.

To preserve the strategic balance that served their interests, Wei and Qi, which had only recently condemned Song, now began reinforcing Song.

Yan and Han no longer had anything serious between them.

Yan was fighting Zhao alone.

Let them fight.

For Wei and Qi, Song was now in the greater danger.

Among all Seven States, only Jin remained aloof, the people it had sent seeming almost as though they had come merely to watch the excitement.

By this point, the other six states could practically see the sinister grin of Jin hiding in the rear and sharpening its blade.

But there was nothing anyone could do.

Once war began, it could not simply be stopped whenever one wished.

No side could easily give way.

Yan and Zhao fought with earthshaking force.

Song, facing Han's invasion, suffered bitterly.

Song's internal strength had already been consumed too heavily and was stretched to the limit. At the front, Han's powerful army beat Song back again and again. In the rear, Wu Gongling continued creating chaos.

The fear of national destruction was no longer idle talk.

It was becoming a fact looming directly in front of them.

Panic spread throughout Song from top to bottom.

The rumors Wu Gongling had spread became prophecy.

Northern Song truly descended into a great war.

Forced by circumstances, wealthy households and commoners alike fled south in waves, seeking refuge with Wu Gongling.

Few genuinely wanted to submit to him.

His reputation for murdering his own elder brother was too notorious.

But in the Song of the present day, the territory occupied by Wu Gongling truly was the only place where people could avoid the flames of war.

Southern Song was empty.

The area in which Wu Gongling could move freely was vast.

Song itself lacked the strength to deal with him, and Han would not attack him.

If people did not flee toward Wu Gongling, where else were they supposed to go?

Of course, some also found ways to cross the river and flee into Yan.

[End of Chapter 739]