Let Me Explain, Fairy
Chapter 343 - 245 The War is Imminent

Chapter 343: Chapter 245 The War is Imminent

"Houting County?"

Unexpectedly, Li Qingyan did not show excitement at the news, her eyebrows gradually furrowed, "Are you suggesting that the Sects should come to our aid?"

Xu Yuan gently touched the standard-issue saber hilt at his waist, nodding:

"Don’t you want to hold Northern Border City? I’ll help you."

As he spoke,

Xu Yuan’s voice was slow and low:

"Jiang He said, the Cloud Qi Bomb can disperse the qi within a two-hundred-li radius. Given the weather in the Northern Frontier, the qi from the snowstorm will re-condense within a day, but it should be enough for them to reach within a hundred li north of Northern Border City. Once there, detonate another bomb, won’t the siege of Northern Border be broken then?"

Li Qingyan stared intently at Xu Yuan, her hand gripping the saber hilt slightly tightened:

"Xu Changtian, the current situation is both a crisis and an opportunity. I do want to keep Northern Border City, but I want even more to trap these barbarians here to their deaths."

Xu Yuan spread his hands, saying:

"Won’t the barbarians be trapped here once those three hundred thousand elite troops from the Northern Border Sects arrive?"

Li Qingyan’s raspy voice was very low:

"You really don’t understand the Sects."

A fitting look of surprise appeared on Xu Yuan’s face:

"Your Highness, are you saying... even if these elite troops from the Sects arrive, they would still tolerate the barbarians slipping deep into the Northern Frontier right under their noses?"

Li Qingyan exhaled a breath of white fog from her lips:

"Otherwise... why do you think I wouldn’t ask you for the Cloud Qi Bombs?"

In this natural disaster of a snowstorm, the barbarians and Dayan are engaged in an asymmetric war.

The barbarian side, one could say, had full view of the map and were free to move. On the other hand, visibility was completely black for Dayan, daring not to make rash moves.

The Cloud Qi Bomb was the biggest trump card prepared by the Prime Minister’s Mansion and the Imperial Family against the barbarians.

There were a total of eight.

Right from the start, if they had detonated two or three near Northern Border City to disperse the snowstorm, the three hundred thousand elite troops from the Sects could have moved south from Houting County.

For a moment, Li Qingyan seemed genuinely angry, her voice as if squeezed through clenched teeth:

"If you detonate a Cloud Qi Bomb now, within half a day the Barbarian Strange King will receive the news."

"If their survival is threatened, the Sects will indeed take action to annihilate the barbarians, but if there is no immediate pressure on their survival, they will never strike against the barbarians! To annihilate the barbarians, we can only wait for Uncle Mu and Mister Zong to move south, but now the high-level Cultivators I sent might not have reached the camp they are constructing near Dali Mountain!"

That the Sects would let the barbarians go was unexpected yet reasonable.

Because this choice was what best served their interests.

Realizing this, Xu Yuan opened his mouth at just the right moment, saying:

"Then... do we continue with today’s operation?"

Li Qingyan took a deep breath and uttered two words:

"Continue."

First the Black Scale Army defied orders to leave the city, and now there was a situation with the Cloud Qi Bomb. This profligate young master had greatly disrupted her plans in the Northern Frontier.

After a pause, her phoenix eyes narrowed, she stared intently at Xu Yuan:

"But you’re coming with me."

"......"

Xu Yuan opened his mouth, glancing unintentionally at Zhou Chen next to him.

Zhou Chen’s mouth twitched, glancing at the murderous aura overflowing from her, he attempted a greeting with a bow:

"Your Highness, my young master is of low cultivation..."

Before he could finish,

Boom!

Zhou Chen was abruptly overwhelmed by an inexplicable force and pressed onto the snowy ground, forming a human-shaped imprint in the thick snow.

Even then,

Zhou Chen still clenched his teeth, struggling to raise his head:

"... Zhou is willing to go in his stead."

Having said that,

he feigned death and passed out.

Seeing this scene, Xu Yuan looked at Li Qingyan and fell silent.

Your fist is big, you’re impressive.

Li Qingyan let out a breath, steadied her emotions, and glanced at Zhou Chen on the ground:

"You guard is indeed loyal."

"Mr. Zhou has been with me since our days in Jingjiang Prefecture," Xu Yuan said with an awkward smile.

"Since he’s willing to go in your stead, arrange for him to go to the south of the city and coordinate with the Black Scale Army in defending it."

"And what about me?"

"You?"

Li Qingyan sighed, looked at Xu Yuan, and said with some helplessness in her phoenix eyes, "Blades and swords do not have eyes, if the Prince Consort were to meet with an accident, I would have to remain a widow for life. You will just watch over me from the East City tower."

On hearing this, Xu Yuan exhaled a breath:

"That’s a relief. Let the Princess have someone take Mr. Zhou to the South City then."

"......" Zhou Chen.

...

...

...

On the way to the East City, Xu Yuan did not ride in a carriage since it might affect the morale of the troops.

Being warlike, the generals preferred not to see their leaders riding in a carriage, appearing frail.

Fortunately, in his previous life, Xu Yuan occasionally went horse riding with some friends for fun, so he did not embarrass himself, following beside Li Qingyan... or rather, her deputy, on a horse.

As the main general, it was unlikely for Li Qingyan to share a horse with men in the army.

As they neared the East City wall, Xu Yuan noticed that the buildings close to the wall had all been demolished.

A market and reputed residences within a two li radius from the wall had been completely dismantled.

Seeing this empty area, while riding a demonic beast steed, Xu Yuan casually asked Li Qingyan, who was by his side:

"This is..."

Li Qingyan did not answer; instead, Cang, the deputy general also riding a horse, replied with a smile:

"Young Master might not be aware, but demolishing those markets and residences provides a clear view, which is to prevent spies from inside the city from attacking the wall. Secondly, buildings can interfere with the deployment of our army formations. Moreover, should the city be breached, the barbarian tribes would not only face our army formations, but also have to withstand the attack from the Protective City Formation above."

With this explanation, Xu Yuan understood and spoke no more.

Their horses’ hooves crunched on the icy mud of the road—all horses in the Northern Frontier were equipped with anti-slipping horseshoes.

After half an hour of riding, Xu Yuan saw rows of the Feathered Forest Army, neatly arranged and with strict discipline.

They were clad in armor with red bases and gold edges. They had decorations and fitted well, but they weren’t particularly attractive because they looked a bit bulky when worn.

The standard-issue armor provided to the elites of various forces in Dayan Territory was mostly heavy armor.

To be aesthetically pleasing meant to be form-fitting, which would involve sacrificing some degree of protection. On the battlefield, beauty was the most useless attribute.

However, the standard-issue armor of their own Black Scale Guards was a little different.

The Prime Minister’s Mansion, as the ultimate BOSS in the rich tapestry of worlds in Cang Yuan, had once featured the Black Scale Guards’ standard-issue armor in the game.

Perhaps because of this, the Black Scale Guards’ armor had adopted the appearance from the game’s illustrations.

The black scale armor, ring upon ring like snake scales, paired with large circle scimitars, was slimming, dominating, and authoritative at first glance.

According to Wu Zigeng, armor that was martial yet stylish could significantly encourage Tian’an Martial Hall’s trained martial artists to remain in the Black Scale Army.

Zong Qingsheng agreed and thus persuaded his father to allocate funds to Hua Hong, allowing the Geometry Institute to address the issue with the Black Scale Guards’ armor.

And indeed, it proved effective.

Many young men in the Black Scale Guards stayed simply for the allure of the black scale armor.

And less than half an hour after Xu Yuan was led onto the city gate tower,

the war began.