Let Me Explain, Fairy
Chapter 346 - 247: Troops Make a Risky Move_2

Chapter 346: Chapter 247: Troops Make a Risky Move_2

In the silence,

suddenly, a series of massive booms erupted in the distance.

Xu Yuan glanced to the side, breaking the silence with a question to the gravely composed Deputy Commander Cang:

"Do the Barbarian Tribes have any means against the sky?"

"Of course they do."

Deputy Commander Cang looked up toward the direction of the booming sounds: "This batch of Demonic Beasts—probably eight or nine out of ten won’t make it back."

Upon hearing this, Xu Yuan recalled the flying Demonic Beasts that had earlier blotted out the sky as they left the city and he sighed lightly:

"War is indeed a battle of wealth. It costs at least two thousand taels of silver to raise a single flying Demonic Beast, and when you add the military equipment they carry, that’s millions at once."

Deputy Commander Cang seemed to sigh as well, but then he shook his head slightly:

"Minister Xu, the Princess had no choice in this matter. The Sects’ storerooms within the city have been destroyed, and they can no longer support such a large population of Demonic Beasts. Although most of these are military beasts, without food, there’s still the risk of them rioting."

The enormous size of Demonic Beasts required even more food than the average Cultivator, which simply could not be sustained.

Xu Yuan’s eyes flickered as he suddenly asked:

"That said, wouldn’t sending out so many flying Demonic Beasts provide meat for those barbarians?"

The flesh of thousands of various flying Demonic Beasts could essentially be measured in tens of thousands of tonnes if used as food.

Upon hearing this, Deputy Commander Cang cracked a smile:

"If the Barbarian Tribes dare to eat these Demonic Beasts, that would indeed save us a lot of trouble."

Xu Yuan immediately understood:

"You’ve poisoned them?"

Deputy Commander Cang bowed slightly:

"Minister Xu can think of it, and naturally, Princess has considered it too. This morning’s feed for the flying Demonic Beasts going out was all laced with Crane Top Powder, a medicine that can stimulate the beasts’ ferocity and make their flesh poisonous."

Xu Yuan looked at the smoke spreading to the edge of the city wall and shook his head without speaking further.

War knows no bounds.

He had already seen the brutality of war in Shengshan City, a terrifying scene piled with blood and flesh.

Standing upon that gore, you could still feel the warmth of those once-lively bodies.

And that had been merely a minor battlefield that wasn’t even significant enough to be mentioned.

In the days to come on the Northern Frontier, he might witness true mass graves, perhaps even those with tens of thousands.

While he was musing,

seven resounding bell tones echoed throughout Northern Border City.

Deputy Commander Cang naturally turned his gaze toward the South City.

And Xu Yuan followed his line of sight.

As Li Qingyan had anticipated, the Barbarian Tribes began their counterattack from the South City.

There, the dust thrown up by the "Eclipse" was suddenly cleaved by a powerful gust of wind, creating a massive hole, with dust rising high into the air, even overshadowing the towering city walls.

Looking out into the distance and aided by the enhanced vision from the Blood Essence Meteoring Art, Xu Yuan could vaguely see the Protective City Formation on the South City side clearly flashing for an instant.

Then,

Boom—

Boom—

Boom—

Resembling a tremor of an underground dragon, the sturdy city wall began to shake slightly.

Xu Yuan lowered his gaze to the fine trembling stones on the city gate tower, his brow furrowing slightly:

"Is this...."

Deputy Commander Cang’s voice was heavy:

"Ice Beast Colossi. That madman, the Barbarian King, has actually used the Ice Beast Colossi."

Xu Yuan pondered for a moment then exhaled a white breath in the cold wind and asked:

"Normally during a siege, they wouldn’t use them?"

"No, without the Ice Beast Colossi, the Barbarian Tribes would find it difficult to break through the city walls. These colossi are extremely precious to the tribes, numbering no more than a handful."

"So, what you mean is... during a siege, the Barbarian Tribes would first use human lives to exhaust our defenses?"

"Yes."

Deputy Commander Cang nodded: "In the lands of bitter cold where resources are scarce, once that group of barbarians has a surplus of population, they must be expended in warfare, while the colossi are different, being their biggest reliance when attacking cities from the south. The cost to subdue a single one is tremendous."

A contemplative expression on his face, Xu Yuan suddenly cracked a smile:

"Deputy Commander Cang, may I ask you a question?"

"What is it?" Deputy Commander Cang looked surprised.

After carefully choosing his words, Xu Yuan asked in a low voice:

"Although the Barbarian Tribes are not of our human race, they possess intelligence. Crossing over mountains and taking detours to arrive here, their morale might not be very stable. If you were the Barbarian King, how would you handle Wu Yuan’s surprise attack on the camp?"

Deputy Commander Cang stared at Xu Yuan for a few breaths, but still answered truthfully:

"Hmm... If I were that Barbarian Strange King, with the current military intelligence, most likely I would send troops to feint an attack on the South City to force the Princess to defend, with the Elite Troops’ reserve standing by at all times."

Xu Yuan nodded:

"Indeed, for the Barbarian Tribes, losing the eastern camp is acceptable, but for us, the Southern City of the Northern Border must not fall."

Vice General Cang continued analyzing and deducing the battle situation:

"If the South City achieves a victory, then I will deploy the reserve troops to continue reinforcing it, striving to take down the city in one fell swoop. If the South City falls into a stalemate, then the reserve troops will work together with the soldiers from the eastern camp to annihilate the Princess’s Feathered Forest Army that has ventured out. Though the victory might not be significant, in any case, it is advantageous to the Barbarian Tribes."

He paused,

his tone serious, "After all, the morale of the army inside Northern Border City has reached the brink of collapse now. The longer it drags on, the more advantageous it is for them."

"Yes, the absolute advantage in military strength allows the Barbarian Tribes to be more composed."

Xu Yuan, listening to the incessant booming from the eastern camp, responded in a low voice, "Since that is the case, why would the Barbarian King, like Wu Yuan, put all his eggs in one basket and directly employ the Ice Behemoth to attack the city?"

"...."

Vice General Cang furrowed his brow, hesitant to say:

"Now that Northern Border City is exposed... Perhaps the Barbarian King wants to take Northern Border as soon as possible, the duration of this blizzard being entirely uncertain."

Xu Yuan fell silent for a few moments, then shook his head:

"I tend to think that these Barbarian Tribes have run out of supplies. The Black Scale Guards have summarized the various supplies the Barbarian Tribes have looted, and a significant portion of them are hard to carry."

Currently, the biggest problem plaguing the seventy thousand elite troops deep inside the Northern Frontier is how much supplies the Barbarian Tribes can bring by taking a detour.

If it is less than what the seventy thousand strong army in the Northern Frontier carries, by adopting a scorched earth strategy, the Barbarian Tribes will crumble without attacking.

Vice General Cang fell silent for a few moments, then hesitated to say:

"Minister Xu, are you suggesting... they plan to use the Ice Behemoth as food?"

Xu Yuan stared at the increasingly trembling pebbles atop the city gate tower:

"We can’t afford to feed that many flying Demonic Beasts. For a giant creature like the behemoth that weighs tens of thousands of tons, the feed it consumes should... not be little, right?"

Vice General Cang furrowed his brow:

"Indeed, the daily food for the three Ice Behemoths is difficult to sustain..."

Xu Yuan slowly took out a crystal-like object from the Sumeru Ring.

He had used it before in Wanxiang City, one of two, which when one side is crushed, the other can sense it— a communication device.

Seeing this object, Vice General Cang furrowed his brow:

"Minister Xu, are you intending..."

Xu Yuan shook his head with a rather helpless expression:

"This kind of offensive force, relying on my family’s five thousand plus Black Scale Guards and thirty thousand troops of the Border Army, we probably can’t hold on, right?"

Vice General Cang’s gaze showed a trace of contempt, but he concealed it well:

"You are of noble status, Minister Xu. If you wish to leave, naturally, I will not obstruct."

Xu Yuan shook his head, speaking softly:

"Don’t worry, it’s not time to leave yet. This isn’t for saving my own life, but to notify the Black Scale Guards at the Northern Border City’s beast enclosure."

"Beast enclosure?" Vice General Cang raised an eyebrow.

"Naturally, it’s to have all the flying Demonic Beasts in the Black Scale Guards’ beast enclosure reinforce my fiancée."

"But... just now, such a large number of Demonic Beasts should have been sufficient."

"........"

Xu Yuan looked at Vice General Cang with a weird expression for a few moments, then suddenly shook his head:

"Vice General Cang, after following Qingyan for so many years, you still don’t understand her as well as I do."

"What... do you mean?" Vice General Cang’s brow furrowed deeply.

Xu Yuan did not speak, but looked around at the smoke that enveloped the entire Northern Border City, and said solemnly:

"Switching tactics might be seen as a crazy move, but Qingyan is not just any madwoman, she’s crazier than the Barbarian Strange King— a madwoman to the extreme."

Hearing this, Vice General Cang’s slightly wrinkled face showed a hint of astonishment:

"Minister Xu, are you saying..."

Xu Yuan shook his head and looked towards the direction of the southern part of the city.

There, the war behemoth had already approached the city.

Behind the behemoth, the Barbarian Tribes’ army was already positioned, drawing out their totems and ready for battle.

The bear-shaped behemoth’s massive body, enduring countless defensive weapons, became bloody and blurry, thudded against the city wall, and then collapsed outright.

The huge shockwave spread at a visible speed, causing the Protective City Formation above the sky to start flickering in and out of visibility.

At the same time,

this shock also flung a large expanse of smoke, released by the "day-darkening" powder, up into the heavens.

And then,

a large group of the Feathered Forest cavalry, in battle formation and using the smoke as cover, abruptly charged out of it, striking into the heart of the Barbarian Tribes’ Central Army like a sharp arrowhead!

"......"

At the top of the city gate tower,

Xu Yuan, watching the solemn sounds from that direction, gave Vice General Cang a wry smile:

"Right guess, looks like my Princess is truly mad..."

With that, he crushed the crystal-like object in his hand.