Let Me Explain, Fairy
Chapter 374: 二百六十二章_1

Chapter 374: 二百六十二章_1

"Reorganize?"

Li Qingyan stared at the more than ten thousand bewildered soldiers below in the wind and snow, gently shaking his head, "These sect border troops can’t be reorganized immediately."

Xu Yuan raised his eyebrow and asked softly, "Because their cultivation techniques would conflict?"

"Mhm," Li Qingyan turned his head and spoke softly, "The soldiers in the hands of the Northern Border Sects practice a body-cultivating cultivation technique called Cold Heaven. Although the army formations are similar, if they cannot be commanded as easily as one’s own limbs, it’s easy for things to go wrong on the battlefield."

Xu Yuan was somewhat at a loss for words, then added softly:

"And even if they were incorporated, can we guarantee that these elite troops of the sects would not harbor split loyalties?"

In this era of information isolation, most people are ignorant, and it’s too easy for large clans to cultivate loyal and dedicated followers.

Xu Yuan wasn’t clear on exactly how the sects trained their soldiers, but he was very familiar with the methods of the Prime Minister’s Mansion’s Tian’an Martial Hall and the Black Scale Army.

Once one joined the Tian’an Martial Hall, the brainwashing began subtly and gradually.

The soldiers coming out of these two military systems were basically thoroughly brainwashed, and they harbored an extreme personal adoration for his father, or to be precise, the Xu family’s direct lineage.

If they could not fully incorporate and integrate these routed troops, then there was only one path left for the soldiers currently beneath the city walls.

To be forced to serve as expendable vanguard material, ushering in the larger battle between the Black Scale Army, the Northern Border Army, and the Barbarian Tribes.

Thinking of this,

Xu Yuan sighed, his laughter vague and indistinct:

"It’s truly pitiful..."

Li Qingyan’s eyes held a hint of amusement:

"Isn’t the present plight of the sects caused by your own hand?"

"Princess, you’re mistaken. The Northern Border Sects’ current situation is entirely their own doing. I merely provided a little bit of assistance."

Xu Yuan looked into the distance, reaching out into the void towards the direction of the Northern Border City, his voice calm and deliberate, "If they had been willing to return to reinforce Northern Border City, if they had been willing to use the opening created by the Cloud Qi Bomb to engage the Barbarian Army in a decisive battle outside the city, these three hundred thousand elites would never have fallen to this state."

Li Qingyan pondered for a moment, then said in a low voice:

"That’s also due to the Barbarian Strange King’s ability to seize opportunities."

Xu Yuan slowly withdrew his hand, nodding slightly:

"Indeed, the actions of the Barbarian Strange King did come as a bit of a surprise to me. I didn’t expect him to stake all his chips in a desperate gamble."

"The nine big tribes under the Barbarian King directly committed seven to pin down the sect rear guard, while the last two tribes were left as bait within Northern Border City. With this tactic, had the Northern Border Sects turned their formations to battle the Barbarian Tribes outside Northern Border City, it’s likely the Barbarian Army would have collapsed first."

According to the information transmitted back from a position outside Northern Border City, the forces were roughly five hundred thousand against three hundred thousand. The Barbarian Tribes had a considerable numerical advantage, but the gap between the military strength of the Barbarian Tribes and Dayan had widened significantly over a millennium.

And warfare isn’t just about counting heads.

A simple fact,

If the ones in front fall one after another, would you dare to charge?

As the groups are essentially huddled together, seeing one person flee could lead to the second, and the third, eventually resulting in a large-scale rout.

To counteract this, the Barbarian Tribes crudely use their ancestral religious brainwashing.

Every barbarian is instilled from childhood with the notion—to not fear death, for dying on the battlefield means returning to the embrace of their ancestors.

As for Dayan’s army, it now relies more on systematic formations rather than such intangible things.

As a part of the formation, the soldiers resonate with their cultivation techniques, sensing both their leader and the comrades fighting by their side.

Moreover, with the development of cultivation techniques, Dayan’s formation when deployed, resonating with the soldiers’ own techniques, even affects their mentality to some extent, making them fight more selflessly and bravely.

And that’s just morale. The might of Dayan’s army formation is also much stronger than the Barbarian Tribes’ barbaric god totem.

Therefore,

In such battles of a million-man scale, unless the Barbarian Tribes are exceptionally resilient, truly believing in that so-called embrace of their ancestral god, the outcome will always be the Barbarian Tribes collapsing first.

In other words,

The sects’ current predicament is entirely of their own making.

They thought to grow stronger from nurturing an enemy, to preserve their strength, questioning why they should expend effort to exterminate the Barbarian Tribes while the Imperial Court sat back to pick the fruits of victory.

Then...

There was no then. A complete collapse.

With this in mind, Xu Yuan looked down at the snowstorm beneath the city tower:

"These elite troops of the sects are indeed elite, having managed to retreat in an organized manner to our Houting County even after a rout, under the pursuit of the Barbarian Tribes."

Li Qingyan spoke softly with a deep expression:

"Prince Consort, it’s not that the sect elites are formidable. It’s that the Barbarian Tribes are too weak. A thirty-thousand-strong Barbarian Tribe couldn’t possibly swallow them whole."

Upon hearing this, Xu Yuan couldn’t help but chuckle, saying:

"That’s true, even if they were three hundred thousand pigs running amok, they couldn’t be killed off in a few days."

"....."

Li Qingyan looked at Xu Yuan with a slightly peculiar expression, as if she hadn’t quite grasped the meaning behind his words.

Xu Yuan gathered his thoughts, waved his hand, indicating she needn’t take his words to heart, and then praised:

"With such a disparity in forces, even with my help, for the Barbarian Strange King to have fought like this, he’s indeed quite impressive."

Li Qingyan, catching the implications in Xu Yuan’s words, asked with a curved eyebrow: