Chapter 2221: Chapter 2221 Three-Sided Attack
Although Liu Yang received the intel in time, he decided to bring along twenty thousand troops who had received rigorous training from Pei Yong.
He didn’t try to evade them. Instead, he decided to confront them head-on. He chose to engage in combat and capture a few martial practitioners on the spot amid the battle.
However, prideful fighters were destined to fall!
Liu Yang quickly discovered his error in estimating the fighting prowess of this disorganised gang when he faced them.
Each of them fought valiantly. Although less coordinated than Liu Yang’s gang, they were more powerful and intimidating nonetheless.
They also discovered that there were advanced ninth-level fighters amongst the enemy. Liu Yang immediately instructed his soldiers to hold them back while he retreated with the rest of the martial practitioners.
As a result, his twenty thousand soldiers were annihilated. Liu Yang fled to Inferno City with his soul cultivator and martial practitioners.
While travelling, they came across an impostor of Ye Liuyun, who urged them to return to the battlefield and continue the fight.
Fortunately, Liu Yang, sensed something was amiss. He communicated with Ye Liuyun with his Slaving Seal connection and alerted the true Ye Liuyun in Inferno City.
"You’ve been deceived! That’s an imposter! Spread out and flee. The one impersonating me is immensely powerful!"
Ye Liuyun conveyed his order to Liu Yang through the Slaving Seal.
However, after realizing he had been tricked, Liu Yang’s stubborn side kicked in. He instantly organized all the soul cultivators to launch a collective Divine Soul attack on the imposter.
He refused to believe that his team of more than fifty soul cultivators failed to defeat a single martial practitioner.
However, the martial practitioners had an artefact that could defend against Divine soul attack. With only a few moves, he eliminated about half of Liu Yang’s Soul Cultivators.
Even though they ultimately succeeded in capturing him by force, Liu Yang suffered heavy losses this time.
Furthermore, he was now being pursued by a small group of enemy soldiers with greater skill levels who attempted to murder them.
By the time Liu Yang fled back to Inferno City, only three soul cultivators were left by his side. Even the advanced ninth-level martial practitioners that Ye Liuyun assigned him had died in battle while intercepting the enemy chase.
This was also the worst defeat Ye Liuyun had suffered since entering the central region. A team of twenty thousand troops led by a strong leader was completely wiped out, with only one prisoner captured.
However, the value of this prisoner was rather high.
He was the infamous ’Thousand Faces’. Moreover, Ye Liuyun was confident that ’Tiger Head’ was in charge of these sixty thousand enemy soldiers.
Among the sixty thousand warriors were also five hundred praetorians and two defenders of the Nation.
After detailed questioning Liu Yang about the battle, Ye Liuyun discovered that Tiger Head did not take part in this fight personally. The troops chasing after Liu Yang were led by a commander. Otherwise, Liu Yang might not be able to escape at all.
Immediately, Ye Liuyun notified Mo Shaowen, "Retreat immediately! Let the army return on its own, you and the martial practitioner along with those soul cultivators should scatter and flee!"
He speculated that ’Tiger Head’ could have hidden an expert in stealth and dealt with Mo Shaowen because he did not focus his energies on Liu Yang.
Mo Shaowen promptly responded by issuing the order per Ye Liuyun’s directive.
As a result, the moment they retreated, they were attacked and pursued by stronger experts.
Ye Liuyun was right. ’Tiger Head’ was employing a feint attack strategy, concentrating his strongest forces against Mo Shaowen.
Thankfully, Mo Shaowen was able to disperse his forces ahead of schedule because of Ye Liuyun’s quick response.
Ultimately, about ten soul cultivators from Mo Shaowen’s team were chased down. The remaining experts managed to escape successfully.
However, the twenty thousand army was also wiped out by the praetorians led by ’Tiger Head’.
However, the big defeat was far from over.
’Tiger Head’ with his sixty-thousand army once again swept across the north, reclaiming each northern city one after another.
Also, his army was expanding fast, and it had already reached 150,000 men.
Meanwhile, in the west, the army stationed at Deliverance Hill began to suppress the martial practitioners’ uprising. They were utterly merciless to those who refused to surrender.
Additionally, the Western army rapidly gathered fifty thousand more warriors.
Ye Liuyun also called a meeting of his commanders to discuss strategies.
"I propose we launch our assault on the north first. ’Tiger Head’ and the 500 praetorians are all part of the northern army of the Central Revival Dynasty. The western garrison is only clearing out some rebel soldiers. They haven’t attacked us directly," Yu Xiaofeng suggested.
"I suspect ’Tiger Head’ is Yuan Hao!" Ye Liuyun speculated.
Song An analysed. "If Tiger Head and Yuan Hao are the same person, then his main troops are in the west. The west’s power likely exceeds that of the north."
"The Revival Dynasty still has forty thousand praetorians, we need to retain sufficient defensive strength!" Yu Xiaofeng added.
There was much deliberation and calculation, but ultimately, they couldn’t get enough troops.
"Move the one hundred thousand troops stationed by Mu Qingcheng in the eastern Endless Sea over to defend Inferno city. Within Inferno City, Liang Xue and others will assemble their defensive troops to aid in the defence as well."
"Send another hundred thousand troops guarding the Endless Sea in the south, under Pei Yong, to replace Yu Xiaofeng to hold the garrison city. Provide them with all the necessary defence gear."
"These two hundred thousand troops served as our defensive strength. Qiong Qi will assist in laying out the defence Formation."
"Xiao Yunfang remained in charge of the 100,000-army. Pushing toward regalty cautiously without reckless advances. Qiong Qi, Liu Yang, Mo Shaowen, and the remaining Soul cultivators will assist Xiao Yunfang."
"Yu Xiaofeng’s 100,000 troops are marching to the west. Let ’Thousand Faces’ transform into my image to confuse the enemy."
"I handed over the four thousand praetorian experts I captured last time to Yu Xiaofeng and Xiao Yunfang."
"I will lead the Blade Legion myself, together with the 100,000 troops of He Lianxiu to the north. They tried to confuse us. So, let’s bewilder them in return. Let them guess which way we are truly attacking from!"
"All three parties should attack at the same time and be prepared to fight tooth and nail. I’ll bring the Blade Legion to you should any problem arise."
"So you are saying, all three teams are the main attackers?" Yu Xiaofeng sought confirmation.
"That’s right! All are main attackers!" Ye Liuyun affirmed.
As they considered the ramifications of this conflict, everyone fell silent.
Simultaneous attacks from three different sides could indeed confuse the Revival Dynasty and leave them defenceless.
But they truly risked everything with this approach. And at least one of the armies would sustain significant losses.
A catastrophic loss could result from misjudging the opponent’s strength.
“What’s there to be afraid of?! No matter what happens, the Revival Dynasty will know of our strength and would be intimidated to attack our eastern positions again."
"But if we win this, the Revival Dynasty will be on the brink of collapse." To calm everyone down, Ye Liuyun offered reassurances.
"What if the three armies concentrate on attacking the Regalty?" Song An asked.
"It is still a high-risk move! The Regalty is defended by tens of thousands of praetorians. As the attacking side, our loss would be greater. If we can’t conquer Regalty immediately, we’d be sandwiched between their western and northern armies.” Ye Liuyun explained.
At last, everyone came to a consensus and decided to follow Ye Liuyun’s strategy for combat preparation.
