Chapter 2260: Chapter 2260 Seize The Chance
"Exactly! Even with just thirty thousand men, at least twenty thousand should have made it back. Trading thirty thousand of our own for fifty thousand of the foreign race? Now, that is a deal worth making!" Zhao Hu nodded approvingly.
Li Xianying hesitated, momentarily uncertain about the best course of action.
Ye Liuyun promptly added, "If the circumstances favor us, we might even take advantage of the momentum and wipe out the fifty thousand foreign races stationed at the enemy’s central front. That would bring the total to a staggering one hundred thousand foreign raceseliminated.
Just by using them as a diversion, we could achieve such an overwhelming victory. It’s an opportunity too good to pass up!"
Though Li Xianying was sharp and experienced in her own right, she lacked expertise in battlefield strategy. Ye Liuyun’s intricate reasoning left her somewhat perplexed, yet she chose to place her trust in him for the time being.
Out of respect for her, Ye Liuyun took the trouble to construct such a meticulous argument. However, in truth, even if Li Xianying had objected, he had no intention of letting such a prime opportunity slip away.
Had it been his own army, Ye Liuyun would have had no need to use them as bait. His newly designed warships, boasting unparalleled speed, could weave through gaps in the enemy encirclement, enabling him to strike isolated enemy divisions with precision.
His newly designed warships, boasting unparalleled speed, could weave through gaps in the foreign race’s encirclement, enabling him to strike isolated foreign races with precision.
Besides, Ruan Haotian’s decision to challenge the enemy had never been part of Ye Liuyun’s original plan.
He had simply grabbed the opportunity. Since Ruan Haotian was eager to prove his strength, Ye Liuyun saw fit to grant him the opportunity. However, not without ensuring that the challenge ahead would be anything but easy.
The foreign race forces pursued Ye Liuyun relentlessly, while their central battalions maneuvered to intercept him.
However, at the critical moment, Ye Liuyun abruptly accelerated, veering eastward.
Observing Ruan Haotian’s sizable contingent of martial practitioners amassing in the eastern front, they quickly reorganized, calling for reinforcements from their main headquarters.
Interpreting the movements of both Ye Liuyun and Ruan Haotian, the foreign race assumed that the primary offensive was concentrated on the eastern front. As a result, they hastened their march toward the east.
Unbeknownst to Ruan Haotian, he and his men had already fallen into Ye Liuyun’s calculated trap.
Thus far, their advance had met with minimal resistance. The scattered foreign race in the east, numbering over twenty thousand, had regrouped but refrained from launching a direct assault. Instead, they continually withdrew, occasionally dispatching small squads to impede their progress.
Brimming with confidence, Ruan Haotian commanded his troops to press forward. He was determined to crush the eastern foreign races in a single decisive push. This way, he could claim an accomplishment substantial enough to ensure that Ye Liuyun did not completely overshadow him.
However, as they advanced, they suddenly spotted Ye Liuyun’s forces appearing on their flank.
"Why have they suddenly shown up here?"
"Are they trying to steal the credit now that victory is within our grasp?"
Ruan Haotian and the martial practitioners at his side instinctively assumed that Ye Liuyun had come to usurp their triumph.
Yet, Ye Liuyun had dispatched Li Xianying to warn Ruan Haotian that they were on the verge of being encircled. He offered to coordinate their forces to eliminate the fifty-thousand-strong enemy battalion at the central front.
Ye Liuyun had already anticipated Ruan Haotian’s jealousy and unwillingness to share credit. With his conceited and competitive nature, he was bound to see Ye Liuyun as a rival rather than an ally, making any form of collaboration impossible.
Predictably, Ruan Haotian remained distrustful. Even as Li Xianying earnestly assured him of their shared interests, he dismissed them outright, convinced that they were merely Ye Liuyun’s accomplices.
"Even if the foreign race is here, you’re the ones who lured them in! You handle it! We are engaged in battle at the eastern front and do not require your assistance. Leave immediately!" Ruan Haotian commanded, his voice laced with arrogance.
Left with no choice, Li Xianying returned to report the rejection to Ye Liuyun.
Ye Liuyun had long foreseen this outcome. Feigning disappointment, Ye Liuyun offered words of consolation to Li Xianying. However, he was actually quite pleased.
He then discreetly left behind his smallest Devil Beast and inconspicuous puppet creatures to monitor both the foreign races’ movements and Ruan Haotian’s forces.
Meanwhile, Ye Liuyun led his army aboard their warships, maneuvering through the void as they set course northwest.
His intention was to bypass the fifty-thousand-strong enemy force advancing from the central front. Just beyond them lay an additional reserve force of thirty thousand. Ye Liuyun aimed to eliminate this reinforcement unit first.
The enemy’s Western and Central armies, having relentlessly pursued Ye Liuyun, were suddenly at a loss.
They had expected him to flee southward, but he had vanished from their sights. After dispatching scouts south to search for his whereabouts and coming up empty-handed, they mistakenly concluded that he had indeed retreated.
With Ruan Haotian’s thirty-thousand-strong force still entangled in the east, the enemy forces revised their strategy. The central army of fifty thousand prepared to launch the primary assault, while the western army of another fifty thousand assumed a blocking position, both keeping a wary eye out for Ye Liuyun’s potential reappearance.
After Ye Liuyun withdrew, Ruan Haotian grew suspicious and ordered his men to scout the surrounding area. He, too, sensed that the foreign race ahead might be deliberately luring them into pursuit.
However, at that time, the foreign race had yet to fully assemble. The scouts Ruan Haotian dispatched shared his skepticism, believing that Ye Liuyun was merely sounding an unnecessary alarm. They made a cursory sweep of the area and returned shortly after, reporting nothing unusual.
Ruan Haotian eased his guard, instructing his men to monitor the movements of the central forces and intensify their pursuit of the foreign race battalion, which numbered twenty thousand.
A day later, the fleeing foreign races abruptly ceased their retreat and shifted into a full defensive stance, preparing for battle.
In just half a day, the central army would arrive at this location. Meanwhile, an additional twenty thousand foreign race reinforcements had already set out from their main stronghold to support them.
The fifty-thousand-strong western army of the foreign race had already begun maneuvering to sever Ruan Haotian’s retreat. At this moment, he was completely encircled. With their trap fully sprung, the foreign races no longer needed to feign retreat.
At the same time, Ye Liuyun commanded his warships to accelerate, soon detecting a thirty-thousand-strong reserve force stationed in the enemy’s central front.
Without hesitation, they disembarked. This time, Ye Liuyun unleashed his puppet beasts in a devastating charge. Following closely behind, Ye Tiandao’s Blade Legion stormed into the fray, while the Dark Legion spearheaded the main assault.
As soon as the battle commenced, the reserve force was already lacking in strength. With their overwhelming advantage, Ye Liuyun no longer had to worry about the outcome of this fight.
"How many foreign race troops are stationed on this battlefield?" Ye Liuyun suddenly inquired of Li Xianying.
Based on Li Yuanlang’s previous reports, the foreign race typically numbered around two hundred thousand. Even if they had concealed some of their strength, it would not exceed an additional hundred thousand at most. Ye Liuyun estimated that the foreign race’s main base must now be critically under-defended.
Li Xianying’s response aligned with Li Yuanlang’s assessment.
Doing a quick calculation, Ye Liuyun noted that the eastern encirclement force targeting Ruan Haotian numbered one hundred and forty thousand. The troops before him added up to thirty thousand. Including the fifty thousand he had just annihilated, this left the enemy’s headquarters at its weakest defensive state.
"With so many troops, why hasn’t the foreign race launched a direct assault on our base?" Ye Liuyun mused, finding the situation rather intriguing.
"It’s because of the coffins outside," Li Xianying explained. "Unless they sacrifice tens of thousands of soldiers, they can’t even reach the outer perimeter of our base. And even if they do, the defensive formations will inflict even greater casualties upon them."
"They’ve actually tried attacking three times before. The first time, they breached the outer perimeter but were repelled by the Formation’s counterattack, only to be ambushed and slaughtered by our forces. The other two attempts never even made it that far. Those coffins cut them down before they could get close."
