owlsbooks Chapter 2701 Even Ziya Has His Limits; At the Peak of Celestial Beings, He Acts as a Messenger
Chapter 2701 Even Ziya Has His Limits; At the Peak of Celestial Beings, He Acts as a Messenger
Chapter 2701 Even Ziya Has His Limits; At the Peak of Celestial Beings, He Acts as a Messenger
Daqian, Bailang Ridge.
When news of Ji Chengfu's crushing defeat at Luofeng Slope reached this place, with a thud, Jiang Ziya lost his grip on the letter and it fell to the ground.
Ji Chengfu's defeat had a huge impact. Perhaps a month later, Ji Chengfu will be able to gather all the defeated troops he had previously defeated and rebuild a fighting force capable of confronting Xue Rengui.
However, at least for the next month or two, Dongye Road and Jianye Road will be completely empty.
Ji Chengfu's defeat effectively handed over the flank of their frontline army to Xue Rengui.
Upon considering the consequences, even Jiang Ziya was enveloped by an endless chill and it took him a long time to recover.
At this moment, if he could, Jiang Ziya would have liked to cut off Ji Cheng's father's head.
However, although the Great Qian Dynasty had many capable generals, very few could truly stand alone in such a large-scale situation.
From this perspective alone, although Ji Chengfu's defeat had enormous consequences and he had to take responsibility for it, at most he should be punished, but the other party's head could not be so easily and cleanly chopped off.
Of course, the most crucial point is that Ji Chengfu is ultimately Jiang Chaoyu's man. Whether for public or private reasons, Jiang Ziya has no right to deal with him directly; only Jiang Chaoyu has that right.
Having reached the brink of national demise, Jiang Ziya was unwilling to create any more unnecessary hidden dangers, especially internal ones.
After all, in Jiang Ziya's view, Jiang Chaoyu was capable and indeed good at fighting, but he certainly lacked the qualities of a great ruler. Ability and the qualities of a great ruler are two completely different things.
The reason Jiang Ziya ultimately chose to support him was simply because he was choosing the best among the worst.
There's no other choice, so what can we do?
Now, Jiang Ziya's only consolation is that at least Ji Cheng's father wasn't completely foolish enough to send him the news immediately after the defeat.
At least, even if he can no longer turn the tide, he can still buy time to preserve his forces as much as possible and cut his losses.
If we wait until Xue Rengui has completely taken over Dongye Road and Jianye Road, it's uncertain whether Jiang Ziya will be able to perfectly preserve his forces if he tries to react at that time.
Of course, Jiang Ziya was also paying close attention to the great battle between Ji Chengfu and Xue Rengui, especially since Ji Chengfu had already suffered a crushing defeat. Jiang Ziya was even more concerned about the situation there.
Even if Ji Cheng's father didn't send a message immediately, it would only take half a day or a day at most for Jiang Ziya to find out the situation there.
In fact, after Ji Chengfu was defeated by Xue Rengui, Jiang Ziya did have the idea of sending troops to intervene on that side.
However, ultimately, due to insufficient strength, they were willing but unable to do anything about it.
With only 40,000 troops at his disposal, he used the natural defenses of White Wolf Ridge to prevent Bai Qi, who had nearly 200,000 soldiers, from breaking through and was firmly blocked east of White Wolf Ridge.
However, defending a strategic location was already the limit for Jiang Ziya.
If Jiang Ziya were to mobilize troops to intervene in Ji Chengfu and Xue Rengui's territory, regardless of whether it succeeds or not, Bailang Ridge would likely be in danger. For the past few months, Jiang Ziya has outwardly maintained a firm grip on Bailang Ridge, but in reality, he hasn't had an easy time.
Bai Qi was firmly blocked by him below Bailang Ridge. On the contrary, Wu Qi, a general under Bai Qi, would occasionally launch a surprise attack on Jiang Ziya. Although the casualties caused to Bailang Ridge were limited each time, the number of troops in Bailang Ridge was also limited.
Over time, the accumulated casualties caused Jiang Ziya a pang of heartache.
If things continue to develop in this way, Bai Qi may not be able to do anything about Bailang Ridge, but Wu Qi's strategy of attrition over time could very well wear down Bailang Ridge's forces to an extremely dangerous level, making them unable to resist Bai Qi's main force.
In short, with the combined efforts of Bai Qi and Wu Qi, Jiang Ziya himself was exhausted during this period.
Jiang Ziya silently got up and stared intently at the directions of Dongye Road and Jianye Road. These two roads, together with Xingbei Road, which had been occupied by the Han Dynasty, together formed the entire northeastern region of the Great Qian Dynasty.
Therefore, Jiang Ziya turned his attention to Wangbei Road to the west of Xingbei Road and Xingwu Road to the west of Jianye Road.
Even though Jiang Ziya frowned and pondered for the better part of an hour, he still couldn't come up with any way to break the deadlock.
Or rather, it's not that he lacked a way to break the deadlock, but simply having the method wasn't enough; he needed the power to do so.
Unfortunately, at this point, they could no longer muster a force capable of breaking the deadlock.
At the same time, facing the pincer attack from the north and south by the Han and Ming states, the available military forces in the country had been mobilized, so where could more troops be mobilized?
Moreover, the troops to be mobilized are not the kind of temporary conscripts used to make up the numbers, but rather truly elite soldiers capable of fighting.
Is it his White Wolf Ridge that can mobilize troops? Or is it Yao Xiong, facing Yue Fei's million-strong army, who can mobilize troops?
As for transferring troops from the south, that was even more impossible. The pressure there was definitely no less than that on the north. At least the north had some natural defenses, but the south, having already occupied four routes, simply did not have enough rugged terrain to rely on.
If troops were to be transferred from there, the southern front would collapse in no time, and Zhu Yuanzhang would then be able to march straight into Qiandu.
Moreover, even if troops could be mobilized from the south, it would be too late. It would require mobilizing troops across the entire dynasty, from north to south. How could that be done in just a day or two?
Rather than hoping for that, it would be better to hope that Ji Chengfu can regroup and reunite the defeated troops.
After a long while, Jiang Ziya, who had stood in front of that map for who knows how long, finally sighed helplessly.
Jiang Ziya called out towards the outside of the tent: "Longxuhu".
The curtain was lifted, and a tall, rugged-looking young man walked in.
This man had a face as blue as indigo and hair as red as cinnabar, and he had an unusual appearance. He was none other than Long Xuhu, a disciple of Jiang Ziya.
He bowed respectfully upon entering the tent and said, "Master."
"Go and invite the Supreme Elder of the Farmers to come and fetch the land."
Longxuhu raised his head, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes, but he quickly concealed it, clasped his hands and said, "Yes."
As soon as he finished speaking, Longxuhu turned and strode away, his footsteps quickly disappearing outside the tent.