Chapter 696: Chapter 288: On the March, Hou Hu’s Wrath
"Alright, urge the army to speed up, I’ll keep an eye on things from behind!"
After saying this, Xia Hong suddenly looked down at Zhou Yuan not far away.
Zhou Yuan seemed to have figured something out, his face in a state of uncertainty, staring intently at Xia Hong.
"You guys didn’t clear the bodies in the Changbai Gully on purpose, intending to lure Hou Hu’s army into pursuit, and then ambush them halfway?"
Hearing Zhou Yuan’s words, Xia Hong showed a faint smile, didn’t explain, just nodded lightly.
Zhou Yuan was taken aback but immediately sneered twice and continued, "Hou Hu isn’t that stupid. Without verifying the location of your army, why would he recklessly pursue? Zhaoyang’s Cold Resistance Level isn’t lacking. Don’t think only your Great Xia can scout the enemy in advance."
"You’ll soon find out!"
Xia Hong didn’t bother to explain further, just waved his hand, signaling Yuwen Dao and others to continue pressing them forward at a fast pace, while he himself darted to the north side.
"Alright, let’s move quickly!"
Urged by Yuwen Dao and others, Zhou Yuan could only move forward, but as he looked back at Xia Hong’s figure disappearing into the snowy plains, his eyebrows furrowed even more deeply.
From the moment Xia Hong appeared, he understood that Xia Chuan at most could be considered someone who leads troops in battle, but the planner of this large-scale battle was not him.
The Changbai Gully battle was indeed brilliantly executed by Great Xia, killing over sixty percent of Long Mountain soldiers, capturing nearly thirty percent, and with their own casualties estimated at around ten percent. If it weren’t for his desperate fight, Song Ning, Li Yuankai, and those dozens of Longyou soldiers probably wouldn’t have escaped.
But even ten percent casualties are still casualties.
When he was captured, he carefully observed, and estimated that Great Xia now has less than nine hundred combat-ready soldiers. And dragging along so much baggage, how could they ambush Hou Hu’s one thousand Blood Guard Army?
The crucial point is...
"The combat power of the Zhaoyang Blood Guard Army is comparable to the Longyou Army of the same number, while their thousand new troops are on a completely different level. And Hou Hu, being extremely cautious, wouldn’t easily fall into an ambush. Great Xia is definitely going to suffer big time next!"
At this moment, Zhou Yuan felt filled with resentment, and was eager to see Great Xia’s defeat.
The Longyou Four Armies, established only a month ago, was destroyed by his own hands, and he was too ashamed to return to Long Mountain, having already harbored thoughts of death.
The only thing on his mind now was to watch Great Xia’s misfortune.
"Transport team, spotted the transport team."
"Here they are, finally arrived."
......
An hour quickly passed, and the Cloud Dragon Army trudged southward through the snowy night, covering four or five kilometers. With a few exclamations from the front, the soldiers raised their heads to find a long line of troops from the south heading towards them.
This troop was also about a thousand strong, but unlike the Cloud Dragon Army, where only seventy percent wore light golden armor, everyone in that troop wore light golden armor.
Visually, the so-called transport team appeared much more impressive than the Cloud Dragon Army, looking more like a proper military force.
"Great Xia has another army! How is this possible..."
At first sight of the transport team, Zhou Yuan was stunned, his face full of shock, but as the two groups drew closer and were only two or three hundred meters apart, he carefully examined the transport team, and finally his expression began to relax.
"Their armor and weapons are the same, but their basic strength is only around fifteen thousand, slightly higher at twenty thousand. They’re not an army, just a transport team formed by ordinary Earth-digging Realm soldiers of Great Xia."
The thousand Cloud Dragon Army already exceeded Long Mountain’s understanding of Great Xia; if they could bring out a force stronger than the Cloud Dragon Army, he would truly despair.
Zhou Yuan, with a slight shift in his mood, selected a dozen or so from the transport team, observing them closely and discovered more.
"No, the weapons and armor are different, only the color is the same. This group is wearing armor and using weapons all at the Ten-forged Level. No wonder it’s called a transport team, specialized for transporting baggage."
Seeing the quality of the transport team, Zhou Yuan sneered a few times.
Having dedicated people to transport the baggage, but so what? The Blood Guard Army’s strength is evident. Even without the burden of baggage, Great Xia’s odds of victory are minimal.
"Okay, just a few hundred meters left. Cloud Dragon Army, drop the baggage and immediately follow Liu Yuan behind the eastern snow hill. Quickly, quickly!"
Upon Xia Chuan’s command, soldiers of the ten battalions of the Cloud Dragon Army dropped the baggage and followed Liu Yuan towards a snow hill forty to fifty meters high on the east side.
As the Cloud Dragon Army moved, the snowfield quickly became empty, leaving only ten empty vehicles, scattered weapons and armor, and over two hundred Long Mountain prisoners.
Zhou Yuan was also among the captives.
He turned his head to the right and noticed a portion of the transport team split off to erase the tracks of the Cloud Dragon Army climbing the snow hill. He immediately realized that the snow hill, barely forty meters tall, was the hiding spot for the Cloud Dragon Army to ambush Hou Hu’s Blood Guard Army.
"This is precisely calculated so that the Blood Guard Army will follow the path they tread, chase all the way to this spot, and then they will suddenly appear from behind the snow hill and strike down from a height against the Blood Guard Army?"
After understanding Great Xia’s plan, Zhou Yuan’s expression turned peculiar.
To save time in pursuit, the Blood Guard Army won’t carve a new path and will likely follow the snowy path created by Great Xia, which holds little surprise.
The question is, before Hou Hu departs, would he not send scouts to check the snow hill?
Most of Longyou is flat plains, and there are few places to hide troops and ambush. This snow hill is so conspicuous; how could Hou Hu ignore it?