To achieve immortality, I cultivate using Qi Luck-Chapter 854 - 364 The Fall of Nanhai Country_2

Chapter 854 -364 The Fall of Nanhai Country_2

The morning light sprinkled down, casting the entire lake in a golden hue, and amidst that sea of gold, dots began to appear from afar, slowly emerging on the vast expanse of the lake.

In Changsha territory, at Floating Cloud Crossing.

Huang Xuan stood at the bow, gazing toward the distant ferry. By now, the ferry had already received orders; over a thousand gathered county soldiers had cleared the surrounding area, controlling the entire ferry point to ensure no messages could leak from this place.

“Changsha, we’ve finally arrived.”

The fleet entered the ferry point, and soon countless small boats approached, with Laborers and civilian workers transferring supplies, sending them toward the ships that had come from afar.

The daily consumption of supplies by the fifty thousand Forbidden Army and the ten thousand marines was astronomical.

...

To maintain secrecy, Lu Yuan had dispatched the marines to transport Huang Xuan’s surprise force, which meant they could not mobilize too many boats to avoid discovery by Ning spies.

Thus, the ships sent to Xichuan were actually limited, just enough to accommodate fifty thousand soldiers of the Forbidden Army.

The remaining space on some ships was limited, and so was the storage capacity for supplies.

Therefore, as the ships traveled each day, they had to seek a ferry point along the way for re-supply to replenish what the troops ashore had consumed.

Fortunately, Lu Yuan had anticipated this and had already arranged for people to choose appropriate places along the way, and gathered suitable troops and horses to prepare for this.

Whenever Huang Xuan’s surprise force reached a place, there would be a supply point, with the gathered prefectural and county soldiers controlling the ferry and sealing off the area tightly.

After the fleet was resupplied and left, they would not lift the blockade, but instead, continue to maintain it for ten days to cut off any possibility of message leakage.

Any boats encountered along the way were also detained by the fleet. Each time they reached a re-supply point, the detained boats were kept at the supply passage, guarded by soldiers from the prefectures and counties, preventing their escape.

In this manner, the fleet from Yuzhong Prefecture in Xichuan had been traveling for seven days, and the initial supply points were still under blockade.

Even if someone released a message now, by the time it reached Ning Country, Huang Xuan, who was already in Changsha Prefecture by then, would probably have already begun the surprise attack on Xiang Duan’s troops, with the battle likely being over already.

Thanks to these meticulous plans, Huang Xuan’s fleet had come all the way without any leaks.

Not to mention the people of Ning, even within the territory of Chu State, no one except the participants knew of this.

There were officials in the army responsible for receiving the supplies, so Huang Xuan needn’t pay much attention to that.

And at the ferry, a military officer from the Imperial City Division took a small boat to the ship where he was.

“I’ve seen the True Person.”

After boarding the ship, the officer hurriedly saluted.

“Mm,” Huang Xuan merely nodded, then asked, “What’s the situation in Changsha Prefecture now? I see that Floating Cloud Crossing here is peaceful and shows no trace of Ning bandits. Are they still held back by Changsha city?”

Changsha city, the capital of Changsha Prefecture, was situated in the middle of the prefecture, backed by Luoshan, and surrounded by Luoshui river, which could be considered a strategic location with mountain and water defenses.

The city walls of Changsha were also extremely solid; it was once the capital of Chu State, which speaks volumes about its majesty.

With such geographical advantages and a strong fortress to rely on, Changsha was as impregnable as Jiangxia city.

With such a strong city, Sun Siwen had an extremely easy job defending it.

Even though he was a bureaucrat and not skilled in battle, and the city’s elite troops were only twenty thousand, far less than the Hundred thousand Ning People led by Xiang Duan outside the city,

half a year had passed, and Changsha city remained unyielding. Even the loss of troops inside the city was not significant, barely exceeding ten thousand, most of whom were ordinary civilian workers conscripted.

With fifty thousand civilian households within Changsha city, Sun Siwen only needed to make a call, and those lost civilian workers were already being replenished, keeping the city’s troop strength at about a hundred thousand.

Such losses were negligible.

In contrast, the Ning Army outside the city, after besieging it for half a year, couldn’t even manage a complete encirclement of Changsha city.

Thanks to the Luoshui waterway, all kinds of supplies from outside continuously entered the city, ensuring a constant supply of food and fodder and well-stocked arms, keeping the battle strength at its peak state.

The Ning Army, however, suffered heavy losses in their numerous attempts to storm the city, reducing their numbers from an initial hundred thousand to only eighty thousand, with over twenty percent of their combat power crippled.

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To this day, facing Changsha city in front, Xiang Duan had almost run out of strategies, and the idea of breaching it had long been abandoned.

Without an order from Shen Qiu, he also dared not lead his troops to retreat and ended up in a stalemate under the city, stuck there, constraining each other with Chu Army inside Changsha city.

Also, because there were a hundred thousand troops inside Changsha city, along with an Inborn, and the Ning Army no longer had an absolute advantage, while also being in the heartland of Chu State,

Xiang Duan didn’t even dare to dispatch a Detached Army to attack the hinterlands of Changsha and Dongting.

He was afraid that delving too deep would lead to being targeted and encircled by the Chu forces, which would see his troops sandwiched between attacks and destroyed without a place for burial.

What started as a triumphantly anticipated battle had dragged into this embarrassing stalemate, leaving Xiang Duan exposed.

Thankfully, he wasn’t the only one disgraced.

The likes of Yang Jing in the north of the river, Shangguan Ming and Su Xuange in Lingnan, and even the Heavenly Son in Jiangxia, all had their embarrassing moments in this Chu-Ning decisive battle, outshining his infamy.

So in contrast, he seemed to be just mediocre. Within Ning Country, he was somewhat respected as a steady, reputed Old General and a famous general; it was indeed an odd piece of news.

The military officer from the Imperial City Division relayed all the information about the Changsha battlefield to Huang Xuan.

“I see. So, Xiang Duan, being repelled at Changsha city and wary of being attacked from behind, is stuck in indecision and can only hold a few small cities in the rear as his retreat route. That is why there is such tranquility behind Changsha city.”