The World Online
chapter-731

The sun rose, shining down on the earth.

In the morning sun, the three legions were like three dragons coming out from the sea, going out from the west, north, and east city gates of Zhenhai City and onto their own paths.

After sending them away, Huo Qubing did not remain in Zhenhai City.

According to his plan, they would not leave any troops to protect the city, not even a reserve force.

Huo Qubing would personally lead the Guards Legion from the northeast direction to stab into the Chaozhou Prefecture at the most east of Lingnan Province. Then he would go up north and attack Shaozhou Prefecture, which was the north part of Lingnan Province.

Further north of Shaozhou was Xiangnan Province.

Huo Qubing excelled at long distance consecutive battles.

At the same time, the Jiaozhou Squadron housed in the Jiaozhou Port had moved off, going through the Zhujiang water system to enter Lingnan Province.

Their mission was to provide cover for the army from the seas and transport grain and resources to the army if needed.

In the Lingnan province waters, the Jiaozhou Squadron was an invincible presence. If any territory had its main city around the coast, they could only blame their luck.

The Fleet Admiral of the Jiaozhou Squadron, Shi Lang, could be said to be an extremely experienced navy general. Under his leadership, one could definitely look forward to how they would perform in the Battle of Lingnan.

At 9 AM, Shi Wanshui's legion that left the earliest crossed the Zhenhai City border and officially entered enemy territory. The neighboring defending army was destroyed before they could even react.

The flames of war were officially lit.

In just one morning, the various fronts all found their own targets and started to siege and destroy cities.

The entire Jiaozhou Prefecture was engulfed in flames and peace was broken.

At this moment, the news of Shanhai City changing their targets had spread around and shocked the land.

Yunnan Province, Alliance Army command center.

"Is your news true?" Qin Feng asked the intel officer for the third time.

"Definitely, based on the reports, we can confirm that the Guards Legion, 2nd legion of the Dragon Legion Corps, City Protection Legion, and the 3rd legion of the Tiger Legion Corps is in Lingnan Province."

Phew!

Qin Feng let out a sigh of relief, not knowing whether to feel fortunate or furious.

From start to finish, the enemy's target was Lingnan City-State and Yunnan City-State was just a smoke bomb, a fake out that drew all their attention.

"Damn it!"

As the massive pressure had passed, Qin Feng started to feel fury from being overlooked, "So Shanhai City does not think we are the same level of opponents?"

"Now, what should we do, counterattack?" someone suggested.

Qin Feng suppressed the emotions that swelled up within him and shook his head, "Counterattack what? Do not forget the enemy still has two War Fighting Legions at our border. Which one of you has the confidence to destroy those two with just 200 thousand troops?"

Being asked this question, the various Lords all looked at one another; the atmosphere was truly awkward.

Not mentioning the 3rd legion of the Dragon Legion Corps, the 1st legion of the Dragon Legion Corps led by Baiqi was one of the oldest legions in Shanhai City, and its combat strength could even be compared to the Guards Legion.

No one felt confident about defeating that Asura.

Observing the expressions of the other Lords, a look of despise flashed across Qin Feng's eyes. He solemnly said, "So let's just wait and see; let's not go provoke that asura."

The Lords all nodded, truly believing in that statement.

As for the life and death of Lingnan City-State, there was nothing they could do about it. After all, during their discussion in the four City-State meeting, Yuan Ping's promise was just to contain the Tiger Legion Corps.

Now, they were the ones who were in charge of containing the Dragon Legion and could be considered doing their duty.

"Friends, ah, good luck!"

Xiangnan Province, Caiyun City.

In the Lord's Manor, when Caiyun Zinan received the news, he quickly summoned Zhang Liang to discuss strategy, asking anxiously, "Zi Fang, Shanhai City has attacked the Lingnan City-State; what should we do?"

"What are the others thinking?"

"Them? They are a bunch of tortoises!" Speaking of which, Caiyun Zinan's expression was exceedingly ugly, "They intend to stick to the plan and not change. We are in charge of containing the Leopard Legion Corps, so we cannot move as we wish."

Zhang Liang nodded; he did not feel surprised by it.

"Mister also thinks we should not do anything?" Caiyun Zinan's bows frowned.

"No!"

Zhang Liang shook his head, "Lord, the situation might be much worse than you expect." Following which, Zhang Liang started to analyze the situation at hand and how it was going to affect the Liangheng Plan that he had started.

"It is foreseeable that the moment Lingnan City-State falls the Lianheng situation will immediately collapse. When that happens, we would have to face a Shanhai City that is more than one times stronger. When that time comes, does the Lord still have confidence in stopping the invasion of Shanhai City?" Zhang Liang said in the end.

Zhang Liang's analysis was basically what Shanhai City had planned out.

The title of strategy saint was something he truly deserved.

Without even walking out of his house, Zhang Liang was able to see the strategic goal of Shanhai City so clearly, making one truly respect him.

When Caiyun Zinan heard this analysis, he felt a shiver run down his spine.

"I'll go discuss this matter with them." Caiyun Zinan stood up and left, anxious beyond belief.

When Zhang Liang saw Caiyun Zinan leave, he silently shook his head.

As expected, in less than an hour, Caiyun Zinan returned once more with a depressed expression.

"Damn it, they are a bunch of short-sighted people!" Caiyun Zinan scolded. Evidently, the meeting with the Lords of Xiangnan City-State did not go as he had wished.

Not everyone had the courage to go all out.

To defend their own land, the Lords naturally would do that as they had a responsibility to do so.

But to ask them to take the initiative to send troops to Lingnan and directly face off against the Shanhai City Army, they were not willing to do so.

"The current situation is not clear, and the war has just started. Let's just wait for a while. When the Lingnan City-State requests for help, it would not be too late to make a decision then." The Lords tried to avoid the situation like that.

Caiyun Zinan was not a confrontational person, so he was left speechless to their words.

Anyone was clear that saving someone was like saving a fire.

Based on the rules of Gaia, City-States was just an alliance in name; internally, they could not form a second alliance. This meant that for Xiangnan City-State to assist Lingnan City-State, they could not directly teleport troops over.

At most, they could only teleport to the border and move in from there.

Hence, the earlier the better if they wanted to assist the Lingnan City-State.

'When the situation becomes clear, the dish is already cold!' Caiyun Zinan thought with hatred.

Zhang Liang saw that his Lord's expression was unstable; he knew that his conjecture was correct. After being around Caiyun Zinan for so long, he knew the attitude of his Lord like the back of his hand.

"Too careful, and not enough charm and confidence!"

Such an attitude could not be said to be bad, but it would be difficult for one to become a true ruler and hard for one to rule in a cruel environment like the wilderness.

In comparison, their opponent, Shanhai City, was on the right path.

They were more careful than anyone when needed and bolder than anyone when it was time to take a risk.

Just like the current Battle of Lingnan. Such large-scale misdirection was a bold plan and even Zhang Liang did not expect that.

"Zi Fang, what should we do now?"

The Lord's question broke Zhang Liang's train of thought.

Zhang Liang had already thought it through and said, "Lord, we cannot wait any longer. Ally with a group of your close allies and build a huge army to go down south toward Shaozhou Prefecture."

"Directly send troops?" When Caiyun Zinan heard this recommendation, he was a little unsure.

"That's right."

"Do we truly have to do that?"

"We have to."

"Okay." Caiyun Zinan gritted his teeth, "Let's go all in. I'll go gather the army now."

...

Compared to Xiangnan City-State, the neighboring Chuanbei City-State was totally quiet.

Regardless of if Shanhai City was attacking Lingnan or Yunnam, the Chuanbei City-State was a mess internally, and they could only contain the Leopard Legion Corps.

Everything else was not within their scope of consideration.

Lingnan Province, Alliance command center.

Three days ago, Yuan Ping had already built up the command center to prepare for the Battle of Nanjiang.

The earliest goal was like what Yuan Ping had promised Qin Feng: Be in charge of containing the Tiger Legion Corps. When needed, they would consider sending troops to attack Zhaoqing Prefecture.

Hence, during these few days, Yuan Ping was located in the command center.

Who knew that his local land that was so peaceful yesterday would end up in chaos all of a sudden?

Undoubtedly, Shanhai City entering Jiaozhou Prefecture had the biggest effect on Yuan Ping and the others.

"Oh my god, what is happening?"

After the Lords who were killed revived in the imperial city, they were filled with shock and confusion.

The other Lords in the command center panicked and did not know what to do.

"We're finished; it's over!"

"Damn it, the script did not go like this!"

The Lords all felt helpless. All of a sudden, they did not know what to say, some sat there in panic, and some paced all around the room, their faces ashen white.

Some of them chose to return to their territories; some knew that they could not defend against the Shanhai City Army and chose to stay in the command center to hope that they could come up with a solution.

Even the relatively calm and stable Yuan Ping felt like his legs were made of jelly when he got the news and nearly collapsed onto the ground. This news, to the Lingnan City-State, was like lightning on a sunny day.

Think about it, apart from the four legions led by Huo Qubing, even adding in the Jiaozhou Squadron, as well as the two legions led by Sun Bin, Shanhai City was attacking the Lingnan City-State with over 500 thousand troops.

This was a full two times the number they were going to use on Yunnan City-State, just thinking about it made one feel chills run down their spines.

"Shanhai City really shows respect to us!" Yuan Ping mocked himself.

None of the other Lords could laugh; this was totally not a laughing matter.