Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Chapter 1679: Chapter 531: Strength Speaks, Failure to See the Situation and Renewed Conflict

As for how many Tribulation Body Realm experts the Two Vassals have in total, Xia Hong certainly doesn’t know.

But having personally ventured into both places, he can somewhat estimate.

Take Chen Cang for instance, on the surface, apart from Landgrave Chu Longteng, Commander Chen Liwu, former Grand Master Chen Lixin, then the Five County Governors, Two City Lords, Red Dragon Army Admiral Wu Dongyang, and the four department chiefs in military, justice, jurisdiction, and civil affairs: Chu Tianba, He Taiping, Wang Xuansun, and Chen Tianshuang. Finally, the two army commanders of Red Dragon and White Robe, Wu Dongyang and Chen Tianqing.

This makes a total of sixteen.

Of course, this is just on the surface. The Great Xia capital always knows to keep some cards up their sleeves; with Chen Cang’s three-hundred-year heritage, how could they possibly lay all their cards on the table for others to see?

Considering Chen Cang currently ranks first in overall strength among the Four Vassals, Xia Hong multiplied this number by three, estimating that Chen Cang’s Tribulation Body Realm experts must exceed fifty.

Using Chen Cang’s numbers as a reference, the other Three Vassals would have at most about thirty Tribulation Body Realm experts, with the probability of surpassing forty being negligible.

With forty Tribulation Body Realm experts, if the Great Xia didn’t have the Cold Beast Stake, Xia Hong wouldn’t even think of turning against the Feudal Towns, let alone interacting with them.

The key here is that this is merely the number of top-tier experts. A camp’s strength isn’t solely determined by this one indicator; the Xianyang Level experts beneath them and the core Cold Resistance Level are equally important.

And in these two areas, the strength of Great Xia compared to the Four Vassals is completely outmatched.

It’s no exaggeration to say, in a one-on-one situation, even the currently weakest Hezang among the Four Vassals is far beyond Great Xia’s reach.

However, things in this world are never simple, especially when it involves interactions and confrontations of such great powers. It’s always a matter of pulling one strand affects the entire body, each having its own difficulties, and never about one-on-one conflicts.

Chen Cang is strong enough, but it faces internal constraints from the Chen Family, external threats from the deceitful monster forces of the Blood Miasma Plain, and the apprehensions from the three other Vassals. In the Moao River, they are already shackled and unable to act freely, how could they spare energy to deal with the Great Xia?

Cai Qiu is even more so, sandwiched in the middle of the Three Vassals’ territory, a four-fronted battlefield, it has no room for external expansion. To the left is the increasingly powerful and aggressive Chen Cang, to the right is the sparsely populated but incredibly strong Wei Bo; they dream of introducing external forces to help share the pressure from the Three Vassals. Even if they had the intent to use military force externally, they wouldn’t have the capability.

It’s just these two entities that the Great Xia needs to consider.

What kind of posture Great Xia should adopt facing the Two Vassals, this question was something Xia Hong was contemplating on the way back from Chen Cang.

The answer comes in two words: equality.

Of course, Great Xia’s strength is not on par with the Feudal Towns, but at this juncture, as long as they can exhibit strength sufficient to make the Feudal Towns cautious of them, achieving an equal standing with them is entirely feasible.

The immediate task for Chen Cang is the deceitful monster forces in Yanze Lake; once they are dealt with, Chen Cang can focus on advancing eastward or northward, pressing on Cai Qiu and Hezang.

And Cai Qiu’s trouble, on the surface, is the deceitful monster forces, but in reality, it’s Chen Cang. Chen Cang’s reform and military actions against the Blood Miasma Plain are proceeding simultaneously. Once these are accomplished, Cai Qiu will certainly bear the brunt, becoming Chen Cang’s next target.

At this critical juncture, the appearance of the Great Xia, which is not so strong yet capable of causing considerable trouble for the Feudal Towns, is simply perfect timing.

Being not so strong means Chen Cang is unlikely to devote too much attention; having some strength means Cai Qiu will certainly have the idea to use Great Xia, trying to make it a threat to Chen Cang.

For these reasons, Cai Qiu will inevitably compromise with Great Xia, while Chen Cang, to reduce unnecessary trouble, may not go all out to appease Great Xia, at least not trouble them too much concerning Beishuo.

These two assumptions were what Xia Hong thought of before returning to the Southern Slope Territory.

Killing Yang Zhun and scaring Chu Tianxu away happened yesterday, on the 30th, and now over 12 hours have passed with no one from Chen Cang coming to cause trouble, at least not openly…

Thinking of this, Xia Hong glanced around slightly before fixating back on Cai Qianshan hovering in mid-air.

With Chu Tianxu losing face so badly and no one arriving within 12 hours, it basically corroborates his second guess. What’s to follow is to verify whether his first guess is correct.

A ratio of three Rock, four Double Line, and seven Single Line, a total of twelve Five Luminaries Realm Beast Emperor Puppets: this strength is what Xia Hong decided to show the Two Vassals after much deliberation.

Under the same realm, Cold Beasts are stronger than humans. A Three-Rowed Beast Emperor can contend with a Fourth Turn Tribulation Body Realm, equivalent to an expert at the Landgrave level, and the four Double Line Beast Emperors presumably correspond to the Second Turn Tribulation Body Realm of the Feudal Towns, equating to those County Governor-level experts. The remaining seven Single Line Beast Emperors correspond to the most common First Turn Tribulation Body Realm.

The key is, these are puppets!

These are puppets that don’t fear pain or death, and the puppet secret technique of the Great Xia is mysterious enough in the eyes of outsiders. Whether Xia Hong has more, stronger puppets, and what they consume to operate, or if they can be repaired, outsiders have no clue.

Unknown means mysterious, and mysterious implies power!

Information disparity has always been the most lethal element of the Ice Abyss.

One could say that with these twelve Beast Emperor-level puppets, at the level of top-tier experts, Great Xia’s strength is almost on par with the Feudal Towns. The real gap might only lie in the middle and lower levels.