Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Chapter 706: Chapter 290: Bountiful Harvest—Store Land or Store People_3

Under Wushuang’s command, aside from the Cloud Dragon Army, there was also the recently transferred escort team and part of the hunting teams. The total number in the Earth-digging Realm was around 2,500;

After the Martial Arts Competition was held in June, the number of Earth-digging Realm personnel in the Great Xia officially exceeded ten thousand. Another month has passed, and the number is naturally increasing. According to Xia Hong’s estimate, it should be around thirteen thousand, so Xia Chuan’s words basically hold true.

If all the Earth-digging Realm forces of the Great Xia could be gathered here at Wushuang, then even if Long Mountain mobilized all its forces, it would be as difficult as climbing to the sky to capture Wushuang, let alone relying on just those three thousand Longyou Army.

Everyone clearly agreed with Xia Chuan and Yuwen Dao’s proposal; no one voiced any objections.

After Xia Hong glanced at everyone, he slightly shook his head and finally turned his gaze to Xia Chuan, asking in return: ”You just said that stubbornly defending Wushuang is an unwise choice. If that’s the case, then by gathering all the Earth-digging Realm here at Wushuang, aren’t we doing what you said, stubbornly defending Wushuang?”

...

Upon hearing this, Xia Chuan’s expression suddenly froze.

Not only him, but Yuwen Dao and the others were also taken aback, then looked at Xia Hong with faces full of confusion.

Wushuang is the territory of the Great Xia. They’re currently here, and Long Mountain will surely assemble a large army to attack. Isn’t it obvious they should gather the Earth-digging Realm here to defend against Long Mountain’s attacks?

Seeing everyone’s expressions, Xia Hong immediately knew what they were thinking. His expression was first a bit odd, then he changed his approach and asked Xia Chuan: ”What is our ultimate goal in coming to Longyou?”

”Of course, to annex Long Mountain!”

”And how can we annex Long Mountain?”

”Defeat the three thousand Longyou Army, destroy the Longshan Li Family, and all living forces loyal to the Li Family.”

Xia Chuan’s understanding is not lacking, especially since steering the Great Xia, as he’s managed more affairs, exchanges with Xia Hong have become more frequent. He’s learned many new concepts from him.

Xia Hong once personally stated that the most important thing when disintegrating and annexing a camp is to eliminate the biggest vested interest group within the camp. This rule applies to all camps in the Ice Abyss, including the Great Xia itself.

Longshan Camp’s overall structure was something Xia Chuan had already grasped through Li Hu and Yang Zhong, so he clearly understood that the Li Family, holding three thousand Longyou Army, was the uncrowned king of Long Mountain, along with those loyal to them, they were the biggest vested interest group of Long Mountain.

So, that’s why he responded in such a way.

As he gave this answer, Xia Chuan clearly realized something, and his expression abruptly became stunned as he immediately reacted.

Yes!

The ultimate goal of the Great Xia is to destroy the three thousand Longyou Army, destroy the Li Family, and all living forces loyal to the Li Family, rather than stubbornly defending Wushuang!

”We need to recognize where our advantages lie. The military strength of Long Mountain is much stronger than ours. They have no fear of direct confrontation and will most likely raise an army to attack Wushuang.

If we stubbornly defend here, it will play right into their hands.

The Great Xia can deploy Earth-digging Realm forces, but do you think Long Mountain can’t?

Zhaoyang was initially just allied with Long Mountain, but now that the Blood Guard Army is gone and Hou Hu almost died at my hands, he will most likely integrate his entire base into Long Mountain. Once these two unite, they will surely outnumber our Earth-digging Realm. By then, whether Wushuang can be defended is truly uncertain!”

Xia Chuan, Yuwen Dao, and Chen Yingyuan seemed to understand, while others appeared to still be somewhat confused, all still in deep thought.

”Compared to Long Mountain, where does our Great Xia’s advantage lie?”

”Xia City isn’t in Longyou. Wushuang, Beehive, Hanqiong, to put it bluntly, are just three outposts of our Great Xia. We can come and go anytime, but Long Mountain can’t; their main base is on Long Mountain, and it can’t be moved.”

This time, it was Yuwen Dao who spoke up in response.

His words clearly awoke everyone.

Xia Chuan, Chen Yingyuan, Peng Bo, and others suddenly all had an epiphany.

It’s a choice between losing ground to preserve people or losing people to preserve ground.

Simply put, it’s these two choices.

In a world where civilization has fallen, it requires so many words to explain such a simple truth. Xia Hong immediately shook his head.

”Avoid the edge of the three thousand Longyou Army; first find a way to weaken Long Mountain’s overall strength. As long as the battlefield remains in Longyou, however the fight goes, as long as the Great Xia suffers low casualties, it’s always profitable, understand?”

Xia Hong now spoke in even more straightforward terms.

”Understood, I will now notify Meng Yi and Lu Yang to withdraw the Logging Realm from Hanqiong and Beehive, leaving only the Earth-digging Realm in Longyou; in addition, instruct Zhao Long to bring all one thousand defenders from Hanqiong to Wushuang, awaiting orders!”

It’s clear that Xia Chuan has completely grasped his meaning.

Xia Hong lightly smiled and nodded, waving his hand to indicate for Xia Chuan to proceed.