To achieve immortality, I cultivate using Qi Luck

Diqiu.

"Crown Prince, this is bad, Liang City has been taken by the Chu people."

Zhao Xi was awoken from his bed by a series of panicked and anxious voices.

After receiving the news that Liang City had fallen, the Wei Country’s military officers in Diqiu were thrown into a state of panic.

But after the panic subsided and they regained their composure, they immediately realized that the situation had deteriorated to its worst.

And if they did not prepare early or take action to recover, everything would truly be beyond remedy.

The main camp at White Horse with its million-strong army, Liang City, the most crucial transportation hub between Henan and Hebei, Great Zhao would have completely lost it all.

So, the ministers of Great Zhao, not caring about the night, immediately gathered and entered the palace, arriving at Zhao Xi’s sleeping quarters.

"So you’re saying, the Chu people, unbeknownst to all of you, descended from the heavens like divine soldiers and arrived at Liang City, then within a few days, seized this important city?"

After listening to the group of ministers briefly describe the situation and sorting out the general developments, Zhao Xi, with a grim expression, asked, "Are the Chu army immortals? How could tens of thousands of them suddenly advance on Liang City?

Along the way, so many towns and two major cities, are the officials in them blind?

So many Chu troops crossing the border, and no one reported it to Diqiu?

And what about the defenders in those places, why didn’t they stop them, letting the Chu army cross the border just like that!

Isn’t there a garrison of fifty thousand in Watign County?

And An Qingyang, the Inborn General, I entrusted him with such an important place as Wat County, is this how he repays me, by letting Chu people enter our borders directly?"

Each question exposed Zhao Xi’s anger and fear, his confusion and incomprehension, fully on display.

And those ministers, who had rushed over during the night, faced with these questions, hung their heads in silence.

They appeared ashamed and speechless in the face of the questioning.

But in fact, apart from feeling slightly ashamed, many of the ministers were just like Crown Prince Zhao Xi, puzzled and bewildered by the sudden appearance of the Chu army.

The defense of Watign County was personally overseen by the Crown Prince during its construction, and when the defense line was completed, many ministers had accompanied the Crown Prince to inspect the county.

At that time, they had confirmed the solidity of this city, which truly deserved the name of a stronghold, impregnable.

With fifty thousand troops stationed there, along with an Inborn Grandmaster as the commander, even if the enemy attacked with ten times the strength, and even if the enemy had three or four Inborn among them, it would have been possible to withstand the siege for half a month.

Just a bit of support for a while would have been enough; once the country internally reacted, they naturally could send troops to reinforce the frontline at Wat County.

Even stepping back, if indeed the Chu army’s numbers were too great, their strength too formidable, and Watign County truly unable to hold out and wait for reinforcements,

as long as Watign County could send back word, even a small delay of ten days to half a month would be enough for the rear to assemble troops and rebuild another line of defense.

A buffer, a bridgehead, this was Watign County’s role.

But now, this buffer bridgehead had not only failed to fulfill its proper role, but the Chu army had also almost passed through without any hindrance.

Even those prefectures and counties behind Watign County failed to play their role.

Forget about stopping the Chu army and slowing their advance, they could not even manage to send a message.

This directly left the officials in Diqiu in the dark, clueless about the situation’s progress and changes on the frontline.

Ultimately, that brought about the terrible news tonight.

"Your Highness."

After a long silence, leading the group of ministers, the Nanjing Deputy Commander, Minister of the Ministry of War Chen Tai, took the initiative to speak, "According to the current intelligence, the Chu people’s progress was so rapid because they used a large number of prisoners without regard for losses.

Last year’s battle at Xingyang cost Great Zhao a million strong soldiers, with hundreds of thousands becoming prisoners of the Chu people.

In the past two months, Wei Country’s Nanyang and the two prefectures of Henan consecutively surrendered to Chu, with hundreds of thousands of Wei people put to use by the Chu.

Altogether, the prisoners and defectors from Zhao and Wei number over a million.

Before this, the Chu people did not utilize these prisoners, just using them as labor, and we also thought that fresh prisoners and defectors, still loyal to their former countries and unsettled in their hearts, were basically of little use.

Thus, both Chu and our sides overlooked this force.

But now, the Chu took an unexpected approach, not intending to integrate these prisoners over the long term.

Instead, they chose to use them as expendable pawns in the short term, throwing them at city assaults without caring about casualties.

This is how they achieved such rapid success.

The fall of Watign County and Liang City’s swift loss were all due to this.

However, this approach is not without its backlash.

The Chu people don’t regard prisoners’ lives, so how could the prisoners truly be willing to die for them?

Therefore, to soothe them, the Chu people made many promises, like allowing the surviving prisoners to run amok in a city for days after its capture, to vent their bestial nature.

Even the villages and fields along the way suffered, as the Chu’s undisciplined defected soldiers slaughtered and burnt everything to the ground.

As for why there was little news from the local areas, it was mainly because those who encountered the Chu army were killed off.

As for the major cities, I heard that the Chu people, at each location, would leave behind a portion of soldiers to besiege the city, sealing off all routes, leaving no gaps.

In such a situation, even if the local officials and defenders wanted to send word back, it would be difficult to do so under the Chu army’s strict blockade.