Chapter 34: The Upper State Sends an Urgent Message (1)

  The first volume of "Dragon Shallow Pool" is about to end, marking the beginning of a new life for the protagonist Yun Qi and all the readers who have been following him. Looking back on the past half month, I am filled with emotions. From the initial publication of a few thousand words that no one read, to rushing into the new book chart, then step by step climbing to the top, and now returning to third place... I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone for their support here. I will continue to work hard, enrich my writing style, and present to you all a perfect special book. Let's work together! Come on!

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  The Chu State, the second largest country on the continent of Qiankun, has a vast and fertile territory, with a rich cultural heritage after experiencing several dynasties. The capital city of Shangbang is a prosperous land, with a square-shaped city wall that is three zhang high and twelve li long on each side, all made of brick and stone. There are nine city gates in total, with three gates on the east, west, and north sides, but no gate on the south side where the imperial palace is located, although the city wall on this side is higher and more solid.

  All the city gates are reinforced with copper and iron, with thick red lacquer copper doors that are eight meters high. There are twelve main roads in the city, among which the widest and longest one is the Changsheng Street that leads directly to the imperial palace, with a width of twelve horses abreast. The road surface is paved with bluestone.

  The twelve main roads connect hundreds of small streets and alleys, making the transportation network of Shangbang very convenient. Inside the city, there are magnificent palaces, ancient pavilions, and temples, as well as rich merchant houses that occupy the entire street. The economy inside the city is quite developed, with lights still shining brightly even in the deep night.

  According to statistics from the Ministry of Revenue, there are 3,429 merchant households in the city, among which nearly half are restaurants, and dozens of brothels and other entertainment venues. It is indeed a prosperous scene of national strength and wealth.

  However, at this time, almost all the shops in the city of Shangbang were closed, and there were no pedestrians on the road. Every household was closed, and only groups of Chu state soldiers wearing white silver armor were patrolling the streets. They set out from the four military camps in the city, with only one destination, that is, the city wall with three gates. There were 150,000 troops in the city, almost all of whom were imperial guards, but at this time, there were far more than this number on each of the three city walls. Every face was filled with soldiers wearing the same silver armor, a total of 100,000 people. These must be local troops summoned from various states and counties.

  At this critical moment, the Shu army of 400,000 had already surrounded the city of Xiangyang, and from the city wall, one could see the endless yellow tents stretching for miles. The atmosphere was indeed grand.

  Inside the Shu army's camp, they were busy with daily life and cooking meals. They had arrived here yesterday, but it would take three more days for the siege equipment and supplies to arrive. After all, transporting equipment and supplies for 400,000 people wasn't something that could be done in a short period of time. Even this escort mission required an entire army of 10,000 soldiers.

  The person in charge of transporting the supplies was Lu Wushuang's eldest son, Lu Zhanhou. He stood at eight feet tall, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, a strong back and sturdy waist. With one hand, he could wield a 60-jin guandao, a curved blade weighing over 130 pounds. At the age of eight, he began learning the chaotic sword style from his father; by sixteen, he had already made a name for himself; at eighteen, he earned military merit and was now the commander of an army of 10,000 men.

  The Shu army outside the city was waiting for equipment and supplies, while the Chu army inside the city was also waiting, they were waiting for reinforcements. After months of war, the Chu army had lost about 300,000 soldiers, and the losses of the Shu army were not small either, almost comparable to that of the Chu army. However, the Shu army replenished its forces extremely quickly, with the first wave of troops passing through, followed by an additional 300,000 men, bringing the total number to over one million. This put immense pressure on the Chu army's defenders, as the city was the imperial palace, and if the gates were breached, it would mean the destruction of their country. Therefore, all the states and counties sent out reinforcements with all their might, but some were far away, and even the closest reinforcements wouldn't arrive until seven days later.

  Inside the palace, Emperor Li Shangde of Chu was discussing emergency measures with his ministers in the grand hall. The Shu Kingdom had already arrived at the city gate, and the situation was critical. Although Li Shangde felt a bit uneasy in his heart, as the ruler of the country, he had to maintain a calm demeanor. Looking at the hundreds of ministers below him, he couldn't think of any good solution for the moment, so he opened his mouth and said: "My dear ministers, the 400,000-strong army of Shu has surrounded our capital. I'm sure you all understand the situation. Does anyone have a clever plan to defeat the enemy and resolve this crisis?"

  As soon as Li Shangde finished speaking, the people below him fell into a low murmur, discussing among themselves. Some of them lowered their heads, but their sparkling eyes were darting around, they knew the severity of the situation. At this moment, what they were considering in their hearts was not how to defeat the enemy, but rather thinking that as long as the Shu army broke through the city, they would go and surrender to the enemy. Looking at the officials' continuous discussion, Li Shangde furrowed his brow, but didn't make a sound.

  At this time, a man stood out from the crowd. He was about fifty years old, with sword-like eyebrows and tiger-like eyes, and had a robust physique. He was nearly nine feet tall, wearing a helmet with tiger teeth, and a white silver armor that shone brightly. With an air of righteousness, he stepped forward. The person who came out was none other than Mu Kuai, the younger brother of Mu Tang, the great general who had been sent to conquer the north earlier. Mu Kuai bowed his fist to Li Shangde and paid his respects before speaking: "Your Majesty! I think that at this moment, the Shu army has just arrived and must be exhausted from traveling by boat and carriage, while our defending troops are mostly elite guards who have been stationed here for a long time, waiting in comfort for the enemy to tire themselves out." Upon hearing this, Li Shangde nodded his head in approval.

  Mu Gui's face was stern, and he continued solemnly: "And the best time for this is tonight. The Shu army is exhausted and must have retired to rest early. Our army can seize this opportunity to select 50,000 elite soldiers to launch a night raid on the enemy camp, and we will surely win this battle."

  "Good!" Li Shangde also thought it was feasible and nodded his head, thinking deeply.

  "Your Majesty! I think this plan is good, but it's too risky. There are less than 300,000 soldiers in the city, and if we divide them again by 50,000, if we fail, our army will be at a great disadvantage. I think we should defend the city and wait for reinforcements to arrive, then we can launch a counterattack from inside and outside the city." The one who spoke up was an old man with a white beard dressed in official attire, he was the current Prime Minister, named Fang Jian. He was kind-hearted but conservative in his actions, never taking risks, which is why he had been able to hold onto his position as Prime Minister for 11 years. His plan was more stable and secure compared to Mu Kui's night raid plan. Li Shangde listened to both plans, furrowed his brow, and didn't know how to decide at the moment.

  "Fang Xiang, you're going to miss the best opportunity to defeat the enemy by doing this!" Mu Kui, a military general, had always looked down on civil officials for their indecisiveness and spoke to Fang Xiang in an unpleasant tone.

  Fang Zhen didn't care, and simply replied: "General Mu, at this moment the enemy army is pressing in on us. If we follow your plan and fail, it will be adding insult to injury."

  "Let me lead the troops myself, how can we fail? If we do lose, I'll take my own head and present it to you!" Mu Kui's voice was trembling with rage, his face flushed bright red, he would have liked to squeeze Fang Jian to death right then and there.

  Fang Zhen smiled and said: "For things that haven't happened, General Mu shouldn't be so quick to confirm. What if... hehe, it's not good for anyone to say."

  "You old scoundrel... If I wasn't certain, I wouldn't have dared to mention it to Your Majesty!" Mu Kui began to curse loudly, his hands clenched into fists and his teeth chattering with rage as he glared at Fang Jian.

  "Mu Kui, you have a big nerve! In the imperial court, you dare to insult me in front of His Majesty. How can I still have any face left?" Fang Jian heard Mu Kui call him an old turtle, and his anger was reignited. He no longer spoke politely, and his tone naturally rose by several notches. However, the way scholars and warriors scolded people were truly worlds apart. Mu Kui's aura was intimidating, while Fang Jian's appearance evoked sympathy.

  "Alright! Now the situation is critical, you two are still arguing on the court, do you really want to see the great Chu destroyed?" Li Shangde was already uncomfortable in his heart, and after hearing the two quarrel, he became furious and shouted angrily.

  "I dare not!" The two of them replied in unison.

  "Are there any other ministers who have a different plan? Let's hear them all." Li Shangde didn't want to reason with the two of them anymore, so he opened his mouth to ask the other ministers.

  They had waited for half a day, but no one could come up with a good solution. Li Shangde felt a sense of desolation in his heart as he thought that he, the number one person in Chu State, had hundreds of civil and military officials under him, but truly capable ones were scarce. At this moment, he missed Mu Kui's brave and resourceful brother Mu Tang, but unfortunately, half a month ago, they received an urgent report from the front line with only a few words: "Mu Tang died in battle defending the city!"

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  Dear readers... Here comes the second update...