Tumor Sword Immortal

Chapter 411 Hiding

The boots clattered heavily as they stepped onto the wooden planks.

Chen Qianye strode across the third floor of the Lushui Boat Company and pushed open Li Qing's door.

"Are you really going to withdraw the troops?!" He stared intently at the woman inside the room.

Li Qing was slowly and methodically wrapping her wrist, glancing sideways at Chen Qianye: "Otherwise what?"

Chen Qianye glanced behind him, took a few more steps into the house, and closed the door.

"Didn't you tell me before that Li Xu wouldn't make any big moves?"

Li Qing corrected him: "What I meant was that Li Xu wouldn't send a large army to fight us."

Chen Qianye's face hardened.

He was a serious fighter, so of course he understood the difference.

If Eastern Qin were to raise an army of 100,000, the consumption of food and supplies would be a huge expense. Secondly, Jiangcheng Mountain is easy to defend and difficult to attack, so even if it were to be captured, it would inevitably suffer heavy losses.

Li Qing is brave and skilled in battle; her ability to win with fewer troops is not an isolated case. If she were to achieve victory in one battle on the banks of these two rivers, the army would likely collapse.

In contrast, Li Qing still had the land route on the west bank to retreat at any time. Li Xu couldn't have miscalculated this simple game.

But who could have imagined that in just a few months, Li Xu had amassed such a massive army of white ghosts?

“I saw them when I was in Sishui Town,” Li Qing walked to the window and patted the railing. “These monsters are strong and fearless of death. Even if arrows rain down, they can’t stop them in the slightest. Once they reach 100,000, no one in Qinzhou will be able to stand against them.”

Chen Qianye was still somewhat unwilling. It would be a pity to give up Jiangcheng Mountain, the most dangerous place in Eastern Qin.

"If it's really that powerful, why didn't Li Xu use it earlier?"

"Perhaps he's also hesitant."

Thinking of his nephew, Li Qing sighed: "The White Ghosts are mindless and need to be controlled. He couldn't possibly have enough manpower to control 100,000 White Ghosts. These monsters are likely just driven here by him."

The fact that they were driven away means that the white ghosts are largely out of control.

They are not an army, so they are invincible in conquering cities and seizing strongholds.

But precisely because they are not an army, they have no discipline or constraints, and wherever they go, the living perish.

"For this exorcism, he has to plow through his entire western territory before he can come down to me."

As Li Qing spoke, he recalled the various sects and nobles who had all died on Jiangcheng Mountain: "Our strategy was effective. Even in Li Xu's opinion, after the battle of Jiangcheng Mountain, it would be difficult for the entire Dongqin Plain to organize effective resistance again, otherwise he would not have been willing to use such a tactic."

Chen Qianye couldn't think that far ahead; he could only focus on the battle at hand: "But even if we retreat here, these 100,000 white devils will still continue to advance westward and continue to invade our territory."

"Yes, but we haven't been operating in Jiangcheng Mountain for very long, so we don't have much depth. If we fight, we can only go head-to-head."

Li Qing gestured with his chin toward the window on the other side: "I have already sent men on horseback to set up fortifications and traps along the way from the outposts to Guanque City, and to prepare a large amount of oil. Our withdrawal is not a retreat. I will organize cavalry to charge and kill along the way, using the journey to wear them down repeatedly."

In any case, on the battlefield, between two large warlords, once Li Xu has made his move, it will be difficult for Li Qing to escape unscathed.

Not to mention the losses inflicted while fighting the White Demon.

One thing is certain: after this battle, the battle line will inevitably advance from the easily defensible Jiangcheng Mountain to Guanque City north of Li Qinghe. Even if there is some retreat, the initiative will definitely be in Li Xu's hands.

"This hand is too strong."

Li Qing murmured softly, her gaze towards the other side growing increasingly solemn.

There were some things she didn't intentionally mention.

White ghosts are indeed monsters, but these monsters did not appear out of thin air.

One hundred thousand white ghosts, that would mean one hundred thousand people.

If Li Xu had been prepared earlier, it wouldn't have been so bad. But if it happened after Li Qing seized Jiangcheng Mountain, it means that in just a few months, he turned 100,000 people into monsters. (Dragon Cauldron)

Li Qing took a deep breath and exhaled slowly: "Alright, the arrangements for the withdrawal have been made. You've come at the right time. Go and select some of the guerrilla cavalry units, preferably those with cultivation."

Chen Qianye naturally agreed.

But as he was leaving, he paused and asked, "What about that mountain?"

The mountain is where Pei Xia has worked hard to build up her new sect over the past few months. Although it is still small in scale, it is already taking shape.

Li Qing remained silent for a moment, then shook his head: "It seems the time is not yet ripe. The war is not over yet. Perhaps I should not have had this intention in the first place... Let him decide for himself."

……

Pei Xia and Jiang Shu had fought the White Ghost back in Sishui Town.

Although his individual combat strength far surpasses that of ordinary people, he is still inferior to someone with copper skin.

But that's 100,000! 100,000!
Pei Xia sat in the square, her lips pressed tightly together, her eyes scanning over the newly built row houses, schools, and rice paddies again and again.

Jiang Shu stood beside him, occasionally looking up at the sun in the sky.

He was checking the time.

“Master,” Jiang Shu said softly, gently shaking Pei Xia’s shoulder, “we have no other choice but to run away.”

Pei Xia knew, of course, that he had been sitting here for so long and had thought about everything.

His voice was slightly hoarse: "If we run away, what will happen to them?"

They were not well-trained elite soldiers; the people on the mountain were civilians, including women and children. In any case, they were doomed.

Can Pei Xia run away? Of course he can. Not only him, Jiang Shu and Feng Yao both started with mid-grade Iron Bones, so they all have a way to survive.

Furthermore, this escape freed him from Li Qing's control. He could have taken over two hundred Yangchun Pills, stuffed a lot of supplies from the mountain into Yuqiong, and taken his apprentice and Xiaochong to Leyang to see the girl, or to Maizhou to find Lao Han.

He looked up at Jiang Shu: "I brought them up the mountain, and now I'm abandoning them?"

Jiang Shu knew this was a difficult decision: "But we have no other choice."

"Have."

Pei Xia stared intently at him: "We can hide."

"Hide?"

"Correct."

The white ghosts were driven westward like locusts.

In other words, holding out until those 100,000 white demons plowed across the mountain was also a form of response.

Jiang Shu was a little confused: "Where did you hide it?"

Ten thousand of them came for Jiangcheng Mountain. These white devils wished they could climb rocks and cross streams one by one. Where on the mountain could they hide?

"Do you remember where you kicked me out from?" Pei Xia asked.

Jiang Shu blinked: "Underground?"

If he could really dig a hole and bury himself, that would be true, since the White Ghost doesn't seem very smart.

But not everyone can withstand being buried alive… Jiang Shu suddenly opened his eyes wide: “The dungeon!”

Pei Xia nodded emphatically: "Find two stones and seal the dungeon door shut!"

(End of this chapter)