Frost for a Thousand Years

"Sand King, we're quitting!"

After nearly a month of fighting against Qiu Juhuan, the allied forces were exhausted. Although the Nanyue Kingdom provided them with most of the food and supplies, the increasingly fierce resistance and the rising casualties made the kings consider retreating.

Most of the tribes went directly to Samoi and immediately demanded that they withdraw their troops.

"Gentlemen, we've fought this far!" Shamoy stood up excitedly, clenching his fists, and said with furious hatred, "This Qiujuhuan only has one royal court left. If we fight for another five days, no, three days, we can deal with these traitors within three days. Then, all this land will be yours; I won't take an inch!"

Samoyed cannot accept defeat.

Because the cost of failure is extremely high.

When he killed his brother-in-law, he was already prepared to go all out.

Otherwise, why kill?

It is precisely because of Sun Tuo's existence that the development of the Shamo family has been hindered.

An emperor who dares not even breathe on the people of the Central Plains, nor dares to punish a newly powerful figure like Qiu Juhuan who has defied authority, will only lead his people to decline.

Therefore, in order to prove themselves right, the Samo family's gamble was absolutely correct, and they were determined to remove this pawn no matter what.

If we don't kill him now, he'll become the sharpest knife to stab them!

“Sand King, how many three days have passed!” one of the kings retorted directly, “Stop fooling yourselves. Even if we fight for another ten days, we may not be able to take down Qiu Juhuan.”

“You said it yourself, at most ten days!” Shamoyi seized on the loophole in his words and said, “You’re just afraid that Song Shi’an will attack, but can he get here within ten days? As long as we take down Qiu Juhuan within that time, and then turn around and attack Song Shi’an together, we can deal with the wolves of Nan Yue and the thieves of Yu Kingdom all at once!”

His statement is indeed very reasonable.

Because of the distance between the two places, it would take the army about ten days to barely reach them.

However, Song Shi'an has not yet captured Beiguan.

Even if you give him three days to tackle the problem and two days to clean up the battlefield, it will still take him at least fifteen days to get here.

If Qiu Juhuan is killed before that, Song Shi'an will have no internal traitors to collude with him, and the external enemy will be weakened considerably.

"If the northern pass falls, how can we join forces to resist the Song?" the king said aggressively. "You can take Qiujuhuan within ten days, but can you, Shamoji, hold out against Song Shi'an's iron cavalry for ten days?"

"Not only that, it will take us ten days to get there after we capture Qiu Juhuan. You, Shamoji, will have to hold out against Song Shi'an for twenty days!"

"Gods! Does that Shamoji have the ability to fight against Song Shi'an? If this woman is really that wise, she wouldn't have been so easily fooled by two men and willingly let the thief into the valley!"

They began to slander Samoyed's sister, the Queen of Nanyue, to her face.

Samoy knew it was all over.

If we still fail to conquer it after they leave, then Southern Vietnam will fall apart.

In the end, only the isolated city of Shiting remained.

And, a medium-sized Samo tribe.

"Gentlemen, fight me for three more days. If we fail to defeat the enemy within three days, I will compensate you for any losses you have suffered!" Samoyed said hastily, not wanting the allied forces to disintegrate.

These words really intimidated these people.

The others looked at each other in bewilderment.

At this moment, the king in the lead, with a clear head, retorted: "If you haven't defeated Qiu Juhuan in three days, what can your Sama family possibly offer us in return?"

Give me an egg!

“I swear to the gods and spirits of Baiyue!” Shamoi raised his hand.

"Forget it, you can go and beg for that wealth and status yourselves." The king left, leaving behind the words, "That mad dog is the worst at biting!"

This statement also serves as a reminder.

Qiu Juhuan is indeed close to death. Even if the allied forces retreat, it will take him a long time to recover.

This tribe, second only to the Southern Yue Kingdom, should now have fallen out of the top five in terms of strength.

It's gone.

He may not be able to retaliate against them one by one in the future.

But now, his survival instinct is terrifying; if you try to kill him, you'll be maimed as well.

Therefore, it's better to retreat to home and wait for the situation to change.

Song Shi'an couldn't possibly kill us all.

“Sand King, my kingdom is far from here. Even if the land is divided, I won’t get any. As for anything else, I don’t want it.”

After he left, another king clenched his fist in a gesture of goodwill towards him and then followed him away.

"Sand King, good luck."

A general sent by the king offered him his blessings with considerable politeness before leaving.

As for the others, they silently turned away.

Seeing 60% of the South Vietnamese group's troops withdraw, Samoy was so angry that he gritted his teeth and wished he could send people to chase after them and slaughter them all right now.

Song Shi'an ran away before he even arrived.

Do you think surrendering means you'll lose half the battle?

Soft tofu, soft tofu!
His remaining allies were also lingering outside the tent.

They knew that those who had come to force them to leave, and they weren't surprised that they left. However, it wouldn't be easy for these few people to leave.

Mainly, they are divided into three categories.

Firstly, the Shamo family and the Nanyue Kingdom's coerced troops, similar to underlings, were relatively loyal.

Secondly, it's a real shame to have wasted so much time and effort on this gambling monster, Qiu Juhuan, who had been fighting for a long time and had genuinely felt that he was going to be crushed.

Thirdly, there were the Baiyue warriors who distrusted the Central Plains dynasties and feared being purged after Song Shi'an took over, and they resisted Sinicization.

After exchanging glances, the group decided to go inside together.

“Sand King,” the leader said, “we can continue fighting Qiu Juhuan, but only for three days. After three days, regardless of victory or defeat, we must withdraw.”

"..." Samoi clenched his fists, somewhat unwilling to accept it.

Because in his view, it would be difficult to handle in three days.

“Qiu Juhuan has already been crippled like this. What is there to fear about a dying man?” another person said. “If he really wants revenge, we can join forces and he won’t dare to make a move.”

"Yes, if we can't win in three days, we should hurry back to Shiting. This city must be defended; as long as the city stands, Nan Yue is not yet lost!"

The land of Baiyue was dotted with tribes.

Some large tribes had royal courts that resembled cities, but these were only equivalent to Wulei in the Northern Liang region.

There are also some large, clustered tribes, but their city defenses are quite weak.

Only this stone courtyard is a proper city.

It was built by Sun Tuo himself and was a large city capable of accommodating nearly 100,000 people.

Qiu Juhuan is indeed a troublesome figure. If he is not eliminated, it will cause a lot of trouble later. However, if we get carried away and insist on fighting to the death here, we will actually lose the capital. That would be a loss that does not outweigh the gains.

So even Samoi, who was already bloodthirsty, could only grip the armrest, then slam his fist down, and give in.

Meanwhile, those troops who were unwilling to get involved began to prepare to withdraw.

The king who led the coup against Samoyed returned to his tent.

A refined and scholarly envoy from the Great Yu Kingdom was already waiting there.

“My lord, I have forced Samoyed and taken half of the allied forces with me,” the king said as he approached him.

"Your Majesty." The envoy from Dayu nodded with a satisfied smile.

"Young Grand Secretary, will you remember our contributions?" the king reminded him.

“Of course,” the envoy said. “We have no interest in conquering this land; we only wish for stability here. Besides, you love Great Yu.” “My love for the young Grand Secretary is my love for Great Yu.”

"Then the young Grand Secretary will be very happy."

"My lord, what comes after the joy?" The king took another step forward and asked rather earnestly.

"Where do you want to go?" he asked the barbarian king.

"Stone Garden."

"it is good."

.........

Samogi received all sorts of bad news every day in that castle tower.

Some of these bad news items did indeed happen; for example, many of the coalition forces in Samoa withdrew one after another.

There's also some bad news that hasn't even appeared yet; it's just the cawing of crows bringing bad news.

This vengeful and bloodthirsty queen of Nanyue is getting fed up with this.

Song Shi'an's other large army, still the troops from Yizhou, has already marched towards Nanyue.

Samogi had previously arranged for resistance troops, and given the complex terrain, it wouldn't be an easy passage. However, since people were already infiltrating her territory, she couldn't completely ignore it.

It hurts.

As for the enemy in front of us?

Song Shi'an is still building his camp; he's almost filled the valley!
Sitting on the city wall, Samogi could only watch helplessly as Song Shi'an carried out massive infrastructure construction.

It seems they want to build another city in front of their own city gates.

This means he's going to have to fight a protracted war.

No matter how long it takes, he will keep fighting.

His direct attacks are fine, but the way he builds skyscrapers out of thin air every day is terrifying.

The kings under his command, who were still grown men, were almost scared to tears by Song Shi'an.

Samogi regretted it. Samogi really regretted it.

Why would he go against Song Shi'an?
Why did he think that he could handle those whom Ji Yuan couldn't deal with, those whom Kang Xun had submitted to, those whom the Duke of Li had died tragically at his hands, and those whom the old emperor Wei Ye had died with resentment?
No, we can't win.

The man who could command the Duke of Zhangping to accompany him on his southern expedition must possess power capable of turning water backwards.

And so, amidst endless self-doubt, Sama-hime grew increasingly terrified of this man she had never met. Beyond fear, there was a timid urge to submit, and, perhaps, a rather pathetic, admiration.

It's time to fall into evil...

……

Sun Jinhua was also brought here by Song Shi'an, and the two of them stayed in the camp outside the valley.

Song Shi'an wasn't lingering in the Beauty House to sleep with a young girl; rather, he was patiently making preparations.

Before him was a topographical sand table submitted by the Ministry of Works.

In the valley, in an area of ​​about one square kilometer, temporary houses are being built in the valley's camp.

"Is it really possible to build a city here?" Sun Jinhua asked with some interest.

“Right now, the main focus is definitely on fighting, but once we take Beiguan,” Song Shi’an said, his fingers darting across the sand table, “Beiguan will become the South Gate, and a wall several hundred paces long will be built at the valley entrance to serve as the North Gate. In the middle, nearly ten thousand people from the Central Plains, as well as some Baiyue barbarians, can be relocated.”

“But…” Sun Jinhua raised her question, “How will we supply a city? If it’s just a pass, we can simply send troops to guard it. But as a city, we have to relocate so many people, and there isn’t enough farmland to cultivate inside, plus it’s far away from the other counties of Dayu.”

Sun Jinhua is a smart girl who understands the underlying logic of this city.

Ancient cities were primarily used for military purposes.

To build a city, one must rely on the agriculture of at least one county as a foundation.

How do you support so many people who live in such an isolated city?
How come you can keep them alive?

"You're really smart." Song Shi'an smiled at her, making the girl lower her head sweetly. He continued, "This city doesn't need anyone to support it. On the contrary, it can support millions of people."

"How did you do that?" Sun Jinhua asked in great surprise.

"I want to open a border crossing here," Song Shi'an said confidently, pointing his finger at the spot. "I want the barbarians of Baiyue to use our Dayu copper coins."

Let the barbarians know what true joy in swordplay is.

Compared to the trade of Northern Yan, the trade here was more primitive and started from scratch.

But this also means that once it is implemented, the entire economic lifeline of the Baiyue region can be controlled.

The goal of this battle is to bring peace to this place once and for all.

Of the four kingdoms under heaven, I alone possess three.

Back then, Ji Yuan, you were the challenger!
“Oh…” Sun Jinhua nodded as if she understood, but she couldn’t imagine what kind of effect it would have.

“When the time comes, we’ll exile all those officials from Dayu here and let them play a real role,” said Song Shi’an.

Song Shi'an is about to usher in a new era ahead of schedule.

That damned era of exile to Lingnan!
“That sounds great.” Sun Jinhua nodded.

At this moment, General San Gou said from outside, "My lord, a messenger has arrived."

"A messenger has arrived?"

Why are people coming in the middle of the night?

I'm going to sleep with the youngest sister of the Sun family.

“It’s an envoy from Shamokyi,” San Gou said. “The Duke of Zhangping didn’t deal with him; he sent him over directly.”

“Oh, I think they’re about to break down too,” Song Shi’an said.

“Then, Lord Marquis, would you like to see him?” San Gou said. “He secretly told me some good news.”

"What good news?" Song Shi'an asked.

“He said his mother is very beautiful, and if you are willing to withdraw your troops, she is willing to come and serve you well,” San Gou said.

“…” Sun Jinhua gradually blushed.

It's not that I'm angry, it's just that I find it vulgar.

Empress Dowager...isn't that someone else's wife?
And he's quite old!

"Hey, this Samoji is kind of funny."

Just because you have a penis doesn't mean you're invincible.

If you're going to offer concessions, why not just offer them properly?
What the hell are these conditions?

I'm the one who's at a disadvantage.

"Then, Lord Marquis, would you like to see him?" San Gou asked again.

"It's almost time."

Looking at his already well-developed camp on the sand table, Song Shi'an said, "Let's begin."

.........

At dawn the next day, a head was hanging on a huge banner.

Behind the banners, dozens of catapults advanced in unison.

The barbarians above the northern pass simply watched as the enemy army approached.

Then they slowly raised their heads and watched as dozens of huge rocks rained down from the sky, crashing down behind them... (End of Chapter)