CHAPTER 963: 417, DONGYUAN BATTLE SITUATION, NEWS CAME_2

The more the people of the three regions resist, the more bloodthirsty the suppression by Great Jin becomes.

The more bloodthirsty Great Jin’s suppression is, the stronger the resistance in the hearts of the people becomes.

After seven years of such repetition, the current situation in the three regions is that on the surface, things seem harmonious, with no rebellions, but secretly, resentment is overwhelming. Assassinations of local governors, going against Jin Laws openly while secretly selling intelligence about the three regions to major Holy Lands... such incidents continue unabated.

Great Jin is well aware of these circumstances, but the path to amend Jin Laws has been completely blocked, so they have no choice but to continue suppressing and hope that over time, the people of the three regions will adapt.

However, at this juncture, Great Jin is set to commence the Eastern Campaign.

Emperor Yuliang, in this Eastern Campaign, wants to fight coalition forces. Never mind the two million army; if possible, he wishes he could mobilize several million more troops from Great Jin to ensure a solid victory.

The Eastern Campaign implies troop movements, and all the forces from the three regions of Zhongzhou have to be redirected to deal with Jizhou. Will the three regions be left unmanaged?

Wanyan Cheng wouldn’t make such a rookie mistake. He first reported the situation to the Emperor of Jin, who decisively dispatched Yucheng King and Yongwei King from Great Jin, each commanding a million Sacred Army troops to guard the three regions, along with ten Marquis of Great Jin, each commanding 500,000 troops to assist.

With seven million troops guarding the three regions, Wanyan Cheng still wasn’t reassured, so he forcibly conscripted all elite martial artists from influential forces within the three regions, totaling over three million, using the more than ten million troops under his command to coerce them into Dongyuan Path. Officially, it was to unite these forces in service to Great Jin, but in reality, it was to prevent disruptions after his departure.

Taking these people to the battlefield serves two purposes: it forces them to act as cannon fodder while simultaneously depleting the foundations of the three regions of Zhongzhou. Why not take advantage? These forces are clearly aware of this, but they are powerless against the strength of Emperor Yuliang and the unreasonable tactics of Great Jin; they have no choice but to comply.

After all, complying means Emperor Yuliang might spare some of them, while defiance leads only to death.

Therefore, the nominal troop count for Great Jin’s Eastern Campaign is two million, but with the elite forces of the three regions, the actual count reaches 1.5 million, and while those three million are labeled elite, they are nowhere comparable to the organized and disciplined Sacred Army. Nonetheless, they are martial artists and can still make a difference on the battlefield.

Upon learning of Great Jin’s Eastern Campaign, the coalition dared not take any chances; relying solely on Qinjian Villa in Jizhou wouldn’t hold.

It’s clear the Demon Derivation Holy Sect is about to be conquered by the Fenling Emperor.

If Jizhou falls to Emperor Yuliang too, then Great Jin would unite the six provinces of the Northern Region.

The position of the Hedong Alliance would be in danger.

To the south of Youzhou lies the source of Gujiang, with You and Liang states upstream to the north and Yongzhou to the south. If the New Moon Cult doesn’t actively join the battle, Great Jin can’t drag Yongzhou into the conflict, preventing them from crossing the river upstream.

In the middle of Gujiang, with Zhongzhou to the north and Hexi to the south, Youye Emperor Tuoba Zun has already crossed the river southwards and is currently confronting coalition forces in Hexi. Even if he defeats the coalition, he must find a way to cross the Tongtian River to enter the Five States of Hedong.

And lower Gujiang has Jizhou to the north and the Five States of Hedong to the south.

If Great Jin captures Jizhou and unites the six provinces of the Northern Region, they would be able to cross the river from any point along the entire Gujiang Basin downstream and midstream, and if the coalition also loses in Hexi, Great Jin would press from both north and west, leaving the coalition’s five states with no strategic space, forcing them into a desperate battle on their own territory against Great Jin.

Great Jin’s strategy clearly aims to achieve this.

Thus, the coalition not only needs to block Youye Emperor in Hexi but must also help Qinjian Villa withstand Emperor Yuliang, preventing Great Jin from unifying the Northern Region.

In truth, it’s not really helping, as Qinjian Villa is part of the coalition anyway. At the Yangzhou alliance, the Five Holy Lands, plus Wuwei King and six others, swore a blood oath to fight against Jin together.

On the fifth day of November in the New Yu Era 1332, the coalition troops, eight hundred thousand strong, crossed north from Yangzhou, and upon reaching Jizhou, they immediately raced to Zhongzhou Dongyuan Path to join with Qinjian Villa’s 200,000 elite forces. Together, their millions were in full readiness, vowing to keep Great Jin blocked outside Dongyuan Path and destroy Jin’s ambitions to unite the Northern Region.

Fortunately, the distance between Jizhou’s southern bank and Dongyuan Path was not far, so by the fifteenth of November, the coalition’s ten-million-strong army was already stationed west of Dongyuan Path, ready to fend off Emperor Yuliang’s troops at any moment.

Generally, battles with troop counts exceeding ten thousand are rare; over a hundred thousand is considered large-scale; over a million qualifies as a major campaign; as on Dongyuan Path now, the combined troop count approaching thirty million is exceedingly rare even in Shenzhou’s history.

The coalition’s ten-million army is led personally by Qinjian Villa’s old Villa Master, Zhao Yulong, former Grand Marshal of Soldiers and Horses in the Great Yu Dynasty. With such an experienced commander, coalition forces, though inferior to Great Jin’s, shouldn’t perform too poorly, considering they are defending.

Yet, the actual situation is astonishing.

Zhao Yulong positioned the army in a line, placing one million heavy troops in each of the five cities west of Dongyuan Path, personally commanding five million troops at the center, always ready to support the five cities.

This arrangement can only be described as mediocre.

Wanyan Cheng has a total of 1.5 million troops at his disposal. Movements of this large number of troops would be visible to any observer, especially with Saints presiding over both sides of the battlefield.