Chapter 1840 - 589: Chen Cang’s Desire to Withdraw, Preparing Both Hands (2)

Chapter 1840: Chapter 589: Chen Cang’s Desire to Withdraw, Preparing Both Hands (2)

After explaining a slew of reasons, Fang Tianqing suddenly realized something and immediately stopped talking, looking up at Chu Tianhe, his brows furrowed slightly.

What Chu Tianhe said earlier had already indicated his reluctance to defend the city. Now, directly asking him whether to hold East River again expresses his intention.

He doesn’t want to defend?

Chu Tianhe is the West River County Governor, the second son of the Landgrave, and a full brother to Lord Chu Tianming. He is the staunchest supporter of Chu Tianming’s bid for the throne, and could not have any malicious thoughts.

Fang Tianqing pondered for a moment in his mind, seeming to understand the reason for Chu Tianhe’s reluctance to hold defense, and cupped his hands, "My lord, while the Lord is assisting the Landgrave in capturing Lin Chu on the eastern front, no one would blame him for achieving too much. Moreover, getting involved in the Southern Slope affairs was actually the Landgrave’s intention. You should be aware of the situation in the Jiuqu Blood Corridor. If we withdraw from Dongchuan, we would have only the option to retreat to the Blood Corridor, and by then Great Xia will surely dispatch heavy troops to guard the southern entrance of the corridor, making another southern incursion much more difficult.

Even if not considering our prefecture’s grand strategy, think of Lord Landgrave. How would he feel knowing we exited the Southern Slope Territory without engaging the Xia Army..."

Fang Tianqing hadn’t finished his sentence before several commanders in the hall interrupted.

"That’s a 350,000-strong army! And all of Xia Army’s elite troops are present. Mr. Fang, you are a counselor of Heyang Dominance Mansion, always prioritizing the Prefectural Governor Tianming, but here the 100,000 troops are all from our West River County. Knowing that no reinforcements will come, is there any point in holding on here?"

"The Moao River battle will soon calm down, though Mr. Fang speaks lightly; Cai Qiu’s counterattack is worsening, and there’s news that Wei Bo and Hezang are ready to deploy troops anytime. At this moment, Cai Qiu’s counterattack alone has entangled the Landgrave and prefectural army. If the two prefectures launch additional troops, it is even less likely that reinforcements will come to aid us, placing the 100,000 troops in this isolated position at risk of total annihilation with one careless move!"

"The battle within the river is urgent, prioritizing the capture of Cai Qiu. What good is holding onto Dongchuan? The north Beining Mountain and the west Moao Mountain entrance are entirely sealed by Great Xia, causing inability to self-sustain, reliant only on prefectural allocation for survival. Occupying this place is essentially pointless!"

"Great Xia’s three battles against Cai Qiu were victories, absolutely not ordinary foes. Not even deploying such a massive army in the previous three fights against Cai Qiu; now it’s a 350,000-strong force! If we truly become besieged here, what then?"

...

General He Tianxin, Front Army General Lu Qinghu, Front Army Vice Commander Gongsun Bai, and lastly Rear Army Vice Commander Chu Xuanying.

Seeing the four commanders who spoke, Fang Tianqing’s face turned quite awful.

The military structures of the Four Vassals are remarkably similar, with the Chencang Prefecture’s army divided into three parts like Cai Qiu, comprising the Landgrave’s elite Red Dragon Army matching Cai Qiu’s Silver Scale Army, followed by Town Guard Army and County Guard Army managed by governance and each county’s commanders.

At the year’s start, the Landgrave set up a test for Lord Chu Tianming, with the premise that only funds and military resources from Heyang County were permitted. Heyang is so distant from the Southern Slope Territory, and at that time speed was of the essence. If Chu Tianming truly deployed troops from his territory southward, the opportunity would be long gone.

In theory, the nearest to the Jiuqu Blood Corridor is Yanling County, but the Yanling County Governor, Chu Tianxu, is actually the greatest rival to Chu Tianming’s bid for the throne. How could he possibly deploy forces for assistance?

Currently, the 100,000 troops stationed in East River City were mobilized by Chu Tianhe from West River County, with 20,000 front troops belonging to governance-commanded Town Guard Army, typically stationed in West River, and General Lu Qinghu came merely due to Chu Tianhe’s influence; the remaining 60,000 middle troops and 20,000 rear troops are West River local County Guard Army, deployed by Chu Tianhe leveraging his Governor authority.

Although Chu Tianhe did not speak, the stance of General He Tianxin, plus Lu Qinghu and the other two military vice commanders, essentially reflected his attitude, which was plain for Fang Tianqing to see.

He even suspected that these four expressing their stance might very well have been directly instructed by Chu Tianhe.

He Tianyuan was still kneeling on the ground in reflection for his grievous mistake, naturally without authority to speak, leaving the three generals with only Wu Qingshan silent, and neither Front Army General Chu Xuanlong nor Rear Army General Zhang Shiyan had spoken.

Wu Qingshan, as Elder Grandson to Red Dragon Army Admiral Wu Dongyang, known throughout Chencang, Wu Dongyang had long underestimated Chu Tianhe. The two never got along well. Therefore, although Wu Qingshan counts as one of the three generals in West River County, he consistently lacked presence. His stance mattered little.

Chu Xuanlong was Chu Tianhe’s son, and Zhang Shiyan his son-in-law; they naturally need not speak if they would do as Chu Tianhe commands.

After a review in his mind, Fang Tianqing suddenly realized that with four people voicing, it essentially indicates that Chu Tianhe’s mindset of retreating and not defending dominates.

This...

"My lord, it’s absolutely impossible! If we pull out from East River City, we’ll retreat north through the Blood Corridor back within the river, making any further Southern Slope involvement extremely difficult, and Lord Landgrave will surely react with thunderous wrath..."

"Mr. Fang worries excessively. Would this County Governor flee without fighting? With 350,000 Xia troops attacking, I must defend, yet the prefecture must give a clear signal. Would it leave my 100,000 troops to be trapped here? Don’t forget those dozen Beast Emperor-level Puppets; if Xia Hong is determined to reclaim the city at any cost, can you, I, and the assembled generals genuinely hold this city with 100,000 troops?"