Chapter 1697 - 537: Luo Yuan Beseeches Forgiveness, Three Armies Encircle, Xu Ning’s Little Scheme (2)

Chapter 1697: Chapter 537: Luo Yuan Beseeches Forgiveness, Three Armies Encircle, Xu Ning’s Little Scheme (2)

The news that Cai Qiu’s army is heading south was known throughout the Right Route Army, so as soon as Yuwen Dao finished speaking, everyone nodded and then looked at Xia Hong.

"Let’s see if my speculation is correct. If Cai Qiu’s group truly lost their minds and dared to retreat to Jinyang with a hundred thousand troops, then this battle, consider it completely over!"

Xia Hong’s gaze was slightly cold, with an aura full of sterility.

Jinyang City, three years ago, was summoned by Great Xia with numerous craftsmen, built from scratch, with contingencies prepared long ago. Furthermore, before Yuwen Dao led his army out of Jinyang at the start of the war, how could he not have set up arrangements?

Next, we’ll see if my speculation is correct.

If Cai Qiu is truly arrogant, believing he can rest easy with a hundred thousand troops, and attacks Jinyang recklessly, it doesn’t matter if they can break in or not; the end is a dead end.

"Yuan Cheng, Luo Yuan, both of you return to your units and send scouts to monitor the movement of the coalition. With Cai Qiu’s deceit technique aiding them, they will definitely move faster than you, so don’t think about catching up, just follow them closely from behind."

"Yes, sir!"

"Yuwen Dao, first regroup, and once done, catch up. However, maintain contact with Yuan and Luo’s armies, keep the three armies at a moderate distance to guard against coalition ambushes. As long as they pass through Yinhe Valley, you don’t need to chase eagerly, just stay steadily behind."

"Yes, sir!"

Xia Hong arranged the three armies, finally turning to look at Xu Ning and continued, "Xu Ning, convey my orders to Xia Chuan’s Left Army. Once it’s confirmed that Jinshan Wuchuan’s hundred thousand coalition has gone to Yinhe Valley, then he should not encircle Wuchuan City anymore, withdraw the troops back to East River City, and guard the north!"

"Yes, sir!"

Xu Ning pondered for a moment and immediately grasped Xia Hong’s meaning.

If the hundred thousand coalition indeed went to Yinhe Valley, then not only Jinshan City, but Wuchuan City too has become a dead city, encircling them is meaningless, attacking the city even more so.

Like Jinshan, as long as the last hundred thousand troops from the two towns are eliminated, both town cities, along with their territories, will naturally belong to Great Xia.

Besides, the grain reserves in both town cities are enough, short-term siege is meaningless, it’s better to focus on eliminating the hundred thousand coalition first.

However, Xia Hong’s order excludes Xia Chuan’s twenty thousand elite from participating in the battle to eliminate the coalition.

Yet it’s understandable. Firstly, Chen Cang is a major threat and must be guarded against. Secondly, the Left Army has already gained considerable military achievements in this great battle, if they were to participate in eliminating coalition forces, the soldiers of the other three armies might have some complaints.

Thinking of this, Xu Ning’s eyes couldn’t help but burn with excitement.

Once this great battle ends and Great Xia fully secures the Southern Slope, there will undoubtedly be lavish rewards, and Xia City will surely see a surge of military honors and nobility.

"I already have over 6700 points of accumulated military merit before the battle, less than 1300 away from nobility. Once this battle ends, I should at least advance to a fifth-rank Jinque Marquis. If I can achieve further merits in battles with feudal towns, perhaps there’s a chance for a fourth-rank Marquis Yuheng..."

Great Xia currently implements a nine-rank system, from low to high: Xuanling, Chixiao, Qingming, Zidian, Jinque, Yuheng, Tianquan, Taiwei, Zhunbo.

According to Xia’s regulations, Great Xia only bestows nobility based on military merit, with the lowest ninth-rank Xuanling Marquis requiring an accumulation of 500 points of military merit. Military merit is the number of enemies killed on the battlefields, the nine-rank system was enacted after the Longyou battle, back then 1 point of military merit represented killing one enemy at the Earth-digging Realm limit.

Time has changed, as Great Xia’s strength rapidly progressed in recent years, the number of Cold Resistance Level individuals in the Nine Towns Territory also soared. Three years ago, the Military Department led a revision of military merit regulations, now, the rule is that a Cold Resistance Level enemy with less than 8 bristles counts as 1 point; 8 to 24 bristles counts as 2 points; 24 to 40 bristles counts as 3 points; enemy generals above 40 bristles count as 5 points...

The change in military merit calculation came with Great Xia’s strength growth, meaning that the difficulty of Xia people’s nobility has always been ridiculously high.

In battles, killing 500 Cold Resistance Level enemies is difficult for just about any soldier, even top experts above 50 bristles, even strong Xianyang Level, struggle to achieve this.

Not to mention, 500 military merits is only the lowest ninth-rank Xuanling Marquis.

Great Xia’s nobility advancement conditions are stricter, each rank upwards doubles the required military merits, thus the eighth-rank Chixiao requires 1000 points, seventh-rank Qingming requires 2000, sixth-rank requires 4000, fifth-rank requires 8000...

Xu Ning followed Xia Hong since the Mud Slope period, not only being among the first Xia people, but also among the first batch of nobles after the Longyou battle.

He holds a high position, thus having more channels to obtain military merit compared to others, not to mention more opportunities, yet even so, from year two to year thirteen of Great Xia, eleven years in total, his accumulated military merit just reached over 6700 points, currently only a sixth-rank Marquis Zidian.

It’s worth noting that in the seventh year of Great Xia, he alone explored Dajue Temple, risking half a life for a mere 1000 points of military merit; had it not been for Xia Hong saving him later using Master Wusheng’s organs, he’d still be a cripple now.

This shows the difficulty of obtaining military merit in Great Xia!

"It’s been over three years since my noble rank moved, it’s about time to advance..."

Xu Ning turned to look at Yuan Cheng and Luo Yuan, feeling a slight thrill.

The highest noble ranks in Great Xia are, of course, Minister Xia Chuan and Director Yuwen Dao from the Military Department. Both are already fifth-rank Jinque Marquises. In this battle, both served as army commanders, with high rank, great authority, and heavy responsibility, naturally advantageous when evaluating merits and assigning rewards. It can be anticipated, once the battle ends, both will advance at least two ranks, maybe even further to directly become second-rank Marquis Taiwei.