To achieve immortality, I cultivate using Qi Luck

Chapter 825: Chapter 354 Refining and Repelling the Enemy_3

For every one of my men who died, two or three bandits would fall beneath the city walls.

Moreover, this casualty ratio, as those new soldiers under my command were tempered and grew through the flames of war, was rapidly widening.

The best proof of this was Wang Hu.

The slightly youthful and inexperienced Wang Hu, after killing for a month, not only had become more murderous, but his strength had also rapidly surged, nearing a breakthrough to the third rate.

Although the innate talents of the other soldiers weren’t on par with Wang Hu, they had all made considerable progress, and their skill at killing had become more adept.

By today’s battle, for every one of my men who died, the bandits would lose three or four.

Once all my men transformed into veteran soldiers with ample experience, I feared the exchange ratio could even reach one to five, one to six.

The advantage and disadvantage between guarding and attacking a city are just that vast.

As a new soldier, Wang Hu didn’t understand these things and simply showed joy on his face upon hearing that his superior was willing to recommend him for an officer’s position, “Thank you, squad leader.”

“Hmm, seize this opportunity.”

Ge Liang nodded, speaking with deep meaning, “These days, more and more Ning bandits are dying. No matter how numerous they are, if they keep dying like this, they won’t be able to hold out.”

“Once you become a platoon leader, you might be able to have some peaceful days.”

“Take advantage of this time to diligently temper yourself, break through to the third rate, and don’t let me down.”

With his experience on the battlefield, Ge Liang made this judgment, then without waiting for Wang Hu to reply, stood up, patted his lamellar armor, and headed towards a watchtower not far away.

The Great War had ended, and the casualties among his men had been lightly tabulated. It was time to return, report to the camp leader, and incidentally fulfill his promise to give young Wang Hu a future.

Although a squad leader only managed a hundred men, in the army, he was still considered a mid to low-level military officer, with quite a few duties.

The casual talk with Wang Hu was just for relaxation. Now, it was time to get busy with serious matters.

Ah, warfare is blind, and I don’t know if this young man will survive this battle.

Shaking his head, Ge Liang no longer dwelled on these thoughts. Accustomed to life and death, he had long learned to steal moments of leisure amidst fleeting life, becoming indifferent to everything.

…

As the veteran soldiers in the army like Ge Liang sensed the Ning People’s fatigue through their experienced instincts…

As part of the high-level army command and veterans of the battlefields, Lu Yuan and others also acutely noticed the abnormality of the Ning People.

As Ge Liang guessed, the Ning People truly couldn’t hold out much longer.

After attacking fiercely for a month, the people of Chu inside the city had indeed suffered tremendous casualties, losing more than eight thousand soldiers.

But as the attacking side, the Ning People had suffered even greater losses.

Even though initially, due to the large number of new soldiers among the Chu, they were able to take advantage of the opponent’s lack of experience and gained quite a few benefits.

However, as these new soldiers became seasoned, the casualties for the Ning People also increased accordingly.

Now, a month later, after repeated sieges, the Ning force had nearly forty thousand killed or injured, which was close to one-tenth of the main force led by Shen Qiu.

If only the Ning Army outside of Jiangxia City were considered, it was equivalent to one-fifth of their forces.

A major army losing nearly twenty percent of its power, even if it consisted of elite soldiers, would somewhat struggle to bear the losses.

Although it was possible to continue the fierce attacks, after a month of efforts, they still hadn’t been able to break through the defenses of Jiangxia City.

By now, the soldiers of Chu in the city gradually sharpened, and as the siege wore on, the disparity between the forces of the two sides would further diminish.

No matter how reluctant Shen Qiu was, he couldn’t possibly continue sending troops for a fierce assault.

“At most one or two days, if another three to five thousand Ning soldiers die, they could only sound the retreat, haul down their banners, hunker down in the main camp outside the city to lick their wounds quietly, and recover their vitality,” said Chu Wei, his face filled with confidence, at that night’s high-level military meeting.

These recent days, as the chief commander of the navy, Lu Yuan’s disciple had been quite the sensation.

While the Ning People were struggling with the siege on land, their fleet hadn’t fared much better in naval battles on the river.

Ning Country had a total of one hundred fifty thousand naval forces, of which fifty thousand had to remain in the country to block the river against Liang State to the north, and were hard to redeploy.

The remaining one hundred thousand were divided, with fifty thousand allocated to the Xiangyang Prefecture battleground, and the rest were brought over to Jiangxia City.

Even though with Shen Qiu’s arrival, the original fifty thousand Ning naval forces in Xiangyang Prefecture had been reinforced by another thirty thousand, summing up to eighty thousand.

This force surpassing Chu State’s fifty thousand naval forces by some margin gave them quite an advantage.

However, Chu State also had the strategic location of Jiangxia City, a water fortress, on their side.

Just with Jiangxia City, using the devices placed halfway up the hillside that sealed the entire river, densely packed hundreds of catapults and ballistae, they could easily offset the numerical difference of thirty thousand naval soldiers.

Add to that the fact that Ning’s navy had expanded its ranks with many new soldiers over the past two years, and thus lacked some experience in comparison.

On the other hand, Chu State’s navy had long been established, and the sailors on their ships were all seasoned veterans, far stronger in both experience and power than those new soldiers.

Relying on their superior soldiers, geographical advantages, and Chu Wei, the exceptionally talented old general…

Just over ten days before, in a decisive naval battle outside Jiangxia City.

Chu State’s navy had triumphed over Ning’s forces, destroying over three hundred of Ning’s ships on the spot, capturing more than a hundred, slaughtering over twenty thousand of the enemy sailors and taking eight thousand as prisoners.

After this battle, Ning’s navy was severely damaged. Even though they managed to regroup somewhat, maintaining fifty thousand naval forces, their morale was so low that they were no longer a match for Chu State’s navy.

And such a decisive victory had firmly established Chu State’s dominance over its own waterways, ensuring henceforth that Ning’s navy could not step even half a foot into Chu waters.

Lu Yuan could finally stop worrying that Chu waterways would be occupied by Ning, leading to the river’s blockade, the country being split in two, and continuous back attacks, with fires of war everywhere.

But here at Jiangxia, the situation was much more favorable.

Although this was a reason to be happy, Lu Yuan wasn’t as joyful as Chu Wei but rather had a hint of worry in his eyes as he picked up a letter from the desk, frowning deeply.

On the thin sheet of paper, only one thing was recorded:

Five days prior, Marquis Wuxin Xiang Duan of Ning Country, with an army of one hundred thousand, had launched a surprise attack on Changsha Prefecture.