The World Online

“What idea?” Xiong Ba asked.

Ouyang Shuo smiled but did not say anything, avoiding the question.

Seeing that, Xiong Ba did not continue asking and said, “Apart from the instability, there’s also another troubling matter. There are many Mongol spies within the city, and it is hard for us to plan without the enemy knowing.”

Since the past till now, China was filled with many country traitors and spies.

The Mongol Empire and their overbearing aura has already swept up Lin’an city, so it was not surprising if the nobles were tempted. Whether it be to continue their family line or for prosperity and riches, they would become the lackey of the Mongols.

Especially aristocratic families, to them, the country could die but not the family. To ensure the survival of their family, they were willing to do anything.

The Battle of Lin’an in history where South Song surrendered without fighting showed this problem.

Furthermore, this time, Kublai Khan was the one personally leading the Mongols.

“We cannot do anything about that.” Ouyang Shuo shook his head bitterly, “We are only outsiders, so to wipe the spies out is impossible. We can only strengthen our wariness.”

Toward the South Song Imperial Court, Ouyang Shuo had no hopes.

If they wanted to openly wipe out the spies, not only would it terrify everyone and affect battle preparations, but it might even alert them and cause the spies to hide even deeper.

Xiong Ba nodded, expressing his agreement.

…

Walking out of Ouyang Shuo’s tent, Xiong Ba did not return to his but instead went to Di Chen’s.

Not only Di Chen, but Zhan Lang and Chun Shenjun were also here.

Listening to Xiong Ba’s description, the expressions of Di Chen and the others were all different. Chun Shenjun said suggestively, “Xiong Ba, you really are something, getting so close to the old fox right away.”

Even Di Chen, when he heard that it was Xiong Ba who was asked to join the Grand Council, could not help but feel his heart sink.

When Xiong Ba saw that, he gave a causal smile, “Brother Ouyang is willing to treat me well. Obviously, I will not seek personal gain shamelessly.”

Xiong Ba’s words were a diss to Chin Shenjun.

Chun Shenjun was a person who cared a lot about face, so how would he take the provocation? As such, he said, “Wow, this is new. The old fox tosses out a bone and someone starts to call him brother. Do you still know what your surname is?”

“You!”

Xiong Ba was furious.

When Zhan Lang saw that, not caring about the thoughts he had in his heart, he stepped out to be the mediator, “Stop fighting, stop being a joke. Now, we should discuss which general to select to entire the Grand Council.”

For the Battle of Yashan, Di Chen brought Lianpo, Xiong Ba brought Wuqi, and Zhan Lang brought Zhao Zhuang. These were all the top general under their care. Only Chun Shenjun did not bring Tiandan over. Instead, he brought a normal general with him.

In terms of ability, naturally Wuqi should be the one.

However, Xiong Ba was already in it, and if they let Wuqi go, that would be bad. Luckily, Xiong Ba understood the situation and was not going to quarrel with Di Chen, “Let Lianpo go. He’s the most experienced and is the most suitable.”

When Di Chen saw that, his expression relaxed as he nodded in agreement.

…

On the way back, Zhan Lang could not help but shake his head.

During the meeting, Zhan Lang could feel an obvious coldness. In less than five years, the once eye-catching and stellar Yanhuang Alliance was being picked apart by Ouyang Shuo.

Although the Yanhuang Alliance had its defensive measures, if one of Chun Shenjun or Xiong Ba fell, the situation of Yanhuang Alliance would be horrendous.

In comparison, the faction’s workings were really backward.

‘Who knows what that old man is thinking.’ Zhan Lang could not help but sigh. The long period of being undercover made him really uncomfortable because it was not his style.

…

Sunny morning.

The Grand Council set up within the city held its first meeting.

For this meeting, it was mainly to set up the defensive regions of each group. Lin’an had four sides of city walls, a total of 12 gates, big and small. Which troops would defend which portion needed to be planned beforehand.

It was impossible to make the 340 thousand player forces all squeeze into one area because that was not practical.

The city defense army could be split into three groups. First, there was the South Song army. Secondly, there was the Yanhuang Alliance, whose strength was the greatest

Ouyang Shuo and Feng Qiuhuang formed the third group. Due to the considerable ability of the Great Xia Guards Legion Corps, their ability was insane too.

The 100 thousand Song Guards were the weakest. As for how much ability they had in front of the Mongol army, it was still a question mark.

As for Zhang Shijie and Wen Tianxiang, these two people, it was not that Ouyang Shuo looked down on them. However, if they were not in such a special era, in terms of military commanding, they were not even among the top 100 in China.

Wen Tianxiang did not need to be mentioned. He was only famous because of the love from the people. Zhang Shijie also fell for trick after trick in the Battle of Yashan and let Zhang Hongfan win really easily.

Although the three heroes suffered tragic fates, behind the tragedy was a cruel fact. The so-called ‘tough times create heroes’ described such a situation.

Helplessly, Lin’an was the main battlefield of the Song army. They had the home ground advantage, so they were able to stand on the same level as the other two groups. These three factions formed a triangle, with no one being able to suppress the others.

The Grand Council itself was the outcome of everyone compromising.

The only thing that was bad for the players apart from the navy being useless was that both the Shanhai Alliance and the Yanhuang Alliance had brought half cavalry forces.

This was unavoidable.

Before the start of the battle, everyone thought that they were going to have a head on confrontation against the Mongol army. Who knew that Gaia would pull this trick out of the book?

On the contrary, the 100 thousand Song Guards were all infantry.

The outside world had a misunderstanding of South Song, thinking that it was useless and either bullied by the Jin Country or the Mongols.

Such a South Song Army should definitely be a weak one.

The truth was far from that.

During that special period, the Mongol iron cavalry were simply not human. Not only did they wipe out Jin Country, but they also wiped out West Xia and Dali. They even caused damage in Europe.

During that period of time, on a global scale, no one could stop the Mongol cavalry.

“Apart from South Song!”

South Song was not only the last country to be conquered, but they were the ones that caused the most problems for the Mongols. Even Mongke died while attacking South Song.

Since they could survive for 150 years under the threat of Jin Country and the Mongols, if one said that such a South Song was weak, it would not make any sense.

The biggest tragedy of South Song would be to exist in such a horrible time. First, there was the strong Jin Country and then the Mongols. Each enemy went down south, so how could they not lose?

Although the South Song did not know much about attacking, in terms of defending, they were the most advanced force in the world.

Not mentioning other aspects, but just the defensive weapons including their arcuballistas were top class. Especially the famous three bow arcuballista with its high technology. It was something other countries could not comprehend.

Hence, in this battle, if the Song Guards could maintain their morale and not be psychologically affected, they would perform well.

This all depended on the ability of Zhao Shijie and Wen Tianxiang.

…

As each side was fighting for themselves, they might impede one another. As such, Ouyang Shuo suggested such an arrangement.

For the north city wall, the Guards Legion Corps 4th legion would work with the Fallen Phoenix City forces. A total of 120 thousand would defend there. Guo Ziyi would be the north general and Er’Lai would be the deputy.

It was said that Kublai Khan’s golden flag was set up at the north outskirts, which was why the north would face the most pressure. Ouyang Shuo took it upon himself to defend it.

For the south, the 100 thousand Song Guards would defend it. They were led by Zhang Shijie as the main general and Wen Tianxiang as the deputy.

For the east and west sides, the Yanhuang Alliance’s 210 thousand troops would defend it. The specific arrangements were Di Chen and Chun Shenjun defending the west with Lianpo as the main general. On the other hand, Xiong Ba and Zhan Lang would be on the east with Wuqi as the main general. To equal out the numbers, Chun Shenjun’s forces would split into half.

Above the four main generals was the Grand Council that was in charge of commanding. Ouyang Shuo suggested they let Jia Xu enter to be the strategist. Of course, he could only suggest and could not make decisions.

Hence, the entire commanding structure was established.

The discussions were settled, so the armies started working. As for the specifics on how to defend, the four main generals were in charge.

With the north as an example, Guo Ziyi planned to set up a command center near the north wall. Within a radius of 500 meters from the 10 mile wall, no matter if it were civilians, ships, or structures, they would all be used by the army.

Those structures would either be demolished or improvised into armories, pharmacies, support huts, and the like. Every mile, there would be a barracks for 10 thousand soldiers.

Only then were they able to accommodate 120 thousand troops.

The remaining three sides basically followed a similar arrangement. As they were on the brink of a large war and needed to have a large scale ‘remodelling activity’, the whole thing was led by Lu Xiufu.

Such work was never easy, much less one on such a large scale. It all depended on how Lu Xiufu was going to arrange it.

Apart from that, the Grand Council connected the offices to the four command centers to make it easier to move grain and laborers.

As the people in Lin’an city were unsettled, when the war started, they might do something funny. The four armies were in charge of not only the city walls but the city region too.

Apart from guarding the city gates, the four armies also had another duty, which was to maintain the law and order of their zone. The bailiffs alone could not handle the unsettled people. At the crucial moment, they still needed the military to help.

When the dust settled, it was basically the 5th day of the Battle Map. During which, there were some small problems that were caused by the demolishing of houses and buildings.