The Demon Lords-Chapter 688 - 135: Horse Trampling the Alliance_1

Zheng Fan knew A Ming was right; he had no other choice now.

Tian Wujing was indeed good to him and truly appreciated him. However, it had to be remembered that Tian Wujing was a Marquis of Yan, one who could sacrifice his own family for the sake of the country. If Tian Wujing found out that I captured Snow Sea Pass only to abandon it, I would be the first one he'd execute after the war. You couldn't even find an excuse to explain why you weren't holding Snow Sea Pass. In the whole of the Three Jin lands, strictly speaking, there were only two places through which one could enter or exit the Snowfield. One was near my home in Shengle, but even traveling light, it would take at least twenty days to get there. If a large army were to move in and out, carrying even a moderate amount of supplies, it would take at least a month. The other was Snow Sea Pass. As long as one could pass through it, the journey from Jin land to the Snowfield was straightforward. Right now, the battle lines were drawn at the Wang River, where the Yan State and Cheng State armies were facing off against the Wild People and Chu People's forces. Unless the Wild People could break through the Wang River defenses, reach Shengle, and then make a very, very long detour back to the Snowfield... Actually, this was hardly possible. Firstly, the journey was extremely long. Secondly, it would mean the Wild People would have to not only break through the Yan-Cheng alliance's defensive line west of the Wang River but also attack Ying Capital City. Finally, they would have to breach the defensive line formed by Xinsu City and Shengle—breaking through three lines in total. If the Wild People truly had the capability to break these three defensive lines, why would they bother returning to the Snowfield? They could directly 'reclaim' the lands of Three Jin. Hence, if I held Snow Sea Pass, this invading army of Wild People would be trapped here. It would be a large-scale operation of 'catching a turtle in a jar.' Even a military novice could clearly see the advantages of holding this place. Besides, how could you possibly convince Lord Jingnan with any excuse for not holding on? Was Lord Jingnan really so easy to fool? You couldn't even claim to be foolish, because General Zheng was Lord Jingnan's 'prized disciple'! So, there really was no choice.

"Why didn't you warn me earlier?" Zheng Fan looked at A Ming.

A Ming took a sip of blood and said, "My Lord, that zombie might have planned this all along."

There was something else A Ming didn't say. He believed Liang Cheng had essentially forced their hand. Before Snow Sea Pass was captured, My Lord might have been hesitant, wanting to preserve his hard-earned resources and unwilling to risk them in a hard fight. But once Snow Sea Pass fell, you had to fight, whether you wanted to or not. The deed was done; it was time to accept it. But saying that out loud would make his attempt to sow discord too obvious.

Zheng Fan suddenly remembered what he had said to Liang Cheng that night on the walls of Fengxin City: "Go ahead and do it boldly. It doesn't matter if you lose all our resources."

As it turned out, Liang Cheng... really hadn't held back! 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"I'm feeling a bit dizzy," Zheng Fan said, rubbing his forehead.

"Are you anemic?" A Ming asked, nudging the skin pouch he was drinking from towards Zheng Fan.

Zheng Fan rolled his eyes at A Ming, slapped the crenellation hard with both hands, and said, "Fine, let's play then! If we're going to throw our lives away, let's at least make it a good show! Goddammit!"

「...」

Liang Cheng had been very busy these past few days. On one hand, there was indeed much to do in the newly captured Snow Sea Pass. On the other, he probably didn't dare to face his lord at this particular time.

His lord had entrusted these hard-earned assets to him for financial management, perhaps with some amateurish advice from the lord himself, like, "Just aim for something better than fixed deposit rates, enough to beat inflation." But what did Liang Cheng do? He went and leveraged it to the hilt.

However, to be fair, there truly was a lot that needed to be done.

Firstly, the large breaches in the southern wall of Snow Sea Pass had to be mended. There wasn't enough time to rebuild the wall properly, so they had to dismantle houses within the city for materials to patch them up.

Thankfully, it was deep winter, and this location was near the Snowfield. After repairing the wall, they could pour water on it at night to let it freeze. Although it might not be exceptionally sturdy, it would be serviceable—enough to prevent the Wild People from charging into the city on horseback as they themselves had done.

Inside Snow Sea Pass, they found about eight thousand slaves from two tribes, originally destined for transport to the Snowfield. Because the selection process for these slaves had been strict, they were mostly young, able-bodied men and women, with a nearly one-to-one male-to-female ratio.

The men were intended to be taken back to the Snowfield to serve as herders for the Wild People, while the women were to bear children and increase the Wild People's population.

These people, both men and women, were all conscripted into the construction teams. The men were also issued simple weapons and some pieces of armor, naturally to be used as auxiliary troops during the city's defense.

Under blade and spear, all are equal. Even if you had never held a weapon before, even if you were facing a Wild People warrior, a well-placed stab as he climbed the wall would kill him. Or, simply pushing his siege ladder away could cripple him.

At the very least, more bodies on the wall meant they could help absorb some arrows meant for the regular soldiers, couldn't they?

Additionally, it was no wonder the Wild People had wanted to destroy Snow Sea Pass's walls; the pass severely restricted transport speed. But precisely because of this bottleneck, a considerable amount of grain remained within Snow Sea Pass, not yet transported into the Snowfield.

The defenders of a city often feared a lack of provisions more than anything. For now, at least, food was not a concern.

Liang Cheng also specifically arranged for a contingent to go to the forest south of Snow Sea Pass to fell trees. They were to cut down a section of the forest, bring the timber back, and then set fire to the forest further out.

The so-called 'strengthen walls and clear the fields' strategy encompassed this very idea. In normal times, it might be fine, but the areas around fortresses that frequently endured sieges were always kept bare. Leaving such dense forests standing would be akin to providing the besiegers with readily available resources, wouldn't it?