Chapter 37: 130,000 vs. 600,000
In a dilapidated alley in Handan City, a middle-aged man dressed as a beggar squatted beside a stinky ditch, examining the passers-by around him.
"Damn Lord Chu Nan, why did he kill Master Xiang for no reason!" Xing Hun was very depressed. He stole the Fantasy Sound Box actually because he wanted to replace the elusive Donghuang Taiyi.
However, he was hunted down by the Yin-Yang School, so in order to escape, he stole the Tongfang that the Mohist School had casually dropped in the square.
In his opinion, treasures that could be placed randomly were just ordinary treasures. At most, he would be hunted down by Xianglizi of the Mohist School. He then spread the news that he was ordered to steal, and asked Xianglizi's lineage to help him hold back the masters of the Yin-Yang School.
At the beginning, his plan was perfect, and Xianglizi's lineage did help him hold back the Moon Goddess and the other three elders.
But when the news of Linzi spread throughout the world, Xinghun was stunned. "Mr. Chu Nan, are you sick? If you kill Master Xiang, the Mohist School will not sit idly by even if they are a little bit jealous."
As expected, the leader of the Mohist school issued a leader's order, summoning all the masters of the three branches of the Mohist school to come out in full force to hunt him down.
Xing Hun didn't know that even if Master Xiang had not died, the three branches of the Mohist school would have hunted him down with all their might, and there would even be an additional master-level expert, Master Xiang.
Now that the treasure is lost, the Yin-Yang family has also sent out all their masters, led by Lord Chu Nan himself, along with the Lord of the East, the Moon Goddess, the Great Fire Department Elder Da Siming, the Great Wood Department Elder Shao Siming, the Great Water Department Elder Madam Xiang, and the Great Earth Department Elder Xiangjun.
Except for Yun Zhongjun, the Grand Elder of the Gold Department who is a novice in cultivation and can only make pills, all the masters of the Yin-Yang Family are dispatched.
Both the Mohist School and the Yin-Yang School are looking for the whereabouts of Xinghun.
"It's hard to resolve this peacefully. The Mohist School won't let Xinghun go easily, and they won't even return the Phantom Sound Box to us!" Lord Chu Nan looked at the information in his hand. All the Mohist masters were out, and he had killed Master Xiang with the Six Souls Curse. The Mohist School would never return the Phantom Sound Box to them.
“The Star Soul is dead, but we must get the Fantasy Sound Box back! We can even endure for a while and hand the Star Soul over to the other party for disposal. Our top priority is to get Fantasy Sound Box back!” Lord Chu Nan looked at Dong Jun, Yue Shen and the other four elders.
The Mohist School is powerful, and it would be embarrassing even if the Star Soul was handed over to them for disposal. However, the Fantasy Sound Box is the most precious treasure of the Yin-Yang School and must be retrieved.
But Lord Chu Nan would never have imagined that this time the Mohist School was not only planning to kill Xinghun and take back Tongfang, but also wanted to keep them all in Handan.
"Master, three hundred divine swordsmen and five thousand disciples have arrived!" Yang Lou reported the Mo family's deployment immediately.
In order to keep all the Yin-Yang family members in Handan, they mobilized three hundred divine swordsmen and five thousand swordsmen. In addition, they also dispatched ten mechanical white tigers and dozens of mechanical beasts.
Of course, such a high-profile move was also feared to be noticed by the Yin-Yang School, so the Mohist School entered Handan with justification under the pretext of helping Zhao resist the attack from Yan.
This made King Zhao very happy. They originally thought that the Mohist School would no longer help other countries resist unjust invasions because of the decline of the Qi Mo lineage. However, they did not expect that the Mohist School was still the proud and righteous non-aggression Mohist School.
Therefore, King Xiaocheng of Zhao personally led all the officials and generals of Zhao to welcome the Six-Fingered Black Knight and his entourage outside the city, and even hosted a banquet in the royal palace to entertain the Mohist group.
The Six-Fingered Black Knight remained noncommittal. In addition to keeping all the Yin-Yang School members, the Mohist School also came to help the State of Zhao defend itself.
"Boy, nice to see you again!" At the palace banquet, Lian Po looked at Jin Yao, smiled and patted his shoulder.
Although he returned to Handan, he still kept an eye on Jin Yao. Lian Po agreed with Jin Yao's attack on the Yin-Yang School disciples, and felt that this was what a man of blood should do, dare to love and hate, dare to fight and kill.
If Jin Yao hid and turned a blind eye to the murderer who killed his teacher, he would look down on Jin Yao. Now it seems that Jin Yao is not as weak and deep as he imagined.
"Yan State has raised an army of 600,000 to attack Zhao. How many soldiers does Zhao State have available?" The Six-Fingered Black Knight asked the King of Zhao directly without any further ado.
King Zhao was silent and looked at General Lian Po.
"To be honest, my Lord, Zhao State has less than 200,000 soldiers available. Even if Your Majesty orders all men over the age of 14 to be recruited into the army, we can only gather 130,000 troops. There are 70,000 troops at Yanmen Pass, but they have to defend against the Xiongnu, the Qiang, the Linhu and the Donghu. Your Majesty has ordered that they cannot be transferred back. Therefore, Zhao State only has 130,000 troops available!" Lian Po did not hide anything.
"130,000 against 600,000!" The Six-Fingered Black Knight raised his voice. He had thought about the predicament of the State of Zhao, but he did not expect it to be so difficult. This was even after all the men over the age of fourteen in the State of Zhao were mobilized.
However, the Six-Fingered Black Knight also noticed that even when the State of Zhao was facing the crisis of national destruction, it did not withdraw its 70,000 troops to defend against the Huns. It can be said that the name of the Fierce Zhao was well-deserved.
No matter how fierce the fighting was in the Central Plains, they were always unwilling to withdraw troops from the north and always guarded against foreign invasions.
Lian Po's words plunged the entire banquet into silence, and the ministers of Zhao State all looked gloomy.
The Battle of Changping wiped out all of Zhao's manpower, and in the subsequent Defense of Handan, the armies of various countries that came to provide assistance just watched from the sidelines, and were not willing to take action until almost all of Zhao's young and strong men were dead.
"Didn't Zhao ask for help from Han, Wei and Chu?" The Six-Fingered Black Knight frowned and asked again.
130,000 against 600,000. Even the Mohist city defense chapter didn't teach him how to defend. It was almost a one to six situation!
"Qin deployed troops at Wuguan, Shangdang and Yewang, pinning down Han, Wei and Chu, making the three kingdoms dare not send troops to rescue." Lian Po brought bad news again.
The Qin State continued to adopt the policy of attacking nearby states and making friends with distant states. Even if it did not attack the Three Kingdoms, just deploying troops on the border would prevent the Three Kingdoms from easily sending troops to provide assistance.
There are many examples of defeating a larger force with a smaller one in military books, but after counting them all, only Wu Qi defeated Qin's 500,000-strong army with only 50,000 Wei soldiers.
But that was based on the situation where chariots still dominated the war. With the development of today's war, chariots no longer dominate the battlefield. Moreover, the Wei Wuzu were superior to the Qin army in both the quality of soldiers and equipment, which led to such a victory.
However, there was a huge gap between Yan and Zhao in terms of military strength. Zhao's equipment was inferior to Yan's. In terms of the quality of its soldiers, Zhao's 130,000 troops were all recruited temporarily, and there were many old, weak, sick and disabled people, making it even more incomparable to Yan.
"The art of war doesn't teach me how to defend!" The Six-Fingered Black Knight only wanted to take the Mohist disciples away. The Mohists advocated non-aggression, but they were not fools. He would not do such a thing as sending himself to die.
Lian Po also fell silent. Even though he was good at defense, he didn't know how to defend. He had no confidence or idea about sending 130,000 untrained soldiers, including the old, weak and sick, to fight against an army of 600,000.
