Heavenly Star.
A pair of boots embroidered with auspicious beast patterns stepped on a piece of scorched earth. The man in a luxurious robe's face was ashen, and his fists were tightly clenched together. From the man's line of sight, there were ruins in front of him. This was once a bustling city. Its unique geographical advantage, coupled with the painstaking management of several generations of leaders, made this city a resplendent pearl in the southern border of the empire. Especially after the battle between the princes, because the city was on the right team, its power was even higher. But now, it had become a ruin. Looking around, there were broken tiles and thick smoke billowing everywhere. There was hardly a single intact building. Especially the castle where the lord lived. It was once called White Castle, but now, under the artillery fire, only a large amount of wasteland and rubble remained.
This city was called Ark Harbor.
After resisting the invaders for more than three months, it shed its last drop of blood and declared its demise. However, the invaders from the east did not get anything. For this ruin, they had paid an extremely heavy price.
"Your Highness …" An officer knelt down beside the man in a luxurious robe.
"I want to be alone." The man said.
The officer sighed and lowered his head to retreat.
Ping Xi Wang!
His original title was the Prince of Anyang, but for the sake of this expedition to the West, he specifically asked the Emperor to change his title to Ping Xi, in order to pacify the Western Continent, so that those old things who looked down on him from top to bottom would be shocked. For this reason, apart from the troops and horses issued by the empire, he did not hesitate to put in all his assets and invest in a well-equipped private army. He was originally full of ambition, but he did not expect that when he crossed the ocean, the stormy waves did not stop his footsteps, but forcefully stopped in this harbor city for three months!
Those Western barbarians did almost everything. First, they destroyed their own corridors to prevent his army from landing, and then they used the cliff as a barrier to hold on. When he attacked the cliff and thought that he could flatten the city with one foot, the other party set up defenses one after another and invested a large amount of manpower and material resources. From the suburbs to the center, and finally to White Castle, there were a total of thirty-four lines of defense. When all the defensive lines were breached, the city naturally turned into ruins. However, his army also suffered heavy losses, especially his private army, which had already lost 30% of its members. According to his original plan, this private army would only suffer losses when they reached the barbarian capital. Unexpectedly, they suffered a huge setback here.
How could he not be annoyed?
How could he not be angry?
He was annoyed that the barbarians were so hateful. Their stubborn resistance was destined to be an unchangeable outcome, but he had to exhaust a large number of his troops. In the end, both sides suffered heavy losses. He was angry that the other prince did not care about his battle situation. He should have cooperated with him in battle, but he found an excuse and went to another battlefield to kill everyone. This was the so-called picking on the soft persimmon.
That person had the title of Extreme Martial King.
He had made a name for himself a long time ago. Regardless of battle prowess or reputation, he was above him. Although he was angry, he didn't dare to say anything. He could only break his teeth and swallow the blood in his stomach. He didn't dare to speak, but that didn't mean he didn't dare to complain. Ping Xi Wang's eyes were filled with killing intent. He had already cursed the Extreme Martial King three hundred times in his heart.
Now that the army had set up camp in an open space outside the city, they had to rest for a while before they could push inland. Now that many scouts had been sent to investigate the enemy's situation, Ping Xi Wang faintly felt that there was an even greater threat behind this city. From the previous three months of battle, the other party had always been able to withstand the wave of pressure, it could be seen that they had strong reinforcements. As a result, the complacency that he had previously thought had now turned into deep worry.
In this western expedition, three of the eight kings of the empire had been dispatched. In addition to him and the Extreme Martial King, there was also the Great Victory King. That prince's martial strength was inferior to the Extreme Martial King's, but he was famous for being powerful. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been awarded the title of Great Victory, all because he won every battle. And here, he still hadn't tasted defeat. The army he led had already penetrated deep into the imperial territory and was preparing to point his sword at the imperial capital. Although the Extreme Martial King hadn't expanded as much as him, he had already taken down many cities and was currently besieging the large city of Mosaio, which was located at the junction of the north and south.
Only he, who had lofty ambitions and lofty ambitions, was held back by the stubborn enemy. Ping Xi Wang, who had only taken down an Ark Harbor after three months, hadn't even taken a step inland. Every time he thought of this, Ping Xi Wang became incomparably angry. He thought to himself that the momentum he had created with great difficulty was like snow in the winter in the spring, completely melting away.
The more he thought about it, the more he hated these Western barbarians to the bone.
After resting for three days, the army set off and advanced inland behind Ark Harbor.
To his surprise, the barbarians had actually given up a dozen or so towns along the way, allowing him to occupy them without any effort. On the other hand, the people in these towns had already been evacuated. Not only that, everything of value had already been transported away, not to mention food and equipment. Therefore, Ping Xi Wang occupied more than a dozen towns in one go, but all he got were some stones that he couldn't eat. At most, it had some symbolic significance.
However, this was enough to solve his burning eyebrows, so that he could add a thick stroke to his military contributions, so that he wouldn't be unable to do anything for three months.
But then it wouldn't be so easy.
Moving forward, Ping Xi Wang saw a scorched land. The farmland and forests were all burned down. He was dumbfounded and grasped the barbarian's plan.
This was a desperate plan!
Thinking about it this way, during the first three months of bitter battle, these Western barbarians probably evacuated the residents of the dozen or so towns they had occupied before and took away everything they could take away. Then they burned the fields and destroyed the forests, and would rather destroy the crops that they couldn't take away than leave them for food. This was to cut off their food. One had to know that after three months, the military food they had brought with them had almost been used up. Now there were no crops, and the burning of the forest had driven away all the animals. It was difficult to find food within a hundred miles. Then there was the weather. The weather had begun to turn cold, and a lot of wood was needed to make a fire at night. Whether it was heating or cooking, it was an essential fuel.
But now, there were no crops or wood, which meant that the soldiers could only shrink their clothes and eat less.
"Those damn guys!" Ping Xi Wang's angry cry resounded in the tent.
The more than 20 officers in the tent all had a bitter look on their faces. The enemy had set up a desperate plan. Now, they could only ask the other two kings for food. Otherwise, let alone continuing to advance, it would be difficult to maintain the supply of hundreds of thousands of troops. It was an awkward situation where they could neither advance nor retreat. A general said: "Your Highness, how about you send a letter to Great Victory King? Great Victory King and the old king often drink and chat merrily. If I want to borrow food for this small favor, he will not refuse. "
Ping Xi Wang also knew that this subordinate was giving him a way out. If he had to choose between Great Victory King and Extreme Martial King to ask for help, he didn't want to look at Extreme Martial King's arrogant face. He immediately nodded and said: "This is the only way."
Suddenly, someone came in from outside and knelt down: "Not good, Your Highness, the soldiers are poisoned. We suspect that there is a problem with the water source."
"What's going on?" Ping Xi Wang turned pale with fright. He had just cut off the food supply, and now he was poisoned. It was really one wave after another.
He lifted the tent and walked around the barracks. Indeed, many soldiers were poisoned. After careful investigation, there was a problem with the drinking water. The water for the barracks was drawn from a nearby river. It was obvious that someone had poisoned the upstream, causing the soldiers to be poisoned after drinking it. Now, the poisoned soldiers were all gathered together and treated by the military medical team. Fortunately, it was only diarrhea. The soldiers' lives were not in danger, but it still damaged their morale.
Ping Xi Wang returned to his tent, but he couldn't even get angry.
After Ark Harbor was razed, Dawn Castle became the frontline base against the eastern invaders. Almost half of the southern territory's supplies would be transported into this city every day, and then distributed to the frontline cities after unified distribution. The three-month war at Ark Harbor could be said to be extremely difficult. If it weren't for Tie Song Ridge and Edward constantly sending food, not to mention three months, they probably wouldn't even be able to last a month.
These three months had bought precious time for Edward's next series of arrangements. At Edward's insistence, Ark Harbor gave up on the next few towns, and even the neighboring towns under Edward's jurisdiction were on the list of empty cities. More than a dozen towns and hundreds of thousands of people evacuated in an orderly manner, taking away food, equipment, minerals, and other valuable things. Not a single blade of grass was left behind, leaving only empty cities for the enemies of the Eastern Countries.
Then, he destroyed the fields and burned the forests, and poisoned the water source, damaging the enemy's morale to the greatest extent, paving the way for the next battle.
Everything was going according to Edward's plan.
The residents who had evacuated from Ark Harbor and other towns were housed in Dawn Castle and other cities, all of whom were guaranteed food and clothing. However, even so, it was still difficult for many residents to adapt to leaving the city they had lived in for a long time. This included Jorah, a woman who had grown up in Ark Harbor. She was now lying on the big bed in the VIP room of Dawn Castle, tossing and turning.
Orlando had already gone to the frontlines, so she probably wouldn't be able to come back today. Thus, she looked out of the window at the unfamiliar city and sighed with emotion.
Originally, after the Battle of the Princes, she could settle down to be a good wife and a good mother. She didn't want the sudden appearance of the Eastern Dragon to make all of this a bubble. She had no choice but to wear armor and fight with her husband to protect their territory. In the past three months, familiar faces had fallen asleep every day. From the initial sadness to the current numbness, Jorah couldn't tell which was better.
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