Chapter 579

Chapter 579: The Unified Country

In the summer calendar year 3873, summer

The general Xia Liang of Xuanzhou rebelled, killed the Xuan King, conquered three provinces, then sent the Xuan King’s head to the Feng State, surrendered to the Datong Army, resulting in the death of all the royal heirs of the Chen Kingdom.

The Datong Army took control of the three provinces, thus controlling a total of thirty provinces of the Chen Kingdom. The Datong Army established a new country, named Great Unity, with the temporary capital at Feng State.

After the establishment of Great Unity, Lin Jiang didn’t marry or build palaces. Aside from awarding titles to his officials, the only thing left for him to do was to continue the war.

In October, Lin Jiang led two hundred thousand soldiers to Mizhou State, which had become the front line against the Demon Human. After Xia Liang surrendered to the Datong Army, Lin Jiang ordered him to reinforce Mizhou State. With the troops brought by Lin Jiang, the forces in Mizhou State totaled six hundred thousand.

"The guilty Xia Liang pays respects to Your Majesty"

Upon learning of Lin Jiang’s arrival, Xia Liang came to pay his respects.

"General Xia, please don’t be so formal. Please stand up quickly."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

"General Xia, please give us an update on the current situation."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Xia Liang saw that Lin Jiang was so interested in the situation, so he immediately explained everything to Lin Jiang.

In the past few years, after the Demon Human defeated the remaining forces of the Immortal Kingdom at the Great Wall, they shifted their focus southwards, gradually taking over the remaining territories of the Chen Kingdom.

Despite the fierce resistance from the border troops of the Chen Kingdom, they were not very effective opponents. There were two main reasons for this. Firstly, the border troops were not very well-trained, as the elite forces of Southern Chen Kingdom were kept close to the warlords to either expand their territories or resist the Datong Army. Secondly, there were shortages of supplies, morale, and military strength within the Chen Kingdom, which were interconnected. In fact, these two reasons can be considered as one.

Due to the fierce attacks by the Demon Human, the Chen Kingdom suffered a major defeat, losing two provinces and seven counties. If we consider the territories lost, it could actually be seen as losing three provinces, as those seven counties belonged to multiple provinces and didn’t form a whole province.

"Does the Demon Human have a large number of servant soldiers?"

Lin Jiang heard what Xia Liang said, and he was very surprised and asked.

"Yes, Your Majesty, our human race also has many traitors. The Demon Humans have come up with a cunning plan…"

"What cunning plan?"

"According to people who escaped from the north two years ago, the Demon Humans have forbidden ordinary Demon Humans from eating people freely, and they are not allowed to move around freely either. They have established Demon Cities everywhere for the Demon Humans to live in, controlling their behavior. The Demon Humans have also killed most of the noble families and landowners, giving their properties and land to the common people. They impose lower taxes than the Chen Kingdom, so many common people actually support the Demon Humans, saying they are better than the Chen family and would rather be Demon Humans than people of the Chen Kingdom."

Xia Liang slowly explained that he had just learned about these things recently and was very shocked. Is this the Demon Humans that he knew? But the reality proved it true, because there were already a large number of Demon Human servants on the battlefield, all made up of human races.

"How many Demon Human servants are there?"

"There should be around seventy to eighty thousand on our front line, very fierce. I’m not sure about other places."

"How many Demon Humans are there?"

"I don’t know. The northern territories have been occupied for nearly thirty years, so the number of Demon Humans may have doubled."

"We only have Mizhou State at the northern border, right?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Send messages to the other border areas, asking them to surrender to Great Unity. Great Unity can provide them with all the military expenses, weapons, and more reinforcements…"

Lin Jiang immediately said that the border guards were too weak now. Relying on them to defend the borders was unimaginable. For the safety of the flanks, Lin Jiang decided to recruit them.

"Your Majesty, if that’s the case, the pressure on Great Unity would be too great. There are still several provinces in the south that have not been taken over, and numerous bandits are causing trouble. Maintaining hundreds of thousands of troops has consumed countless resources. If we also take on the responsibility of border defense, we would need to allocate funds for at least another million soldiers. Great Unity’s finances cannot sustain this."

"Even if it’s hard to sustain, we must. This is the tolerance and responsibility of a great nation. No need to discuss this further, just proceed. Once they decide to surrender, immediately send reinforcements to bolster their strength."

Lin Jiang knew that this was a disadvantageous move, but he had to do it. Following the methods of the Demon Human could lead to the extinction of human civilization. He didn’t want to wake up next time and live in a world ruled by Demon Humans.

Moreover, Lin Jiang didn’t believe how enlightened the Demon Human were. It was possible that humans would be considered second-class or even third-class citizens in Demon Human territory. Did Lin Jiang have to kneel before them?

Later, Lin Jiang and Xia Liang inspected the front lines together. The current front lines were fortified using some hills, rivers, and numerous fortresses.

On the Demon Human side, most of them still live in tribes and use a lot of land for grazing animals. Yes, they graze animals because Demon Humans love to eat meat. Nowadays, they mainly eat cows and sheep instead of people. They consume a large amount of cows and sheep. With the Demon Human population increasing, they have to keep expanding or else they would have to control their population to satisfy their hunger.

"If we can establish a connection between Mizhou State and the Great Wall Legion, joining their forces together, the problem will be much easier."

Looking at the map, Lin Jiang noticed that Mizhou State and the Great Wall Legion are only two thousand miles apart in the southwestern part. Some of this blank area is occupied by the Demon Humans, and some are rugged mountains. If they can connect these two areas, their defense will be much stronger.

In the past few years, the Great Wall Legion has received support from the Datong Army, making their days better. However, overall, they are still not a match for the Demon Humans. They can only barely hold back a part of the enemy forces. The route from Hezhou State to the Great Wall Legion is too long. It takes ten pounds of grain to be sent, but on the way, it consumes twelve to thirteen pounds, making the efficiency too low.

"Your Majesty, this plan is difficult to carry out. There are too many mountains and forests in this area, even the Demon Humans don’t attack here. We won’t be able to establish the connection, unless we can drive out all the Demon Humans in this area."

"I just said it casually, you should research it further."

Lin Jiang admitted that he wasn’t an expert in this area. The Martial Arts Academy had trained qualified staff officers who were more professional than him.

······

In the northern part of Mizhou State, Lin Jiang quietly appeared with over a hundred riders. In front of everyone’s eyes, there were herds of cows and sheep. Under their feet used to be a bustling village, but now it had turned into ruins, overgrown with weeds, becoming food for the cows and sheep.

In the northern territory of Mizhou State, more and more people are escaping. Lin Jiang is learning more about Demon Human society, and the stories he heard are mostly true but very one-sided.

For example, it is strictly forbidden for Demon Humans to eat people, but some still do secretly. Instead of executing them, they might just face fines or forced labor. As for humans, if they die, they die.

The oppression by Demon Humans still exists; they are not charitable. It’s just that there are fewer humans now due to many being killed, so conflicts are rare these days.

On the Demon Human side, cities and tribes coexist. The Demon Humans invading the Immortal Kingdom and Chen Kingdom mainly belong to five major tribes, each having dozens of vassal tribes.

These five major tribes have grown and expanded significantly, with a huge population, occupying many cities and establishing Demon Cities where Demon Humans reside.

The vassal tribes are sent out to conquer and seize territories. If they achieve a great victory, they may be given a city as a territory. They then send out some smaller tribes to continue conquering lands.

A harsh reality is that the Demon Humans who previously took over two states in Chen Kingdom were the weakest among them; the stronger ones are still in their heartlands.

"Your Majesty, before us is a small Demon Human tribe that has divided into many tribes, taking over a lot of territories, with many humans becoming their servants."

"Let’s target one Demon Human Tribe and test their strength."

Lin Jiang nodded, they came this time to test the strength of the Demon Human. Even though Lin Jiang had killed many Demon Humans before, it had been a long time and he didn’t know how they had changed. The Demon Human world now was very different from before.

The group rode away, quietly approaching the Demon Human Tribe. The tribe lived in a still intact village, seeming not much different from ordinary human tribes.

"Enemy."

"Enemy attack!"

As they approached the tribe, Lin Jiang and his companions were discovered. The reason was simple – the people under their command had never dared to openly approach like this before.

"Kill."

Lin Jiang gestured with a large hand, and over a hundred riders spread out, charging directly into the tribe where the Demon Humans fought desperately.

The fight began, and all the people Lin Jiang brought were his personal guards, strong and talented individuals who were much stronger than the Demon Humans.

However, the Demon Humans resisted fiercely. Not only the adult males fought to the death, even the old, weak, women, and children showed no fear and faced death indifferently.

Two hours later, the battle ended, and about three to four hundred demon humans from the entire tribe were killed. Meanwhile, on Lin Jiang’s side, over ten people also died.

"It is unknown how powerful this tribe ranks among the demon race. Some have reached the strength of a Martial Arts Master."

"Adult demon humans in their prime have varying strengths, ranging from elite human warriors to early-stage innate cultivators. It is not fixed."

"There is a large power gap among elderly, weak, and sick demon humans. Overall, their physical quality is much stronger than that of the human race."

"These demon humans have very few demonic traits left. They appear no different from humans on the outside. However, during battles, their demonic features such as scales, claws, or horns may emerge."

Everyone gathered together to share their discoveries, which were then reported to Lin Jiang for documentation. Most of the Datong Army had never encountered demon humans before and needed training in advance.