Chapter 586

Chapter 586: Sweeping Across the States

When Lin Jiang made his move, the Demon Human youth was taken down as expected. Then, Lin Jiang split his forces into two groups. One group attacked Yingchuan Prefecture, seizing the opportunity, while the other surrounded the nearby Demon Humans.

Yingchuan Prefecture was extremely weak, with mostly just the elderly, weak, women, and children. The young people outside the city were more formidable. Two hours later, Lin Jiang took control of Yingchuan Prefecture.

The Demon Humans put up a fierce resistance. Even the elderly and sick didn’t surrender. Despite Lin Jiang’s arrival, the killing continued.

When Yingchuan Prefecture finally quieted down, there were not many survivors left in the city. However, they did find a large group of humans, mainly women who had been giving birth to children for the Demon Humans. There were also some craftsmen among them.

"Your Majesty, what should we do with these women?"

Hearing about this matter, the subordinates dared not make a decision and went to report to Lin Jiang.

"How do these women feel about the Demon Humans, especially the young ones they gave birth to?"

"This is very complicated, I don’t know how to explain it for now."

"First, tighten the guard. If Yingchuan is lost, those people must be executed. If it’s not lost, then let the officials discuss it later."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Have the people from the Xie Family been found?"

"They are in contact, for twenty to thirty years now. There has been a turnover of people left by the Xie Family."

"Okay, let’s see how they perform. Get the follow-up troops to hurry to Yingchuan Prefecture. It’s time for war."

Lin Jiang nodded. Yingchuan Prefecture City is Demon City, and the people of Xie Family have been driven away, reaching the outskirts of the city. There are also people from the Xie Family in Lin Jiang’s army, heading to the rendezvous.

The follow-up troops began to appear one after another, and the city defenses of Yingchuan Prefecture also became complete. The Xie Family and other servant armies played a very important role here.

When Lin Jiang had time, he would also listen to them talk about the society of Demon Humans, learning some details that made Lin Jiang increasingly worried about their strength.

More than ten days later, the Demon Human army from Yingzhou State returned from fighting in Dingzhou, hundreds of miles away, Lin Jiang received the news from the scouts. A few days later, Lin Jiang also received news from the Datong Army in Dingzhou. They lost in the battle against the Demon Human of Yingzhou State.

They were defeated in the field, losing seventy to eighty thousand people in one battle, then retreated to a city, under fierce attack from the Demon Human, almost losing the city. Fortunately, Lin Jiang took over Yingchuan Prefecture, the news reached the ears of the Demon Human, they were worried and quickly withdrew.

"Send a message back, give Su Yu a chance to redeem himself, let him bring soldiers to flank the Demon Human. If this fails, tell him to return to the countryside to farm."

Lin Jiang was very unhappy with this outcome, especially with Su Yu, the chief commander of the Datong Army in Dingzhou. He had been following him for years, fighting for over a decade, and still ended up in such a disgraceful situation.

When the Demon Human army from Yingzhou State returned to the outskirts of Yingchuan Prefecture, they soon saw the Demon Human youths on the city wall. Lin Jiang captured more than two hundred Demon Human youths and executed some in front of the larger army, deliberately provoking the Demon Human.

The Demon Human were indeed provoked and launched a fierce attack, falling into Lin Jiang’s trap. The Datong Army could rely on the city wall to take full advantage of their weapons.

After half a month, the Demon Human army still failed to capture Yingchuan Prefecture. Instead, the Datong Army from Dingzhou followed, along with Xia Liang from Shuzhou State with reinforcements. Surround on three sides, the Demon Human army suffered a major defeat, almost annihilating the Demon Human forces in Yingchuan Prefecture.

"I will lead fifty thousand elite soldiers to Jizhou to support the battle in Laizhou. General Xia will lead another army west to capture Peizhou State. Su Yu will continue to attack other areas in Yingchuan, clearing out the remaining enemies quickly before advancing to Qing State. General Xia will lead the cleanup of Peizhou State before moving to Qing State, where he will take charge of major operations."

"Your Majesty, Qing State is the gateway to Qianzhou State, are we going to have a decisive battle with the Demon Human in Qing State?"

"Yes, currently the remnants of the Zhou Dynasty and Immortal Kingdom are still fighting fiercely. We must seize this opportunity to deal with the Demon Humans in the former Chen Kingdom."

Lin Jiang nodded, the opportunity was rare. If the other two forces didn’t take action, relying solely on their own forces would be difficult. The Immortal Kingdom might even send help from the Demon Humans north of the Qing River, then they would surely be defeated.

After arranging things, Lin Jiang led his troops away. Other places, like Qing State, were also severely weakened by the Demon Humans. Lin Jiang went on a rampage through the lands.

They had to travel light and didn’t bring much supplies. It was almost winter, they didn’t even have enough resources to survive the winter. They had to plunder from the Demon Humans.

This dealt a heavy blow to the Demon Humans. They had occupied Chen Kingdom for twenty or thirty years, but they couldn’t recover from the losses this time.

Faced with the widespread fires, the Demon Humans of Qianzhou State issued a summons for all scattered Demon Humans to gather at gathering places in various counties. Qianzhou State also sent elite squads of Demon Humans to support the battles in different places.

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"Greetings, Your Majesty."

"General Huangfu, no need for formalities."

In Jizhou, Lin Jiang met the third division of Datong Army. Among the six divisions, only Xia Liang used to be a surrendered general. The rest were Lin Jiang’s old comrades from the time they spent in Qiyun Mountain.

"Your Majesty, General Qin and his troops are progressing very smoothly. They will gather in Qing State in just one month."

"That’s good. Give me 20,000 soldiers from your army for supplies. You take the others to support Qin Yong and his troops. It’s going to snow soon, and we must reach Qing State before the snowfall."

Lin Jiang knew he was taking a big risk. Once it snowed, it would be very disadvantageous for both the Demon Human and Datong Army. The issue of food and supplies would become critical. Even if Lin Jiang urged the supply troops, it wouldn’t help because they were responsible for feeding over a million soldiers.

Lin Jiang’s plan now was to plunder as much as possible, to leave the Demon Human with nothing, especially seizing their food supplies.

When Lin Jiang’s troops reached Qing State, they found that most of the Demon Human had disappeared. After questioning some surviving humans, they learned that the Demon Human Tribe had started to gather elsewhere.

"Contact the local Xiao family in Qing State. Check on the situation with the Demon Human," Lin Jiang ordered.

Lin Jiang sent his men to find members of the Xiao family and contact those who were still in the area to gather information.

After thorough investigation, Lin Jiang gradually learned about the Demon Human’s plan. They didn’t want to face a decisive battle in Qianzhou State, so they concentrated their forces in Qing State. There, they commanded the scattered Demon Human Tribes to return and obstruct the advance of the human troops.

When Lin Jiang heard that Qianzhou State had more than 80,000 Demon Human soldiers heading south, he was shocked. He had dealt with Demon Human soldiers before, and he knew that these 80,000 were very powerful.

The strength of the Demon Human soldiers made Lin Jiang hesitant to enter Qing State. He decided to wait for Xia Liang and other forces to arrive before advancing slowly into Qing State.

When Datong Army reached Qingqiu Prefecture, they stopped because the Demon Human soldiers had gathered there. Lin Jiang quickly gathered his troops for a brief standoff with the enemy.

At this time, Lin Jiang had 800,000 soldiers in his hands, with 200,000 already lost in battle. The remaining soldiers were either injured, stationed elsewhere, or defending the rear.

"Greetings, Your Majesty."

All the generals had arrived and greeted Lin Jiang together.

"Based on estimates from scouts and information provided by the Xiao family in Qing State, it was believed that there were between 30,000 to 40,000 Demon Human soldiers. About 80,000 elite soldiers came from Qianzhou State, and Qing State had about 10,000 elite soldiers. With reinforcements, the total elite forces were around 100,000. However, there were not many auxiliary troops, mostly local forces from Qing State and none from other regions."

"Additionally, according to predictions from local elders, it was expected to snow within two weeks. It was decided that the decisive battle should take place within that time frame. If they lost, there would be no need to worry about surviving the winter. If they won, they could move to Qingqiu Prefecture and spend the winter in Qianzhou State."

Lin Jiang immediately proposed a decisive battle in Qing State. If they won, they could use the resources of the Demon Human soldiers, but if they lost, it would be the end.

"Your Majesty, it would be good to start the battle early, but we don’t know if the Demon Human will agree. If they don’t come out of the city to fight in the open field, and we have to attack the city, that wouldn’t be a good thing."

Xia Liang said that their marching speed was too fast, and they had abandoned a lot of supplies. They didn’t have any siege weapons either. And in a siege battle, they were at a disadvantage.

"Don’t worry, they will come out to fight. Prepare yourselves in the next few days."

Lin Jiang shook his head, there was no need to worry. In this campaign, they already knew that the Demon Human valued their offspring greatly. It was unclear whether the difficulty in the past for the Demon Human to have descendants was the reason. In any case, in the previous battle at Ying River, he killed a group of young Demon Human in front of the Demon Human army, which drove them crazy. So Lin Jiang had a plan in mind. There were still a few Demon Human in the army, and he would give it a try when the time comes.