Star Gate-Chapter 1030: The Great Li King (I)

Drenched with sweat, Liu Long and those who’d fought the first battle panted heavily. Despite their weariness, they were highly excited. The Demon Hunter Army had lost one thousand people in the skirmish; some familiar faces were dead, but that wasn’t the primary thought on everyone’s mind.

We won our first battle! The Demon Hunters are always invincible!

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“I am fortunate to properly carry out my orders!” Liu Long raised cupped fists at the army generals. Although he was smiling, there was no color in his face and his body was a mottled mess of bruises and injuries beneath his armor. However, he remained standing on his feet with a radiant smile on his face. “Victory is ours!”

Jubilant cheers broke out again. All of Skystar Dynasty seemed to be celebrating at this moment. So that was all there was to Great Li!

......

The Great Li camp.

The king had returned, summoning various generals to the central tent. Those who had led troops into the field were bathed in blood and enormously dejected. They entered the tent with their heads lowered and knelt on the ground.

The commanding officers trembled with fear. Although Great Li’s army had not collapsed after the first engagement, they had indeed lost. Granted, it had to do with the fact that their opponents sent out the Battle Heaven Army. Otherwise, Li Hao would’ve lost far more than he did.

But in their eyes, Great Li soldiers should be able to fight one-to-ten. It was nothing to be proud of if they triumphed over an army of similar strength. Great Li citizens were too few! If losses in battle continued to build at this ratio, would the central plains care about any defeats?

The Great Li army should’ve crushed their opponents!

“Rise!” The Great Li king was much calmer than his usual fits of fiery temper. “Our opponents sent out the Demon Hunter Army and Battle Heaven Army for this engagement. That was the sum of elites for all of Skystar Dynasty and even New Martial. This also represents that these are the only trump cards that Li Hao has!”

There was no trace of the king’s usual domineering nature to be found in his smile. He appeared quite relaxed. “Li Hao’s brought out all of his aces in one battle alone. This has helped us determine the limits of his capabilities.”

The first engagement could not be counted as a loss. Of course, Skystar morale would soar after the battle and his own soldiers would be dispirited, that was inevitable. But few of Great Li’s true elites had entered the battlefield. None of those riding monster spirits had been part of the deployed troops either.

“My king... I have embarrassed Great Li. Please kill and sacrifice me to the battle flag!” A Tiger Guard general knelt on the floor, anguish twisting his features. He’d led the Tiger Guard elites into battle and failed to accomplish anything.

On the contrary, the Battle Heaven Army had fully claimed the upper hand and caused enormous losses to the Tiger Guard.

“Stand up!” The Great Li king said softly with a raise of his hand.

The general immediately stood up without daring to say another word. He clenched his jaw, a violent air around him. It was so unbearable that Great Li had lost the first engagement.

“My king, why did we meet Li Hao in battle like this today?” asked the main priest. “Our soldiers have traveled from far away and possess limited resources. We should be taking cities and sweeping through their land as soon as possible.”

There wasn’t much meaning to being entangled with Li Hao here. Skystar was too big!

“We should be slaughtering the four directions and making him dash back and forth to put out fires. He’ll become too tired to handle everything!” The priest looked steadily at the king. “Li Hao will not be able to stabilize the situation if we make our way inland. Disturbances across the dynasty will run him ragged. He’ll lose control over Skystar, but we’ve given him a chance to establish his reputation with today’s battle.”

The Great Li king nodded. He understood this just as well. If Li Hao triumphed over Great Li, there would be no one within Skystar borders that dared rebel. If Great Li chose to strike at various places and disturb the citizenry’s peace, then there would be more trouble for Li Hao when local overlords rose again.

He knew all of that, so why had he conducted himself in this manner today?

“Li Hao won a small victory with today’s battle,” the king said slowly as he smiled at those around him. “This king will match him according to his wishes! He wishes to train his troops and produce elite battalions. If not, he would’ve sent out the Battle Heaven Army with the first sortie instead of the Demon Hunter Army.

“In his eyes, he thinks that we are willing to stay here and train with him for a while. There is no movement from the other three nations yet, so we might bog ourselves down in the swamp of war if we brashly venture into Skystar. We might not be able to maneuver ourselves out of it!”

The officers around him nodded. If that was the case, then they did indeed need to wait for a while. But Great Li had already sent out their troops and was waiting on the other three nations. Then... what was the point in being first?

So they could be Li Hao’s practice targets?

“There are more than ten thousand Battle Heaven soldiers and the Demon Hunters are not weak either,” the king changed the topic. “They have an additional several hundred thousand supernaturals and several million regular soldiers. They are yet to activate their various high-level troops. We also did not see their supernatural cannons today.

“We will win if we send all of our troops into the field, but how many of them would be left afterward? I estimate that we would lose more than half, and this engagement would not be the complete demise of the dynasty either.

“After we lose more than half of our army, we would need to fend off the counter attacks from various Skystar locales. We would also need to stand against the other three nations. Can Great Li really seize the world?”

The group paused, then nodded again. Today, they faced an army so massive that it could not be measured. Ominous clouds had loomed overhead and weapons such as supernatural cannons were yet to make an appearance. Perhaps they would suffer heavy casualties like their king said if they sent the full army into the field.

Of course, they would win since their strength was still superior!

“Then what does the king intend?” The priest looked at his liege. Plainly, the king had something else in mind.

“After the battle of the day and their minor victory, they will absolutely grow smug about their abilities. A proud army will fall!” calmly stated the king. “Therefore, we will put together an elite strike force tonight and ambush them to kill Li Hao!”

He looked at a black-robe ancient in the tent. “I hope that you will be able to lend us your aid and coordinate with the divine priest. We will kill their generals, seize their flag, and ambush Silver City at night!”

“Why does the king wish to ambush Li Hao tonight?” The black robe frowned. Even if a proud army would fall, they wouldn’t relax their guard after just one minor victory, would they? When it came to powerhouses... ambushes rarely had an effect.

“Silver City is our primary target,” laughed the Great Li king. “In addition, our troops will also attack the motley assortment of several million random soldiers tonight. We will create an enormous disturbance!

“Li Hao knows nothing abiut military affairs and placed those soldiers to his rear. It looks impressive, but once they are thrown into disarray, the disorder will engulf the main army! This king observed today that so long as these ordinary soldiers throw the camp into confusion, his main army for the frontlines will also be affected.

“He will not be able to maintain order! That is when this king will lead the rest of our army into killing them all in one night!”

“He has veteran generals and the Battle Heaven Army among his troops,” said the black robe after a while. “Will they be completely unprepared?”

“That is why they were permitted a small victory today. Li Hao now thinks that this is all there is to Great Li, so how would we dare ambush them at night?”

This both made sense and didn’t make sense to the ancient. But since Great Li wanted to attack at night, he supported the notion. What they wished to see most of all was continued warfare, so this was good!

“Very well, then I will contact the great ones so we hit Li Hao on two fronts tonight!”

“We will have to trouble you to make this trip,” nodded the Great Li king. “The more powerhouses, the better. Whether it is causing the collapse of his ordinary troops or beheading Li Hao, we will be able to charge through Skystar after the army collapses! Li Hao wishes to settle the war here, as does this king!”

The black robe said nothing further after listening to the king’s plans. He swiftly backed out of the military tent and disappeared.

“My king, we cannot trust these people,” someone immediately offered. “They are great trouble even if we defeat Li Hao’s side...”

“We are allies,” frowned the Great Li king. “Disrupting morale at this point in time is a crime worthy of death! Dismissed!”

“My king, I...”

“Dismissed!” shouted the king.

Irritated, the man left without another word. There were others who shared his vexation—this was an obvious conclusion! Did the king think that these people could be trusted? What a joke!

“We cannot fall into disarray ourselves when facing a great enemy,” the king said faintly. “Anyone who thinks the same as him can remove yourselves. You are dismissed while you still have some dignity left!”

No one dared say anything, but rebellious looks brewed deep in some people’s eyes. The Great Li king’s vision was keen and he pointed at a few. “You and you and you... dismissed!”

Those he pointed at ground their teeth and left without a word. Their king seemed bewitched! We’re all fiercely loyal to you, but are reprimanded harshly just for offering a reminder. Are those unknown ancient powerhouses really worthy of so much trust?

Great Li is not their puppet!

There were much fewer people in the tent after a while.

“The divine priest will lead all of the priests tonight and half of the royal guards.” The king ignored the unpleasantness that’d just taken place. “They will coordinate with the ancient powerhouses to ambush Silver City. Once their army is engulfed with confusion, the rest of the army will attack their main camp!

“The divine temple should also keep a close watch on our defenses. We will not give them a chance to pry into your affairs. Supernaturals have many abilities at their disposal!”

The main priest nodded without a word.

“Then you are dismissed. Comfort the soldiers so that the army’s spirit does not waver...” The rest of the people in the tent filed out; the main priest trailed behind, but stopped when the king raised his hand.