Chapter 248
Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW
Chapter 248: Immediate Departure for Campaign
Meanwhile, on the other side, on the night of the battle at West Plains City, Zhou Dongnan led his army, disregarding the threat of the night, and traveled through the night.
They were not afraid of wild beasts active at night.
In fact, it should be the beasts that were afraid, for if they dared to charge, they would face an army of nearly 4,000!
Retreating all the way west, Zhou Dongnan, riding his warhorse, pondered his next move with an uncertain expression.
Should he directly rest for 7 days and then retreat, or launch another attack?
If he retreated now, he should be the winner.
The great battle outside West Plains City could only be described as evenly matched, with neither side establishing a clear advantage.
Under this premise, he had the achievement of breaking through West Plains City.
In other words, if the results were judged now, his points would definitely exceed the opponent’s.
But that was not the main point.
The main point was that this campaign cost him over 100,000 in military expenses.
He didn’t even get any resources after breaking through West Plains City.
If he didn’t get Liu Ye’s compensation, he would suffer a huge loss!
Of course, he could choose to invade again.
The combined value of the 2 Silver-grade items far exceeded the 200,000 to 300,000 in military expenses.
But the problem was that he worried the second invasion opportunity would be snatched by the other few ‘animals’ in the group!
For example, Zhao Nan.
That guy’s tier ranking was a full 31 places higher than his.
If the second invasion opportunity was snatched by Zhao Nan, unless that Luo Ji was careless enough to destroy himself, he would almost certainly be dead.
Unlike the greatly inflated unranked rankings, because the transition period of the Bronze tier was relatively long, a large number of players would stay in this tier for a very long time.
This also meant that the number of Bronze tier players far exceeded those in the unranked tier.
Basically, anyone who could rank in the top 100 was a formidable character, and none of those in the top 200 were easy to mess with.
Wang Luzong’s strength was said to be mid-tier, but accurately speaking, he belonged to the mid-to-lower tier, ranked beyond 300.
Zhou Dongnan’s own ranking was 271st.
It’s actually not low, because it depends on who you compare him to.
Those ranked ahead of him were all formidable.
It was not easy to climb the ranks in the Bronze tier.
Take Zhao Nan, for example.
He was 31 places higher than Zhou Dongnan, at 240th.
He had been fluctuating around this rank for who knows how many years, winning some, losing some.
After all these years, his ranking had not significantly improved, but who dared to underestimate him?
Which veteran of the Bronze tier, upon seeing this name, wouldn’t first gauge their own strength?
That guy Zhao Nan was already considered a semi-boss level figure in the Bronze tier.
Everyone said that if Zhao Nan truly went all out, he could break into the top 200.
Staying in his current position was for the sake of ‘stability.’
Getting back to the main topic, Zhou Dongnan now faced a difficult choice.
If he temporarily withdrew this time, and someone else intercepted his prize, that would be truly unpleasant.
However, the casualty issue of continuing the fight also had to be considered.
This problem kept him agonizing until dawn.
After traveling all night, the soldiers were all utterly exhausted.
Estimating the distance, this location should still be safe, but primarily, the soldiers’ condition was reaching its limit.
So, Zhou Dongnan ordered a short rest and adjustment.
Looking at the distant army that had begun to make fires and cook, Liu Kai, who was leading a 100-man detachment following from afar, couldn’t help but show a hint of contemplation in his eyes.
“General, shouldn’t we send someone back now to tell the Leader the location of these outsiders?”
“No hurry, wait a bit longer.”
Liu Kai shook his head.
“They are only making fires and cooking right now, but they haven’t set up tents.”
“This indicates that these outsiders are likely just taking a short rest here and will start moving again after a while.”
Facts proved Liu Kai right.
As noon approached, the outsider army began to move again.
This time, they even changed direction directly, heading south, and only settled down completely when evening arrived.
Watching the outsider army begin to set up temporary tent camps, Liu Kai called over one of his cavalrymen, who had the best horsemanship.
“Go, rush back to West Plains City at top speed and report the situation here to the Leader.”
Meanwhile, back at West Plains City.
Luo Ji was utterly exhausted both physically and mentally from yesterday’s battle.
Every soldier under his command could now rest and recuperate slightly within West Plains City, but he alone could not, for he was the leader of this entire civilization.
Although this battle was not yet over, the matters awaiting his attention were already piling up.
Aside from a large stack of written reports, as the leader of this entire civilization, the people of West Plains City, who had just undergone the baptism of war, and the soldiers in the army all needed his personal appearance to appease them.
After going through all this, a whole day had practically passed.
This night, he unexpectedly slept soundly, probably because he was truly too tired, which ironically left him with fewer thoughts.
He simply laid his head down and fell into a deep sleep.
When he came to, the sun was already high in the sky outside.
Coincidentally, at that very moment, under the scorching sun outside West Plains City, a single rider galloped swiftly.
“Reporting Sir, Liu Xiang, squad leader of the cavalry unit under Liu Kai, seeks an audience!”
Hearing this report, Luo Ji, who was eating breakfast, instantly felt invigorated.
“Let him in!”
As soon as he finished speaking, Liu Xiang, dressed in leather armor, quickly walked in.
“Liu Xiang, squad leader of the Mirror City Cavalry Unit, pays respects to the Leader!”
Luo Ji raised a hand, signaling Liu Xiang to directly report the news he brought back.
Liu Xiang was straightforward.
He directly pulled out a map from his chest and unfolded it.
“Leader, please see.”
“After that outsider unit retreated from West Plains City, they fled west through the night.”
“After fleeing for a day and a night, they finally camped in this area…”
The map clearly had their retreat route marked with dye, extending from West Plains City all the way to their final camping area.
The enemy was surprisingly agile, and they had specifically chosen an area surrounded by forest for their camp, not forgetting to annoy his cavalry unit even at such a time.
At the same time, according to the markings on the map, the forest area was likely quite large, so a fire attack would probably be ineffective.
And Luo Ji did not have enough lamp oil to start a second fire now.
“Issue an order, gather our forces!”
“Everyone is to carry 5 days of dry rations with them!”
“We depart immediately!”
