Published: March 7, 2025
Chapter 374: Battle Clouds Gather!
Iron Cloud Frontline.
Tie Butian and Wu Qianqian had quietly entered the army, meeting up with Iron Dragon City. The three of them began to eliminate the traitors within the army.
Iron Dragon City was naturally in full support of this endeavor and harbored a deep hatred for the traitors in the army, even feeling humiliated by their presence! Therefore, this task proceeded very smoothly.
Tie Butian had never expected that this time he came to the frontline, he would find himself trapped here. As he and Wu Qianqian quietly began to cut away the hidden lines within the army, they suddenly realized that the situation between the two countries had become so severe that it was hanging by a thread.
Since the new year, Great Zhao had been continuously increasing its troops, with wave after wave of soldiers pouring in like drops of water into a vast ocean.
The situation in Iron Cloud slowly became dire.
Tie Butian and Iron Dragon City both sensed something amiss, and reluctantly began to draw troops from Iron Cloud to cope with the increasingly heavy pressure from the enemy. Later, Tie Butian discovered that during the daily gradual extraction, a full third of the domestic army had already been moved to the frontline!
This was almost equivalent to a great decisive battle.
However, the emperor himself was stuck at the frontline, unable to move, and he hadn’t even had the chance to conduct a ceremony for the imperial expedition.
Naturally, Tie Butian didn’t care about such matters.
But his indifference didn’t mean that others were indifferent. The emperor’s presence on the frontline symbolized an imperial expedition! Although the ceremony was merely a drain on resources, it played a crucial role in boosting the morale of the troops!
Thus, on this day, Iron Dragon City summoned all the military leaders and held an imperial expedition oath-taking ceremony right at the frontline. It was easy to imagine how Tie Butian’s conspicuous appearance would inspire and elevate the morale of the Iron Cloud army to a fever pitch.
At this moment, Tie Butian had realized something.
Immediately after the oath-taking ceremony, he proposed to Iron Dragon City that a major battle might occur sooner than expected and decided to mobilize all the troops of Iron Cloud to rush to the frontline!
Iron Dragon City was startled by this, but after much thought, he agreed. Thus, the Iron Cloud army began to gather from all over the country, continuously arriving from all directions.
This decision was made even two days earlier than the decisive battle planned by Diwu Qingrou! Two days later, the entire army of Great Zhao also began to assemble, and a storm of war engulfed the skies of both countries.
Both sides were preparing for a decisive battle, as if they had made an appointment. This strange coincidence caused Iron Dragon City to feel a sense of ‘shame’ for the first time towards his imperial nephew, realizing, ‘I am not as good as him.’
It must be said that Tie Butian’s grasp and instinct for the situation far exceeded that of ordinary people. His decisiveness was also characterized by doing without hesitation.
Originally, Iron Dragon City had anticipated that this decisive battle would not break out for at least another year, but now he had to admit that he was wrong.
Tie Butian’s decision had gained Iron Cloud extremely valuable time, occurring two days earlier than Diwu Qingrou’s plans.
During this time, both Tie Butian and Wu Qianqian were filled with anxiety.
Although the two tried hard to control their expressions and avoid drawing others’ attention, they couldn’t hide their feelings from each other. Because the real Chu King of Hell… was still in Great Zhao!
With the great battle about to break out, why hadn’t Chu Yang returned?
Almost every day, there were new reports about Chu King of Hell wreaking havoc in Great Zhao. While the two would breathe a sigh of relief, their nerves became even more taut, and their worries intensified.