The Fourth Financial Crisis

Just a few dozen miles north of the Guhong Island camp, there is a huge mortal military camp.

The scale of this camp is larger than that of the Guhong Island Camp, and the camp is also crowded. However, unlike the soldiers under Tian Beixi's command, the morale is not as high as that of the soldiers under Tian Beixi. The soldiers in this camp are all downcast, like a defeated rooster, even if The few grassroots leaders who shout and shout to maintain order also seem weak when shouting.

If you observe carefully, you will find that the equipment of these soldiers is more sophisticated than that of the soldiers of Guhong Island, but the shape is a bit messy and the flags are different, as if there are many different troops mixed together. .

This is the main force of the outlying island coalition that has defeated more than a dozen encounters and two decisive battles in a row.

The outlying island coalition is composed of the twelve most powerful lords on the entire outlying island. In a huge marching tent in the center of the camp, facing an extremely bad situation, the senior officials of these outlying island coalition forces gathered together to discuss the next combat deployment.

The commander-in-chief of this outlying island coalition is named Huang Xuan.

This person is the lord of the largest island in the outlying island archipelago [Main Island]. Since the island’s area, food production, and total population are almost equivalent to one-eighth of the entire outlying island archipelago, according to the practice in the outlying island area, he is The lord of this island is also respectfully called the "Great Lord" by the lords of other outlying islands.

As the most powerful mortal lord in the entire outlying island region, he not only accepted the appointment of the Wuliang Sword Sect and became the so-called special administrator of the outlying islands, he was also naturally elected as the commander of the outlying island coalition forces.

Huang Xuan looked to be about fifty or sixty years old. He was sitting upright in the main seat behind the command table. His temples were a little gray, and there was a pair of reading glasses hanging on the bridge of his nose. His eyesight was obviously declining. This great lord usually pays great attention to his image, and always wears a meticulously combed hairstyle. However, due to continuous defeats and running away, the lord of this island has obviously become a little greasy and messy, and his image looks... Quite embarrassed.

In fact, Huang Xuan's life has not been easy recently.

The offshore coalition forces initially numbered 100,000 troops. However, after being defeated from the front many times by Tian Beixi, only 30,000 to 40,000 soldiers can still be gathered in total.

Considering that Tian Beixi's hand strength has greatly increased because he surrendered a large number of prisoners of the outlying island coalition forces, even in terms of total military strength alone, the outlying island coalition forces have no advantage over the Guhong Island army.

Because of this, when the senior leaders of the coalition forces on these outlying islands were discussing countermeasures, the atmosphere was as heavy as a funeral.

"Master Ke, has the food from our rear arrived?"

The person Huang Xuan was questioning was wearing a straight military uniform and looked quite capable.

This person's full name is Ke Laibo, and he is the lord of Haihong Island, another large island on the outlying island. He is famous among the lords of the outlying island for his knowledge of soldiers. He once defeated the Huoyun State intervention army that tried to intervene on the outlying island fifteen years ago. Precisely because this man had an impressive record of defeating Tian Shangcheng, the previous leader of the Shenhuo Sect, he was also elected as the chief of staff of the outlying island coalition.

Hearing the question from the great lord, Ke Laibo said with a serious expression: "I have already sent people to rush it, it shouldn't take too long!"

Huang Xuan rubbed his temples and said: "We must do it as soon as possible! Our army has been defeated repeatedly and its morale is low. Although Tian Beixi did not pursue it for some reason, if the food cannot keep up, I am afraid that the defeated generals under our men will also collapse without a fight! "

Ke Laibo said: "Don't worry, great lord, our outlying island coalition has two food routes available. One is for direct supply along the coastal road, and the other is to build a pontoon bridge at the narrowest part of the outlying island strait to transport food from the main island. Tianbeixi and I didn’t know whether our military rations were loaded on cars or ships. In order to confuse Tian Beixi, I deliberately sank several large ships on the south side of the outlying island strait, blocking the waterway in the direction of Guhong Island, and made use of trucks to transport food. Preventing the Huoyunzhou fleet from destroying the pontoon bridge. In fact, he ordered the grain ship to come directly from the north side of the outlying island strait and beat her eastward and westward!"

Lord Ke Laibo was able to repel Huo Yunzhou's last attack, and he did have two brushes in his hands.

After hearing Ke Laibo's plan, not only Huang Xuan nodded with satisfaction, but also other outlying island lords also praised him with words such as "Lord Ke's insight", "a clear vision", "an early opportunity"...

However, at this moment, a messenger from the sect suddenly stumbled in, fell to his knees with a thud, and cried loudly: "Great lord, dear lords, something bad has happened!"

A look of disgust flashed across Ke Laibo's eyes, and he said angrily: "Just tell me if you have something to say, what's the decency of being so flustered?"

The messenger quickly explained: "Our grain transport ship is blocked and cannot arrive on time today!"

Just after bragging about his plan to attack the east and west, Ke Laibo's face froze instantly: "That's nonsense! Could it be that Tian Beixi's magic can still be used at sea, and it sunk our grain transport ship?"

The messenger answered honestly: "That's not true, but after Tian Beixi saw that we blocked the southern channel of the Outlying Island Strait, instead of sending people to destroy the pontoon bridge, he actually sank several large ships on the north side of the Outlying Island Strait. , completely blocking the channel on the north side of the outlying island strait. Now our grain ships cannot come in at all. Even if we want to unload the goods on the spot, there are not enough cars to pull the grain to the camp. These dozens of miles The land journey can’t all be carried by everyone’s hands and shoulders!”

Tian Beixi's "I predicted your prediction" operation completely shocked the outlying island lords.

Ke Laibo stammered: "This... this is impossible! How did she know that we planned to use ships to transport food? How dare she let us repair the bridge? Is there a spy from Tian Beixi inside us?"

However, no one answered his question at all.

No matter what the truth of the matter is, the current situation is that Tian Beixi has seen through Ke Laibo's deployment and has successfully cut off the food routes of the coalition forces on the outlying islands.

This caused all the island lords present to panic.

"Quiet!" Seeing the chaotic posture of the lords, Huang Xuan immediately made a calm gesture, "Tian Beixi is not only powerful in magic, but also cunning in military use. It's not like everyone has learned how powerful she is. Now it's just that the food has not been transported in time. The place where we camp is only forty miles away from the position where the food ship is blocked. Even if we really have to carry it by hand and shoulder, I don't think it is impossible. The situation is not as bad as everyone imagined. As serious as that.”

Huang Xuan's comfort did not convince everyone, and some people immediately questioned: "But Great Lord, the morale of our coalition forces is already low, and now we have to travel dozens of miles to transport food back and forth. When Tian Beixi comes to fight again, we still Can you fight?"

This soul torture made Huang Xuan's expression freeze.

If he had a way to retreat from the enemy, he would have used it long ago. How could he be beaten into this situation by the opponent?

Huang Xuan wanted to tell him that even if the outlying island coalition had 100% morale, they still couldn't defeat Tian Beixi. It didn't matter whether their morale was high or low. But as the commander-in-chief of the army, he couldn't say this. This was equivalent to admitting that he was sitting back and waiting for death.

So he knocked on the command table in front of him with a gloomy face and whispered: "Ke Laibo, please introduce the latest battle situation to everyone first! I can't answer all your questions before I understand the battle situation. !”

On the table in front of the great lord Huang Xuan, there is a huge map of outlying islands.

However, compared with Tian Beixi's accurately surveyed outlying island map, the outlying island coalition's map is somewhat unsatisfactory. From this point, we can also see the slackness and carelessness of the outlying island coalition in the face of the war of aggression.

If the gap between Haiya Fleet's map and Tian Beixi's map can be explained by Haiya Fleet's insufficient preparation, then it is unreasonable that the Outlying Islands Alliance Force, as the host of the Outlying Islands, has a map that is not as accurate as Tian Beixi, an outsider.

Of course, although this map is not accurate, it is barely enough to explain the battle situation.

Ke Laibo, the chief of staff of the outlying island coalition forces, listened to the order and immediately introduced the map to the lords: "Dear island owners, our current situation is not good. Tian Beixi has defeated all the remaining soldiers we left on the other side of the strait. In the south, they occupy the best landing point in the outlying island strait and are ready to attack us at any time. In addition, although the Fire Cloud State forces did not directly participate in the war, their merchant ships are shuttled through the outlying island strait to provide combat supplies to Guhong Island. Now our morale is low and we are unable to fight. We can only watch them complete their preparations for war..."

Everyone knew that their situation was not good, but when they heard Ke Laibo speak so bluntly, the faces of the island lords became even worse. Everyone turned their attention to Huang Xuan, and no one dared to take the initiative to speak. .

Being stared at by everyone with heavy eyes, Huang Xuan forced himself to calm down and said: "If Xu Tong from Yanbo Island organizes his troops and launches an attack from the flank, everything will be fine. He still has thousands of well-equipped soldiers under his command!"

Everyone looked at each other, and finally Ke Laibo looked hesitant and said: "The great lord...Xu Tong..."

Before he could finish speaking, the Lord of Garden Island next to him immediately added: "Island Master Xu said that he does not have enough troops and is currently unable to launch an attack!"

Hearing this, Huang Xuan almost couldn't breathe.

After a long silence, he tremblingly took off his reading glasses and slowly said: "The lords of Haihong Island, Garden Island and Yingyue Island stay!"

Huang Xuan named the three most powerful lords.

The other weaker lords turned around and left the depressing meeting before he could continue. Everyone knew that the big lord was about to start swearing.

Sure enough, when all the idle people retreated, the great lord Huang Xuan finally couldn't bear it anymore and said angrily: "That's an order! Letting Yanbo Island attack from the flank is an order! How dare Xu Tong disobey my order? Things have reached this point. , are you all ready to betray Outlying Island and surrender to Tian Beixi? Especially that bastard Xu Tong is simply a disgrace to our outlying island lords!"

The angry roar spread outside the tent, and the lords of the outlying islands who had just left the march tent fell silent.

The Lord of Yingyue Island who was present quickly persuaded: "Great Lord, Xu Tong is our last hope after all. You——"

"Xu Tong is a coward!" Huang Xuan did not listen to the advice at all, but slammed the pen on the map, interrupting the other party's excuse: "I saw it from the time he first refused to join the outlying island coalition. ! He has only learned to eat, drink and have fun in so many years. He has not experienced a real war in many years. When he encounters a truly powerful enemy, he will only hinder us all! When he conserved his strength and refused to join the coalition forces on the outlying islands, I He should be cut down directly, just like Tian Beixi did to the captured outlying island lord!"

This angry rebuke left the three lords present without knowing what to say.

However, Huang Xuan was not satisfied and continued to angrily: "If this war continues like this, we have no hope at all! If you think that if you lose the war, you can still save your life, then you are wrong! Tian Beixi has absolute power Strength, she will never let any of you go, no one is allowed to retain strength!"

The three great lords looked at each other, and no one dared to speak first to answer this question.

Xu Tong withstood the pressure and did not join when the coalition forces on the outlying islands were at their strongest. Now that the situation of the coalition forces on the outlying islands is in danger, it is simply wishful thinking to expect Xu Tong to send troops to help.

After venting his anger, Huang Xuan finally calmed down a little: "Master Ke, is there any news from the Wind Yu Faction in Borneo? We have agreed to all their demands, where are the cultivators they sent? "

Ke Laibo looked embarrassed and said: "The Yufeng Sect didn't send anyone, at least they didn't contact me!"

Huang Xuan slammed the table again: "I knew that this group of cultivators would not be reliable at the critical moment! Where is the Zhongzhou Infinite Sword Sect? They will definitely take action!"

Just when the other party didn't know how to answer, suddenly another messenger stumbled into the conference room.

Being able to break into the operational meeting of the high-level coalition forces on the outlying island without authorization, it was easy to know that the courier must have brought important information.

"Haiya City's fleet has arrived!" Before Huang Xuan could ask, the messenger took the initiative and said, "The Wuliang Sword Sect has ordered Haiya City to organize a fleet to rescue the outlying islands. According to the latest news, the Haiya Fleet left three days ago. Yanbo Island is coming to the outlying island strait!"

When Huang Xuan heard the news that the Haiya Fleet was coming to help, Huang Xuan instantly showed a look of ecstasy. However, soon, he seemed to suddenly think of something, and his expression of ecstasy turned into suspicion.

He stared at the messenger who came to report the news and said word by word: "Haiya Chamber of Commerce is famous in Kyushu for its ocean trade. The merchant ships are big and fast. If they left Yanbo Island three days ago, why haven't they done so now? Rush to the outlying island strait?"

After hearing Huang Xuan's question, the other three lords slowly came to their senses:

yes!

If the Haiya Fleet had set off from Yanbo Island three days ago, it would have started a fight with Tian Beixi's army by now!

There is no communication spell on the outlying island, and information communication is very poor.

This messenger also set out from Yanbo Island with the Haiya Fleet three days ago. What happened to the Haiya Fleet in the middle was naturally impossible for him to know. Faced with Huang Xuan's questioning, he hesitated for a long time and couldn't explain the reason. Come.

Seeing that Huang Xuan's expression was a little unkind, the messenger had no choice but to tell him the official statement of the Haiya Fleet: "Han Guanshi and Master Yang Xian of the Haiya Fleet said that when they fight Tian Beixi, they hope that the outlying island coalition forces can cooperate from the flanks. At that time, they will send a messenger to contact you in advance. As for why they didn't arrive for so long, I really don't know!"

Seeing that the messenger couldn't explain the reason for a long time, Huang Xuan said angrily: "Come here, drag this messenger down for me. If the Haiya Fleet doesn't arrive tomorrow, I will be the first to kill the guy who falsely spreads the news." Get the sacrificial flag!"