Chen Shen did not answer Ma Wu's question directly, but asked: "I still remember what you said at the celebration banquet last night: this time when the Northern Yi invaded, Commander Tuoba Xi could only serve as a general."
.Behind his first army, there must be a follow-up army."
"In your opinion, are the Tuoba Xijun and his 100,000 troops that we met earlier the entire force for the Beiyi invasion this time?"
When Ma Wu heard this, his gray brows frowned slightly: "This... I'm afraid that's not necessarily the case."
According to the experience of the old city lord, when the Beiyi Army invaded in the past, the number of the vanguard was at least twice as small as the main force of the subsequent large forces.
But this time, Tuoba Xijun first led an army of 100,000 troops to attack, and then encountered Tuoba Xijun's 100,000 regular troops.
But in terms of team size, it is very different from before.
What's more, it was the first time in Ma Wu's more than 20 years as the lord of Dawan City that an army of 100,000 troops had invaded.
He did not think that Tuoba Xijun's 100,000 troops were the entire main force of the Beiyi invasion.
Chen Shen nodded matter-of-factly: "So, I have to go and conduct reconnaissance. At least I need to find out how many people there are in the large army of Beiyi barbarians, how far away they are from us, and when will they arrive at the city?"
"Only by understanding these issues can we avoid being too passive."
Ma Wu was still hesitant: "But as the commander-in-chief of the army, how can you go into danger alone? How about I ask Wang Bao to investigate for you?"
"You may not think that Wang Bao looks tall and thick, but in fact, the old boy has an extremely cautious character, and his profound energy cultivation has reached the level of a three-star profound master, so he should be able to do the job."
Chen Shen waved his hand: "I must personally take action in this matter, old horse, please don't try to persuade me anymore."
"This... alas! That's fine!"
The old city lord turned around and said: "The Northern Front Army should be able to reach the territory of Dawan in half a day. When I go back this time, I will definitely recommend to Your Majesty that you have full authority to command the defense of Dawan City against the enemy."
"Well, then there's Brother Laoma." Chen Shen clasped his fists.
As early as three days ago, the Daxia Northern Front Army, numbering in the millions, had received an imperial edict, ordering them to leave 300,000 men to guard each camp, and the remaining 700,000 men to quickly support Dawan.
Yesterday, before Tuoba Xishuai attacked the city, the group of 200,000 horses closer to Dawan had already arrived first.
Unfortunately, after a fierce battle with Commander Tuoba Xi's 100,000 advance troops, the 200,000 Northern Front troops were almost completely lost.
Now, another half million troops are about to arrive.
This is undoubtedly good news for Chen Shen - when he leads the Qiaoqi Army and the Xuewei Guards to continue their march north, he no longer has to worry about Dawan's rear defense.
"Okay, I'll leave Brother Ma to worry about the Northern Front."
"Also, our family deserves half of the credit for killing Tuoba Xijun this time! If you don't do what I say, don't blame me, brother. I will never recognize you as my big brother!"
Ma Wu's face was full of gratitude: "Okay, just do as Brother Chen said!"
…
It's the end of autumn now and it should be cool.
But in the prairie of Northern Xia, there is no shadow of the towering giant trees and the fresh air of the rivers. Therefore, at noon, the surrounding air is still sultry and heart-stirring.
On the prairie, Chen Shen rode a red rabbit and led Xiaobai all the way north.
As the borderland of the northern border of Daxia, although there are no forests of trees or towering mountains, the terrain does have high and low terrain, and hills covered with knee-deep weeds can be seen everywhere.
At a certain moment, Xiaobai, who was lying on Chitu's back, leisurely enjoying the Xuanjing feast, suddenly shouted: "Boss, stop it! There is a situation four miles due north."
Chen Shen looked at the small hill a hundred meters away in front of him and asked, "Oh? Is it a mysterious beast? Or a Beiyi orc?"
Xiaobai said without thinking: "They are orcs. This Tiger God can feel their breath, just a mile away behind this hill."
"Are there many people?"
After pondering for a while, Xiaobai nodded his round head seriously: "A lot, I estimate...two to three hundred thousand!"
"Holy crap! So many?" Chen Shen was shocked: "Chitu, go back to the hill I passed before, quickly!"
The one-horned red-maned beast under the crotch galloped wildly, and in just a dozen breaths it was two miles away and climbed onto the hill they had climbed before.
After hiding Chitu and Xiaobai behind the hill, Chen Shen climbed to the top of the hill and lay down among the hay.
"Omniscient Map, open!"
"Buzz!"
After an instant, all the disturbances within a hundred miles radius had entered Chen Shen's sensory mind.
He suddenly discovered that five miles away from the north, a mighty orc army was slowly approaching.
There were infantry at the front and rear of the team, about 250,000 in number.
Among the infantry were Beiyi cavalry: those ten-foot-long orcs, riding wolves as big as elephants, each wearing steel armor and golden knives, their horses were extraordinary!
"Presumably this is the rumored Beiyi Wolf Cavalry that frightened the border guards of Great Xia, right?"
Chen Shen's heart was agitated, and when he took a closer look, he suddenly discovered that in the center where the wolf riders were gathered, there was also a giant sedan chair with a radius of a hundred feet.
The whole body of the sedan chariot is forged from hard and heavy keel stone. It is being pulled by five running wolves at the moment, like a small moving pavilion.
"What a grand scene! The guy in the sedan chair is most likely the coach of the Beiyi invasion this time, right?"
Chen Shen looked solemn: "Twenty-five thousand infantry, fifty thousand wolf cavalry, plus the previous two hundred thousand... Tsk, it seems that the determination of the Northern Yi Barbarian King to invade our country this time is really unprecedented.
!”
Through the books in Chen's mansion, the young man learned that the total population of Beiyi people was actually not large. At best, it was equivalent to the total number of residents in a first-level city in Daxia Kingdom.
Therefore, they can send an army of half a million people to attack, even if it is not a true attack, it is probably not much different.
Fortunately, this group of monsters has endless strength, rough skin and thick flesh, and each male is born to be a warrior. There are not many people in this race.
Otherwise, if they could be allowed to form a four-front army similar to Daxia's in the east, west, south, and north, with a total number of more than four million, the surrounding human countries would have been swallowed up to the point where not even the bones and dregs were left.
Already...
Suddenly, Chen Shen thought of a possibility: "Could these Beiyi people have heard the news of my grandfather's death and the raging war in Huainan, so they came out in full force at this time and planned to invade the country in one fell swoop.
Half of Xia’s country, right?”
In fact, he really got it right.
The news of Chen Zangfeng's death and the war in Huainan were all reported to the Beiyi people by the leader of the Taikou Kingdom.
In order to win the other party's trust, he even asked the envoy to bring Chen Zangfeng's Tianlong Yanyue Sword and presented it to the Barbarian King for inspection...