Chapter 593: Jianchuan

Chapter 593: Chapter 593: Jianchuan

"Go ask about the situation."

"Yes, sir."

The deputy dared not be careless. He personally packed several bottles of topical medicine before leaving camp, sought out a captain among those wounded soldiers, revealed his identity, chatted with him for a while, and left some medicine as thanks before jogging back to camp.

"What’s the situation?"

"Sir, those men are remnants retreating from Jianchuan. Their original unit had five thousand, but now only three thousand remain, and most are wounded. That’s why they’ve been allowed to rotate back."

"How long were they on the frontlines?"

"That captain said, counting today, it’s exactly half a month."

In just half a month, five thousand men were beaten down to three thousand?! Wu Kai’s brows furrowed slightly. He didn’t speak, but in his heart he couldn’t help but raise the danger level at the front by another notch.

"What else did you find out?"

The deputy’s expression wasn’t good either—tense, his voice low, "That captain said fighting at Jianchuan is savage now. A bit ahead, there’s a river. The water runs red, all from the blood shed in the fierce killing. He told me the river water is undrinkable now, too many bodies floating in it. If you drink it, nine times out of ten you’ll get sick, and that will be even worse."

"So how do they handle drinking water?"

"That captain said all the water comes from deep wells opened by the high-tier cultivators on the front with their magic, so it’s clean and there’s no worry about surface water seeping in to contaminate it.

Besides the water, there’s also a lot of heavily armored long-toothed elephant race at Jianchuan. That team of wounded just now was mauled by a squad of over five hundred heavily armored long-toothed elephant race at the rocky shoals."

Wu Kai’s heart skipped a beat when he heard the words "heavily armored" and "long-toothed elephant race" together. The very thing he feared had come. He’d worried before about running into the barbarian race’s elite tribes—not that he was afraid, but because if they clashed, the casualties would be incalculable.

Imagine it: A long-toothed elephant, wearing heavy armor and wielding a giant blunt weapon, standing over ten feet tall and weighing more than a thousand pounds, charging at you in rage. Even a big warhorse would be killed outright, wouldn’t it?

With the long-toothed elephant race fighting at Jianchuan, it’s no wonder casualties are so high here. Still, as long as they could hold out, and reinforcements kept arriving, and if Jianchuan was steadily fortified as a zone full of defenses, then surely the situation would stabilize.

Afternoon. Apart from those needed for routine patrols, all Wu Kai’s soldiers rested in their tents. They could sleep or chat, but couldn’t wander about. Most of the soldiers were busy writing letters home. Once inside Jianchuan, unless they fell back like those wounded earlier, they’d not be allowed to contact the outside world privately—the military code was strict.

As for loose talk, Wu Kai left that for his deputy to address. He wasn’t too concerned—these two thousand men of his had followed him for at least two years, many for three or five. New recruits of one year were few; so, when it came to battle array discipline, everyone understood what was required. Gossiping, the kind that’d cost your head in the ranks, was something his soldiers kept firmly in mind—hardly anyone would slip.

After a day’s rest, the soldiers’ stamina recovered considerably. At dawn, after an unusually hearty breakfast, they set out northeast.

By mid-afternoon—mid-3:00 p.m.—they formally crossed into the Jianchuan domain and entered the front line battle zone.

They’d barely been in Jianchuan half an hour before Wu Kai saw that bloodstained river. Or more properly, a stream—about ten feet wide, barely two feet deep by the look of it, the water cloudy, with the faintest traces of crimson if you looked closely.

As for the smell... Even just riding past on horseback at the banks, you could catch the stench of blood and rot. This water can’t be drunk for sure.

They pressed on, following the road guide deeper into the warzone, with the stream running alongside for the moment, not yet veering off.

"Sir, look!"

In truth, Wu Kai didn’t need the deputy to point it out—he’d already spotted, off in the distance at a bend in the stream, a cart and two soldiers clad as auxiliary troops. One held a long, hooked pole, snagging a corpse from the water and hauling it out; the other was dragging the body onto the cart.

As Wu Kai’s group passed by, they saw three bodies piled on the cart—all barbarian race, humanoid with beast-like faces.

This was just one spot for corpse collection. Jianchuan had many waterways—not big rivers, but plenty of three- or four-zhang-wide streams. Along the way they’d seen at least five such rivers or creeks, all with auxiliary troops pulling out corpses.

"A favorite trick of the barbarian race. They have no custom of respecting the dead, and use corpses to spread disease—throwing them in the water to deny us access."

As for their own people, the barbarians weren’t bothered by waterborne corpses—they controlled the upper streams, and if disease did spread, it wouldn’t reach their side anyway.

Wu Kai wasn’t much bothered. He’d never lived through the last great war with the barbarian race, but he’d fought them before outside the pass. They were just a pack of uncivilized savages with absolutely no bottom line. Dumping corpses as a tactic was utterly normal for them.

"Go and repeat this to the men: No one is to drink from any river or stream here. There’ll be well water once we reach our posts."

"Yes sir, I’ll go tell them again." The deputy wasn’t troubled by the bother. After all, if disease broke out in the army...that would be a calamity.

They hurried on until mid-5 p.m., then ordered a halt to rest on a stretch of rocky shoals.

"Why stop and rest here?" Wu Kai glanced at the sun slanting west overhead, confused. Usually, with half an hour of daylight left, you’d either encamp or push on quickly for the barracks to rest. He’d studied the maps of Jianchuan before coming and knew the nearest barracks wasn’t far.

They rested for nearly half an hour before an orderly brought orders to move out at once—Wu Kai’s unit was to act as vanguard, march five li ahead, and report the situation every incense stick of time.

Switching to vanguard battalion at this hour? Does this mean we’re marching through the night?!

Wu Kai dared not delay, at once ordering the drums for breaking camp, transferring the baggage to a fellow unit behind, then leading over fifteen hundred troops quickly past the mixed army main force to the front, taking the token and advancing five li as forward scouts and sentries. Behind him, the other units of the mixed army finished their rest and followed on in turn.

They reached the barracks just after early 7 p.m., but Wu Kai received no order to stop and rest. Instead, he was pressed to keep moving, and every order included the words: "Maintain vigilance to guard against enemy harassment."

It was not until early 9 p.m. that Wu Kai finally received definite orders: he was to advance one more li and march through the night—by dawn, they must reach the next barracks.