Chapter 2062: Every Inch of Land Must Be Fought For

War raged incessantly on the western front of the Dragon God's Domain.

This area, originally the territory of Peng Kingdom and Carefree Sect, had also been deeply cultivated by Yang Shan for a long time. When the Dragon God Army seized it, they met almost no resistance.

However, it ultimately could not escape the ravages of war.

The Ya Kingdom brazenly invaded with two grand generals and thirty thousand elite troops.

Qiu Hu and Wan Si-liang, leading an army of one hundred thousand, were ordered to meet the invaders.

From a distance, one hundred thousand soldiers formed a vast, surging multitude, an imposing sight.

However, after their very first engagement, Qiu Hu and Wan Si-liang realized that the mission entrusted to them by Emperor Jiuyou was exceedingly arduous.

As expected, there was a vast disparity in strength between the two sides.

The thirty thousand strong army dispatched by the Ya Kingdom was formidable; they were of excellent quality, well-equipped, highly experienced, and exuded confidence, clearly veterans who had fought for at least several years.

Furthermore, this army was empowered by elemental energy. The Ya Kingdom's elemental energy was significantly stronger than that of the Yao Kingdom, and that's no exaggeration.

Even if King Yao were still alive and the Yao Kingdom hadn't fallen, deploying its most elite forces against the Ya Kingdom would still offer only a slim chance of victory.

In contrast, the Dragon God Army that directly confronted the Ya army had only two of Qiu Hu's elite units forming its core; the remaining ninety thousand soldiers were a very mixed bag.

This included Yang Shan's guards, new recruits with less than three months of training, and local militias and county troops stationed throughout the territories. Most of these soldiers had never fought or killed on a battlefield; they had only learned to follow orders.

There was nothing they could do; the elite forces had all been dispatched to assemble in the central region, leaving Qiu Hu and Wan Si-liang with a terrible hand.

The first engagement between the two sides was an ambush meticulously planned by Qiu Hu. He not only secured the advantage of the first strike but also successfully lured the arrogant Ya Kingdom soldiers into his pre-arranged trap, where they were met with a volley of arrows.

The Ya army fought fiercely to break through the encirclement.

In this battle, the Ya army sustained seventeen hundred casualties, over six hundred of whom were struck by arrows during the ambush.

As for the Dragon God Army's casualties?

Over five thousand four hundred, and this was despite having the initial advantage.

How to describe this battle? According to Qiu Hu, it was like digging a tiger trap, and the tiger indeed fell in. The terrifying part was that the trap was too shallow and inflicted too little damage; the fierce tiger broke free and then launched a counterattack.

After this battle, the generals on both sides had roughly assessed their opponents' strength.

For Qiu Hu and Wan Si-liang, it amounted to three words:

No chance.

Consequently, the second battle was a retaliatory strike initiated by the Ya army.

In this engagement, the casualty ratio between the Ya army and the Dragon God Army reached an even more astonishing one to seven!

It should be noted that the Ya army's casualties were predominantly wounded, whereas the Dragon God Army's dead far outnumbered their wounded, making the battle extremely tragic.

The results of the subsequent battles were similarly grim. In the eyes of the Ya people, these "low-quality" Shining Gold soldiers were simply too weak, throwing their lives away with raw courage. They felt that a mere wave of their hand would send the enemy falling in droves.

"Why even bother fighting?" brothers Ge Xuan and Ge Yan, the Ya Kingdom's grand generals leading the army, sent urgent dispatches back home. They described these battles as "cutting down melons and vegetables," easily defeating the enemy, and optimistically estimated that the war would not last long.

The letter's exact words were: "Within ten days, the so-called 'Dragon God Army' is sure to be defeated!"

King Ya personally read the letter aloud during court, and the entire royal court erupted in laughter, creating a light and lively atmosphere.

Two close ministers laughed so hard that tears streamed down their faces. "We thought they had some capability," one exclaimed. "Shining Gold people are Shining Gold people after all; they're still so vulnerable!"

The Ya Kingdom had attempted to invade the Shining Gold Plains several times before and had long observed that the Shining Gold people were sallow, weak, and their armies were ineffective, scattering at the first sign of conflict.

Now, it was confirmed that their fundamental nature had indeed not changed.

"They changed their flag, renamed themselves the Dragon God Army, and now they think they're formidable!"

King Ya laughed, and his ministers followed suit, the court filled with cheerful air. Only Grand General Wulu of the Ya Kingdom maintained a grim expression, his fists clenched so tightly they almost shattered.

Previously, King Ya had sent him to lead elite troops in pursuit of the Bailong tribe. However, He Lingchuan unexpectedly intervened to rescue them, leading to a great battle at Storm Bay.

He was defeated, and upon his return, he was mocked for years, ridiculed for being unable to defeat a mere merchant.

Now, with his fellow generals at court achieving significant victories against the Dragon God Army, his past inadequacy seemed even more pronounced.

Another general stepped forward at an opportune moment, bowed, and volunteered: "Your Majesty, I wish to lead troops to attack Julu Port and plant the Great Ya flag on Dragon God Island at Julu Port!"

On the night the Dragon God manifested, it lingered on a small island near Julu Port, which was later renamed Dragon God Island.

Planting a flag there would signify capturing the Dragon God's main stronghold and, by extension, delivering a resounding slap to the Dragon God's face.

Moreover, Julu Port is now the largest port in the Shining Gold Plains, with astonishing throughput, essentially a money-tree generating vast wealth daily. The Ya Kingdom, adept at warfare but perpetually short of funds, naturally desired to seize this "golden goose" that laid golden eggs.

King Ya glanced at him, stroked his beard, and chuckled, "Calm down, there will be opportunities for everyone."

The Dragon God's previous rise and sweep across Shining Gold had genuinely worried King Ya, who feared the emergence of another powerful neighbor.

Now, however, he was finally much relieved.

What was this "Dragon God Army," putting on such a grand show and causing a stir everywhere? It turned out to be just "chickens pecking at each other"—utterly ineffective infighting—on the Shining Gold Plains!

Some officials chuckled while casting glances at Wulu, their silent looks alone enough to provoke him to fury.

Unable to restrain himself, Wulu stepped forward and said solemnly, "Your Majesty! The Ge brothers have achieved several great victories in a row, but how much territory have they actually captured?"

If they've won such great victories, there should be spoils of war!

For the Ya Kingdom, land, money, and resources were the best spoils of war. The Ge brothers had won repeatedly; surely, they must have seized something by now?

King Ya's laughter ceased. He picked up the letter and reread it, the smile on his face fading slightly.

The letter made no mention of it.

"It's just the beginning of the fighting, don't worry," he chuckled. "After such a strong start, are you afraid there won't be more rewards later?"

Seven or eight days later, battle reports arrived one after another.

The Ge brothers certainly lived up to their reputation as a renowned family in the Ya Kingdom; victory reports kept pouring in whenever they fought.

But with Wulu's words still echoing in court, King Ya's heart sank slightly. Upon re-examining the battle reports, he noticed that the Ya army and the Dragon God Army were engaging very frequently, and the locations of their engagements were scattered and shifting.

This indicated multi-point attacks and multi-front operations.

But who was initiating them?

Upon careful analysis, it turned out that the Dragon God Army was initiating most of the attacks.

"Have the enemies lost their minds? So active, even when they're outmatched?"

"Attacking frantically even when they can't win?"

The most intense battle, the Battle of Aobao, was fiercely contested for five days and five nights. This strategic stronghold, located at the confluence of two rivers and a lake, was captured by the Ya army on the evening of the second day. However, by the morning of the fourth day, the opponent had shockingly diverted water to flood the city and retaken it!

It was more than just corpses strewn everywhere. According to a secret report from the palace attendant he had dispatched as a supervisor, the corpses beneath the city walls were piled halfway up their height!

The palace attendant described a scene from the battlefield: "The enemy was madly brave, fighting to the death without retreating. Our army fought fiercely for twelve hours before returning to the city for rest. The enemy harassed us all night with thunder flasks and flaming wood, and at dawn, suddenly, a great flood poured in."

Such scenes were commonplace on the western front of the Dragon God's Domain.

The Dragon God Army was willing to pay five to seven times the price just to reclaim occupied territory!

They refused to give an inch.

After more than half a month, the Ge brothers were forced to report their limited achievements: their forces had only managed to capture two or three remote towns and seven or eight villages.

In total, it amounted to just a few hills.