Chapter 004: Subjugation

A force of two hundred thousand soldiers stood quietly in front of the city of Doha, the entire scene filled with a desolate aura of violence!
In the four southern provinces, especially the Siluo Province, under Du Fan’s rule, the people’s hearts had completely turned to him. No other lord placed such emphasis on the well-being of his people! Nor could any other lord achieve such accomplishments as Du Fan had!
In just half a year, a harvest had already been reaped in the southern regions!
This single harvest was enough to feed the people of the four southern provinces for two years. The irrigation projects built there ensured the provinces were not affected by droughts or floods. Coupled with the climate ideal for farming and fertile soil, these provinces, which were not originally rich, quickly became lands of abundance under Du Fan’s governance!
Most of the troops Du Fan assembled were recruited from the southern provinces, with only a few coming from the northern legions. These soldiers were utterly loyal to Du Fan!
That’s how ordinary people are—as long as they are fed and clothed, these simple folks will support you!
“The Gavin Empire calls me a rebel! Do you all believe that?” Du Fan asked loudly from atop the city walls.
“We don’t believe it! We swear to die defending Lord Du Fan!” The soldiers below shouted loudly, their voices echoing like a roaring torrent in the sky!
“Good! They’ve sent troops to invade our homeland—should we resist?” Du Fan asked again.
“We must resist! We must drive out the Lionheart family! We want independence! We want freedom!” Hearing Du Fan’s question, not only the soldiers but also the people in the city joined in shouting!
“Good! From today onward, we will no longer belong to the Gavin Empire! We will establish our own country! We will call it the Siluo Kingdom! From today, I am your king!”
“Siluo Kingdom! King Du Fan! King Du Fan!” The soldiers and people below shouted loudly!
“Your king’s parents were murdered by Fisher of the Gavin Empire—should we seek revenge?”
“Revenge! Revenge! Revenge!” The soldiers below screamed frantically!
“Now, I give orders! First Legion, go rescue Jibai City! Led by Rob and three dual-class holy-grade elf magicians!”
“Third Legion, go rescue Galou City! Led by Chenchen, Lingyin, and Elder Lilo!”
“Fifth Legion, go rescue Kaing City! Led by Moses and a thousand elf griffin archers!”
“Sixth Legion, go rescue Xinzhe City! I will lead them personally!”

“Naixiu, take control of Qing Suo and station it in Doha City!” Du Fan said to Naixiu.
“Okay, then be careful,” Naixiu replied, looking at Du Fan and nodding seriously.
Four legions, each led by 50,000 soldiers, headed straight for the four occupied cities. These cities were not far from Doha City. According to military intelligence, the Lionheart Family would send experts first to assassinate the city’s generals and key officials, plunging the cities into chaos and terror. Once the Lionheart Family arrived with an army of 150,000, those cities would quickly fall.
That said, the four cities occupied by the Lionheart Family were all small to medium-sized. The largest, Cain City, had a population of only 230,000, while the smallest, Jialou City, had 120,000. The garrisons in these cities numbered no more than 10,000 each!
Two days later, by absorbing local troops along the way, the soldiers of Du Fan’s Sixth Legion had reached 80,000! When they were still over 200 miles from Xinzhe, the vanguard units of the two forces encountered each other.
After occupying Xinzhe City, the Lionheart Family’s army continued its advance and captured another small city within two days. After taking two cities in a row, the Lionheart Family’s army, now divided, had only 120,000 soldiers left.
When the two vanguard forces clashed, the Lionheart Family’s troops were no match for Du Fan’s army and were utterly defeated in one battle! The 5,000-strong vanguard left behind over 800 corpses and retreated swiftly!
“Your Majesty, the vanguard of the Lionheart Family has been defeated and forced to retreat by our forces!” a soldier from the vanguard rushed to Du Fan and shouted.
“I’ll go take a look!” Hearing this report, Du Fan immediately soared into the air and flew in the direction of the retreating Lionheart Family army.
Soon, about 15 miles away from Du Fan’s army, a legion of over 100,000 soldiers was marching toward them!
“Send orders to the troops! Advance at full speed!” Back with his own forces, Du Fan immediately issued orders to advance at top speed.

Du Fan already had a battle plan! Although he only had 80,000 troops, their combat strength far exceeded that of the army led by the Lionheart Family! After all, among Lionheart Family’s troops were also private soldiers from some small southern families—whose combat skills could possibly compare to Du Fan’s carefully trained elite forces?
Du Fan ordered his entire army to advance swiftly, aiming to strike the enemy forces hard during the march. At the same time, he led his cavalry to confront Lionheart Family’s troops head-on.
Soon, Lionheart Family’s troops came into view. Seeing them, Du Fan’s eyes seemed to blaze with fury.
“Kill!” From a distance of about a kilometer away, Du Fan shouted and summoned Feifei. He flew ahead, along with the beast, charging straight at Lionheart Family’s troops.
The giant wild boar stood 15 meters tall and over 40 meters long. Its appearance immediately caused panic among Lionheart Family’s soldiers. Just its mouth, as large as a city gate, was enough to terrify them.
Feifei, sensing Du Fan’s intent, spread its four legs and charged violently at the enemy troops. Anyone touched by Feifei was either killed or severely injured. With its strength and size, Feifei rushed into Lionheart Family’s ranks long before the cavalry arrived, creating a path through the enemy forces that Du Fan’s troops could see.
“Kill!” Seeing the path of destruction laid bare by Feifei, Du Fan’s cavalry charged fiercely forward.
Using True Eye, Du Fan spread his mental energy, targeting only the elite fighters while ignoring the ordinary soldiers. He circled above, killing one skilled warrior after another, including the generals in their ranks.
When faced with a dense group of soldiers, Du Fan would shake his body, unleashing countless wind blades that swept through everything within 50 meters—leaving no survivors.
To his surprise, among these troops was even a Saint-level expert!
In Du Fan’s eyes, such a Saint-level expert was nothing. With a single swing of his sword, he knocked the expert to the ground. After killing him, Du Fan continued to fight, rushing at any skilled opponents he encountered.

In the army, commanders were constantly killed by Du Fan. Coupled with Fei Fei continuously charging straight into crowded areas, the Lionheart Family’s army began to collapse rapidly! This collapse directly led to the utter defeat of the Southern Legion. Once the army was defeated, it became extremely difficult to regain morale. After chasing them for two days straight until reaching the outskirts of New Ze City, those soldiers of the Lionheart Family who were being pursued dared not stay in the city and fled immediately! Along the way, Du Fan and his army reduced the 150,000-strong Southern Legion to just over 60,000 soldiers! Not only was this the case for Du Fan’s forces, but the same situation applied to Rob, Moses, and Chenchen as well. Initially, the Southern Legion held three major fortresses, yet they were utterly defeated by the Lanxi Empire’s army. Moreover, Du Fan’s forces now had combat strength surpassing that of the Lanxi Empire’s army back then! With super experts leading each of the four armies, these forces advanced like an unstoppable force, and the troops led by the Lionheart Family simply couldn’t resist! Soon, the four armies converged and stationed themselves in Cain City!
……
The Northern Legion.
In Snake City of the former Frozen Kingdom, George and Allen were stationed there! Meanwhile, as the nine former duchies attacked the Northern Legion simultaneously, mistakes inevitably occurred—Snake City was one such example. Perhaps the Northern Legion in Snake City was too strong, as Carol and Xiao Yulong were the ones defending it. Maybe the members of the Holy Church didn’t do enough to encourage them; only a mere ten thousand people from Snake City followed the Church to attack the Northern Legion. Perhaps the Church underestimated Snake City too much, as there were only slightly over five thousand clergy members there. In total, there were just 15,000 people. Even with a surprise attack and plenty of supplies, including numerous magic scrolls taken from the Holy Church’s warehouses, in the end, Carol managed to take control of the situation! Initially, Carol thought these incidents were just local disturbances. But when Old Green was assassinated and the Zhenbei Royal Palace was destroyed by eight magic cannons, as these events kept reaching Carol’s ears, he, in a fit of rage, hanged all eight thousand captured clergy members beneath the walls of Snake City! Thus, Carol earned the title of a “Asura”—an Asura, according to legend, is the devil among devils! Killing countless people without batting an eye!

Within the Holy See, the reaction was even more intense. The Pope personally took charge and offered a large reward for Carol’s head! Upon learning that Snake City was still under Carol’s control, warriors from the Northern Legion from various places continued to converge on Snake City! The warriors from the Northern Legion who gathered from all directions numbered only 130,000! A full 170,000 warriors of the Northern Legion had died in the joint ambush by the Holy See and Fischer! After defending Snake City for five days, the remaining warriors from the Northern Legion, stationed in various places, almost all gathered together. Thus, under the leadership of George, Allen, and Carol, the Northern Legion began to march southward, undertaking a long-distance strategic retreat! Fortunately, the imperial troops and the Holy See’s armed forces, who were pursuing the Northern Legion everywhere, did not have enough troops or time to besiege Snake City; otherwise, even breaking out of Leopard City would have required a huge price! … After stationing all their troops in Cain City, Du Fan set off immediately with Moses and Naixiu, aiming straight for George and the others. … The Northern Legion. According to the plan, the Northern Legion was supposed to move southward through the northern part of the empire. Soon, a very practical reality became clear: to go south, they had to pass through Red Lake City. If they didn’t go through Red Lake City, George would have to lead his troops across the river or climb over the snow-capped mountains. Crossing the river or climbing over the snow-capped mountains were both extremely dangerous tasks. If they fell into Fischer’s ambush, their entire army could be annihilated! After careful consideration, George’s Northern Legion decided to capture Red Lake City first, then use it as a base to continue southward!