Chapter 456: Damage control

When the War Hounds' southern fort was easily captured by the Southern Summer troops, the overall situation was decided and there would be no other changes.

So what if the millions of spirit beasts on the War Hounds Plains were all soldiers?

This world's battles were never decided just by quantity!

Miracle Commerce's thirty thousand berserkers could kill hundreds of thousands of enemies as easily as drinking water. The War Hounds' strength had been consumed by the frequent infighting and after several large battles, how could they have anything left!

Moreover, these forces were not just an army, but rather their national strength. The War Hounds Kingdom was now very hard pressed, so how could they raise another army this big? The southern fort's hundreds of thousand of troops all relied on the food they stole from the Southern Summer Country to survive on!

After the final hundreds of thousands of elite troops surrender, the War Hounds Plains had no soldiers or food. In comparison, Chu Tian had experts like clouds. Arnold led the forest locals to kill the prairie's experts who could be considered first class experts in even in the Eagle Burial Country.

It was because of this that when Chu Tian attacked Imperial City, Arnold leading these people in a charge led to them not knowing who the new Fang King was in the end. When they searched for the Fang King, they found that he had already been killed by these people.

This pitiful War Hounds Kingdom Fang King had died a vexing death. Arnold did not even know he was a king, he just thought it was someone he could easily kill.

The entire Imperial Region, Cang State, and Furnace State were all recovered.

The War Hounds were completely empty lamps, how could they resist the well trained and well equipped Southern Summer army?

The War Hounds Kingdom had only lasted for half a year before they were disbanded again. The War Hounds Plains large tribes had suffered heavy losses, it could be said they went for wool and came back shorn. Most likely they would fall into disunity and began fighting each other like before, so it was impossible for them to regroup!

When they returned to the previous Southern Summer Imperial City.

The city no longer had the same liveliness that it had for hundreds of years. After that tragic battle where two Southern Summer Rulers had died and hundreds of thousands of soldiers lost their lives, there were hundreds of thousands that created a resistance army inside the city.

However, it was a futile effort.

After Imperial City fell, a third of the city was destroyed in battle and the population was reduced by a fifth. After the War Hounds took over Imperial City, they looted the entire city of all its treasures and resources, as well as turning all humans into spirit beasts slaves. Those that rebelled were all killed and the population was reduced by another fifth.

After the War Hounds failed in the south and they suffered heavy injuries to their armies, it was lucky that the previous Fang King had good insight, sending the elite Demon Wolf Cavalry into the Imperial Region. So although the army and the Fang King died in battle, the War Hounds still had enough strength to guard their rear.

The Eagle Burial Country had quickly sent a new king.

Because the fights of the warring kingdom were serious on all four sides with the Eagle Burial Country fighting at least eight countries at once, they did not have and strength to spare for a small country like the Southern Summer Country. This new Fang King couldn't wait for reinforcements and learned from the failure of his predecessor, so he prepared for a long battle.

The War Hounds had enslaved several million humans to open farmlands for the War Hounds Kingdom on the prairies. He also enslaved several million humans to build the southern fort and fix the destroyed ports. Then he enslaved another several million humans to build equipment for their future battle. In order to not give the Southern Summer Country a chance to recover, he also frequently sent harassment teams to cause disturbances.

At least ten million workers were beaten to death, exhausted to death, starved to death, escaped, or killed for resisting. In short, this killed off at least half of the population again. The war, enslavement, and escape almost killed off all the young men.

As for the women? They were a bit lucky in this sense because the spirit beasts were not interested in human women, but that did not mean others were not interested. The War Hounds King had ordered large amounts of beautiful and young human girls to be sold to the northern countries to secure resources and funds, but because it was troublesome and took a long time, they didn't sell many people, but it still reduced the population.

In short, during the half a year of war, the people could not make a living.

There were less than a fourth of the original northern population!

The old burnt Imperial City gates were open and the once bustling streets were filled with destroyed buildings. It stank to the heavens and looked very ragged. There were almost no adult males and the ones outside were all females, children, and old people. Each one was covered in rags, how did they still have the noble appearance of the Imperial City citizens? This was simply a group of beggars!"

"My king is finally back!"

"We knew the Southern Summer Country wouldn't throw us away!"

"Long live Southern Summer, Long live Southern Summer, Long live Southern Summer!"

Countless beggars openly wept in the streets, creating a very moving scene. They were once the proud citizens of Imperial City who lived rich lives, but now their families had been completely destroyed.

The Southern Summer King had an awkward expression.

All of this came from the fault in the northern defenses, finally ending in the Imperial Region and the two northern states being given up on. The Southern Summer King used to be the Calm Martial Ruler, the commander of the nation's army and the frontline's highest commander. Everything becoming like this was a large failure of his duties!

"The War Hounds Kingdom is destined to be destroyed!"

"The War Hounds Plains will not be able to cause trouble again!"

"The Southern Summer Country will work with Miracle Commerce to subdue them. Everyone should look forward to rebuilding our country!"

The Southern Summer people quickly comforted the refugees.

The Meng sisters, Nangong Yun, Vivian, and the others all revealed deeply hurt expressions, especially the sentimental Meng Yingying. She simply did not dare believe that in half a year, the Imperial City would become a ghost city like this. The citizens were thin as bones from hunger, just like wandering ghosts living in a ruin.

This was the brutality of war?

Meng Yingying felt a deep sense of guilt.

The northern Southern Summer Country fell to the enemies and millions of people lived hard lives, but she lost herself in her rich lifestyle and completely forgotten about them. If they thought about this carefully, if there wasn't Chu Tian in this world, the entire Southern Summer Country would have been unable to escape. Wouldn't she be the same as these people?

Although it wasn't her responsibility, she couldn't help feeling a strong guilt.

Meng Yingying pulled on Chu Tian's clothes, "We should help them rebuild the city!"

Chu Tian gave a slight nod, "Repairing the country is easy, but it is hard to defend it. We need to secure the northern side and only then will we be able to prevent this from happening again."

Meng Qingwu had Vivian use the Space Warehouse to bring large amounts of medicine and supplies over for the refugees, these would temporarily alleviate this urgent matter. The southern supply and assistance forces would arrive in a few days, so there was no need to worry about this matter for now. Several people sat down to hold a meeting afterwards.

This meeting was on how to restore the Southern Summer Country, what to do with the prisoners of war, and how to sweep through the northern prairies.

The War Hounds King's plan was normal and conservative, but it was correct strictly speaking. The War Hounds Country wildly enslaved humans to open land, build forts, build ships, and make equipment. This would one build their forces and two allow them to wait for a perfect opportunity. The only thing they didn't expect was that the Southern Summer Country would change so quickly.

Now the War Hounds Country were completely done.

The Southern Summer Country had captured at least eight hundred thousand spirit beasts in the Imperial Region, Cang State, and Furnace State, as well as one hundred thousand Demon Wolf mounts from the Eagle Burial Country. Now it was a headache to deal with them.

Properly speaking.

These were evil invaders.

By right they should bring them to the old Imperial City to execute them one by one to increase morale, but logic told everyone that this was wrong. Most of them were War Hounds Plains elites and support sent by the far Eagle Burial Country. Now that they had betrayed the Eagle Burial Country, if they could use them, this strength could be used to form a barrier against the Eagle Burial Country to the Southern Summer Country's north.

Chu Tian expressed his thoughts again, "I suggest that when we release them back to the War Hounds Plains, we can create a puppet regime in the War Hounds Plains, creating a Northern Militant Country. We can hold the prairies in our hands and feel assured forever."

Prop up a puppet regime?

The Southern Summer King agreed to this, but it wasn't very likely, "The War Hounds and Southern Summer have been enemies for a long time, is it that easy to prop up a puppet regime?"

"Actually it isn't hard, just leave this matter to Miracle Commerce." Meng Qingwu laid out her plan, "We have many experts in the forest, whether it is the spirit beasts or other races, we have quite a few. We can send a few powerful spirit beasts into the War Hounds Plains to gather power. Other than that, Shaman priest Luz, I think he would be very interested in developing his Shaman Religion in the prairies."

Chu Tian's eyes lit up, "The War Hounds Plains is fertile soil for the Shaman Religion and we have seen the Shamans' skills before. With Luz's group's skills and our Miracle Commerce's skills, it would take long before our thorns pierce into them. Whether they are subdued or controlled by gu insects, there are methods to make them bow to our feet in the end."

"That's right, we can use the Eagle Burial Country's method and colonize the War Hounds Plains to rule them, before using faith to solidify that reign. After we have complete grasp over the War Hounds Plains, whether it is the prairies or Miracle Commerce, we will both benefit from this. I think the prairie tribes aren't dumb, they will rely on us after giving up on the Eagle Burial Country!"

The Southern Summer King saw their confidence and he cautiously asked, "How confident are you?"

Releasing hundreds of thousands of elites back into the prairies, this was a very large risk for the Southern Summer Country.

"The Southern Summer King doesn't need to worry. We just need to pick a suitable Northern Militant King and we'll consolidate the Northern Militant Country's power in just a few months!" Chu Tian swept his eyes across the vast plains, "Now that we are filled with morale, how about we take back some of the Southern Summer ancestral land and return to being the Great Summer Country!"

Once these words were said.

Even the calm Southern Summer King revealed an excited look. Gu Qianqiu and Yun Tianhe were filled with joy. All the previous dynasties of the Southern Summer Country wished to take back their land and become the Great Summer Country again.

This goal was already close at hand!

Although the kingdom's current national strength and population weren't enough to match this name, everyone knew that with the kingdom's current potential and development speed, they were certainly worthy of this Great Summer Country name!