Chapter 77: An Unthinkable Collaboration

The girl suddenly turned her head, looking at Iron Dragon City, her gaze sharp as a sword, cold as ice. But as the look of deep thought in her eyes intensified, this sharpness gradually faded away.

"Eight years ago, His Majesty was suddenly struck by a poisoned arrow, his life hanging by a thread. The Crown Prince was only ten years old at the time. Though exceptionally wise, he was still unable to command the respect of the people. The entire Iron Cloud Kingdom was on the brink of collapse, with each court minister harboring their own thoughts. The situation was perilous, a hair's breadth from disaster," Iron Dragon City slowly explained. Chu Yang had a feeling that he was trying to explain something.

Chu Yang thought to himself that this was their first meeting, and even if he had the qualifications, there was no need for Iron Dragon City to explain things to him. This left him puzzled.

Iron Dragon City continued, "Then, the Fifth Lightness made several completely unnecessary and utterly incomprehensible mistakes on the battlefield, sacrificing several veteran generals of the Great Zhao Empire who were accustomed to warfare. Those battles were losses that the Great Zhao Empire did not need to suffer and should not have suffered!"

"Because at that time, if they had launched a full-scale attack, the entire Iron Cloud would have been annihilated within half a year! We, the Iron Cloud, were powerless to turn the tide! But at that critical moment, several commanding generals suddenly made mistakes due to false intelligence, leading them into a dead end. We were able to annihilate them with ease! Those three decisive battles gave Iron Cloud a chance to breathe!"

"Afterward, when we gathered all our forces to review those three battles, we found that we had made no effort to trap them at all. In other words, they had walked into their own death. This fact left us all in shock."

"After that, the Great Zhao Empire rested their army for a month. But that month was not necessary; it seemed they were intentionally giving us time to breathe and think..." Iron Dragon City took a deep breath and said, "It wasn't until we analyzed the intelligence from the Great Zhao Empire several times that we discovered this was the Fifth Lightness's plot!"

"But this plot forced us to cooperate! We had no choice but to follow his lead."

"Fifth Lightness needed a protracted war to continuously accumulate military achievements, to eliminate his rivals, and to promote his loyalists, thereby controlling the entire military and political apparatus. We, the Iron Cloud, needed this period even more to consolidate our military and political power into a single fist. At that time, the survival of our nation was hanging by a thread!"

"If we did not comply, the Iron Cloud Kingdom would have been destroyed within months. But even if we did not cooperate, Fifth Lightness would still have other opportunities. For example, the Boundless Kingdom! So, we had no choice. Even if it was humiliating, we had to grit our teeth and endure it!"

Iron Dragon City sighed deeply at this point.

Although he did not continue, Chu Yang and the others had already understood.

At that time, the leaders of the two countries, in this tacit understanding, began to eliminate their rivals and unify their domestic forces! In an invisible way, they cooperated, you striving for your military achievements, I seizing my territory, you eliminating your rivals, I killing my enemies!

In short, both had the same goal: to concentrate the entire nation's strength into a fist that could wield all its power!

If Fifth Lightness had decided to fight a decisive battle at that time, he would have won, no doubt about it. But after the victory, he would face the danger of his achievements overshadowing the emperor, leading to suspicion and jealousy from the emperor. At that time, his foundation was not yet solid, and the worst outcome would be death without a burial place! Even if he could save his life and maintain a certain status, he would forever lose the chance to reach the pinnacle of power.

Given Fifth Lightness's ambitious nature and the favorable situation, how could he give up?

So, he could not.

At that time, the entire Iron Cloud Kingdom was in the hands of Iron Dragon City. It was in a precarious state, almost collapsing on its own without the need for an enemy attack! Iron Dragon City naturally did not want a decisive battle.

The leaders of the two countries, without ever meeting, collaborated from a distance with a terrifying level of默契 (tacit understanding)! They restrained and balanced each other, you winning a battle today and eliminating one of my political rivals; I winning a battle tomorrow and removing your obstacles...

The slaughter of millions of soldiers between the two countries during that period became a game manipulated behind the scenes by the two! The millions of souls lost on one side built Fifth Lightness's legendary reputation. The millions of souls lost on the other side consolidated Iron Cloud!

However... this game, though aimed at gaining time and qualifications, had completely different starting points for both sides.

Fifth Lightness was for the Great Zhao, but more for himself. Iron Dragon City, in this nearly humiliating series of battles, dismantled and reconsolidated Iron Cloud, transforming it from a disorganized state into a formidable fortress capable of fighting a decisive battle!

Without the precise cooperation between Iron Dragon City and Fifth Lightness, the Iron Cloud Kingdom would not have survived until now, let alone wait for the Crown Prince to regain power and challenge Fifth Lightness.

The various changes in this process were truly mind-boggling. Every step, the leaders of both sides must have given each other hints that only the other could understand, then each took what they needed. But these hints could not be detected by others.

The mental effort required to be in this situation was unimaginable! Chu Yang could not fathom how Iron Dragon City managed to do this.

Under the complete dominance of Fifth Lightness, he cooperated fully but did not let the other side achieve their goals entirely. In the midst of the other side's intricate web, he gradually built up Iron Cloud's resistance, until now, making the border a wall of iron and bronze!

This person's calculation, command, control, military, and even political abilities, even if not as great as Fifth Lightness, were extremely close!

Two mortal enemies, yet in their battles with each other, they each managed their own rear with perfect seamlessness. These two people were truly terrifying!

But one thing made Chu Yang feel a chill: the battles between Iron Dragon City and Fifth Lightness were like treating millions of soldiers as lifeless pawns to be casually discarded, but those were millions of living, breathing lives!

Never before had Chu Yang understood the meaning of "a general's success is built on the bones of a million dead" as he did now!

"Do you regret it?" This was said by Gu Duxing. His gaze, sharp as a sword, looked at Iron Dragon City: "Millions of soldiers were sacrificed on the battlefield due to the cooperation between the leaders of both sides, their bodies left to rot!"

"It's not millions; the exact number is 2,793,796!" Iron Dragon City's face was like a statue, expressionless: "As of now, this is the number of soldiers who have died in battle. This number does not include the wounded, the disabled who cannot fight, or the missing! This is the enormous price Iron Cloud has paid for the current situation!"