荔枝影院

Edited by: Michyrr

“But won’t this be giving up a great opportunity?!”

An Lushan frowned, and the other Youzhou generals fell silent.

An Lushan meant that the enemy was right in front of them, so it would naturally be best to destroy them as quickly as possible.

In truth, if Genesis Supreme hadn’t stopped him, he would have long ago ordered the Yeluohe to pursue.

While part of this was because he was somewhat apprehensive of Wang Chong’s strength, in truth, An Lushan still didn’t know the details of Genesis Supreme’s strategy.

And while the Khitan King and the other sovereigns said nothing, their eyes communicated the same meaning.

“Relax. They can’t run!”

Seeming to know what everyone was thinking, Genesis Supreme placed his hands behind his back, his expression becoming even more proud and arrogant.

“I don’t care about the others, but that brat must die!”

Genesis Supreme’s body radiated concentrated killing intent that made the sovereigns tremble in fear and back away.

But An Lushan was delighted. So long as Genesis Supreme wanted to kill Wang Chong, then they shared the same goal.

Genesis Supreme paused before saying, “But before this, there is no harm in waiting a while. This god has already taken care of everything. In another ten-some days, the cold wave will descend. That will be our best opportunity.”

Whoosh!

The mention of the cold wave had everyone besides An Lushan’s group paling. Ozmish Khagan, the Khitan King, and the Xi Queen became particularly restless.

They had witnessed the power of the cold wave, and they had been driven from their homes by it.

If the cold wave moved southward and the other countries had nowhere to hide, many of their subjects would freeze to death.

Gao Shang took a few steps forward, scanned the audience, and confidently said, “Everyone, be at ease. Since Venerable Genesis Supreme has said so, he has already made preparations!”

Genesis Supreme slightly frowned as he shot a glance at Gao Shang, but he did not deny it.

“Correct. Starting from now, and even after the cold wave descends, Youzhou will be the only place in the world unaffected by the cold wave.”

Genesis Supreme raised his head and said, “All of you, restrain your soldiers. In addition, you can gather your people in this place. So long as they do not leave Youzhou, they will be perfectly fine!”

The entirety of Youzhou?

Everyone was deeply shaken by this news.

The cold wave was so terrifying that none of them wanted to recall it. Moreover, when the nest overturned, no egg would escape unscathed. They had all believed that they would be confronting a new disaster, but Genesis Supreme had just added another twist to this tale.

But how big was Youzhou?

How could such a large region avoid disaster?

They truly found it difficult to imagine just how this man called Genesis Supreme had managed to do it.

In addition, Genesis Supreme seemed to have a deep understanding of the cold wave, and could even say when the cold wave would descend and have a plan to deal with it. It seemed indescribably bizarre.

It felt as if Genesis Supreme was inextricably connected to the cold wave.

And An Lushan had an extremely close relationship to Genesis Supreme.

They didn’t dare to continue down this line of thought, but they all silently glanced at each other.

“Many thanks, Milord!”

Their many thoughts and conjectures condensed into a simple sentence. Within the hall, whether it was Ozmish Khagan or Yeon Gaesomun, these mighty sovereigns of the world chose to yield to reality and lower their heads.

......

Northward past the frozen steppe, past Lake Baikal, and all the way to the extremities of the north, a snowstorm raged, the snow and ice so thick that everything from heaven to earth was a world of white.

Howling winds that cut as sharply as blades tore through the land.

This bitterly cold weather had been around for a very long time, ever since the descent of the cold wave.

In front of the power of nature, no Ice Element expert could compare, no matter how formidable they were.

At this time, even a Great General expert attempting to venture into the northern regions would meet death.

It seemed like the snowstorm would continue for eternity.

Rumble!

Suddenly, the earth began to shudder, and far to the north, at the limits of the storm, thunder boomed, and even the fabric of space trembled.

A point in spacetime seemed to collapse, and the winds howled with ten times their previous intensity. At the same time, a cold wave that was even colder than the previous cold wave crossed through spacetime.

Whoosh!

A violent wind blew through an arctic forest, and those skyscraping trees that had already been turned into ice statues snapped and burst into countless ice crystals.

This new and heaven-engulfing cold wave moved as quickly as lightning, sweeping from north to south.

Boom! Boom! Boom! It sounded as if a stampede of millions of horses was running across the earth.

Crack! Crack! A thick layer of ice appeared on the white mantle of snow, rapidly spreading toward the south.

A few moments later, the lands of the far north were turned into a land sealed in ice.

Farther south, the former pastures of the Western and Eastern Turkic Khaganates were overrun by violent snowstorms. The cold wave stopped for a few moments before continuing to push southward.

......

After Wang Chong’s letter arrived in the capital, all of the Central Plains was mobilized. Each day, officials of all ranks mobilized to organize local governments and families, digging cellars in which food and supplies to resist the cold could be stored.

Even the prefectural armies and the Imperial Army joined the effort.

Underground cellars!

In the Battle of Khorasan, that unprecedented blizzard had proved that this method of resisting the cold was effective. While underground cellars would also suffer from cold, the difference compared to the buildings outside was one of several dozen degrees.

This was the final hope!

Under the direction of the Imperial Court, countless cellars of various sizes were excavated across the realm.

In addition, though the weather was cold, the various households had begun preparing dried goods some time ago. The sight of dried pieces of meat hanging from the eaves had become commonplace across the Central Plains.

For resisting the cold, besides the cotton clothes provided by the Imperial Court, the various households had woven together their old clothes into thicker suits, an expedient measure to deal with the situation...

Men, women, old, and young were all busy.

No one knew what was happening, believing that it was just a winter and that there was no need for all this. But all of them felt the tension in the cold air and saw the furrowed brows of their officials.

Time flowed past amidst this nervous tension, and ten-some days passed in the blink of an eye.

Within the steel fortress, Wang Chong stood in full armor within the main hall.

I wonder how the preparations in the rear are going?

Wang Chong held a military report in his hand, his mind restless.

Wang Chong glanced down. Six feet away, a simple bronze cauldron stood. The cauldron had beast designs on each of its four faces, and within the cauldron, coal burned, exuding waves of heat.

This coal cauldron had not been present in the main hall originally.

Wang Chong could tell that the temperature had dropped another ten-some degrees. Even the floor of the main hall was now covered in a thin layer of frost.

The Great Ice Age!

In his last life, when the Wang Clan was destitute and wandering, many of his relatives had died in this period. Wang Chong was dazed for a moment, but he quickly came back to his senses.

“Zhang Que, what has the Imperial Court said?” Wang Chong suddenly said.

“Your Highness, ninety percent of the work is done. Almost every home has an underground cellar. In addition, because of our earlier preparations, each household has supplies for half a month or more. If it really is as Your Highness says, survival will still be no problem.”

After a few moments of thought, Wang Chong abruptly said, “Write another letter to the Imperial Court telling them to inform the local governments that when the cylindrical coal briquettes are used, there needs to be an opening. The room cannot be completely sealed.”

‘Cylindrical coal briquettes’ were a highly effective way to use coal. They did not produce much smoke and would continue radiating heat for a long period of time.

But when the coal briquettes were not burned thoroughly, they would produce a gas that people of this era did not understand. This had been Wang Chong’s greatest concern when promoting cylindrical coal briquettes.

In this Great Ice Age, many people could end up dying by sealing themselves in their homes to resist the cold.

“Understood!” After a few moments of thought, Zhang Que said, “I will tell the Imperial Court to specifically establish an office to oversee this matter. What does Your Highness think about this?”

Wang Chong gave a slight nod.

“Mm. Another method is to establish units of five households, gathering families together so that their resource consumption is reduced and so that they can support each other. There’s no telling how long this cold wave will last, so we have to prepare for the worst-case scenario!”

“Your subordinate understands!”

Zhang Que hurriedly bowed.

After giving these orders, Wang Chong felt his unease somewhat dissipate.

“Has the alliance army outside shown any signs of movement?” Wang Chong asked.

“This... It’s still just like before. Though there have been no major battles, there have been numerous skirmishes and night raids.

“The attempts to tunnel past the walls in this period of time are uncountable. Though the majority failed, they managed to find one or two gaps. Senior Zhang Shouzhi has already had the craftsmen team use solder to repair those areas, also reinforcing them with inscriptions.

“In addition, there have been several dozen incidents of alliance soldiers attempting to scale the walls in the middle of the night, and we have no way of putting a stop to them.”