Li Ding's order to advance caused little stir.
In fact, most people in the Northern Lands had long since discussed the possibility of this order, especially after the two battlefields on the southern front opened in succession... There was no helping it. So much military strength had been amassed under Li Ding's command. Outsiders might speculate and wonder, and even others within the Exorcising the Dragon Gang might question it, but the people here in the Northern Lands knew perfectly well... To put it bluntly, did they not know whether they had strength? Did they not know whether they were loyal?
Then why was so much usable strength, such powerful usable strength, neither deployed in Henei nor stationed in Henan, neither sent to defend Yecheng nor even assembled in Northern Jin or Youzhou, but left huddled here in the Northern Lands?
For war, of course!
Preparations for war had been underway for a long time. Supplies from across the Northern Lands and Youzhou had been continuously gathered here: vast numbers of warhorses, livestock, armor, weapons, winter clothes, summer clothes, furs, fodder, army rations, salt, vinegar-soaked cloth... At Dragonhead Li's request, there were even strange things such as walnuts, carrier pigeons, crows, sulfur, salted fish, and iron fire-poking sticks.
By comparison, the endless flow of gold, silver, money, silk, lacquerware, ceramics, and even official seals and ribbons and brocade robes sent to the small tribes across the Sea of Bitterness as part of earlier diplomatic efforts seemed far more normal.
They seemed normal even if they were not going to attack the Witchlands.
And just as Li Ding resolved to cross the sea and march west, the situation on the main battlefield in Henei was changing rapidly as well.
At first, it was merely the usual exchange of prisoners and wounded,