Chapter 1 Who Said They Were Delicate Young Masters?

"Who was it that said they were a bunch of young masters, unable to endure hardship? I'll tear them to pieces!" Tong Bingwen raged as he paced back and forth in the command tent that had been moved forward, beneath Ning Shi City. The other officers in the tent also wore grim expressions.

The intelligence that had just arrived stated that the ten thousand men collectively referred to in the military documents as the "Blood Kirin Army" had actually slipped away despite being surrounded by a force three times their size. From the moment the Blood Kirin Army annihilated that thousand-man cavalry unit, Tong Bingwen had not dared to underestimate this force; having an enemy within his grasp was no laughing matter. But he had still underestimated the combat strength of the Blood Kirin Army.

After determining that the Blood Kirin Army was a cavalry unit, or at least primarily cavalry, he had sent Song Huiming, a guerrilla general under his command and a renowned fierce general of Western Ling, to lead five thousand cavalry to track and probe them. Unexpectedly, Song Huiming hadn't made any major mistakes, but the five thousand cavalry had been gradually worn down by the enemy's mounted archers, with only three hundred or so escaping to report back. Only then did he realize that these several thousand cavalrymen were all equipped with crossbows—what an extravagant affair! But what angered him was that not only had Song Huiming's corpse been nailed to a cross, but Song Huiming's five thousand elite cavalrymen had likely inflicted no casualties on the enemy. Any casualties they had suffered were probably due to Blood Kirin Army soldiers accidentally falling off their horses. This humiliation was unbearable to him.

Tong Bingwen didn't have many troops left. From the beginning, he had opposed this "spark warfare" tactic, where political significance outweighed military significance. The forces that attacked on all sides did indeed control large swathes of Eastern Plain territory in a short amount of time, but they were also spread out. The forces preparing to suppress local resistance in various places consistently numbered between eighty and one hundred thousand. In this situation, he had to use his limited force of just over a hundred thousand to maintain strong pressure on Ning Shi City and Bai Shi City. Although Bai Shi City was called a city, it was only because the specifications of its walls were high; Bai Shi City's population was not up to par. Deploying thirty thousand men beneath Bai Shi City was already a luxury. Surrounding Ning Shi City with fifty thousand men and launching various probing attacks as soon as the news of the breakdown of the peace agreement arrived was barely sufficient. But the Eastern Plain army could appear at any time to relieve the siege of Ning Shi City. Tong Bingwen wanted to keep his troops as a reserve force beneath Ning Shi City, striving to take the city as soon as possible, but the Blood Kirin Army had suddenly emerged.

Tong Bingwen squeezed out thirty thousand men to pursue the Blood Kirin Army in shifts, while he himself led the last ten thousand men under his command to Ning Shi City. He abandoned his plan to set up a command tent between Ning Shi City and Bai Shi City so he could support both sides at any time, fearing an accident. If the Blood Kirin Army shook off the pursuers and stabbed them, it would be a deadly matter.

That was, after all, just Tong Bingwen's worst-case scenario. Of the thirty thousand men he sent out, although only ten thousand were cavalry, the commanders of the three pursuing forces were all renowned veterans and would never act rashly. According to Tong Bingwen's prediction, these three forces didn't even need to engage in battle; they could just advance side by side, leaving the Blood Kirin Army with no escape. As the supreme commander of the Western Ling army, he naturally had access to ample intelligence support. Reports from the secret agents said that the Blood Kirin Army had been formed less than two years ago and contained many scions of wealthy and noble families from Eastern Plain; the Blood Kirin Army was not a regular Eastern Plain army, and the method of selecting officers was through wargame simulations and donations; the Blood Kirin Army was acting without authorization, without the permission of the Eastern Plain court; the leader of the Blood Kirin Army was a "craftsman" named Ye Tao; and the actual commander was a daughter of the Dai family from Yun Province, a young woman named Dai Yun…

Based on such intelligence, wouldn't anyone reach a similar conclusion? But Tong Bingwen had completely miscalculated this time. The thirty thousand troops advanced side by side and strictly adhered to the principle of maintaining distance and not engaging in combat for the time being, as Tong Bingwen had instructed. Yet the Blood Kirin Army jumped out of the battle.

The closest to the Blood Kirin Army was the ten thousand cavalry led by Xue Jingze, Tong Bingwen's beloved general. When the Blood Kirin Army deployed several thousand cavalrymen, seemingly preparing for a last-ditch battle, Xue Jingze didn't advance rashly but confronted the Blood Kirin Army, waiting for the supporting troops to come up. By the time the reinforcements arrived, it was already late at night. Xue Jingze fully expected to launch a decisive attack the next day, but to his surprise, when he deployed his army to attack the next day, the Blood Kirin Army's camp, which had been built with their backs to the river, was completely empty. During the night, the Blood Kirin Army had built a pontoon bridge and safely crossed the river.

Xue Jingze had no choice but to notify the garrisons of the towns on the other side of the river to be careful, while turning back to Ning Shi City. Without a target to pursue, and without needing to maintain pace with friendly forces, Xue Jingze's ten thousand cavalry quickly outstripped the friendly forces.

What he didn't expect was that the Blood Kirin Army would once again lay bridge planks on the previously built piers and return the same way. Just four hours after Xue Jingze left the camp, they took a bite out of the slowest-moving army. Because the troop strength was roughly equal, although cavalry had a huge advantage over infantry, the Blood Kirin Army didn't linger; they only carried out one round of attack. In that one round of attack, three thousand Western Ling infantrymen were killed or wounded.

After that, the Blood Kirin Army disappeared from the sight of the Western Ling army at an extremely fast speed.

In other words, nearly ten thousand men had been lost at the hands of the Blood Kirin Army, who were considered to be young masters and pampered soldiers, yet no force had ever faced the Blood Kirin Army head-on to see what their combat strength actually was.

"You all can be considered seasoned veterans and famous generals, so how could you be toyed with by a bunch of kids like this?" Tong Bingwen roared at everyone. His words were, in effect, also directed at himself.

"Think, is there any other way?" Tong Bingwen sighed deeply. If the news was accurate, it had been almost half a month since the Western Ling envoy was assassinated in Danyang. The Eastern Plain general Zhuo Mang was mobilizing troops outside. If that guy's energy was even half of what it used to be when he was fighting with him, he should have at least fifty thousand troops in his hands now. And fifty thousand troops, if they appeared in the right place at the right time, would be enough to turn the current situation around. Tong Bingwen wasn't really afraid of seeing fifty thousand Eastern Plain troops appear in his sights right now; he was afraid that Zhuo Mang would suddenly launch an attack when he was unable to cope.

Tong Bingwen looked at the map for a long time, then said, "I can't worry about so much. Let Xue Jingze lead his own cavalry to continue searching. Once they discover the Blood Kirin Army, pursue them immediately, report back, and find an opportunity to annihilate them. Bring the other ten thousand who are still alive to Ning Shi City. I want Ning Shi City. If this drags on any longer, it's over. Let half of the twenty thousand holed up in Mian City go to Bai Shi City. Let Chang Jie Ying withdraw. Now that we've broken face with Eastern Plain, there's no point in occupying such a large area. Let Song Changjie withdraw to… to Qing'an Town, leaving a part to maintain vigilance to the north, and have the rest cooperate with Xue Jingze to drive out the Blood Kirin Army. To the south, let Luo Xiang gather the troops in his hands."

Tong Bingwen had realized one thing: the role that the Blood Kirin Army could play. Whether it was harassment or containment, it was all to delay time. Indeed, allowing the Blood Kirin Army to run rampant might cause great losses, but it was his wounded pride that was making him send heavy troops to encircle and suppress the Blood Kirin Army. The two vice-generals nailed to crosses had enraged him, making him forget that now that they had broken face with Eastern Plain, the primary goal, no matter what, was to take Ning Shi City and Bai Shi City. Breaking through this line of defense, with the large area of maneuverability between the Ning Shi City-Bai Shi City line and Huan Shan Pass, and with a stable supply line, the path ahead would be smooth. Aside from that, all current combat goals were nonsense.

Regaining control of the sparks that had erupted and turning them back into a single flame took Tong Bingwen about two days. During these two days, Xue Jingze, spurred on by his shame, and a part of Chang Jie Ying cooperated to conduct a dragnet search of the large areas suitable for cavalry units to operate and hide. The total force of over twenty thousand men was divided into squads of about a thousand men each, spaced tens of miles apart. They agreed that once the Blood Kirin Army was discovered, they would send people to contact each other. They would rather sacrifice some men than hold the Blood Kirin Army firmly in place.

Ye Tao wasn't afraid of this tactic. In an era with highly developed communication methods, such a tactic might very well lead to him being discovered, followed, and then unknowingly surrounded. But as it was now, while it might discover him, it also left him with opportunities to defeat them one by one.

Except for the scouts who always acted collectively, the Blood Kirin Army deliberately revealed some traces, then ambushed them at the exit of a mountain valley, taking out the leading thousand men before fleeing far away. Without a doubt, another general of not very low rank was hung on a cross. However, Ye Tao also saw the shortcomings of this divide-and-conquer tactic in this operation.

They weren't moving fast enough… This was the most serious problem. Although they had used the terrain to eat up a thousand men, they had almost been overtaken by the following troops. If the enemy kept following them closely without engaging, the situation would be a little troublesome. Although the Western Ling cavalry's combat strength was far inferior to theirs, now, within the Western Ling army's vast area of control, the space for the Blood Kirin Army to maneuver was limited. Even if they were exposed to the Western Ling army's view for a few hours, they might be entangled and then surrounded. Dealing with a thousand men was fine, but what if it was three or five thousand men? Could they still end the battle so quickly? Even now, there were already cases of Blood Kirin Army soldiers going off-key in pursuit of tactical speed.

Watching Ye Tao ponder deeply over the map in the tent, no one else interrupted much. This was a strange army. Precisely because everyone understood some strategic and tactical matters and all prided themselves on being experts in this regard, in order to avoid disagreements, tactical discussions were always conducted within a very small scope. In fact, when many lower-level officers realized that so many messy things could pop up in actual combat that needed to be handled, they were busy reorganizing their troops and didn't have the mind to quietly consider tactical problems. At this time, Chi Lei suddenly ran back.

"General," Chi Lei handed a military intelligence document to Ye Tao, glancing at Dai Yun. "This was found by the brothers under my command after ambushing a team of Western Ling messengers this morning. I took a look and hurried to bring it to you."

From this military intelligence document, they received good news. The first batch of troops organized by Zhuo Mang had arrived on the battlefield. However, Zhuo Mang had not chosen to reinforce the defense line of Ning Shi City and Bai Shi City but had instead retaken Da Lin Town to the north.

"The Great General is indeed bold." After everyone looked carefully at the map, they suddenly understood. Zhuo Mang was clearly not satisfied with merely driving the Western Ling army out of Eastern Plain territory but was preparing to launch an encirclement of the Western Ling army starting from Da Lin Town. Launching an attack from Da Lin Town, the most valuable target was Mian City. Retaking Mian City was equivalent to driving a nail into the enemy's heart. From Huan Shan Pass all the way to below Ning Shi City and Bai Shi City, only Mian City had sufficient manpower and space to transfer and distribute supplies. Only Mian City could bear the responsibility of being a supply relay point for the army. Especially in the Western Ling's so-called spark warfare tactics, where troops were scattered everywhere, the transfer and relay of supplies was even more complex and difficult, and it was by no means something that could be solved by simply setting up a large camp anywhere.

Once Mian City was retaken, although Mian City would inevitably have to cope with pressure from enemy forces in all directions, as long as this army could defend Mian City well, and preferably even free up some manpower to carry out a series of harassing operations, it would be enough to make the Western Ling army uncomfortable for a long time. And judging from the speed at which Zhuo Mang retook Da Lin Town—he captured Da Lin Town in just four and a half hours without even deploying all his troops—his forces were quite ample.

Zhuo Mang's tactic carried great risks. If the Western Ling army captured Ning Shi City and Bai Shi City before their supplies ran out, even if they only captured one, it could create an even more unfavorable situation for Eastern Plain—a portion of the army in Mian City would be encircled, while the Western Ling army being encircled by another portion of the army would have Ning Shi City and Bai Shi City as their bases. If Ning Shi City and Bai Shi City were lost even earlier, the Eastern Plain army on the front lines wouldn't have enough troops to wrap up the Western Ling army, and the Western Ling army might even use Ning Shi City and Bai Shi City as a base, attacking and advancing while plundering supplies.

"Now the problem arises. We can understand the Great General's tactics, but how do we cooperate?" Ye Tao sighed.

If Zhuo Mang was already absolutely certain, he would never have preemptively attacked and taken Da Lin Town, revealing such a posture. Instead, he should have acted first on the Ning Shi City-Bai Shi City line, on the enemy's flank, driving them to retreat backward. In that case, taking Mian City would not only achieve all the tactical objectives but also put the encircled enemy in a state of panic and helplessness. In every respect, it would be better. But now, Zhuo Mang was anxious to take Da Lin Town, exposing this tactical possibility, most likely wanting to attract the enemy to intercept and strengthen the defense of Mian City, in order to relieve the pressure on Ning Shi City and Bai Shi City and buy time. Even, Zhuo Mang might really take Mian City and personally act as bait in Mian City, defending Mian City to the death in order to do what he wanted to do. As long as Zhuo Mang still had thirty thousand or so men in his hands after breaking through Mian City, it would take at least eighty thousand or more troops for the Western Ling army to capture this city, whose defenses could be considered very loose, and it would be a war of attrition… This was Zhuo Mang's ability as a famous general of this era.

The officers who gradually gathered and the sergeants who had a relatively high reputation among the soldiers quickly understood the current situation. In any other army, this would be almost impossible, but in the Blood Kirin Army, where everyone played grand strategy, and everyone was proficient in chess warfare and sand table exercises, this was the basics of the basics.

"If you were Tong Bingwen, what would you do?" Zeng Zining asked Ye Tao.

The cruel war had allowed Zeng Zining to quickly jump out of his identity as a pawnshop apprentice. Zeng Zining had never killed anyone, but the three flag teams, a thousand or so men, under his control were the most stable. Now, after the battle, Zeng Zining's unit was often tasked with covering the rear, protecting the army's retreat. Zeng Zining always kept the speed down, allowing the enemy's main force to follow him, and then ran in another direction for a while, and then used changes in marching speed and suddenly turning back to kill a round, etc., to make the enemy vigilantly maintain a greater distance… And when this relative distance became large enough, Zeng Zining's unit would suddenly march quickly, directly甩掉their opponents and then approach the main force again.

In this era, this was an extremely difficult tactical maneuver. What was the morale of the troops like, what was their physical strength like, how much spare strength did the horses have, how far was it appropriate to stay from the main force, and how far was it appropriate to distance themselves from the enemy… If one aspect was not considered, there would be nothing but death waiting for them. But the three flag teams of Zeng Zining's unit, under Zeng Zining's leadership, were enjoying it and had summed up countless experiences and lessons.

"The simplest method would be… to take Bai Shi City." Ye Tao thought for a moment and began to place a few chess pieces on the map to represent the positions of the respective troops. "A small city like Bai Shi City requires twenty to thirty thousand men to besiege. After taking it, to defend it, you only need to throw in a little more than ten thousand elite troops. This will free up at least ten thousand troops. Whether these ten thousand troops are added to the Ning Shi City line or placed in Mian City, it will be a headache. Let's put it this way: unless it's absolutely necessary, or unless he has complete certainty, Zhuo Da Jiangjun shouldn't move Mian City at this time. Occupying Da Lin Town, leaving the aftertaste of attacking Mian City, is best. On the one hand, he can calmly wait for the deployment of the army to be in place, and on the other hand, he can threaten the Western Ling army's flank. For Tong Bingwen, even if Mian City has very few troops, it won't have less than ten thousand, right? He's not that worried about Mian City at this time, but he must consider the goal of the entire army… weakening Eastern Plain."

Connecting Huan Shan Pass, Mian City, and Bai Shi City with a pen on the map, Ye Tao continued, "Taking Bai Shi City will give the Western Ling army such an iron waist composed of three key points. They can move forward out of Bai Shi City and burn and kill in my Eastern Plain's fertile fields, causing losses that won't be recovered in a few years, even a few decades. They can also confront my Eastern Plain army with this. If I were Tong Bingwen, I would take Bai Shi City first, and then strengthen Mian City. Ning Shi City is, after all, an old and strong city, and the Great General's nephew is in command, so Tong Bingwen shouldn't be willing to expend a large number of soldiers to attack it fiercely. He knows that time is running out, and he should understand that at this time, he should first grasp some things."

ps1: Continue to ask for monthly tickets. Being very unhappy with some readers' book reviews, at the same time, according to plan, there were 50 more votes, and the reward for the readers who continue to support this book will naturally come as scheduled, and will never be in arrears.

ps2: Writing a book, the plot always has ups and downs, and dramatic and reasonable aspects must be considered. Writing a transmigration article, the construction of the background and common sense environment cannot be comprehensive. I can only do my best within the scope of the writer's intelligence and continue to improve.

Not to mention that the content updated this month is almost all written around August and cannot be changed arbitrarily. Even if it can be changed, why should the author have to change it like a grandson when some readers make suggestions? What about the planning of the entire plot? This part of the content, which caused the book review area to be lively for a few days, is considered relatively reasonable from an emotional, personality, or overall plot planning perspective.