Chapter 1 "Let's Discuss It"

"Let's discuss it." Jiang Xujing's decisive withdrawal baffled everyone. Now, counting it up, Qing Tian, Tie Ling, Ding Ling - a good portion of the so-called Seven Northern Towns had already fallen into the hands of the Yunzhou army. And until now, adding up all kinds of losses for the Yunzhou army, the casualties were still less than three thousand, the vast majority of whom were not seriously injured. At least on the surface, it looked like the Yunzhou army had the absolute advantage. But Jiang Xujing had begun to make up his mind to withdraw all his troops from the defense area and gather them together almost from the third day after the two sides engaged. What kind of courage and determination was that? Although after the intelligence came one after another, Ye Tao had already ordered the meeting to be adjourned and waited for further intelligence, sent troops to occupy places such as Tie Ling, Fubei Town, Jinji Ridge, and Jichuan Town, and ordered the scouts of the Frost Wolf and Silver Wing armies to move forward again, striving to touch the tails of the retreating troops of the Zhenbei Military Command and find out their movements. However, the officers still gathered in the hall of the Qing Tian city lord's mansion after they had finished their orders, in the place where they conducted military discussions, accompanying Ye Tao to rack their brains.

It wasn't until midnight that Ye Tao finally ordered another military discussion after having supper with everyone. The Central Army Camp was originally intended to consider various needs for commanding operations. Given the inevitable need to provide services to senior officers, and with Shi Liu, a close attendant who had followed Dai Yunjin and lived a life of luxury for a long time, in charge, the supper made by the Central Army Camp's cooks was actually not much worse than those famous restaurants in Ningyuan and Suiyuan. And the coffee with milk and sugar that Ye Tao had specially ordered for everyone, and the chocolate-flavored cookies that were currently only specially made within the Jinglue mansion's household, made everyone's index fingers move, almost forgetting that they were now on the front line.

However, as soon as Ye Tao said that the military discussion would begin, everyone quickly got into the state.

"Marshal Ye, this humble general's opinion is the same as yours, Jiang Xujing should want to have a decisive battle with us in Guiyuan. But... it's not impossible to retreat to Guiyi and hold on for reinforcements," Cheng Chi said.

Xu Yao stood up and said, "Although Jiang Xujing's withdrawal this time was very decisive, I don't really believe that he dares to defend the city. Although defending the city is safer than field battles in most cases, it's not the case for Jiang Xujing."

Xu Yao smiled, but everyone understood what he meant. Indeed, if a war were to break out with Chunnan, there was a high probability that the other side would defend the city. But Jiang Xujing was a cavalry general, and the most combat-effective troops under his command, the ones that Jiang Xujing was most confident in, were all cavalry units. As the number one cavalry general in the north, he couldn't possibly not understand what the result would be of letting the cavalry dismount and defend the city, giving up all their original advantages. He also couldn't possibly not be clear that the number of elite infantry units he had on hand was very small. Even if he occupied the city's geographical advantage, it was still debatable whether he could win against Yunzhou. But once he couldn't win, it would be difficult for the defenders to even escape. Whether it was out of confidence in himself, a correct assessment of his own military strength, or out of consideration for having as many changes and initiatives as possible, Jiang Xujing probably wouldn't defend Guiyi city to the death. But perhaps Jiang Xujing would throw Guiyi to the Yunzhou army as a hard bone, and then decide on his next move based on the Yunzhou army's reaction. After all, he had the Daoming Sect Protectorate Army at his disposal, which was very good at fighting desperately. Although defending the city was probably not possible, the desperate characteristics of the Protectorate Army could play a great role in street fighting. Unlike the previous military towns, Guiyi city was indeed inhabited by a considerable number of ordinary people. Even if Yunzhou had enough fire oil bombs, it might not be able to bring itself to slaughter them all, at least Yunzhou had never had such a tradition.

"If Jiang Xujing thinks that this is the way he can defeat us, he will do it," Ye Tao said after thinking for a while. He still remembered the Battle of Yunzhou that year, when Jiang Xujing abandoned the Protectorate Army to cover his retreat and led his own troops back to the Zhenbei Military Command. It was true that in these short few years, the Protectorate Army had become one of the pillars of the Zhenbei Military Command, thanks to Jiang Xujing's support and indulgence. But the troubles that the Protectorate Army had caused Jiang Xujing were indeed not few. On the one hand, weakening the Protectorate Army might be conducive to the stability of the Zhenbei Military Command in the future, and also conducive to the Zhenbei Military Command still being his Zhenbei Military Command, and not being turned by the Daoming Sect into a strange place that combined military affairs and religion, and began to infiltrate daily government affairs. Although Jiang Xujing still felt that he owed the Protectorate Army and the Daoming Sect a favor back then, he now had a different plan.

Compared to the Leiyin Demon Sect, the Daoming Sect was indeed less likeable. The Leiyin Demon Sect was very low-key, and rarely actively raised money from wealthy families. Most of the time, they organized everyone to produce, helped coordinate the amount of grain and money that tenants paid to landlords, and allowed those poor ordinary people to live better lives. Only on this basis did they accept donations from believers. And the Leiyin Demon Sect's own industry was not small. On the one hand, they gradually annexed land, but they did not cause a backlash from the local wealthy families. Instead, they expanded a series of things other than grain crops based on solid reclamation and planting, such as candied fruit and medicinal materials. What everyone could generally see was the Leiyin Demon Sect's efforts to help the poor, although the assistance they usually gave to impoverished believers was very small, there were always people who helped them find jobs so that they could support themselves.

The Daoming Sect followed suit, although they gave a lot of money, they always made people feel that they lacked a little bit of human touch... In this way, the Daoming Sect became more and more disliked by Jiang Xujing. Naturally, Jiang Xujing wouldn't pay too much attention to these minor details. What he couldn't tolerate even more was the Daoming Sect's unbridled infiltration and expansion in the army. Jiang Xujing didn't have the ability like Ye Tao to come up with all kinds of bizarre tricks to gather people's hearts at any time. In the face of the Daoming Sect in the Zhenbei Military Command, and the Leiyin Demon Sect's infiltration of Yunzhou from the Taizhou direction, Yunzhou took out the balanced scorecard and made the officials up and down the ranks to be on Yunzhou's side and look forward to the future, and the people's hearts were united. Yunzhou's political system became more and more stable. And the Yunzhou Jinglue mansion never interfered with what the common people believed or didn't believe. But Yunzhou would crack down on any and all cases of cheating, extortion, and even acting shamelessly in the name of religion to raise money, and would never tolerate it. In addition, most areas of Yunzhou were closer to the tribal shamanism system, and Yunzhou organized some shamanistic festivals and major events, giving them a somewhat official flavor. With the combined efforts of several parties, the influence of any religion on Yunzhou could be completely ignored. But Jiang Xujing faced a different situation. It was not convenient for him to openly ban the Daoming Sect. After all, he owed the Daoming Sect Protectorate Army a great favor. Although the Daoming Sect could not directly control the Zhenbei Military Command's army, it was still Jiang Xujing who had the final say, but the impact on everyone in some small matters could not be underestimated. If he couldn't explain the reasons clearly, Jiang Xujing might not be able to convince the Protectorate Army to defend Guiyi to the death.

But Ye Tao and the Yunzhou officers were not clear about Jiang Xujing's inner thoughts. From the perspective of their more rational deduction, using the Protectorate Army to defend Guiyi in order to wear down the Yunzhou army's spirit and strength, and then Jiang Xujing leading the Zhenbei Military Command's elite cavalry units to seize the opportunity to launch a battle at any time, should be the battle method that Jiang Xujing was most confident in. In any case, in terms of individual soldiers and small-scale units, Yunzhou's strength was self-evident; and in terms of macro-level, the Zhenbei Military Command's military advantage was also self-evident.

Ye Tao did not show any worry or tension. The surrounding generals felt that Ye Tao seemed to be a little impatient. This impatience was not directed at his own people, but at Jiang Xujing, seemingly impatient with Jiang Xujing's stupid behavior of not surrendering obediently and choosing to resist stubbornly... In the military discussion, everyone expressed their opinions one by one, but later on, it became a trend for everyone to express their determination, and even a trend to compete for important roles in the general battle... Ye Tao was very depressed. It turned out that this group of people in Yunzhou were really not afraid of fighting. They just liked fighting, big battles. And it seemed that this was indeed the general meaning of the soldiers. Everyone generally felt that this one-sided and smooth advance was too boring. Although Ye Tao felt that even after dispersing some troops to garrison, the Yunzhou army still had a very high chance of winning in the battle, but Ye Tao was only worried about casualties...

"Brother-in-law, this battle must be fought." After the military discussion was dismissed, Tan Weiran said to Ye Tao quietly. "The current Yunzhou armies are not what they used to be. In the past, everyone worked together seamlessly because of blood ties and kinship, but now it's not possible. Although the Dai family still has a great influence in several armies, it's not what it used to be after all. And, brother-in-law, we are fighting too calmly and too rationally now. Qing Tian was originally a big battle like this, but you can't see much blood... But without seeing blood, how can the army's bloodiness be ignited?"

Ye Tao sighed and said, "I really wish I could think as open as you. How could I not know that fighting like this now is actually wrong. Small casualties in battles must be something that we all know ourselves, and in fact, our strength also exceeds the opponent's several times, instead of choosing not to fight big battles and hard battles. However, I can't bring myself to do it."

Tan Weiran said with a smile, "Brother-in-law, let's start this battle. In fact, there may not be too many casualties, after all, what we surpass the other side is not only equipment and training. You have to learn to have this kind of determination, otherwise, what about your fifteen years?"

Ye Tao smiled faintly and said, "Since we are going to fight, let's go to Guiyi. However, I am not prepared to use too many lives to pad out my plan to conquer Xiling in fifteen years. Let's fight this battle well, I'll leave it to you here, and I'll lead the troops to Guiyi."

Tan Weiran shook his head and said, "That won't do, the Jingyun cavalry is a key player in this kind of general battle, how can I be missing? As for here, brother-in-law, leave it to General Yu and Suo Zheng. They are more reliable here than anyone else."

After thinking about it again, Ye Tao nodded and said, "Then let's do it this way, continue the military discussion tomorrow and discuss the battle strategy."