Chapter 1 Chi Lei's Plan

Chi Lei smiled and said, "We're so familiar, you don't need to encourage me so much. I know my own capabilities. I can handle one aspect, but really coordinating the whole situation... maybe after a few years of experience. But that's not my forte. Since you've put me in charge of this battle, see my methods. I'm really not good at fighting hard battles, but dragging the enemy down and to their death is my strong point. Since you've given me all the troops I can use, how about I play some tricks for you? Besides, even against the Kuerka Tribe, as long as we don't push too hard, I don't think we'll actually fight. The Kuerka Tribe gave up a long time ago; they just haven't been given a way to step down. You take responsibility for convincing the old tribal chief Golan to agree to negotiate with the Kuerka Tribe, and then we can figure out what conditions to offer. I estimate the entire grassland can be settled like that. The key is dealing with the sand bandits. We haven't had much contact with the sand bandits, at most indirectly dealing with some merchant groups controlled by them. Those guys are pretty dishonest. While we're pacifying the northern tribes, we need to concentrate their forces and find a way to block the sand bandits outside the grassland. The quartermaster camp I want isn't for resupply, but for earthwork and carpentry. If you can persuade Suo Zheng to give me three camps to do this hard work, relying on a string of blockhouses and watchtowers, those guys won't be able to break into the grassland for ten or eight years, let alone one or two. We have plenty of those older model crossbow cannons and things like that in our warehouses now."

Ye Tao smiled noncommittally. Chi Lei's self-assessment was obviously a bit low. Being able to lead the scouts well wasn't just, as he said, being cautious and avoiding battle. In the previous campaign to capture Zhenzhou, Chi Lei had already demonstrated his extraordinary talent for battlefield reconnaissance. What information was important, what wasn't so important, and where to send what information at the first moment—these all demonstrated a general's abilities. And Chi Lei had excellent intuition in this regard. He was very clear about the impact of battlefield intelligence on the battle situation, knowing what kind of intelligence might lead to what kind of dynamics, and what kind of dynamics might require what kind of intelligence to support further development. There probably weren't many generals in the whole world who could comprehend these things.

Ye Tao said lightly, "I don't care about that. Just say what troops you want, and I'll get them for you. You and Suo Zheng are so tight, would he refuse you three camps? Besides, he's too busy with too many things right now. Ever since he was appointed Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, he hasn't had a single free day. He'd be more than happy for you to help him manage those guys. The quartermaster camp is important, but not this important." Chi Lei clapped and laughed. Ye Tao's comment about the quartermaster camp hit the nail on the head. In several battles, the quartermaster camp had shown extremely strong material transportation capabilities and battlefield construction capabilities, and its impact on the battle situation couldn't be underestimated. And the quartermaster camp, due to its special function, was more burdensome in terms of training and daily service than other main battle camps. In this situation, although the quartermaster camp didn't slack off in completing its daily work and supplying the various armies, its attitude was much more irritable. Ye Tao actually understood. No matter who it was, if they were busy like this all year round, their attitude probably wouldn't be good. But even so, you couldn't take other people's politeness for granted. After two mutual complaints between the quartermaster camp and other troops recently, Ye Tao understood. Originally, everyone was used to the quartermaster camp's temper, and some were afraid to offend them, and Suo Zheng was indeed a bit protective of his subordinates. And in the case of others' concessions, some of the camp commanders were quite overbearing. The most excessive was that some camp commanders, after receiving Suo Zheng's half-baked battlefield logistics training, didn't fully understand what Suo Zheng had painstakingly researched, but shouted out "Logistics Wins the War." This statement would inevitably come true in the future, but it wasn't so obvious now. Now, it was still the era of cold weapons, and the performance of troop type countering was still very obvious.

Watching Ye Tao and Chi Lei discuss the specific plan for the northern expedition, Dai Qiuyan frowned and asked softly, "Is it really okay? If there's a real fight, is Benlang Plain safe?" (Benlang Plain = Running Wolf Plain)

"Heh, there won't be a fight. The flames of war will definitely not reach Benlang Plain. Since you've put me in charge of the battle, I have that confidence," Chi Lei said confidently.

Dai Qiuyan was relieved, said "Oh," and asked, "Then... what's the deal with that hunt? I heard you say it was in preparation for the war, but it didn't sound like that before."

Ye Tao patiently explained, "The hunt is really needed. Benlang Plain and the northern grasslands have lush and fertile pastures, and the cattle, sheep, and horses grow very well. But when the cattle, sheep, and horses grow well, wolves, leopards, and the like also tend to grow. Benlang Plain is sparsely populated, and it's impossible to prevent wolf packs, impossible to clear them out at all times. Usually, everyone pays more attention, and tribal warriors always monitor the wolf packs around the tribes' grazing areas. Although losses are still inevitable, they will be kept within an acceptable range. But someday, the wolf packs will still expand to the point where this kind of defense can't cope with them. After all, what wolf packs can eat isn't just animals raised by the tribes. At this time, everyone has to be ruthless. Now, the tribes have become stronger, and hunting has gradually become a game, but when the grassland tribes were rising, when manpower was still very weak and there wasn't as good armor and weapons as there are now, they had to fight the wolf packs every year, and each time they had to pay a painful price. The grassland tribes were built up by fighting like this, generation after generation. It's precisely because of this that the grassland tribes respect and fear wolves. Think about the name Benlang Plain. Back then, that's how they developed in such an environment. Now, there won't be the dangers of the past. When they really get to Golan's side, Xuan'er and Ji'er will definitely be by Golan's side. If anything can threaten there, that would be strange. Don't look at that old guy Golan being so careless usually, he has a lot of good people around him. Besides, with Zhe Luo and Guan Huan by their side, you can rest assured."

Dai Qiuyan breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That's good. I knew Xuan'er and Ji'er were naughty. Who would have thought that they would actually bring Yunyun along this time? I was really a little worried that they might encounter some danger in the hunt or something."

Chi Lei suddenly asked, "There naturally won't be any danger, but... I'm curious, are you so relieved to let Xuan'er manage this whole trip?"

"He can't manage what he shouldn't manage. If it's just dealing with people, calculating accounts, and things like that, I'm really relieved," Ye Tao said with a chuckle, obviously very proud of his child.

Then, Ye Tao told a story about Ye Wenxuan that happened a few months ago. At that time, it was the first birthday of Lu Dan's youngest son. Ye Wenxuan had always called Lu Dan and Huang Wan's eldest daughter "sister," and he also liked this little brother, who had just turned one year old, very much, and was planning to give this boy named Lu Zhe something. Ye Wenxuan and Ye Wenji could get anything they needed usually and didn't have much of a concept of money. And Ye Wenxuan also wanted to find something fun as a gift for the child. But then he thought that there were many other gifts to give... There were really a lot of children in Ye Family Fort, and Ye Wenxuan had too many friends.

Children often exchange gifts with each other, exchanging for what they need and want, valuing the novelty of playing and not caring so much about the value. In order to calculate how many gifts he would have to buy in the second half of the year in order to break even, Ye Wenxuan actually ran to his study and spread various things all over the floor. Later, when Tan Weixin went to find him to prepare to give him a math lesson, she asked a little and realized that Ye Wenxuan had actually come up with a simple profit and loss statement... Tan Weixin certainly knew that the concept of numbers and the concept of real objects hadn't completely connected in Ye Wenxuan's mind, but she also knew that Ye Wenxuan was indeed a child with a talent for abstract mathematical methods. Tan Weixin could hardly describe her surprise at the time. She was very clear that although the accountants of the Ye mansion didn't avoid talking about anything profound in front of Ye Wenxuan, no one had ever deliberately told him about these things.

"So, are you going to follow behind him? Or go to Benlang Plain first?" Chi Lei asked again. "Golan has been waiting for you for a long time. They can really be considered to have developed now. I estimate they're planning to do something again."

Ye Tao really wanted to follow Ye Wenxuan and his group, but after all, time wasn't so abundant. He sighed and said, "Old Master Golan has already told me about his affairs. Now they've tasted the benefits of the wool textile industry. But they also know that Benlang Plain is the largest supplier of warhorses in the entire Dongping, so they don't dare to easily reduce the number of horses raised. And... Benlang Plain wants to integrate more closely with Dongping. They want to follow the example of other regions of Yunzhou and establish local government offices. Probably because they don't need so many herders now, and there are more people settling down, they also have this need. So, the old master has to speak on behalf of the tribes again."

Chi Lei chuckled and said, "I've heard about this too. Only a few tribes have some doubts. After all, they're all people who are used to freedom. As it looks now, even if government offices at all levels are established, most of the affairs will be coordinated and implemented with the various tribes, but in the long run, the control over the tribes will become greater and greater. I'm afraid this is what those old people are worried about, right?"

Ye Tao nodded and said, "That's right. So, I have to go over first and have a good chat with those people. This is good for everyone." Ye Tao jokingly said, "There's a saying in Western religions, 'Believe in me and you will have eternal life.' I want everyone to believe that following Dongping, they will have a good life. If they are really far-sighted people, they should understand."