Chapter 101: Setting Up the Formation
The Wei Assistant Secretary loudly explained the reason for the border city’s liveliness: it was to confuse the Tartars and attract their attention.
These words did not inspire even a sliver of awe in the Yan Prefecture Army. Instead, seeing the Li King leave, they became even more mocking: “We’ve never heard of fighting a war like this.”
“Others keep the enemy outside the city, while you attract the enemy into the city. What, are you related to the Thunder God? Will he specifically strike the city with lightning then?”
The Yan Prefecture Army burst into laughter. The Wei Assistant Secretary showed no signs of being enraged. He knew time was short and the task was heavy; the Yan Prefecture Army would be one of the main forces, and they had to make them understand the Prince’s plan.
It wasn’t until Jinsui heard their laughter that he came over and reprimanded them: “You don’t need to know my plan in such detail. As soldiers, you only need to know to follow orders and obey commands!”
“The border city needs four military forces to defend its four sides, ensuring not a single Tartar breaks through the encirclement. Your Yan Prefecture Army will defend the south.”
“Your backs are to Yanzhou City. If you fail to defend it and let the Tartars charge into Yanzhou City, it will be your fault! This King will then punish you according to military law!”
The Yan Prefecture Army feared the Li King and dared not be as presumptuous as they were with the Wei Assistant Secretary. However, they remained indignant in their hearts, feeling that the Yan Prefecture Army was not the main force and they were only assigned to defend one side.
“Clearly, they’re afraid we’ll steal the credit! With the Black Feather Camp and the Tuntian Army’s useless border soldiers, can they defeat the Tartars?”
“Of course, even if we were to fight, we might not necessarily defeat the Tartars.”
They exchanged glances and all came to a decision: as soon as the Tartars broke through the formation laid out by the Li King, they would immediately retreat. They wouldn’t be foolish enough to fight to the death like the border soldiers!
Anyway, the Yanzhou City Wall was high and sturdy; the Tartars definitely wouldn’t be able to breach it. As for plundering a few towns and villages outside the city, what did that matter?
This night was destined to be sleepless. While transferring the infirmary, Hei Hu, who had woken up, refused to leave, insisting he could still fight and wanted to stay to protect the Prince.
Jinsui directly had the military doctor give him an anesthetic needle, and he was transferred to the mountains along with the old and young of the Tuntian Army.
At the same time, she was contemplating that after this battle, she would establish a base by the seaside, at least to have a fallback. She couldn’t keep running into the mountains every time something happened, making her border soldiers look like refugees.
The assassin Qing Feng didn’t know what was happening at first. Hearing the gongs and drums outside, he thought it was a wedding. When he learned that the Tartars were coming to attack.
He wailed and also wanted to retreat, afraid of being left alone in this prison.
Jinsui said his voice was very loud, even more useful than gongs, and had him tied up in the city to attract the enemy.
Qing Feng, believing he was doomed, decided to curse without restraint since it was his last chance to speak: “Li King, you are not human!”
“How could you treat me like this! I confessed, it was the Zheng Family who wanted to assassinate you, and Zheng Yun gave me ten thousand gold to carry out the assassination. Why do you still want me to die?”
Jinsui turned him towards the Yan Prefecture Army: “Curse in that direction, the louder the better.”
The Yan Prefecture Army naturally knew of the enmity between the Zheng Family and the Li King, but they hadn’t expected the Zheng Family would dare to hire a Jianghu assassin to carry out an assassination.
Looking at the assassin’s appearance, with his fingers gone and a patch of scalp missing, he was so pitiful that one couldn’t bear to look.
Their fear of the Li King deepened. This Li King’s actions were truly without any method or order.
Jinsui smiled at Qing Feng again: “Rest if you get tired of cursing. You can curse to your heart’s content tonight. This King will give you a chance; if you survive tonight, I will spare your life.”
Qing Feng’s eyes instantly lit up: “Really?”
“Of course, how could this King, the dignified Li King, lie to a Jianghu assassin like you?”
This person’s reaction was also quick, and he immediately said: “What do you want me to shout?”
Jinsui laughed heartily and turned him towards the North City Gate, which was outside the pass and the route the Tartars would enter from:
“Shout, ‘Celebrating the harvest, great joy in the border city, granaries full, gold and silver overflowing, beauties like clouds, wine like rivers, and food like mountains.'”
Qing Feng treated this task like a drowning man grasping at straw. He shouted at the top of his lungs, even louder than Hei Hu’s voice.
As he shouted, he got into the rhythm and even started singing. His singing harmonized with the gongs and drums, along with the dance led by Chen Yunniang.
It must be said, whether it was called a wedding or a harvest celebration, it looked quite convincing.
The fragrance of food and the sound of gongs and drums carried far and were extremely deceptive. Getting closer, one would see piles of provisions, beautiful women dancing, and drunken soldiers.
This was a city with its gates wide open, ready to be slaughtered! If the Tartars didn’t come in, Jinsui would doubt if they were real Tartars!
After arranging the soldiers defending the three sides, half of the Yan Prefecture Army would defend the south, and the other half would go to support Han Xing in defending the North Gate.
The Black Feather Camp and the Tuntian Army were split in two. Cheng Yu led one part to defend the east.
Jinsui led people to defend the west. The Wei Assistant Secretary was responsible for leading the soldiers in the city to retreat. This was a very dangerous mission; if the evacuation was not timely, they would be trapped in the city with the Tartars.
Cheng Yu and the Wei Assistant Secretary argued over this mission, which ultimately ended with the Wei Assistant Secretary’s heart-piercing words:
“Your wife is among those who will be evacuated. What if you get emotional and only care about your wife and not others?”
Cheng Yu was immediately choked. Wei Qingquan had always been very sharp-tongued towards him, but he never expected her to be so venomous!
He had no choice but to agree to let the Wei Assistant Secretary lead the evacuation, and he would defend the East Gate.
Jinsui chuckled softly upon hearing this. She hadn’t expected the Wei Assistant Secretary to be so cunning, but it seemed he only targeted Cheng Assistant Secretary.
The optimal evacuation route was planned: to evacuate from the South Gate, which was the widest and flattest. That area was guarded by the most well-equipped Yan Prefecture Army.
Jinsui gave Chen Yunniang and other women several anesthetic needles each, explaining their use. If the Tartars got close, these could make the target, whether human or horse, fall instantly.
All the few refined iron weapons crafted by the blacksmith shop were put to use. Unfortunately, not many sets of armor had been made yet; only the generals had new armor, while ordinary soldiers still wore their old ones.
Jinsui took this to heart. After this battle, with the provisions and supplies extorted from Yanzhou City, she would definitely equip the entire army with weapons and armor.
The next step was to expand the army. Supplies were always insufficient; she needed to find more ways to earn silver.
She patrolled the entire city once more, ensuring the plan was foolproof, and waited for Han Xing’s message.
She didn’t wait long. When the moon was high in the sky, a scout sent by Han Xing rushed back: “Prince, the Tartars are still thirty li outside the Northern Frontier Pass!”
Jinsui immediately sent the news to the other two armies. Even now, the Yan Prefecture Army found it hard to believe. In the past, the atmosphere during Tartar attacks was tense, like dark clouds pressing down, a storm about to break.
But looking at the border city before them, where was the semblance of preparing for battle?
They still believed this was the Li King deliberately scaring people to extort supplies from the Yanzhou Gentry.
Just wait and see, if the Tartars don’t come, how will the Li King explain?
Jinsui asked the scout: “Can you go back?”
The scout nodded: “Prince, just give the order, and I will surely deliver the message!”
“Very good! Tell Captain Han that he doesn’t need to engage the enemy. He only needs to guard the Northern Frontier Pass. If the Tartars try to escape from the pass, he is responsible for intercepting them.”
