Chapter 232: Ji Prefecture’s Amateurs Exit The Stage
Tong Zheng Calendar 5th year, June 26th, Xiang Prefecture area (Southern Front).
Xuan Chong, who rode the Peacock back to the “down road,” received the message that the encirclement iron barrier on the (Northern Front up road) Yongzhou side was about to be completed; at the same time, he received word that in the Xia Prefecture campaign, due to Wu Zaixing’s large-scale northern infiltration, the Hao Army had no choice but to mobilize toward the north; and this move by the Hao Army exposing its rear (logistics line) gave Bai Feihao’s Chong Army main group in Xia Prefecture an opportunity to infiltrate from the rear.
Previously, they were unsure of Zhao Cheng’s movements, so they didn’t let Bai Feihao’s group act rashly; but now Zhao Cheng had been drawn to the south by Wang Yushan, so in Xia Prefecture, Xuan Chong’s mobilization became much bolder.
Xuan Chong picked up the bamboo slips rolled with official paper and gently tapped the desk to calm his rhythm.
Now with mechanical progress, paper pulp could already be made very fine, and a large number of messages had begun to use paper for recording and transmission. However, out of tradition, some documents still used bamboo slips, narrated on them in simplified characters with profound meanings. This was similar to the tradition of red-header documents. (Red-header documents came from Western Wei’s Su Chuo.)
The mountains and rivers slowly unfolded in his mind, and in Xuan Chong’s calculations of the chess game against Zhao Cheng, Zhen Hao’s “horse” piece should not jump to chase his own “chariot.”
Because his own “cannon” could move at any time, and there were still “soldiers” pushing forward on the frontline; if Zhen Hao’s “horse” piece jumped east, it could still contain the positioning of two or three pieces, but jumping north would mean it got “captured.”
So Xuan Chong was very surprised to hear that the “Zhen Hao” piece had automatically made a horse move day jump.
Because such a “bad move” did not seem like something Zhao Cheng could make. On Wu Zaixing’s side, the kid had already prepared to capitalize on Zhao Cheng’s bad move.
Xuan Chong: “He was quite confident in his report, although he didn’t mention Zhao Cheng at all, but he indicated he would quickly complete the strategic decisive battle and strive to head south in July to provide support. That is, to have a showdown with Zhao Cheng.”
Xuan Chong tapped the paper of the message, shaking his head involuntarily: “Heh, he’s gotten arrogant, starting to think ‘Zhao Cheng is nothing special.'”
Then he said to Wu Rui attending beside him: “Issue the message in my name: his combat mission is in the Xia Prefecture area, don’t let him think about other things. Execute the established targets well in the first stage; as for the campaign development in the next stage, it will be issued only after the General Staff formulates it, do not overstep.”
After the message was sent, Xuan Chong said slowly: “War is a national endeavor, not anyone’s show. Resource mobilization and planning in each area involve other areas, and all troops must strictly execute the already determined plans.”
Narration: Even if Wu Zaixing takes the lead in resolving the Xia Prefecture campaign and has spare capacity to support other battlefields, Xuan Chong will not allow him to act rashly. Because his unauthorized support could bring negative effects to the overall strategic planning.
For example, the roads and supply systems in the Xia Prefecture area are not yet complete, and his unauthorized support to Xiang Prefecture would mean a large amount of supplies taking the Xia Prefecture route, with losses far greater than the current established road planning in Xiang Prefecture.
Moreover, after Wu Zaixing withdraws corps, could Zhao Cheng possibly draw troops from elsewhere to infiltrate? If so, would the supplies held by his troops remaining in Xia Prefecture be enough for counter-infiltration?
Why did Xuan Chong emphasize this issue? Because based on Zhao Cheng’s successive bad moves, he had already guessed the internal situation in the Hao State.
Admittedly, Zhao Cheng was a high-level chess player, but he was limited by the factor of “stamina” and could not continuously play several good games.
Zhao Cheng had been gorging himself these years, absorbing so many forces, and the hidden dangers were fine in the downwind battles; but now this was a high-intensity matchup. After Zhao City was led astray by Wang Yushan’s solo move, he had to rush to the south to put out fires; his other fronts under his command all began to “freely improvise”!
Actually, any force in its early development stage has the risk of “not listening to overall scheduling.”
For example, in the process of taking over the Southern Border, Xuan Chong: 1. Worked hard in commerce to suppress great merchants and create film distributors for interest balance. Preventing the formation of giant merchants. This made Xuan Chong’s gold horn silver edge grass belly strategy not interfered with or distorted like Wu Hengyu’s.
2: In the military, he tinkered with the non-commissioned officer stratum to leave positions for newcomers. This allowed tactics to be successfully renewed in two rounds!
3: In politics, he moved his own imperial clan to the Southern Border, having them garrison for about “ten years” to accumulate hard work. So that new factions like Wu Juwang would not be tripped up by the Wu Family imperial clan forces during the reform.
After all, right after transmigrating, he encountered the “liquor ban” head-on. This made Xuan Chong vigilant for decades about his subordinates not listening in extreme situations.
In the past, when confronting Zhao Cheng, it seemed like all these efforts were in vain, as Zhao Cheng didn’t do these things and it didn’t affect him.
But Zhao Cheng just hadn’t encountered extreme situations, with a large number of problems suppressed without erupting.
Inside Zhao Cheng’s expanding forces, the composition of various factions was complex.
Not to mention others, his four women came from grassland tribes, people brought from the Haotian Realm, and two noble families from Da Yao; any of these forces could divide part of Zhao Cheng’s army through divorce.
Such complex contradictions were previously covered by Zhao Cheng’s series of victories; as long as Zhao Cheng kept winning, the contradictions would only erupt before he passed on the position.
Actually, Xuan Chong didn’t expect the contradictions on Zhao Cheng’s side to suddenly erupt; after all, these problems were hidden underwater, and under the situation where the leader’s prestige could suppress them, the contradictions were almost non-existent. — Xuan Chong didn’t have Wu Sidao by his side to help analyze the internal family struggles in Zhao Cheng’s household.
As a result, Zhao Cheng wasn’t paying attention for a moment. Directly triggered a chain reaction by these young and vigorous fists from Xuan Chong’s students.
…Timeline pulls back to sixteen days ago (down road first blood)…
June 10th, Xiang Prefecture, Changcheng campaign begins. At the start of the campaign, the Chong Army arrived in Ji Prefecture’s army by three days, seized Changcheng’s city gates, and hung up flags.
After taking Changcheng, the Chong Army opened the city gates wide, letting the unstable elements inside the city exit toward “Zhao Cheng” and “Yan Family” to report. These noble family servants clumsily posed as merchants, hiding bamboo strips in their shoe soles, and slipped out. Little did they know that one by one Mu Luan on the city battlements were observers tracking their directions.
And one day later, Ji Prefecture’s claimed army of twenty thousand advanced upstream on the Donghua River surface.
Its vanguard force arrived at Changcheng’s base on the morning of the 10th. However, Ji Prefecture’s advance this time was just like Xing Daorong, a presumptuous challenge beyond their strength.
Just as in Changcheng, the many noble families were preparing to defect, sending messages and coordinating internally and externally to directly offer Changcheng to the Yan Family—Wen Siting led troops to outflank the rear.
That’s right, although Wen Siting was an old officer, and his achievements were downstream compared to the various young upstarts in the current military academy; but he had a staff group composed of young intern non-commissioned officers under him. And he adapted quickly, plus Ji Prefecture’s side was so weak it was ridiculous—Ji Prefecture’s navy advancing upstream hadn’t scouted the hydrology in advance, so several key river areas required rope-pullers to tow the hulls; and now the stations where these rope-pullers gathered became the blockage point for the latter half of Ji Prefecture’s army.
…Battle report review…
On the 12th, Wen Siting led the team to Taiyang Shoal; this place now had a large number of rope-pullers gathered on the shore, approximately an area as big as eight bird’s nests, piled with a large number of shanties, all places for rope-pullers to overnight; and on the riverbank, large ships with rigid sails hung up like traffic jams, stranded on the shore.
Worth mentioning is that now sails are not expensive, Zhen State’s textile industry can supply enough cloth; yet even so cheaply, Ji Prefecture’s officials did not procure them before the war.
Since canvas only came down in recent years, many old ships to save costs still used old rigid bamboo sails. Its Donghua River downstream “self-stabilizing” system has super strong resistance to industrial products.
Now Wen Siting didn’t give the opponent a chance. After five hundred cavalry charged into the shanty area, a large number of rope-pullers dropped their work and ran toward the mountains. Exposing the shoal area clogged with a large number of ships to the Chong Army cavalry.
The two or three hundred Ji Prefecture soldiers guarding the rope-pullers here had neither armor nor morale.
So they also discarded helmet and armor and ran, directly leaving two hundred ships on the shore.
Immediately after, Wen Siting sent two hundred troops, divided into five queues on the shore operating bamboo rafts; piling all the cloth and dry firewood from the rope-pullers’ shanties onto them, then binding them together and floating toward the ships in the water.
The several Ji Prefecture soldiers on the ships, seeing these drifting bamboo rafts, already knew what they were.
The Ji Army leader on the ship shouted loudly “Bow and arrow hands!” “Where are the bows and arrows?” “Quickly, go shoot!”
But the bows and arrows were sparse and scattered; when the bamboo rafts drifting downstream with the river current approached within thirty meters of the large ships, the fire oil was ignited; the pusher immediately dove away.
Under the licking flames, after ten breaths the large ship began to smoke, its hull started adhering flames, then the fire climbed upward along the bow slant wood like a gecko, followed by smoke enveloping the ship.
Large numbers of people jumped off the ship, abandoning weapons and swimming to shore; as the flames along the thick smoke clung to the sails, everything became irreparable, the sails ignited with a whoosh, large pieces of debris blown by wind touching other ships’ sails, and soon the entire river surface was ablaze.
…Second battlefield…
On the thirteenth, this big fire burned Ji Prefecture’s troops, originally in spear charge formation, down to just a “spearhead.”
When these three thousand Ji Prefecture troops were still shouting “surrender” under Changcheng.
Outside the city, another Chong Army force learned earlier than this Ji Prefecture vanguard that their water army had been cut off; thus directly dispatching one thousand troops to strike, and sending several cavalry squads to raise dust.
Ji Prefecture’s vanguard troops originally wanted to take the city without fighting and pick up cheap wins; facing those who dared to form battle lines, they didn’t dare engage directly.
Because Zhenzhou crossbowmen and hand cannon array lines were very neat; without artillery for long-range attacks or giant beasts charging, they couldn’t break this shooting system.
Just as the Ji Prefecture troops’ general thought the dust outside was a bluff.
Two hours later, such a bluff hadn’t stopped. The Ji Prefecture vanguard officer under the city felt something wrong? Because by logic, the southern main camp should send a message every half day, but now over an hour had passed with no transmission?
Plus Zhenzhou’s dragon horse knights continuously shouting that Ji Prefecture’s follow-up army had been defeated. The Ji Prefecture vanguard troops had already wavered.
If battlefield morale data were visible, one could see the Yan Family’s neat formation, uniform armor, full-staffed troops’ morale bar dropping rapidly.
The three thousand-man formation began to waver from a neat square; thereafter Zhenzhou firearm soldiers began the offensive.
The Ji Army’s vanguard officer still wanted to struggle desperately, leading cavalry to flank and charge against the Chong Army. After both knights exchanged a round of combat losses in mutual impact, Zhenzhou’s follow-up light firearm cavalry arrived, unleashing a barrage on those Ji Prefecture cavalry detached from the line, infuriating the Ji Army cavalry officer who cursed them for not following martial virtue.
What were the cavalry engagement rules of this era? Two cavalry teams charge one round, then cross, regroup, then charge another round.
But the Chong Army relied on numerical superiority; after the first round of close cavalry crossed, both formations were somewhat disordered, as Ji Prefecture cavalry prepared to pull out and regroup; just then firearm cavalry pressed up, dividing into twenty-man rank groups, dismounting at advantageous terrain, and volleying within one hundred paces.
Ji Prefecture cavalry directly collapsed, then fled far away, but the firearm cavalry didn’t let them go, continuing the pursuit.
Meanwhile, Zhenzhou’s heavy armored cavalry ignored the fleeing Ji Prefecture cavalry, instead outflanking to their rear, while at the same time the Chong Army’s front firearm and crossbowmen arrays pressed forward aggressively.
Just before engagement, Ji Prefecture’s three thousand troops directly collapsed; after one round of frontal firearm salvo, Chong Army cavalry charged from behind, clamping front and rear, shattering the Ji Army like a glass plate smashed on the ground.
And in Changcheng, the noble families originally preparing internal-external coordination were thunderstruck upon hearing the news.
Immediately after, these guys hiding in tunnels, ready to climb the city walls as soon as the outer army arrived, met their doomsday.
The noble families found poison smoke poured into the tunnels, killing a large batch inside; then the smoke emerged from some wealthy households’ wells in the city, followed by search teams tracing the smoke door-to-door.
Outside the city, Ji Prefecture troops ran like three thousand pigs across mountains and fields; these three thousand pigs were all mostly captured by local baojia, consuming a batch of rope reserves, directly sent to jade mines to dig.
…Hao Army’s allies were gone just like that…
So when the disobedient Wang Yushan arrived on the battlefield with Hao Army on June 19th; what Wang Yushan saw was the Chong Army city unscratched, Ji Prefecture troops turned into river surface wreckage.
After getting the news from scouts, Wang Yushan was stunned for a long time, cursing: “These are a bunch of trash, how could I think of joining forces with these wastes!”
Although Wang Yushan didn’t know what nature his pretending not to receive Zhao Cheng’s orders was; but through the post station he learned that multiple corps on the rear lines had followed his lead in mobilizing. With his hasty troop movement resulting in a mess, he knew the trouble he caused was big.
What Wang Yushan didn’t know even more was that the general before him was none other than Xuan Chong.
He didn’t know even more that the multiple Hao Army corps mobilizing for battle behind were because Zhao Cheng had also rushed over in a panic.
…Back to the beginning of this chapter’s time segment…
On the 26th, northern Xiang Prefecture checkpoint. Xuan Chong led fifty thousand troops, deployed on a fifteen-kilometer long front line, relying on a series of barriers to firmly block the Hao Army’s southward roads.
Xuan Chong already knew this battle put him in an invincible position. But the key was how to win!
After winning, advance north smoothly? Heluo is neither Xia Prefecture nor the war-ravaged poor prefectures of Yongzhou and Xingzhou; it is the world’s foremost prosperous land.
Although his various corps were not at a disadvantage in frontal combat, Xuan Chong was very clear this was his side’s united hearts, not that the world was convinced!
This situation had precedents in Xuan Chong’s previous life: at that time, domestically from industrial technology to military domains all broke through, proving the internal mid-tier group was united. But vast old forces in the universe were unconvinced.
Someone in Xuan Chong’s previous life said: “Facing these forces nested in manure pits who are unconvinced yet don’t shut up, absolutely don’t go into the manure pit to debate them; wait for them to drown in the manure pit, then insert a warning sign.”
In the main camp, Xuan Chong confirmed the Hao Army’s most vanguard troops had bumped into his barriers, dared not attack yet unwilling to withdraw, in a fluster.
Xuan Chong didn’t order proactive strikes, but commanded each camp to maintain defensive readiness, with mobile strike forces on standby.
Xuan Chong pulled out the Ministry of Commerce’s survey on livelihoods under Hao Army rule. The report he now held recorded the land annexation situation in the northern Heluo area handed over by Xiang Prefecture.
Year after year of warfare, Zhao Cheng Group’s rural levies, single rural households couldn’t withstand the upper-level forced requisitions. Large numbers of small farmers went bankrupt, abandoning land and fleeing.
Now all northern land belonged to local powerful clans. Even taking it down, Zhen State’s current “governance model” wouldn’t work here.
In this war for under heaven, Zhen State had no plan to occupy the “grass belly”; but Xuan Chong didn’t want these powerful clans to have it easy, so he prepared to let this area fully experience Hao Army’s plundering.
In the current struggle for supremacy under heaven, Xuan Chong relied on “city workshopization” population gathering producing intellectuals to confront Zhao Cheng’s half under heaven. While Zhao Cheng’s bases wouldn’t, due to a few months of initial setbacks, immediately see the times and defect to him.
These old local noble gentry groups monopolizing arable land production materials, even if Zhao Cheng lost and Xuan Chong’s corps advanced, these powerful clans wouldn’t surrender.
That is, if another military force representing their interests attacked, these big households would still slaughter pigs and cattle to reward the arriving “Royal Army,” firmly unwilling to bow to the “grasping sparrow.”
Xuan Chong: So make these nobles monopolizing land bankrupt on their own! And the best way to bankrupt is to force them into abnormally high-consumption campaigns.
Xuan Chong looked at his hand of cards. Trains daily transporting coal, grain, ammunition and other military supplies to the frontline by hundreds of tons.
Xuan Chong began roll call on the camps. Each of the twelve frontline camps had four thousand staffing quota; like drawing lots, drawing one camp, the corps immediately struck from the line.
…Cat playing with mouse…
Wang Yushan’s scouts reported on the 26th, discovering large-scale Chong Army maneuvers in the south; however, as he scattered scouts to precisely judge all incoming directions, his scouts due to too broad detection range didn’t provide precise information;
Then on the 27th overnight, a troop had already appeared on his southeast side. “Enter, deploy, seize” three stages, Wu Zaixing used very standardly.
The main forces of Chong and Zhao clashed, the battle began.
