Chapter 57: The Imminent Great Battle

Although Helian Yue’s words made sense, Chang Ya was still unconvinced at heart.

No matter how logical her analysis was, it could not outweigh the actual military intelligence already gathered by his scouts.

She could not simply blind herself and claim that, purely because it was too much of a coincidence, the Daliang reinforcements approaching from both the north and the south were entirely fake?

However, having caught sight of Yu Tiancheng’s expression beforehand, Chang Ya swallowed back all the rebuttals that had already reached his lips.

The Grand Marshal... actually agreed with her assessment?

What was going on?

Chang Ya was truly a promising young military talent highly valued by Yu Tiancheng.

Even though his mind was filled with doubt and resentment, he quickly adjusted his mindset, humbly listening to their analysis to make up for his own shortcomings.

Feeling Yu Tiancheng’s encouraging gaze, Helian Yue hastily voiced her own judgment.

"Such a large-scale, coordinated operation is simply impossible to achieve. Therefore, this subordinate believes that the Liang army is merely putting up a false front! Their purpose..."

Yu Tiancheng cut in, "Their purpose is most likely to disperse our forces. Not only will this weaken our capability to launch a fierce assault on Dongping City, but it will also create a genuine vulnerability right here at our main camp!"

Helian Yue nodded, "That being the case, we certainly must not fall for their trick, nor should we divide our forces because of the enemy's reinforcements. We should strike while the iron is hot and capture Dongping City first!"

Her approach was extremely radical, yet it hit the nail right on the head!

Since the Liang army's deployment centered around Dongping City and was designed to lift its siege, as long as the northern forces moved first to capture and destroy Dongping, any conspiracy or scheme the Liang army attempted would come to nothing.

Yu Tiancheng smiled slightly, "Helian Yue, if one day you are ever given independent command of an army, you will surely achieve glorious feats that shock all the tribes. However, now is not the appropriate time."

"Let me ask you this: suppose we concentrate all our strength, yet fall short at the last hurdle and fail to take Dongping City, what then?"

Helian Yue was left speechless by the question.

Chang Ya said with a look of shame, "If that were to happen, we would undoubtedly expose an even greater vulnerability. No matter how formidable and battle-hardened the warriors of the grasslands are, we would inevitably give the Liang army an opportunity to exploit."

Just moments ago, upon hearing Helian Yue's countermeasures, he had cheered for her inwardly, feeling that she had truly spoken the thoughts in his own mind.

Yet, as the commander-in-chief of the army, Yu Tiancheng’s consideration was the correct one.

The Northern Barbarian army was at the height of its military strength and held absolute initiative on the battlefield; there was simply no need to gamble with the Liang army in such a desperate manner.

Yu Tiancheng issued his command, "If the Liang army wishes to manipulate our forces using both the northern and southern directions, they have calculated wrongly! With the might of our Northern Barbarian forces, even if we dispatch five thousand cavalry to each front, we will undoubtedly pin down the enemy's reinforcements."

"Remember, your objective is not to defeat the enemy, but to prevent them from advancing at their leisure!"

This final sentence was directed at Chang Ya.

Although Chang Ya had a belligerent personality and boasted numerous achievements in defeating enemies with inferior numbers, he now obediently followed military orders, not daring to raise the slightest objection.

"Given the might of our army, detaching ten thousand cavalry will not affect the assault on Dongping City. Tomorrow, we shall readjust the sequence for rotational assaults and concentrate our forces, leaving Dongping City with no shred of hope!"

"Understood!"

Having received his orders, Chang Ya immediately went off to make arrangements.

However, Yu Tiancheng called Helian Yue back.

"Does the Grand Marshal have further instructions?"

Helian Yue was quick-witted, and only after Chang Ya had walked some distance away did she speak up to inquire.

Yu Tiancheng turned around and gazed at the distant mountains.

"There was a sentence in the intelligence Chang Ya just reported that you all overlooked, failing to think about it in the usual manner."

"When the Liang army dispatched reinforcements to communicate with those inside Dongping City, they would most likely have had to make use of the nearby high mountains to display their banners. Yet our scouts failed to detect this."

"However, one thing is certain: a small detachment of the Liang army is definitely hiding among the nearby mountain terrain!"

Helian Yue also felt that Yu Tiancheng’s analysis was very reasonable, yet she still failed to understand the Grand Marshal’s ultimate intention.

Then, she heard Yu Tiancheng slowly utter an analysis that even she found shocking.

"Aside from our previous conjectures, there is another possibility—one that we must absolute not ignore..."

...

The Song brothers reported back that they had verified that the Northern Barbarian main force had indeed been successfully lured by them, with a large number of troops departing via the northern and southern official roads!

Although the forces remaining near Dongping were still formidable, their strategy had finally succeeded.

Moreover, it was not simply a matter of ten thousand troops gathering there and nothing more; they also needed to rearrange sufficient forces to conduct assaults on staggered days, meaning the troops available to guard against any surprise attack from their own side would be drastically reduced.

In other words, the ten thousand cavalry they had lured away constituted their "freely deployable" mobile force.

"We can no longer wait. The current battle situation is already greatly to our advantage! Regardless of what Lu Xiaoyuan and the others are plotting, since they have sent reinforcements to distract the enemy's attention, that is already enough."

Xue Chengqian had initially been unsure whether Lu Xiaoyuan, upon receiving their reported military intelligence, would invent other excuses to stall.

To his surprise, Wangjiang City had actually dispatched troops.

Whether Lu Xiaoyuan harbored the intention of coming to pick up easy military merits, or whether the scholars and officials of Wangjiang had exerted immense pressure on him following Wei Xiao's plea for help, as long as "reinforcements" appeared simultaneously from both the north and the south, the commander-in-chief of the Northern Barbarian army would be heavily distracted.

"Boss Xue, just give the word on how this battle is to be fought!"

"Commander Sun, you and the other bosses are more familiar with the terrain of Baguzi Mountain. Therefore, each of you shall detach two hundred men to launch a midnight surprise attack on the enemy's water-fetching points near the mountain springs. You must pursue and slaughter the fleeing enemy soldiers as much as possible, projecting an attitude of utter fearlessness when fighting the Northern Barbarian army to the death."

"Once word reaches the enemy camp that their water supply in the mountains has been cut off, it will inevitably throw them into great chaos. The rest of us will regroup, make our preparations, and choose the moment when the enemy is launching a full-scale assault on the city to launch a surprise attack on their westernmost camp."

Wang Huizi said nervously, "If you put it that way, won't we be attacking in broad daylight? Isn't the risk far too great?"

"In my view, it would be better to wait another day and launch a surprise attack under the cover of night. That would surely create even greater chaos."

The others rarely found themselves agreeing more with Wang Huizi's proposal, and one after another they chimed in, feeling that Xue Chengqian's plan was somewhat overly arrogant.

Xue Chengqian slowly shook his head, "At first, I also thought it would be better to wait another day and launch the surprise attack after nightfall. However, the enemy's assault on Dongping City is extremely methodical, which shows that their commander is well-versed in siege warfare and understands precisely when they are most vulnerable and susceptible to surprise attacks."

"Attacking their mountain water sources is an essential step to shake the enemy's morale, but will this Northern Barbarian commander be immediately alert and realize that we might launch a surprise attack against him?"

Wang Huizi was stunned. "It's not as mystical as you make it sound! Didn't you, Xue boy, say yourself earlier that since we are hidden within Baguzi Mountain, we must have eluded the enemy's ears and eyes without being discovered by those Northern Barbarian dogs?"

"Their commander can't possibly be a deity descended from the heavens, able to guess our every move no matter what happens!"

Even Luo Fang was more inclined to believe Wang Huizi's judgment, feeling that Xue Chengqian's words were somewhat alarmist.