Chapter 60: The Scheme Succeeds

"Splendid! Absolutely splendid!"

The soldiers of the Righteous Suppression Battalion, led by Xue Chengqian, successfully "sneaked" into the enemy's grand camp during daylight without encountering any interception.

The hallmark of cavalry lies not only in its blistering speed—making it difficult to surround and annihilate unless trapped in a tight encirclement—but also in its unmatched ability to draw the enemy's attention.

As expected, the Northern Barbarian army had hidden ambushes in place, with their commander having long anticipated a surprise reinforcement from the mountains.

However, they could never have imagined that the raiding force would split into two.

When Luo Fang personally led the cavalry charging out, the Northern Barbarians, overwhelmed by their sheer speed and unable to prevent it, inevitably assumed this was the full extent of the Liang reinforcement's strategy.

Since their original orders were to intercept this surprise raiding force, and realizing they could not stop them before they struck the camp, the barbarians naturally concentrated all their strength and focus on Luo Fang and his men.

Though infantry by trade, Xue Chengqian's troops had long since donned Northern Barbarian uniforms, taking advantage of the ensuing chaos to slip directly into the barbarian encampment.

It must be said that while the Northern Barbarian commander was adept at military administration and even knew how to assault a heavily fortified city, he was no god. He could not perform a miracle to completely transform his Northern Barbarian forces into a different kind of army overnight.

Their camp's vigilance and security protocols could not possibly surpass those of the elite Liang Imperial Guards.

Nor would Xue Chengqian give the enemy time to recover their alertness.

Having entered the enemy camp amidst the chaos, he immediately ordered his soldiers to take out the pre-prepared incendiary materials and wreak havoc deep within the enemy ranks.

Up front, Luo Fang led several hundred cavalrymen not with the intent to kill, but simply to dart furiously back and forth among the various encampments. Combined with the fires set by Xue Chengqian, they genuinely turned the under-defended Northern Barbarian camp completely upside down.

This was not to say Yu Tiancheng had been easily outwitted by them; rather, facing the almost-conquered city of Dongping, the Northern Barbarian army had very few options left and was forced to concentrate its main strength directly beneath Dongping's walls.

Seeing his plan succeed, Xue Chengqian did not let arrogance go to his head.

It was now impossible for the Northern Barbarian army to spare forces to rescue the camp from chaos or concentrate enough manpower to extinguish the fires. Their goal was to let the chaos within the camp ripple outward and affect the main invading army beneath Dongping's walls as much as possible, thus creating a prime counterattack window for Lord Wei inside the city.

"This is bad! The Liang army has set the camp on fire! Run for your lives!"

"Where is the tribal lord? Quick, send for reinforcements! Send for reinforcements!"

Luo Fang and his men had lived on the borderlands for a long time and possessed a fair grasp of the Northern Barbarian tongue. Cramming at the last minute, they had memorized a few panicked phrases for calling reinforcements. Taking advantage of the pandemonium and wearing barbarian attire, they shouted everywhere they went, intensifying the panic within the camp.

The exhausted soldiers, who had just finished besieging the city the day before and were rudely awakened from their tents, emerged only to be greeted by towering infernos and chaotic shouts echoing from all directions.

Clueless about the actual situation, they too panicked and joined in the screaming and shouting.

***

Lian Da, left behind to guard the base camp, stared at the unfolding events with his jaw dropped.

He simply could not comprehend how things had deteriorated into such a disastrous state.

The Liang cavalry were certainly competent—capable at the very least of galloping through various camps while maintaining high speed—yet they were currently being hunted down by his own forces.

Lian Da had even dispatched his personal guards, figuring that even if they couldn't kill the enemy, they could force them into a constant state of flight, leaving them no time to cause destruction.

So where on earth did this massive fire come from? And what had triggered the chaos among the soldiers in the camp?

Lian Da lacked the capacity to survey six directions and listen to all eight quarters; he had completely failed to notice when Xue Chengqian and his men had slipped into the camp.

"T-This is a catastrophe!"

Proud though he was, and accustomed to viewing himself as a figure of supreme nobility, Lian Da could not help but break out in cold sweat.

Over the past few days, he had thoroughly experienced just how formidable and troublesome Yu Tiancheng truly was.

No matter how much he disliked the man, he had to admit that Yu Tiancheng possessed genuine skill in leading troops into battle, and his own performance paled in comparison.

Now that such a massive mess had broken out while he was left in charge of the base camp, if the chaos continued to escalate and even affected the morale of the main army beneath Dongping, would Yu Tiancheng simply execute him to appease the spirits of the banners?

Could the elite warriors of his own tribe truly keep him safe?

Fortunately, at that very moment, a relay guard galloped over on horseback to convey Yu Tiancheng's latest military decree.

"Damn it! That bastard Yu Tiancheng! Knowing full well that the base camp has been ambushed by the Liang army, he still refuses to order a full retreat!"

Lian Da cursed inwardly.

Yu Tiancheng could afford to fixate entirely on attacking Dongping, but the burden resting on Lian Da's own shoulders was far heavier.

If the chaos in the camp resulted in the rout of the entire army, then even as one of the khans of the five major tribes, he would undoubtedly face severe reckoning by the Great Khan upon returning to the grasslands.

A mere thought of the Great Khan's terrifying methods made him shudder.

Fortunately, Yu Tiancheng had provided him with a countermeasure. Even if it failed to quell the camp's chaos, it would at least prevent the turmoil from spreading further.

"Hear my command: all soldiers are to find their nearest tribal leaders and gather together as one!"

"The Tiansheng tribal elite guards are to continue hunting down the enemy cavalry!"

***

"Furthermore, keep an eye out for any suspicious individuals who have not rejoined their units. If they belong to no tribe at all, even if they wear our uniforms, treat them as the enemy and execute them on the spot!"

Lian Da was not a complete waste of space after all; he still possessed a modicum of brains and managed to deduce a viable course of action from Yu Tiancheng's orders.

"Understood!"

Although the Northern Barbarian military discipline could not compare to that of the Liang Imperial Guards, with clear leadership, their execution was remarkably swift.

Xue Chengqian was soon alerted.

He noticed that while the barbarian soldiers remained frantic, they were rapidly gathering around several figures who clearly belonged to the grassland nobility.

A brief moment of thought allowed him to deduce the enemy's intentions.

[Ding! The host is currently in extreme danger. Please respond as soon as possible.]

[Although you successfully used Luo Fang to draw the enemy's attention, disguised yourselves as Northern Barbarians to infiltrate the camp, and started the fires, the Northern Barbarians are organized by tribes. Every unit consists of members of the same tribe and are intimately familiar with one another.]

[If they regroup into their respective tribal main formations according to their clans, the Righteous Suppression Battalion you lead will inevitably be exposed. By then, possessing only infantry and facing the pursuit of Northern Barbarian cavalry, no one can guarantee that you will escape alive into the deep mountains.]

Xue Chengqian had not anticipated the enemy adapting so quickly, but this deadlock still had a solution.

That was... to strike first!

After all, he had learned the relevant Northern Barbarian terminology from Luo Fang in advance.

"I am the lord of the Binghai Tribe! Gather toward me at once..."

"Not good! They are Liang soldiers in disguise! Kill them!"

Before they could be exposed organically, Xue Chengqian pointed at a small group of enemy soldiers first, shouting at the top of his lungs that those individuals were impostors.

Amidst the raging fires, the Northern Barbarian army remained plunged in massive chaos. They had only just begun regrouping, and many people were still unable to locate their tribal lords.

Moreover, the so-called "grassland Northern Barbarian forces" were inherently composed of tribes of all sizes, with dozens of minor vassal tribes subordinate even to the five major tribes.

Ordinary soldiers, and even some clan chieftains, could not keep track of every single tribe scattered across the grasslands.