Chapter 167: A Master of the Art of War

A man looked refreshed when happy things happened.

At this moment, Li Fusheng gave exactly that impression.

When Zheng Fan led troops into battle, what he enjoyed most was the sensation of domination galloping across the field while thousands upon thousands of men charged and maneuvered according to his will.

Put simply he liked showing off.

Li Fusheng was different.

Li Fusheng purely and sincerely enjoyed killing.

The Blind Man had once said that a person's eyes were the hardest thing to make lie.

The blood-red glow in Li Fusheng's eyes was already screaming his hunger for blood.

"Garrison Commander Zheng.

"Come with me."

This was actually a gesture of goodwill.

First—

Li Fusheng wanted to broaden Zheng Fan's experience.

Although Zheng Fan had already achieved several impressive victories, most had been lightning raids, guerrilla actions, assaults against fortifications plus the battle against those foolish Wolf Native Troops.

Second he was letting Zheng Fan accumulate battlefield credentials.

Managing Chuzhou City's internal affairs from the rear counted as merit.

But from the traditional Yan military perspective only bloody battlefield merit truly formed solid capital for promotion.

Everything else always seemed slightly less substantial.

It was rather like how, in Zheng Fan's previous life, some older people believed every profession other than the civil service was merely "working for someone."

Truthfully—

Zheng Fan genuinely wanted to see what a battle involving tens of thousands of troops actually looked like.

And with the Blind Man and the others remaining inside the city nothing serious should happen there.

So he immediately cupped his fists.

"Many thanks, my lord!"

"Hahaha."

Li Fusheng walked out of the residence.

The lazy Pi Beast immediately stood.

It walked before Li Fusheng and bent its front knees.

Li Fusheng mounted.

Then ordered, "Pass my command.

"The army moves out!"

Thud-thud-thud!

Thud-thud-thud!

Thud-thud-thud!

Outside Chuzhou City's southern gate unit after unit of Zhenbei Army cavalry began moving in disciplined order.

Twenty thousand riders had received combat orders.

Naturally, they could not simply pile into one mass and stampede toward a single direction.

Li Fusheng personally led three thousand cavalry as the central force.

The six Mobile Generals beneath him each led nearly three thousand riders.

Following reports from the scouts all six units had already begun advancing toward the enemy's position.

If one could somehow look down from above as though through an aerial camera one would see seven rapidly moving patches of darkness spreading south from Chuzhou City.

Zheng Fan and Liang Cheng naturally remained with Li Fusheng's central force.

Originally—

Green Willow Fortress's twenty-five hundred cavalry had been designated as Li Fusheng's temporary personal cavalry camp.

But those men had worked through the entire previous night and still had not rested.

And Li Fusheng also had to consider the battle hunger of his own longtime soldiers.

A truly powerful army had to possess confidence.

Its soldiers would not fear war.

They would crave war.

And rejoice at the sound of battle.

Liang Cheng constantly observed the surroundings.

Messenger riders traveled back and forth between the different columns without pause.

That maintained the speed of command.

Cavalry possessed an extremely rich variety of tactical methods.

Far more freedom than infantry.

Their mobility created far more battlefield opportunities.

But commanding cavalry well was an enormous discipline in itself.

Clearly, regardless of whether Li Fusheng truly was mentally ill as the Blind Man had suggested the man's military command ability stood at an exceptionally high level.

That was not something learned from military books.

It had been carved out across years and years of fighting in the desert against generations of barbarian cavalry masters.

Earlier there had been two main reasons the army intended to remain in Chuzhou City for two or three days, political considerations aside.

First supplies.

Because the army had launched such a long-distance raid, it had not carried especially abundant provisions.

Second the horses needed rest.

Warhorses were expensive.

And delicate.

After days of hard riding, they had to recover.

Otherwise the losses would become enormous.

Now after the horses had been rested a pillow had practically appeared the moment they felt sleepy.

A Qian army had suddenly shown up right in front of them.

Unlike Garrison Commander Zheng who managed his modest household carefully and calculated every cost—

Li Fusheng behaved with far more domineering confidence.

When he saw an enemy his first reaction was not to evaluate the opposing strength.

Nor calculate likely losses.

He possessed only one word.

Fight!

Just then—

Li Fusheng finished listening to a messenger's report.

He immediately cursed with a laugh.

"Motherfucker.

"Those Qian bastards are curling up on themselves!"

Zheng Fan rode beside Li Fusheng.

At a moment like this it was naturally not appropriate for him to constantly ask questions.

But Li Fusheng's mood had become better after hearing the report.

Part contempt.

Part relief.

So he voluntarily turned toward Zheng Fan and shouted, "Still don't know where this Qian army came from.

"But there is absolutely no way it came from the north.

"My guess is they don't even know Chuzhou City has changed hands.

"This morning they were still idiotically marching this way.

"Now they must've noticed something was wrong.

"They're trying to move southwest toward Qingshan County."

"They didn't come specifically to attack and recover Chuzhou City?"

Like Zheng Fan most commoners and powerful families inside Chuzhou City had assumed the Qian force suddenly appearing outside the city was the king's army coming specifically to beat the Yan dogs and recover the city.

Apparently that was not the case.

Exactly what kind of troops these were and where they had come from remained unclear for the moment.

But based on how they had first advanced toward Chuzhou City like fools and then suddenly panicked and began moving toward a nearby county seat they were probably just... a passing Qian army.

It made sense.

Chuzhou City had fallen too quickly.

The defenders had barely resisted before the Zhenbei Army took control.

At the same time—

Zhenbei Army scouts had spread across the entire surrounding region.

They had practically isolated the city from the outside world.

These Zhenbei Army scouts were men who could fight one-on-one against barbarian warriors in the desert without falling behind.

How could Qian military scouts possibly match them?

More importantly the Qian had never imagined the Yan would leap over the Three Frontiers entirely, appear here then capture Chuzhou City at lightning speed.

Naturally, the isolation could not block every message forever.

Some information would eventually leak out.

But in this era information itself traveled with delay.

And an army already on the march had even worse access to timely news.

In short a pile of different factors had come together.

The result was this thirty-thousand-strong Qian army almost marching straight into Chuzhou City like heroic saviors.

Presumably the army's commander eventually realized something was wrong.

Even the stupidest commander knew to divide an army into vanguard, central force, and rear guard.

He knew to send scouts outward and expand his vision.

He would also send men ahead to Chuzhou City to inform the authorities that a large army would be passing through and needed food and lodging that night.

Then, the commander probably discovered that everyone he sent toward Chuzhou City and every scout he sent outward kept leaving... and never returning.

Once he sensed trouble the instinct of any military officer would be to move toward a nearby friendly strongpoint.

"Ha!

"This father isn't a cat.

"You think they can tease me once and make me give up?"

Li Fusheng shouted again, "Pass the order.

"Increase speed!"

Zheng Fan understood.

Li Fusheng intended to intercept the enemy before they reached Qingshan County.

Cavalry needed the open field to display its greatest advantage.

Zheng Fan had never visited Qingshan County.

But in this era a county seat would certainly possess walls.

Even if those walls were neither particularly tall nor especially strong once thirty thousand Qian troops entered the city, the Zhenbei Army would immediately have a headache.

The entire point of the great leap south had been avoiding the need to gnaw through Qian's heavy fortresses along the Three Frontiers.

If the army truly had to storm a city then it should be Upper Capital.

If they were attacking Upper Capital no matter how many soldiers died no matter how many sons of the Great Yan had to be sacrificed it would still feel worthwhile.

Under Li Fusheng's order the entire army accelerated.

No one spared the horses anymore.

Finally a messenger arrived from the front.

The vanguard had spotted the enemy formation.

Li Fusheng immediately ordered the two Mobile Generals in front to swing around and envelop the enemy.

They were to cut off any possibility of reaching Qingshan County.

"Heh heh.

"Caught them."

Li Fusheng's mood became excellent.

Truthfully he had been somewhat worried they might fail to reach the Qian troops before the enemy entered the city.

The Zhenbei Army possessed one enormous weakness.

Its experience assaulting cities was poor.

One could even say nearly nonexistent.

After all apart from the Royal Court itself the barbarian tribes of the desert possessed almost no cities at all.

At last, the central force arrived as well.

What Zheng Fan saw surprised him.

The enemy formation was actually very orderly.

Most of the Qian troops were infantry.

Yet even with cavalry bearing down on them they had not fallen into obvious panic.

Spearmen stood in front and along both flanks.

Shield troops formed behind them.

Further inside should be crossbowmen and archers.

The Qian force's limited cavalry had actually been placed toward the rear.

That was everything Zheng Fan still something of a battlefield novice could recognize.

True he had already fought several battles.

But most of his personal command experience consisted of assaulting forts or charging city gates.

Even the battle that crushed the Wolf Native Troops had really been commanded by Liang Cheng.

Zheng Fan himself had simply acted as one mounted fighter obeying orders.

Even so, Zheng Fan could feel that this Qian army was unusual.

One glance at the formation and it clearly looked designed to resist cavalry.

"Master.

"The enemy should have divided thirty thousand troops into three formations.

"They're arranged in the shape of the character pin," Liang Cheng said.

"That makes mutual reinforcement easy.

"If their arrow reserves are sufficient—the formations can also provide suppressive support for one another."

Zheng Fan could only see the single formation directly ahead.

Liang Cheng however had already understood the entire enemy deployment.

It was like the difference between watching a football match from a bird's-eye television angle and being one player standing on the field.

An excellent commander could observe details and reconstruct the broader picture.

Almost as though opening a heavenly eye.

Li Fusheng glanced at Liang Cheng with surprise.

Then cursed, "Motherfucker.

"Who's commanding these Qian troops?

"This one actually knows how to fight."

Then, he pointed toward Liang Cheng.

"Do you understand what he's trying to do?"

"Hold his ground and wait for reinforcements," Liang Cheng answered.

"Correct.

"Hold and wait."

The two Yan cavalry units in front had caught the enemy in time.

Then swung around and severed the road behind them.

That was why the Qian commander had chosen to form ranks and remain in place.

He had not attempted to smash through the nearly six thousand Yan cavalry blocking the road to Qingshan County even though Qingshan County itself lay not far ahead.

The reason was simple.

The enemy blocking the road was cavalry.

His own force consisted mostly of infantry.

Breaking through quickly would be difficult.

Most importantly the Qian commander had probably realized the two Yan cavalry groups that appeared and immediately cut his retreat were only the vanguard.

More Yan cavalry had to be racing toward the battlefield.

If he launched an attack first he could easily expose the side or rear of his attacking formation to a countercharge by arriving Yan cavalry.

And once the formation of an infantry-heavy army collapsed before massed cavalry the result would be disaster.

"Pass my order.

"Have Sun Guyi and Yue Yuchen each send one thousand riders forward to probe."

Li Fusheng's order was transmitted immediately.

Soon within the previously static battlefield two groups of one thousand cavalry broke away from the Yan formation.

They began closing on the Qian lines.

Zheng Fan could not help glancing at Li Fusheng again.

The Commander's mental illness might be real.

But his brain for battle was equally real.

"Master.

"This move has two purposes.

"First—test what the enemy is actually made of.

"See whether this formation is merely pretty on the outside.

"Second—since the enemy has formed three separate formations in a pin shape—probe them.

"Find which one is weakest.

"Then choose where to bite."

"Garrison Commander Zheng," Li Fusheng suddenly called.

"My lord?"

Zheng Fan had been listening to the lesson.

He turned toward Li Fusheng.

"Is this man your household retainer?"

"Uh...

"Yes."

Presumably—

Li Fusheng had heard Liang Cheng address him as Master.

Yan had a strong culture of household retainers.

No more accurately this entire era did.

Every state possessed household slaves and household generals.

To a certain extent the Seven Commanders beneath the Marquis of Zhenbei were themselves household generals of the Li Clan.

"Garrison Commander Zheng really is accomplished in both civil and military affairs.

"You've trained this retainer well."

"............" Zheng Fan.

Motherfucker.

Zheng Fan was clearly listening like a primary-school student while Liang Cheng explained everything.

Yet from Li Fusheng's perspective it looked as though Zheng Fan had deliberately been testing and teaching his own household retainer.

Liang Cheng cupped his fists.

"My Master taught me well."

"............" Zheng Fan.

"Yes.

"Yes.

"Then I'll test you on behalf of your Master.

"How should this situation be broken?

"The enemy has chosen to hold its ground and await reinforcements.

"That means the time left to us—is not especially abundant."

Liang Cheng replied, "My lord jokes.

"The enemy can hold and await reinforcements.

"Does that mean our army alone has penetrated deep into enemy territory?"

"What do you mean?"

Li Fusheng narrowed his eyes.

"During the march here—my lord should already have sent messengers to contact nearby Yan forces."

"Good.

"Excellent.

"Excellent."

Li Fusheng nodded in obvious satisfaction.

The Qian commander opposite them had chosen to hold and wait for reinforcements.

He likely believed this was still Qian territory.

Qian reinforcements should therefore arrive easily.

When they came they could either pin down this Yan cavalry force or coordinate with the reinforcements to drive the Yan away.

But this southern invasion included two hundred fifty thousand Yan iron cavalry.

True once they entered Chu Commandery, the army had dispersed in several directions.

But there were definitely other Yan forces nearby.

Ordinary soldiers and junior officers might not know where every army was located.

Li Fusheng as one of the commanders of an entire column naturally knew perfectly well.

After all the Yan cavalry spreading through Qian territory were not mad dogs released from cages.

They were northern wolves.

And wolves were best at hunting together.

The Qian commander opposite them believed he could hold and wait for reinforcements.

He had no idea the wolf packs nearby might outnumber the reinforcements.

"Garrison Commander Zheng.

"What military office does this man hold?" Li Fusheng asked.

"Lieutenant Commander under Green Willow Fortress," Zheng Fan answered.

"Oh."

Li Fusheng nodded.

While the three spoke the two thousand-rider Yan detachments had already closed on the Qian formation.

The Qian lines instantly grew tense.

Li Fusheng narrowed his eyes.

Liang Cheng stared carefully.

Caught between them—

Garrison Commander Zheng looked at the two men and immediately began staring just as seriously.

He stared so hard his eyes almost began aching.

Naturally, the two cavalry detachments had not been sent to charge the formation.

Their advance kicked up great clouds of dust.

The noise and momentum looked impressive.

But while still outside the dangerous zone they hauled on their reins.

Then, while wheeling their horses around they raised bows.

And fired volleys.

Naturally, the accuracy of arcing fire was limited.

But mounted archery was never about showing how well one individual rider could duel an organized infantry formation containing multiple troop types.

The arrow rain fell quickly.

The Qian formation rippled with disturbance.

Actual casualties were limited.

Only a few exceptionally unlucky men were struck.

But even if someone merely threw a snowball at an ordinary person the instinctive reaction would still be fear.

Never mind arrows.

The two Yan cavalry detachments swept back and forth twice more.

Again they maintained a safe distance and launched arrows.

Archers and crossbowmen inside the Qian formation began returning fire.

Casualties on both sides remained scattered and light.

But Qian had to answer.

If one side only endured attack without striking back morale would rapidly collapse under the pressure.

Buzz!

Buzz!

Buzz!

Buzz!

Buzz!

Just as the two cavalry detachments prepared to disengage and return to their own lines a violent tearing sound split the air from inside the Qian formation.

Bed crossbows!

The Qian army had bed crossbows hidden inside its formation!

In an instant five enormous bolts, each nearly longer than a man was tall, tore toward one of the thousand-rider Yan detachments.

Three missed.

One struck a Zhenbei Army horse.

The bolt punched directly through the animal.

The horse's body seemed almost torn apart.

The rider above it crashed to the ground.

Fortunately a nearby comrade reacted instantly.

He reached down, grabbed the fallen man, and dragged him onto his own horse.

The final bed-crossbow bolt tore through three Yan riders in succession.

Blood exploded into the air.

Cheers immediately erupted from the Qian formation.

Their morale surged.

Yet watching his own soldiers die—

Li Fusheng did not even blink.

A faint smile actually appeared at the corner of his mouth.

He reached down and stroked the fur of the Pi Beast beneath him.

Then, apparently interested again, he asked, "What did you see?"

Liang Cheng answered calmly, "The formation directly in front of us is the strongest.

"Its ranks never truly wavered.

"The timing of its counterattack was also excellent.

"Of the two formations behind it—the western formation is acceptable.

"The soldiers panicked, but the formation itself did not become chaotic.

"Only the eastern formation—its ranks obviously compressed inward.

"The archers and crossbowmen in the center returned fire in a disordered and irregular manner.

"Three formations.

"Three different levels.

"This Qian army is probably not one unified force.

"It looks more like several armies temporarily combined together."

After listening—

Li Fusheng asked, "Then should our next attack bite into the eastern formation first?"

Liang Cheng shook his head.

"My Master taught me—when empty, appear full.

"When full, appear empty.

"The battlefield changes ten thousand times.

"Deception lies everywhere.

"The enemy Qian commander did not attempt a forced breakthrough at the beginning.

"Instead, he chose to halt and form ranks.

"That proves he is a cautious commander.

"Even if these troops were temporarily assembled from multiple sources—someone capable of arranging this deployment would not leave such an obvious flaw and opening.

"The eastern formation—should contain a hidden countermeasure."

Li Fusheng suddenly reached out and slapped Zheng Fan heavily on the shoulder.

The blow was so strong that Zheng Fan an Eighth Grade Martial Artist nearly fell from his horse.

"Garrison Commander Zheng!

"You have truly opened my eyes!

"Accomplished in both civil and military matters!

"A genuine great talent!"

"............" Garrison Commander Zheng.

"The Marquis truly did not misjudge you.

"No.

"I think even the Marquis underestimated you.

"If the Marquis knew Garrison Commander Zheng possessed this level of civil and military ability—given his temperament—he'd probably fight the Southern Marquis himself just to steal you away."

Heh.

Heh heh...

Zheng Fan felt his face heat slightly.

The previous night he had basically been a spectator.

The Blind Man and the Fourth Lady had done all the real work.

Just now—

Liang Cheng had been explaining everything.

Zheng Fan had only been learning.

People who cheated always felt guilty.

So Zheng Fan said, "My lord praises me too highly.

"I merely discuss warfare on paper.

"Nothing more than warfare on paper."

"What does 'warfare on paper' mean?" Li Fusheng asked.

"Uh..."

Zheng Fan froze.

At that moment, Liang Cheng spoke.

"My lord.

"That is the title of a military text personally written by my Master."

"............" Zheng Fan.

"A military text?

"Ho!

"Now that really interests me.

"Rough soldiers like us can write books and establish theories too?

"Not simple.

"Not simple at all.

"What is this military text called?"

Liang Cheng answered with complete seriousness, "Master Zheng's Art of War."

"............" Zheng Fan.

(End of Chapter)