Chapter 340: Gale!

What people feared most was, in truth, having no hope.

When the Marquis of Jingnan and the Marquis of Zhenbei first led the elite Jingnan and Zhenbei armies into Jin, they fought a thousand li in ten days and shattered the main forces of the Wenren and Helian clans. But realistically speaking, claiming those ten days had completely destroyed every last foundation possessed by two great clans whose scale rivaled entire states would have been nearly impossible.

What that campaign did destroy, however, was the pride of the cavalrymen of the Three Jin—and the spirit of the common people there.

Before then, whenever people said that Great Yan’s iron cavalry was unmatched beneath Heaven, the people of the Three Jin usually scoffed. They had always felt their own cavalry was not necessarily much worse than Yan’s.

But after the two Marquises swept away the elite main forces of both clans with thunderous momentum, the people of Jin felt as though the sky itself had collapsed. Their earlier confidence instantly curdled into fear: the Yan barbarians truly could not be defeated.

What followed was the near-bloodless submission of half the cities of Jin. A few hundred Yan cavalrymen could ride up and force an entire city to surrender. A thousand routed Jin troops, chased by barely a hundred Yan riders, would simply throw down their weapons and give up.

When General Zheng first entered Shengle, he had barely needed to exert himself. He subdued Tufa Chengji, the leading local notable of Shengle, had him clean up the city on Zheng Fan’s behalf, then opened the gates wide to welcome Zheng Fan’s army inside.

When a state and a regime kept winning battles and expanding its territory without pause, the pride that grew from ruler to commoner was incomparable.

The opposite state was complete collapse at the mere sight of an enemy banner.

Yan had lost the Battle of the Wang River.

And it had been a catastrophic defeat.

But precisely because Great Yan possessed such powerful confidence in itself as a state, its people did not turn pale at the mention of savages, nor did they come to fear the people of Chu like tigers.

They had lost.

So they would simply fight again and win it back!

Everyone was waiting for one imperial decree, one new levy order. Then they would imitate their ancestors, march forward for their sovereign in mighty columns, return to the front, and fight the enemy in blood.

If that was the spirit among the common people, then the soldiers of the Eastern Expedition Army felt it even more intensely.

Defeat had brought them rage and humiliation, not fear of battle.

Over these past several months, Heaven knew how many men had dreamed again and again of that disastrous day, of the Wang River covered with tens of thousands of corpses.

Great Yan still stood in an age when the fortunes of both nation and people were rising.

Everyone still believed that even if the road twisted and turned, the future itself would inevitably be bright.

There was no enemy beneath Heaven the Black Dragon Banner could not defeat!

The army’s morale was usable.

Even so, the Emperor of Yan and the officials of the court had still insisted on inviting the Marquis of Jingnan out of seclusion to command the army.

Everyone understood why.

Confidence of this kind, built across an entire state, was painfully difficult to accumulate.

One defeat could be endured.

A second defeat might create a genuine problem.

If the State of Yan wished to preserve this confidence—this hunger to expand outward and press forward—then the second campaign was allowed only one outcome.

Victory.

The State of Qian was still sharpening its weapons and drilling its troops.

Chu was still consolidating internally.

The old Barbarian King in the desert refused to die.

Great Yan still had many enemies.

It was nowhere near time to stop.

Ran Min, an ordinary standard-bearer, naturally knew nothing about such grand matters.

Nor did he have the leisure to think nonsense about them.

When the war drums sounded, he instead felt relieved.

At last, the battle was beginning.

At last, he would have a chance to earn military merit.

Killing a man openly in the Nan’an County yamen—how bold and spirited that had been.

Drinking together with that Chief Constable afterward—how exhilarating.

One could boast.

One could talk big.

But sooner or later, a man still had to do the thing itself.

The command conference ended faster than expected.

That was simply the Marquis of Jingnan’s style.

Ordinarily, he did not indulge in endless, cumbersome reorganizations, nor did he constantly summon his officers to assert authority or deliver lectures.

Zheng Fan had once told the Blind Man that the Marquis of Jingnan was a man of action who disliked holding “report meetings.”

Anyone who failed to satisfy him, anyone who could not meet his requirements, anyone who made a serious mistake kill him.

One severed head was more effective than ten conferences meant to demonstrate authority.

And although the Marquis of Jingnan’s gatherings were called military councils, in practice they were close to one-man rule.

Most of the time, Tian Wujing simply issued orders one by one.

Everyone else carried them out.

People liked to say three cobblers could outwit Zhuge Liang.

But when it came to the art of war, everyone in Yan trusted Tian Wujing.

Even the people of Yan who despised him for exterminating his own clan and therefore regarded him terribly in private once they learned Tian Wujing had taken command for the second campaign, they would still gloat and say:

Those turtle-bastard savages and Chu men are in for it now.

Absolute prestige and the absolute trust of one’s subordinates were the prerequisites for one-man command.

Without those things, all you would get was outward obedience, secret resistance, and a command structure splitting apart underneath you.

Tian Wujing clearly had no need to worry about that.

In military affairs, no one questioned him.

And no one dared.

Once the commanders of the various armies received their orders, they immediately returned to camp. Assembly horns sounded from formation after formation.

Every force had been given detailed instructions: whether to combine or divide, which route to take, how to advance, and how to respond when encountering particular situations.

The Marquis of Jingnan had explained each one personally.

It was not quite as exaggerated as Zhuge Liang handing out sealed packets containing miraculous plans in advance, but Tian Wujing had always preferred to unravel a battlefield thread by thread.

The various forces beneath his command therefore had to move as though they were extensions of his own limbs.

The troops finished assembling deep in the night.

Ran Min stood in his proper place carrying his banner.

Generally speaking, large-scale military movements were rarely conducted at night.

For one thing, they could unsettle the men and make morale fluctuate.

For another, enforcing orders and maintaining formation in darkness was extremely difficult.

Yet the Yan army was now assembling and marching with extraordinary discipline and order.

This was where a powerful army revealed what made it powerful.

Ran Min swung onto his horse.

Under the Lieutenant Commander ahead, the hundred-odd riders in his formation began leaving camp.

Friendly troops farther forward had already begun preparing the river crossing.

Straw.

Wooden planks.

Even chains.

All of it had been prepared in advance.

After all, they had spent so much time staring at each other without opening the real battle. It was not as though everyone had literally sat around doing nothing.

The crossing point directly faced Yupan City.

It was the same general location where the First Prince’s central army had crossed during the previous Battle of the Wang River.

The Chu across the river had probably detected the unusual movement.

But they sent no force to obstruct the crossing.

The frozen river greatly reduced the difficulty of getting the Yan army across.

And it was nighttime.

If Chu sent a large force down to the riverbank to block them, it would be very easy for Yan forces crossing upstream or downstream to wrap around and surround them.

More importantly, Yupan City had already been transformed into an immensely strong fortress.

The Chu had long since prepared themselves for Yan to attack it.

If you wanted to come then come.

Let us see whether it hurts when the famed iron cavalry of Yan has to dismount and crawl up walls like ants.

Because the Chu did not interfere, the crossing proceeded smoothly.

Once the forward formations passed over, Ran Min’s force followed soon afterward.

To prevent accidents, everyone dismounted and led their horses across the ice.

Rags had been wrapped around the horses’ hooves.

Materials had also been laid across the frozen surface in advance.

That minimized slipping.

The chains anchoring the crossing lanes would also reduce casualties as much as possible if the ice suddenly broke somewhere.

After Ran Min crossed the Wang River, his formation was sent upstream of Yupan City and ordered to form ranks.

He carried the banner with meticulous care, his gaze constantly sweeping the darkness.

He knew scout riders must already have been spread even farther outward, but he remained vigilant.

Ran Min had once traveled with caravan escorts and could be considered someone who had roamed the jianghu.

He had always thought the jianghu was deep and treacherous, a place where one constantly needed to guard against ambushes and bandit attacks.

Only after reaching a true battlefield did he understand that no matter how mysterious and unpredictable the jianghu could be, it could never produce this oppressive, solemn atmosphere.

Messenger riders constantly galloped through the formations, carrying new orders from the Assistant General above them.

Because of those instructions, Ran Min’s unit shifted position several times.

Ahead, Yupan City’s walls were lined with torches.

Clearly, no one among the Chu defenders would be getting much sleep tonight either.

Ran Min noticed civilian laborers and auxiliary troops behind his formation erecting temporary camps.

Ahead of him, several bodies of troops, each numbering more than five thousand, thundered past at speed.

The Yan had learned from the destruction of the Left-Wing Army.

This time, after crossing the river, their first task was not to attack Yupan City.

It was to expand the battlespace.

Even if that meant effectively swallowing Yupan City inside their overall deployment, so be it.

For an army built primarily around cavalry, sufficient room to maneuver was simply too important.

Cavalry that could not run possessed less mobility and flexibility than infantry.

Because it was night, the enemy would have difficulty understanding exactly what was happening.

But even Ran Min, standing inside the Yan army itself, did not know how many troops had crossed.

He estimated silently.

By now there should have been no fewer than fifty thousand.

And more troops were still crossing without pause.

As an ordinary standard-bearer, Ran Min had no qualification to receive orders from the upper command.

Even so, he understood one thing.

If the Marquis of Jingnan fought at all, he intended to fight big.

Ran Min’s force formed part of the security screen.

Their purpose was to guard against a sudden sortie from Yupan City or a savage attack from outside.

At any moment they might have to charge out and fight, buying cover for the troops behind them.

When dawn was only beginning to appear, new orders arrived.

Ran Min’s formation and the surrounding security forces began withdrawing toward the northern side of the newly erected camp.

They did not enter the camp itself.

Some men cared for their warhorses.

Others ate breakfast.

No one had time to set up cooking pots and prepare a proper meal.

They ate dry rations prepared beforehand, together with one piece of dried salted meat per man.

That was not extravagance.

Before a real battle, soldiers needed meat.

For one thing, it stayed in the stomach longer.

For another, anyone who had ever done heavy labor understood that without enough fat and salt in the belly, a man simply had no strength to work.

They did boil hot water.

A little salt was added to it.

Ran Min ate quickly.

Then he noticed the soldiers around him were eating slowly.

None sat casually flat on the ground.

They knelt upright instead, their upper bodies straight.

Yes, fresh troops had already replaced them on the outer security line.

But everyone remained prepared to rise, mount, and fight at the first sign of trouble.

Gradually, siege towers and arrow towers were also pushed across the river.

Seeing those massive structures arrive gave a man a strange sense of reassurance.

These siege engines had been prepared during the recent standoff.

The battlefield was only one river away.

Build them early and push them across when needed.

Simple enough.

If the army had been making a long-distance raid to attack some distant city, the equipment would naturally have needed to be constructed locally.

Yan soldiers were not renowned for siege warfare.

But even if you had never eaten pork, you had at least seen a pig run.

Everyone knew roughly what a siege required.

Throughout this period, Dacheng’s surviving bureaucratic apparatus had been kept busy doing exactly this sort of work—mobilizing laborers, gathering experienced craftsmen, and providing the army with matériel and equipment.

Once breakfast ended, the soldiers headed outward in groups to relieve themselves.

It was an army habit.

Before a major battle, eating, drinking, pissing, and shitting all needed to be handled together and gotten out of the way.

Once the killing truly started, who would have time to let you stop and take a piss?

Ran Min had heard his Squad Leader talk about a Zhenbei Army formation he had once seen.

When those men drank from a stream, they turned their backs to the water and faced outward.

During marching halts, they ate, drank, and relieved themselves together, all within the same brief period.

It might not sound elegant.

But details like these were precisely what revealed whether an army was truly elite.

They were not men.

They were a collection of sharpened blades.

Siege equipment continued crossing the river.

More troops kept following behind it.

Ran Min estimated that no fewer than eighty thousand Yan troops must now be on the eastern side of the Wang River.

The vanguard had already begun clearing obstacles around Yupan City and leveling sections of ground.

Everything was being prepared for the coming siege.

A military horn sounded.

The Lieutenant Commander in charge of Ran Min’s formation received an order and immediately shouted:

“Check armor! Wipe blades! Mount up! Relieve the forward line!”

Ran Min mounted again and raised his banner.

After resting, his force moved forward to replace the allied troops ahead.

Beside him, the Squad Leader spat and muttered:

“Damn it. The Chu have tucked their balls back inside the city. But why the hell haven’t the savages come attack us yet?”

Ran Min hesitated.

Then said quietly:

“They probably won’t attack us.”

...

Atop Yupan City’s gate tower, Qu Tiannan’s command banner and his clan banner flew side by side.

Qu Tiannan himself stood in an observation tower, looking out across the frozen Wang River and at the enormous number of Yan troops packed into the ground between the river and Yupan City.

Yan cavalry had already swept around to the rear.

One could say the city he defended had now been “swallowed” into the Yan army’s belly.

Whether the Yan could digest it, however, depended on whether their teeth were actually that good.

The shortage of grain inside the city was a problem, but not yet a fatal one.

If they rationed carefully, they could still last until spring, when the ice melted and grain transports from the rear could come forward again.

At that point, Chu’s river fleet would once more dominate the water.

Whether Qu Tiannan chose to advance or withdraw, he would have room to act.

So the Yan encirclement itself did not especially worry him.

The original plan between Chu and the savages had been simple.

Chu would hold Yupan City as the fixed anchor.

The savages outside would pressure Yan from the field.

The two forces would support each other like horns.

The main savage army was still waiting outside.

If the Yan truly dared throw everything into storming the city, Qu Tiannan would not mind coordinating with the savages and crushing them between two forces.

Of course, the savages had to move first.

Chu already held a fortified city and, in the short term, stood in an almost unbeatable position.

If the savages were sensible enough to attack Yan from outside, Qu Tiannan would happily open his gates and charge out to help.

But if the savages stayed still, Chu would stay still too.

Yet as Qu Tiannan looked over the Jingnan and Zhenbei armies outside the walls, another thought entered his mind.

Was Tian Wujing trying to make one enormous wager and settle everything at once?

You have moved the best elite troops of the entire Eastern Expedition Army beneath Yupan City.

Are you gambling that the savages will come relieve us?

Are you trying to force a decisive battle?

Heh.

That Savage King Gou Moli is no fool.

Why would he allow you to force him into fighting the battle you want?

The thought made Qu Tiannan’s brow tighten slightly.

He suddenly remembered the savages’ efforts to block information from the east.

Could it be that something truly had happened there?

“Ho. That Southern Marquis of Yan really has some nerve. Count the Yan troops outside and there must be more than eighty thousand, no? And they are the hardest-fighting Jingnan and Zhenbei armies too.

“Has that Southern Marquis decided he no longer wants to live comfortably?

“He spent all this time maneuvering around and this is what he finally came up with?”

The young prince had lost a noticeable amount of weight.

Ever since the day he ate that “mutton,” he had gone two days without eating at all.

Only on the third had he managed to force down some rice porridge.

The flesh on his face had visibly thinned.

The Swordsmith stood with his hands behind his back, looking out at the sea of black armor.

Hearing the young prince’s words, he smiled.

“No matter how many schemes and strategies you devise, in the end, don’t you still have to settle matters with real blades?

“The Southern Marquis’s move is indeed somewhat aggressive.

“But who wins and who loses is still difficult to say.”

“How is it difficult?

“We only need to hold this city.

“You know how strong Yupan City is.

“The Azure Luan Army is one of Great Chu’s elite forces.

“Fourth Brother once said Qu Tiannan is the most upright and proper of men. Put another way, this kind of defensive battle suits the Pillar of State perfectly.

“And beyond the city, the savage army is watching like a tiger.

“The Yan cannot possibly devote themselves completely to the siege.”

Attack the walls at the height of battle, and the savage army might suddenly strike from outside.

Then every bit of effort you invested into the siege would become worthless.

The Swordsmith shook his head.

“If even you can see that problem, how could the Southern Marquis of Yan fail to see it?

“In an ordinary siege, the usual method is first to use civilian laborers to fill trenches and level broken ground. Then auxiliaries go forward to exhaust the defenders’ arrows, stones, and devices. Only after that do the true elite troops advance and try to open a breach.

“The Yan depend on the superiority of their cavalry.

“But cavalry have no advantage whatsoever in a siege.

“Look outside now.

“There are nearly one hundred thousand troops out there, yet most are Jingnan and Zhenbei Army men.

“Do you truly think the Southern Marquis came here to attack the city?”

“Besiege the point and strike the reinforcements?”

The Swordsmith nodded.

“That Gou Moli is not stupid. The pit is lying openly in front of him. Why would he jump into it?

“As long as Yupan City does not fall, we can hold until spring.

“Once the Wang River thaws, Great Chu’s fleet can return.

“If we want to fight, Fourth Brother can dispatch another army north to reinforce us.

“If we want to withdraw, we can leave safely.

“The side that should feel miserable is Yan.”

“That is all true.

“But when has the world ever obediently followed people’s wishes?

“Hundreds of thousands of troops are confronting one another along the Wang River. The grain consumed every day is astonishing.

“Yan, at least, has Jin territory behind it. Yingdu still has an administrative apparatus that can function. Supporting such a large army places enormous pressure on them, but if they grit their teeth, they can keep going.

“Look at our side.

“This land has been ruined too thoroughly.

“Even if we keep eating that ‘mutton,’ how much of it can there really be?

“And the Chu soldiers still do not know what that meat appearing every few days actually is.

“If they find out, army morale will become a serious problem.”

“So when you put it that way, we’re the ones in a hurry?”

“Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

“We lack grain.

“Yan lacks time.

“If they cannot overturn the situation while the Wang River remains frozen, things will become even more difficult after the thaw.

“When all is said and done, the Southern Marquis of Yan has already laid out his formation.

“It is like a martial artist of the jianghu setting up an arena.

“Now we wait to see whether that Savage King accepts the challenge.”

“He’d have to be stupid.

“He has already plundered enough to make a fortune.

“Why would he stick his neck out and come here to gamble his life against the Jingnan and Zhenbei armies?”

After the previous Battle of the Wang River, both the snowfields and Chu had publicized an overwhelming Yan defeat—tens of thousands lost, corpses covering the river, and so on.

But that was propaganda meant for their own common people.

The people truly standing at the top understood what had happened.

The Left-Wing Army that had been shattered was, in reality, a cumbersome conglomeration of Yan regional armies—huge to look at, but stitched together from different parts.

The true armies of Yan that knew how to fight were the Zhenbei Army and Jingnan Army.

And now, look at the armor below.

Look at that forest of banners.

The elite of both armies had gathered here.

Would Gou Moli really dare come collide with them again?

Why would he?

Was living not good enough?

The Swordsmith pursed his lips.

“Unless there is some reason he has no choice but to fight.”

...

The Yan army had crossed the river during the previous night.

An operation on that scale could never truly be hidden from the enemy.

It had not only alarmed the Chu inside Yupan City immediately.

A savage military camp thirty li north of Yupan City had also received word long ago.

Although the Wang River front had remained outwardly peaceful these past days, the slaughter between scouts and patrol riders had never stopped.

Every day, both sides lost more than a hundred such men.

But compared with the enormous size of the armies involved, scout casualties of that scale barely deserved mention.

Once the Yan crossed the river, the savages no longer relied only on scouts.

They dispatched three Thousand-Man Commanders specifically to observe the situation around the Yan army and Yupan City.

Without a formal order from the Savage King opening battle, however, the three Thousand-Man Commanders did little more than push away Yan scouts at the perimeter, circle around for a look, and leave the moment corresponding Yan cavalry units came after them.

By afternoon, the Yan army began attacking Yupan City.

Battering rams.

Siege towers.

Everything was pushed toward the walls.

Armored Jingnan and Zhenbei soldiers carrying scaling ladders began the assault.

When the news reached him, the Savage King fell into deep thought.

Sanghu and several other direct-line generals sat before him.

Every one of them already knew Snow Sea Pass had fallen and Gelimu had been killed.

The atmosphere inside the royal command tent was extraordinarily heavy.

...

Ran Min took part in the siege.

His luck was relatively good.

Because he was a standard-bearer, he had been positioned farther back.

It was the first time he had ever witnessed a city assault.

Yan soldiers in the siege towers and arrow towers used their bows to suppress the Chu defenders on the walls as much as possible.

The Chu response was equally fierce.

Below the walls, wave after wave of armored troops carried scaling ladders forward.

But the Chu quickly began dropping sharpened timber, rolling stones, and boiling oil.

Screams filled the battlefield without pause.

Once Yan trebuchets began hurling stones, the Chu trebuchets already prepared inside the city immediately answered.

Several Yan machines were smashed apart in short order.

The Chu had deliberately refrained from using their trebuchets against Yan arrow towers earlier.

They had been waiting for exactly this exchange.

Ran Min felt that if he were personally thrown into the center of a siege like this, he would be like a single drop of water falling into a river vanishing almost instantly without a trace.

Perhaps that was the true cruelty of war.

At last, Ran Min’s group was ordered forward.

He lowered his banner, drew his saber, and charged with the soldiers around him.

After crossing the broken ground, Ran Min and several comrades lifted a scaling ladder together.

Shield-bearers protected them from the front.

Behind them, archers continued firing desperately to cover the men ahead even though that meant exposing themselves to the Chu arrows pouring from the walls.

Human life had become the cheapest expendable resource on the field.

An arrow struck Ran Min.

He was lucky.

The arrowhead lodged in his armor without entering his flesh.

He did not even pause to pull it free.

He simply kept carrying the ladder forward.

Then, the gong sounded from behind.

Retreat.

Yan troops on the walls began withdrawing in orderly fashion.

Ran Min did not hesitate.

He dropped the ladder, hoisted a nearby comrade who had been shot onto his shoulder, and ran back as fast as he could.

At that moment, Yupan City’s gate opened.

A group of Chu axemen and saber troops rushed out while the Yan were retreating, attempting to destroy the siege towers or cut down some of the withdrawing soldiers.

But the moment the retreat gong sounded, Yan crossbowmen had already prepared behind the line.

A volley arced down.

A considerable number of Chu troops who had hoped to steal a little advantage outside the walls collapsed.

The rest were forced back into the city.

The siege had been noisy and spectacular.

The ending was abrupt and careless.

It felt almost like a practice round.

A chance to get the blood moving.

Nothing more than an appetizer.

After returning to camp, the soldiers who had taken part in the daytime assault were excused from night watch.

Ran Min lay inside his tent.

The Squad Leader walked over carrying a bowl of hot broth.

“Here.

“Drink some.

“Drive out the cold.”

Ran Min shook his head and glanced instead toward the Squad Leader’s waterskin.

Drinking alcohol was forbidden in the army.

But there were exceptions.

During winter campaigns, a mouthful of liquor could warm the body.

So the army distributed some.

Drunkenness, however, was strictly prohibited.

Anyone discovered drunk on campaign was executed without mercy.

“Heh, heh.”

The Squad Leader looked reluctant.

Still, he untied the waterskin and tossed it to Ran Min.

“Two swallows.

“Just enough to taste it.

“Others still need some.”

Ran Min drank twice.

The first mouthful went down immediately.

The second he held in his mouth for a long time, savoring it.

Then he handed the waterskin back.

The Squad Leader took it.

Hesitated.

Then offered it back again.

Ran Min looked confused.

The Squad Leader said:

“You look like a man who can drink.

“Go ahead.

“Take two more.”

Ran Min did indeed love liquor.

And he could drink.

Even so, he asked:

“What about the others?”

“Our squad lost two men today.”

...

Atop Yupan City’s walls, Qu Tiannan inspected the defenses.

The morale of his soldiers remained strong.

The Yan assault during the day had placed little serious pressure on the city.

But Qu Tiannan’s own mood remained low.

The Swordsmith walked beside him along the wall.

“How does Sir view the Yan assault today?” Qu Tiannan asked.

“It looked like probing.

“Not a true assault.

“But when it comes to feints and reality, Pillar of State, I genuinely do not understand military affairs well enough to make a careless judgment.”

“The Zhenbei and Jingnan armies outside are not here for us.

“They are waiting for the savages to come relieve us.”

“That Savage King is an old fox.

“Ordinarily he behaves shamelessly in front of us.

“But he truly is not simple.”

“That is exactly why I find this strange.

“What is the Marquis of Jingnan calculating?

“Is he really so certain the savages will lose patience and voluntarily come fight a decisive battle?”

“No news from the east yet?”

“Not yet.

“But it should return soon.”

“Pillar of State, perhaps once the force we sent to investigate comes back, we will finally know what happened in the east.”

“We will see.

“Let us watch what response the Savage King makes tomorrow.

“For now, all we can do is defend.

“Everything else must change according to whichever way his wind blows.”

“He can retreat?”

“Sir, you do not understand the momentum involved when large cavalry armies operate.

“If the Savage King truly intended to withdraw, then after seeing the Jingnan and Zhenbei armies cross the river today, he should have led his main force east immediately.

“Even if he did not withdraw directly toward Snow Sea Pass, simply shifting farther east would have eased my doubts.

“But he did not retreat today.

“If he tries tomorrow, Yan cavalry can attach themselves directly to his tail.

“His withdrawal could very easily become a rout.

“He has voluntarily abandoned his best opportunity to leave.”

“So Pillar of State is not confused by the Southern Marquis of Yan’s plan.

“You are confused by the Savage King’s response?”

“Yes.

“These damned, inexplicable... beasts.”

...

The bitter winter wind kept scraping across human faces.

For the savages, however, compared with the howling cold of the snowfields, this wind barely counted as anything.

The savage armies stationed outside began assembling.

Inside the royal command tent, the Savage King rubbed his face hard with both hands.

He ran his tongue across his teeth.

Then said:

“We cannot retreat.

“Because there is nowhere left to retreat to.”

Before the generals below could speak, the Savage King continued:

“Gelimu is dead.

“And no word has come from Snow Sea Pass saying the fortress has been retaken.

“Do not assume that if we withdraw now and help assault Snow Sea Pass, we can simply break it open quickly.

“That Southern Marquis of Yan may be waiting for exactly that.

“The moment the army retreats, the Yan will pursue.

“Once we begin withdrawing, half our spirit disappears.

“Then when we finally reach Snow Sea Pass and see Yan banners flying above it, what remains of our morale will collapse almost completely.

“Do not be fooled by how loudly that Southern Marquis fought beneath Yupan City during the day.

“He was beating the gong for us to hear.

“Once spring comes, the river will thaw.

“He cannot afford to wait.

“And at the beginning, we were so impatient to transport captured grain and slaves back into the snowfields that now even two-legged sheep are becoming hard to find.

“We cannot afford to wait either.

“The Jingnan and Zhenbei armies crossed the river in a single night.

“They are waiting for us.

“That Southern Marquis is challenging me.

“He is saying that since neither side can afford to wait, we might as well settle it cleanly with one battle.”

One savage general immediately rose.

“King, then let us fight him!

“The Yan still worship their own iron cavalry as though it were invincible beneath Heaven.

“Let us show them that warriors of the Holy Race equipped with armor, iron-tipped arrows, and good blades are in no way inferior to Yan soldiers!”

Sanghu spoke more cautiously.

“Why not wait a little longer?

“Let the Chu grind away some of Yan’s edge at Yupan City first.

“The Jingnan and Zhenbei armies are Yan’s true elites.

“If they batter themselves against the walls for a few more days, it will be easier for us when the decisive battle comes.”

Sanghu held great status.

And his reasoning was sound.

Using Chu lives to wear down Yan’s sharpness was an excellent bargain.

Even the more aggressive savage commanders calling for immediate battle could not object.

After all, everyone still valued the lives of the warriors under him.

The Savage King smacked his lips.

Then shook his head.

“We cannot keep the news sealed much longer.”

That was the true heart of the problem.

The Savage King could deliberately block news coming from Snow Sea Pass in the east.

But half the army under him belonged to his direct line.

The other half had been contributed by tribes following his banner.

Those forces had always maintained contact with their home tribes in the snowfields.

Whenever they plundered anything, they immediately sent men to carry it home like hamsters stuffing a burrow.

This information blockade could not last.

Once the tribal headmen realized their contact with their home tribes had been severed, they would inevitably become suspicious.

Many days had already passed since Snow Sea Pass fell.

The truth would soon become impossible to hide.

What frustrated the Savage King most was that his original plan had been to maintain Situ Yi’s puppet regime properly.

He had wanted to imitate Yan’s treatment of Situ Yu and use a local government to provide his forces with a steady, sustainable stream of resources.

The Yan across the river did not need to worry nearly as much about food or matériel because spring planting and autumn harvest had both taken place in the territory behind them.

But the Savage King had been helpless.

Calling him a king was almost inaccurate.

In practice, he was more like the alliance leader of several of the strongest tribal powers on the snowfields.

Once they entered the pass, he could no longer control the savage armies’ plundering.

Even though he understood perfectly well that the behavior was like draining the pond to catch every fish.

The tribes followed him because they wanted people, wealth, grain, and goods.

If he refused to let them take those things, why should they continue following him?

Why should they obey his orders?

Why not choose someone else?

The moment you could no longer represent the direction of a group’s interests, that interest group would abandon you.

That had been true in every profession throughout history.

The Chu had been even more ruthless.

They had directly driven Situ Yi’s petty court out of Yupan City.

It was already a puppet dynasty.

After being forced to “move its capital” like a joke, whatever legitimacy and legal foundation it still possessed vanished instantly.

Situ Yi had been thoroughly played to death.

Beyond that, the savages had simply been poor for too long.

The moment they saw anything useful food, tools, people they hauled it home.

And only at the end did they suddenly discover they had even failed to preserve enough basic food for themselves.

What the hell kind of situation was this?

But no matter how much he complained, the Savage King also understood that he could not entirely blame them.

Even he himself, while constantly proclaiming that the ground beneath their feet was the ancestral homeland where the Holy Race had once multiplied and lived, had always been prepared to withdraw to the snowfields at any moment.

Preserve the green mountains and you need not fear running out of firewood.

This expedition had already earned back their investment many times over.

Once he returned to the snowfields, the prestige he had accumulated would allow him to be crowned undisputed ruler of the entire snowfield.

His power would grow further.

Countless tribes would submit beneath his feet.

If even he thought that way, why would the commanders and headmen below him think differently?

If things truly turned bad, retreat to the snowfields.

So send everything they plundered home as quickly as possible.

What if the army suddenly had to retreat before the slaves and goods were moved?

How enormous would the loss be?

The Savage King had also discovered something else.

When they first rose, some men had been brave and loyal.

They had been willing to sacrifice themselves for the future of the Holy Race.

They had possessed grand vision.

But after entering the pass, many of them had changed.

They had become strangely unfamiliar.

Including some of the direct-line generals now qualified to sit inside his command tent.

The Savage King himself was still hungry.

Still thirsting.

Still wanted to advance farther.

But some people were already satisfied.

They wanted comfort.

“King, whatever you decide, we will do.

“We will follow your footsteps forever!”

Sanghu dropped to his knees before the Savage King.

The other generals immediately followed.

“We are willing to follow the King’s footsteps!”

The Savage King slowly exhaled.

“We are in danger now.

“Genuine danger.

“But the more dangerous the moment, the less we can reveal fear.

“When dealing with wolf packs on the snowfields, we all know one truth.

“The more fear you show before wolves, the harder they bite and refuse to let go.

“That Southern Marquis of Yan has probably guessed that something went wrong behind us.

“No.

“I even suspect the loss of Snow Sea Pass may have been arranged by him in the first place.

“It may be one piece of his greater plan.

“He is seeking battle with us.

“He believes his elite Yan cavalry can shatter us in open battle.

“He is wrong.

“He is truly wrong!”

“King, then fight!”

“Fight, King!”

“Yes!

“Teach the Yan another lesson!”

The generals howled for battle.

The Savage King raised one hand.

Instantly, everyone fell silent.

“Heh.”

The Savage King smiled.

He lifted his head.

His fist slowly clenched.

“He wants a decisive battle.

“Then I will give him one.

“Every formation begins preparations tonight.

“At dawn— the entire army crosses the river!”

“Crosses the river?”

“We are not going to Yupan City?”

“This...”

The Savage King rose.

His voice thundered through the command tent.

“The Southern Marquis of Yan wants to use the finest troops beneath his command to fight a decisive battle against warriors of the Holy Race.

“I refuse to give him what he wants.

“If the Yan army can cross the river, then warriors of the Holy Race can cross it too.

“Tomorrow morning— our army crosses the Wang River.

“We attack the Yan camps on the western bank!

“He wants a decisive battle?

“He wants to finish us before spring?

“Good.

“Then this King will smash the entire board to pieces!”

Sanghu asked:

“King, what if the Jingnan and Zhenbei armies turn back to reinforce them?”

The Savage King waved one hand.

“Qu Tiannan is not a fool.

“That Pillar of State of Chu may command cautiously, but he will understand what we are doing.

“The moment we cross westward, Qu Tiannan will spend whatever price is necessary to pin the Jingnan and Zhenbei armies outside Yupan City.

“If we break across the western bank and smash Yan’s main camps, we can continue directly toward Yingdu.

“After that, grain will no longer be a problem.

“The western half of Dacheng— perhaps even the entire land of Jin will become a field where warriors of the Holy Race may gallop freely!

“Tomorrow— as long as we win the Yan will suffer their second defeat at the Wang River!

“And when that happens, Yan will no longer be thinking about how to drive us away.

“That Southern Marquis will need to think instead about how to lead the army beneath him safely back to the State of Yan!”

The Savage King breathed heavily.

His face had flushed red.

“The Southern Marquis of Yan dares place a heavy wager.

“Then this King will gamble something even bigger!”

[End of Chapter 340]