Chapter 1006: The Talent of the Younger Generation!

Night had fallen.

Inside the military camp, bonfires occasionally cracked sharply.

Apart from the soldiers assigned to patrol inside and outside the camp, the rest of the Qian troops were either sleeping, brushing down their horses, or sharpening their blades.

To remain calm and orderly before a major battle, carrying out preparations without panic, was already the bearing elite soldiers ought to possess.

At least for the Qian army, it was a completely different sight from what they had been more than ten years earlier.

Inside the commander’s tent... a group of generals stood before Zhong Tianlang.

“Marshal Zhong, it isn’t only the Yan troops from Anhai Garrison who came out. Even the Yan from Donghai Garrison have left their walls. They’re planning to fight us with their lives.”

“That’s right, Marshal. The Yan forces opposite us are eastern Jin’s direct line. They were personally trained by Great Yan’s Regent Prince. Their loyalty truly is terrifying. They know a tiger stands in front of them and still walk straight toward its jaws.”

Zhong Tianlang tapped one finger against his forehead and leaned back slightly.

In other fields, perhaps a flurry of wild punches could beat an old master to death.

On a battlefield, that almost never happened.

There were certainly historical examples people liked citing, but most were forced comparisons.

If the “old master” was the commander-in-chief and faced an inexplicable battlefield situation, he could simply choose to do nothing.

Stop where he was and watch the other side perform.

Or let them do whatever they wanted while he carried on with his own plan and waited to see who became anxious first.

War, viewed broadly, was not some infinitely mysterious and complicated thing.

Peel away enough layers and there were really only two types of action.

First: when you possessed a relative advantage, attack the enemy in front of you.

Second: everything else was an extension of the first—do whatever you could to gather enough advantages to create that condition.

Zhong Tianlang came from a family of generals.

Whether in upbringing or battlefield experience, his foundations were rich.

He had doubts now, but nowhere near enough to throw him into confusion.

“What this Marshal does not understand is this: if the three Yan garrisons truly intend to risk their lives breaking through and rescuing their Prince, how exactly do they plan to do it? Break through us? Even if they truly smash through our formation, how will they deal with the Wu Clan fleet sealing the Qian River? Surely they cannot then loop far upstream or downstream to cross? By the time they reach the other side, the daylilies will already be cold. Or... are they truly as you say? Do they simply not care about anything else, and intend to die purely for loyalty to that man?”

Zhong Tianlang took a sip of tea.

“The Yan from Anhai Garrison came out first. Scouts report that they’re heading toward our right wing. The Yan from Donghai Garrison left afterward and are moving toward our left. But the main force among the three garrisons somehow came out as well... then stopped directly in front of us. They even edged a little farther toward us. This Marshal genuinely cannot understand what that means. Do they want to pin my center so the two flanking forces have more room to maneuver? If that were the purpose, why not simply hold the garrison? That would pin us more effectively and give them far more freedom to advance or retreat. Instead they left the city, handed the city to us, then turned around again... What exactly are they trying to accomplish? I’ve thought about it for half the day. I have one guess. You may laugh when you hear it.”

“Please instruct us, Marshal Zhong.”

“Please explain, Grand Marshal.”

“This Marshal thinks the Yan troops of these three garrisons may have... fallen into internal conflict. Because of that conflict, none of them obeys the others. And now... in the simplest possible sense, each is fighting his own battle.”

“...”

The Qian generals inside the tent fell silent.

They found the conclusion their Marshal had reached somewhat... difficult to accept.

Internal conflict?

Each fighting separately?

Wasn’t that supposed to be... something *Qian armies* did?

The Yan could have internal conflict too?

Zhong Tianlang watched his officers’ reactions without anger.

He was not even surprised.

Set aside the war a century earlier.

Over the last decade and more, Qian had truly been beaten into fear of Yan.

The only victory worth mentioning had been that great success in the Liang lands.

And if one examined that victory carefully, the Regent Prince had followed it by smashing directly into Shangjing.

Over these years...

Qian military officers had gained status.

Qian armor had improved.

Soldiers carried sharper blades.

Military salaries were paid more fully.

But the inner momentum when facing the Yan had never truly risen.

The moment they reached a battlefield and saw that Black Dragon Banner... their own morale instantly lost three parts.

If the Regent Prince’s princely standard appeared too... another two parts vanished.

So when facing eastern Jin’s Yan army, they effectively began the fight with only half their courage remaining.

Yet the more Zhong Tianlang saw his own generals behaving this way... the more convinced he became that his guess was correct.

“They are all men. They are all soldiers. Set aside Barbarians and wild men—we even speak the same language. Stretch the line far enough back and eight hundred years ago we all shared the same ancestors. Why should the mistakes we Qian can make be impossible for the Yan?”

Zhong Tianlang rose from the commander’s seat.

He pointed toward two generals.

“You. Take five thousand cavalry and loop south.”

“This general obeys!”

“You. Take five thousand cavalry and loop north.”

“This general obeys!”

“I gave strict orders to both flank armies long ago. Advance step by step. Build camps constantly. Do not grow reckless. Heh. Knowing them, they’re probably frightened half to death already. Underestimating the enemy? They wouldn’t dare. I estimate they’re still dozens of li short of the positions I originally planned for them. But that will do. All they need is to stand firm and hold against the Yan assault. You two will then swing out behind the Yan from opposite directions. First... swallow those two Yan formations for me!”

“This general accepts the order!”

“This general accepts the order!”

Each flank army numbered more than twenty thousand.

The Yan formations attacking them consisted of only around five thousand cavalry each.

Yet Zhong Tianlang genuinely did not dare feel excessively optimistic about the combat ability of Jiangnan’s local troops.

Even with five times the numbers... they might still be rolled up like a bamboo blind by the Yan.

So he ultimately chose to send two cavalry detachments back to complete the encirclements.

First, that would calm his flank armies.

Second... meat had delivered itself to his mouth.

There was no reason not to eat it.

Zhong Tianlang issued another order.

“Pass the command. Before dawn, the main army advances. This Marshal wants to see whether the Yan directly in front of us actually dare fight!”

That was how generals played the game.

Each side was a spear thrust out along its own battle line, supporting the strategic posture of its wings.

The council ended.

The generals departed with their orders.

Zhong Tianlang remained alone in the commander’s seat.

In his hand, he slowly turned a jade thumb ring.

The late Emperor had bestowed that ring upon him when he married the Princess.

At the time, Zhong Tianlang’s father had only recently died.

Soon afterward, his uncle’s blood had dyed the title of Yan’s Marquis of Andong red.

And the old Western Army had already been transferred north.

The family foundation had been hollowed out.

If the late Emperor had not first married a Princess to him, then continued pushing and supporting him from behind... even if Zhong Tianlang had remained in the army, he could never have possessed the status he did today.

And yet... that very late Emperor, who had valued, promoted, and protected him so deeply... had been personally forced by Zhong Tianlang’s army to abdicate.

Even... forced to death.

“Late Emperor... you had lost heart.”

Zhong Tianlang still remembered the words the late Emperor had spoken on the Back Mountain road before “dissolving himself.”

“But we... we are not willing. Great Qian still has strength enough to fight.”

After murmuring the words...

Zhong Tianlang laughed bitterly at himself.

“If that man surnamed Zheng were in my place, with fifteen thousand enemy troops in front of him, why would he need thirty thousand to pin them down? Ten thousand would probably be more than enough.”

Zhong Tianlang did not want to excuse himself by talking about differences in the quality of the troops beneath him.

He covered his face with both hands.

Then released a long sigh.

“Truthfully... even I am afraid.”

...

When two armies faced one another, and both were cavalry corps, their scouts had already begun killing one another long before the main forces met.

Because the distance was so short... neither side had many secrets left.

“Looking at the Qian formation, they plan to seek a decisive battle with us tomorrow morning.”

Chen Xianba stared at the bonfire before him.

Its light made his face shift between brightness and shadow.

When Zheng Man first led his troops out, Chen Xianba had been furious.

But after Tian Tian made exactly the same choice... the anger inside him vanished.

It was not because Tian Tian’s status was somehow special.

Anyone with eyes understood that even Zheng Man himself knew this: although he was an adopted son and had taken the surname Zheng, his place in the Prince’s heart could never compare with Tian Tian, who bore the surname Tian.

No.

The reason Chen Xianba calmed down was because he suddenly understood something.

That wolf cub Zheng Man might truly lose his mind without warning.

Tian Tian never would... not if the brocade pouch in his hand actually contained an order telling him to obey Chen Xianba.

Which meant... in all likelihood... the brocade pouches held by Tian Tian and Zheng Man were exactly like his own.

Empty.

The moment Chen Xianba thought this through, blood qi nearly surged straight out of his chest.

He barely suppressed it.

His face still flushed.

Even now, however... he did not dare directly disobey—or even truly question—the Prince’s order.

Even though that empty pouch had pushed him into an extraordinarily... passive situation.

Originally, the three garrison forces together numbered more than twenty-five thousand.

That was enough for him to exchange blows with the Qian army.

The Qian were more numerous and had brought far more cavalry this time, but Chen Xianba was a qualified hunter.

He believed his own ability was enough to find an opening and tear a huge chunk of meat from the enemy.

Now... both his wings were gone.

The Qian center pinned him directly.

His strategic space had been compressed into an extremely awkward position.

Tomorrow... he either had to withdraw far to the east... or grit his teeth and fight a massive cavalry battle against the Qian right here.

Chen Xianba did not fear hard fighting.

Quite the opposite.

He enjoyed challenging opponents.

It gave him far greater satisfaction.

But war was not a jianghu duel.

The Qian arrangement was perfectly clear.

The cavalry corps personally led by the Imperial Son-in-Law, together with tens of thousands of miscellaneous Jiangnan troops, would block eastern Jin’s forces on the eastern bank.

Meanwhile, their superior elite strength could calmly attack Jinghai City and deal with his own Prince.

Even with only half the enemy’s numbers, Chen Xianba would still dare raise his horse lance and fight.

But after he fought... what then?

Once his own force was crippled... what would he use to continue pinning the Qian?

What would he use to coordinate with and support his own Prince?

If he traded lives for lives here, even at a ratio of one Yan for two Qian... the Qian would wake from sleep laughing.

“General. Tomorrow...”

His deputy began asking what arrangements should be made.

At this point, they had to prepare.

Fight or withdraw.

Either choice required orders now.

Chen Xianba shook his head.

He stared into the bonfire.

Then added another log.

Afterward, he stood.

“If we retreat, those two idiot younger brothers of mine will be completely wrapped into dumplings by nearly a hundred thousand Qian troops. Pass the order. Tomorrow morning, cook early. Add cured meat.”

...

Three flowers had bloomed.

Now let us take them one by one.

In a fit of anger, Zheng Man had led his troops west.

Naturally, he had never intended to smash his few thousand cavalry head-on into the Qian central army.

From the beginning, he looped around the center and plunged toward the rear.

Then... ran directly into the Qian right-wing army.

The Qian arrangement east of the river formed a three-block triangle: a forward center, with two Jiangnan local armies trailing behind on the flanks.

Limited by troop type—and because the enemy was eastern Jin’s army—the flanking forces advanced slowly.

Painfully slowly.

Fortunately, Zhong Tianlang had never intended to rely on them for hard fighting.

Their existence served two purposes.

First, broaden the battlefield.

Second, provide two rear foundations for his central army, the force truly capable of fighting hard battles.

If the battle turned decisively in Qian’s favor, then after enough morale had been pumped into those flank armies... they could still be useful.

But before the battlefield situation became clear, before Zhong Tianlang had truly broken the Yan...

Great Qian’s Imperial Son-in-Law did not dare shove them to the front.

If they collapsed on contact, they might shake the morale of his own core troops instead.

By the same logic... one’s own people knew one’s own weakness.

The Yan, as their opponent, also knew exactly which kind of Qian army was easiest to beat.

Originally, Zheng Man intended to strike the force opposite him first.

Not to break the camp.

Only to drive them, frighten them, compress them, and test their quality.

If he could scare them backward—or clearly determine they truly were useless—then he could swagger around them in another maneuver, continue farther south, find an opening to cross the river, then head west toward Jinghai City and his Prince.

The plan was full and beautiful.

Reality... was even bonier than the skinny women Zheng Man had always disliked.

Without question... the Qian force opposite him was indeed a very... bad army.

The problem was... they themselves understood that fact with astonishing clarity.

From the commanders down to the ordinary soldiers, every one of them believed they were no match for the Yan.

So they obeyed the Imperial Son-in-Law’s orders with absolute seriousness.

Underestimate the enemy?

Advance recklessly?

Impossible!

Not only that... they had slowed their march even further.

On top of Chen Xianba’s earlier withdrawal, which forced Zhong Tianlang’s center to thrust forward first, the three-block formation had stretched unusually long from front to back.

And although these Qian troops moved slowly... they were sensible.

The camps they built...

Zheng Man inspected one personally from the front.

The layout could not be called elegant or orderly.

Some portions even violated common military logic.

Clearly, this army lacked deep battlefield experience.

If these had been veteran Western Army troops or men from another border garrison, they never would have built a camp like this.

But... there was enough of it.

It was dense enough.

Deep enough.

They had spent lavish effort on barriers and palisades.

Those trenches...

Heaven knew how much labor they had poured into them.

No wonder the army marched so slowly.

They had apparently spent half their strength simply “building a camp every step.”

And after receiving advance warning... they did not care whether the Yan approaching them were a massive force or only a detached column.

To these men, either was terrifying.

So they had tightened every layer of defense long ago.

Ironically... that was the situation most difficult to deal with.

They were cowards so thoroughly that they gave you no opportunity whatsoever to take advantage of them.

If Zheng Man possessed enough strength, enough troops, smashing this camp would not be especially difficult.

But he did not have enough men.

If he forced himself forward anyway, his troops would be spread over those defenses like batter across a griddle—paying an enormous price without producing the result he wanted.

Most importantly, unless Zheng Man could frighten this local army badly enough, unless he could make them suffer and drain their courage... then the moment he tried to loop around them, he was certain this “turtle” army would follow slowly behind.

And to avoid the Wu Clan fleet, Zheng Man needed to make a long detour upstream.

Once he finally reached a suitable crossing point, he would still need time and preparation to ford the river.

If he could not break contact with this Qian force first... it might truly become a turtle slowly chasing a rabbit to death.

Zheng Man valued loyalty.

That did not make him stupid.

He had served under Zheng Fan for so many years and had even been personally trained by Jin Shuke.

He would not simply lower his head and charge into death.

If he had to die... then at least let the death mean something.

At the very least, he should die in front of his Adoptive Father, loudly enough that the old man could hear the sound.

Without much hesitation...

Zheng Man clenched his teeth and ordered:

“Pass the command. We go around this Qian force.”

“General, southward?”

Zheng Man glared at the man.

“No. North.”

...

Scouts soon reported that the Yan cavalry had withdrawn.

The Qian commander inside the camp released a long breath.

Then, deep in the latter half of the night, another report came from outside: a massive cavalry force was approaching.

Every heart in the camp jumped again.

Very soon, however, they learned it was the Imperial Son-in-Law’s cavalry.

The officers nearly wept with joy.

When the Qian cavalry commander arrived and discovered the Yan had not attacked the right-wing army, he was briefly surprised.

But after seeing the depth and scale of the local army’s fortified camp... the surprise disappeared.

Unless a man was an idiot... who would willingly smash himself into defenses like these?

“Pass the order! The Yan must have looped south. We pursue south!”

...

An almost identical scene unfolded on the opposite flank.

The other Jiangnan local army had carried the strategy of “following one’s heart” to perfection.

After Tian Tian saw the defenses they had built, even his own hands began to ache.

Forget killing people... merely clearing all those barriers and trenches to pass through would probably exhaust half the life from his body.

Tian Tian turned and glanced behind him.

Then ordered:

“We circle south.”

And not long afterward... the Qian cavalry originally dispatched to encircle the Yan there ultimately chose to continue pursuing north.

...

Among the Residence’s new generation of commanders, Chen Xianba, Zheng Man, and Tian Tian formed the main core.

First, their backgrounds were impeccable.

They were unquestionably direct-line among direct-line.

Two had been raised from childhood.

Even Chen Xianba, originally a wild creature who had more or less “married into” the household, had long since been domesticated into family poultry through the Residence’s loving care.

Second... their talent was extraordinary.

Chen Xianba and Tian Tian’s gifts had even been confirmed through prophecy.

They were young.

They were bold.

And they were gifted.

The Regent Prince had once boasted proudly to the Blind Man that he possessed “two and a half Champion Marquises” beneath him.

Zheng Man might not be suited to command the entire army as supreme commander.

But as the general of one route, leading troops around flanks and striking the rear... there was absolutely no problem.

So strictly speaking...

Zheng Fan’s empty brocade pouches had actually dragged them backward.

At the beginning, they directly created chaos in the three-garrison command system.

But these three young men... even while their own Prince—their father—was dragging them down and digging pits beneath their feet... used sheer talent and instinct to forcibly carve open an entirely new situation.

This was the kind of thing the Prince himself could never truly understand.

Because the Prince had learned warfare one step at a time.

Carefully.

Nervously.

Even for years after completing his apprenticeship, he had not dared personally manipulate the battlefield himself.

He left command to Liang Cheng and willingly served as the mascot.

A man accustomed to simmering food over a low flame could watch young men throw oil directly onto a blazing fire.

On one hand, he would warn them to restrain themselves.

On the other... he would envy that fierce vitality.

Deep into the latter half of the night...

Tian Tian and Zheng Man did not meet.

But after riding toward one another for a distance, almost as though sharing the same thought... both made another decision.

East.

Turn.

If west would not work... then... go back home and have a look!

...

Eventually... the sun began to rise.

Chen Xianba had already formed more than fifteen thousand troops into battle lines.

Opposite him, Zhong Tianlang had climbed onto his commander’s carriage and prepared for a proper grand cavalry clash between Yan and Qian.

Then suddenly... scouting reports arrived from the southwest and northwest.

Yan troops had appeared from both directions!

For a moment, Zhong Tianlang found it almost funny.

Funny that he had embarrassed himself so badly inside the commander’s tent yesterday.

He had let the other side peel him layer by layer like a scallion.

What internal conflict?

What fighting separately?

There was not the slightest shadow of either!

Yesterday, he had detached more than ten thousand cavalry to the north and south.

They had not yet returned.

At the same time, the two local armies in his rear—already slow to begin with—had been “frightened” by the Yan and would never reach their assigned positions today.

And so, in a strange twist... the Qian army that clearly possessed the numerical advantage had been forcibly dragged into a brief window of “roughly equal strength.”

Zhong Tianlang did not feel as though the sky had collapsed.

He calmly ordered the center to spread more troops toward both wings and guard against the two Yan forces in the rear.

He also had one formation redeploy into Menhai Garrison as insurance against the worst possible outcome.

Then... he climbed down from the commander’s carriage.

Mounted a horse.

Raised his silver spear.

“Come. Let’s meet.”

...

Chen Xianba had also noticed the change in the Qian formation.

In that instant... he did not even bother sending scouts to confirm the details.

Nor did he wait for messengers from the other armies.

From this change alone, he could already judge what had happened to the battlefield.

There were only three Yan formations east of the river.

Who else could it possibly be?

Those two idiot little brothers of his... had turned around at exactly the right moment and come charging back!

Before, it had been twenty-five thousand against forty thousand.

*The advantage was already ours!*

Now... it was twenty-five thousand against thirty thousand.

What was left to hesitate over?

Fight!

Chen Xianba mounted his Pi Beast.

He raised his horse lance.

Then urged his mount forward until he stood at the very front of the army.

The same scene unfolded before the other two Yan formations.

Almost as though their hearts were linked...

Tian Tian and Zheng Man each leveled a horse lance and rode to the front of their own troops.

Strange, really.

The Prince who hated charging at the front more than almost anything else in this life... had somehow raised a generation of young successors who, whenever a vicious battle began, always took the lead themselves.

After both sides gathered momentum for a time... in an instant... hooves thundered.

Warhorses screamed into the dawn.

The most elite cavalry corps of Yan and Qian... upon this open earth... opened the curtain on the most exhilarating and most complete slaughter of the entire battle!

[End of Chapter 1006]