Mountain and River Festival 256. During the exercise

At the end of October, the Great Chu officially went to war with the northern border. Almost at the same time, Xiling Zhennan King ordered his son, Zhennan Prince Lei Tengfeng, to lead an army of 200,000 to the southern border with Nanzhao. All of a sudden, various countries mobilized their troops, and even the Northern Rong, who were in the bitter cold in the north, were ready to move. At this time, the military exercise that Ding Wangfu had been preparing for several months also kicked off.

Early in the morning, General Zhang Qilan, who was stationed in the camp thirty miles outside of Licheng, received an order: lead his troops to rush to Yantianya, fifty miles northwest of Hongzhou, and seize the natural barrier of Yantianya. This order came too quickly and was completely unprepared. Fortunately, the Mohist Army was well-trained and everyone had been on high alert for the past few days, so they did not panic this time.

When he received the order, Zhang Qilan was having dinner with several of his subordinates and discussing military affairs. After taking a look at the graceful but elegant handwriting on the paper, Zhang Qilan jumped up and shouted to his subordinates, "Pass the order down, and move out in half an hour!" But he felt a little strange in his heart, why did this order look like the handwriting of the princess?

All the generals were stunned. The brave ones asked quickly, "General, what are we doing..."

Zhang Qilan chuckled and said, "Let's get started. Guys, work harder. We must beat that old guy until he cries for his parents."

Everyone couldn't help but smile, and the atmosphere in the tent suddenly became much more relaxed. Zhang Qilan glared and yelled, "Hurry up and get ready!"

Everyone immediately rushed out of the tent to dispatch their own troops. After dismissing his subordinates, Zhang Qilan took another look at the letter in his hand, wiped his face, and turned around to prepare his own luggage for the battle.

"General Zhang, I'm sorry to bother you so late at night." A clear and elegant voice said with a faint smile outside the tent. Zhang Qilan was startled, then he realized who was talking and hurriedly went to greet him. The curtain outside the tent was lifted and the person outside had already walked in.

Zhang Qilan quickly bowed and said, "I have seen the princess." Unlike usual, Ye Li was wearing a long gray cape, and her hair was combed into a man's bun. From the white hem under the cape, it can be seen that it was a man's clothing. Zhang Qilan was a little confused, but still asked, "Princess, what is this..." Ye Li smiled and said, "General Zhang is about to go to war, and I recommend myself to be a staff officer. I hope the general will not give up."

"The princess is saying... that she wants to march with us?" Zhang Qilan asked in surprise.

Ye Li nodded, and Zhang Qilan said with some embarrassment: "This... the princess's body is worth a million dollars, what if..."

Ye Li played with the folding fan in her hand and said with a smile: "Nothing in this world can guarantee that there won't be any accidents. Besides, I have been to the battlefield several times. Even if I can't help General Zhang, I will definitely not hold him back."

Zhang Qilan even said he dared not, he was very clear about the ability of this princess, with her help he could be said to have gained a very strong strategist and general. But on the one hand, Ye Li's identity made him a little uneasy, and if so, even if he won against Lu Jinxian, it could only be said that they had taken more advantage.

Ye Li naturally saw the reason for his hesitation, and couldn't help but smile and said: "Speaking of this matter... General Zhang is actually the one who suffered a little. General Zhang, do you know who is the leader of the Western Army?" Hearing this, Zhang Qilan suddenly had a bad feeling, and thought to himself: "Could it be..."

Ye Li nodded and smiled, "Yes, the enemy's army is led by the prince, and Lu Jinxian is the deputy general."

Zhang Qilan's face darkened. Although he was much older than Prince Ding, he could only admit that he was inferior to Prince Ding in terms of military skills. Zhang Qilan had accompanied Mo Xiuyao on his expedition to Nanzhao. He probably never thought that he would face off against Mo Xiuyao in his life.

Ye Li looked at Zhang Qilan with a smile and said, "General, are you...declaring defeat before the battle?"

Zhang Qilan gritted his teeth and nodded, "In that case, I'll have to trouble the princess." It was impossible to admit defeat before the battle, so now he didn't care about Ye Li's status. Every more expert counted, even if he couldn't win, he would bite off a piece of the opponent's meat. Moreover... fighting with the prince, it seemed to make people feel a little excited.

Ye Li smiled faintly and said, "I dare not. I am Chu Junwei. General, just call me by my name."

Half an hour later, the army was ready. It was already dark, but the army had to march overnight. Licheng was three hundred miles away from Jiantian Cliff. It was easy for the Black Cloud Cavalry, but it was impossible to expect the ordinary soldiers of the Mohist Army to arrive within a day.

When the army set off, the generals following Zhang Qilan discovered that the general was accompanied by a young man in a gray cloak whose features could not be seen clearly in the night. "General, this..."

Zhang Qilan's face twisted slightly, and he said in a deep voice: "This is my military advisor. Where is Feng Zhiyao?" Feng Zhiyao was also on the list of generals for this exercise, but the Third Master Feng, who had always been by Mo Xiuyao's side, was unfortunately assigned to the opposite side of Prince Ding. But Zhang Qilan had never seen this gentleman show up since the beginning.

Ye Li whispered: "Feng San has already gone ahead."

Zhang Qilan was startled, but he reacted quickly. It was impossible for them to rush to Jiantianya without being discovered by Prince Ding with such a large army of tens of thousands. The worst thing was that a detachment of the Western Army was stationed on the road they had to take to Jiantianya. The prince would definitely not let them rush to Jiantianya so smoothly. It was much better for the Black Cloud Cavalry led by Feng Zhiyao to lead the way in front than to be stopped and beaten when they arrived. In the dark night, a group of people rode forward on horseback, and behind them was a long row of Mohist soldiers running.

In the West Route Army Camp

Mo Xiuyao was still dressed in white with white hair like snow, sitting lazily in the big tent, looking at the map in front of him, as if thinking about something. Lu Jinxian sat next to him and said, "Your Majesty, Zhang Qilan is a member of the Black Cloud Cavalry, and they are known for their fast march. I'm afraid they have already broken camp and set out."

Mo Xiuyao nodded and raised his eyebrows and said, "No matter how fast they are, they only have 10,000 Black Cloud Cavalry. It is unrealistic for them to rely on these 10,000 Black Cloud Cavalry to compete with us for Jiantian Cliff."

Lu Jinxian nodded and frowned, "But although we have 50,000 Black Cloud Cavalry, our ordinary troops are obviously weaker than the enemy. The Black Cloud Cavalry is strong in attack, but I'm afraid their defense is a little worse. Even if we seize Jiantian Cliff first, it will be difficult for us to defend against the attack of 100,000 Mohist Army with only 50,000 Black Cloud Cavalry."

Mo Xiuyao looked at Lu Jinxian with a smile and said, "Why? General Lu is still afraid of Zhang Qilan?"

Lu Jinxian's face changed, and he puffed out his chest and said, "Who would be afraid of him? Don't worry, Your Majesty, I will defend Jiantian Cliff to the death!"

Mo Xiuyao waved his hands and said, "What do you mean by swearing to die? Don't forget that Jiantian Cliff is not the final goal. If we use up all our men at Jiantian Cliff, how will we fight the rest of the battle?"

Lu Jinxian was somewhat surprised and asked, "What do you think, Lord?"

Mo Xiuyao pondered for a moment and said, "Zhang Qilan will definitely rush to Jiantian Cliff with all his strength, so let's not rush there. After all, we are faster than him, so let's make things difficult for them on the road. In addition... add a defense line 20 miles in front of Jiantian Cliff. Even if Jiantian Cliff cannot be defended in the end, at least half of their troops will be consumed."

"I understand." Lu Jinxian nodded. Mo Xiuyao nodded with satisfaction and said, "Then I'll leave Jiantian Cliff to you." Zhang Qilan was stunned when he heard this, "Leave it to me? Then the prince..." Mo Xiuyao said with a smile, "It's hard to say..."

The Eastern Army's journey was not smooth. At noon the next day, the army encountered the first line of defense set up by the enemy. However, Feng Zhiyao, who had set out earlier and was said to be leading the way, was not even seen.

The enemy's troops were not many, less than two or three thousand. If it were on a flat land, a 100,000-man army would have trampled them to death. But now the mountain roads were winding, and it seemed like one man could hold his own against ten thousand. Zhang Qilan was so angry that he called Lu Jinxian despicable and shameless.

However, no matter how despicable the opponent was, the battle still had to be fought, and Zhang Qilan was not a reckless man who could only yell and curse. He immediately sent a team to go around the opponent from behind in the dark and attack from the front and back. Even so, they were delayed in this place for nearly three or four hours. When they encountered two or three similar dangerous obstacles along the way, Zhang Qilan had already understood that Lu Jinxian was trying to delay them.

However, such a clear plan in front of them was impossible to break. Even though they knew that Lu Jinxian had set up ambushes along the way to delay time, they had no choice but to go through this route, because if they wanted to take a detour, it would only take longer.

The ultimate goal of this play is not Jiantian Cliff, but a small town a few dozen miles away from Jiantian Cliff. There are 40,000 soldiers stationed in the small town, and the mission of the West Route Army led by Commander Mo Xiuyao is to occupy the small town, while Ye Li and Zhang Qilan have to go to reinforce and destroy the West Route Army.

However, Jiantian Cliff was the most important place, because both the East Route Army and the West Route Army had to pass through here to reach the small town. If Mo Xiuyao had enough troops, he could have just gone through Jiantian Cliff and taken the small town without any care, but his West Route Army only had 50,000 Black Cloud Cavalry and 40,000 Mohist Army. The East Route Army had 10,000 Black Cloud Cavalry, including the city defense troops, and 150,000 Mohist Army.

The current defender of the town should not be ignored either. He is the veteran general Yuan Pei, who was the former defender of Jiangxia Town and is very good at defending the town. Therefore, if Mo Xiuyao uses all his forces to attack the town, and if he fails to capture the town within three days, the Western Route Army will be surrounded by hundreds of thousands of Mohist troops. So he can only leave some of his forces for Lu Jinxian to slow down the speed of the reinforcements, but this also invisibly reduces the strength of the siege troops.

The journey was originally expected to take three days, but because of ambushes set along the way, the Eastern Army took five days to reach a fortress twenty miles outside the end of the world. Looking at the battle array on the hillside with flags flying and swords shivering, Zhang Qilan sneered and turned around to order them to set up camp on the spot. The generals under him were all eager to try. The march in the past few days made them all hold their breath and need to vent. They all asked Zhang Qilan to fight. Zhang Qilan waved his hand to suppress the requests of everyone. The opponent had the advantage of terrain, and a strong attack in broad daylight was tantamount to seeking death.

"What do you think, Mr. Chu?" Zhang Qilan turned his head and asked Ye Li who was sitting next to him.

Everyone stopped making noise and looked at the young man in white. Although many people in the army had seen Ye Li, they were not familiar with her. Ye Li changed into men's clothes and disguised herself. She rarely spoke, so none of the generals recognized that this somewhat silent young man was actually their Princess Ding. Of course, this was also related to the fact that these generals were arrogant and disliked Ye Li, who suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Naturally, not many people were willing to talk to her.

"General Lu seems to want to stop us outside Jiantian Cliff. At this time... Prince Ding should have led his troops to attack the city." Ye Li pondered. The people below couldn't help but sneer. Who wouldn't say such a thing? Just looking at the situation in front of us, we know what the other party means. Zhang Qilan said thoughtfully: "Mr. Chu means... Prince Ding is not in Jiantian Cliff now? If it is only Lu Jinxian... I guess there won't be many troops. This general may be able to break through Jiantian Cliff within three days."

Ye Li shook his head and said, "How many casualties do you plan to pay in order to break through Jiantian Cliff within three days? Jiantian Cliff can be called a natural barrier, so it is naturally easy to defend but difficult to attack. If we use up all our forces here, what can we use to reinforce the Yuan army?"

A young general couldn't help but say, "But if we don't rush out, where can we get through? If we take a detour, it will take at least seven or eight days. And if we go from the south, we will have to cross mountains and rivers all the way. It's a question whether we can still fight when we get there. If we go from the north, it's a large swamp and we can't get through it at all."

Zhang Qilan looked at Ye Li and asked, "What does Mr. Chu mean?"

Ye Li pointed to the map on the table and said, "The Yuan generals are good at defending the city. Even Prince Ding may not be able to break the city in a short time. What I mean is... to wipe out all the soldiers of Jiantianya." Everyone was shocked and frowned and said, "The time it will take... What if we don't have time to reinforce the city and it is broken..." Ye Li didn't frown and said lightly, "Just take it back after it is broken." A deputy general hesitated and said, "But... once the city is broken, the exercise is over." Ye Li said calmly, "Unless one side admits defeat or both sides are defeated, it will be over. Could it be that during the war, if the city is taken by the enemy, the reinforcements will return by the same route?" Everyone was silent, all thinking about something.

There was silence in the big tent for a long time. Zhang Qilan stood up and said, "Okay! Let's do as Mr. Chu said. The success or failure of this time will be left to Mr. Chu. Do you have any plan to break the jar?" Ye Li smiled at Zhang Qilan who was looking forward to it, and said slowly, "I'm still thinking about it."

“…”

The night on the battlefield is not peaceful. When the moon is dark and the wind is high, people are killed and set on fire. This is also common on the battlefield. So when Ye Li was awakened by the sound outside for the third time in one night, he was not surprised. He got up, put on his clothes and cloak, and walked out of the tent. Qin Feng immediately appeared at the door. "Sir." Ye Li frowned slightly and said, "Why don't you go to rest?" Qin Feng said, "Wei Rui has gone to rest. He will replace me in an hour." This time, Ye Li did not bring Zhuo Jing and Lin Han, but brought Qin Feng and Wei Rui out. After all, King Ding and Wang and the generals in the city were gone, and Zhuo Jing and Lin Han were left behind to assist Xu Qingchen. Ye Li said, "You all go and have rest. Just send two people to keep watch. We have important matters tomorrow." Qin Feng shook his head and said, "I will go back and have rest soon. It won't delay tomorrow's matters."

Ye Li knew that she couldn't persuade him, so she stopped talking. She looked curiously at the place where the fire was flashing in the distance and asked, "Who is causing this trouble?"

Qin Feng suppressed his smile and said, "They are several young generals under General Zhang. They seem to have agreed to attack the garrison ahead at night. Each of them will hold out for an hour and withdraw regardless of winning or losing. This is already the third wave. The garrison on the mountain probably won't have any sleep tonight."

Ye Li raised her eyebrows, looking at the place where the sound of fighting could be heard in the distance, raised her eyebrows and smiled: "Interesting, is this their own idea?" Qin Feng nodded and said: "It seems that they went to talk to General Zhang after dinner, and General Zhang probably agreed. Otherwise, they would not act on their own."

It seems that Qin Feng has some good feelings towards those impetuous young people. Although he did not speak for them, he also explained that their actions did not violate military regulations. Ye Li walked out with a smile, saying, "It's always good for young people to have their own ideas. It doesn't matter if they make some mistakes in the exercise, it's better than making mistakes on the battlefield."

"What does the princess mean?" Qin Feng frowned.

Ye Li said, "It would be fine if they harassed us once or twice, but if they keep doing this, do they think Lu Jinxian is a vegetarian?" Qin Feng remained silent. Ye Li smiled and said, "Let's go and take a look."

Qin Feng hurried over and asked curiously, "Princess, are you saying that they will have problems?"

Ye Li smiled faintly and said, "Lü Jinxian is a veteran who has been through many battles. How could he be fooled by a few young boys? If they stopped after one or two times, the other party would still be cautious and alert, and they probably wouldn't be safe tonight. But how could Lu Jinxian not take action after such a repeated trick? As the saying goes, too much is as good as too little."

"Then..." Qin Feng frowned and asked, "Should we send someone to tell General Zhang?"

Ye Li shook her head and said, "General Zhang and General Lu have known each other for decades, so they must know him well. They will definitely be prepared, so there is no need for us to get involved. Just wait and see."

As the two were talking, Zhang Qilan's cheerful voice came from behind, "Huh? Mr. Chu, you haven't rested yet so late. Were you caught by those guys?" The two came back and saw Zhang Qilan walking with his head held high, wearing armor and a battle robe, as if he was going to fight. Ye Li couldn't help but laugh and said, "General Zhang, what are you doing so late?"

Zhang Qilan pretended to be angry and said, "Those guys are so reckless that they want to provoke Lao Lu. I have to bring them back before they get hurt."

Hearing this, Ye Li laughed, "In that case, thank you for your hard work, General Zhang."

Zhang Qilan clasped his fists and said, "I'll take my leave first."