For Lin Hai, commanding a large-scale battle is not easy.
If the first large-scale bandit suppression campaign was just a fight against a bunch of rabble, and the first confrontation with Daliang officers and soldiers was just bullying the enemy's small number of soldiers and generals, then this time the coalition forces could be regarded as the toughest nut Lin Hai had ever encountered.
Lin Hai had a very clear understanding of his military knowledge, especially that of the cold weapon era. He could clearly state that cavalry defeated shieldmen, shieldmen defeated archers, archers defeated spearmen, and spearmen defeated cavalry. Of course, this was all thanks to the information he gained from a mobile game where you couldn't draw good cards without spending money, and even if you did, you had to rely on luck.
However, it is impossible for three generals to lead 30,000 exactly the same types of troops to rush towards you on the battlefield, and then you choose the restraining troops and then collide with them.
So from the beginning, Lin Hai understood that fighting should be left to professionals. The most professional person he knew was his eldest brother, Wang Liang. Now, Wang Liang said that no matter whether it was his sworn brothers or his students, they were all better than Lin Hai. This made Lin Hai very happy. After all, with capable people at both ends, Lin Hai, who was in the middle, could breathe a sigh of relief.
Lin Hai was nominally the leader of the Qinghe Army, but Ding Lin was the true commander of the vanguard, Cheng Guorong was in charge of the central army, Wang Liang was in charge of the military supervision and staff, and Lin Hai was in charge of cleaning and sanitation. Well, after years of slaving away in an office before crossing over, Lin Hai was very familiar with this division of labor.
The vanguard scouts simply shot a letter of war into the coalition position, then turned around and left without any intention of waiting for a reply. This made Cao Dadang, who received the letter, very confused. When he opened the letter in front of everyone, a surge of anger rushed from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. At that moment, Cao Dadang even wanted to rush out with a knife and fight to the death.
But it was just a thought. Chief Cao was already in his forties, well past the age of impulsiveness. Although he almost lost control of himself after being provoked, the increased rationality of middle-aged men, as their physical strength declined, quickly overcame his momentary impulse and he began to ponder Lin Hai's intentions. Chief Cao handed Lin Hai's letter to the other chiefs. They unfolded it and saw that it was a very brief letter, with only one punctuation mark and four large characters:
Get out! Or die!
Yes, he was too lazy to even write a period at the end, which was enough to show Lin Hai's contempt for them.
The big bosses began to look around, repeatedly checking the expressions of other people present, and found that no one was really angry about the letter. They couldn't help but reveal a trace of regret, and then put on an appearance of knowing everything. One of them spoke first: "I believe everyone has already seen that he wants to provoke us." Everyone nodded in response, indicating that they thought so too. Now it was getting dark, and if they rushed into battle, they would inevitably fall into an ambush.
Seeing his spotlight stolen, Cao Dazhang was furious. Although he could tell that Lin Hai was trying to provoke him into battle, that view had already been expressed. To outsmart everyone, Cao Dazhang had to offer a counter-argument: "I think the Qinghe Army wants us to think they're setting an ambush so we won't fight. You know, they haven't established a firm foothold yet, and it's already late, yet they haven't even set up camp. This shows they came in such a hurry that they didn't even anticipate us advancing beyond Suijiu County. That's why they're trying to stop us from sending troops this way. If we take advantage of their tactic, we can catch them off guard."
It must be said that Cao Dazhang had some prestige within the coalition forces. As soon as he finished speaking, someone chimed in, "Cao Dazhang's words make sense. Look, there's not even a period at the end of their sentence. You can imagine it was written in a hurry, simply because they don't want us to send troops. If we lead the army into battle now, not only will we completely annihilate the Qinghe Army, but we'll likely break their seal."
Hearing someone agree, Cao Dajia felt that he had won back a city. He narrowed his eyes and looked at the leaders of the coalition army, feeling quite proud. But then he heard someone respond, "If that's the case, Cao Dajia is also the main force of our coalition army. Otherwise, Cao Dajia will lead the army to attack. We are willing to let Cao Dajia lead the first victory."
It had been a long time since anyone had spoken so righteously about sending people to their deaths. For a moment, Cao Da Dang felt that he had not even known that there was such a shameless person in the coalition forces. It seemed that he had been negligent in his daily life.
Everyone looked at Cao Da, who was silent out of embarrassment. In fact, they knew in their hearts that the Qinghe Army might not have a firm foothold, but there was also an ambush. However, if they wanted to test the Qinghe Army's strength, they must have a fearless leader to lead the charge. Every leader claimed to be fearless when he joined the army, and his brothers also said they were willing to go through fire and water for the leader, but everyone knew that it was just talk, just like everyone said they were very stable when interviewing at a new company and would not want to leave once they joined. In fact, as long as someone could afford the money, they would leave without hesitation.
The silence was finally broken by the scout captain in charge of outer reconnaissance. According to the scouts' reports, the Qinghe army's vanguard retreated after confirming the location and size of the coalition's main camp. This retreat also included a third of the Qinghe army's vanguard, which had already passed Hulukou. Currently, the Qinghe army had left some troops to guard Hulukou, but the main force had set up camp on the other side, apparently also to guard against a surprise attack by the coalition forces.
Hearing the Qinghe Army's cooperation, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. After all, they were all high-ranking officials, and they still had to maintain their dignity. If the stalemate continued, someone might be forced to rush out with his men in a desperate fight. His death wouldn't matter, and everyone might even be happy about it. But if the coalition forces were to suffer a loss of strength and morale, it would be a loss that outweighed the gains.
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