Chapter 1141 A Moment's Intention
As the sunlight broke through the clouds and spread evenly across the land, Xiao Yuansui's army of 100,000 men marched in, completely covering the entire land east of Hulao Pass and Sishui River, with the dust they stirred up almost obscuring the sun.
Upon seeing this, the soldiers on the city wall all changed their expressions.
They hadn't just seen the scene clearly yet. Before Xiao Yuansui's army even entered the area they could see, scouts had already returned to report. And soon after, those standing on the city wall felt the earth tremble—the simultaneous movement of hundreds of thousands of troops not only shook the ground and caused sand and gravel to churn, but even the Yellow River not far away began to flow turbulently.
Then, the army arrayed itself in battle formation.
These 100,000 people were arranged into eight large formations, with four rows in total, each formation consisting of about 10,000 people. A road of more than three zhang (approximately 10 meters) was placed between them to allow cavalry to pass through and relay military orders.
However, even the soldiers with the best eyesight could only barely make out the two foremost ranks holding up heavy, black shields to protect against cavalry charges and flying arrows. The two ranks behind them were mostly archers. Once the soldiers from Hulao Pass appeared and launched a charge, those archers could immediately draw their bows and shoot arrows to repel their attack.
As for what came after that, they couldn't see clearly, but they could guess from the neighing of warhorses carried on the wind that they must be cavalry.
Seeing such a massive army formation, many soldiers showed signs of fear. Xue Lin gripped the rough battlements with one hand, his fingertips turning white, and even Shen Wuzheng frowned.
How should we fight this battle?
Shen Wuzheng turned to look at Yuwen Ye, who was standing beside him gazing into the distance. He saw that Yuwen Ye's brows were gradually furrowing, and he couldn't help but say in a deep voice, "You're the one who brought him here. What, you feel something's wrong now?"
Yuwen Ye continued to look ahead, muttering to himself, "That's not right."
Shen Tu Tai, Xue Lin, and the others around him stared at him in astonishment upon hearing this. After looking at him for a while, Yuwen Ye said softly, "Xiao Yuan Sui, something's not right."
Everyone was greatly surprised before they realized that the "wrong" he was referring to was Xiao Yuansui.
Shen Wuzheng said, "Something's not right about him."
Yuwen Ye said, "He is a man who loves adventure, or rather, he likes to advance and will not retreat unless absolutely necessary. He is also not good at defense. Therefore, he was able to take Wanggang Village, conquer Xingluo Granary, and sweep across Hebei, but he could not stop the disintegration of Wanggang Village, nor could he hold Xingluo Granary..."
When he mentioned Wanggangzhai and its disintegration, Shentu Tai shook his head slightly. He then heard someone sigh softly beside him. Looking down, he saw that Shantong'er had also climbed up the city wall at some point and was leaning on the battlements looking down. He had obviously never seen such a massive army before and couldn't help but gasp.
Shen Tu Tai reached out and gently patted his shoulder.
Shen Wuzheng's eyes were also fixed on the child, while he kept staring at Yuwen Ye: "Then you think his formation is wrong?"
Yuwen Ye shook his head: "It's not that the formation is wrong, it's that he's wrong."
When a large army is arrayed, especially when the enemy has cavalry, the front line is usually a shield formation to prevent the cavalry and infantry from breaking through the formation behind. Then come the archers to repel the enemy's attacks, followed by the infantry. This is the most common formation, but it also means that their own cavalry charges will be hindered.
In other words, psychologically, they did not intend to focus on charging forward.
However, this battle was one that Xiao Yuansui himself came to fight.
Upon hearing Yuwen Ye's explanation, Shen Tu Tai nodded slightly. Having been through many battles, he naturally saw the purpose of the formation at a glance. However, he did not understand what Yuwen Ye meant by "something is not right." After thinking about it carefully, Shen Wu Zheng realized what it meant.
He glanced at the army formation stretching for miles and said, "The fact that they are arrayed like this shows that they themselves are conflicted."
Yuwen Ye nodded: "What's strange is that he's always been a very determined person. He knows better than anyone what he wants to do and what he should do. But this time, he doesn't seem so determined."
Even he found this puzzling.
He could see through the intentions of the battle formation, but he had difficulty seeing through people's hearts.
Just then, Shan Tong'er's low muttering reached their ears: "Master said that many things are decided in a single thought."
Upon hearing this, everyone looked at him, and a glint of inspiration flashed in Yuwen Ye's eyes: "In the blink of an eye..."
While everyone was silently pondering, Xue Lin, who had no interest in what was wrong with Xiao Yuansui, became anxious and asked, "Your Highness, they've all arrived. Shouldn't we go out of the city to fight them?"
Having said that, he immediately clasped his hands in a fist and said, "This humble general requests to fight!"
As soon as he spoke, everyone's breathing quickened involuntarily, but Yuwen Ye only glanced at him indifferently and said, "Who said I was going to accept the challenge?"
"ah?"
Upon hearing this, Xue Lin was immediately stunned. He looked up at Yuwen Ye with a puzzled expression. He knew perfectly well that Xiao Yuansui would definitely retaliate for the night raid on Xiao Yuansui's camp and his wounded return. Moreover, it was he who had sent Gao Feng and Jiang Kesheng with those thousands of horses across the river to graze, deliberately feigning weakness to make the enemy think that their cavalry was short of fodder and that they could take advantage of the situation. Then, at dawn, he discovered that Xiao Yuansui's camp was indeed preparing to send out troops, so he immediately put the entire Hulao Pass on high alert. Now that Xiao Yuansui's army was at the city gates, why was he suddenly not going to fight?
Shen Tu Tai also said, "Your Highness, no war?"
Yuwen Ye turned his head and glanced at the more than 100,000 troops lined up neatly in front of him, and sneered, "They're standing very neatly. Let them stand there."
After saying that, he turned around and walked down from the city wall.
As he walked, he issued orders: "Pass down the order to close the city gates tightly. Anyone who dares to leave the city to fight will be dealt with according to military law."
All the soldiers should agree.
The people on the city wall looked at each other in confusion. Xue Lin immediately became anxious and asked Shen Tu Tai, "General Shen Tu, what's going on?"
Shen Tu Tai did not answer him immediately, but frowned slightly, pondering the words Yuwen Ye had just left behind, as if he understood something. He glanced at the vast army of 100,000 in front of him and said, "Yes, they are very well-organized."
Shen Wuzheng said, "You mean—"
The two men's eyes flickered, and they suddenly understood something.
Just as the two of them were understanding each other, and Xue Lin was getting anxious, Shan Tong'er, who was lying on the city wall, slowly took two steps back and whispered, "I don't know if Sister Ruyi is over there."
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