Chapter 91

Chen Lie was not at a loss to guess the intentions behind Li Xianghai and Su Yuan's suggestions, but as the commander of the eastern wing's troops, he could not be merely greedy for military achievements. He had to consider many things, and this matter could not be decided hastily. He looked at the chief secretary, Sun Gan.

In terms of strategy, Chen Lie was more inclined to follow Sun Gan's advice.

Sun Gan pondered for a moment, then nodded and said, "General Li's words are very true. To seize fleeting opportunities, we indeed need a mobile cavalry camp..."

From Chen Gan's perspective, whether or not they could capture opportunities and gain military achievements before reaching Yanchuan Prefecture was secondary.

Typically, generals would not easily hand over their private troops, who were usually the most elite forces in the army. Now, the generals were unwilling to play a supporting role and were eager to gain military achievements in special ways, even willing to hand over part of their private troops to form an independent elite cavalry camp. This was a rare opportunity for Chen Lie to strengthen his control over the eastern wing's troops and expand his power and influence.

This would also help enhance the combat strength of the eastern wing's troops.

In short, the cavalry camp should be formed if conditions permit. After it is formed, the decision on how to use it still lies with Lord Chen Lie.

Sun Gan, Su Yuan, and others were there to offer suggestions, but the final decision was still up to Chen Lie himself. He was also familiar with their personalities and knew from what angle they would consider these issues.

He knew that forming an elite cavalry camp at this time would be easy, but once the cavalry camp was formed, it would carry the strong desire of the generals to gain military achievements. At that time, it would not be up to him, the commander, to decide whether to use it or not.

However, forming the cavalry camp first would indeed give them more initiative.

Since the generals all had this intention, and forming the cavalry camp would have a significant impact on subsequent military deployments, Chen Lie decided to first discuss the formation of the cavalry camp.

The result of the discussion was that the generals would allocate one-third to one-half of the troops from the patrol camp and the guard camp, forming three camps of six hundred elite cavalry each, led by Zhang Huaiyu, Chen Yu, and Xie Quan, and incorporated into Chen Lie's central army...

Chen Lie's foundation was still somewhat shallow, and even in the eastern wing's troops, the influence of the Chai family was no less than Chen Lie's.

Zhang Huaiyu was not assigned to Chai Teng's camp, but he was the representative of the Chai family in the eastern wing.

Generals closely related to the Chai family were willing to hand over their private troops to Zhang Huaiyu for centralized use, while others like Li Xianghai were willing to hand over their private troops to Chen Lie's direct subordinates for centralized command...

In the eastern wing's cavalry camp, Zhang Huaiyu was the main general, with Chen Yu and Xie Quan as deputy generals. They also included sixty elite disciples, attendants, and senior officials from the Huanglongyuan Daoist Academy, as well as Xuan cultivators, to enhance the combat strength of the cavalry camp.

The generals' private troops were all elite, and at least formed into small squads, all with a certain foundation in cavalry combat. With a little reorganization, they could form an army, and Zhang Huaiyu, Chen Yu, and Xie Quan would lead them out of Yulong Mountain to a range of two to three hundred li south of the mountain for vigilance and standby...

Once the war began, any military potential had to be fully mobilized. The basic defensive forces at the Yishiyuan would remain, and Ge Tong, Qian Wenyi, and others would also be incorporated into the cavalry camp.

Chen Lie still had too few people who could stand on their own. As an only daughter, Chen Qing's cultivation was stuck at the mid-stage of the Spirit Opening Realm and could not break through further. At this time, she naturally had to take on her responsibilities and join the cavalry camp in battle.

This cavalry camp, though not quite two thousand strong, was the most elite force of the eastern wing's troops.

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The spirit crane found Chen Hai and his group in the morning.

Chen Hai and his group of sixty to seventy people were hiding in a dense forest in a deep valley, but the familiar scent they emitted did not escape the keen perception of the spirit crane.

To avoid being intercepted by enemy strong forces, the letter carried by the spirit crane, even with coded language, could not be too specific. When Zhao Shan opened the metal tube and read the military order on the silk paper, he said with a puzzled look, "The main camp only wants us to keep the spirit crane with us and maintain constant communication..."

Chen Hai and Zhou Jun exchanged a smile.

In the enemy's defensive line, if they really encountered danger, they could not expect the eastern wing's troops to send reinforcements. The main camp wanted them to keep the spirit crane with them, which meant they were expected to immediately send a message back when they encountered significant opportunities.

It seemed their previous guess was correct. In the early stages of the war, the eastern wing's troops would have few opportunities to gain military achievements, but the generals were eager to establish their own achievements.

By not returning and boldly infiltrating behind enemy lines, they had indeed seized the initiative. For the eastern wing's troops to gain military achievements, they would still rely on timely communication from them; otherwise, it would be difficult for small-scale cavalry camps to accurately search for opportunities within a radius of seven to eight hundred li.

Once the Wuhui Army broke through the northern defensive line of the Hexiang Army, the large number of fleeing soldiers would only need two to three days to retreat to Hexi Ridge. The main forces would always pursue the fleeing soldiers or make large-scale maneuvers, but the opportunities for the flank troops to participate in combat would be fleeting.

Zhou Jun, Zhao Shan, Shen Kun, and others led many bandits and slaves to hide in the valley, while Chen Hai and Wu Meng, along with a few elite troops like Qi Hanjiang, went out of the mountain on foot to investigate the situation in nearby counties.

The Wuhui Army's Shen Liang infiltrated Yulong Mountain and split the Iron Wall Mountain at night. This unusual phenomenon could be clearly seen even from a thousand li away.

People with some knowledge in the area south of Yulong Mountain realized last night that the war between the two towns would not be delayed until after the New Year and could break out at any time. Moreover, the scale of the Wuhui Army emerging from Yulong Mountain would far exceed their imagination, sweeping over the land south of Yulong Mountain like an iron flood.

The northern troops of the Hexiang Army probably did not want to flee without a fight. At this time, a large number of cavalry scouts had been released from Yanchuan Prefecture, with three to five riders every three to five hundred steps, spread out to monitor the movements in the southern foothills of Yulong Mountain.

Chen Hai and his group had just the right timing, sneaking out at night and crossing the alert line before it was fully established.

Otherwise, even with the cover of night, it would be difficult for Chen Hai and his group to silently cross the Hexiang Army's dense alert line before the war began.

Behind this alert line, there were not many influential families in Yanchuan Prefecture, but the local gentry and officials were in complete panic. Some fled to the nearby Yanchuan Prefecture, believing that the well-defended Yanchuan Prefecture with large defensive formations would not be easily captured. Some rural gentry realized the situation was far more severe than they imagined and directly abandoned Yanchuan Prefecture, fleeing south with their families. Of course, many gentry were still watching the situation, lacking the ability to make decisive decisions.

For those who decided to flee, there were too many things to pack and take with them, and where could they find so many carts and horses in a short time?

With so many refugees, the normally spacious highways became extremely crowded. Donkeys, horses, oxen, large and small carts, children, and people carrying loads all went on the road. If a cart's wheel broke, the entire highway would be blocked, and the snow on both sides would be trampled into mud, making it difficult for carts and horses to pass.

Except for the elite cavalry and Xuan cultivators who could take detours through the wilderness, the northern defense line of the Hexiang Army, mainly composed of infantry, was delayed and could not move...

Chen Hai and his group sneaked out at night, crossed the low hills, and circled around to the southeast of Yanchuan Prefecture. At this time, they found that the counties south of Yanchuan Prefecture were even more chaotic, with the highways crowded with fleeing civilians, and traffic was completely paralyzed.

Seeing these situations, Chen Hai suspected that the Grand Protector General's Office had already bypassed the Yulong Camp and sent a large number of spies and secret agents directly into the Lanchuan Prefecture, managing to stir up the people in a short time, causing a large number of refugees to block the highways, making it impossible for the Hexiang Army's northern infantry to move.

At this time, whether the garrison in Hexi Ridge wanted to move north to support or the garrison in Yanchuan and other cities wanted to retreat south, it would be extremely difficult, and only well-trained elite cavalry could cross the snow-covered mountains and wilderness.

The next day, Chen Hai circled around to the southernmost county of Yanchuan Prefecture, Chishan County, put on the uniform of the Hexiang Army, and pretended to be a part of the reinforcements coming from Hexi Ridge, openly wandering on the highways and in the snow.

On the first day, Chen Hai's group intercepted two Hexiang Army messengers heading north, dragged them to a secluded place, and killed them. They read two letters from Hexi Ridge, seeing that the Hexiang Army was in a panic, with the orders in the two letters, which were only two hours apart, contradicting each other.

However, several Dao Dan realm experts had already arrived at Hexi Ridge to take charge, but with the army unable to move, these experts dared not rashly enter Yanchuan Prefecture for fear of being trapped by the Wuhui Army.

From the contradictory orders in the two letters, Chen Hai could roughly see that the Hexiang Army still hoped that the prestige of the Great Yan Empire and the Tianzhu Prefecture could deter the Wuhui Army from acting recklessly, and they still expected the troops along the Yanchuan Prefecture line to hold their ground and not easily abandon the city and retreat south.

Of course, they would not forget to ruthlessly plunder the wealthy gentry along the way. Besides creating greater chaos, Chen Hai and his group did not mind filling their own pockets as well.

"What are you thinking about?" Seeing Chen Hai lost in thought while looking at the two Hexiang Army orders from Hexi Ridge, Zhou Jun and Wu Meng rode over and asked.

"Should we hold these orders and enter Chishan County, will we expose any flaws?" Chen Hai waved the letters in his hand and asked.

Chen Hai and his group originally planned to pretend to be reinforcements to create chaos and wait for the Hexiang Army's defense to collapse before intercepting the fleeing soldiers.

They were not without flaws in their disguise, but in the initial chaos, there were many groups creating chaos, not just Chen Hai and his group.

The gentry in the counties between Hexi Ridge and Yulong Mountain were not at the level of influential families, but more were the vassals of influential families, and many had private armed forces of a certain scale. Even though they were on the road to the south, many still emerged to take advantage of the chaos.

It seemed that in just one night, dozens of bandit groups emerged from various corners, and Chen Hai and his group, even if their disguise was exposed, would be seen as just another bandit group taking advantage of the chaos.

At this time, intercepting these two letters, Chen Hai changed his mind.

Seeing Chen Hai's intention to directly pretend to be reinforcements and enter Chishan County with the letters, Zhou Jun and Wu Meng were both shocked. Chen Hai's idea was too bold and reckless...

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