Military formations weren’t knowledge that could be mastered instantly. At least Ye Li, currently on the battlefield, really couldn’t help Feng Zhiyao much in this aspect. Even if she could understand and come up with ideas, there was no way to make the Mo Family Army soldiers fighting intensely below the city walls comprehend her intentions in such a short time. Moreover, Ye Li, who was merely a beginner in formation tactics, wouldn’t be so arrogant as to think she could immediately compete in deploying troops against the Zhennan King of Xiling, who was known as the God of War. Standing at the high point, Ye Li stared intently at the battlefield below. Sure enough, after several formation changes, the Mo Family Army’s formation gradually began to scatter, falling into the Xiling army’s encirclement.
“Princess…” Qin Feng frowned, wanting anxiously to say something. Though he came from the Black Cloud Cavalry, he wasn’t their highest commander. Moreover, cavalry generally didn’t use many formations, and he wasn’t particularly skilled in them. But this didn’t prevent him from seeing the fact that the Mo Family Army was gradually losing.
Ye Li raised her hand to stop what he wanted to say, lowered her head in thought for a moment, and then said, “Feng San indeed isn’t Lei Zhenting’s match. Let’s end it here for today.” This battle appeared fierce, but neither side had used its full strength – it was merely a probe. Qin Feng said, “Our army is trapped in Xiling’s formation, I’m afraid it won’t be easy to get out. Princess… does the Princess have a way to break the formation?” As if by habit, Qin Feng looked hopefully toward Ye Li. Though they hadn’t been following the Princess for very long, they had unconsciously come to see her as an omnipotent genius. Ye Li shook her head, smiling slightly, “Regarding the art of formations, I truly don’t understand much.”
Hearing this, Qin Feng also became somewhat dejected. No matter how impressive the Princess was, she was still only in her teens – how could she know everything? Many generals spent decades and still might not fully master these concepts. This time, those who remained by the Princess’s side were all young commanders, and the only relatively experienced one, Marquis Nan, had been sent by the Princess to carry out other tasks. Moreover, in Qin Feng’s view, even if Marquis Nan were here, he probably couldn’t handle the Zhennan King of Xiling. Ye Li thoughtfully rubbed her fingertips and smiled faintly, “Since… technical skill and intelligence can’t solve the problem, then we can only… solve it with brute force.” Qin Feng was startled, unable to understand Ye Li’s meaning, but then saw Ye Li leisurely walk down from the high platform to stand beside Feng Zhiyao, who was observing the battle at the city wall. Before Qin Feng could even think, a brilliant red flame rose into the sky with a sharp whistle. Then an earth-shaking sound of hoofbeats arose from the southwest corner, like a black tornado instantly sweeping across the entire battlefield. At the same time, the Mo Family Army forces that had been split apart by the Xiling army suddenly connected in an extremely short time, breaking through from the enemy’s abdomen outward, and forming a larger formation with surrounding allies like a sharp arrowhead that carved a crack in the Xiling army’s massive formation. The newly arrived Black Cloud Cavalry didn’t stay to fight or leave – they shuttled back and forth across the battlefield, instantly tearing the originally neat formation to pieces.
Behind the Xiling army, at the central command position, an Xiling general watched these suddenly appearing Black Cloud Cavalry with a shocked expression, “What formation is this?!”
The Zhennan King’s smile faded as he thoughtfully gazed at the distant city walls and said, “This isn’t any formation!” Before absolute power, any formation was just empty talk. The Mo Family Army’s strength was slightly superior to the Xiling Army’s – what they lacked was manpower and truly outstanding commanders. To compete with the Mo Family Army, he had long prepared to pay the corresponding price. Now with the Black Cloud Cavalry’s fresh forces joining in, victory naturally became uncertain. A general beside him suggested, “Should we push forward the troops behind to annihilate the Mo Family Army outside the city?” The Zhennan King shook his head, “It’s too late, they’re about to retreat.”
Sure enough, the sound of the gong signaling retreat rang out from Hongzhou City. The city gates instantly opened and under the cover of the Black Cloud Cavalry, the Mo Family Army forces that had just broken out of the Xiling army’s encirclement charged into the city, with the Black Cloud Cavalry providing rear guards also galloping toward the city gates. What greeted the pursuing Xiling soldiers was a rain of arrows from the Mo Family Army defending the city. Seeing this scene, the generals around the Zhennan King began cursing, “These Eastern Chu people are so despicable, running away when they can’t beat us!” The Zhennan King laughed instead of getting angry, saying, “Of course, you run when you can’t win. However… this move by Ye Li has made one thing clear to me. Inside this Hongzhou city… there isn’t any commander capable of great responsibility. Feng Zhiyao alone might be able to handle things independently after several more years of tempering, but he’s still too green now.” The generals thought about it – wasn’t that right? With equal forces on both sides, the Eastern Chu people needed the late-arriving Black Cloud Cavalry to rescue them before they could retreat into the city – if that wasn’t a lack of capable commanders, what was it?
“Mo Xiuyao is simultaneously fighting against three allied armies within the passes. Even if Mo Xiuyao is extraordinary, he can’t handle everything. Most likely all the Mo Family Army’s capable commanders followed Mo Xiuyao into the passes.”
“Isn’t that so? Mo Xiuyao left the northwest to a woman – it’s clear the Mo Family Army truly has no one left!” While the generals were discussing, the Zhennan King turned his gaze back to that cyan figure on Hongzhou’s walls. These days, the Mo Family Army’s continuous retreats and today’s victory had caused the Xiling generals to develop some contempt for the Mo Family Army. But as their commander, the Zhennan King hadn’t – not only had he not grown contemptuous, he had become even more wary of that young Dingguo Princess. These days they had indeed been continuously victorious, but they hadn’t gained any real advantage in Hongzhou. Along their entire route, the ripe grain in various northwestern regions had already been hastily harvested, and what little couldn’t be harvested was burned completely clean. These days, rather than saying the Mo Family Army was resisting, it would be more accurate to say they were delaying their steps to let Hongzhou’s citizens harvest grain. According to his intelligence, Ye Li had even dispatched Mo Family troops to help citizens with the harvest. This invisibly increased the urgency of having to capture Hongzhou early, because in another month, the northwest would truly enter severe winter. At that time, many places would have roads blocked by heavy snow – even if they had grain, they might not be able to transport it. And their provisions and military supplies absolutely couldn’t last until spring next year.
The closer they got to Hongzhou, the more the Zhennan King had a feeling that the Mo Family Army had deliberately led them to Hongzhou. But he couldn’t understand the Mo Family Army’s – or rather, Ye Li’s – thinking. Behind Hongzhou was the flat plain inside the passes, and from Ye Li’s performance these days, she didn’t seem to have the confidence or strength to keep him outside Hongzhou city. The Mo Family Army didn’t even have a single expert in deploying formations now. The Zhennan King didn’t understand – he always thought he gave Ye Li enough respect, but when he believed the Mo Family Army had no commanders who could act independently, that was already a form of underestimation. He would never have thought that what Ye Li wanted wasn’t to keep the Xiling army outside Hongzhou city, but rather… to annihilate the 200,000 Xiling troops in Hongzhou!
Watching that cyan-robed woman on the city tower who seemed to nod at him, the Zhennan King’s heart suddenly skipped a beat. A strange unease instantly gripped his spirit, but even after repeated calculations, he still couldn’t find the source of this unease. After thinking it over, the Zhennan King turned back to camp, “Send fast horses with orders for the 300,000 troops stationed at the Xiling border to quickly advance to Hongzhou along with provisions.” The general beside him was startled and hesitantly said, “My Lord, the marching speed of an army transporting large quantities of provisions…” The border-stationed troops were carrying provisions sufficient for 400,000 troops through winter – naturally, their marching speed to Hongzhou wouldn’t be very fast. The Zhennan King snorted lightly, “As long as they make it before we enter the passes. If you’re any slower, we might have already reached the capital while you still haven’t broken through Hongzhou City!” The following generals couldn’t help but blush, all showing dissatisfied expressions. If they couldn’t even defeat a woman, they wouldn’t have the face to return to Xiling. “Within five days, we must break through Hongzhou!”
“I’ll be watching with interest.”
Inside Hongzhou city, Feng Zhiyao looked at Ye Li with an embarrassed expression and smiled, “If the Princess hadn’t been prepared today, the Mo Family troops who went out to meet battle might not have made it back. I’m truly still far too lacking…” Ye Li smiled at him and said, “Although you’ve been fighting on battlefields since your youth, you haven’t fought in many years. In terms of experience, you naturally can’t compare to the Zhennan King who has spent half his life in warfare. Today’s lesson tells us it’s best not to pit our weaknesses against others’ strengths.” Feng Zhiyao helplessly spread his hands and said, “In face-to-face combat, what matters is deploying formations. If we just let soldiers charge up in groups, even more would die. But the Princess is right – this style of fighting only disadvantages us. When two armies are equally matched, it comes down to formations.” If it were that rabble under Mo Jingli in the south back then, who would care about formations? They could just charge up and scare those small-fry to death.
Ye Li was also quite helpless. The most experienced Marquis Nan in the army had been sent away by her. And regarding formations, the others probably weren’t even as good as Feng Zhiyao, who had learned from Mo Xiuyao since childhood. Although she understood some meaning, for someone more accustomed to modern military affairs, it was truly very difficult to grasp the essence of these ancient formations. Even reading many military books was useless without truly being able to integrate into that wartime environment. Not everyone who read Sun Tzu’s Art of War and the Thirty-Six Stratagems could become an unparalleled commander. Lowering her head in thought, Ye Li said, “Try to avoid such face-to-face combat as much as possible. How are the preparations for what I mentioned the other day coming along?”
Feng Zhiyao nodded and said, “Everything has been arranged according to the Princess’s wishes. Princess…” After hesitating, Feng Zhiyao still asked, “There aren’t any important matters in Hongzhou city now, has the Princess considered entering the passes first?”
“Enter the passes?” Ye Li raised an eyebrow, turning to look at Feng Zhiyao following behind her. His young and handsome face was full of worry.
Ye Li shook her head and said, “I can’t leave Hongzhou now. If I’m not in Hongzhou, the Zhennan King might notice our intentions. I’m here… precisely to make him believe that the Mo Family Army will defend Hongzhou to the death.”
“But…” Feng Zhiyao said worriedly, “If it were earlier I naturally wouldn’t worry. Even if caught in chaos, with the Princess’s abilities plus Qilin, you could at least escape safely. But now… if something unexpected happens…” Although it wasn’t visible now, the Princess was after all with child. The battlefield could change in an instant – no one knew what accidents might happen. Ye Li said in a deep voice, “There won’t be accidents, and also… send people to escort Han Mingyue and Su Zuidie away. As for Qilin… I have other uses for them.”
Feng Zhiyao’s expression darkened as he firmly blocked Ye Li’s path and said, “Qilin is for protecting the Princess’s safety.”
Ye Li looked up at him, frowning as she said, “This Princess didn’t painstakingly train Qilin to be used as a guards. Without them… at least half of this plan would fail. Feng San, think clearly about the consequences of several hundred thousand Xiling troops entering the passes before speaking to this Princess.” Having finished, Ye Li turned and walked down from the city tower without paying any more attention to Feng Zhiyao. Feng Zhiyao sighed helplessly – how could he not know what the Princess was considering? Not to mention the destruction several hundred thousand Xiling troops would bring to the common people inside the passes, not to mention the harm to Da Chu’s reign from Xiling’s invasion of the central plains, just the threat several hundred thousand troops posed to the Mo Family Army inside the passes was enough to make them exhaust all efforts to intercept these invaders outside Hongzhou city. But… they absolutely couldn’t let anything unexpected happen to the Princess. Feng Zhiyao truly dared not imagine what Mo Xiuyao’s reaction would be if something happened to the Princess.
“General Feng?” A subordinate following behind reminded softly.
Feng Zhiyao rubbed his brow and said, “Double the guards around the Princess. They don’t need to do anything else – the moment Hongzhou city falls, immediately escort the Princess out of the city!”
“Yes.”
Meanwhile, in the Da Chu imperial capital, the golden and resplendent palace was even more cold and quiet than usual. In the imperial study, Mo Jingqi stared with a gloomy expression at the person prostrated on the ground and said in an icy voice, “Mo Xiuyao fights across the passes while the Dingguo Princess leads 200,000 troops to resist the Xiling Zhennan King?” The man kneeling below shivered at the coldness in that tone and said tremblingly, “In reply to Your Majesty, this is the news from the northwest… The Dingguo Princess leads the Mo Family Army garrison in the northwest, retreating to Hongzhou. It seems she plans to fight a decisive battle with the Xiling army near Hongzhou… Several generals near Hongzhou inside the passes have submitted memorials requesting support for the Dingguo Princess!”
“Silence!” Mo Jingqi said coldly, his chest heaving with rapid breathing. Support the Dingguo Princess… win this battle and add to the Dingguo Princess’s reputation as a woman matching men in valor. After so many years finally bringing down Mo Xiuyao, who would have thought he would not only stand up again but also gain a wife who could fight battles? “Ye Li…” Mo Jingqi regretted countless times in his heart – why had he given Ye Li to Mo Xiuyao back then? His heart stirred, suddenly remembering something, “How is the situation with the Xu family in Yunzhou now?”
The kneeling official’s heart seized up. He secretly glanced at the emperor on the throne and carefully said, “The Xu family… Elder Qingyun and Master Hongyu are still teaching at Lishan Academy, without any unusual activity.” His heart pounded suddenly – he had a feeling that the high and mighty emperor might have gone mad. The Xu family was the leader of the world’s scholars. In peaceful times it might not matter, but now Da Chu faced both internal troubles and external threats with warfare breaking out everywhere, yet the emperor still wanted to move against the Xu family. It should be known… at least half of the officials in the world were Elder Qingyun’s students, and the Xu family had given the emperor absolutely no handle to grasp.
Mo Jingqi remained silent for a long time before finally speaking, “I understand. You may withdraw.”
“Your Majesty… the border generals’ requests for battle…”
“Requests for battle?” Mo Jingqi’s cold laugh made people’s hearts grow cold. “You may go. I will handle it.”
“This subject takes his leave.”