Chapter 730-Troops Split Four Fronts
Translator: ryangohsf
Editor: Nora
In contrast to Yunnan City-State, Lingnan City-State was connected to Xiangnan City-State and was also the starter and core member of the alliance of the four City-States.
Furthermore, Yuan Ping was one of those that wanted to destroy Shanhai City.
Hence, the moment they wiped out Lingnan City-State, it would be like half of the alliance was wiped out. If they took the chance to wipe out Yunnan City-State as well, the enemy would just fall apart without them even attacking.
However, Lingnan City-State was the first City-State in China and the most mature and developed one; their bond was exceedingly solid, and they had a relationship with the Yanhuang Alliance.
To take it down through conventional means was extremely difficult.
One could foresee that if Shanhai City chose to attack Yunnan City-State and destroyed it, the three other City-States would reach a new level of cooperation.
If the three of them combined into one entity, they could lock down Shanhai City's road up north.
All things considered, to break this situation, they needed to take down Lingnan City-State.
Another good matter was that east of Lingnan was Gong Chengshi's Chuanbei Province and Xunlong Dianxue's Minnan Province.
Getting pass Lingnan City-State, the pressure on the east would be greatly reduced. Then they could redeploy forces to face Chuanbei City-State and Xiangnan City-State.
Even to say that Ouyang Shuo could directly go and handle ASEAN.
The only accident would be the matter with Xunlong Dianxue. Even so, it would not change the strategy set by Shanhai City.
Zhenhai City, general tent.
The oil lamp light flickered; Huo Qubing was dressed in martial attire. Standing up, his expression was solemn, "Monarch's secret orders!" As he spoke, he took out an imperial decree.
"Receive the orders!"
With a Shua! Fan Lihua, Shi Wanshui, and Er'Lai all bowed toward the imperial decree.
Seeing the decree was like seeing the Monarch himself.
Huo Qubing slowly opened it and read, "Imperial decree, Guards Legion, Dragon Legion Corps 2nd legion, Tiger Legion Corps 3rd legion, and City Protection Legion will become the East Conquering Army. Appointing General Huo Qubing as the East Conquering Army Commander, any matter will be decided by the commander like it's an order from me."
As he spoke, Huo Qubing took out the talisman and showed the three generals.
"We will follow the orders!"
Out of the four generals, not only was Huo Qubing the only God General; his military rank was the highest and he was a legendary general. With him leading, the other three naturally did not have anything to say.
"Greetings, commander!"
Shi Wanshui and the other two bowed, forming a commander-subordinate relationship.
Huo Qubing nodded, his eyes shining with excitement. This was the first time he had truly led troops to battle since joining Shanhai City. Moreover, he could lead close to 300 thousand troops.
Even during the Hanwu Emperor time, Huo Qubing had not ruled over such a huge army.
The troops under him were also exceedingly star studded, the vicious Er'Lai, the ferocious and courageous Shi Wanshui, and the heroic Fan Lihua; they were all famous generals. The 20 Major Generals under the four legions were all great generals.
Huo Qubing knew that he had to prove that he was worthy of being a God General through this battle. After calming himself down, Huo Qubing started to assign the roles of the generals, "Shi Wanshui!"
"General is present!"
"I order you act as the front general to enter through Jiaozhou Prefecture and annihilate all enemies and take down all the cities." Huo Qubing handed out the first soldier talisman.
"Yes general!"
Shi Wanshui looked rather excited, receiving the soldier talisman with both hands.
The front general was the undoubted vanguard. The commander gave such an important task to the 2nd legion of the Tiger Legion Corps was enough to prove his trust in them, and it was the utmost praise to them.
Er'Lai and Fan Lihua had envious expressions.
"Fan Lihua!" Huo Qubing continued.
"Present!"
Fan Lihua was similarly dressed in martial attire; her voice was crisp but filled with killing intent.
"I appoint you as the right general, leading troops through the east of Jiaozhou Prefecture to destroy the cities. At the same time, get ready to help the front troops; do not act on your own." Huo Qubing solemnly ordered.
"Yes commander!"
Fan Lihua nodded solemnly. She had led the troops housed in Zhenhai City, so she could be considered familiar with half of Lingnan Province. Hence, she was exceedingly suited to lead them.
As for helping out the front troops, there was meaning within.
During the ancient cold weapons era, when the troops exceeded the hundred thousand scale, they could not all gather and needed to split up.
There were three main reasons.
First, the grain problem.
The biggest problem in ancient warfare was the grain problem. If the army exceeded a hundred thousand, the grain needed would reach a sky high amount. The grain support troops in charge of sending the grain would need to be increased by several times.
The burden on a country was enough to drag a rich country down into the depths; they could fall to an irrecoverable state.
There were many related situations in history, the most famous one being Suiyang Emperor taking down Goguryeo, sending a large quantity of grain from the south to the far north.
Before a cart of grain reached the destination, a large portion was eaten by the person transporting it. Finally, when they handed it over, all that remained were broken chariots.
Luckily, in this battle, the grain supply was not too big a problem.
In the 3rd year of Gaia, the territories that were able to survive basically did not have a grain shortage problem. Hence, the granaries of the cities en route were all filled with grain.
Not to mention it was already the 9th month and the first rice harvesting season was over, so the grain supplies were plentiful. The army could use war to build up their grain supply along the way.
Secondly, the war commanding problem.
In olden times, they did not have such advanced communication systems, so one person commanding so many troops was impossible.
During the start of a war, the commander could only move the troops on a large scale. If he was not careful, there might be communication breakdown and that would result in the army fighting for themselves or escaping in all four directions.
Even a God General could not control over a hundred thousand troops by themselves.
A professional army like Shanhai City was still okay. After all, they were well trained, and the military conscription followed modern day armies so it was reasonable.
In olden times, it was different and many armies were formed all of a sudden.
If they were not careful, it would result in all of the soldiers escaping.
In history, there was a famous Battle of Fei River where before the army led by Fu Jian fought the Dong Pu Army, they fell by themselves.
The Battle of Fei River was going to be the next battle map.
Thirdly, the traveling problem.
After all, an official path had limited space. If over one hundred thousand troops moved at once, they would form a terrifying long dragon.
Not mentioning that one would not be able to see the end of it, for a cavalry unit to run from the back to the front would take a few hours. Many times, the front would have already engaged while the back was still casually strolling to the front.
...
In the tent, the assignments continued.
"Er'Lai!" Huo Qubing called out the last name.
"Present!"
Er'Lai was like an iron tower, walking out confidently.
"I appoint you as the left general to lead the troops through the west of Jiaozhou to crush and siege cities. Get ready to assist the front troops and do not act on your own." Huo Qubing gave similar orders.
"Understood!" Er'Lai received the soldier talisman.
With that, the troops became a trident that would stab into the heart of the Lingnan City-State.
Jiaozhou Prefecture was not only the biggest prefecture in Lingnan but also the most developed one. Taking it down would mean removing more than half of the soldiers of the Lingnan City-State.
More importantly, the 150 thousand Alliance Army of Lingnan City-State was gathered at the border of Zhaoqing Prefecture. At the moment, they were facing off with the 1st and 2nd legions of the Tiger Legion Corps.
Huo Qubing's goal was to work with the Tiger Legion Corps to destroy the 150 thousand Alliance Army.
"After taking down the Alliance Army, this battle will already be half won." Huo Qubing said confidently and excitedly.
"But," Ouyang Shuo's words changed, his expression solemn, "The enemy has the home court advantage and can teleport. If things go wrong, they could break through our army."
Since Shanhai City could do the teleportation trick, they enemy naturally could to.
Teleporting the three legions had cost 210 thousand of Shanhai City's gold. At the crucial moment, Yuan Ping and the others definitely would not mind spending gold to pay for the teleportation costs.
With that, the Alliance Army could form a teleportation network. Teleporting two to three times was something that they could definitely afford.
"With that, it also means that the enemy could appear in every territory that we did not destroy. Hence, the various troops must ensure that no one is left out." Huo Qubing continued, "More importantly, you all must keep in contact."
"The moment the enemy sets an ambush in a city and tries to trap us, the other two groups must rush over to help."
"Understood!" Shi Wanshui and the rest nodded.
Such things had happened when Shanhai City fought in Leizhou Prefecture and Zhaoqing Prefecture.
Huo Qubing knew that those present were all famous generals and did not need further instructions from him. He smiled, "The enemy setting ambushes is a crisis but also an opportunity. The Black Snake Guards and the Shanhai Guards have set up an intel network around Lingnan. No matter which city they teleport to, we can find out right away."
The current Shanhai City intel network was not something that could be compared to when they attacked Zhaoqing and Leizhou Prefecture. Ouyang Shuo had spent millions of gold on them, so how could they be useless?
If Lingnan City-State wanted to use this chance to set a trap, they would be making a grave mistake.
"The moment we confirm the enemy teleportation location, we will lock them down. Along with the Tiger Legion Corps on the west, we will surround them and trap them in the city." Huo Qubing said.
"Understood!"