Call of the Heroes of Chaos in Another World

Chapter 2171 The Veteran General Rashly Charges Out Alone to Save Changling from Peril.

"The camp is set up quite well, worthy of Zhao Kuangyin." Wang Yu said calmly, gazing at the distant stretch of camps.

"call!"

Li Yuanba shook his head, and the handle of the Thunder Drum Golden Hammer struck his shoulder armor with a dull thud.

He had no interest in these convoluted observations. He couldn't understand or comprehend these things. All he knew was that if his brother told him to smash a certain place, he would just smash that place to pieces!

"Your Majesty, Zhao Kuangyin has come from afar and has only just established his base. His soldiers are exhausted, so they certainly dare not leave the camp rashly at this time!"

“At night, we should send small groups of elite cavalry to harass them and wear them down!” Ye Jiyang suggested at this moment.

Although Ye Jiyang was not a good general skilled in leading troops into battle, he was more like a fierce warrior.

However, having served in the military for so many years and followed Wang Chang for so long, he still possesses a basic understanding and knowledge of military affairs.

Now, the enemy has brought 200,000 troops, and if we add the 40,000 troops that once occupied Liangguan, the total number is 240,000.

But what about them?

There were only 100,000 soldiers, plus 5,000 Black Riders, and 1,000 White Horse Cavalry brought by Gongsun Zan after his surrender.

Not long after Gongsun Zan surrendered, he was personally received by Wang Yu, who then kept him in Henan Province.

We can't send this cavalry unit to fight a defensive battle, can we? The Shanyang area will definitely be mainly defensive, so the White Horse Cavalry won't be of much use there.

At this time, beneath Liang Pass, the Han and Song armies were more than twice as strong.

Therefore, the goal of the Han people from the very beginning was not to win, but to stop Zhao Kuangyin from entering Henan Province.

After all, their target in this battle was not the Song Dynasty, but the Great Yan in the east. The outcome of the battle depended on Yue Fei on the eastern front.

"Exhausted enemy?" Wang Yu's voice remained calm, revealing neither joy nor anger.

"Zhao Kuangyin had been in the army since childhood and had experienced many battles. He was not a reckless man. With an army of 200,000 and such a well-organized camp, a small group of elite cavalry harassing them was nothing more than adding some military merit to the archers on the camp walls."

"It's a drop in the ocean, a waste of our Han's elite troops."

He paused, his whip pointing towards the densely packed rear camp area deep within the Song camp, which was clearly less orderly than the front camp, and the slightly looser new recruit camp at the edge of the camp.

“Look at his camp, the central army and the vanguard, heavily fortified, like an iron barrel. That’s where his true elite troops, the veterans, are located.”

"These are probably not veterans of Zhenxi, but rather iron-blooded elite soldiers selected from the Song Dynasty's years of campaigns in the south and north."

"The rear camp and the two flanks, which are backed by Liang Pass, especially the newly recruited battalion commanders, although they set up camp according to regulations, exuded a sense of superficiality. The soldiers' eyes were unfocused, and their armor was put on in a sluggish manner."

“Zhao Kuangyin came from afar with an army of 200,000, whose quality was uneven. This was his weakness and his biggest burden at the moment.”

Ye Jiyang looked in the direction Wang Yu pointed and carefully examined the area, and indeed noticed something amiss.

On the front camp wall, soldiers stood at attention with guns in hand, their eyes alert and their killing intent restrained.

In contrast, the rear camp was a completely different story. Ye Jiyang had been brought into the military camp by Wang Chang when he was a teenager, and he could tell the difference between new recruits and veterans at a glance.

However, Zhao Kuangyin's rear camp was built entirely around Liang Pass, giving the Han army no opportunity to launch a large-scale attack. Clearly, the enemy was also well aware of their disadvantage.

"Your Majesty clearly shows you!"

Ye Jiyang said in a deep voice, "It was my oversight. A small-scale raid is unlikely to shake their core strength and may even alert them."

"It's not about alerting the enemy."

Wang Yu's gaze deepened, "Instead, we need to keep this giant snake on high alert at all times, never daring to relax for even a moment!"

"To exhaust the enemy, it is not about how many casualties you inflict, but about making him unable to sleep soundly or eat properly!"

The strategy of exhausting the enemy is indeed the move with the least investment but the highest relative return for them at present.

The reason was simple: Zhao Kuangyin's army was filled with new recruits, and he was exhausted by these new recruits who were relatively weak in all aspects.

Any general with some military background knows that once on the battlefield, one must be extremely cautious with one's own new recruits.

After all, if things go wrong, new recruits can drag down their veterans, which in turn directly affects the battlefield.

The more incompetent Zhao Kuangyin's new recruits were, the less the enemy dared to launch a large-scale attack.

In this way, the purpose of the burly men in stalling for time was achieved.

Therefore, Wang Yu suddenly turned his head to look at Ye Jiyang, his voice resolute: "Pass on the order!"

"The general is here!"

"You personally select five hundred Black Knights!"

"From tonight onwards, keep a close watch on the Song camp! No forceful attack is necessary, and no prolonged fighting is permitted!"

In fact, for this type of mission, the White Horse Cavalry is clearly more suitable.

Gongsun Zan's White Horse Cavalry, while not as well-rounded as the Black Cavalry, was still formidable.

However, as a light cavalry unit, and one in which everyone was skilled in mounted archery, coupled with their swift and agile nature, they were best suited for this task.

The faster you go, the harder it is for the enemy to catch you in the act.

Unfortunately, this brings us to Gongsun Zan's obsessive-compulsive disorder; the entire camp wore white horses and white armor, with no other colors whatsoever.

It's so late at night, and they've already exposed their location as soon as they left the camp!
Therefore, a light cavalry force that moves like the wind should be best suited for missions like night raids, but the White Horse Cavalry is the only light cavalry force that cannot be used for this task.

Of course, the Black Knights are also suitable for this kind of task. The Black Knights' greatest strength lies in their versatility; they can handle all sorts of missions.

As for Gongsun Zan's White Horse Cavalry, after he surrendered to the Han Dynasty, Wang Yu actually wanted to help him supplement it to a complete force of three thousand men.

But wasn't it too late?
From the time he defected to the Han Dynasty, to the time he was received by Wang Yu, to the time he officially launched a new round of war, how much time has passed?
During this period, it was far from enough to support the formation of an elite battalion. Therefore, the continued recruitment and training of the new White Horse Cavalry could only be addressed after the war.

Of course, since Gongsun Zan surrendered, the White Horse Cavalry has appeared in the Military Soul Shop, and the number is as high as three thousand.

This would not only allow the White Horse Cavalry to be fully manned again, but also allow some to be kept as reserves.

However, he still couldn't come up with 2000 or even 3000 summoning points; he could only wait until after the war! After all, once the war started, the summoning points would flow into his pocket like water!
"Yes!" Ye Jiyang's spirits lifted.

"You must find an opportunity to harass their outer outposts and scouts! Focus on sniping and traps, not on annihilating them completely, but on making them suspicious and paranoid! Make their scouts afraid to venture far, and their soldiers afraid to leave the camp at night to relieve themselves!"

"Besides that, it's also the most important!"

Wang Yu's gaze was sharp as a knife as he said, "Small units should go around and specifically target those new recruit camps! Sneaking in under cover of night, use signal arrows, horns, or even hurling bundles of cloth soaked in kerosene to create chaos!"

"Let them panic and cause chaos! If once doesn't work, try twice, three times! Let those new recruits who haven't experienced bloodshed live in constant fear, and exhaust their spirits!"

"remember!"

"The five hundred Black Riders, splitting into smaller groups, hunted like wolves. They attacked once and retreated, never engaging in prolonged combat."

"What I want is for everyone in the Song camp, from Zhao Kuangyin to the lowest-ranking new recruits, to be constantly on edge! Do you understand?"

"This subordinate understands!" Ye Jiyang's eyes flashed with a sharp light as he clasped his hands tightly and said, "Like a pack of wolves tearing at them, we will keep them in constant fear and exhaustion, running for their lives!"

"Go."

Wang Yu waved his hand, then turned his gaze back to the sprawling Song camp.

"Zhao Kuangyin wants to set up camp here and sit back and relax? I'll make sure he knows that this Liang Pass is not his Song Dynasty's territory, but the land of my Han Dynasty, and we will not tolerate their insolence!"

He turned his horse around, and the black dragon horse neighed softly.

"Return to camp and prepare to let that Zhao Kuangzi enjoy the greeting gift I have prepared for him."

A thousand cavalrymen in black armor, like an inky tide, slowly retreated down the earthen slope, calmly heading towards the Han camp.

"Send the order to all camps." Zhao Kuangyin's voice carried a hint of imperceptible fatigue and coldness. Wang Yu's arrival was sudden, and his departure was calm. He did not fire a single arrow or lose a single man, but this only made him more vigilant.

"Strengthen the camp's defenses, double the number of night patrols, and send scouts ten miles further out. Be extremely careful of enemy night attacks!"

………………

Night fell like ink spilled on the ground, the boundless blackness completely engulfing the wilderness beyond Liang Pass.

The once bustling and massive Song army camps had fallen into relative silence, with only the continuous campfires flickering in the darkness, like the rising and falling breaths of a sleeping beast.

The pitch-black night also became the Black Riders' most natural camouflage.

Although the Wang family, who favored black, weren't as obsessive-compulsive as Gongsun Zan, their Black Cavalry's armor and warhorses were also predominantly black.

However, it's impossible for someone like Gongsun Zan to insist that a white horse must be a white horse, without a single stray hair.

Old Wang's black cavalry is mainly composed of black horses; they don't care about having a few mixed-color horses. If all else fails, horses of other colors are also acceptable.

After all, given the number of Black Riders, if the Wang family were as obsessive-compulsive as Gongsun Zan, they wouldn't have been able to assemble such a force.

Ye Jiyang was also dressed in black, completely disappearing into the night. Since this mission only involved 500 people, then naturally the 500 most elite men should be dispatched. Their horsemanship, archery, stealth, and tracking skills were all top-notch, and they were also ruthless and audacious.

For this mission, they only carried a bow and arrows and a saber; they did not bring any other equipment such as lances, fishing nets, or chain hammers.

After all, this trip wasn't about a direct assault, but rather a quick retreat; it was better to lighten the load and speed up the journey.

Five hundred Black Riders, some might be in small groups of just a few people, and even the largest groups would only be a few dozen people.

Whenever they encountered Song scouts on the road, they shot and killed them. If they encountered other small groups of Song soldiers leaving the camp, they would also launch surprise attacks on them.

If there are too many people, leave immediately after one round of mounted archery.

Several groups of people sneaked into the vicinity of the Song army's rear camp under cover of darkness.

"Whoosh!"

A stray arrow shot out from nowhere and struck the wooden pillar of the sentry post with a "thud," its fletching still vibrating and humming!
"Enemy attack!" A new recruit was so terrified that he screamed at the top of his lungs!

"Where? Where are the enemies?" The others panicked even more, wildly thrusting their spears into the darkness.

"Woo, woo..."

When the bugle sounded, the Song army still thought that someone was attacking the camp, so they immediately blew their own bugles to warn the soldiers in the camp.

But after waiting for a long time, all I got was loneliness.

After several visits, even Zhao Changling, a general of the Song army, was alarmed and personally led a team to investigate the situation.

When the horn sounded again, Zhao Changling immediately led his horses to give chase, but how could they possibly catch up with the Black Riders?

Although they chased for several miles, they didn't even see a shadow of the Black Riders.

Just as he was about to return to camp in disappointment, Ye Jiyang suddenly turned around and fired a volley of arrows, killing several riders before disappearing into the darkness once again.

It's not about killing a lot of enemies, it's about messing with their mentality!
Enraged, Zhao Changling pursued the enemy alone on a furious day. His horse was fast, and if he disregarded his own troops, he was naturally able to catch up.

However, although he caught up with him, he fought Ye Jiyang for dozens of rounds but did not gain any advantage. On the contrary, he was in danger because Ye Jiyang had more than twenty Black Riders by his side.

If Zhao Kuangyin hadn't sent Zhao Kuangwu to meet him because Zhao Changling hadn't returned to camp for so long, Zhao Changling, the veteran general who originally led the western garrison, would have been left here tonight.

Back at Song's camp, Zhao Kuangyin didn't get much rest that night. After Zhao Changling hadn't returned from his post for some time, he already had a bad feeling.

His uncle sometimes had a fiery temper and couldn't handle the slightest provocation, making him easily led astray by others.

After seeing Zhao Kuangwu return safely with Zhao Changling, Zhao Kuangyin, though injured, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Shi Shouxin, Pan Mei, and other trusted generals stood by his side, all with solemn expressions. This kind of strategy of exhausting the army was always a low-cost but disgusting tactic.

“Your Majesty,” Shi Shouxin’s voice was hoarse and filled with suppressed anger.

"The thieves are cunning! Such harassment is like mosquitoes and flies; though not deadly, it has thrown the army into a panic, especially the recruit camp, where they are already in a state of shock!"

"If this continues, morale will surely collapse! This humble general requests permission to mobilize elite cavalry, expand the search, and we must find those cowardly black riders and tear them to pieces!"

"Tear him to pieces?" Zhao Kuangyin spoke slowly, his voice surprisingly calm, even carrying a hint of cold calculation. "I think Wang Yu's actions are a generous gift to me."