The Prodigal Son

Thirty li northwest of Haidong City.

Yelü Shu also learned about the Ning army's movements through spies.

"You have no intention of seizing Haidong City?"

Yelü Shu lowered his head in thought, "It seems the Ning army is wary of us!"

Although the result was not as ideal as Yelü Shu had envisioned, it was not unacceptable.

Qin Fumeng is a veteran, while Qin Yu is a rising star.

Seeing through his intentions isn't too difficult.

As long as Ning's vanguard continues to maintain distance from their rearguard, that will suffice.

They won't occupy Haidong City, they'll occupy it themselves!

First, close the distance between the two armies, so that if necessary, the vanguard cavalry of the Ning army can be restrained.

Thinking this through, Yelü Shu immediately ordered: "Pass down the order, the army must accelerate its advance, and the vanguard must be stationed in Haidong City before nightfall! At the same time, send scouts to the right flank of the Ning army to see if they are prepared!"

If the Ning army's right flank is unprepared, they can also break in from the Ning army's right flank.

When the time comes, the Ning army will surely be defeated when attacked from both sides!

As Yelü Shu's order was relayed, ten thousand Northern Qi cavalrymen immediately accelerated towards Haidong City, while Yelü Shu followed behind with five thousand men and a small amount of provisions.

These 5,000 men were hardly cavalry; they were just there to make up the numbers and to make the Ning army think that most of their troops were on the front lines, thus making them overlook the defenses in the rear.

On the way, Xiao Hu pondered for a while, then rode up to Yelü Shu's side, "Uncle, what should we do..."

"I'll remind you once again, there is no uncle of yours in the army, only General Yelü!"

Yelü Shu interrupted Xiao Hu with a dark expression and said sternly, "If this happens again, you will be punished according to military law!"

Xiao Hu's face stiffened slightly, and he quickly changed his words: "General Yelü, what if our other force's sneak attack fails?"

"Can't you say something nicer?"

Yelü Shu glared at Xiao Hu with annoyance, "What are we going to do? Failure means death, what else do you want to do?"

You little bastard!

The battle hasn't even started yet, and you're already saying such ominous things!

Yelü Xing led a small force to launch a surprise attack from behind, carrying only two days' worth of dry rations!

If the raid fails, they won't even have enough supplies to run back!

What else can we do but die?

Seeing this, Xiao Hu immediately smiled ingratiatingly: "What this humble general means is, shouldn't we prepare for a frontal assault on the enemy? In case the other army suffers a defeat, we can break through the enemy lines from the front to support them..."

"Is this how your father taught you military strategy?"

Yelü Shu glanced coldly at Xiao Hu, "Don't you think there aren't enough dead already? You want to keep giving the enemy more credit?"

idiot!

Are all the generals in Ningjun as stupid as him?

Whether they can break through the enemy's cavalry front by charging straight in is another matter entirely.

If the Ning army's right flank is prepared, when they rush in, the Ning army's right flank troops can directly flank around to the rear, or the troops on the front can simply abandon their frontal defenses and wait for them to foolishly rush in, then trap them and beat them to a pulp. Their families can then happily prepare their funerals!

The Ning army isn't without a rear guard!

Xiao Hu, feeling rebuffed, immediately fell silent, though inwardly he felt disdain.

According to him, if the other group's sneak attack fails, then they should just ignore it?

Didn't his father say that Yelü Shu was always arrogant?

They don't even dare to launch a frontal assault!

He didn't seem arrogant at all!

They were probably terrified by Ning Jun!

The two continued their march, still disliking each other.

In the afternoon, Yelü Shu received a message from the vanguard's scouts.

The right flank of Ning's army had a cavalry force of about five or six thousand men.

Only slightly behind the vanguard on the front line.

Upon receiving this news, Yelü Shu burst into laughter, "Excellent! Well done!"

Ning Jun has troops on the right flank, so he will definitely send some cavalry to the left flank to prevent them from breaking out from that dense forest!

Since Ning Jun has made such arrangements, the defense of the rear army will inevitably be lax!

Ning Jun certainly never expected that Yelü Xing would lead his troops to attack from their rear!

As long as they can hold back the Ning army's vanguard cavalry and prevent them from returning to reinforce, they will surely win this battle!

If Ning Jun's vanguard cavalry does not retreat to Danzhou, he can join forces with Yelü Xing's troops to launch a pincer attack on them!

It's not impossible to annihilate the entire enemy force!

……

It gets dark exceptionally early in winter.

Especially in locations closer to the east.

We had only been cooking lunch for a short while when it felt like it was getting dark again.

As Qin Yu was inspecting the campsite for the night, Han Chong rode up quickly and reported: "General Qin, we've spotted Northern Qi scouts to our left rear! Our scouts are wearing white cloaks, so the enemy scouts probably haven't noticed them..."

"To the left rear?"

Qin Yu and Nan Que'er looked puzzled as they listened to Han Chong's words.

Why did the enemy scouts go to their left rear to investigate?

Could it be that the enemy is planning to launch a surprise attack from their left rear?

The problem is that if the enemy wants to launch a surprise attack on them, they will definitely have to send out a large army.

How did a large number of cavalrymen end up to their left rear?

Should we go around that large forest?

But if it's this roundabout, it probably won't be that fast, right?

Although Qin Yu had ordered his men to keep an eye on the left flank and the rear, he judged that if the enemy wanted to launch a surprise attack, they would wait until they had passed the small county town ahead before launching their attack.

It seems a bit early now!

"Could it be that Yelü Shu had already hidden troops in that vast, dense forest?"

Nan Que'er frowned and asked.

"That's certainly possible."

Qin Yu nodded slightly. "However, if we hide people there a few days in advance, then the Northern Qi soldiers must be incredibly resilient to the cold."

They had been keeping an eye on the dense forest, but no one reported any smoke coming from inside.

If you don't use a fire for warmth, you might be able to tough it out for a day or two, but if you try to endure it for several days in a row, it gets a bit much.

"What's the big deal?"

Ning Huang seemed unfazed, even casting a disdainful glance at Qin Yu and the others, "Look at you all, so ignorant!"

"Beiqi is in the north, and their soldiers and horses are naturally more resistant to the cold! They can also avoid the wind by hiding in the forest, so they should be fine for a few days!"

"When the people of Beiqi migrate to their pastures in the dead of winter, they can endure a whole night without fire, even if they encounter a blizzard..."

They thought the Yan Kingdom was cold, but the winters in Beiqi were even colder.

Especially in the northern part of Beiqi!

In the coldest part of northern Qi, even urinating in the wild can instantly turn into an icicle.

For the people of Beiqi, this bit of cold is probably just considered relatively cool.

"Is that so? Then if we capture any prisoners from Northern Qi, I'll have to see just how resistant they are to the cold!"

Qin Yu chuckled to himself, then looked at Han Chong, "If the Northern Qi people are this resistant to the cold, they might launch a night attack tonight!"

"Continue to keep a close watch on the left flank and left rear!"

"Order all soldiers not to remove their armor or weapons at night!"

"Order Du Fan to use the grain carts and supply wagons as a shield after setting up camp, and prepare for a night attack. Be relaxed on the outside but vigilant on the inside!"

Regardless of how the enemy troops got here.

Let's focus on defense first!

If the enemy dares to launch a night attack, make sure they don't return!