Transmigrated into a farmer's lucky charm, all the villains in the family panicked.

The days that Prince Yong spent in the Northwest can only be described in four words—each day felt like a year.

When he first arrived at the border, he was full of vigor and ambition.

With 30,000 elite troops at his command and a valiant general personally appointed by his elder brother, he seemed poised to achieve great feats.

He planned to win the battle, gain military merit, and with that merit, he could rightfully seize military power. Once he had military power, what could his sickly nephew possibly use to compete with him?

But reality gave him a resounding slap in the face.

When he arrived at the border, he discovered that it was completely different from what he had imagined.

This valiant general had four powerful figures pressing down on him.

General Jiang Gonghuan, the Grand General Who Conquers the West, was a first-rank official with numerous military achievements. He had spent most of his life in the army and enjoyed extremely high prestige.

Yang Cheng, the former garrison commander of the Northwest, was a second-rank official who had been managing the border region for more than a decade, and the soldiers under his command were all his trusted confidants.

The Mingwei General Wang Tong, who was transferred later, was a second-rank official and fought without regard for his life.

What's most infuriating is that there's also that strategist "Jueye" who appeared out of nowhere, and he doesn't take him seriously at all.

Although the strategist had no official rank and dressed like a schoolteacher every day, Jiang Gonghuan, Yang Cheng, and the others listened to him without question.

They even sent him, a prince, to guard a desolate, godforsaken town.

This small town had only been recaptured not long ago; half of the city walls had collapsed, and nine out of ten shops on the street were still closed. Needless to say, public morale was low; the people looked at him with barely concealed wariness and hostility.

In a place like this, he wouldn't get a chance to fight on the battlefield, let alone make any achievements.

The 30,000 troops he brought were scattered and reassigned elsewhere by the strategist under various pretexts. In the end, he was left with less than 5,000 men at most.

The Prince of Yong was furious, but there was nothing he could do.

On the battlefield, the most important thing is to obey orders. So what if he is the Prince of Yong?

Military orders are absolute, and no one dares to disobey them.

If he dared to disobey orders, let alone Jiang Gonghuan, even Yang Cheng could punish him according to military law. He couldn't afford that risk, so he could only grit his teeth and stay in this small town, enduring each day.

Gong Xiji advised him, "Your Highness, there is plenty of time on the battlefield. Opportunities will come. You just need to conserve your strength and wait for the right moment to act."

But this wait lasted for more than a month.

Good news kept pouring in from the front lines, and the names of Jiang Gonghuan, Yang Cheng, and others appeared one after another in the battle reports, reaping huge rewards for their military achievements.

For him, it's all trivial matters.

The neighbor's cow went missing today, and they suspect the neighbor to the west stole it.

The wall of the west family's house collapsed tomorrow; it's suspected that the east family kicked it.

The day after tomorrow, which two people will fight over a chicken?

He, a prince, is practically becoming a county magistrate.

Moreover, this small town has only recently been captured, and money is needed everywhere.

Repairing the city walls costs money, replenishing the grain supplies costs money, resettling the displaced people costs money, and winning people's hearts costs even more money.

He spent all the silver he brought in less than a month.

He wanted to transfer money from the army, but the accountants were all incredibly stingy. The Ministry of Revenue's allocations were also delayed. Seeing that the soldiers in the city were going hungry, he had no choice but to turn to Liang Boyan's hidden silver.

As a result, his men were arrested as soon as they arrived at Suyang Prefecture.

After finally managing to escape, trouble broke out at another Tibetan silver storage site.

His men were completely wiped out, and the entire army was destroyed. A total of 3.2 million taels of silver were all taken by that sickly Yan Shijin.

That's most of his fortune.

The more the Prince of Yong thought about it, the angrier he became. Like a mad beast, he smashed everything in the room to pieces.

The mess on the ground perfectly mirrored his state of mind at that moment.

Just then, Gong Xiji suddenly pushed open the door and walked in, his face showing an undisguised joy.

As soon as he entered, he lowered his voice and said urgently, "Your Highness! Your Highness! Good news!"

"A troop of Yan cavalry has actually circled around to the vicinity of our city!"

"The scouts have reported that these are remnants of the Great Yan army that were defeated by our main force at the front, and they have wandered here because they have nowhere else to go."

"And the one leading them is a prince from the Great Yan Kingdom!"

"If we can capture this cavalry unit and take the prince prisoner, that will be a truly monumental achievement!"

Prince Yong's eyes suddenly lit up.

But he was of royal lineage after all, and he wasn't blinded by excitement.

He gripped the edge of the table with one hand, his brow furrowed, and asked in a deep voice, "Is the news true?"

"How many men?"

"What equipment?"

"Who is the prince leading the army?"

"Is there a large army to provide support?"

Seeing that he didn't believe him, Gong Xiji quickly added, "The scouts are our own people, and I sent two more groups of people to verify, so the information should be true."

"The enemy has at most three or four hundred cavalry. They fled in disarray, exhausted, and are currently resting in a mountain valley about twenty miles northeast of the city."

He lowered his voice even further: "Moreover, the other party is the eldest prince of the Yan Kingdom."

The Prince of Yong's eyes flickered slightly. He had some private dealings with the eldest prince of Yan, but this couldn't be revealed to outsiders. If he could kill the prince this time, then...

Kosei had the same idea.

"Your Highness, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

"If we don't do anything, once this news reaches the central command tent, those people will definitely steal the credit."

Prince Yong pondered for a moment, tapping his fingers incessantly on the table, his expression shifting between light and dark.

On one hand, there are genuine military achievements.

On one hand, the general issued a strict order to defend the city and not to engage in battle without authorization.

What should he do...?

Gongxi Ji was very anxious when he saw that the Prince of Yong was still hesitating, because this also concerned his future.

Having followed Prince Yong for so many years, he was unwilling to remain merely a staff member.

Only when the Prince of Yong ascends to that position will he have a chance to rise in the ranks.

An opportunity to make a name for oneself is right in front of him, but the fear is that the Prince of Yong will hesitate and miss the chance.

He couldn't help but urge again, "Your Highness, the battlefield is ever-changing. You can't hesitate any longer..."

The Prince of Yong gritted his teeth, slammed his hand on the table, and stood up abruptly: "Issue my order! We must march out of the city and meet the enemy in battle!"

Gong Xiji's eyes lit up: "Yes!"

So, the Prince of Yong, with the five thousand elite soldiers left in the city, opened the city gates and secretly chased after them.

He thought to himself, the enemy has at most three or four hundred men, and they are all defeated soldiers. What kind of fighting power can they have?

With five thousand men, how could he possibly be afraid of not being able to wipe out three or four hundred of them?

But he forgot one thing.

This small town was once part of the territory of the Great Yan Kingdom.

The soldiers of the Great Yan Kingdom were far more familiar with their city's defenses and the surrounding terrain than he, the newly arrived Prince of the Great Xuan Kingdom, was.

The Prince of Yong and his men hadn't gone far when the remnants of the Yan army had already circled around to the mountains behind the south gate.

The terrain there was high, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack. The several paths were filled with rocks and thorns, making it very difficult for the army to advance. The remaining soldiers took advantage of the terrain and held their ground.

The Prince of Yong wanted to launch a strong attack, but his large army couldn't be deployed there.

He was a man who had never been on a battlefield, so he had no idea of ​​the brutality of mountain warfare. He only knew that he had an overwhelming numerical advantage, so he recklessly ordered an attack uphill.

Gong Xiji was indeed a brilliant strategist, but he was ultimately just a scholar who had never been on the battlefield; he was merely a theorist.

He thought he had caught a big fish, little did he know, the two of them were the real big fish...