Isolated town in northern border region

The sound of artillery fire became less and less frequent each day.

Chen Hu stood in front of the artillery position, clutching a torch in his hand, his eyes fixed on the small mound in front of him.

He had not received any more ammunition for three consecutive days. The supply line to northern Xinjiang was cut off, the steel mill was destroyed, and no more shells could be delivered.

He squatted down and counted the remaining shell boxes, then stood up and walked towards Xiao Lie's tent, stopping at the tent entrance.

"Your Highness, there are less than three hundred usable cannonballs left."

Xiao Lie was looking at the map and didn't look up.

"Use it sparingly; this is all we can do for now."

Chen Hu was stunned for a moment.

"Your Highness, shall we continue the fight?"

Xiao Lie put down his pen and looked up at him.

"Fight. But with a different approach."

The next morning, the bugle call to attack the mountain sounded again. The vanguard troops marched out in formation, and the cannons roared sporadically, with a few shells landing on the stockade walls and blasting open several breaches.

The elite troops charged into the breach and engaged in close combat with Chen's army inside the stronghold.

But this time, before the reinforcements from both sides could surround them, Xiao Lie ordered a retreat.

The Trapped Camp retreated quickly, like a tide being swept away, leaving behind several flags and scattered weapons as they withdrew from the camp.

Chen's troops inside the village chased after them out of the village gate, displaying their power and morale much higher than in the previous days.

On the third, fourth, and fifth days, the same scenario repeated itself.

Attack, fight for a while, then retreat.

Sometimes they would capture a village but not garrison it, allowing Chen's army to retake it.

The Chen soldiers went from being wary to being suspicious, and then from being suspicious to a kind of dismissive confidence.

The Chu army is nothing special; they can't possibly break through!

Yan Que stood outside the central command tent, gazing at the retreating Chu army in the distance, and a rare twitch appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"Xiao Lie is indecisive and hesitant."

"Trying to conquer the mountain while also preserving the troops—what battle can be fought without casualties?"

"The more reluctant he is to sacrifice lives, the less likely he is to win the battle."

The lieutenant stood to the side, hesitating for a moment.

"General, I have a feeling..."

Yan Que interrupted him.

"What do you think? Did I say something wrong?"

The lieutenant did not respond.

Yan Que turned and walked back into the tent.

"Just wait. When his peace talks with the states of Yan and Shu break down, that will be the time when the state of Chu falls!"

Meanwhile, on the banks of the Tiger Roaring River, Xiao Lie and several hundred soldiers were busy at a bend in the river.

He used cannons and explosives to blast the rocks on both sides of the river into pieces. The rubble rolled into the river and gradually formed a natural dam at a bend where the current was slower.

The river was blocked on the north bank, and the water level began to rise slowly.

Another team dug irrigation canals on the hilltops they had already captured, extending from the direction of the landslide dammed lake all the way to the side of the hills on the south bank.

The soldiers didn't know what Xiao Lie was doing, and no one asked; they just kept their heads down and worked.

Xiao Lie stood by the river, watching the water level rise day by day, and heard the sparse sounds of cannons in the distance, a deliberate illusion he maintained to cover up the construction project here.

He mentally calculated the water level and the length of the canal, and kept directing his soldiers to use everything that could be dismantled in Jingzhou City to reinforce the river embankment.

By the tenth day of construction, the water level of the landslide dammed lake had risen to the expected level, and the irrigation canal had been dug to its final section.

Xiao Lie stood on high ground, looking down at the rising water below, and then at the gray-yellow hills in the distance.

Yan Que's mountain strongholds were all built halfway up the mountain, not on very high ground. Once water entered from the side, the flood would rush down the mountainside, into the ravines and low-lying areas, washing away all the garrison troops in those strongholds.

He turned to the messenger behind him and said.

"Notify Luo Daniu and Xiao Xiong that the general offensive will begin tomorrow morning."

"Tell them to retreat if they encounter resistance, the more chaotic the retreat, the better. Leave some equipment on the ground and throw the flags by the roadside."

"As long as Yan Que leaves the stronghold, they will win."

The bugle sounded again the next morning.

This time, the Chu army launched a full-scale attack, with its elite infantry, cannon cavalry, and infantry all advancing simultaneously, while the cannons unleashed a final, concentrated volley.

At the same time, Chen Jun lit beacon fires in all his camps, and reinforcements came from all directions to surround him.

Less than half an hour into the battle, the Chu army began to rout. Some threw down their weapons and turned to run away, while others even threw away their flags, as if they had been completely crushed by the overwhelming force of the encirclement.

Chen Jun rushed out of the village and chased after them down the hillside.

Yan Que stood outside the central army camp, looking down at the Chu army that was collapsing, and finally a smile appeared on his face.

"Xiao Lie, you've finally met your match."

He mounted his horse and pointed his sword down the mountain.

"All troops, attack! Pursue! Kill them all!"

120,000 Chen troops poured out from various villages, pursuing the enemy along the hillside towards the river. The sound of footsteps and shouts of battle blended together, like a layer of gray-yellow tide spreading out.

When the Chu army retreated across the drawbridge, the Chen army also caught up with them and reached the bridge.

But at this moment, the Trapped Camp displayed astonishing combat power, holding firm to the north of the lost money, remaining unmoved no matter how Chen's army attacked!

As Yan Que rode on his horse, he saw the Trapped Camp, which had just been in disarray, suddenly become so brave, and his heart sank!

"Oh no! Something's fishy!"

He looked around, but there were no ambushes on the vast riverside plain.

At this moment, after the entire Chu army had retreated to the north bank, Xiao Lie stood on the shore, looking at the barrier lake, and said something to the gunners behind him.

"fire!"

A barrage of artillery fire erupted as shells landed on the dam of the landslide-dammed lake, shattering rocks and causing the dam to collapse under the impact. The river water, which had been accumulating for ten days, poured out like a wild beast unleashed from its reins, rushing towards the pursuing Chen army.

The river overflowed the hillsides, poured into the ravines, and washed away the village walls, engulfing everything along its path in the turbid torrent.

Chen Jun's battle cries were completely drowned out by the sound of the water at that moment. Some people struggled in the water, some were swept away, some clung to wooden stakes and rocks, and many more were swept away and tumbled down.

Xiao Lie stood on a high point on the north bank, watching the water spreading out and the figures rising and falling in the water without saying a word.

Luo Daniu stood next to him, covered in mud and panting heavily.

"Your Highness, where did you learn this move from?"

Xiao Lie's gaze never left the water.

"I learned it from a book. A general named Bai Qi used this move."

Luo Daniu scratched his head.

Who is Bai Qi?

Xiao Lie finally turned his gaze away from the water.

"I told you to read more books, but you wouldn't listen!"

He turned and walked toward the camp.

"Take stock of the battle damage. We'll cross the river tomorrow and count all our last remaining shells."

The river was still churning, but it wasn't as violent as before.

The military camps on the distant hilltops had all been flooded, and the remaining walls that had not been washed away were leaning precariously.

Yan Que's banner was gone, and a corner of the central army's tent had been swept away by the water, leaving only half of it flapping against the remaining wooden stakes in the wind.

The 120,000-strong Chen army was mostly scattered overnight; some were swept away by the water, some surrendered, and some retreated into the depths of the hills further south.

The surviving soldiers helped each other climb out of the mud and water. Some knelt on the bank after the water receded, searching for the bodies of their comrades. Others sat in the ruins without saying a word, just staring blankly at the section of the collapsed stockade wall.

Xiao Lie stood on the bank, looking at the land washed by the water, then mounted his horse and led the soldiers of the Northern Frontier across the suspension bridge once more, heading south.

"With 120,000 elite troops wiped out, where does the Chen Kingdom have any soldiers left to fight?"

"From now on, things will be much easier!"