The God of War Who Protects the Nation: Starting with Saving a Mother and Daughter in Distress

Yang Ming offered Qin An some encouragement and then said nothing more.

Xiao Mei walked slowly toward the phoenix carriage, her steps composed and her demeanor graceful. She did not look back at Qin An even once from beginning to end.

After the emperor departed, the army did not linger any longer.

Yuwen Rong strode back to the command platform, mounted his horse, and raised his gilded halberd high, pointing it diagonally into the sky.

"All troops, march!"

The army of 100,000 slowly started moving, with the sounds of clashing armor and horses' hooves pounding the ground.

The fluttering of banners merged into a deep and powerful torrent, rolling towards the front lines.

Inside the imperial carriage, Xiao Mei sat alone on a brocade cushion, with the curtains drawn tightly around her.

She pulled open her shirt and looked down at her snow-white skin, where several red marks were clearly visible.

Reaching out, Xiao Mei gently rubbed the spot where Qin An had pinched her. Her brows furrowed slightly, and she muttered very softly, "He was pretty heavy-handed."

She then raised her eyes and looked out the window at the gray sky through the gap in the curtains. Her gaze was deep and her self-deprecating smile gradually faded.

"I hope my choice is right," she murmured to herself, her voice so soft that she could barely hear it herself.

She is a smart woman.

The situation had deteriorated to such an extent that the court was filled with singing and dancing, and there were very few truly capable military generals, of whom Qin An was one.

More importantly, he was also Yang Yuyan's husband.

Nowadays, I have a pretty good relationship with Yang Yuyan, which is a natural affinity.

Xiao Mei knew that when a building is about to collapse, being able to grab onto a reliable piece of driftwood was far better than sitting in a magnificent ship's cabin waiting to die.

All she did today was to tie a thin, indistinct rope between herself and Qin An in advance.

As for whether this rope will be useful in the future, only God knows!

……

The army marched thirty miles out of the capital. Qin An, riding his snow-white steed, gazed intently at the endless banners and dust rising from the official road ahead.

But the scene from the training ground was still swirling in his mind.

The sensation from before still seems vividly etched in my palm, as if I can still clearly feel that pounding heartbeat.

And there's her stubbornness in pretending to be calm when she's clearly incredibly nervous.

Qin An unconsciously looked down at his right hand, his fingers curling slightly, as if the touch lingered on his fingertips, leaving a faint fragrance on his hand.

"Empress Xiao Mei? What is she thinking? What is she planning to do? Is she really just too thirsty?"

Before this, he could tell from the conversation between Xiao Mei and Yang Yuyan that the empress was a very thirsty woman.

However, Qin An did not believe that Xiao Mei would be so desperate as to actively seduce him.

Although Qin An was confident that the information Yang Yuyan revealed about herself to Xiao Mei would stir up emotions in the latter.

But he wasn't foolish enough to think that a woman like Xiao Mei, who could secure the position of Empress, would be so shallow.

"Could it be that she's already making an investment?" Qin An vaguely sensed something from Xiao Mei's thoughts, his eyes flickering. "Does she really think so highly of me?"

To be honest, even Qin An himself wasn't very confident that he would have the last laugh in the face of the impending chaos.

The fact that Xiao Mei was willing to bet on him made him secretly pleased.

Just as many thoughts were flashing through Qin An's mind, a rapid sound of hooves suddenly came from behind, and Li Jing spurred his horse to catch up.

"Brother-in-law, the vanguard has already crossed the slope ahead. General Yuwen requests your presence in the central command for a meeting."

Qin An suddenly came to his senses, clenched his fist and placed it on the saddle, nodded, and spurred his horse toward the central army.

As soon as he entered the central command post, he knew he was in for a lot of work.

Yuwen Rong sat behind a makeshift desk, with a crumpled map spread out in front of him.

There were several stacks of documents, each half a person's height, piled up beside him. When he saw Qin An enter, he stood up as if he had seen a savior, grabbed his arm, and pulled him towards the desk.

"You've come at the right time. The military commander just delivered this; the amount of provisions for each camp, the marching order, and the encampment arrangements are all here. How do you plan to distribute them?"

Qin An looked down at the stacks of documents and then at the map, and he got a sense of what was going on.

Yuwen Rong was a born warrior, capable of charging into battle alone and slaying enemies as easily as cutting melons and vegetables.

But when it comes to commanding an army of 100,000, he really has no experience.

The Yuwen family was not optimistic about this battle and did not assign Yuwen Rong any capable people.

Under such circumstances, it is easy to imagine the difficulty for Yuwen Rong to successfully command this army of 100,000.

Qin An did not refuse. He sat down behind the desk, laid out the documents by category, and began to issue orders one by one.

Where will the vanguard camp camp tonight? How will the provisions and supplies be distributed and guarded? What will be the marching order for tomorrow? How many miles should the scouts' reconnaissance range be expanded to?

The orders were passed down like a flowing stream, with Li Jing helping to transcribe and distribute them.

Although Qin An is not yet capable of commanding an army of 100,000, he has the advantage of rich battlefield experience, having commanded 10,000 troops before, and has learned a lot from Zhang Xu.

Under these circumstances, he was able to handle these matters, though not with great skill, but still with some ability.

It took a whole afternoon and evening to finally get things sorted out for 100,000 people.

It wasn't until the night of the second day that the army finally established a camp in a river valley.

The campfire was lit, the cook set up the pot to cook, and the soldiers finally had their first hot meal since setting off.

As soon as Qin An served the bowl, Yuwen Rong impatiently summoned all the generals to the central command tent for a meeting.

The tent was filled with officers and soldiers in two rows, with Yuwen Rong sitting in the main seat. His opening remarks were so direct that they were almost laughable.

"Gentlemen, I have no idea how to fight this battle. Qin An, what do you say?"

Qin An has now completely seen through Yuwen Rong.

Don't expect him to come up with any strategies.

"I don't know what the emperor was thinking. No matter how much he trusted Yuwen Rong, he shouldn't have been appointed as the commander-in-chief of an army of 100,000."

"They didn't even consider assigning him a few veteran generals to assist him. Isn't that treating the battlefield like a child's game?"

Despite his complaints, Qin An also felt that this was a good opportunity for him.

If I can really take advantage of this opportunity to figure out how to command an army of 100,000, it will be of immense benefit to me.

Knowing that Yuwen Rong had no one else to rely on, Qin An naturally stepped forward without hesitation. He walked to the map hanging on the tent wall, picked up a charcoal stick, and drew a circle on the map.

"General, gentlemen, I believe that we should not be thinking about attacking from all sides and wiping out all the rebels in one fell swoop."

"100,000 troops seem like a lot, but the rebels are growing rapidly and their numbers are probably no less than 200,000. If the battle lines are stretched too thin, we will be at a disadvantage. It would be better to concentrate our forces and attack one route first."

No one stood up to refute Qin An's line of thinking.

His words resonated deeply with everyone.

Among these generals, quite a few were not optimistic about this battle and had no intention of fighting the rebels to the death.

In their view, as long as they can achieve a few minor victories, they can go back and report their findings.

"General Qin truly possesses great foresight; I admire him greatly!"

"It is better to cut off one finger than to injure all ten of the enemy's fingers. I support General Qin's idea."

"Right now, the most troublemakers are Ligang Village, the Wang family, and the Chang Le Army. So, who should we attack first?"

"..."

With an army of 100,000, the number of high-ranking generals was naturally considerable.

With everyone chiming in, the battle in the central region instantly became incredibly lively.

Qin An clearly had this idea in mind long ago, and he didn't keep it a secret.

The charcoal stick drew a circle around Luocheng, then drew a thick line westward, emphasizing it at the location of Shancheng.

He turned around and said in a calm tone, "The Wang family is closest to the capital and poses the greatest threat. Moreover, among the three rebel forces, although the Wang family has the most soldiers, they are mostly cobbled together by various families and are the weakest in terms of combat strength."

"Let's start by taking down the Wang family. We'll advance steadily and win a few battles to boost morale. Once we take Luocheng, our rear will be safe. Then we can deal with Dou Xia and Li Mi much more easily."

Upon hearing this, Yuwen Rong slapped his thigh, his eyes gleaming.

"Well said! Let's fight! Qin An, you tell me how to fight, and I'll just focus on going into battle and killing the enemy. I'll do whatever you say!"

The generals in the tent looked at each other in bewilderment.

It's quite rare for a head coach to delegate so much authority.

With Qin An leading the charge and taking charge of the overall situation, everyone felt much more at ease.

For the next few days, Qin An practically lived in the central command tent.

He reorganized his 100,000-strong army, drawing out all the cavalry from each battalion to form 10,000 elite cavalry, and appointed himself as the cavalry commander.

In this process, Qin An also made no secret of his choice to appoint people based on personal connections.

He reassigned all his former subordinates to cavalry positions.

The 10,000-strong cavalry army, apart from him as the main cavalry commander, was led by Luo Kai and Cheng Zhiyuan on the left and right wings respectively.

Han Quan, Xue Ju, and Li Jing were also assigned the most elite cavalry.

After Han completed the reorganization, he did not wait for the infantry and supplies, but directly led 10,000 cavalry as the vanguard and rushed towards the Wang family's territory along the official road.

The cavalry were incredibly fast.

Before the Wang family rebels' forward outposts could send the message back, Qin An's cavalry had already reached the city walls.

They captured three small towns in succession with almost no significant resistance.

Most of the rebel troops defending the city were newly conscripted soldiers. They were terrified when they saw the "Qin" banner from afar, and the cavalry rushed in before they could even close the city gates.

Qin An designated these three cities as frontline strongholds, leaving behind a small number of garrison troops to await the arrival of Yuwen Rong's main force.

He then led his cavalry eastward, advancing with unstoppable momentum.

Five days later, Qin An's cavalry arrived at the walls of Shancheng.

This is the most important western gateway to Luocheng. The city walls are high and thick, the moat is several meters wide, the city walls are covered with flags, and the guards are in bright armor, clearly indicating that they were well prepared.

Qin An reined in his black horse, Ta Xue, and looked at the banner embroidered with a large "King" character on the city wall. When he saw a familiar figure, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.

"Wang Chong actually came in person? He's an old friend!"