It would be inaccurate to call it a decisive battle, because conflict between the Northern Nomads and the Dayu Dynasty has never ceased.
But it could also be called a decisive battle—a war provoked by the Anda Third Prince during the time both sides were supposed to be at truce.
“The old Khan of the Anda Tribe is not long for this world,” Jiang Jizu rapped the table and said, “The three princes are scheming over the throne, the Crown Prince currying favor from the nobles, the Second Prince allying with key ministers, while this Third Prince takes a different approach—he wants to capture the border defense to gain leverage."
Take the currently rebuilding Guanjin Line for example.
“Let me test you with a question,” Jiang Jizu turned around and looked over the two young generals. “Why is it that the Nomads chose to attack the Guanjin Line instead of the other three?”
If the argument is that the Datong and Xuanji Lines are too remote, the Guanjin and Guyuan Lines are not that far apart in location or defense strength either.
The only difference is probably that the land of Liaodong behind the Guanjin Line is more fertile, prosperous and wealthy.
Considering the nature of those Nomads, their sacking and looting every time they invade, the cities ravaged by them taking hundreds of years to recover.
Fang Heng and Jiang Chengyuan’s faces simultaneously turned pale.
The Third Prince had eyed the abundant resources behind the Guanjin Line!
If not for the desperate defense of one hundred thousand soldiers, the ambush under the night, the successful drive of the nomads away...the consequences would have been unimaginable.
"The Third Prince's prestige among the Anda Tribe dropped straight down after the Northern Nomads suffered two defeats at the night battles in Guanjin Line with one hundred thousand elite soldiers,” Jiang Jizu frowned. “He has to do something to restore his prestige.”
Why call it a decisive battle? Because as weather grows hotter, the well-equipped soldiers could be roasted alive in armor before even reaching the battlefield.
Summer ceasefire is the unanimous understanding among all commanders and soldiers.
“But...it makes sense the Third Prince attacked the Guanjin Line since he has his father’s battle plans. Why attack our headquarters?” Fang Heng asked, puzzled.
To explain we have to recount the long feud between the Dayu Dynasty and the Nomads in recent years.
During the Previous Emperor’s aggressive conquests, he almost emptied the national treasury expanding territories. Engaging several ethnic minorities, fighting reached a fever pitch, eventually forcing them to take refuge in the Western Region.
When it was the Imperial Court’s turn, the treasury was nearly depleted. Even the border troops didn't have enough warhorses, let alone armor and blades. They could only focus on defense, maintaining border fortifications instead of attacking.
With superior cavalry archery, the Nomads excelled in guerilla tactics despite smaller numbers, launching raids on innocent villages along the border from time to time.
The Dayu Dynasty, on the other hand, worked hard on fortifications over the years and built sturdy defenses. Without Fang Heng’s battle plans, the Nomads would never be able to breach the Guanjin Line anyway.
Even if they somehow forced their way in by brute strength, the cavalry would lose their mobility against city walls and be far less effective than ambushing villages.
The Third Prince couldn’t possibly sacrifice one hundred thousand elite warriors just to attack the headquarters of Jiang Family Army. That would be insane.
“With fortified walls, even if only sixty thousand Jiang Family Army remained, they could withstand the attack of one hundred thousand Nomads,” Jiang Chengyuan chimed in, though with some skepticism.
These boys!
They have already analyzed the answer yet lacked confidence due to the prestige of this veteran general, not daring to confirm their own judgement.
Jiang Jizu shook his head with a sigh. “You must have faith in your reasoning. Given the current strength of the Nomads, they indeed will not take initiative to attack a city.”
“So the general means they will pretend to attack but deliberately lay siege?” Fang Heng’s eyes lit up. “Spreading words that the Third Prince is attacking headquarters could still boost his prestige.”
Jiang Jizu nodded approvingly. “You’re on the right track but still not enough.”
Fang Heng's lips moved like he wanted to say more. Jiang Chengyuan cut in, “What comes next should be besieging the city to intercept relief troops, right?”
The two young generals gazed at each other, sparks of competitiveness igniting in their eyes.
Falling into Jiang Jizu’s eyes, he couldn’t help but burst into loud laughter. “You both performed very well and guessed right. The Third Prince will likely besiege headquarters to harvest the heads of relief troops.”
It was quite similar to that night battle at the Guanjin Line.
Lying in ambush within the city, relief troops coming from outside, small number of relief troops, the Anda Third Prince suffered defeat due to insufficient information, forcing him to flee in defeat.
Today under sunny skies they took initiative to attack, surrounding the entire headquarters with one hundred thousand troops. The sixty thousand Jiang Family Army definitely wouldn’t dare sally out.
Nearby border troops couldn’t all be deployed to rescue either, dispatching thirty to fifty thousand relief troops at most. Unable to gather due to distance and information lag, they would be destroyed individually.
“Can the relief troops arrive at the same time, assemble together to launch a counterattack?” Fang Heng murmured.
Jiang Jizu shook his head. “Hard, too hard.”
The most significant reason behind the ever-changing tide of war is the difficulty for information to be transmitted.
Over long distances, being off by half an hour could be fatal.
“Then we’ll go gather relief troops in advance,” Jiang Chengyuan said. “As long as both sides can meet strength-on-strength, we can march out to do battle if need be.”
Not a bad idea.
But not the best.
Jiang Jizu stood up, deciding to give the young generals a good lesson. “Vice general, listen up. Sixty thousand Jiang Family Army depart camp with fifty thousand soldiers, leaving ten thousand boys behind to defend this border fortification line. Do you have confidence?”
The nearby soldiers responded in unison, “Confident!”
The two young generals inside the tent looked at each other, shock shifting into realization, then reverent admiration.
They understood Jiang Jizu’s strategic arrangement.
The departing fifty thousand Jiang Family Army will join relief troops to annihilate the Nomads together. The remaining ten thousand will hold the city gates.
The pressure is intense for both, the road ahead perilous for both.
To curb the arrogance of Anda Tribe, to bolster Dayu soldiers’ morale, this battle must take place.
Each side wanted to stomp on the other’s heads to stand taller, to heavily damage each other.
Soon came the days of troops gathering beneath the city walls.
As expected, the Anda Third Prince made no attempt to conceal his actions, openly leading one hundred thousand cavalries to surround headquarters while sending Nomads fluent in Chinese official language to issue war declarations,
Demanding battle again and again, coercing Jiang Family Army to sally out.
The Nomads sure dared to provoke, hurling all sorts of insults to incense defenders on the city walls. Even Fang Heng and Jiang Chengyuan gripped their sword hilts tightly.
But they could not march out or do battle.
The fortified walls were Dayu’s sturdiest armor. Cavalry could not break in and the Nomads could not seize the city.
In other words, if they could attack instead of wasting time with declarations here, why bother besieging at all?
Seeing the three envoys who knew Chinese official language getting tongue-tied from overuse, yet the Jiang Family Army remained unmoved, the gaze of Anda Third Prince turned, falling upon Zhu Changyu and Fang Yuan nearby.
