That was the tactical shift brought about by mobility. Dai Yun could fearlessly engage in this kind of penetrating attack, only needing to worry about whether the troops' supplies could keep up and how to maintain communication between them. But the enemy didn't have that capability. The Xiling army had gathered its forces on the front lines because they themselves were unable to organize this kind of dispersed, battalion-sized attack. The difference in equipment and training led to a difference in tactical thinking, and Dai Yun found himself at a loss.

Xiling hadn't initially decided whether to launch a full-scale offensive. They wanted to take advantage of Dongping concentrating its main forces on the Northern Liao front and strike hard at Dongping, especially in the territory of the Northern Frontier Pacification Command. The most ardent proponents of this were Tong Bingwen, an old adversary of Ye Tao and Dai Yun's group, and his generals. Although Tong Bingwen had suffered an unexpected defeat years ago, he had reliably led his army back to Xiling without suffering decisive losses. The slight loss of face wasn't a major problem for a veteran general with his deep experience. Afterward, everyone had seen the brilliance of Ye Tao, Tan Weixin, Dai Yun, Chi Lei, Qiu Haohui, and others, each outstanding in their own way, clearly the cream of the crop of Dongping's younger generation. Ye Tao and Tan Weixin, in particular, were regarded by various countries as the strongest driving force behind Dongping's rise. Tong Bingwen had actually fared quite well to be defeated by such people.

Tong Bingwen wasn't the one to decide whether or not to fight this battle. The civil and military officials in the court were fiercely divided on the matter. Tong Bingwen managed to secure a favorable condition: the troops would move out first, and the debate about whether to fight would continue until a decision was reached. If the decision was not to fight, he would never defy the court's resolution. This statement earned him considerable approval. However, as the troops moved forward, the ministers who had originally advocated against fighting increasingly felt that since things had gone this far, they might as well fight. Tong Bingwen finally got the result he wanted. However, Tong Bingwen had arrived a bit late. Although he had made many arrangements in the early stages, instructing the troops to be wary of Dongping's aerial reconnaissance and maintain high alert, these generals were still somewhat lax compared to someone like Dai Yun, whose tactical thinking was ahead by more than one level. The inherent problems of the Xiling army were particularly evident in this kind of defensive operation, which required cooperation. Although Xiling had centralized military power and conducted centralized training for several years, the troops still originated from the private armies of various families. They were still fighting independently based on geographical and kinship ties, and there was still a long way to go before they could truly enforce orders. Tong Bingwen had to consider these issues when arranging the defense zones for each unit. And the place where Dai Yun attacked happened to be the border between two such incompatible units.

When Dai Yun launched the offensive, Tong Bingwen was still two days away from the front-line troops. Fortunately for Tong Bingwen, he didn't encounter any Dongping troops in the chaotic situation of dozens of Dongping battalions penetrating and advancing. Instead, he reunited with two Xiling units that still had relatively complete formations with his three hundred guards. Then, the old marshal Tong Bingwen began his magic trick of taking in scattered soldiers. After Tong Bingwen reunited with his people, Dai Yun was actually helpless against him. Dongping's troops had been scattered too quickly and too far this time, and although their ability to raid and attack was good, Dai Yun had no confidence in fighting a war of attrition and fortifying positions against an old fox like Tong Bingwen. Even though Dai Yun had made many preparations in advance, there were still things he hadn't considered thoroughly. One was that the Xiling army was not scattered enough to be attacked at will by Dongping's battalion-sized army. After being attacked, several units often gathered together, and even if they didn't support each other, they still left Dongping's army with no place to start.

Dozens of garrison battalions had penetrated, but there weren't many opportunities for annihilation. And several times, because of a lack of understanding of the geographical environment, they actually turned annihilation battles into routs, allowing several units to escape. Although Dai Yun was furious, after putting herself in their shoes, she realized that the decisions made by her battalion commanders and staff officers weren't wrong. Dai Yun had been in the army for many years, but she wouldn't casually scold people. When she encountered this kind of situation, she could only sulk to herself.

Eight days after Dai Yun began her attack, she felt that this battle was basically over. The Dongping army was now mainly divided into six clusters fighting, but the opponents they encountered often gathered forces of equal size. Dai Yun, who held firmly to the idea of not fighting a war of attrition, naturally wouldn't risk a decisive battle at will, but would patiently look for opportunities. But Tong Bingwen's skills were indeed excellent. He made the rallied troops form a团状 (tuan zhuang – a ball shape), constantly extending a part of it to rescue other troops, while the rest moved accordingly, always in a location where they could provide support. This left the Dongping army with no way to start. And when several garrison battalions gathered to prepare for joint action, Tong Bingwen could always allocate a strong force to closely monitor and control them, but carefully maintain a distance so that they wouldn't actually engage in a full-scale battle. Watching Tong Bingwen mobilize his troops as if they were his own arms, seemingly effortlessly resolving Dai Yun's offensive, Dai Yun herself was also convinced. This was the ability of a veteran general, someone who had spent his entire life on the battlefield.

Tong Bingwen had understood from the beginning: the Dongping army was made up of garrison battalions, and it was impossible for them to fight a hard battle. It wasn't a question of whether Dongping could win, but rather that the garrison battalions were the pillars of the local area. As long as they could force back the Xiling army, Dai Yun would be considered successful. And now they had completed their goal and would never pay the price of a large number of soldiers' blood to kill a few more Xiling soldiers. In particular, heavy casualties among these powerful local troops could trigger a series of negative reactions in a region. But Tong Bingwen could only do so much at the moment. He had to sigh that Ye Tao, Dai Yun, and the others had too much prestige in Yun Province and the entire Northern Frontier Pacification Command. Otherwise, if he risked the deaths of tens of thousands of people, focusing on the garrison battalions in certain areas, and then supplemented it with secret agents spreading rumors, it wouldn't be impossible to force internal strife within the Northern Frontier Pacification Command. But as long as Ye Tao, Dai Yun, Tan Weixin, and the others were still around, even if Ge Lan personally opened his mouth and said he wanted to rebel, probably not many people would pay attention to him.

After this battle situation, which everyone found boring, the two wise commanders chose to withdraw their troops by coincidence. The two armies retreated to places that were easy to defend and set up camp, leaving a buffer zone of two hundred *li* in the middle. Dai Yun sighed that the Dai family's clan soldiers had made their final appearance in such a battle, which was a bit of a pity. But Dai Yun also saw the difference between herself and first-class generals through this campaign. One cannot be merciful when commanding troops. Compared to Tong Bingwen, Dai Yun, as a mother, was ultimately more gentle. In addition, Dai Yun needed to think more deeply about the dialectic between troop size and flexibility. Small units were fast, but when faced with this kind of situation, they were truly helpless. Furthermore, the Pacification Command's preparations for the war against Xiling could not be compared to the previous preparations against Northern Liao. Many maps did not meet the standards recognized by the current officers under the Pacification Command. After this campaign, Dai Yun strictly ordered that detailed military maps from Zhen Prefecture to Tai Prefecture must be produced within six months. On the contrary, in the territory of Tai Prefecture, due to the activities of the Leiyin Demon Sect, the maps were more complete.

After arranging these matters, Dai Yun flew directly to Central Army Town with a small number of attendants. Taking off the not-so-heavy armor, which was basically just for decoration, Dai Yun felt a burst of relief. Tong Bingwen was too powerful. Fighting Tong Bingwen in mobile warfare was completely different from the feeling she had when Tong Bingwen was completely unfamiliar with the Blood Kirin Army's tactics and troop types and was contemptuous. The old general put pressure on her almost all the time, making her think several times how good it would have been if she had intercepted him earlier and killed him. Even though Dai Yun had airships in her hand, it was useless. Tong Bingwen's tactics were not afraid of reconnaissance at all. It was a solid, open strategy. And he could completely ignore the airship's harassment. He had enough prestige to make the troops under his command obey his orders and fight to the death. Dai Yun was thinking on the airship about how to deal with Tong Bingwen when they fought again.

The airship did not land in Central Army Town, but landed outside a small village west of Central Army Town. Ye Tao, Tan Weixin, and their whole family were waiting for her there. There were many fun places near Central Army Town, and the vegetation was quite different from that of Yun Province, which made the children very happy. Whether it was Ye Wenxuan, Ye Wenji, or even Ye Wenjun, who followed behind her two older brothers, they could recognize many kinds of minerals. The people from the Agricultural and Pastoral Bureau, the Trade Bureau, and the Command Headquarters all sighed that the seemingly barren land of Northern Liao contained wealth. But for the children, those colorful minerals were good toys.

When Ye Tao's family went out to play, they didn't bring too many guards, and he, who had always been low-key, didn't do anything to disturb the people. Wherever they went, the local people, who had all kinds of speculations about this important Dongping official, gradually changed their views. Compared to the domineering way the Western Route Army did things, Ye Tao and his party did not commit the slightest offense. Occasionally, there were some minor accidents, but the apologies were sincere, and the compensation was generous and quick. This important Dongping official quickly left a deep impression on the people of Northern Liao.

And this time, landing in the fields outside the village, after a seemingly relaxed but hidden killing intent encirclement, many of the surrounding people came to see the airship, and also to see what kind of person Dai Yun, this legendary female general, was. When they posed no threat to him, Ye Tao did not let the guards drive them away. Being close to the people started from these details. As a feudal official who controlled one side, he had long been aware of this. However, Liu Yong disappeared for a while. When he came back, he had changed his clothes, but he still had a faint sense of excitement on him.