Chapter 151 The Scouts

If someone who had known the Han Xuan and Han Tian brothers for more than three years were present, they wouldn't believe that the two scout cavalrymen, now perched in the treetops, draped in heavy camouflage nets, letting raindrops filter through the leaves and soak them, were the same two brothers from three years ago.

The Han family was one of the first Dongping families to move their business operations center to Su Feng City. In a thriving place like Su Feng City, where all kinds of opportunities and temptations arrived with the canal and flowed away with the rushing river, these two brothers were quite the characters. Three years ago, as some of the first members of the Han family to arrive in Su Feng City, they had nothing to do because the family business hadn't started yet and they were still young. You could say they were local bullies. Their skills in composing poetry were decent, but their ability to act tough was even better. But they never expected that when eating at a small fast-food chain, the store wouldn't let them put it on their tab. This had never happened in their hometown. When the brothers said they would send a servant to get the money and prepared to leave, the principled manager stopped them, insisting they pay before leaving. When had the brothers ever been treated like this? They were eating fast food because it was new to them. In their hometown, fast-food chains like "Feng Yu Sheng Jian" and "Wei Qian Ramen" hadn't opened yet. In their anger, they actually hit the manager. That stirred up a hornet's nest. In Su Feng City, or anywhere else in the world, employees of these internal-administration enterprises were already very principled due to the influence of modern corporate systems and cultures. The Han brothers left, but the manager immediately filed a complaint with the Grand Canal Governor's Office. No matter who tried to persuade him, the angry manager refused to withdraw the lawsuit. In the end, the two brothers were sentenced to twenty days of community service. Community service was just odd jobs, nothing too strenuous, but the brothers couldn't stand swallowing their pride and sent their subordinates instead of doing it themselves, which resulted in an additional year of military service.

What they didn't expect was that being assigned as auxiliary soldiers in the scout unit of the army formed to target Chun Nan for half a year seemed to give the brothers a new purpose in life. The training and the double baptism of spirit and body transformed them, while their original cleverness, overbearing nature, unconventionality, and disregard for methods oddly aligned with the essentials of scout cavalry. After their year of military service ended, the two actually ran to the Liangjiang Governor's Office in Danyang to sign up for the Blood Kirin Army. The Blood Kirin Army's scout cavalry had a high attrition rate and always had a "wide entry, strict exit" policy. Those who couldn't endure the training or performed poorly were automatically kicked out. But the brothers actually persevered and even performed exceptionally well in recruit training. The two brothers had always been up to no good together since they were young, and their nearly twenty years of tacit understanding weren't for nothing. In the scout camp, this pair of treasures sometimes even tricked the veterans. In particular, their coordination, one setting traps to snipe pursuers, the other leading small groups of pursuers around in circles, even the camp commander couldn't figure out how they understood each other's intentions in complex situations. And now, the two were pushed to the front line as the sharpest knives in the scout camp, their mission to get as close as possible to the Northern Liao forward camp, observe the enemy's patterns of activity, and provide reference for the army's attack.

There were six other scout teams with similar missions. They would figure out the route between the Northern Liao army's forward camp and Qingya Town, as well as the enemy's patterns of activity, so that the main force of the Blood Kirin Army could appear in the right place at the right time. These people had been airdropped to the front lines by airship before the main army crossed the river. They had been here for several hours, had already accumulated a lot of information, and now it was time to quickly transmit the intelligence back to the army. This step especially required them to be cautious. They were currently in enemy-controlled territory and they didn't have horses. Moreover, they couldn't be captured, killed, or even discovered. The enemy didn't yet know that the Blood Kirin Army had crossed the river. Once they were discovered, Gao Senqi would definitely realize what was happening.

Han Xuan quietly slid down the tree and, under Han Tian's observation and cover, retreated towards the southeast. Han Tian held a sharp object in his hand, a woodpecker's beak, using it to tap the tree trunk and make different sounds, so Han Xuan could understand the situation around him. After running a distance, Han Xuan would find a place to lie in ambush and then cover Han Tian. Alternating, they slowly but surely ran two miles. Seeing that they had left the enemy's usual patrol range, the brothers couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"Hehe, finally caught you." Just as the brothers relaxed slightly, a figure appeared behind them, and a scimitar was already resting on Han Tian's neck. The brothers were shocked and immediately tried to struggle free. Unexpectedly, their struggle drew a low growl from the person behind them: "Tch, can't even recognize me?"

They turned around and saw that it was their captain, their direct superior, Jin Xupeng. "Captain! Your voice is different... how could we recognize you?" Han Tian breathed a sigh of relief, complaining.

"Hehe, I got a little rain and caught a cold. How was your harvest?" Jin Xupeng quickly asked.

Jin Xupeng led the two while talking, and soon arrived at a temporary outpost a few miles away. Although it was called an outpost, there were quite a few people coming and going, and the surrounding security was very tight. Guarded by the scout cavalry, it would be difficult for anyone to enter a place where they could discover the outpost. Under the simple rain shelter, the unfolded map and the messengers coming and going made the outpost seem particularly different.

After Jin Xupeng led Han Xuan and Han Tian to report their military intelligence, he went to the back to rest. Jin Xupeng said with a smug look, "You two did a good job. The attack will begin in a few more hours. The army began to organize and set off an hour ago. You guys rest for a bit, then our team has other tasks."

Han Tian asked strangely, "Set off an hour ago? The intelligence hasn't been transmitted yet. What's going on?"

"The tactics have been determined, but the specific location of the attack will be determined by the scout camp. They say the scout camp is the army's eyes, and this time the eyes are really directing the body. Basically, we'll start with Qingya Town, and then prepare to encircle and strike the reinforcements. Qingya doesn't have much combat power, everyone has found out. There are less than two thousand regular troops stationed there, mostly logistics personnel and laborers. It can basically be taken in one battle. But these things have nothing to do with us. Our task is to quickly go around to the back of Qingya and choose one or two locations to delay the enemy's advance." Jin Xupeng said with a chuckle, "You have to fly again. The airship will come to pick you up in a bit, taking you and your horses behind enemy lines. Then, once you've chosen a location, release a signal smoke. The airship will directly send in support troops. Each operation is small in scale, but it has to be very valuable... You two guys understand this, right?"

Looking at Jin Xupeng's measuring gaze, the two chuckled and said, "Captain, don't worry. This is our specialty. Is it okay to delay the enemy by any means necessary?"

Jin Xupeng frowned, then said decisively, "Yes. The governor has made up his mind. Although our troop strength is at an absolute disadvantage this time, our combat strength is not bad. Although it's difficult to eat 300,000 people, Ye Shuai killed almost fifty or sixty thousand people in that situation. We have the initiative now, if we don't kill a few more, where will the Blood Kirin Army's face be? Besides, the enemy pulled that stunt in Wangchuan, do they expect us to hold back? Whatever dirty tricks you have, use them. I'll take responsibility if anything goes wrong."

With Jin Xupeng's words, the Han brothers felt relieved. They slept soundly for about four hours, and then the sound of the army marching woke them up. The main force of the Blood Kirin Army had passed their forward outpost and began to advance towards Qingya. The Blood Kirin Army, from top to bottom, exuded a murderous aura, obviously having built up momentum for a long time, preparing to settle everything in one fell swoop. At this distance, they were no longer afraid of being discovered by the enemy. The airship flew over leisurely. A quarter of an hour later, the Han brothers boarded the airship and flew north. Looking down at the rolling iron torrent of the Blood Kirin Army from the airship was a special feeling. These scout cavalry never had the chance to show their skills on the front lines, which was inevitably a bit of a regret. But thinking about the trust of the entire army, and that Ye Shuai's and the governor's orders were based on the views of small soldiers like them, they felt somewhat relieved. The Blood Kirin Army's scout cavalry was, after all, not the Frost Wolf and Silver Wing armies under the Northern Frontier Pacification Office, which had been rebuilt by General Chi Lei. Due to the characteristics of grassland warfare, the Frost Wolf and Silver Wing armies focused more on large-scale reconnaissance, rather than small-team and individual-scale reconnaissance. With the unobstructed terrain of the grasslands, coupled with airship observation, the Frost Wolf and Silver Wing armies now mainly undertook fire reconnaissance, intimidation, breaching, and raids, while reconnaissance had become a secondary activity. Chi Lei, who had developed the special troop type of scout cavalry, seemed to be good at this kind of close-quarters combat. However, the Blood Kirin Army's scouts were scouts, focusing more on reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance operations. At most, they had recently added a batch of suspicious experts, giving the Blood Kirin Army's scout camp the ability to conduct small-scale assassination and strangulation operations. They all knew that in the mountainous, forested, urban, rural, and manor-filled Chun Nan, these forces would be even more useful. But who cared? They were focused on the present enjoyment. To be able to directly obtain air support, and even plan combat plans, and decide the location and method of combat with just two small soldiers, what a super-class treatment that was?

The Han brothers knew that there were several other scout teams that had set out at the same time as them, carrying out the same work. Going deep behind enemy lines, even in the vast and desolate Western Route Army area, where it was often difficult to see people for dozens of miles and which had already been subjected to a scorched-earth policy, there was still danger. Gao Senqi wasn't stupid, he had to take care of his rear. How to avoid these enemy cavalry maintaining supply and communication lines, and how to find suitable combat locations and methods, were the biggest tests of this battle.

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It's this late every time I finish writing an update...

I guess many of you know that I'm not very good at writing war scenes, but battles have to be fought, so I'll do my best to make them a little more technical, so that everyone can find them interesting. So, I can't write fast, please be understanding.