Chapter 1 A Further Ten Thousand…

Looking at Gao Senqi so frantically, wanting to come down in one fell swoop, Ye Tao shook his head. Gao Senqi was anxious after all. For the Blood Kirin Army, although the pressure on the entire front had suddenly increased a lot, the line was still being defended very firmly. The officers at all levels on the front lines were very sensitive to troop adjustments and deployments, trying every possible means to hold the line with small-scale forces. Due to proper scheduling, there were actually more soldiers resting than Ye Tao had expected. In this kind of intertwined melee combat, the superb individual combat capability of the Blood Kirin Army was fully demonstrated. Although the barriers outside the camp were not very high, the large terraces formed by the mountain became very advantageous for the Blood Kirin Army in defense. Seeing this advantage, Sun Bo, who was wearing light armor and assisting in coordinating the front-line command, even ordered the abandonment of the outermost ramparts, allowing the enemy to enter a little. The light infantrymen were divided into small groups, supporting and protecting each other, while the warriors of the Guard Battalion who were engaged in combat formed groups according to their respective habits. The light infantry warriors prioritized maintaining the line, ensuring that the enemy would not break through their defenses and threaten the archers on the second and third tiers of ramparts, while the warriors of the Guard Battalion gave full play to their combat power, strangling the enemy's elite troops.

Zhe Luo, staying on the second-tier ramparts, was picking off the enemy's officers and seemingly strong individual soldiers one by one while assisting in directing the archers to shoot horizontally to kill the enemy. There were few archers of Zhe Luo's level in the world. Standing there and shooting arrows was not difficult for him at all at a certain distance. On this fiercely fought battlefield, he was still leisurely playing fancy archery. A series of rapid-fire arrows, twelve in total, directly nailed a row of Northern Liao soldiers to the ground. If it hadn't been for an allied light infantryman who jumped out to block his line of fire, forcing him to temporarily raise his hand and fire an arrow into the air, these twelve arrows would have directly solved a dozen enemies. There were also experts in the Longbow Battalion, some of whom had the intention of competing with Zhe Luo, but seeing Zhe Luo's miraculous performance, they could only remain silent, and then resolve to practice even harder after returning.

Letting the opponents enter the front line allowed the Longbow Battalion to fully exert its firepower, but it also seemed to give the Northern Liao side hope of breaking through the Blood Kirin Army's defense. But Gao Senqi still felt that something was wrong. A little later, he felt that the feedback from the front line was not right. Investing ten thousand men and not investing ten thousand men actually yielded the exact same progress. The Blood Kirin Army still defended their offensive on the spot, and did not launch a very strong counterattack to drive them out of the camp. Since the Northern Liao side had not yet understood the Blood Kirin Army's rotation of troops in the night battle, they had not yet discovered the secrets inside.

Jin Ze personally led the warriors of the Guard Battalion to fight bravely on the front line, and with the good news from the rear, everyone's morale was high, with no worries about the future, and the combat power they displayed was extremely astonishing. At this time, Ye Tao had received detailed battle reports from scouts, learning that Zou Shuangwen would rush to meet Ye Tao here as soon as possible to discuss the next battle plan.

After Ye Tao thought carefully, he said, "Tell Zou Shuangwen not to come over. I'll leave these Danyang airship teams here, and start harassing and attacking the enemy troops tomorrow. All the original flying teams should follow Zou Shuangwen, find a way to cross the river, and quickly insert themselves behind the enemy. I here... should be able to hold on for more than two days. What kind of results can be achieved depends on whether Lao Zou is fast enough."

Liu Yong also agreed with Ye Tao's view that it was impossible for the Northern Liao army to maintain such an intensity of attack forever. They had already rotated at least half of their troops to the front line within a day, and they had not rested before launching the attack. Including the previous march, the entire army had been stretched tight. Once they were unable to continue the attack, the two sides would quickly fall into a stalemate. In fact, Ye Tao's statement that he could hold on for two days was very conservative. Liu Yong felt that it would already be a testament to Gao Senqi's extremely strong control over the army if the Northern Liao army could continue to attack until dawn. The West Route Army was indeed one of the strongest armies in Northern Liao. It seemed that, with the rapid growth in Dongping, Northern Liao had made great adjustments and progress, at least in the West Route Army. If Liu Yong was still in command of the Imperial Guards, the Northern Liao army would never have had such endurance in this kind of siege warfare.

"When it dawns, withdraw the Guard Battalion. Deploying half of the rested heavy infantry will be enough. The front can be stabilized. Hold on until the enemy retreats. My lord, try to keep as many mobile troops as possible. If I'm not mistaken, whether the enemy discovers that Xiangning City has been captured or discovers that Governor Zou has inserted himself behind enemy lines, they will probably have to run away. Heavy infantry... pursuit is not their strong point." A staff officer said.

Ye Tao thought for a moment and said, "Okay, let's do that."

Gao Senqi didn't have this kind of composure at this time. He personally crossed the river and observed the front line, feeling more and more that the situation was not right. The warriors of the Blood Kirin Army were indeed showing signs of fatigue, but so was the Northern Liao army, and they also had to bear tremendous psychological pressure. When they attacked the Blood Kirin Army's camp time after time, and were beaten back time after time, this deep-seated fear and decadence could not be resolved by the officers' encouragement, or even Gao Senqi's inspection. Gao Senqi watched the Blood Kirin Army's front line remain motionless, and on the spot organized another reinforced attack of two hundred men, personally observing the Blood Kirin Army's movements. And in this attack, he saw Jin Ze, Zhe Luo, and several other Guard Battalion warriors he had met. Gao Senqi sighed and said, "Let's go back. Looks like there's no hope today."

Back in the command tent, Zhang Lixian heard Gao Senqi mention that the warriors of the Guard Battalion had been deployed and asked, puzzled, "Young General, shouldn't those be Ye Tao's personal guards? Even his personal guards have been thrown in, wouldn't we be able to take it down if we put in more effort? Why did you say..."

"You don't understand Ye Tao, he's not the kind of person who only cares about himself in the most dangerous moments. He's inside the Blood Kirin Army. Within the Blood Kirin Army, there certainly aren't any Northern Liao spies, right? Even if there are, with Liu Yong by his side, who could possibly assassinate him? Whether the Guard Battalion is by his side or not makes no difference, he can naturally regard them as a major combat force in this battle. And looking at the Blood Kirin Army's orderly operations in the front, without any panic, their abandonment of the first-line ramparts is only to kill our army faster. After we broke through, did we gain any advantage? Not caring about the gains and losses of terrain, but focusing on annihilation and killing, this is also the style of Ye Tao, the Blood Kirin Army, and the armies of Yunzhou. Moreover, if it was really an emergency, why didn't the heavy infantry come up, but the Guard Battalion did? Ye Tao has already considered the rotation of combat power. With this kind of backup, don't even think about making any progress for at least a few hours. Look, how long can our sons last?"

Zhang Lixian sighed, "Then what do you mean, Young General?"

"Withdraw them. The pontoon bridge is ready and can be rushed up at any time. Withdraw them and let everyone rest, select elite soldiers from each army, and form an elite commando battalion of at least two thousand men. Tomorrow, first use fresh troops to attack once, to wear down the Blood Kirin Army's spirit, test their reaction, and then, see if the commando battalion can open a deep enough gap. As long as we can break through the Blood Kirin Army's front line and form a melee, so that their longbowmen cannot exert their power, we will still have a chance," Gao Senqi coldly ordered.

"Yes, Young General." Zhang Lixian also thought this was a good idea, and finally waved his hand and ordered the bugle to sound the retreat. Seeing the Northern Liao army slowly retreating, leaving only a few simple bunkers built with layers of branches and fire-resistant cloth on the river beach, the Blood Kirin Army breathed a sigh of relief. The soldiers quickly took turns resting, and the entire front of the battlefield was temporarily handed over to the Guard Battalion for guard and observation. The entire camp quickly fell into a chorus of snores.

On the Northern Liao side, many commanding generals were also greatly relieved. After fighting for this one day, the Blood Kirin Army had really scared them. From having no understanding of the Blood Kirin Army's combat power originally, only hearsay and imagination, to now having a visceral pain, the transition in between was really too great. The Blood Kirin Army was really strong, even stronger than they had originally expected. And what was even more terrifying was that, no matter how they observed now, the Blood Kirin Army's casualties should have exceeded 30%, but their morale was as strong as ever. Not to mention collapse, they didn't even feel that their morale had dropped in any way. This was too frightening. Could it be that the Blood Kirin Army was a group of emotionless iron men?

In this temporary cessation of fighting, with everyone too tired to move a single muscle, no one dared to slack off in the slightest. Gao Senqi was indeed selecting elite troops, preparing to make another effort, while Ye Tao was also working with the officers overnight to count the Blood Kirin Army's various losses in this one day, and was still doing various preparations. Piles of kerosene bombs were being moved onto high platforms, crossbow cannons were being recalibrated one by one, and arrows and other items stockpiled in the rear of the camp were being redistributed... The wounded soldiers had to be treated in time to prevent small wounds from endangering their lives. Although Ye Tao attached great importance to the army's medical construction, he was temporarily unable to produce antibiotics, and infection was still the most significant threat. Fortunately, the Blood Kirin Army had a very sufficient stock of various medicines.

By the next morning, the Blood Kirin Army had instead prepared for various battles. The soldiers quietly entered the position, each sitting down on the spot in their battle positions, waiting for another day of fierce fighting to come. At this time, Gao Senqi also discovered the group of airships hovering over the Blood Kirin Army's camp. Looking at this reinforcements from the sky, Gao Senqi sighed, hoping that they were really from afar, and not those who had withdrawn from the battlefield of Xiangning.

"Begin." Today, Gao Senqi ordered. He was obviously not going back to "rest" today. He stood steadily in front of the command seat, observing the Blood Kirin Army's position with binoculars. The army was crossing the river in columns, stepping on the pontoon bridge, and the Blood Kirin Army's heavy equipment camp was also beginning to fire at a relatively low frequency... It seemed that this would be an extremely dull day.