Chapter 1 The Unparalleled Outburst

Ye Tao's troops, having been suppressed for three days, displayed unparalleled explosive power when they switched to offense. After the Northern Liao army retreated to the other side of the river, the Xueqi Army even moved their ballista cannons forward. The heavy ballista cannons could already reach the opposite bank from the camp, but moving them forward allowed them to effectively support the Xueqi Army's river-crossing troops. The Northern Liao left behind an old general in his fifties to defend the area. His defensive skills were undeniably proficient, but the Xueqi Army's tactics were simply too bizarre. First, they recklessly unleashed two rounds of full-powered Blazing Ignition, clearing the area in front of the riverbank. Then, a small number of experts from the Guard Battalion swam across the river to carry out harassing operations. Just as the Northern Liao army discovered that the attackers numbered less than a hundred, a series of grappling hooks were fired, taking root in the large rocks and trees along the riverbank. Some Xueqi Army soldiers, especially light infantry units, immediately climbed the ropes to cross the river. Their skilled and energetic movements made it clear that they had undergone extensive training. The Northern Liao side tried to organize a counterattack, but as Gao Senqi and Zhang Lixian led their troops away from the front camp towards Qingya to complete more important strategic objectives, they were simultaneously harassed from behind by the enemy. Meanwhile, the Xueqi Army was gathering at an extremely fast pace right under their noses. What inflicted casualties on the Northern Liao army was the hand-thrown light Fire Oil Grenade (huo you dan). Although its destructive power was limited, it easily threw the Northern Liao garrison into chaos. Their morale was already low, knowing that they were a rearguard force mostly abandoned by Gao Senqi. Although they had a certain numerical advantage compared to Ye Tao's troops, they naturally knew that this advantage was unreliable after the fierce fighting of the previous three days. The Xueqi Army fearlessly and bravely interjected, breaching the Northern Liao's forward garrison in less than an hour, easily completing the river crossing, and successfully joining forces with the harassing troops sent by Zou Shuangwen. In this brief battle, nine thousand Northern Liao soldiers ultimately chose to surrender.

At this time, Gao Senqi really couldn't spare any attention to the rearguard troops. He was single-mindedly focused on leading his troops to storm Qingya, where he was currently suffering heavy losses. Gao Senqi's personal guards were also thrown into the battle, and several times they had even climbed onto the city walls of Qingya, but were ultimately beaten back. The Xueqi Army's resilience was extraordinary, and although they were besieged and forced to defend, their mindset at this time was very complacent. This advantageous mindset, present in every soldier of the Xueqi Army, resulted in an extraordinary level of combat effectiveness. Gao Senqi's supervision and his reckless commitment of his elite personal guard troops made things very troublesome and annoying for Zou Shuangwen, and the Xueqi Army suffered considerable losses. However, they were still far from being able to recapture Qingya. When the two armies were entangled and fought to a stalemate late into the night, the Xueqi Army's ambush troops launched their attack. Zou Shuangwen seemed completely uninterested in the other, larger enemy force, and was determined to fix his gaze on Gao Senqi's troops, seemingly intent on annihilating Gao Senqi on the spot. Gao Senqi naturally understood his opponent's intentions. If he could be eliminated, it would be difficult for the Western Route Army to find another commander with his prestige and determination, willing to do everything possible to hold back the Dongping Army, even at the cost of several times the sacrifice, and perish together with the Dongping Army rather than allow them to advance quickly. Gao Senqi knew that the various combat methods he had explored over the years, imitating the Xueqi Army and the Yunzhou armies, might be a drop in the bucket compared to these "teachers," but he was truly unwilling to lose, unwilling to see Northern Liao destroyed in this way. He, first of all, could not perish. Having the imperial court release his father to lead the army would also be a solution, but both father and son knew that only Gao Senqi currently had some understanding of these new warfare methods, with various methods that seemed unbelievable to others to deal with them. Although he had to constantly experiment to see if his methods worked, at least he had some methods. The older generation of commanders were now completely out of touch in terms of energy and imagination. This made him feel even more terrified of the current Dongping Army.

"Qin Chang, lead your men up and force them down this ridge. Xu Yadong, take two thousand men to support the west side of the city wall… Prepare to retreat…" Gao Senqi looked at the chaotic situation and could only send two of his close generals to hold the line, control the situation, and create conditions for the army's retreat. For these two men and the troops they led, totaling more than ten thousand, as well as the Northern Liao soldiers entangled with the Xueqi Army, they might never receive reinforcements again. But their sacrifice might allow Gao Senqi's troops to leave this battlefield as completely as possible.

Zou Shuangwen saw Gao Senqi's adjustments, but he scratched his head in annoyance, feeling somewhat helpless. The disparity in strength was obvious. Although he wanted to encircle and annihilate the enemy, no matter how skilled he was in using troops, and no matter how strong the Xueqi Army's individual and team combat strength was, encircling an equal number of enemy troops with thirty thousand men was the most he could do. Any more would be diluting his advantage to almost nothing, and risking the lives of his brothers. "It seems that's all there is to it. Gao Senqi is too slippery, there's no way to do it. Zhang Lixian's side probably can't be blocked. Let's see how many enemies we can eliminate in the pursuit operation later. We can only encircle two or three thousand into the encirclement. Really…"

Zou Shuangwen's grumbling made everyone smile. Adding the previous operations, the Xueqi Army had fought against more than 300,000 enemy troops with only 50,000 troops, and had achieved the victory of capturing a city, causing more than 100,000 casualties to the Northern Liao army, of which at least 60,000 were killed in battle. The Xueqi Army was still suffering considerable losses. Zou Shuangwen himself did not know how many actual combatants the Xueqi Army had left, but it would be good if the Xueqi Army's combat strength was at 70% of its peak. They had already defended the title of the world's number one army and could enter a period of rest without regret. One shouldn't be too greedy.

After annihilating the Northern Liao's forward garrison at a limited cost, Ye Tao did not continue the pursuit. In the end, only cavalry units totaling less than six thousand men were carrying out the pursuit operation. However, the Scout Battalion created many opportunities for them. The Han brothers predicted that the enemy would pass through Golden Rooster Ridge, and also knew that the follow-up troops would not catch up quickly. They actually contacted the airship units and concentrated many airships to bomb Qing'an Village. The main road of Golden Rooster Ridge passed directly through the middle of this village with no defenses. They set Qing'an Village on fire. Although it didn't cause many casualties, the rising plumes of smoke made the Northern Liao army suspicious for a while. Inspired by this combat method, which was not very consistent with the Xueqi Army's original gentlemanly style, other scout teams also used the fact that the airships could always get ahead of the enemy, and used the problem that the Northern Liao army had more infantry and limited marching speed, to continuously carry out various harassing operations. Their favorite attack method was to run over the enemy's heads in the middle of the night and drop some bombs. A small Fire Oil Grenade (huo you dan) could cause a lot of commotion in the Northern Liao camp, and the soldiers had to be on tenterhooks and couldn't sleep well. This harassing tactic slowed down the Northern Liao army's speed more and more after two days of frantic running.

In these two days, the cavalry units of the pursuing army carried out more than a dozen small-scale operations, cumulatively eliminating more than 4,000 enemies. Although this was not a remarkable achievement, considering their own fatigue from continuous combat, the efficiency was already very high. Having pursued to this point, the cavalry units finally began to return. Gao Senqi and Zhang Lixian had already joined forces, and the army had obtained supplies from the reserve team that was facing off in the center, and was not far from the main force in the center. Once the pursuit operation was unsuccessful, or the battle was not resolved in time, they might be surrounded by the enemy's superior forces. The risk of pursuit was too great, and the benefits were relatively limited. The Xueqi Army soldiers, who were always good at mathematics, would not do such a losing business.

Fifteen days after the rear route was cut off, the Xueqi Army not only regained Wangchuan, eliminating the worries of the rear, but also captured Xiangning and Qingya, forming a very stable triangular zone.

Originally, the Xueqi Army's strength was a bit stretched. It was also a great waste to have the Xueqi Army's main combat troops dispersed in defense. Although the Tianxuan Army and the Imperial Guards had arrived, these troops should not be used for defense either. Ye Tao finally decided to carry out further mobilization in the Northern Frontier Pacification Commissioner's Office, mobilizing more garrison battalions, tribal soldiers, and other combat forces into the Northern Liao territory to assist in consolidating the already occupied areas, so that the Dongping main combat troops, including the Xueqi Army, could concentrate all their strength to face the next stage of the battle. The Xueqi Army was now in urgent need of rest, but it also had time to wait for these troops. Perhaps a month of rest would allow the enemy to recover some strength, but compared to the previous reckless advance that caused a great deal of anxiety, Ye Tao felt that it was not a problem at all for the opponent to recover some strength. After all, the enemy's total strength could not have a jumping growth. Even if Gao Senqi mobilized until he died, the vast territory of the Western Route Army would have at most more than 500,000 troops, and the proportion of cannon fodder among them was quite high. However, the troop support obtained on his side was much greater. Just the Tianxuan Army and a part of the Imperial Guards, plus a part of the Tan family's tribal soldiers, added up to more than 100,000 elite troops. No matter how you calculated it, his side's combat strength was becoming more and more dominant. In this case, adventurism seemed more and more unnecessary.

The communication and supply lines between the ground and the Northern Frontier Pacification Commissioner's Office were also restored. Small Northern Liao troops that could not get support from the main army finally withdrew into the vast mountains and forests. Otherwise, their only fate would be to be strangled in the woodlands by Ye Tao from both ends. After issuing further mobilization orders, ordering the construction of temporary lines from Wangchuan to the original border of the Northern Frontier Pacification Commissioner's Office, and the construction of Wangchuan Airship Station, etc., Ye Tao could finally put all his worries aside and run to Xiangning City to meet Tan Xiaopei.