Chapter 1 An Envoy's Mission

An envoy's words and actions are strictly limited. Before his departure, the General Staff had given Chen Xiaolai a thick, leather envelope containing all the necessary information, but even more important was the bottom line that Ye Tao had given him: when necessary, he could make decisions as Ye Tao's fully authorized representative. Of course, to invoke such a bottom line, he had to have very good reasons.

Yunzhou was constantly preparing for war, and the confrontation and friction between the two sides could escalate at any time. In fact, Yunzhou didn't mind entering a state of war at this moment, only worrying that the army was not fully trained and might suffer unnecessary losses. But Dai Yun's pillow talk might be right, that when Yunzhou was ready, the Western Army should also be ready. At least, it seemed that the Western Army was a notch below the Yunzhou armies in combat effectiveness. If they waited, the gap might widen further, but it was also possible that the Western Army might catch up. After all, Yunzhou's every move was being watched, and Yunzhou's army was complex and precise, making further leaps impossible. Dai Yun had seen the firearms produced by the Ye Clan Workshop, but even so, she insisted that they shouldn't wait.

Ye Tao was somewhat persuaded. Not to mention that Yunzhou's military system had been shaped by him over the years into a highly efficient military system with rapid assembly, rapid marching, and rapid deployment, the initial fifty battalions all had the efficiency of rapid reaction forces, and the subsequent expansion did not significantly reduce this capability. Including the logistics units, Yunzhou could actually deploy troops at any time, with a total of about 150,000 troops in year-round training. This did not include second-line troops such as the garrison battalions, whose actual combat effectiveness was not weak. In addition, Yunzhou had the potential to mobilize more than 100,000 troops with considerable combat effectiveness at any time, including the cavalry units on Benlang Plain and the northern grasslands. If Yunzhou's ability to mobilize quickly could be used well, supplemented by strong reconnaissance capabilities, they would already be invincible. Ye Tao was only worried that without railways, the logistical supply pressure would be too great.

The instructions Chen Xiaolai received from Ye Tao and the General Staff were not even entirely the same. Ye Tao's statement was that there was no need to force Northern Liao into combat; while Dai Yun privately instructed him that if the other party didn't hand over the people, then they had to fight, and if the other party handed over the people, then they were enduring humiliation and biding their time, and they had to fight even more… Anyway, Chen Xiaolai thought depressingly, I'm going to stir things up, but you don't have to arrange things to be so stimulating. Now he had basically become someone who was going to provoke trouble. His task was nothing more than two points: to let the Northern Liao side know that those who had no hope of resisting could seek protection within Dongping, and their personal property would be recognized, as well as property they could prove by other means. This was an extremely powerful move, and those who were worried about their real estate being confiscated could now rest assured. In addition, he was to go and see the Western Army's combat readiness and morale along the way… It seemed that he was not so much an envoy as a scout.

But this was indeed what Chen Xiaolai himself had requested. After reading the documents prepared for him by the General Staff, understanding the information of the generals under the Western Army, and knowing the various arguments for dealing with all kinds of people, he burned all the documents. These contents had been firmly engraved in his heart. As an archer, he couldn't aim at the markings before each arrow, and as an envoy, he couldn't look at notes and negotiate with people.

Yunzhou's lead and wealth were evident even without military equipment. Since he was going to negotiate, he naturally had to take a road that both sides could see and felt they had some control over. Entering Dalun Mountain Fortress, which had been occupied by the Northern Liao army for many years and had now become the first line of defense against Yunzhou, Chen Xiaolai's feeling was very obvious.

The Northern Liao side had not grasped the secret of framed buildings at all. Even the most important main fortress of Dalun Mountain used semi-framed building technology that they hadn't fully mastered. Although it was framed with stone beams, they could only use dougong (a system of brackets inserted between the top of a column and a crossbeam) to construct a roof, and strengthen it in various ways. To resist attacks from stone projectiles, etc., it looked like it shouldn't be a problem, judging from the complex appearance. However, the main fortress was on the top of Dalun Mountain, who would be full enough to use stone projectiles to attack it? As for air defense, the Northern Liao side also had some awareness, but the gun mounts of those remanufactured Shenbi bows (divine crossbows) could indeed point to the sky, but lacked flexibility. From the smug faces of the soldiers in the Western Army operating these high-altitude crossbows, Chen Xiaolai knew that their understanding of airships was still stuck several years ago, or what the Northern Liao spies had usually scouted. The new Snow Owl airships were much faster and quieter than before, carried more bombs, and could drop bombs at a higher altitude. And these high-altitude crossbows, which were hard to aim and had questionable range when pointed at the sky, could only scratch an itch at best. And around the main fortress of Dalun Mountain, the affiliated buildings were even more clumsy. Northern Liao seemed to have tried all the architectural styles they could think of on Dalun Mountain. Archway-style mountain gates, traditional wooden-structured command posts halfway up the mountain, barracks with a mix of bungalows, adobe houses, and multi-story buildings, rammed earth structures, wood and stone structures, brick and wood structures, stone structures, etc., all kinds of fortresses were available. Having been used to seeing Yunzhou's well-planned and orderly building complexes, he really didn't take it to heart when he arrived here.

Chen Xiaolai originally thought that he would only stay in Dalun Mountain for a short time before heading east to the headquarters of the Western Army, but what he didn't expect was that he was soon informed that the so-called "negotiations" would be held in Dalun Mountain. Major General Gao Senqi would meet him in two days.

This news made Chen Xiaolai's heart sink. The commander of the Western Army was currently in the Northern Liao capital reporting for duty, actually as a hostage, so that the Western Army would not dare to act rashly. And Gao Senqi was the core of the entire Western Army. Gao Senqi was in Dalun Mountain? If it wasn't to inspect the current situation, then the Western Army was probably ready to attack at any time.

When he actually faced Gao Senqi, Chen Xiaolai couldn't see any worry. For him, worrying about things at the campaign level was useless, and someone would naturally take care of it. What he had to do was to make his own demands.

Gao Senqi was a friend of Ye Tao's, this incredible fact allowed Chen Xiaolai to meet Gao Senqi openly and generously. "Greetings, General Gao, my lord asked me to say hello. I didn't expect to meet the young general so soon."

"Stop with the pleasantries. The inauguration ceremony of Gangduo was the last time I went to Yunzhou in a personal capacity. From that day on, Ye Tao is more of an opponent than a friend. If I were to set foot in Yunzhou again in the future, I'm afraid it would be as a conqueror or a prisoner of war." Gao Senqi said with a smile, obviously not too concerned about Chen Xiaolai's non-fabricated greetings. "You should make your intentions clear. If there's room for discussion, we'll talk. If not, you should go back and prepare early. Looking at you, you don't seem to be a civil official."

"General has good eyes, I was originally an archer in the Guard Battalion, and I've been my lord's adjutant for less than a month." Chen Xiaolai said frankly, "The matter is like this. A while ago, the Flying Tiger Battalion infiltrated Yunzhou and pursued the Ding family of Weining. I believe the young general should have known about this long ago. Since the Ding family of Weining sought refuge in Yunzhou, Yunzhou naturally took them in. The remaining members of the Ding family are said to have fallen into the hands of the Northern Liao side. My lord wants to ask, if this is the case, can you hand the people over to us?"

"Oh? Hand them over to you? On what basis? Is my Northern Liao not allowed to kill a few traitorous officials?" A thin officer stepped forward and said angrily, "Your Yunzhou is too disrespectful."

"They are not traitorous officials, don't get it wrong. They are just a merchant family. They pay taxes in order to seek safety and obtain national protection. The state collects their taxes, which means it agrees to assume such responsibility. From the moment Northern Liao tried to seize the Ding family's property, the Ding family was no longer subjects. The contract between the Ding family and Northern Liao can be considered to have collapsed. You want people to pay taxes while also demanding that they hand over their earnings over the years. Is there such a country? How is this different from bandits?" Chen Xiaolai said nonchalantly. In Yunzhou, these young people have been instilled with this kind of ideology that is obviously ahead of its time for many years. This kind of contract theory has long been deeply engraved in their bones, just like the bravery in everyone's blood vessels.

"Yunzhou's heresies..." Gao Senqi sighed. "You want people, and I have to hand them over. What kind of logic is that? I did capture the people. To kill them, I don't think it's necessary. But to release them is impossible. If I hand the people over to you, then my Northern Liao's face will be completely swept away. That is absolutely impossible. Let's forget about this one. What else do you have to say?"

"Oh, so the young general really captured the people. Since the young general is not willing to hand the people over to us, then that's fine. Anyway… hehe." Chen Xiaolai's chuckle clearly implied: we'll just attack and release the people ourselves, we don't need you. This hehe of a chuckle struck everyone's hearts at once. No matter how hard the Western Army worked to strengthen their troops and govern well, the middle and high-ranking generals present were well aware of the gap between them and the Yunzhou armies. The pressure from the Yunzhou army had certainly transformed into motivation for them to forge ahead, but it also gave them heavy psychological pressure.

"Threatening me?" Gao Senqi said with a smile, "If you have the ability, let Ye Tao come... It's only a matter of time, isn't it?"

"You don't need to ask why the Flying Tiger Battalion crossed the border to hunt them down. Now, everything, everything, is just a reason. Ye Tao found a good reason, a good opportunity." Gao Senqi shook his head and sighed.