Chapter 1

Xue Jingze led the first wave of troops. The Heng'an, Henglong, and Rui'an battalions were his three sharpest blades, and he figured they would be enough for three full-force stabs. Although they were all called battalions, the scale of the Xiling battalions wasn't as standardized as the increasingly formalized Dongping ones. "Battalion" wasn't actually used as a unit of measurement for troop strength, but rather as a symbol of jurisdiction. The Heng'an, Henglong, and Rui'an battalions were all directly under the Xiling Ministry of War, directly supported by the state, and were not far from the Xiling Imperial Guards in terms of status and combat power. Although he was confident in the combat power of these three battalions, which together totaled nearly 80,000 men, Xue Jingze still had to consider more profound and far-reaching issues, the most critical of which was the succession of troops. Relying solely on these three battalions, it was hard to imagine that even with the element of surprise, they could take the Danan Pass in one fell swoop, and even if they did, the counterattack they would face would probably be too much for these three battalions to withstand, even with losses. And the key was in the first three days. If they could achieve some results in three days of continuous, rotating attacks and wait for the first batch of reinforcements to further strengthen the offensive, then the possibility of victory would be greatly increased. However, the general responsible for bringing up the second echelon had been promoted from other areas, and Xue Jingze had never worked with him, so he was a little unsure.

Xue Jingze followed the Heng'an Battalion, which set off first, and rushed along the main road in the deep of night towards the Danan Pass. The Heng'an Battalion only had two types of soldiers: infantry and heavy ordnance units. In order to allow their one hundred and twenty crossbow cannons to follow the troops and carry enough ammunition, they were fully equipped with more than a thousand mules and horses. Traveling along the main road, although it was at night with only faint lights illuminating the way, it was still smooth, unlike traversing mountains or anything like that. Xue Jingze arranged a rest before dawn, and then the entire army arrived in front of the Danan Pass in the early morning and immediately deployed their troops to begin the attack. The confrontation between Chunnan and Xiling, which had stagnated for several years, began once again.

The Danan Pass was said to be the barrier between the two countries, but normally the gate was still open to allow a small number of merchants, travelers, and messengers to pass through. Although the inspection was very strict, and large numbers of merchants and travelers were required to be divided into several batches and pass through under the supervision of soldiers to prevent anyone from attacking the gate and destroying the city gate, the atmosphere was generally harmonious. On this day, in the early morning, the Danan Pass opened its gates at the normal time, and two teams of soldiers stood in the dark doorway, guarding the most important pass between Chunnan and Xiling.

Standing guard on the city tower was Yang Yu Fan, a Commandant under Liang Xudao. The tool he used for observation was a pair of binoculars with a yellow brass border that was already mottled. The entire army guarding the pass had a total of sixty such binoculars, or even more advanced ones, but most of them were in the hands of middle and high-ranking officers. And this old pair of binoculars could only be used by the officers on duty in turn because of need.

Yang Yu Fan was on the night shift, and this was the time when he was the most sleepy. According to the schedule, in about half an hour, an officer who had finished breakfast would come to replace him. Then he would have breakfast, fill out the duty form, and go to sleep. In the morning, Yang Yu Fan simply raised his binoculars as usual and walked along the tall and wide city tower and city wall. Every ten battlements, he would turn to the road coming from Xiling and observe it without carefulness. In the early morning, due to the heavy dew at night, there was not much floating dust on the road, and the air was humid. Even if travelers arrived, they would rarely stir up dust. When the lens of the binoculars showed floating, obvious dust on the road, Yang Yu Fan was stunned for a moment and didn't react to what it was. But in an instant, the tips of the towering flagpoles appeared in his eyes. Yang Yu Fan shouted towards the city tower with all his strength, "Enemy attack!"

The city gate was quickly closed. Liang Xudao was not at the pass at the moment, but had gone to the rear to contact and coordinate with Huo Da. Liang Xudao's deputy climbed the city tower, took a look, and immediately ordered to enter a state of combat readiness with a pale face. The two stone slabs behind the city gate, used to prevent impacts, were also raised, and thick wooden bars were propped against the stone slabs, bracing them against the city gate. One crossbow cannon after another came out from the sloped passage built on the top platform of the city wall and the warehouse doors on both sides of the city tower, and were pushed onto the gun positions. The well-trained gunners immediately began to measure a series of data, while the ordinary soldiers carried a large number of ammunition onto the city wall. Archers spread out against the battlements. Spearmen, hook-and-sickle men, and swordsmen gripped their weapons nervously and stood in rows. Many of them hadn't even finished their breakfast. Oil pots were quickly set up, which was still a very effective city defense tool. And the Danan Pass had always had a sufficient supply of rolling logs and stones.

Although the Danan Pass had recently been a bit unstable, it was, after all, a border fortress, and the garrisoned troops were all elite soldiers and strong generals. These most basic tactical movements would not be out of shape, and had already been deeply engraved in everyone's bones. However, the sudden encounter with the enemy put immense pressure on the many soldiers and officers who had no combat experience, making them extremely nervous.

Xue Jingze had no time to care about these things. When the Heng'an Battalion arrived at the Danan Pass, they immediately deployed into three teams, left, center, and right, while the rear army began to assemble the crossbow cannons. Curses and shouts echoed up and down the city, but both sides knew that this would not change anything. After staying under the city for about an hour and organizing their equipment, Xue Jingze immediately ordered an attack, and with his first move, six thousand soldiers were divided into three teams, left, center, and right, attacking simultaneously.

The Xiling side had ample siege equipment, especially the large siege vehicle, which had been carefully built to attack the city gate, and under which more than sixty people could hide. The tight defenses made the rolling logs and stones ineffective. The only thing that was slightly useful was the boiling oil, which poured down, but most of it was diverted to the ground by the sloping external armor plates, though a small amount seeped in through the gaps. However, at this moment, when Xiling was attacking the city with all its might, Xiling was willing to pay the price of nearly two thousand men to break through the blockade of crossbow cannons and the rain of arrows to reach the city walls. If a few soldiers were lost, they were immediately replaced.

Xue Jingze stood at the forefront of his own battle line. When the first six thousand men rushed to the bottom of the city wall and began to climb the city, he ordered the second wave of six thousand men to attack. At the same time, he ordered all the crossbow cannons to move forward, bring the city wall within range, and begin a cannon battle with the Chunnan side. He chose the timing well. He did not let his soldiers climbing the city wall retreat beforehand, but directly pushed the crossbow cannons up and carried out the first round of shooting. Although the accuracy of this batch of crossbow cannons on the Xiling side was very good, many shells still fell on their own people. However, in general, most of the fire oil bombs smashed onto the city, covering the Chunnan soldiers who were actively resisting, causing chaos and significant losses on the city. Taking advantage of the chaos, the infantry climbing the city almost rushed up.

The Chunnan crossbow cannon team was a genuine elite force trained by Dongping instructors, and they were now filled with shame and anger. They immediately launched a full-scale counterattack. One side had the height advantage of the city wall, while the other side could only raise the elevation angle of the crossbow cannons, and the advantages and disadvantages were clear at a glance. However, Xue Jingze was indifferent to the loss of four or five of his own crossbow cannons being destroyed in exchange for one of the opponent's. He knew very well that he could afford this loss this time. Then, he投入了the third wave of troops…

“When will the Henglong Battalion arrive?” After the third wave of attacks was launched, Xue Jingze paused slightly, not in a hurry to send up the last batch of six thousand men in his hand. He had to leave some reserves for himself.

“Reporting to the General, the Henglong Battalion will be here soon, less than three *li* away.” An officer wiped the sweat from his forehead and reported.

“Good, prepare here, and the fourth wave of attacks will begin as soon as the Henglong Battalion arrives.” Xue Jingze ordered expressionlessly. The opening waves of attacks were so fierce that it was hard to imagine that Xue Jingze had already sent up the entire Heng'an Battalion in less than two hours. And just then, the Henglong Battalion arrived. Xue Jingze didn't even wait for the Henglong Battalion to catch their breath before demanding that they immediately deploy their catapults and crossbow cannon units. Due to the rise of crossbow cannons, the not-so-accurate catapults had become weapons that everyone was gradually abandoning. Among the troops that came to attack the Danan Pass this time, only a few had catapults. The Henglong Battalion was one of them. Although catapults lacked precision, they were still very useful for dealing with places like city gates that didn't require much accuracy.

By the afternoon of that day, the Henglong Battalion's infantry troops had been投入了attack. And at this moment, the officers of some rank who were holding on to the city were complaining endlessly. Although the news should have reached Liang Xudao by now, even if Liang Xudao was here, he probably wouldn't have any more or better performance. This kind of city defense operation has never had any technical content, and is just piled up with human lives. The attacking side is like this, and how is the defending side not?

“Attack again tonight…” Xue Jingze ordered lightly. By the evening, the first three battalions had all arrived. Although the cannon battle had been devastating, leaving him with less than one hundred intact crossbow cannons, the Danan Pass was not much better off, with only less than one hundred crossbow cannons firing sporadically.

In the attacks of this day, his troops had twice climbed the city tower, causing a clamor on the city walls, but after all, the disparity between the enemy and ourselves was too great, and the geographical advantage of the Danan Pass was too obvious. The people who climbed the city were quickly driven down. However, Xue Jingze was quite satisfied with this result.