In the distant Danan Pass, Chen Xujing, not particularly skilled in fortress defense, had retired with merit. But his two successors had never satisfied those above and below. Replacing Chen Xujing first was Huo Da, only forty-four years old, the former Jianzhou Governor and Southern Route Pacification Commissioner. Huo Da's fame came from campaigns against the barbarians in the southwest and southeast of the continent. It could be said his hands were stained with blood, and he was especially skilled in mountain warfare. The problem was, he had no experience commanding large mixed-arms corps, lacked understanding of using technical weapons, and also had no experience in fortress defense. According to the court, it would have been better not to replace anyone than to let this guy take over. However, Huo Da was not simply kicked out. Upon taking over the heavy responsibility of Danan Pass and its defenses, he immediately realized that this was not his forte. He sought advice from his subordinates, diligently completing some of the tasks that Chen Xujing had arranged, and also submitted a request to resign, expressing his concerns about his abilities. Because of this attitude, Huo Da deeply won the hearts of the ministers in the court. Later, Huo Da was transferred to the position of Nanzhou Commander and General Pingxi. In addition to the troops stationed at Danan Pass and those directly assigned to it, all the troops originally stationed in the vast area after the capture of Danan Pass, used to guard against the counterattack of Xiling and the unrest in the captured areas, were handed over to Huo Da. Huo Da was nominally the deputy of the Danan Pass garrison, but in reality, without Huo Da's approval, the Danan Pass garrison commander could probably only perform garrison duties. The person who succeeded Huo Da was Liang Xudao, the father of the Chunnan Crown Prince's guard captain, who was fifty-seven years old.

Originally, the Crown Prince had promised many benefits to many people in order to get the position of Danan Pass garrison commander into the hands of his own people. Although Liang Xudao's qualifications were slightly inferior to Chen Xujing, he was qualified in all aspects, including military seniority, experience, military achievements, reputation, and command ability. However, although Liang Xudao took office smoothly, it was only a neutered position of Danan Pass garrison commander, no longer the pivotal position of commanding the most important heavy army group in Chunnan. Liang Xudao did not have Chen Xujing's vision, nor Huo Da's stability and self-restraint. He did not communicate with Huo Da, nor did he ask the Crown Prince for instructions, and proudly cut off a smuggling route in Danan Pass that had just begun to recover. Before he could ask for credit, the Crown Prince's letter of reprimand had already arrived. It turned out that the actual operator and beneficiary of this route was precisely this Crown Prince. Although he did not quite understand what a Crown Prince meant by undermining his own country, Liang Xudao had no choice but to admit his bad luck.

But after these two twists and turns, the large army, which had been relatively well-integrated under Chen Xujing's deployment, was now divided into two parts: the fortress garrison and the local garrison. The various political and military affairs involved, and the interests involved in all aspects, became increasingly entangled. At this time, whether to wait for Chunnan's own airship squadron to complete training, and which aspect it should be assigned to, became another focal point of entanglement. From the perspective of facilitating fortress defense, using the airship squadron to conduct routine patrol flights around the area could provide real-time information on the troop concentration of Xiling, and Danan Pass would no longer be in danger of being attacked by surprise. In fact, Huo Da himself had no intention of fighting for the airship squadron. Although he was working hard to learn how to use those armaments and was familiar with the technologies of large-scale group operations that had been verified as effective by Dongping, Xiling, and Chunnan itself, airships were still too far beyond his imagination. Although airships now had good combat results, once everyone's fear of airships as a weapon was resolved, the chances of achieving similar results with the current airships with extremely low ammunition capacity would become less and less. But Huo Da didn't want to compete much, which didn't mean that others didn't compete. The Second Prince had several important figures on his side present facts and reason, arguing the importance of aviation as a strategic offensive force, that the airship squadron should continue to expand, but should remain low-key and mysterious, so that it could carry out a decisive blow at a crucial moment, rather than being deployed as a scattered reconnaissance force, constantly exposing itself to the enemy. In those days, the Chunnan court almost became a military discussion forum. At this time, the Chunnan King had no choice but to summon the virtuous King Chang Hongquan to inquire, and hoped even more that Jiang Yan would return soon.

The airship squadron that Chunnan entrusted for training was currently only mastering some basic steps, and was still a long way from being able to fight. Not to mention being inferior to those pilots who were determined to stay in the Dongping army after two rounds of screening, even those who were now flying civilian flights were much stronger than them. In fact, there was no need to rush to discuss who it belonged to now. It was just that the Chunnan court had always had the habit of repeatedly arguing about one thing, arguing to the end, and no one was willing to give in first. And this kind of dispute not only made many people pay more attention to the airship squadron,

At this time, it seemed that Xiling was preparing to take action after noticing that the atmosphere at Danan Pass had changed slightly after the change of garrison commanders. Some spies who had been lurking began to become active, especially some owners of restaurants, brothels, and inns, who, taking advantage of their ability to contact many people, began to say all kinds of sarcastic remarks that did not touch the bottom line, influencing passing travelers and merchants. This area is still a relatively prosperous area in Chunnan. After the occupation, those large families and large merchants of Xiling were expelled, and until now, the entire commercial system is still under high-speed construction and development. There are quite a few merchant teams coming and going, and this influence quickly spread.

Xiling would naturally not be satisfied with just spreading rumors, but was preparing to recapture Danan Pass. The previous stalemate between the two countries was largely because Chunnan had been secretly lurking for too long, and the prepared troops were not sufficient enough, especially the troops that could rush to Danan Pass at the first time and solve the problem before Danan Pass received reinforcements. Xiling claimed to have a million armored soldiers, and even now, their total military strength was far above Dongping. If it was in the past, the armies organized by the major families with obvious family traces, after undergoing several battles with Dongping and realizing their weaknesses, had a strong momentum to catch up. Many armies had more than doubled their combat power compared to before. And realizing that the Dongping army was completely state-owned, could be quickly and secretly mobilized, and did not have to be like the armies formed by various aristocratic families, where relatives and friends would inevitably leak information during mobilization, in recent years, Xiling had also compiled about 100,000 elite troops through various methods. After several years of recuperation, Xiling now finally felt that it could do something. Compared to Dongping, Chunnan was obviously a better choice for testing the blade.

The Northern Camp that Xiling originally established in Zhongzhou was now empty. When this situation was first discovered, all the spies of the intelligence bureau had their hairs standing on end. They hadn't heard any news beforehand. But their subsequent investigation was very effective. They soon discovered that the Northern Camp had been transferred to the south, rested in a valley south of Anqing for two days, and then continued south... It was self-evident that Xiling was preparing to use troops against Chunnan. And the target was even clearer, where else could they go except Danan Pass? Without Danan Pass in their hands, Xiling had no choice at all if they wanted to attack Chunnan now.

After having this understanding, the spies of the intelligence bureau increased the intensity of their scouting. At this time, Sun Boping, as the deepest secret of the intelligence bureau, also sent key information. There was a Minister of Revenue acting as an inside agent. Although the intelligence bureau did not dare to use this clue too much, the help it could provide at this critical moment was immeasurable. Sun Boping confirmed that the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War had used many secret resources, especially many industries under the name of the Xiling royal family. This time, several manors of the royal family in the south were actually used to temporarily station troops, which was an unprecedented situation. And the supplies used to support the army even included the royal family's treasury's food, armaments, and medicines. In order to recapture Danan Pass in one fell swoop this time, the total mobilized military strength was as high as 550,000, including about 50,000 special troops formed by Xiling imitating Dongping's heavy equipment and heavy infantry troops. The cost of this part of the troops alone was a rather terrible figure every day. About 150,000 troops were used to feign an attack on Xuanshan Pass, creating the illusion that Xiling was preparing to advance eastward to attack Dongping. This hand alone made people's jaws drop. What kind of expense was this? The cost of 550,000 troops operating at full capacity for three months would account for more than half of Xiling's entire military expenditure. Of course, this time was not only to capture Danan Pass, but also to rebuild the prestige of the Xiling royal family. In recent years, they had been badly beaten, lost the Zhenbei Military Department, lost Danan Pass, and instead of capturing Xuanshan Pass, a large part of them was annihilated. The performance of the various Moumou Camps of the aristocratic families was also really unsatisfactory. If this time, with the army formed by the Xiling court itself as the core, the capture of Danan Pass was successful, then the further reorganization of the family soldiers of the various aristocratic families would be even more confident, and the morale of the Xiling court and the public would inevitably be boosted.

When the detailed situation report was delivered to Tan Xiaopei, the intelligence bureau's think tanks rarely attached their own assessments. The intelligence bureau's think tanks were undoubtedly talented people, but they were indeed not known for their moral essays, but were good at planning and designing conspiracies. Although they knew that Tan Xiaopei had been guarding against Chunnan, Chunnan was, after all, an ally now. Whether to reveal this news to Chunnan to let them prepare, everyone had different opinions, but in general, the intelligence bureau's think tank was inclined to the view that it would be more beneficial to Dongping if Xiling captured Danan Pass.

After Ye Tao also finished reading the intelligence, Tan Xiaopei asked, "How is it?"

Ye Tao shrugged, looking indifferent, and said, "Tong Bingwen has actually come out again. This old man is really energetic. However, as long as we don't underestimate the enemy, this battle is very likely to have some results."

Tan Xiaopei smiled. In his opinion, whether there were results or not didn't matter. It wouldn't hurt Dongping in any way if Xiling and Chunnan fought to the death and both bled. He smiled and instructed, "Let Danyang secretly spread the news that Chunnan already has an airship squadron. Arrange it cleverly, so that no one can see through it. Then, let Nie Rui grasp the time and notify them before Xiling attacks... Don't be rude. Also, remember to let Chunnan's airship squadron catch up with this great battle."