Chapter 1 When the Clear Bugle Sounds

When the clear bugle call sounded in the early morning, an entire battalion of logistics troops, who had been working through the night, retreated into the camp, replaced by another logistics battalion. They had spent the entire night eliminating terrain factors unfavorable to their side on the battlefield. The tall trees that obstructed the line of sight were uprooted, and the deep tree holes were filled in. Boulders were moved aside, and the ground covered with gravel was flattened with huge stone rollers, so as to minimize non-combat attrition caused by the terrain when the soldiers were running. At the same time, telephone lines were laid to each of the pre-determined combat positions, and command tents were set up. All the lines were undergoing intense testing. Behind the command tents were aid stations, where large quantities of medicine, bandages, and other supplies were being moved in. Doctors and medics were already familiarizing themselves with the environment. Especially the medics, who needed to use detailed deployment maps to create routes for stretchers, in preparation for transporting severely wounded soldiers back to the main camp.

Later, soldiers from the heavy ordnance battalion also arrived on this seemingly busy piece of land and began to chart their positions. Coordinate points were determined, allowing them to switch firing targets more quickly and kill the enemy more effectively. This work would continue all day, and in the afternoon, some of the ballistae would be calibrated based on these coordinates.

Xie Bo'an received reports when the Dongping army began their preparations at night, but he strictly ordered them to maintain vigilance and never engage in battle outside the camp. During the day, Xie Bo'an spent almost the entire morning in the command tower, watching the Dongping army prepare meticulously. The binoculars in his hand were also produced by the Ye Family Workshop, without a doubt. Besides the Ye Family Workshop, there was no other institution in the world that could produce binoculars that suppressed chromatic aberration and edge distortion to such an extent. Through the binoculars, Xie Bo'an could clearly see the extravagant equipment the enemy's heavy ordnance battalion was using to chart the battlefield. The Ye Family Workshop didn't sell those surveying instruments with complex scales and stable tripod supports to outsiders at all. Xie Bo'an knew that they had once obtained a manual for the surveying instrument through Kong Xinhua, which was seven hundred pages thick. Not to mention the roughnecks in the army, even the officials in the Ministry of Works couldn't fully understand it. But the Dongping's heavy ordnance battalion had more than two hundred soldiers charting the battlefield… This certainly wasn't all the manpower that could use the surveying instruments. Thinking of this, Xie Bo'an felt a little suffocated. As experienced as he was, he naturally didn't think that combat was just about strength and courage. Now, that was increasingly not the case. The combat effectiveness of the Northern Liao's airship squadron had been improving slowly, largely because the soldiers' cultural literacy was too poor, and it took them a long time to learn how to use flags and lights to transmit signals. The Dongping's tactics of using multiple airships in coordinated group elevation fire to deal with the higher-flying Northern Liao airships were clear to the airship crew, but it took a lot of effort to get them to do the same. An even more serious problem was that Dongping had been mastering airships for a long time, had more opportunities to use airships for various combat operations, and had cultivated a group of professional flight officers, while Northern Liao was almost completely blank in this regard. The newly built airship squadrons in Yanjing had to temporarily transfer several officials from the Ministry of Works to the army because there were no officers who could take on the work of forming and training the troops… As for the heavy ordnance battalion, Xie Bo'an also had three battalions of troops. Not to mention how much the equipment they used differed from the products of the Ye Family Workshop, except for some officers who were equipped with binoculars, there was no surveying equipment to speak of. The soldiers in those battalions had a certain professional foundation, so they naturally understood what the heavy ordnance battalion on the Dongping side was doing, but they didn't even have the conditions to learn and imitate. After discussing it, the battalion commanders reported that they would start a simplified surveying operation in the afternoon… At least, it would make their shooting accuracy better than approximate shooting. In response, Xie Bo'an had nothing to say but sigh and nod in agreement.

After a whole day of torment, the moment of battle finally arrived.

At four o'clock in the morning, Dongping's airships appeared over the Weeping Fragrance Forest. An airship carrying twelve sets of signal boxes and equipped with sufficient batteries and fuel dropped a thick cable and moored in the sky above the Weeping Fragrance Forest. Command airship… This was of course a thorn in Xie Bo'an's side, but he never thought of taking it down first. Four airships, including Yunzhou Number One, were already on guard in the sky. Whether it was a sneak attack or a strong attack, the success rate wouldn't be very high. An hour later, the Dongping army began to enter the position one after another. After the three battalions in the first row were fully armed and entered the position, they sat down to rest, while the logistics battalion sent the equipment of other troops to the position. Then, the soldiers of each battalion entered the position empty-handed and lightly armed before putting on their armor. The clanging metal reflections made the Northern Liao army feel uneasy. The Northern Liao army had no more than 30,000 soldiers wearing armor… and their armor was not in the same class as Dongping's heavy armor. And these elite soldiers of Dongping were even reluctant to waste their stamina from the main camp to the battlefield…

"The whole army, move out of camp, prepare for battle!" Xie Bo'an slammed his palm heavily on the table, giving the order. Only he himself could understand the great pressure the opponent was putting on him. Was Ye Tao just a carpenter? Although the Northern Liao military had always had some understanding of Ye Tao's past experiences, and although they knew that Ye Tao had fought in wars and won many battles, they always felt that a carpenter and a son-in-law from a humble background could possibly understand how to fight a war? But when Ye Tao came in front of him, the rhythm of the entire tribal army immediately changed. Although they had not formally engaged in battle, Ye Tao's step-by-step preparations, his calm and confident attitude, and his unquestionable determination to win according to his own pace all put tremendous pressure on Xie Bo'an. Perhaps, only the tension and frenzy after the start of the war could dilute this pressure. Xie Bo'an still felt that the victory was on his side, after all, his troops had an absolute advantage in numbers.

"Marshal Ye, the Northern Liao army has begun to enter the position," the messenger reported to Ye Tao.

"It's okay, let everyone continue to rest. They'll need a while." At this time, Ye Tao was in the command tower, quietly enjoying a hearty breakfast as he had done on countless mornings in the past. Soft and layered scrambled eggs, slices of bread, cheese, and ham, paired with fragrant coffee… as if this wasn't a battlefield about to be consumed by blood and fire, but a peaceful café. When he was in Yejiabao, breakfast always included fruits such as oranges, but here, the berries collected from the mountains, although juicy, were somewhat sour in taste, which was a minor drawback.

"The logistics battalion isn't idle, is it?" Ye Tao asked casually.

"No, the logistics battalion is starting to confirm the medical routes. Some are preparing the meals and drinks for later," Liu Yong replied with a smile.

"Alas, fighting such a battle now requires more and more complex things to consider in all aspects. Fortunately, the current staff team is very serious, although not as good as the people in the Central Army Camp, they are at least basically qualified. However, after this battle, I think, there won't be many opportunities to train their joint combat coordination ability," Ye Tao said lightly.

Liu Yong shrugged, expressing his approval of Ye Tao's judgment. But he still asked, "Using infantry against cavalry… sometimes I really think your guts are terrifyingly big."

"It's not a matter of guts, it's just calculation," Ye Tao explained with a smile, "The advantage of cavalry over infantry is only relative. But the height and speed of the cavalry have no room to play when they encounter heavy infantry. Once the cavalry can't charge, then what's there to be afraid of? The opponent is just a calculable force, and it's even easier to fall into our rhythm. In my opinion, relying on infantry to withstand attacks, delaying the combat rhythm, and relying on heavy ordnance battalions to output damage… this is a very normal idea."

Liu Yong sighed, "Is this the t and dps theory you discussed with us before? If I hadn't seen it now, I wouldn't have dared to believe that you would actually dare to use this kind of tactics."

"There's nothing I wouldn't dare to use. I believe in my soldiers. I now have almost the best infantry in the world under my command, and the enemies they face are only slightly stronger than second-rate, and far inferior to first-rate cavalry, plus even worse infantry. In terms of equipment, we are more than one level ahead of the opponent, and in terms of command and coordination, it's completely not the same era. What do I have to be afraid of? Those who learn from me live, those who imitate me die… I said this many years ago when I established the Blood Kirin Army. Now, the only ones who have learned the Blood Kirin Army relatively well are these family armies in front of us. After all… the backbone of them are all people who came out of the Blood Kirin Army back then."

It was no accident that Ye Tao could command so many troops who were dispatched one after another as if they were his own arms. It was these officers who "graduated" from the Blood Kirin Army one after another and were subsequently entrusted with important tasks by various families who had deep respect and trust for Ye Tao. Several battalion commanders and captain-level figures were even comrades who had experienced the defense of Baishi City with Ye Tao back then. This deep camaraderie allowed these troops to quickly come together. And the consistent tradition of the Blood Kirin Army allowed Ye Tao to confidently place the right troops in the right positions.

"Xie Bo'an's treasures are coming out…" Watching a row of heavy ballistae being pushed onto the position, and a growing number of black dots appearing in the distant sky, the Northern Liao's airship squadron also appeared at about the same time.

"Intercept!" Ye Tao ordered lightly. He only needed to say these two words, and naturally his staff would pass on his orders. After a burst of hand-cranked telephone handles turning, the staff quickly relayed the order to the mooring site in the rear.

But the time of engagement between the two sides was later than Ye Tao had expected. The Northern Liao side was really too slow in terms of preparing the heavy ordnance battalion. After hesitating again and again, Xie Bo'an still placed the heavy ordnance battalion in a relatively forward position. In front of the heavy ordnance battalion, there were only more than 10,000 infantrymen lined up to protect these expensive war machines. And in the middle and on the flanks, channels were left open for cavalry and infantry units to pass through the formation to the front of the battle formation and continuously launch organized attacks on the Dongping army.

"Xie Bo'an's determination is great. This posture clearly shows that he doesn't care about losses at all and is prepared to fight to the death," Tan Weiran said lightly.

"Wait a minute, I'll leave it to you to come to the rescue in several directions," Ye Tao said.

"Okay, but… that will be at least an hour later. I don't think those guys who finally got a chance to fight would be willing to give me such an opportunity. Or, at least give me this opportunity so quickly…" Tan Weiran said self-deprecatingly. Everyone in Dongping regarded the current war against Northern Liao, as well as the future wars against Xiling and Chunnan, as the best opportunity to earn military merits, and they were worried that they wouldn't have the opportunity to go to the battlefield. And now, these soldiers who originally guarded the various families were not only standing on the battlefield, but also standing in front of Ye Tao, standing in front of one of the most important people who would determine the outcome of the war. If they didn't perform well and made a fool of themselves, not to mention losing face for the family, they wouldn't be able to live with themselves. Compared to the current fully professionalized army of Dongping, the family armies had even higher morale.

More than half an hour after the Northern Liao army successively departed from the camp and entered the position, Ye Tao stood on the high command tower, watching the two armies collide fiercely.

Xie Bo'an was somewhat paranoid, even somewhat crazy. In the first assault, he directly bet on 30,000 cavalry, and the entire three ten-thousand-man teams rushed up. The Northern Liao army, which had the advantage in numbers, was also under the command of the famous general Xie Bo'an, who had greatly improved the combat posture against the tribal army. Their morale was like a rainbow, and 30,000 cavalry rushed towards the Weeping Fragrance Forest like three raging waves. But seeing such a scene, Ye Tao just frowned and didn't even bother to give any more orders.

"Single-row firing!" "Reload!" "Double-row firing!"… The first to express their opinion on the Northern Liao army's offensive was the heavy ordnance battalion. One by one, the fire oil bombs soared into the air, dragging faint black smoke trails, drawing shocking arcs, and slammed into the center of the battlefield, exploding in the ranks of the Northern Liao cavalry. This scene turned Xie Bo'an pale. He had deployed the cavalry's attack based on the previously known range of the Dongping ballistae, in order to quickly pass through the dangerous middle section of the battlefield and avoid the Dongping army's terrible ballista array's killing power. He didn't expect that, unknowingly, the Dongping's ballista range was nearly a hundred chi farther than he knew. This meant that the Northern Liao troops had a hundred chi less safe distance in the two thousand five hundred chi distance they ran to reach the Dongping army.

"One-third high-explosive bombs, get ready. Concentrate firepower at around twenty-six, within a range of three coordinate squares. After two rounds, start intensive firing, and pay attention to communicating with the battalion commanders in front." Now, uniformly commanding the heavy ordnance battalion was Ye Hongjiang from the Ye Family Workshop Research Institute's Experimental Battalion. This guy's original surname was Gu, but after Ye Tao opened his mansion in Yunzhou, he became one of the first family generals of the Ye family. Ye Tao didn't like to drive others and had always lacked interest in accepting family generals, but Gu Hongjiang, who was already enjoying high technical dividends and had followed the Ye family since Yicheng, shamelessly asked Ye Tao to agree. In his opinion, everything he owned came from the Ye family, and it was his glory to be able to serve the Ye family. And his family, and even everyone around him, supported him in doing so. Even becoming a Ye family general, many colleagues around him were envious to death. After all, family generals were not family servants. Since they were generals, they had to know how to fight. Gu Hongjiang, a first-class technician, had worked in the research institute for many years. From the first generation of ballista experiments to the present, every generation of ballista and other long-range weapons had passed through his hands. His importance was even far above some battalion commander-level officers. And with the help of abundant financial resources, the Ye Family Workshop Research Institute not only researched ballista technology, but also researched a series of long-range attack tactics under the encouragement of Gu Hongjiang. The Experimental Battalion of the Ye Family Workshop Research Institute, under his management, trained and worked completely according to military standards, even higher standards. And the Experimental Battalion's familiarity with and mastery of ballistae made the soldiers of those heavy ordnance battalions marvel. Although it was a long-range attack, Ye Hongjiang, a firm believer in firepower supremacy, could make the heavy ordnance battalion hiding behind the infantry become fanatical and bloodthirsty. The camp was full of burly men with bare chests, holding heavy ammunition, and winding huge ratchets. Not only did small observation posts bear the responsibility of coordinating command, but also loud-mouthed soldiers constantly shouted the results of the shelling to their comrades, and cheers and scoldings were endless on the position.

"Third squad, you knocked over a leader!"

"Captain Jiang, correct a coordinate forward, your barrage is receding too fast!"

"Fifth team, replenish a base number of high-explosive bombs."

However, what surprised the soldiers in front and in the rear who were guarding and waiting was that no matter how frenzied the atmosphere was, the heavy ordnance battalion's position maintained a high degree of order. Boxes of fire oil bombs and high-explosive bombs were never piled up randomly next to the ballistae to save time and effort, but were always quietly piled up in the nearby blast-proof ditch. The cooperation between the ammunition handlers, gunners, observers, and the strongmen who reset the ballistae was as precise as clockwork, and each movement was accurate and in place, without any ambiguity… What kind of training could integrate this sense of order with this frenzy?

Compared to the well-trained heavy ordnance battalion, the three battalions at the forefront waiting for the enemy's attack seemed a little depressed and nervous. Although the battalion commanders and many officers at all levels understood that they had not only approached the Blood Kirin Army in terms of weapons and equipment, but were also working towards that standard in all aspects, and in terms of pure training, some indicators even exceeded the Blood Kirin Army. But without the test of actual combat, no one would think that it was a strong army. The three heavy infantry battalions in the front all perked up their spirits and were determined to prove themselves in this battle. They were very clear that it would be great if they fought well representing the family, but if they didn't fight well, they would rather die on the position than return to the family alive. The suspicion, sympathy, and accusations of family members and neighbors would become something they would carry for the rest of their lives. Compared to Dongping's current fully professionalized army, the family armies had even higher fighting spirit.

The sound of horses' hooves had already become a thunderous sound, and the earth was shaking slightly. No one knew whether it was because of the orange-red explosions in front of them, or because of the power of the enemy cavalry's attack. The soldiers couldn't help but feel uneasy, and the officers couldn't help but feel nervous. But seeing the enemy cavalry rushing out of the billowing smoke of the explosion, only three hundred chi away from them, the officers almost subconsciously shouted in unison: "Raise shields! Defend against the impact!"

Tower shields, more than one person tall, were erected on the outer circle of the heavy infantry battalion's formation, and twenty-chi-long spears were extended from the portholes in the middle of the shields. The slots on the spear shafts only locked the mechanisms on the shields. Three well-trained soldiers completed a series of installations in just one breath. The heavy infantry phalanx quickly turned into a small metal city. The soldiers held two-handed broadswords and stood in the gaps between the tower shields, and behind them were crossbowmen ready to shoot at any time, comrades ready to drag them down if they were injured, and another two-handed broadsword man ready to fill the position at any time… Watching the enemy getting closer and closer, the ferocious faces becoming clearer and clearer, the soldiers' breathing also became heavy, excitement or fear? Or both?

Even seeing that the heavy infantry phalanx in front of them was so difficult to gnaw on, the Northern Liao cavalry generals rushing in the front still raised the spears, swords, or hammers in their hands without hesitation, and shouted in unison: "Kill!"

"Javelins, quick!" "I am invincible!" "Dongping brats, your grandpa is here!" All kinds of shouts rose up all of a sudden. Short military orders and quick handling methods were the best tests of each general's ability. As the Dongping people thought, it would definitely not be a satisfactory result for them to just crash into the heavy infantry phalanx without any reaction. Compared to being unable to resist under the artillery fire, being able to have a target to attack in front of them always gave people a little hope.

Strong fighting spirit and a spirit of seeing death as home would never be lacking on this land. Moreover, these experienced cavalry generals knew very well that the collective charge of 30,000 cavalry could only advance and not retreat. Once the people in the front stopped and did not rush into the opponent's formation, then the back would be crowded together, squeezed and trampled on each other. In order to break through Dongping's iron barrel formation, they needed such a force, and because of such a force, they finally crashed heavily on the defense line built with a large amount of metal… Only in the first moment of the two sides' contact, a large amount of blood was spilled on the land. Then, it was quickly absorbed by the ground constructed of gravel and fine sand, leaving only a bright color… The battle, from the very first moment, was in full swing.

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I've been terribly busy lately… Business outside of writing has been taking up a lot of work time. *Heart of Time* is in its final stages, and I want to write a good ending seriously, to live up to everyone's… uh… long-term expectations.

The new book is in preparation. I once shamelessly told the editor and friends that it would be released on July 1st… I still have a just-in-case mentality, but I hope I can make it by this time.

Also, I'm posting a Weibo address for everyone to facilitate communication… and to urge me to write. Anyway, there are a bunch of Qidian authors on Weibo…

(Weibo is a Chinese social media platform)