Chapter 1 Ye Tao's Choice

"Ye Tao, are you planning to go to the front to command the battle this time, or coordinate from the rear?" Tan Xiaopei asked.

"Is there any point in going to the front? I don't need military merits, do I?" Ye Tao said jokingly.

"Alright, I'll go to the front... This is probably my last chance to command a large army, I can't miss it." Tan Xiaopei said lightly.

"Your Majesty, why bother?" Ye Tao said with a wry smile, "In my opinion, Your Majesty, you don't even need to leave Danyang."

"That won't do, I already agreed with Zhuo Mang. There are a total of six war zones, and the two of us will go to command them. With you coordinating from behind, we can have a good fight." Tan Xiaopei was particularly stubborn on this point. Ye Tao couldn't do anything about it.

The final preparations then began. Ye Tao took office as the Grand Commander of Dongping's armed forces, commanding the entire Dongping army. When Tan Xiaopei excitedly announced this appointment, the court officials didn't know how to react. Everyone knew that Tan Xiaopei was preparing to lead the troops to the battlefield herself. Although it wasn't in accordance with the rules, the ruler was a veteran general and had a good grasp of the battlefield situation. With the assistance of elite troops and strong generals, there shouldn't be too many unexpected situations. However, giving the position of Grand Commander to Ye Tao while the ruler herself commanded the battle in the front, leaving the work of commanding and dispatching to others... this was too unorthodox. Although Ye Tao was indeed the most suitable candidate for the position of Grand Commander, the formality was still important. The ruler acting as an assistant to her subordinates? It didn't seem right. But Tan Xiaopei was very insistent on this point, Zhuo Mang also agreed with the arrangement, and Ye Tao himself didn't care, so the appointment was approved in a muddle-headed manner.

The operation against Chunnan also began to enter the detailed planning and design phase. The operation against Chunnan would be divided into six war zones.

The Jieshan War Zone was mainly located in the border area of Dongping, Chunnan, and Xiling. The task of capturing territory was secondary. The main task was to monitor and contain Xiling, stabilize the border area, adapt to the environment, and further prepare for the future capture of Xiling. The situation in the Jieshan War Zone was complex, requiring high levels of reconnaissance, mobility, and reaction capabilities from the troops. After careful consideration, Ye Tao appointed Dai Yun as the commander of the Jieshan War Zone. The forces in the Jieshan War Zone, in addition to the original border troops and garrison troops in the area, totaling more than 60,000, were supplemented by a total of forty-five battalions, about 140,000, from various armies under the jurisdiction of the Beijiang Pacification Bureau. The troops under the Beijiang Pacification Bureau were all eager to fight, and they were fighting tooth and nail for these spots. However, apart from the Central Army Battalion, which was bound to be selected as the command center, the other troops were not guaranteed. Dai Yun immediately ordered a large-scale exercise of the entire Beijiang army a month later, before making the final troop selection. Unexpectedly, Chi Xianping also insisted on joining in. Originally, the Liaojiang Pacification Bureau was only supposed to serve as the rear, providing supplies, meat, and other materials to the front, but Chi Xianping was not one to be trifled with. How could he be content with not having a part in a big battle? He shamelessly used the reason of strengthening the sense of identity between the Beiliao armies and Dongping, and forced Tan Xiaopei to agree, giving Chi Xianping five battalion slots. This infuriated the officers and soldiers under Dai Yun. Originally, forty-four battalions were not enough to go around, and now they had to squeeze in a competitor. But there was really no way to disobey Tan Xiaopei's orders.

Then there was the Yunhe War Zone. The Yunhe War Zone was naturally commanded by Tan Weiming. The combat mission was not very heavy either. After entering Chunnan, in addition to cooperating with friendly forces on the left and right flanks to advance steadily, the more important task was to ensure the smooth flow of the Yunhe River supply line. A large amount of supplies would enter Chunnan through the Yunhe River, and then be transported and distributed. Although Tan Weiming was not particularly talented in commanding battles, he was firm and steady, had a sense of the overall situation, and was well-suited to command the Yunhe War Zone. The troops in the Yunhe War Zone were mainly the various armies under the jurisdiction of the original Yunhe Governor's Office, plus a part of the Imperial Guards. To strengthen the command strength of the Yunhe War Zone, Zou Shuangwen, the former Inspector of the Blood Kirin Army, served as Tan Weiming's deputy. Tan Weiming and Zou Shuangwen immediately began to strengthen training and re-equip the troops for more suitable combat missions. With Zou Shuangwen's experience in the Blood Kirin Army, there were endless training methods. Although the total of 110,000 troops under the Yunhe Governor's Office were trained until they were covered in dirt and complained constantly, they couldn't afford not to work hard with a major battle imminent. "Sweat more in peacetime, bleed less in wartime" was the most resounding slogan in the Yunhe War Zone.

The Central War Zone was naturally led by Tan Xiaopei as the main general. The Imperial Guards and the Blood Kirin Army were assigned to this war zone. The task of the Central War Zone was to advance steadily, seek opportunities to carry out strong combat, and annihilate the enemy's main force. This kind of combat was very exciting, and Tan Xiaopei naturally liked it very much. For many years, the Imperial Guards and the Blood Kirin Army had been competing with each other, but they couldn't suppress the Blood Kirin Army's wealth and a gathering of various professional talents, especially in training and combat, where they were unconstrained by conventional tactics. After all, the Imperial Guards had to adhere to basic principles and also had to shoulder the routine task of guarding the capital's inner court, unlike the Blood Kirin Army, which was a purely external combat force. After Zou Shuangwen was transferred away, the new Inspector of the Blood Kirin Army was still elected from within the Blood Kirin Army, named Zhu Feng. Before that, Zhu Feng's position was the Chief of Staff and Director of Operations of the Blood Kirin Army. During the time when the Blood Kirin Army was carrying out operations in Beiliao, he continued to train new troops in the Blood Kirin Army's base camp. Zhu Feng was only thirty years old now, and he was only from a second-rate aristocratic family, an originally unremarkable disciple, but after entering the Blood Kirin Army, he gradually began to show his talent. Now he was already the undisputed third-in-command of the Blood Kirin Army, ranked above him was Zou Shuangwen's deputy, Luo Baijiang. However, Luo Baijiang excelled at army management and coordination, and was a good hand at coordinating logistics, but he was somewhat lacking in commanding battles. In order not to tarnish the reputation of the Blood Kirin Army, Luo Baijiang voluntarily yielded the position. In the eyes of the Blood Kirin Army, the position of Inspector, although it sounded glamorous, was tiring and stressful. The Blood Kirin Army's reputation must not be damaged for any individual. No matter when or where, the Blood Kirin Army must be the world's number one strongest army based on practical warfare. Naturally, the Central War Zone was not only the Imperial Guards and the Blood Kirin Army. The elites of the various aristocratic family soldiers who had shown their talent earlier all came to join the cause, and now, without the supply restrictions of sea transport, the number of people sent by each family had doubled. The luxurious equipment, strict training, and high internal unity and cooperation based on the clan ties of the 50,000 elite clan soldiers made them a completely reliable and powerful heavy force.

The Eastern War Zone was personally led by General Zhuo Mang, whose main combat force was the Tianxuan Army and the Zhenning Army, which was transformed from the Zhenning Pass garrison. Since both the Tianxuan Army and the Zhenning Army were mainly infantry, in order to supplement the lack of cavalry in the Eastern War Zone, a total of ten battalions, 30,000 men, of tribal cavalry were transferred from Yunzhou and Tianmeng City. The tribal cavalry from Benlang Plain, except for the fact that their equipment was not very consistent, allowing the soldiers to choose their favorite weapons, and the armor was also chosen according to each person's and each tribe's financial resources and aesthetic preferences, were basically armed to the teeth. The troops from Tianmeng City were not so luxurious, but they were basically armed with the equipment of the captured Beiliao Imperial Guard cavalry, and their combat effectiveness was not bad at all. The tribes in Tianmeng City, with the tribes in Benlang Plain as a comparison, were somewhat ashamed of their own dilapidation, but they also saw their future in the cavalry of Benlang Plain. Their morale was high, and some tribal warriors leading the army even secretly instructed them to fight beautifully and let Dongping see their importance. The tribes in Tianmeng City could also take advantage of the situation to rise. There was also a troublesome matter in the Eastern War Zone, which was to fully cooperate with the navy to carry out relatively complex landing and infiltration operations. This was also why Zhuo Mang was in charge of this route. It sounds simple, but landing operations were extremely complex combined operations, and only veteran generals like Zhuo Mang could handle them with ease.

The remaining two war zones were the Donghai War Zone and the Yazhou War Zone. The Donghai War Zone was purely a maritime operation. Apart from less than 20,000 land combat troops, almost all of them were main combat fleets, totaling more than a hundred Tiger Fang ships and other types of ships. By the time the war started, there should be more than thirty Tianwen ships and fifteen or more airship carriers. The Donghai War Zone would completely blockade the Chunnan sea area at the first moment and annihilate the entire Chunnan navy. Then it would begin to harass the coast with all its strength, so that Chunnan could not concentrate all its combat power on the main battlefield.

The Yazhou War Zone was entirely based on the existing forces in Yazhou. The ground forces in Yazhou were very average, but due to the characteristics of the island region, it was necessary to control a large area of ​​sea, and the strength of the fleet and aviation aspects was outstanding. The plan that Ye Tao formulated for Yazhou was to constantly carry out aerial harassment in the early stage, and to continuously establish small bases in easy-to-defend and difficult-to-attack locations with small elite troops, and to carry out horizontal connections. After the main battlefield established an advantage and oppressiveness, then launch a large-scale landing operation to open up a second battlefield behind enemy lines. By that time, there would also be sufficient ground military forces transported by sea. Otherwise, the original 50,000 infantry and cavalry in Yazhou would not be enough.

The Yazhou and Donghai war zones both had their own controlled air power, adding up to a scale of more than two hundred airships, which was still relatively sufficient. In the four war zones on the main battlefield, Ye Tao tended to integrate the air power for use. Due to the involvement of a large number of mooring yards and airport construction work, Ye Tao promoted Lu Dan to serve as the Aerial Service Director, fully responsible for the command and coordination of air power. Each war zone had a subordinate director, with two aviation teams, twenty-four airships, which was more than enough to carry out reconnaissance, support, and harassment work on the front line. Lu Dan personally controlled all the remaining air power, and he would soon have more than three hundred airships at his disposal. This was a very terrifying force. A bombing might cause a medium-sized city to suffer heavy damage. Of course, Lu Dan's task was by no means easy. Chunnan also had a considerable number of airships, and the battle to seize air supremacy was also quite troublesome.

After allocating the strength and combat strategies of the six war zones, Ye Tao began to coordinate the training and rectification of the various armies, and the equipment of the various armies had to be adjusted. Then, there was the headache of material reserves. Now the combat power of the Dongping armies was strong, but it required sufficient material support. The daily consumption of various explosives alone was an extremely terrifying number. There was also the daily fuel consumption of airships, the communication equipment that had to be laid out to the front line at any time, and the massive amount of telegraph lines and wires that went with it, as well as various other technical equipment, which were not small amounts. Equipment and wires were fine, but incendiary bombs had a strict shelf life, and the longer they were stored, the more serious the safety hazards became. Under Ye Tao's guidance, the entire Dongping war machine roared into action. After receiving their tasks, the various troops were also training in their original garrisons first, and sending a small number of advance troops to the various war zones to set up forward positions and do some preparatory work. There was not much large-scale movement. However, when the military machine of the entire country started, the atmosphere inside the entire country changed. This change could not but be felt by Chunnan.

Although Chunnan now had a ruler, and unified government orders and command, it was definitely not ready to go to war with Dongping. The Chunnan ruler tried hard to mediate, while also making preparations. Mediation and negotiations would never yield any results, unless the Chunnan ruler was willing to give up the position of ruler and merge into Dongping. Otherwise, the bottom lines of the two sides were too far apart. Dongping's only goal now was unification. The Chunnan ruler obviously did not realize this, and also felt that it would not be so simple to destroy Chunnan, even for Dongping.

Entering August, border trade between the two countries was completely interrupted, and even smuggling routes were gradually cut off. However, the merchants of Dongping did not complain too much. A large amount of materials were purchased by the military, and many merchants were able to get large and small orders. The profits of war always had to be shared by the whole country. Under Tan Weixin's control, Dongping's economy remained stable. After the autumn harvest, both countries withdrew their negotiating representatives, and the Dongping army began to move. The movement of a million-strong army did take a long time. Especially when the troops in the north arrived in the south, they also needed time to adapt to the climate and soil. By the spring, the war would begin.

Not everyone wanted to see this war start. Now, anyone with a brain could see the general trend of the world. Dongping's unification of the world was already unstoppable. Although Beiliao had persisted for several years under the efforts of Gao Senqi and other young and vigorous factions, once Ye Tao exerted his strength, a war of annihilation was divided into two halves, and did not even last a year in total. Beiliao, which established the country on the basis of agriculture and war, was not weak in combat power. Even at the last moment, the morale of the army and the people did not decline. If the Beiliao ruler had not surrendered, a great battle in Yanjing might have cost both sides tens of thousands of lives, leaving behind a ruined city. But Beiliao finally succumbed. Now, there were doubts about how long Chunnan could last and how much blood Dongping would have to shed. Chunnan's strategic depth was indeed much larger than Beiliao's, but Chunnan had to face the predicament of fighting on two fronts, and the military equipment and tactical thinking were more than a generation behind. In the year that Dongping was actively preparing, Chunnan was forced to continuously mobilize and assemble. Chunnan's military strength had now exceeded 2.2 million, but Dongping, after Ye Tao completed the deployment of the general strategy, adhered to this total strength, which seemed to be much smaller than Chunnan's, and did not actively expand its army, which was a very obvious sign of composure. Many of the younger generation of generals in Dongping were clamoring for the destruction of Chunnan in eight months. When this statement was mentioned in front of Tan Xiaopei and Ye Tao, Tan Xiaopei was obviously very interested, while Ye Tao did not say anything, smiled lightly, but did not say that it was nonsense. How long could Chunnan last? Many ministers in Xiling estimated that even if something went wrong, this war would not last more than two years. Only two short years... Then what? How long could Xiling last?

Xiling had not thought about delaying this process, and they had made various efforts. When Ye Tao was inspecting a war preparation warehouse, incendiary bombs were ignited, and Ye Tao narrowly escaped, but was injured. However, what followed was a fierce retaliation. Within a month, seven generals died for various inexplicable reasons, three ministers of the cabinet were assassinated, and four important military camps and fortresses suffered retaliatory bombings, with cumulative casualties exceeding 6,000 people. Ye Tao's injury probably delayed Dongping's progress by at most less than a month, and Suo Zheng, as Ye Tao's representative, continued to do a good job. However, Dongping's retaliation caused Xiling's politics to stall for half a month, and the deaths of those generals had far-reaching implications. It was impossible to find someone who could immediately take over. Even if they barely took over those armies, they were full of fear and their combat power dropped significantly.

Was it really so not worth it to be an enemy of Dongping? Now, Sun Boping's importance in the Xiling court was not just a matter of importance, he could almost run half of Xiling's household. In the previous central confidential meetings, he had always remained silent, only expressing his opinion that Xiling and Dongping were no longer on the same level in terms of financial resources and national strength. Xiling had spent many years bringing all the armies under the direct control of the central government, which had indeed greatly strengthened Xiling's combat power, but it had also exhausted Xiling's financial resources. Dongping's economic offensive against Xiling had put Xiling under great economic pressure in recent years, and its annual fiscal revenue had declined year by year. The Xiling Ministry of Revenue's treasury now only had 24 million taels of silver, which was not enough to fight a year's war. In fact, if Sun Boping had not tried his best to transfer funds, increase revenue and reduce expenditure, and put in a lot of effort in regulation and control in recent years, Xiling's finances would almost have gone bankrupt. Sun Boping's words undoubtedly carried a lot of weight in everyone's hearts.

Even the Xiling royal family, or even the Xiling ruler, did not have the confidence to persist. If they persisted, they might be able to rule the country for four or five more years, but it would be difficult to stop Dongping's military advance. At that time, it would be the destruction of the country and the extermination of the clan, with no luck. Looking at the life of the Beiliao ruler's family now, although they were far from power, they were still rich and prosperous. Especially, although there were restrictions, the Beiliao royal family could still participate in Dongping's political life after a few years, whether as civil or military officials, they would be treated equally. Tan Xiaopei made this promise at the grand court meeting, in front of civil and military officials, and Crown Prince Tan Weiming immediately seconded it, adding another guarantee to this promise. Although it was said to be twenty or thirty years, the current Li family disciples who had military talents had already entered the Blood Kirin Army, and this time they would also come to join the cause and attack Chunnan. This generous attitude surprised the Xiling royal family even more. No one believed that Dongping had a tradition of being a soft-hearted person. An Dongping that could not be decisive in killing could not have reached today's height. It was easy to explain. Dongping was showing its magnanimity and demonstrating its future attitude and methods for dealing with the royal families of various countries.

Having figured this out, Xiling sent a top-secret mission with a very high level of specification. After the mission arrived at Xunshan Pass, they took an airship directly to Danyang. They would not be disturbed along the way, and no one would be able to discover this contact between the two countries.