The First Jasmine - Chapter 134

Chapter 134 - Expedition (3)

Ten li outside Xinyang City, several hundred thousand Western Ling troops glared like tigers eyeing their prey toward the city visible in the distance. That city held far greater attraction and significance than some ordinary border fortress; it possessed countless reserves of grain and military provisions, and the wealth and prosperity of the premier metropolis of the northwest would become their true first step in conquering Great Chu. Inside the commander-in-chief's tent, the Prince of Zhennan, who was approaching fifty years of age, sat behind the desk. After glancing over a memorial just delivered by his subordinate, he suddenly burst into wild, uninhibited laughter. The generals below looked at one another in mutual dismay, completely unaware of what had made the Prince so exceedingly happy. When he had laughed his fill, he spoke in a booming voice, "Mo Liufang! You have your days too! If you were still alive to see your Prince Ding's Estate reduced to such a wretched state today, would you regret it?!"

The various generals exchanged glances, and the man standing at the very front stepped out of formation to ask, "Your Highness, is there some particularly good news?"

The Prince of Zhennan casually tossed the memorial forward while smiling at the assembled men, saying, "The Prince Ding's Estate is truly without any successors left; they actually have a woman wielding military authority!" The generals who read the memorial also wore expressions tinged with strange surprise as one of them remarked, "The Marquis of Nan as deputy commander, and the Princess Consort of Prince Ding as military inspector? What is Eastern Chu playing at?" The Prince of Zhennan let out a light hum and said, "It is merely a move born of desperation. This Marquis of Nan is someone this Prince has heard a thing or two about—he has always maintained a neutral stance and never meddles in worldly affairs. He might make a passable military commander, but he lacks the capability to command the Mo Family Army. Furthermore, the military authority of the Mo Family Army is not so easily grasped."

"Could it be that the Mo Family Army is now entirely in the hands of that Princess Consort of Prince Ding?" the general asked in astonishment.

The Prince of Zhennan nodded, a thoughtful smile playing on his lips as he said, "Indeed. Mo Xiuyao is far away in Northern Rong and cannot rush back in time. With Mo Xiuyao gone, the Prince Ding's Estate actually found no one else capable of leading the expedition, leaving the military authority to fall into the hands of a sixteen or seventeen-year-old yellow-haired girl." The generals beneath the tent couldn't help growing excited, buzzing among themselves in discussion for a moment before someone stepped forward to suggest, "Since that is the case, Your Highness, we should take advantage of this opportunity to finish off the Mo Family Army. That way, we can avoid any trouble they might cause us once they reunite with Prince Ding and try to thwart our eastward conquest of Eastern Chu!" The Prince of Zhennan narrowed his eyes slightly, his right hand absentmindedly stroking his empty left sleeve as he replied, "Although this Prince would love nothing more than to cross swords with Mo Xiuyao, a military commander must never act out of mere impulse or pride. This time, it is indeed the best opportunity bestowed upon our army by the heavens. If we can wipe out this route of the enemy's army, the Prince Ding's Estate will never again be able to amount to anything!"

"We heed Your Highness's commands!" everyone shouted in unison. The prospect of annihilating the Prince Ding's Estate sent a hidden wave of thrill through every single one of their hearts.

The Prince of Zhennan nodded in satisfaction. "Very well. Intensify the offensive against Xinyang—we must capture Xinyang City within three days! Afterward, we press on to Jiangxia and wipe out the Mo Family Army in one fell swoop!"

"Understood!"

"Reporting to the Princess Consort, a letter has arrived from Number Two." Inside the Mo Family Army encampment, Ye Li was seated in the grand tent holding a council with the Marquis of Nan and the others while the entire army was stationed in place. Zhuo Jing walked in holding a letter, and without even raising her head, Ye Li said calmly, "Translate it for me." Zhuo Jing nodded, walked over to the desk in the corner of the tent, picked up a brush, and began translating the letter. Ye Li continued addressing the Marquis of Nan, "It will take us at least another seven days to reach Jiangxia. I am afraid it will be rather difficult to accelerate our marching pace as the Marquis suggested."

The Marquis of Nan frowned and asked, "Why is that? The Mo Family Army has always been known for swift marches. This Marquis recalls that at their fastest, they once covered several hundred li in a single day..."

Ye Li shook her head. "Marquis, those were small-scale units. With nearly three hundred thousand troops in our ranks, compressing what should be a ten-day journey into five—do you honestly believe that even if we reached the border, these three hundred thousand soldiers would still have the strength to fight? I fear the people of Western Ling will not grant us any time to rest and reorganize; the moment we arrive at Jiangxia, nothing awaits us except a bitter, desperate battle." The Marquis of Nan heaved a heavy sigh. "How could this Marquis not know what the Princess Consort is speaking of? It's simply that this Marquis is deeply worried about Xinyang..." Ye Li shook her head and said in a low voice, "Xinyang cannot be held. Given the Marquis's own capabilities, how many days could Xinyang City hold out against the Prince of Zhennan?" The Marquis of Nan pondered for a moment before replying, "Xinyang City is not lacking in military provisions; if it were up to this Marquis, I could hold it for a month."

Ye Li stated, "General Leng could only hold out for half a month. The Marquis can calculate how many days have passed as of today. Even if we grew a pair of wings, we wouldn't be able to rush to Xinyang in time. Besides, Xinyang City is not lacking in everything—Xinyang City lacks water!"

The expressions of those present shifted slightly. If a city were merely short of grain, it could barely manage to hold out for a while longer, but a lack of water left truly nothing more to be said. To make matters worse, Xinyang was situated in the northwest, where water sources were already scarce to begin with. Once besieged by Western Ling, water shortages were practically a foreordained certainty.

"No matter how fast we hurry, the Prince of Zhennan will definitely be waiting for us at Jiangxia," Ye Li sighed.

Murang frowned and asked, "What if Jiangxia is breached as well?"

Lü Jinxian raised his sword-like brows and declared, "Lord Heir can rest easy. Although General Yuan Pei, the garrison commander of Jiangxia, only has a few tens of thousands of men under his command, Jiangxia is completely different from the flat terrain of Xinyang. Holding out for ten days to a half month is absolutely not a problem. Even if the Prince of Zhennan truly presses down upon us with his massive army, as long as a single soldier remains in Jiangxia, we will never allow the people of Western Ling to step even half a step across!" Hearing this, both the Marquis of Nan and Murang felt a surge of heat rush to their faces. The Mo Family Army had guarded the borders for over a hundred years, never once allowing an enemy nation to cross even a single step into Great Chu territory. Yet now, simply because the Emperor harbored suspicions toward the Prince Ding's Estate and left the soldiers of the Mo Family Army idle, less than a month had passed since the outbreak of war, and the Western Ling army had already captured multiple cities in succession, pushing three to four hundred li deeper into their territory.

The Marquis of Nan nodded and said, "It is good that the Princess Consort has a clear grasp of the situation."

Ye Li smiled faintly and replied, "This princess knows the Marquis is also anxious about the war. The Marquis can rest assured—General Sun has already dispatched the Black Cloud Cavalry to travel by night and head ahead to Jiangxia."

"Princess Consort." Zhuo Jing had already finished translating the letter over there and walked over to hand it to Ye Li. Ye Li looked down at it for a long while, frowned slightly, and passed the letter to the Marquis of Nan, asking, "What do the Marquis and the various generals make of this?"

After glancing at it, the Marquis of Nan cast a surprised look at Zhuo Jing, who was standing quietly beside Ye Li with a placid expression, before frowning and saying, "The Prince of Zhennan has suddenly accelerated his offensive pace—could he be trying to capture Jiangxia before we arrive? No! Princess Consort, I fear something terribly bad is happening!" Seeing the Marquis of Nan's expression change, Lü Jinxian and Feng Zhiyao hurriedly took the letter and, dispensing with order, read it together. The more they read, the deeper their brows furrowed. While the Prince of Zhennan was launching fierce assaults on Xinyang with one force, he had simultaneously split off a detachment to take a roundabout route. Even the southern route army, which was located not far from them, had also peeled off a unit heading northward...

"Princess Consort..." Feng Zhiyao frowned.

The Marquis of Nan said in a solemn voice, "While launching fierce attacks on Xinyang, the Prince of Zhennan is splitting his forces to take a detour. I'm afraid his goal is to cut off General Yuan's retreat route."

Ye Li's slender brows locked tightly together. After a long moment, she said, "Bring me the map." This was precisely when the disadvantage of poor communication channels manifested itself; no matter what deductions they made right now, they couldn't immediately transmit them to the generals at the front lines, leaving them to only hope that the frontline commanders possessed the same insight into the enemy's intentions and made the necessary countermeasures accordingly. Fortunately, this disadvantage was mutual in most instances.

Zhuo Jing turned around and retrieved a rolled-up paper scroll from the container behind him, slowly unfurling it to reveal a series of winding lines marking mountain ranges and rivers, laying out the borders of Great Chu from south to north at a single glance. Ye Li picked up the brush from the desk and marked the marching routes of the various Western Ling armies mentioned in the letter. Frowning, she looked up and asked, "Has the detailed map of the northwest been transmitted back yet?" Zhuo Jing turned back, pulled another scroll from the luggage, and said, "It arrived this morning; I was just planning to bring it out for the Princess Consort to see." Clearing a space on the table, Ye Li spread out the map and said while she worked, "What use is looking at it for me? I've never even been to the northwest. Marquis, General Lü, come take a look."

Everyone had already been harboring a degree of curiosity toward the map before them; upon hearing Ye Li's words, they immediately crowded around. Two maps of roughly similar size were laid out on the table: one was clearly a map of all the western border regions of Great Chu, while the other was vastly more detailed, focusing exclusively on the northwest. Its level of specific detail was something they had never witnessed before, prompting Lü Jinxian to praise, "A fine piece of work! This subordinate has been stationed at the northwestern borders since I was twenty, and after spending nearly twenty years there, I still wouldn't dare claim I know the region as clearly as this map depicts it." The Marquis of Nan nodded, pointing to a certain spot on the map as he said, "General Lü speaks truly. Back in the day, this Marquis did visit the northwest a few times myself, and the Princess Consort's map is drawn with... extraordinary meticulousness."

Ye Li smiled with satisfaction. Could it fail to be meticulous? This batch of newly trained operatives had all been dispatched out into the field, and combined with all the existing varieties of maps, if they still failed to thoroughly map out the northwest, those people would have wasted their education entirely.

Staring at the two maps for a long while, Ye Li picked up her brush, drew a heavy stroke across a certain section of the map, and said in a resolute tone, "Immediately transmit an order to the troops in the southern sector: all forces positioned close to Western Ling's southern route army are to assemble westward and intercept the detachment split off by the southern route army!"

Zhuo Jing nodded in acknowledgment. Ye Li raised an eyebrow, thought for a moment, and smiled faintly. Lowering her head, she pulled out a blank sheet of paper, wrote a line of characters on it, handed it to Zhuo Jing, and asked, "Where is Qin Feng?"

Zhuo Jing thought for a moment before answering, "He is near Ling Pass; by now, he should already be preparing to head north to rendezvous with us." Ye Li glanced down at Ling Pass's location on the map and instructed, "Tell him there is no need to return; give him this—it's the next step of the plan."

Zhuo Jing put away the slip of paper and walked straight out without even glancing at it.

"Does the Princess Consort already have a plan in mind?" Murang asked, raising an eyebrow.

Ye Li smiled faintly. "It can hardly be called a grand plan; it is merely making some advance arrangements as a precaution against any eventuality."

Realizing she had no intention of elaborating further, Murang merely shot her a somewhat complicated look and did not press the matter. For a century, the Mo Family Army had obeyed the commands of the Prince Ding's Estate alone, and in recent years they held virtually no favorable impression of the Emperor. As someone planted right into their ranks by the Emperor—and a close confidant of the sovereign at that—his status was naturally awkward. Fortunately, Murang himself was a sensible person who knew how to read the room.

The Marquis of Nan glanced at Ye Li, then at Murang, as if entirely oblivious to the undercurrents flowing between the two. Stroking his beard, he smiled and said, "It is good that the Princess Consort has a plan. Since we are currently hundreds of li away and powerless to do anything there anyway, our top priority remains hurrying to the battlefield as fast as possible to provide reinforcements." Both Ye Li and Murang nodded in agreement. Only then did the Marquis of Nan smile, exchange a few more discussions regarding the war with Ye Li and the others, and then stand up to bid them farewell and return to his own tent to rest. Seeing the Marquis of Nan depart, even though Murang harbored the desire to stay behind and continue listening to the debriefing, he had no choice but to stand up and take his leave as well.