That was why the tactics of ordinary armies could prove so useful.
Chen Cheng slapped his forehead. He had forgotten too. Wasn't this an obvious case of openly repairing the plank road while secretly marching through Chencang?
Once Yin Zhi gathered his thoughts, he bowed and asked to be punished.
"This was my failure, Your Majesty. Please punish me."
Chen Cheng sighed and waved a hand.
"There's no need. I'd say the vast majority of the reinforcements who slipped through were probably ordinary people. Otherwise, you couldn't have failed to notice them."
Chen Cheng's guess was right. For one thing, the kingdoms had nowhere near that many regular troops in the Northern Frontier. Most of the people they had moved there were ordinary folk who could no longer make a living inland.
For another, using ordinary people helped conceal their movements and confound the spies' expectations.
To hide their true purpose, they had even given away so many military supplies.
"It looks like those rebels really mean to fight us to the death. They've brought in so many ordinary people—most likely to set up a Harmony Formation."
Once Ye Rong saw the situation clearly, he quickly reached his conclusion.
"We can't sit here waiting for them to finish their formation and trap us until we die.
Don't forget, we don't have just a million mouths to feed here now. We have tens of millions.
By my estimate, the Orc race can't have brought much food in reserve. This is the time of year when they normally stockpile it. We have to strike first, crush those armies, and replenish our supplies with what we capture."
Bu Jiu spoke up.
Chen Cheng frowned, then said:
"Send for Guste and the current Barbarian King. If we're going to move, we need to do