Though the Chu Army would arrive the next day, scouts from either the Han Army or the Chu Army might reach them ahead of time to gather intelligence.
So at a time like this, Meng Wu's decisiveness and formidable skill at arranging troops came into their own.
After taking Ye County, he had dealt with all the city's affairs in the shortest time possible.
Then, within just a few hours, he had reorganized everything. Even if the Chu Army arrived right then, they would not spot a single flaw.
At that moment, before the horse trail through the Kunyang Mountain Range,
thirteen thousand cavalry stood in perfect formation, obeying every order in disciplined silence.
The young man in Gilded Scale Armor rode through their ranks.
His face was as beautiful as jade, his eyes cold as stars. His lips pressed into a hard, sharp line. He was the very picture of martial valor, yet seemed wreathed in bloodlust.
He held a twelve-foot Great Halberd in one hand, his bearing mighty and fierce.
He sat ramrod straight, like a spear thrust into the sky, his keen spirit enough to shatter the clouds.
One officer after another sat rigidly upright in the saddle, their gazes following him. They gripped their sword hilts with their left hands and hammered their right fists against their breastplates. Their eyes burned with fervor, their voices rolling like thunder:
"Ge Dan, Chief Commandant of the Light Cavalry Battalion, pays his respects to the general!"
"Jing Chu, Captain of the Light Cavalry Battalion, pays his respects to the general!"
"Chen Ling, Centurion of the Light Cavalry Battalion, pays his respects to the general!"
"Cang Xi, Captain of the Assault Cavalry Battalion, pays his respects to the general!"
"..."
After the battle on the city wall, Zhao Cheng had practically been deified in the eyes of the soldiers.
As they watched him ride through their ranks, the countless soldiers could hardly keep from dismounting to salute him. Their reverence was plain for all to see.
One officer after another seized the chance as Zhao Cheng passed through, leading their men forward to pay their respects.
Countless ordinary cavalrymen pressed toward him too. They were just like fans in later generations catching sight of their idol, their fervor mixed with excitement. If military discipline hadn't been so strict, they would have rushed over to kowtow to Zhao Cheng.
Zhao Cheng merely gave a slight nod, yet the soldiers erupted in wave after wave of excitement.
At the very front, the Assault Cavalry Elite who had followed Zhao Cheng from the beginning were even more overcome.
This was the young divine general who had risen through the Assault Cavalry Battalion. Now he held the post of Vanguard General. How could they not feel honored?
Their pride only deepened their reverence for Zhao Cheng.
"He Ping, Captain of the Assault Cavalry Battalion, pays his respects to the general!"
"Feng Nian, Captain of the Assault Cavalry Battalion, pays his respects to the general!"
"..."
Zhao Cheng gave a slight nod. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the look on his personal guard Feng Quan's face, and was instantly reminded of that smirking meme from Bright Sword in his previous life.
No, were you really that pleased with yourself?
Zhao Cheng couldn't help laughing. He tapped Feng Quan with his halberd, nearly knocking him off his horse.
Feng Quan jumped. "What is it, General?"
This halberd was damn heavy. Even though Zhao Cheng had only lightly tapped him, Feng Quan had nearly gone flying, horse and all.
"Keep up."
"Yes!"
Feng Quan wiped the grin off his face and stayed close to Zhao Cheng.
By now, Zhao Cheng had passed through the entire formation. Looking back, he saw only a little over ten thousand cavalrymen, yet they stretched out like the Yangtze, their ranks so long that he couldn't see the end from horseback.
He said nothing. Yet simply by riding through the ranks, he had lifted the army's morale to its absolute peak.
Meng Tian smiled beside him. "So, General Zhao, how does it feel?"
Zhao Cheng gave a wry smile. "This was your harebrained idea. Otherwise, we'd already have ridden several miles ahead."
Meng Tian laughed. "You have no idea how much prestige you've built up in the army. What's the most important thing in war? Of course it's morale!"
"With you, the Life-Snatching Yama, leading the way, the soldiers' spirits will soar. They'll throw themselves into battle and fight tooth and nail, afraid they'll be too slow and miss out on military merit!"
"Is it really that exaggerated?" Zhao Cheng shook his head and galloped ahead. "I've only fought two battles."
"Two battles?" Meng Tian exclaimed. "We've fought two battles. Have you?"
"That fight in the city was no small affair. When our men went in to clear up afterward, they saw a mountain of enemy corpses. Every last one of them was killed by you!"
"Counting the battle to break through the city, the story's already spread throughout the whole army. You can't shake that title of Life-Snatching Yama now."
Zhao Cheng scratched his head. What the hell, Life-Snatching Yama?
"I was only drawing fire to cover the other spies, so they wouldn't suffer needless casualties."
The two men beside him, Feng Quan and Feng Ruo, were deeply moved.
They had been on tenterhooks back then. Only because Zhao Cheng drew the enemy's fire could they gather intelligence as easily as if no one stood in their way.
So the general had plunged deep into enemy territory, taken a risk to stir up chaos, and even let two thousand enemies surround him—all for us...
"You call that drawing fire?" Meng Tian was speechless. But before long, something else caught his attention.
He studied Zhao Cheng's fair, jade-like face and frowned in puzzlement. "Come to think of it, why are you getting fairer and more delicate?"
"When most people enlist, they get rougher with every battle. You're getting fairer and fairer. You really have become a pretty-faced young general."
Zhao Cheng no longer needed to disguise himself, and he had washed clean. His skin, tempered by Primordial Qi, was now plainly visible. Among an army full of weather-beaten soldiers, it stood out all the more.
Zhao Cheng thought for a moment. "I've spent the past two days soaked in blood. Maybe blood has a whitening effect?"
Huh?
Feng Quan and Feng Ruo were both startled. The blood had soaked him so pale?
Just how much blood had there been?
Meng Tian rubbed his cheek and thoughtfully committed this crucial information to memory.
Zhao Cheng asked, "I've heard the Chu State and Han have fought plenty of battles. Even if they send reinforcements, how many troops could they have?"
Meng Tian rode beside Zhao Cheng. "The Chu Army's real aim is probably not to aid the Han Army, but to seize a share for themselves. At the very least, they want to inflict heavy losses on our forces and profit like a fisherman waiting for the snipe and the clam to fight."
"So the enemy force won't be small this time."
"Besides, reinforcements may also come from the direction of Wan City. We can't afford to let our guard down."
"Understood."
At noon the next day, the sky was cloudless for miles.
The army continued its march, circling around to the east in a great arc before halting far behind the position where the Chu Army might appear.
If Meng Wu's deployment was a bottle, then the army in front of Ye County was its belly, the twenty thousand light infantry hidden in the forest its neck, and Zhao Cheng's force the cap about to be screwed on.
Once the Chu Army entered this place, it would be hard for them to get back out.
Of course, if this cavalry force belonged to someone else, some remnants might have managed to break through. Unfortunately for the enemy, Zhao Cheng was guarding this position.
As time passed, Zhao Cheng's scouts had already come face-to-face with small enemy scouting parties.
"The Chu Army is close. Send word to the general!"
A Flying Cavalryman immediately galloped off toward the main camp beneath Ye County.
When Meng Wu received the message, he immediately launched a massive "assault" on the city. The fake Han Army and the Qin Army made it look like they were fighting fiercely.
Meanwhile, scouts from both sides continued probing one another.
Zhao Cheng was getting restless. "I'll go capture someone alive."
He galloped away like lightning. Before Meng Tian could react, he had already vanished from sight.
"Wait, you're a general. Why are you running off to be a scout?"
Before long, the scouts suddenly heard a familiar twang of a bowstring and were startled.
"The general's here?"
"Huh? Isn't the general leading the troops?"
"Then... one arrow, one man. Who else could it be?"
Several scouts hurried over, only to see Zhao Cheng riding back with a few captured scouts in hand.
The prisoners' hands and feet had all been pierced by sharp arrows, leaving them unable to move. Several of their teeth had even been pulled out.
Zhao Cheng looked displeased. "These bastards are stubborn as hell. When we get back, interrogate them properly for me!"
The scouts had long been familiar with Zhao Cheng's efficiency. They could only laugh helplessly. "General, these scouts were handpicked for their iron will. Without a few tricks, it really is hard to get anything out of them."
"Just head back and let Feng Quan and the others handle it."
Zhao Cheng nodded and returned to the front line, leaving the questioning to Feng Quan and the other elite scouts.
Feng Quan and the others dragged the helpless prisoners into the woods. Before long, muffled groans came from within. Then Feng Quan and the others emerged, shaking blood from their hands.
"General, we got some information."
"That fast?" Zhao Cheng felt that compared to them, he was hopeless at this sort of thing.
But he didn't need to learn, and he didn't want to watch. Though he liked killing, a single blow to the head was enough. He didn't want to torture anyone.
"Tell me."
Feng Quan and the others reported the information they had extracted, cross-checking their accounts.
"The enemy has ninety thousand troops in all. Thirty thousand Han troops are coming from Wan City, and the Chu State is sending sixty thousand reinforcements. They're led by Xiang Tuo of the Xiang Clan, cousin to the famous Chu general Xiang Yan. He's known for his bravery. Once, he charged into a Han Army formation alone and killed a Chief Commandant. The army calls him the Tiger of the Xiang Clan."
"Besides that, he's very good at training Elite Soldiers. His thousand Death Warriors are exceptionally powerful. Xiang Tuo once used them to capture three Han cities."
"Xiang Tuo..." Meng Tian mused, a trace of solemnity flashing through his eyes. But after glancing at Zhao Cheng, the look vanished.
Seeing Meng Tian's reaction, Zhao Cheng asked, "Brother, do you know this man? Is he famous?"
Meng Tian said, "He's a well-known general of the Chu State. He's fought several famous campaigns. When I was studying military strategy, I researched his battles and the way he led his troops."
"Unlike his cousin Xiang Yan, who favors cautious, steady advances, he excels at surprise attacks and swift battles. He's known for his ferocity and ruthlessness. His personal strength is extraordinary too. He often leads from the front, becoming the point of the spear and ripping apart enemy formations. His style is a little like yours, Ah Cheng."
"But with you here, he won't get the chance to throw his weight around..."
Before you continue