Provoking War

The massive army gradually broke camp and marched south, leaving behind thick ruts and hoofprints on the hard, frozen ground.

Before departing, Li Qingyan convened a military meeting with his generals to discuss strategies against the Barbarian Tribe.

Although a lot has been said, it can actually be summarized in three words.

Discover, catch up, destroy.

The most crucial of these was the first discovery.

Just like the champion in the previous history, the difficulty is not winning the war, but discovering the main force of the Barbarian Tribe.

Although the Barbarian Tribe army, under the leadership of that Alien King, had been winning battles, its military strength was much weaker than when it had bypassed the Beifeng City.

Li Qingyan lost a group of soldiers when he raided the camp outside the city, another group died when he launched a strong attack on Beifeng City, and yet another large number died when he defeated the 300,000-strong sect army.

In Xu Yuan's words, although the Barbarian Tribe were in high spirits, they had actually already used up more than half of their manpower.

The lack of manpower meant that the Barbarian Tribe could only achieve the monumental feat of ants devouring an elephant by winning battles and winning great victories. The wealthy Great Yan Dynasty could lose, but if they were allowed to win even once, the Barbarian Tribe would be doomed.

This is probably the tragedy of that Barbarian Tribe Alien King, or rather, of the entire Barbarian Tribe.

The days of breaking camp and heading south were busy, but for Xu Yuan, they were quite boring.

For the same reason, this unofficial, Rogue Person is unfit to participate in military affairs.

However, Li Qingyan became so busy that she didn't have time to sleep with him.

A brand new day,

When Xu Yuan woke up, he immediately saw Li Qingyan sitting at the simple table opposite him, reviewing military intelligence.

I reckon this woman hasn't slept all night again.

Once the war machine began operating at high capacity, many matters required the approval and decision-making of Commander Li Qingyan.

An excellent general is not simply responsible for leading troops into battle.

She needed to oversee the marching speed and routes of tens or hundreds of thousands of troops, their communication with friendly forces, the loss of military equipment, and the supplies delivered to the grassroots level.

Xu Yuan sat up from the soft couch, rubbed his temples, and pulled back the curtain of the carriage window to look outside.

The carriage was converted from a military supply wagon, and its interior space was very large, even larger than the two motorhomes in Xu Yuan's Aristocratic Clan.

Beyond the beast-drawn chariots, as far as the eye could see, were the Beifeng Army clad in white armor.

More than a hundred Beifeng Guard guards, riding tall, Demon Horse, protected the beast-drawn carriage carrying their commander. Their armor gleamed with a metallic sheen, and the creaking of their armor as they moved was strangely exhilarating. In the distance, a giant beast-drawn carriage loaded with supplies occasionally let out a low groan, leaving thick ruts on the ground.

Everything proceeded smoothly and in an orderly manner on the journey south.

However, compared to the bright sunshine when we set off, the clouds in the sky have now gathered again, as if they might drop their essence onto the earth at any moment.

Xu Yuan turned his gaze away and looked at the woman in red armor inside the carriage:

Where are we now?

Li Qingyan didn't look up and replied softly:

"It's still about a hundred li or so from Beifeng City."

"What about the Barbarian Tribe?" Xu Yuan asked the question that concerned him most.

Li Qingyan's Beifeng Army was considered the vanguard of the allied forces. If an encounter battle occurred, it would inevitably be their vanguard that first came into contact with the Barbarian Tribe.

Li Qingyan gently shook her head:

"Nothing was found. I've already arranged for flying scouts to cooperate with the sect's heavy cavalry to scout the area around Beifeng City, but it seems the Barbarian King has simply abandoned Beifeng City."

Xu Yuan chuckled softly upon hearing this:

"How could Beifeng City walls already collapsed, possibly hold out?"

Upon hearing this, Li Qingyan finally raised her eyes, a slight smile on her lips:

"You planned this from the moment you decided to blow up the city wall, didn't you?"

Xu Yuan got up and walked to the simple table in the carriage, took out a futon and sat down:

"No, I simply want to use the Barbarian Tribe ' blades to cut off the 300,000 elite troops of the Northern Border Sect. Besides, even if the northern city wall is still standing, the Barbarian Tribe won't hold onto the Beifeng to the death."

Li Qingyan gently put down the file in her hand and chuckled softly:

"Yes, without the Cloud Qi Bomb, the Barbarian Tribe might have held Beifeng to the death, taking advantage of the blizzard. After all, they could have attacked the reinforcements outside the city at any time. But with the Cloud Qi Bomb, the Barbarian Tribe holding Beifeng to the death is tantamount to waiting for their demise."

But halfway through his speech, Li Qingyan suddenly changed the subject and sighed softly:

"However, the Barbarian King guessed that we didn't have many Cloud Qi Bomb, so he retreated into our Great Yan territory, intending to wait until we ran out of Cloud Qi Bomb."

A very simple deduction,

If the Great Yan Cloud Qi Bomb were plentiful, they would not be so cautious as to simply use Cloud Qi Bomb a path and rush south.

Thinking of this,

Xu Yuan remained silent, casually picking up the report that Li Qingyan had put down and glancing at it.

The record above details some non-combat casualties from last night, which can be summarized as the retreating members of the sect and the brawls that occurred among them.

After a moment's thought, Xu Yuan frowned and asked:

"The sect is not being honest?"

Li Qingyan replied nonchalantly:

"This happened last night during the handover of supplies. They complained that there wasn't enough, and the border troops knew they were going to be cannon fodder. It's normal for some conflict to occur under such circumstances. But none of that matters. As long as we have the supplies, the generals on the sect's side will figure out a solution themselves."

Xu Yuan smiled wryly:

"That's true. They don't know their sect is about to be destroyed. On the surface, they're still all one family. If they choose to rebel, they'll give the imperial court a pretext to take action against them."

He paused for a moment,

Xu Yuan then asked:

"But what are we going to do now that we can't capture the main force of the Barbarian Tribe?"

Li Qingyan smiled, pursing her lips, and glanced sideways:

Do you want to hear the truth or a lie?

Xu Yuan smiled, a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth.

"Lie."

Li Qingyan chuckled, her slender, delicate fingers tapping lightly on the table.

"Block the pass at Beifeng City, send high-level cultivators and flying scouts to explore the mountains to prevent them from detouring back to the Snow Plain, and at the same time arrange for the sect's heavy cavalry to search for them within the territory. We will trap the Barbarian Tribe within the Great Yan territory."

Xu Yuan pondered for a moment upon hearing this:

"The Northern Border is now frozen by blizzards. Apart from the cities in the Northern Border and the fortified villages built by some landlords and gentry outside the cities, the people in the surrounding towns have either frozen to death or fled. It's a natural scorched earth situation. Moreover, the fact that the Barbarian Tribe dared to attack the cities for food has conveniently exposed our location."

Li Qingyan at her and said with a smile:

"You're absolutely right, Prince Consort, but unfortunately, it's a lie."

"." Xu Yuan.

"My lord, do you want to know the truth?"

"I don't want to." Xu Yuan had a bad feeling and turned his head away.

Li Qingyan raised his hand and used his Source Qi to turn Xu Yuan's head back:

"I think you do."

Sighing, Xu Yuan looked into her bright eyes and asked:

"Why?"

"The scouts sent to the vicinity of Beifeng City have reported that the corpses of the sect's border troops, the Barbarian Tribe corpses, and even the three-headed Ice Beast Colossus are reduced to half a shell."

As he spoke, Li Qingyan narrowed his eyes slightly and said in a low voice, "Prince Consort, how long do you think the Barbarian Tribe can last with these 'supplies'?"

Xu Yuan's eye twitched, and he remained silent for a long while:

"It seems that the Barbarian King has been transporting 'grain' during this few-day lull."

Li Qingyan took a deep breath, then exhaled, her tense chest remaining perfectly still.

"That Barbarian Tribe Alien King is really clever. The moment the war ended, he was already planning to use these plundered 'grains' to wear us down. With such an army hiding in our Great Yan territory, we dare not transport grain north on a large scale. We can only rely on the Sumeru Ring for supplies. We can't afford to waste this time."

At this point, Li Qingyan clenched his fist slightly:

"Furthermore, Father and the others also need the Beifeng Army and the Black Scale Army to participate in the extermination of the Northern Border. The longer it drags on, the greater the risk of exposure."

The high-level cultivators within the mountain gate are not like ordinary people. Even with the strictest precautions, they may still escape. And if even one person escapes during a secret massacre of a sect, all the sects in the Northern Border will receive the news in a short time.

Only by deploying the Beifeng Army and the Black Scale Army can absolute success be guaranteed.

After a brief silence, Xu Yuan suddenly asked:

"Such a large Barbarian Tribe army couldn't have disappeared without a trace. Could we track them down?"

Li Qingyan's words were tinged with helplessness:

"The wind and snow completely concealed all their traces, and with a nearly ten-day time difference, tracking them down was no easy task."

Xu Yuan remained silent for a long time before whispering:

"So you intend to venture deep into enemy territory alone? To use yourself as bait to lure the Barbarian Tribe army into a siege?"

"Yes."

"But what if the Barbarian Tribe return to the Northern Border Snow Plain along the mountain path they came from?"

"Mr. Zong has given a strict order: each of the high-level experts accompanying the army will be responsible for a high-intensity patrol of an area between the Ten-Thousand-Fathom Mountain Range and the Heavenly Snow Mountain Range, so as not to give the Barbarian Tribe any opportunity to detour northward."

"." Xu Yuan.

High-level cultivators value their lives highly and generally avoid high-risk jobs like patrolling, because if they are discovered by the main force of the barbarian army, a single totem strike can send them to their doom.

However, if something happens to them within their patrol area, it confirms that there are Barbarian Tribe troops in that area.

It seems that Zong Qingsheng and Li Qingyan are determined to finish this quickly.

Li Qingyan stood up decisively, glanced back at the silent Xu Yuan, and said:

"Now, using superior numbers to divide and annihilate the enemy is the only chance for that Barbarian Tribe Alien King to turn the tide. As long as I can hold off the Barbarian Tribe force and detonate the Cloud Qi Bomb, allowing Mr. Zong to come to our aid, we can settle the battle in the Northern Border in the shortest possible time."

Half a day later,

The vanguard of the Beifeng Army arrived at the Beifeng City first and began to reorganize.

One day later,

Zong Qingsheng led the Black Scale Army to Beifeng City.

After the two armies exchanged the necessary supplies and weapons, Li Qingyan led the two Beifeng Army and Luo Qingfeng's 20,000 border troops, braving the wind and snow, across Beifeng City and continued south to pursue the Barbarian Tribe army.

To be honest,

Xu Yuan didn't approve of this risky behavior, especially since it could potentially cost him his life.

Unfortunately, he was of low status and his words carried little weight.

Even surrounded by heavily armored warriors, and even with the madwoman Li Qingyan by his side, Xu Yuan still felt very unsafe marching through the blizzard.

Fortunately, Zong Qingsheng generously assigned most of the Black Scale Army's scouts to Li Qingyan's command.

Hundreds of well-trained scouts patrolled ahead of the army, relaying information back continuously and providing early warnings to the central command.

As Li Qingyan's personal guard and son-in-law, Xu Yuan could also peruse these military intelligence reports when he was bored.

The information that could be reported to Li Qingyan was basically important information that had been screened by his subordinates.

Yes, relatively important.

On the first day, there were no military reports, but due to a blizzard, two scouts were injured in non-combat situations.

The next day, the army discovered two villages destroyed by a blizzard to the southwest and southeast, where the frozen corpses of the villagers remained untouched.

On the third day, a small number of flying scouts encountered the Barbarian Tribe Bone-Wing Bird, losing seven men. Meanwhile, the ground scouts were ambushed by the Barbarian Tribe wolf riders in a canyon, resulting in nine deaths and thirteen missing. The main army then turned and pursued the unusual canyon.

On the fourth day, the fighting between the scouts of the two armies became more frequent, with casualties reported to exceed one hundred in a single day.

On the fifth day, scouts reported that only a small number of wounded Barbarian Tribe remained in the canyon, having been wiped out by the Grandmaster accompanying the army.

On the sixth day, the army entered Pacified Distant Commandery and forced the local gentry to donate grain for supplies.

On the thirteenth day, a small-scale attack by the Barbarian Tribe resulted in the loss of 137 soldiers in the sect's border army, with 14 non-combat casualties.

On the fourteenth day, a small-scale attack by the Barbarian Tribe resulted in the loss of 36 soldiers from the sect's border troops and 17 soldiers from the Beifeng Army.

Day 16

"Smack!"

Xu Yuan casually tossed the dossier in his hand onto the table inside the carriage, sat back down on the soft couch, and let out a long sigh.

"No, when will this guerrilla warfare ever end?"

This Barbarian King is as slippery as an eel. The Beifeng Army has been wandering around Heavenly Water Province in the far north for almost a month, but they haven't been able to catch a single hair of them. On the contrary, the entire army is exhausted due to the Barbarian Tribe harassment.

They've truly mastered guerrilla warfare.

Li Qingyan rose and sat down beside Xu Yuan, the soft couch slightly sinking in as he spoke gently:

"My lord, life is full of disappointments, isn't that what you said? It's impossible to get that Barbarian King to go all in on an attack. After all, war is not child's play. If he loses this gamble, the entire Barbarian Tribe will be doomed."

"."

Xu Yuan lay on the soft couch, his hands behind his head, legs crossed, staring at the ceiling of the carriage, and suddenly said:

"Hey, how about we put some pressure on that Barbarian King?"

"Pressure?" Li Qingyan raised an eyebrow.

Xu Yuan looked at her cold and beautiful profile and said in a low voice:

"Just tell him directly that your Uncle Mu went to the Utterdark Lands to raid their hometown."

"..." Li Qingyan was slightly taken aback.

Xu Yuan turned around, his eyes filled with a strange expression:

"Why can't this information be told to the Barbarian King?"

"No, of course."

Li Qingyan's phoenix eyes flickered for a moment, then she smiled sweetly, "Such a wicked trick, why didn't you tell me sooner, Prince Consort?"

Xu Yuan slowly sat up and said in a low voice:

"It takes time to reach the Utterdark Lands from Dali Mountain. If the Barbarian Tribe also have long-distance communication methods, it might alert them. Marquis of Martial Achievement has probably been there for some time now."

Li Qingyan's eyes flickered for a moment:

"That Barbarian Tribe Alien King's lifelong ambition was to secure a place for his people to live, and now he learns that his women, children, and all his people have been slaughtered."

As he spoke, Li Qingyan's eyes narrowed into two glistening crescent moons, filled with excitement:

"It sounds like it will be very interesting."