Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 249: Chapter 240 Tonight there is a Southeast Wind

Night falls.

The tent of Duobato is still brightly lit by candles.

Wang Bin and Yang Zhenshan’s pressing approach with a large army has put significant pressure on the entire Kolcha clan.

According to the daytime reconnaissance, Duobato already knows that the attacking army is approximately eight to ten thousand strong, all Cavalry, including the garrison from An Yuan City that has consecutively breached eight clans.

Scouts estimate the enemy’s military strength not by counting each soldier but by analyzing the scale of the enemy’s march, the number of banners, the extent of the campsite, and information obtained in advance.

Wang Bin and Yang Zhenshan have intentionally displayed many banners and set up large campsites, easily creating the illusion of having nearly ten thousand troops.

If Duobato were more familiar with the eastern route of Chongshan Town, he might be skeptical. Unfortunately, his understanding of that area is superficial.

Indeed, the eastern route of Chongshan Town could assemble thousands of troops, but not thousands of Cavalry.

”Banner Master, why don’t we attack their camp now?” a burly man inside the tent suggested.

”No!” Duobato immediately refused without a second thought: ”If you can think of it, they definitely can too. If we go now, we could be walking right into their trap.”

Night raids are risky, and actions must be cautious.

Although they seem to be resting on their laurels, a sudden attack could catch the enemy off guard.

However, Duobato feels that Wang Bin and Yang Zhenshan would surely be prepared. Putting himself in their shoes, he would make preparations in advance.

”So what should we do? Engage them in a direct battle?” another person stood up and asked.

”Although the Rong army has ten thousand troops, we have more. If we face them head-on, we still have the advantage!”

”You’re right, but have you considered that even if we win the battle head-on, it might be a Pyrrhic victory? Once we suffer heavy losses, the standing of our Kolcha clan in the Royal Capital might be jeopardized!”

”That won’t work, this won’t work either, what should we do?”

For a moment, the tent was filled with noisy arguing among the Kolcha clan’s leaders.

Duobato felt a headache coming on.

The current situation was indeed tricky.

In fact, the biggest issue wasn’t how to fight, but whether they could afford to fight.

Although the Gorcin clan has now established the Great Ling Dynasty and the other six major clans have acknowledged its legitimacy, due to the Gorcin clan’s significant defeat at Chongshan Pass three years ago, these clans harbored different ideas about the Gorcin’s right to rule.

Now each clan has its own thoughts and calculations, and Duobato was no exception.

He wanted to crush the invading enemy but didn’t want the Kolcha clan to suffer too much loss.

The noise and arguing made Duobato increasingly irritated, he shouted angrily, ”Enough!”

The tent quieted down, and Duobato took a moment to collect himself before speaking again: ”Let’s wait a bit longer, first let’s get a clearer picture of the enemy!”

Since no decision could be made at the moment, they decided to wait.

Duobato thought of controlling the situation by being passive, but he didn’t know that this was exactly what Yang Zhenshan wanted.

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In the following days, the two armies were in a standoff, but the Kolcha clan was very cautious, heavily fortifying their banner area.

Now they definitely couldn’t build walls, but they could construct things like horse traps, barricades, or low walls.

These were meant to aid in defense, but their effectiveness would depend on the situation.

As for the low walls, there’s no cement in this world, so these were hastily constructed from stones and soil and would not be very thick, which spoke volumes about their defensive capabilities.

Considering why they didn’t build wooden walls, that would have required a sufficient supply of wood.

Creating some barricades had already used up their wood supply; they couldn’t build more walls.

Wang Bin and Yang Zhenshan were pleased to see this, as the Kolcha clan focused their defenses on the eastern part of their territory, only constructing some simple earth walls on the west.

To further dupe Duobato, they had their scouts become even more aggressive, pressuring the Kolcha scouts to a point where they couldn’t even leave their doorstep.

Such acts made Duobato even more hesitant to make a move.

The more arrogant the enemy appeared, the less confidence Duobato had.

For several days, Duobato’s tent was noisy and rowdy, but they couldn’t come to any decision.

Until the afternoon of May 20th.

Wang Bin and Yang Zhenshan returned to a dirt hillock outside their camp, overlooking the Kolcha clan’s territory.

”They must have reached the designated position, we can act tonight!” Wang Bin took a deep breath, speaking nervously.

Yang Zhenshan looked up at the sky, feeling the wind in his face.

”There’s a southeast wind tonight!”

Such an answer puzzled Wang Bin, who looked questioningly at Yang Zhenshan.

”The wind is not mild!” Yang Zhenshan stroked his beard and laughed.

Seeing Wang Bin’s confused look, he continued: ”Southeast wind, Fire Bull Formation, a fire attack on connected camps!”

Wang Bin’s eyes brightened, and his tense expression relaxed.

”Interesting, interesting!”

He laughed heartily.

Yang Zhenshan’s lips curved slightly, his eyes also filled with intense interest.

Southeast wind, Fire Bull Formation!

Truly something to look forward to.

As night fell, everything remained as usual.

The Kolcha family was still holed up within their banner lands, scouts from the Rescue Camp wandered around the area.

A half-moon rose from the southeast, whether drifting clouds would cover its hazy luminescence and plunge the world into a dark silence was uncertain.

From the southeast of the Kolcha family’s banner lands, bursts of cattle sounds emerged, followed by spreading noise.

Cattle were driven out from behind the small hills by soldiers of the Rescue Camp, approaching the Kolcha family’s banner lands.

A distance of fifty li wasn’t considered far; walking would take roughly two hours, and riding cattle would be similar.

Zhang Chengzhi and Zhang Yuanwu each rode a cow, lazily watching the massive herd.

”Ah, I’ve always wanted to be a cavalryman, and today I ended up riding an animal, yet it’s a cow!” Zhang Chengzhi was filled with gloom.

He was truly gloomy.

These past two years, Wang Bin had been tirelessly building up the cavalry, expanding from one thousand to three thousand cavalrymen in two years. Zhang Chengzhi thought that it would soon be the turn for his Rescue Camp.

But unexpectedly, before Wang Bin could organize his cavalry, news of the campaign against the Hu Clan arrived.

Thus, the situation turned out as it was now; others rode horses, he rode a cow; others charged into battle, he provided support from the rear, oh, the injustice!

Sometimes he thought, if Chongshan Town had waited another year to campaign against the East Sea Hu Clan, he would at least have a thousand cavalrymen under his command. Even though it was fewer in number, he could still lead the cavalry in charges instead of riding a cow aimlessly as now.

Next to him, Zhang Yuanwu felt even more wronged, comparing their Rescue Camp of Qihe City to the garrison of An Yuan City.

The disparity was truly irreconcilable!

The two brothers-in-hardsip exchanged glances and sighed helplessly.

As the cattle slowly progressed, preparations were also underway at the Rescue Camp’s campsite.

In the garrison’s area, soldiers were all ready, quietly waiting next to their horses, while the Rescue Camp seemed somewhat noisy, but fortunately, no mishaps occurred.

Wang Bin stood in front of the camp tent looking towards the garrison area.

It was quiet as ever there, without a hint of noise, as if the garrison’s soldiers were all asleep, unlike the constant clamor from his Rescue Camp.

Luckily, these past days they had suppressed Kolcha’s scouts, otherwise, with all this noise, Kolcha might have sensed something abnormal before they even set out.

”Ah, true ability is shown in commonplace procedures, and true character in the minutiae. I hadn’t realized it before, but now I see the difference is really huge!”

Wang Bin couldn’t help but lament.

The more he understood about the garrison, the more astonished he felt.

Discipline seemed etched into the bones of the garrison’s soldiers, every movement at every moment displayed their clear military discipline.

At this moment, Yang Zhenshan was unaware of Wang Bin’s lamentations, he was by the cooking station, adding Spiritual Spring Water into a bucket.

After adding the Spiritual Spring Water, he immediately had the fire soldiers move the bucket to the gathering place for the soldiers, then the soldiers lined up to fill their water bags.

Drinking boiled water was a requirement from Yang Zhenshan; as long as conditions allowed, the soldiers’ drinking water must be boiled. Of course, this also made it convenient to mix in Spiritual Spring Water.

The effect of Spiritual Spring Water was to heal injuries and enhance bodily potential.

When soldiers drank Spiritual Spring Water before battle, if they were injured during the fight, the healing effects of the water would not have completely disappeared, aiding the healing of their wounds.

Although this effect wasn’t miraculous, even a slight effect could be extremely beneficial.

It could allow soldiers, who would otherwise die, to hold on a while longer, waiting for a chance to be rescued. It turned critical injuries into minor ones, and minor injuries even lighter.

This was also one of the important reasons why the casualty rate in the garrison remained relatively low.

After all the soldiers had taken their water, Yang Zhenshan went to Red Cloud’s side and quietly waited.

In the night sky, the bright moon sometimes showed its cold face, sometimes shyly hid behind clouds, the cool night breeze carried the refreshing and fragrant smell unique to the north, imparting a sense of tranquility and peace from the night.

However, this tranquility was soon disturbed. Around 3 a.m., a rapid series of drum sounds broke out.

Initially, it was just one, but then it quickly followed one after another, and soon the campsite of the garrison was filled with urgent drum sounds.

The serene atmosphere abruptly transformed, a forbidding aura instantly spread.

”Mount up!”

Yang Zhenshan mounted his horse, grasped the Gold-plated Flying Fish Spear lying on the ground, then rode out from the north side of the camp.

On the other side, Wang Bin led three thousand soldiers of the Rescue Camp out from the south side of the camp.

Although both parties would attack simultaneously, their attack positions were different.

They certainly would not launch an attack from the west of the Kolcha’s banner lands; the defenses were strongest there, most unfavorable for attack, so they had already agreed to attack from the south and north directions respectively.

Meanwhile, ten li east of Kolcha, Zhang Chengzhi and Zhang Yuanwu were directing soldiers to tie dry grass to the cows’ tails and pour oil over it.

”All tied up!” Zhang Yuanwu approached Zhang Chengzhi and reported.

Zhang Chengzhi took a deep breath, his nervous emotions slightly relaxing.

He looked up towards the west where Kolcha’s banner lands lay. At that moment, the faint glow of fire was visible within the lands, though the light was mainly concentrated in the western part, the east appeared exceptionally silent.

Zhang Chengzhi cracked a smile, ”The show begins!”

”Light the fire!”