Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 393: Chapter 378: Imperial Guard Leaves the Capital

”General, what shall we do next?” Niu Zhuang asked.

Yang Zhenshan continued to look at the map but fell into silence.

Everyone looked at each other and did not disturb Yang Zhenshan.

In fact, regarding Cui Liang, Yang Zhenshan did not regard him highly, even though now Cui Liang also had tens of thousands of troops under his command, but in Yang Zhenshan’s eyes, Cui Liang’s army was merely chickens and dogs, not able to withstand a single blow.

Defeating Cui Liang was not a difficult task.

The real difficulty was the eighty thousand-strong army of the Wuliang Hu Clan.

That was eighty thousand Northern barbarian cavalry!

Like the East Sea Hu Clan, the Wuliang Hu Clan was a nation of soldiers, all born and raised on horseback.

Moreover, the Wuliang Hu Clan was a stable dynasty that had been established for hundreds of years, and its army was a trained one, which was much stronger than the East Sea Hu Clan.

Perhaps the Wuliang Hu Clan’s cavalry was far inferior to the Tenglong Guard’s Five Army Camps, but they were definitely stronger than the cavalry from various routes in Chongshan Town.

Obviously, confronting the Wuliang Hu Clan head-on was not a wise choice.

”We will take a detour to this place!”

Yang Zhenshan pointed to a valley in the northwest direction and said.

Everyone looked puzzled.

Yang Zhenshan pointed to the location of the valley and said, ”This is their unavoidable route when leaving Chongshan Town!”

The West Road of Chongshan Town was indeed a series of overlapping mountains, very different from other parts of Chongshan Town.

Although the central and eastern parts of Chongshan Town were also continuous mountain ranges, because the mountains were relatively low, the terrain was relatively gentle, and crossing Chongshan Town was not difficult.

But the West Road of Chongshan Town was different; the mountains were steep, and the terrain was rugged, with not many roads that could traverse from south to north.

The route that the Wuliang Hu Clan previously entered Liaoxi was this one.

And now, if the Wuliang Hu Clan wanted to retreat, they could only take this route.

The location pointed out by Yang Zhenshan was at the northern end of this road; just past this valley was an endless great prairie.

And this valley was the battleground he had chosen!

He wanted to play a game of ’shut-door, strike-dog’, but whether he could shut this door or not depended on his strength.

”Ming Hao, immediately send someone back to Chongshan Pass to notify Mr. Pang, we need a large amount of fire oil, ask him to prepare as much as possible for us quickly!”

”General Niu, General Tang, you will next lead the army to this place, I require you to arrive here within half a month!”

”If you do not arrive, you will be dealt with by military law!”

Yang Zhenshan’s eyes were piercing as he looked at Niu Zhuang and Tang Feihu.

The army was setting off; if they did not arrive at the destination on time, Yang Zhenshan would have no issues even if he had to execute them.

However, his words were not specifically targeted at Niu Zhuang and Tang Feihu; he believed that Niu Zhuang and Tang Feihu understood the importance.

The reason he spoke like this was aimed at the middle and lower rank military officers.

Among the tens of thousands of troops, there were inevitably some incompetent ones, especially the recently joined southern route Rescue Camp, not that Yang Zhenshan looked down on them, but they truly were far inferior to the Tenglong Guard’s soldiers.

To avoid these incompetent ones dragging their feet, Yang Zhenshan issued such an order.

”The subordinate obeys!” Niu Zhuang and Tang Feihu quickly stood up and cupped their fists in response.

Yang Zhenshan slightly nodded, then said, ”Tomorrow I will take the Personal Guard Camp ahead to this place to scout, the main army will temporarily be commanded by General Niu and General Tang, you all must obey the orders of these two generals, understand?”

”Yes!” Everyone stood up and responded.

The night passed without words.

The next morning, Yang Zhenshan, along with his personal followers and trusted aides, left the main army camp and headed north, then west, to the valley he had chosen.

As for the Ying River blocked by Cui Liang, let them continue waiting there.

Yang Zhenshan was curious, once Cui Liang realized they did not head towards Gui Ning City, what kind of reaction he would have, and how he would deal with the blocked river.

July 28th.

Yang Zhenshan arrived at the Nameless Valley.

This Nameless Valley was only vaguely outlined on the map, and not clearly marked, but Yang Zhenshan had some prior thoughts about this location.

A valley, after all, was just a low area between two mountains.

The valley in front of him was vast, stretching over ten miles from north to south and four to five miles wide from east to west, shaped like a trumpet opening to the south. Surrounded by high mountains, the northern exit was not very narrow, with relatively gentle slopes on both sides.

If they built a pass here, it would be very easy to control this pathway.

If they just arranged the army here to block the enemy, on the other hand, it did not offer much geographical advantage.

Simply put, it did not have the condition of ’one man guarding the pass, ten thousand unable to break through’.

However, this was precisely what Yang Zhenshan desired.

This was exactly the type of terrain he needed.

Standing on the hillside, looking at the long valley, Yang Zhenshan stroked his beard, his eyes sparkling.

”Cui Liang, haha, you have really given this old man a surprise!”

”Taking advantage of the right timing, location, and human harmony, you’ve used the geographical advantage, so I’ll take all—time, location, and harmony. With this terrain and timing, it would be hard for me to lose!”

Yang Zhenshan looked up at the clear blue sky, his smile growing ever brighter.

He chose this location inspired by Cui Liang’s cutting off the Ying River.

To be honest, these days he had constantly been considering how to confront the mighty Wuliang army.

The pressure from the eighty thousand strong Wuliang army was immense.

He had wracked his brain but hadn’t come up with a single method to defeat the Wuliang army.

However, after learning about Cui Liang cutting off the Ying River, an idea started to form in his mind.

That was to utilize the advantages of the terrain.

Now, looking at this valley, his plan should be perfectly achievable.

August 3rd.

The court finally ordered to mobilize six camps from the twelve imperial guard camps—Fighting Bravery, Displaying Bravery, Training Bravery, Showing Bravery, Courageous, and Fruitful Bravery—to head north to Jizhou to intercept the Wuliang army.

However, on the third day after the six imperial guard camps set out, Prince Wu Tuo began to retreat.

By the time the six imperial guard camps arrived in Jizhou, Prince Wu Tuo had already pulled back to Huade Prefecture.

Eighty thousand Northern barbarian cavalry, along with carts of looted treasures, gathered imposingly in Huade Prefecture.

These were their plundered riches, including abundant gold, silver, and jewels, as well as grain, livestock, medicinal herbs, fabrics, furs, and various other materials.

It can be said that this time the Northern barbarian cavalry made a massive fortune.

The value was at least tens of millions of silver.

The areas they ravaged in Liaoxi had turned completely impoverished, with most of the population having suffered from their plunders.

Meanwhile, Cui Liang, who had waited over ten days in the canyons west of Gui Ning City, finally discovered that the army from Chongshan Town had left.

He had felt something was amiss early on; the Chongshan Town army should have reached Gui Ning City already, but he didn’t dare send scouts out to explore; he could only wait anxiously until he couldn’t bear it any longer before sending scouts.

The scouts discovered that the Chongshan Town army hadn’t come to Gui Ning City at all, but had changed direction and headed north.

Looking at the canyon now turned into a vast flood, Cui Liang’s expression was extremely unsightly.

His clever plan had burst without serving any purpose.

And not just that, now looking at this vast flood, he didn’t know how to handle it.

Dig open the blocked exit of the canyon?

Then the city below Gui Ning City would immediately become submerged, and tens of thousands of people and military households would die senselessly.

Well, he didn’t care about those civilians and military households, nor about Gui Ning City; he was just annoyed that his clever plan had nowhere to be used.

So he eventually chose to leave, taking two thousand soldiers with him, abandoning the water-covered canyon.

However, what he abandoned wasn’t just the canyon, but also tens of thousands of civilians and military households to the east of the canyon.

On the third day after their departure, the canyon’s mouth burst open from the surging waters.

Terrifying floods poured out, mixed with large quantities of rocks and soil, overwhelming and unstoppable, devouring hundreds of miles.

Within just one day, the area around Gui Ning City for hundreds of miles had turned into a vast flood.

Tens of thousands of civilians became submerged souls.

When Yang Zhenshan received this news, he sat in his tent in silence for over half a ’two hours’ period.

In fact, he could have stopped it.

But he didn’t!

Because he needed to quickly take over this valley; if he had revealed the army’s movements too early, Cui Liang might have occupied it before them.

Then his plan would have also failed.

Besides this reason, there was another— he wanted the people and military households of the west road of Chongshan Town to see Cui Liang’s true character.

Sacrifice tens of thousands of civilians and military households, to make even more people and military households recognize Cui Liang’s nature!

Ji Feiyu and Cui Liang had been operating in the west road of Chongshan Town for nearly twenty years, resulting in the people and military households there recognizing only the Assistant General and not the court.

If the people and military households did not see Cui Liang’s true nature, they might end up following him blindly.

”Mr. Lv, it’s up to your Secret Martial Guards now!” Yang Zhenshan sat behind the desk, lifting his head and looking toward Lv Hua who was leisurely sipping tea on the side.

Faced with the death of tens of thousands of people and military households, Yang Zhenshan did feel some guilt and self-reproach, but Lv Hua seemed completely unaffected, as if those lives were mere weeds.

Zhou Lan once said that Lv Hua was ruthless and heartless.

Now it seems Zhou Lan wasn’t wrong.

”General Yang, rest assured, I’ve already arranged for the news of Cui Liang flooding Gui Ning City to be spread,” said Lv Hua indifferently.

Yang Zhenshan was too weary to argue and nodded slightly.

There was no point in thinking too much at this stage.

And even if he wanted to blame, there would be no meaning to it.