Chapter 668: Strategy

Chapter 668: Chapter 668: Strategy

When Shen Hao arrived at the Central Army Tent, he found that the specs of this military strategy meeting were much higher than he’d expected—all the attendees were top-ranking commanders.

As usual, Shen Hao sat quietly in a corner, swept his gaze around, then waited obediently for the meeting to begin.

Zuo Yuliang wasn’t one for pointless talk; he skipped the opening entirely, and immediately briefed everyone present on the current situation of the entire battle, making it an official army-wide report.

"At present, Jianchuan remains our primary focus for attack. Relying on the Shimen Military Camp, we will continue executing our set strategy of breaking through the enemy’s Jianchuan defense line. The offensive forces will gradually shift from the previous mixed armies of the Four Major Armies to, primarily, independent units of each Major Army; command authority will remain unchanged, as before.

As for logistics, with the addition of emergency squads, there’s been an influx of new supplies, including first aid packs. Right now, there aren’t enough for everyone, so try to prioritize issuing them to the elite at the front lines. Keep this in mind. Once production ramps up, they’ll be distributed to all troops in due course.

At White Head Gorge, continue focusing on harassment operations; maintain the current intensity, neither increasing nor decreasing.

At Hu Zhu Yuan, keep concentrating on troop encampment and training—stick to the previous strategy. Have the soldiers there get a taste of blood through low-intensity battles to familiarize themselves with combat, then rotate them with the troops at Jianchuan and White Head Gorge..."

Nothing Zuo Yuliang said was new, but everyone understood this wouldn’t be all he had for today.

Sure enough, after quickly summarizing the current situation, Zuo Yuliang stood from his chair at the head of the room and walked over to the map.

"The battle situation has entered a new phase thanks to our previous victory at Jianchuan. Our operations along the Jianchuan line have pushed forward significantly, forcing the Barbarian Race to add more troops there, especially because of Jianchuan’s terrain. They can’t maneuver for a decisive battle, so they’re forced to keep trading attrition blows with us. For the Barbarian Race—or to be precise, the Frost Moon Clan led by the Red-eyed Wolf Race—this is a brutal headache.

But Jianchuan isn’t a place to seek a decisive battle, and it’s not realistic to try breaking through Jianchuan with attrition. Even a two-to-one exchange ratio isn’t something we can withstand for long. We can’t waste soldiers’ lives endlessly like this."

Zuo Yuliang’s tone chilled as he spoke, obviously troubled by the heavy losses at Jianchuan.

After all, no general wants to play a meat grinder game with the enemy.

"Zeng Zhou, General Zeng." Zuo Yuliang stabbed the map at the location of the Shimen Military Camp, and at the same time called out a name in the tent.

"At your command!"

As soon as Zuo Yuliang finished, a medium-sized officer rose from his chair and bowed in response.

"General Zeng, tomorrow you’ll lead an army of twenty thousand and move out to two advanced scout camps near Shimen. I’ll let the Shimen garrison know to cooperate and disguise your movements." As he spoke, Zuo Yuliang drew a curved line on the map from Wu Lake all the way to Shimen, representing Zeng Zhou’s twenty thousand troops.

Shen Hao also perked up. He knew of Zeng Zhou; he was one of the main Jingxi Army commanders who’d come to Wu Lake half a month ago for recuperation—renowned for their elite status and skill in field operations.

"Understood!"

Zuo Yuliang didn’t have him sit but drew another line on the map, this time at Jianchuan’s Central Military Camp, and called out, "Li Zhongzheng, General Li. Tomorrow, your troops—twenty thousand—will depart for Jianchuan’s Central Military Camp and garrison there."

Another officer rose and clasped his hands in acceptance. This was another famed figure—a Jingbei Army commander with twenty thousand elite troops skilled in field battles and siege assaults.

"Your orders, sir!"

Shen Hao was startled. According to reports from the front-line Inspectors, all the camps at Jianchuan were nearly at full strength and it wasn’t time for troop rotation yet. Sending forty thousand more troops to Jianchuan surely meant something big was brewing.

Zuo Yuliang continued: "After that, Central Military Camp and Before the Door Military Camp at Jianchuan will each launch night raids against their respective Barbarian Race positions, and use superior numbers to force all the Barbarian Race troops in Jianchuan into motion."

While speaking, Zuo Yuliang marked three Barbarian Race garrisons on the map with lines indicating troop movements. He continued, "Get them moving, then intercept them in the field—if we wipe out two forces along the way, we’ll utterly cut off all three Barbarian Race positions. Once we focus our strength to break one, the enemy’s defensive balance collapses; next, we slash across and divide, then breach their line for good..."

Shen Hao listened closely, but didn’t catch all the technicalities. Still, he grasped the main outline, and was deeply impressed.

Going on Zuo Yuliang’s plan, it was basically overlapping two ’surround and strike reinforcements’ tactics. The troops from Before the Door Military Camp, Central Military Camp, Lower Military Camp, and Shimen Military Camp would all pour out, launching consecutive attacks to create a sense of urgency, prompting the nearest enemies to rush in for support.

Then, they’d launch a second surprise assault, luring the third enemy group into reinforcing as well—thus dragging two groups out of stable positions.

Next, intercept them midway, kill the two enemy groups in the field.

Finally, gather up the troops who made the kills, and pick the weakest enemy garrison for encirclement and destruction. If successful, breaking one enemy position means their entire defense falls apart, opening the opportunity to break through their lines entirely.

Shen Hao could only make sense of this much, but the overall strategy surely wouldn’t differ.

He didn’t know what the other officers thought, but for Shen Hao, the odds of this plan’s success seemed high.

First, he saw that this chained plot to ’steal a city’ was a brilliant setup. Even if the Barbarian Race caught on, they’d never prevent it twice. If they got caught out even once, they’d be split, thrown into an extremely passive position.

Second, compared to the Jingjiu Dynasty, who could rely on equipment and Battle Array advantages for both attack and defense, the Barbarian Race were terribly unbalanced. They attacked fiercely, but their defense was clumsy. That’s why, even after Jingjiu’s victory at Jianchuan and shifting to counterattack, they could maintain at least a two-for-one casualty rate: the Barbarian defense is so weak, they have to make up with sheer manpower.

After Zuo Yuliang finished deploying these plans, all attendees without assigned tasks—including Shen Hao—were dismissed. Only Zeng Zhou, Li Zhongzheng, and a few others stayed, as Zuo Yuliang wanted to brief them personally.

PS: Two updates today. Taking half a day’s rest. Salute!