Chapter 686: Driving Sheep into the Wolf Pack, Attacking the Heart as the Supreme Strategy

When the generals erupted in clamor, the atmosphere was taut as a bowstring, as if it would snap at any moment.

The setting sun dyed the Gobi a fierce crimson, and the air was thick with lingering blood scent, mingled with the stench of sweat and the charred smell of dust, suffocating.

The Zhou Army soldiers around them each had Red Eyes, the veins on the backs of their hands gripping Horizontal Blades bulging, a lingering adrenaline from the recent life‑and‑death clash and a deep‑seated hatred toward the invaders before them.

"Release them?" a Colonel, his face smeared with blood, growled low, his knife grip creaking, "The brothers of Gancao City are not yet cold in the ground; we've chased them for dozens of miles, finally cornered these beasts here, and the Duke actually wants to let them go?"

That sentiment spread through the ranks like a wildfire.

Lu Ming was even more enraged, snorting two coarse breaths; his two‑meter‑tall frame shook uneasily, and his warhorse beneath him pawed the ground, frightened by the violent aura he exuded.

Had the order not come from his most revered brother‑in‑law, his forty‑pound horse lance would have already smashed the kneeling, pleading soft‑eggs into mush.

At that moment, with morale restless and tension ready to explode, Gao Jiong, who had been silently following Chen Yan, rode out of the line.

He wore a suit of black Xuan Armor, not drenched in blood like Lu Ming, appearing unusually clean, even somewhat out of place.

Yet his slender eyes flashed with a Dark Hawk and wisdom far beyond his years, like a venomous snake coiled in the shadows, flicking its tongue to scrutinize its prey.

Gao Jiong did not rush to speak; instead he rode his horse to Chen Yan's side, bowed with clasped hands, and a faint, knowing and chilling smile tugged at his mouth.

Then he turned his horse, his gaze slowly sweeping over the disgruntled generals, finally resting on the seething Lu Ming.

"Generals, calm yourselves," Gao Jiong's voice was clear and modest, yet carried a bone‑chilling coolness that instantly hushed the surrounding clamor, "You know only one side, not the other. Killing is merely a head‑tapping on the ground. The Duke's move is not a woman's mercy; it is the Plan to Cut Off the Heirs!"

"Plan to Cut Off the Heirs?" Lu Ming glared with eyes like copper bells, buzzing, "Gao, stop pulling fancy words on me! All I know is that releasing the wolves back into the mountains lets them heal, then they'll bite us again! What else is this but feeding the enemy meat?"

Gao Jiong shook his head, extended a slender finger toward the trembling, kneeling Three Thousand Broken Soldiers, and slowly explained, "General Lu, look at their eyes....."

Lu Ming instinctively followed the finger.

He saw the Qi army captives, each with a soil‑colored face, eyes vacant, some even flailing uncontrollably.

When Lu Ming's fierce gaze swept over them, a few cowardly men in the front row froze in terror, their crotches leaking a foul, smelly wet stain.

"Do you see?" Gao Jiong said with a hint of contempt, "Their courage has been shattered, their souls have been brutally shattered by your horse lance, General Lu. For an army, without spirit, even a divine weapon in hand makes them nothing but slaughtered swine and sheep."

Gao Jiong suddenly intensified his tone, his eyes flashing with almost manic excitement, "These three thousand are no longer soldiers; they are 'Poison', a walking Plague!"

"If we let them go back, they bring nothing but terror," Gao Jiong paced before the generals, his voice highly inciting, "They carry terrifying legends of the Great Zhou Demon God, the horrors of the Asura Hell beneath Gancao City, a bone‑deep despair! Ku Di Gan's elite army, though fine, has tens of thousands who have not witnessed this battle, just as beasts that have never seen fire know no fear."

"But imagine, when these three thousand ragged, mentally shattered comrades rush into Lingzhou's main camp, crying out about how my Left Martial Guard Army is impenetrable, how General Lu descends like a ghost god devouring the living..."

"That fear will spread like a Plague among the Qi army and the Rouran people!"

"When morale collapses, even immortals cannot save them! Then Ku Di Gan will face not tens of thousands, but a flock of startled birds that flee before battle!"

The generals were all stunned.

The anger in their eyes gradually faded, replaced by a spine‑tingling chill of sudden realization.

They were all commanders, well aware of morale's importance on the battlefield.

If a Camp Riot broke out, it would be a disaster scarier than an enemy night raid.

Chen Yan remained seated on his horse, expressionless, listening.

Only now did he give a slight nod, his gaze approving as he looked at Gao Jiong.

"Marshal Gao speaks insightfully," Chen Yan finally said, his voice calm as a bottomless ancient well, "But this is only a psychological attack. This Duke also needs to attack the provisions."

He sneered, lightly tapping his Horse Whip against his palm, producing a rhythmic "pa, pa"—each strike like a blow to Ku Di Gan's vital point.

"War fights for money and provisions, for logistics," Chen Yan's gaze passed over the crowd, looking toward the distant west.

"Deprived of armor and weapons, these three thousand are merely three thousand mouths that only eat and do no work."

"If these three thousand broken soldiers flood into Lingzhou's main camp, do you think Ku Di Gan should kill them or spare them?"

"Kill them?" Chen Yan scoffed, "That would be self‑destruction. Slaughtering our own defeated troops would chill every soldier's heart, make each feel unsafe, deem Ku Di Gan cold‑blooded and uncaring. Then who would still risk their life for him?"

"Raise them?" Chen Yan shook his head, "An extra three thousand mouths means an astronomical daily consumption of provisions. Moreover, these three thousand will swarm like locusts, fighting for limited food. Then the Qi army and the Rouran people will clash over a single bite."

"This is a losing move," Chen Yan summed coolly, "Whatever Ku Di Gan does, he loses. This Duke intends to use these three thousand waste to clog his supply lines, exhaust his patience, and break his discipline."

Feng Muye listened, cold sweat streaming, and looking at Chen Yan's young yet unfathomable face, felt a deep reverence.

This is not warfare; it's calculating hearts, forcing the enemy onto a dead end!

Yet a trace of concern lingered, and he stepped forward, cupping his fist, asking, "Duke, your insight! Subordinate General admires you to the core! But…"

"If these broken soldiers, instead of returning to Lingzhou, scatter and ravage the countryside, harming Great Zhou's civilians, what then?"

"After all, without provisions they will do any immoral deed to survive. Then wouldn't we be smashing our own feet with a stone?"

"Harming civilians?"

Hearing those four words, Chen Yan's previously calm eyes flashed with harshness, his aura turning sharply chilling.

He has a bottom line, and that line is Great Zhou's civilians.

"Since this Duke dares to release them, there is naturally a way to make them obey, to become Ku Di Gan's nightmare, not the civilians' Yama King."

Chen Yan snapped his head around, his gaze locking onto the most composed war general among the crowd.

"General Dong!"

"Subordinate General here!" Dong Xuqing's spirit surged, he dismounted, performed a Dankui Guidi, and cupped his fist in response.

"This Duke gives you fifty light cavalry, each with two horses and ample arrows," Chen Yan ordered coldly, his tone iron‑blooded, "Ride ten li behind those broken soldiers. No need to kill, just act as a 'Shepherd'."

"Shepherd?" Dong Xuqing was startled, then his eyes lit with a flash of brilliance.

"Yes, shepherd." Chen Yan lifted his Horse Whip, pointing far west toward the barren Gobi, "These three thousand broken soldiers are a flock without a lead sheep. When people are desperate, they follow blindly. You only need to drive them from behind; if they dare to stop and rest, or stray from the road to Lingzhou and try to slip into villages, you immediately shoot a few leaders to assert authority…"

Chen Yan's voice grew colder, as if from the Nine‑dark Abyss, "Tell them with arrows that only running west, toward Lingzhou, is the sole way to live! Force them to sprint endlessly; besides fleeing to Ku Di Gan's main camp at Lingzhou, there is no sky road, no earth gate!"

"That's called 'Driving Sheep into the Wolf Pack'," Chen Yan clenched his fist, "I will make them bring fear, hunger, chaos, and despair to Ku Di Gan! I will have Ku Di Gan's main camp descend into chaos before seeing a single Great Zhou soldier!"

After hearing the explanation, Lu Ming and Feng Muye and others fully grasped it. Their gazes toward Chen Yan and Gao Jiong, besides reverence, now held a deep wariness.

This tactic, 'Driving Sheep to Attack the Heart', is a hundred times more vicious than outright killing the three thousand! It is a scheme to crush the heart, a bloodless soft blade! It is not only a military victory but a total demolition of the enemy's psychological defenses.

"Brother‑in‑law… Duke, how on earth did you grow that brain?" Lu Ming slammed his heavy horse lance onto the ground, kicking up dust, grinned, "I'm convinced, completely convinced! This is making them unable to eat and just wander! Those bastards returning will probably suffer more than death!"

"Execute the order," Chen Yan waved his hand, his expression returning to indifference, as if the fate of the three thousand was a trivial matter.

The order was dispatched swiftly, like an unbreakable iron law.

The Zhou Army began forcibly confiscating the prisoners' equipment.

"Strip! Strip everything for me!"

"Move faster! Want to eat a blade?"

Under the glaring Horizontal Blade of the Zhou Army, three thousand Qi army prisoners shivered in the cold wind as they untied their armor.

The heavy iron armor hit the ground, emitting a dull thud.

Then weapons, boots, even the winter coats were stripped away, leaving only thin underclothes.

They were herded westward in bewilderment and terror, with the Zhou Army cavalry, blades being honed and eyes icy, behind them.

"Get out! Run west! Anyone who looks back will be killed without mercy!"

With a roar from the Zhou Army, several sharp arrows whistled with the wind, striking the feet of the slowest runners, scattering clouds of earth and stone.

The crowd instantly erupted.

Under the setting sun, three thousand bare‑handed, ragged, barefoot broken soldiers surged like a desperate gray flood toward Lingzhou, driven by whips and arrows, crying out for their parents.

Their wails echoed across the desert, like a night procession of a hundred ghosts.

They shoved and trampled each other, exhausting themselves to be a step ahead of their comrades.

They were no longer defenders of the nation; they had been stripped of dignity and humanity, becoming the most lethal Poison Arrow Chen Yan shoots at Ku Di Gan.

Chen Yan stood on a high ridge, his dark cloak billowing in the gusty evening wind like an unfurled battle flag. He watched the silhouettes fading westward into dust, his gaze deep as an abyss, reflecting the waning sun about to sink below the horizon.

"The siege of Gancao City has been lifted, but the real game has only just begun."

He whispered to himself, his voice fading in the wind, carrying a confidence and coldness that commanded the whole situation:

"Ku Di Gan, can you receive this great gift?"