Chapter 366

When he came back last night, it was too dark; Chen Wuji only saw the approximate scale of the mountain buildings. Upon hearing this, he felt nothing but admiration for the Chen ancestors.

The ancestors were really awesome!

This is more meticulous than the troop drills Liu Xiu conducted in the mountains back then.

"You go ahead and get busy; I'll take a proper look around later," Chen Wuji instructed.

"Right, if there are any extra bed crossbows, we'll tidy them up and bring them down the mountain; if not, we'll squeeze one out and take it with us," Chen Wuji instructed.

"Yes!"

If we could deploy more of these on the city walls, their chances of holding the city would increase significantly.

Even if there are none spare, as long as we have one as a template, we can have craftsmen in the city make more.

Chen Wuji hurriedly brought Xiao Yuji into Chen Bushi's house.

Not only was Chen Bushi there, but Chen Luozi happened to be present as well; the two were staring at the sand table in the courtyard, discussing something.

"Wuji has come, just in time; help us examine this," Chen Bushi greeted with a smile.

Chen Wuji walked over and stared at the sand table on the ground, which was about two square meters, remaining silent for a moment: "Is this also part of the inheritance left by our ancestors?"

Chen Bushi and Chen Luozi nodded in unison.

"Our ancestors are truly awesome!" Chen Wuji exclaimed, gazing at the sand table. "They planned everything to this extent for us; if we remain as useless as mud that won't stick to a wall, even the underworld might not dare to take us in."

This sand table is exquisitely crafted, likely made of stone and mud.

The sand table encompasses countless surrounding peaks, starting from Yunan City in the west, reaching the San Yuan Pass of San Yuan County in the east, with its northern boundary along the edge and interior of Shenxian Ling, and its southern edge adjoining the Ningyuan County border.

Within this area, all mountains, rivers, important passes, ancient trails, and roads are marked.

The Chen ancestors probably feared that future descendants would be worthless and toss their military strategies into the dogs' bellies, so they even used small flags to mark the importance of this place with extremely concise wording.

For example, for Yunan City they wrote: "A contested vital point, the death gate of Nan Jun; holding it allows one to strangle Nan Jun."

Just this sentence alone made Chen Wuji dare not question the ancestors' decision to settle in Xishan Village; it was wise, downright fucking wise.

Some things, when thought about mentally, can be a bit confusing.

But placed on the sand table right now, it is crystal clear, clearer than clear.

Within Nan Jun territory, there are five ancient trails crossing Shenxian Ling, four of whose exits are entirely in Yunan.

Tianchi Pass accounts for one of them, and Nan Jun City accounts for three.

The remaining one lies in San Yuan County to the east of Yunan.

However, to reach San Yuan one must still pass through Yunan.

Within Nan Jun's territory, Yunan City is situated upstream of the rivers.

And those ancient mountain routes left from antiquity connect to the Qiang people's territory in the west, with their eastern exits in Yunan, while scattered exits in between link to various large and small cities of Nan Jun.

Hezhou is one of them.

In short, Yunan is the gateway to Nan Jun.

Although this gateway is small, the road beyond it is rather treacherous.

But if anyone who controls Nan Jun wishes to launch a northern campaign into Zhongyuan, they have only two possible routes.

Either go through Yunan and take the mountain trails.

Or detour through the Qiang people's territory and then pass through the northwest of Da Yu.

"In our previous battle with the Qiang people, we nearly blocked the mountain roads; now gathering information poses no problem, and crossing the mountains is fine," Chen Bushi said from the side.

But now, if we want to launch a surprise attack on Hezhou, this route must be opened; however, we face a serious problem: we lack manpower. Aside from women, children, the elderly, and the infirm, the only usable labor we have is the roughly hundred men under Lao Jiu's command; if we send them to open the route, the village will have no one left to defend it.

Chen Wuji raised his hand to interrupt Chen Bushi's words: "Opening the route need not be rushed; this rear guard must be prepared, otherwise we will fall into complete passivity, but there's no need to rush either."

"If the Gu, Li, and Xue families slaughter Yunan completely, then we must take this risk and fill that bunch of grandsons into Yunan. The fight still has legs, and it's not entirely hopeless; I'll go out and entangle with the Gu, Li, and Xue families, while you divert a small force to handle this matter first," Chen Bushi said from the side.

"The key is intelligence on Hezhou! We must first confirm Hezhou's situation and the attitude of the Hezhou Prefect toward the Gu, Li, and Xue families, to see if these two dogs will bite each other, and whether we have an opportunity to exploit," Chen Bushi said from the side.

"Okay!" Chen Bushi replied briefly.

Chen Luozi chuckled from the side: "Wuji, you don't know, but your mention of this last night already got Lao San worked up. This morning he hurriedly dragged me around the Ancient Mountain Road, and when we came back he was sighing and groaning."

"You set off a firecracker and it goes boom, but to reopen the excavation, with just our hundred-odd people it'll take us a damn one or two months," Chen Luozi laughed from the side.

Chen Wuji chuckled, saying, "We need to prepare; if we can get ready early, that's best, but if we lack the ability, there's no need to worry about this for now. Even if the Gu, Li, and Xue families' plot succeeds, our situation won't collapse that quickly." Chen Wuji chuckled.

"Since we are guarding this gateway, we must make full use of its function," Chen Bushi said from the side.

Chen Bushi glanced at Chen Luozi, let out a light snort, and said, "How dare you mock me? Wuji, do you know what this brat just said to me?" Chen Bushi said from the side.

"He actually said that if we lose our supply base in Yunan, why not expand outward? Come on, let's mock him, mock him to death," Chen Bushi said from the side.

Chen Wuji was somewhat surprised, "Jiu Shu, that's not something you'd say." Chen Wuji was somewhat surprised.

Chen Luozi's face showed embarrassment, "Enough, enough, I wasn't thinking straight for a moment." Chen Luozi's face showed embarrassment.

"Indeed, it was a bit muddle-headed." Chen Wuji chuckled lightly.

If the Gu, Li, and Xue families' plot succeeds and they lose their supply base in Yunan, expanding outward would be a dead end, since counties like Ningyuan and San Yuan also have magistrates, city walls, and troops.

Unless the Chen clan truly turns into bandits, doing the same things as the Gu, Li, and Xue families—bullying ordinary people everywhere—there is no hope.

With limited manpower and wavering supplies, to go and batter city walls, to fight siege warfare—isn't that just asking for trouble?

Chen Wuji's design on Hezhou is not truly about using his big front teeth to gnaw at Hezhou's higher, stronger walls; rather, he intends to exploit the convenience of the mountain ancient trails to target their granaries, undermine their morale, and muddy the waters of Hezhou.

Compared to battering the surrounding counties, Hezhou offers far more possibilities.

"Come, take a look at this!" Chen Wuji produced the letter written by Xiao Yuji's second uncle.

"I intend to give it a try." Chen Wuji chuckled.

Chen Bushi and Chen Luozi gathered together to finish reading the letter.

"You just said... you want to try it?" Chen Bushi asked.

Chen Luozi also looked at him with a doubtful expression, as if wanting to ask again whether he had misheard.

Chen Wuji nodded.

Chen Bushi was instantly speechless, "No, you little brat, why are you always thinking of taking risky moves in warfare? This is clearly a pit dug by others. Since they dare to play this trick, they must have made preparations."

"This is probably not a test, but going up there to give them your life; I don't agree!"

"I have six hundred armored veterans!" Chen Wuji smiled faintly.

"Moreover, they don't even know about it!"