Chapter 954: First Volume, Chapter 954: Mass Troop Assembly

First Volume, Chapter 954: Mass Troop Assembly

Just after Li Zhang issued the order, over twenty messengers burst out of the Xiongyingling Outpost's Door, racing in all directions toward Beixi County and the nearest border outposts.

The Xiongyingling Outpost never lacked messengers; following Qin Feng's philosophy, communication always came first, so not only were the Brocade Uniform messengers reliable, but even ordinary military couriers were numerous and highly dependable.

These twenty messengers were divided into four squads, five per squad, each maintaining a set distance from one another; two squads headed for Beixi County, while the other two crossed directly into enemy territory, then split along the main Official Road—one group heading to the Central Plains Imperial Party's territory to send word to Qin Tianhu, the other racing straight to Jingdu to inform the Liang Emperor of the war intelligence.

Sending out so many messengers at once served only one purpose: "insurance."

After all, Sangzhou was vast and sparsely populated, making it vulnerable to enemy Imperial Spies; if even one messenger were ambushed and military orders delayed, no one could bear the consequences.

Moreover, the Winter War had already begun, and everything simply needed to proceed step by step—there was no room for "strategy"—so even if some messengers were killed and orders fell into enemy hands, it would hardly matter.

This is why so many Brocade Uniform messengers risked their lives charging into Sangzhou; during this time, countless war reports and secret letters had surely been intercepted, yet clearly, neither the Brocade Uniform messengers nor Qin Feng cared at all.

The overall situation was settled; mere conspiracies could no longer sway the tide.

Fortunately, Sangzhou was now fully under Beixi County's control, with large numbers of garrison troops dispersed across the region, so no major errors occurred during message delivery.

Since warhorses could not outrun heavy snow, the sudden night snowstorm severely slowed communication speed.

By the time the messengers delivered the military command back to Beixi County, three days had passed.

Xu Mo, upon learning the full details, dared not delay a moment; he immediately split the order into two parts, assigning all non-military affairs to Lin Quqi.

Xu Mo then immediately notified the Ming Prince, went through the necessary formalities, obtained the Ming Prince's written endorsement, and promptly dispatched envoys to contact the Three Great Generals of the North Border.

Once Beixi troops crossed the border, the entire frontier defense burden would fall on the Former General's shoulders.

After this period of rest and recuperation, the Former General's forces and the Border Army had recovered significantly; moreover, with all military pressure from the Di now blocked by Beixi troops, the Former General's main task was to prevent neighboring states from taking advantage of the chaos, and secondarily, to guard against Di infiltration and retaliatory counterattacks.

The Piaoqi General's and Chariot and Cavalry General's territories also immediately entered standby combat status; though no major movements occurred, the entire armies were placed on rotational readiness to support combat at any moment.

Once the broad strategic plan was set, Xu Mo began mobilizing troops.

Since the National War ended, Beixi County's development had soared unprecedentedly; not only had its people's livelihood and economy become the top county in the entire Northern Border and nearly half of Liang Kingdom, but even its garrison size surpassed that of most Zhou Fu.

Under Xu Mo's urgent mobilization, fewer than half a Envoy later, two thousand troops already assembled outside the city; next came the Military Defense Camp—though called a "camp," under Qin Feng's covert manipulation, its strength reached a full eight thousand!

Five thousand from the Military Defense Camp were reassigned to the main army, combined with the earlier two thousand, forming a seven-thousand-strong Vanguard, led by two Deputy Generals, immediately marching to Xiongyingling to join Li Zhang's forces.

After the Vanguard departed, the true Main Force was mobilized next.

The Beixi Expeditionary Brigade, totaling fifteen thousand, saw ten thousand directly mobilized and assembled outside the city; simultaneously, one thousand Tianji Camp Guards were drawn from the Tianji Camp and integrated into the Main Force's Mobile Battalion.

Two days later, this eleven-thousand-strong Main Force was officially assembled, led personally by Xu Mo, heading for Xiongyingling.

Five days later, the Beixi County army and the Sangzhou Army officially merged.

Seven thousand Beixi Vanguard, eleven thousand Expeditionary Brigade, plus sixteen thousand troops long stationed in Sangzhou and already assembled.

The entire army totaled thirty-four thousand.

This force's scale was equivalent to a Regular Army—and this was merely in manpower, accounting for less than half of Beixi County and Sangzhou's total forces.

In other words, Qin Feng could directly mobilize approximately seventy thousand troops, excluding the Three Great Generals of the North Border.

These thirty-four thousand were the full force for this Winter War; though seemingly small, they were more than sufficient, since they were merely auxiliary troops—the true main force was the Wild Emperor Party of the Di.

After years of growth, the Wild Emperor Party's forces had reached over fifty thousand; though their combat effectiveness was pitiful and utterly incapable of matching Qin Feng's Troops, the core strategic principle of this Winter War remained: adopt the enemy's strengths to subdue the enemy.

From the time the military command reached Beixi County until the troops fully assembled at Xiongyingling, ten days had passed.

Even with this delay, Li Zhang remained calm; he and Xu Mo discussed through the night, then carefully reconfigured the final battle deployment.

The ten-thousand-strong Beixi Expeditionary Brigade remained unchanged; the one thousand Tianji Camp Guards continued as the Mobile Battalion.

The remaining twenty-three thousand were reorganized: ten thousand as the Main Force, with Left Wing and Right Wing armies each formed of four thousand.

The remaining five thousand were entirely assigned to the Light Cavalry Corps.

Thus, the thirty-four thousand were divided into six combat units; since the mission was to assist the Wild Emperor Party, the Vanguard was abolished.

The Left Wing Army immediately moved toward Sanggan City to reinforce the Wild Emperor Party's main force; its heavy siege equipment, second only to the Main Force, meant its objective was to capture Sanggan City.

The Right Wing Army advanced toward Nanhua City to cut off Sanggan City's sole remaining supply node, turning both Sanggan and Nanhua into isolated cities.

In Zhuozhou, there were thirteen major counties and strongholds; it was impossible to capture them all, so only Sanggan and Nanhua were selected as key targets.

The five-thousand-strong Light Cavalry Corps, carrying seven days' grain, plunged deep into Zhuozhou's Rear Area, targeting Daqi County—the northernmost supply hub of Zhuozhou.

The Main Force advanced steadily along the Light Cavalry's route, also aiming for Daqi County; since the Light Cavalry's role was to cut and encircle, direct siege was impossible.