Chapter 955

First Volume, Chapter 955: Zhou Mi's Strategic Deployment

When the light cavalry reaches its designated strategic position and applies military pressure on Daqi County, cutting off key transportation routes, the main force will follow up to conduct siege warfare.

As for the Expeditionary Brigade, it will advance from the left flank, passing through Changling County, Baima Stronghold, Sanpan Shui Garrison, and nine other nodes of varying sizes, employing aggressive tactics of relentless assault; if the battle proceeds smoothly, it will capture targets outright, targeting only enemy military units while minimizing civilian casualties to avoid stirring up civilian morale, which would hinder troop movement.

If encountering stubborn resistance, it shall make only a token attack, then bypass entirely and continue advancing downstream.

Ultimately, the Expeditionary Brigade will trace an arc trajectory around Zhuozhou, finally rendezvousing with the main force at Daying County; if the main force has already captured Daying County, it will press forward; if the siege fails, both forces will support each other and continue the assault.

The Mobile Battalion, composed of one thousand Tianji Camp Guards, has only one strategic mission: to cause destruction everywhere.

Any military facility, encampment, county city, or sizable town is automatically on the list of stealth targets!

All individuals holding official status shall be slaughtered.

Furthermore, the Mobile Battalion will split into small units: fifty men per platoon, forming twenty platoons, each assigned to stealth-attack one target, striking multiple points simultaneously; however, the distance between any two platoons must not exceed one hundred Li, enabling rapid battlefield reorganization to launch large-scale assaults against major military targets in short time.

The Mobile Battalion and the Expeditionary Brigade share identical objectives: rapid mobility, conducting brief yet high-intensity battles for reconnaissance—capture if possible, retreat if not, avoid hardened targets, and strike only soft ones.

With this strategic arrangement, if all proceeds smoothly, the entire Zhuozhou will be torn apart like a sharp blade by the fast-moving light cavalry and main force.

Coupled with the Expeditionary Brigade's rapid yuan hui advance and the Mobile Battalion's multi-point strikes, Zhuozhou will be thrown into utter chaos.

In Li Zhang and Xu Mo's eyes, Zhuozhou has only three essential cities to capture: Sanggan, Nanhua, and Daqi.

Once these three towns are taken, whether or not they control Zhuozhou is irrelevant to Li Zhang and Xu Mo, because the subsequent Wild Emperor Party will cleanse the entire Zhuozhou.

Moreover, after losing Sanggan and Nanhua—these two gatekeeper strongholds—reinforcements from Sangzhou can enter Zhuozhou more easily.

If all goes well, the main assault on Daqi County will commence six days from now.

On the third day the strategic deployment began, the entire Beidi became a realm of messengers.

Messengers traveling north and south raced desperately along the Official Road.

Seven days later, the first military command arrived before Chen Si; at that moment, Chen Si had already deployed his army around Changshui County and was making final preparations for siege warfare.

As Chen Si read the ten-thousand urgent military report from Zhuozhou, his brow furrowed tightly.

"Zhuozhou has already begun fighting; with its garrison strength, it can hold out for at least a month! By then, even if the enemy army is heroic and pushes northward, by the time they reach the Jingji threshold, the overall situation will already be settled!"

"Zhuozhou has been harassed for so long that this war was inevitable; do not let Zhuozhou's war intelligence disrupt my Jingji deployment."

Chen Si casually tossed the military report to a subordinate and continued urging his officers to conduct pre-battle mobilization.

Yet less than half a day passed before new military intelligence arrived.

This time, as Chen Si opened the report and read its contents, his expression grew grave.

"The Wild Rebel Party has launched a fierce assault on Sanggan and Nanhua?"

"Sanggan and Nanhua are two gatekeeper strongholds of Zhuozhou; though the Wild Emperor Party's forces exceed fifty thousand, to capture these two towns in a short time is sheer fantasy."

Though Chen Si subconsciously believed this must be an enemy military miscalculation, remembering that all major enemy operations were directed by Qin Feng, he immediately unrolled his map and re-examined Zhuozhou's situation with caution.

"Sanggan and Nanhua are not merely strong counties—they are military strongholds; especially Nanhua, which has six thousand defenders, with grain and forage sufficient to last over a year."

"According to the military intelligence report, the Wild Emperor Party has split into two columns, attacking Sanggan and Nanhua simultaneously, while forces from Sangzhou have each dispatched four thousand troops to assist the Wild Emperor Party in siege warfare."

"Even so, capturing Sanggan and Nanhua cannot be accomplished overnight."

"Unless there is an internal traitor enabling bandit collaboration, or the garrison surrenders outright, they can hold out for at least two months."

"If the enemy truly wastes so much time on Sanggan and Nanhua, the entire Winter War may well be doomed."

"What is the enemy's true intention?"

Chen Si stood before the map, rubbing his chin, lost in thought.

A bold idea flickered in his mind: the enemy never intended to capture Sanggan and Nanhua—instead, they simply intended to encircle them as dead cities.

In that case, even if Sanggan and Nanhua did not fall, they would lose all capacity for external support, becoming functionally useless.

What was their purpose in meticulously neutralizing Sanggan and Nanhua? Was it Daqi County?

Chen Si shook his head: "Daqi County lies at the northernmost tip of Zhuozhou and is extremely fortified; to attack Daqi County, the enemy must deploy at least seven thousand troops and bring siege equipment. Even at maximum marching speed, it would take at least twenty days to reach Daqi County."

"Light cavalry could advance quickly, but they would face constant blockades; even if they reached Daqi County, they could only blockade its perimeter—utterly incapable of taking such a stronghold."

Just as Chen Si remained utterly baffled, Jing Peng suddenly spoke up beside him.

"Grand General, if the enemy can reach Daqi County in a short time and launch an assault, Zhuozhou will lose both head and tail, split cleanly down the middle."

"At that point, Zhuozhou's various strongholds will be unable to form alliances or support each other; the enemy's follow-up forces will then systematically eliminate each isolated resistance."

Chen Si nodded: "You're right—but the problem is, the main force's advance must slow down drastically. Can the Assault Corps possibly match the speed of light cavalry?"

Jing Peng bluntly replied: "Given that the enemy's Main General is Qin Feng, nothing is impossible!"

"That bastard Qin Feng turned Beixi County into the premier stronghold, dripping with wealth; moreover, he's been preparing for this Winter War for years—there's no telling how many warhorses he's stockpiled."

Warhorses…

Chen Si's head whirred—he slammed his hand on the map and growled: "Long before the National War began, reliable intelligence confirmed Qin Feng had been relentlessly increasing his warhorse reserves!"