Chapter 24: First Battle (Part 1)

  "Long time no see, Young Marshal!"

  "Take care, General!"

  "Third brother, you've finally arrived!" Cloud Jian's older half-brother, Cloud Jun, opened the middle gate with a tired expression but a joyful face, and upon seeing Cloud Jian, he hastily took two steps forward and grasped his arm, excitedly calling out to him.

  "Elder brother and all the generals, you have worked hard." Yun Zheng's heart was excited, before he crossed over, he had never enjoyed such high treatment - a large group of high-ranking generals with bright armor and helmets saluted him in unison. To know that he was now just an ordinary citizen without any official position. The reason why these proud soldiers were so respectful was simply because he was the eldest son of the Yun family. In ancient China, most of the time, the nationalization of the military was not very high, and the lower-ranking generals and soldiers only recognized the commander-in-chief but not the emperor, which was a common occurrence. The soldiers of the Yun family's Twelve Guards were also hereditary military households. At least one male member from each household participated in the military, while the rest stayed at home to farm or engage in other occupations, neither paying taxes nor performing labor services outside of military service. They had been private property of the Yun family for generations, so naturally, the young master of the Yun family was their young lord. Which servant dared not show respect to the young master?

  "Third brother is here, it's good, big brother I can also rest assured to hand over the defense of Yanjing - these days are too terrible, such a big thing happened, father commander is not here, how dare I take charge? Cheng Xuan's temper is urgent, he has been leading troops outside for five or six days now, yesterday the scout said he was still on the move, today it's unknown whether he encountered the Liao army! Alas... what did father commander say?" Yun Jun pulled Yun Zheng to the "Eagle Hall", and was about to ask him to take a seat.

  Yun Cong wasn't the host, so he wouldn't sit in the central main seat. However, he didn't hesitate to take a seat on the secondary seat next to it. Yun Jun sat down one hand below him, and the other officers naturally took their seats according to their ranks. Those with lower ranks had no choice but to stand. Yun Cong was sitting on the upper hand, alone, and after glancing at Beishan Wuxue, he beckoned someone to add a chair to the empty space beside him for Beishan Wuxue to sit down.

  "Big brother, what's the current deployment of our troops? How many men did second brother bring north? Which guard battalion are they from?" Yun Zheng asked directly without beating around the bush.

  Yun Jun glanced at Beishan with a hint of hesitation. Yun Zheng smiled and said, "Don't worry, brother. This Miss Beishan is someone I've invited to help me on my mother's orders. You can speak freely."

  Yun Jun finally felt at ease, and with a slight nod towards Yun Ting, he said: "Cheng Kun led one battalion of Yan Yun cavalry and two battalions of Zhen Ding cavalry, totaling three battalions of cavalry, 16,800 men, departed from Tan State five days ago to head north. Currently, our military deployment is as follows: Yun State (Datong) and Ru State (Yanqing) each have six battalions of Taiyuan troops, Ji State (Jixian) has six battalions of Zhen Ding troops, the front line of the central army in Tan State (Miyun) has three battalions of Yan Yun troops and four battalions of Zhen Ding troops. Apart from these forces, the remaining eight battalions of Yan Yun are all within this capital city."

  "Hmm." Yun Cong nodded and looked around at the various generals in the hall, saying: "What are your opinions, gentlemen?"

  Everyone looked at each other, and Yun Cong's tone was completely that of a commander-in-chief - of course he was indeed the young commander, but wasn't the great commander still around?

  Yun Cong saw that they all lost their voices, knowing that although he was the eldest son of the Yun family, he was still young after all, and had not even had his coming-of-age ceremony yet. In the hearts of the many generals, he had not established any prestige at all, and the obedience of the generals to him was based solely on the authority of Yun Lan.

  Yun Cong's self-deprecating smile, he reached into his sleeve and pulled out the "Eagle Grasping Clouds" jade pendant given by Yun Lan, showing it to everyone for a moment, calmly saying: "The Eagle Soars Forever."

  Yun Junli had just arrived, and as soon as he saw Yun Yingyu, he knew that Yun Leng had already authorized Yun Zheng to take full charge of the northern defense before his arrival. Although he was a little surprised, he still knelt down to Yun Zheng's jade pendant and said respectfully: "Yun Ying eternal flight!"

  The rest of the people, upon seeing this jade token representing the master of the Yun family, also understood Yun Lan's intention. This was probably the beginning of establishing prestige for his son. Seeing that the eldest son, Yun Jun, had already taken the lead in accepting the order, they naturally didn't hesitate and one by one fell to the ground with a thud, saying in unison: "Yun Ying Yong Xiang!"

  He thought to himself: "Damn it, looks like I, this young general, want to make a name for myself, but I'm afraid I'll have to win one or two battles first. And not just small victories, but big ones too - after all, my old man also relied on winning a big battle against Liao State when he first came to power, and that's how he established his reputation. A military general is different from a civil official, and the children of military families don't have it easy either. The sons of civil officials can write a few articles, use some tricks to boost their own reputation, and then reap the benefits of fame and prestige. But for military generals, it's different - they must rely on battle to prove their strength, and only by winning battles can they gain prestige. Otherwise, even if you're like me, Cloud Qiang, who has won the martial arts competition in the army for years, it's still not enough!"

  Yun Cong saw that all the generals had shown enough respect to Yun Yingyu, so he suppressed his anger and asked again: "What do you think of the current situation, General? Don't hesitate to speak out, let's discuss it together."

  Yun Jun glanced at the other generals, knowing he had to take the lead, and smiled slightly. "Third brother, actually the current deployment was originally the result of discussion between me and the various generals. The reason for this arrangement is mainly because the Liao army has always been mobilized in large numbers, rarely dividing their troops into multiple routes. Therefore, we have arranged for each guard to defend several key points separately, while concentrating the most elite Yan Yun Guard on the Yanjing, Tan state line. After all, the Yanjing line is directly facing the upper and lower capitals of Liao country, and the possibility of being attacked by the Liao army is the greatest. What... do you and Father Commander think?"

  "Big brother's arrangement is not much different from Father General's intention." Yun Zheng nodded and continued to ask: "Do the generals have any other suggestions or opinions?"

  Everyone looked at me, I looked at them, and they were all thinking in their hearts. Was it possible that the young general was intentionally trying to provoke the eldest prince? Otherwise, why would he ask if we had any different opinions? Thinking about this, everyone became hesitant, wondering if the young general really did plan to cultivate his own loyal followers. If so, he would surely take over as the new general in the future. But the problem was that the current general was still in his prime, and it seemed too hasty to rush to the young general's side now. Maybe they should wait and see. And so, the awkward silence fell again.

  Yun Cong's face turned red with rage, he didn't think that much, but just felt that these people were too disrespectful.

  It's just that Yun Zheng is also because he has just crossed over and hasn't figured out the situation, so he would make such a scene. Now is the era of the Great Wei, not the later generations, these people don't have any democratic ideas at all. As for saying "collecting thoughts and opinions", this sounds good, but in fact, whether it's the Yun family army or other armies under heaven, it's all the same, the commander has the final say. Moreover, these generals have been practicing martial arts since they were young, or learning tactics for battle, as for deploying troops and strategizing, that's the commander's job - or rather, the Yun family direct descendants' job. And they've always been responsible for charging into battle, so this kind of strategic deployment isn't really their strong suit.

  Yun Cong strongly suppressed his anger and said, "Everyone, I think you all know that the purpose of the Liao army's expedition this time is to plunder. However, their primary goal this time is not to plunder wealth, but to seize grain and cloth to survive the winter. Therefore, all their actions will revolve around this goal, and we can infer from this the basic idea behind the Liao army's strategy: that is, regardless of victory or defeat, they cannot delay for too long. If they fight for too long without plundering enough supplies, their grain and fodder will not be able to sustain them."

  Most people looked enlightened, a small portion nodded secretly, and a few were bewildered, clearly confused. Yun Zheng finally had some understanding of the caliber of these people. No wonder the Qing army in later generations performed dismally in front of modern troops. Other issues aside, just this problem in their heads was severe enough.

  "I have an idea, let's see how it goes." Yun Zhuang didn't plan on having any "enlightening discussions" now either, he just planned to directly state his own views.

  The Boundary of Evil

  Everyone, I have an idea, how about we all donate some votes?

  ！