Chapter 31: The Young Marshal's First Time

  "General, just ahead is the Su Family Tomb." A military guide pointed forward: "Northeast of the Su Family Tomb is the Luan River. After crossing the river, you will arrive at Datong Gou. Continuing north and passing over Guangding Mountain, you will reach Xiaoxi Gou, where the vanguard of the Liao army's scouts were located yesterday, near Chenjia Wopu."

  Gazing afar with eyes wide open - apart from a vast expanse of whiteness, nothing else can be seen.

  He couldn't help but feel a little puzzled, with his good eyesight he couldn't see anything special about the place, how did this old guide know where they were just by looking? This guy was indeed worthy of being an undercover agent in Liao for twenty years, he really had some special skills. Young Master Yun was supposed to be expressionless, so Yun Zhen only slightly nodded his head and said in a light and airy tone: "Old Liu, you've worked hard."

  "It's not hard, it's not tiring." Old Liu cracked a smile: "We've been stuck in the Liao dog's territory for so many years, what hardships and exhaustion can't compare to seeing Wang Shi march north! As long as we can see our Yan Yun Guard's eagle flag fluttering on the Liao dog's territory... Ha! That's when I'll feel invigorated!"

  Yun Cong continued to nod lightly and asked, "Hmm, is the river section between Suzhai Tomb and Datong Gou convenient for cavalry to pass through at this time?"

  Old Liu thought to himself: Our young master Yun is indeed a man of great character! Just look at his demeanor, I, Old Liu, won't be able to learn it even in my next life! Then he made up his mind that from now on, he must teach his own son the "young master's demeanor". As long as he can learn just three parts of the young master's demeanor - no, even if it's just one part, then when he stands in front of people, he'll be able to make the girls from the neighboring military families stare in admiration!

  "General, you asked a good question. I was just about to mention that. Although it's extremely cold now, the water of this river has frozen for some time. However, the ice is not particularly thick yet. If we want to cross over, I'm afraid we can't let the troops squeeze too tightly." Old Liu said respectfully.

  "Hmm." Yun Cong nodded, he understood this principle. If so many horseshoes were to tread on it at the same time, not to mention the weight, just the resonance would be unbearable. If they did that, these iron riders under his command would probably fall into the river and feed the turtles before even seeing the Liao people, which would be too unjust.

  "Order, after the army arrives at the riverbank, three batches of scouts will cross first to conduct a detailed reconnaissance within a radius of ten li and a general survey within twenty li. Once it is confirmed that there are no ambushes on the opposite bank, the entire army will be divided into four parts, crossing the river in four separate sections, with no more than two hundred-man teams crossing at a time, and the troops will try to keep as much distance between each other as possible... Hmm, also, before the scouts cross the river, send a few people to check if anyone has tampered with the river surface."

  "Received!" The two orderlies simultaneously received the military order and rushed off in different directions to deliver it to Yun Xi and Yun Jie.

  Yun Cong pulled on the reins of his horse and was about to whip it forward when he suddenly heard a loud, clear voice shouting: "Halt!"

  "Speak!" Yun Zheng reined in his horse and said in a deep voice.

  "The Second Young Master's vanguard has made contact!" The scout spoke quickly: "The Second Young Master's scout had a brief encounter with the Liao army's vanguard two days ago, and the entire army retreated to the area between Jipigou and Xiaoshaozhuan overnight. Yesterday, they discovered signs that the Liao army was turning towards the line from Nantai Nan Mountain to Donglashan, crossing the Luan River. Therefore, the Second Young Master has already led his main force to the Donglashan area today to prepare an ambush for the Liao army."

  "Huh? What's going on? Why is this guy still planning to launch a sneak attack? Haven't we already made contact? Yun Ting was puzzled."

  "Shao Shuai!" A spirited voice entered Yun Zheng's ears. He turned his head to look, and it was Yun Xi who had arrived.

  "Long flow, just in time." Yun Zhēn warmly called out Cloud Brook's name and beckoned him over.

  "What's wrong, Young General? What's the situation?" Yun Xi's face was quite relaxed, seemingly not feeling that this expedition was a dangerous move at all - even though they were facing an army of 200,000, while their own side had only 28,000 cavalry. It had to be said that although this era should theoretically be from his own world's "Weak Song" period, this world seemed to have really gone off the rails. Not to mention other things, just the Yun family army alone didn't have a single shred of awareness that they were weak. On the contrary, they were like the armies of the strong Han and Tang dynasties, having a psychological advantage over foreign armies. It seemed they felt that if they couldn't win with weakness, they wouldn't be considered good warriors.

  Strange things happen every year, but this year is especially numerous. Yun Zheng sighed with a bitter smile, thinking of Monkey King's famous saying... although in this world there was no Monkey King - oh, divine object.

  "It's like this..." Yun Cong told Yun Xi about the situation he had just investigated, then asked in puzzlement: "Haven't the two armies already made contact? Why is Second Brother still thinking of laying an ambush?"

  "Hmm?" Yun Xi looked at Yun Ting with some confusion: "If it's just a scouting horse making contact, as long as the scouting horse retreats quickly, the Liao people won't necessarily know that there is a large army behind." He explained: "Our Yun family army isn't always fond of doing long-distance reconnaissance, right? As long as Second Young Master's vanguard scouting horse is clever enough, it can completely disguise itself as a long-distance scouting horse from Tan Prefecture. Then Second Young Master can make some arrangements to erase the marching traces as much as possible. This way, the Liao army won't be able to confirm that there must be our army present in front." He glanced at Yun Ting and added: "Of course, they will definitely have suspicions and usually send another scouting horse to investigate. But didn't Second Young Master just receive news that he moved to Tongla Mountain? This way, the Liao army can't confirm that there is definitely our army in front, so it's reasonable for Second Young Master to continue ambushing the Liao army."

  "Ugh..." Yun Cong felt a bit embarrassed in his heart. Grandma's, I don't know if it's my memory of Yun Cong himself or the inheritance that isn't thorough enough, or if it's just that I have too little experience - actually, I don't have any experience at all - and yet I made such a mistake. Looking at Yun Xi's expression, I can tell that this is basic knowledge for marching and fighting. Depressing, I haven't even started yet, and I've already slipped up.

  "It seems I was really intimidated by Beishan girl's intelligence, but on the other hand, Xiao Tian Su seems to be quite capable - oh, I mean he has a few tricks up his sleeve. We should have confidence, of course, but when it comes to actual combat, we still need to be careful and cautious, rather than underestimating the enemy." Yun Zhuang changed the subject.

  "General Shao is right." Yun Xi nodded, then added: "Oh, by the way, General Shao, since Second Master and the Liao army have already relocated, should we continue to fight for this river crossing or head north to cross the river on the other side of Tongla Mountain and meet up with Second Master directly?"

  Yun Cong looked at Yun Xi's gaze and knew that the first time he had to make a choice since leading the troops had arrived.

  The first time is always a bit scary, isn't it?

  Division line

  Everyone, in my humble opinion, the best choice is to collect + recommend:)

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