Chapter 14: The Army That Can Conquer Without Fighting

  Ye Xuan was shocked after hearing this, his eyebrows deeply furrowed together, but he soon calmed down. He asked in a cold voice: "Don't be in a hurry, drink some water and catch your breath, then tell me what's going on."

  At this time, the soldier in front of him, who had rushed over to catch his breath, drank some water and rested for a moment before saying: "It's like this, General. For some reason, while you were attacking the slope of the mound, the leaders of the other two strongholds brought their troops to attack our Ye Family Army. It can be said that it was only half a day after you left, and the people from the other two factions gathered at the foot of our Tiandong Mountain. However, General, don't worry, they also don't know what kind of courage they have, and their troops are roughly the same as ours. The remaining Heavenly Punishment Troop has three generals and Captain Yang defending it, so there shouldn't be any major issues. The third general asked me to come out from behind the mountain to report the situation to you, General. His intention is that with us having Heavenly Punishment here, you can completely not worry about the rear, and instead, you can take advantage of the emptiness to launch a surprise attack!"

  ……

  After listening, the soldier's report in front of him, Ye Xuan also restored his usual calm and collected expression, nodded slightly, then smiled at Sun Yu and Zhao Jie, asking: "Do you have any countermeasures?"

  Before anyone could react, Zhao Jie hastily said: "General, I think this is a provocation against our Ye family army. It's really intolerable! These two little heads actually dare to attack our camp, it's simply a big face behavior! I suggest we rush back immediately and launch a pincer attack, killing all around!"

  Ye Xuan listened to Zhao Jie's opinion and turned his head to look at Sun Yu, which was also Ye Xuan's habit. Every time before going into battle, he would first listen to the opinions of his subordinates in order to cultivate them. Because Ye Xuan knew that if he wanted to dominate the Central Plains, he had to make each of his subordinates a capable general who could be trusted to guard one side, otherwise when the soldiers increased in number, even Ye Xuan himself would not be able to lead them all, it was like having multiple bodies in two places.

  At this point, Ye Xuan also secretly sighed that if he had the talent of commanding troops like Han Xin in his previous life, it would not be difficult to obtain the world.

  Sun Yu thought for a moment, looked at Zhao Jie with a helpless gaze, and said: "I'm saying, Ah Jie, are we only allowed to attack other people's strongholds, but not allow others to attack our main camp? Is it righteous when we attack others, but despicable when others attack us? What logic is that? According to your words, it's called 'only allowing the governor to set fires, but not allowing the common people to light lamps'. When did you become so noble? I don't agree with your views, Ah Jie. I'm more in favor of Third Brother's opinion. Think about it, everyone, the ones who attacked our stronghold are two other strongholds from our area. One is called Luo Yi Fu, and the other is called Sha Er Ye. Each of their soldiers has only over 40 people. This time, they brought out even more people than the Heavenly Punishment Squad to attack our camp. If we calculate it, each household would have only over 10 people left to guard their stronghold. If we take advantage of this and launch a surprise attack, not only can we achieve a great victory, but we also won't need to worry about food for half a year."

  Ye Xuan nodded, looked at Sun Yu with satisfaction, habitually touched his chin, and then lightly tapped Zhao Jie's forehead with his finger. He said, "Second brother is right, you are very brave in battle, often charging into the front line. However, fighting isn't just about bravery; it also requires some strategy. And you're still an impulsive kid, this point must be changed, otherwise it's easy to be exploited by the enemy. You should know that any command from a general can possibly lead to the doom of the brothers following behind!"

  Zhao Jie nodded his head in embarrassment and said: "I'm worried about General San and them!"

  Ye Xuan picked up the rope on the ground and said, "You see, when you want to untie a tangled knot, you must calm down and find the head of the knot, then slowly untie it. You can't rush to pull or punch with your fist; similarly, when you want to stop two people from fighting, you can't join in the fight, but instead, avoid the place where they are punching and kicking each other, and look for an opportunity to strike one of them in the abdomen when they are off guard. When the person who was beaten is holding their stomach and kneeling down, the situation will change, and the fighting will stop immediately. Now that our opponent has sent troops to attack us at Tianlong Fort, their elite soldiers must have gone to the main camp, leaving only some weak and disabled soldiers guarding the fort. Why don't we take this opportunity to lead our troops to attack their base, occupy their transportation routes, and attack the places where they are not well-guarded? In that case, their army outside will certainly put down their arms and rush back to rescue them. This way, we can solve the crisis of the main camp at once, and also make our opponent taste our strength, and increase our spoils of war. You should know that winning every battle is not the best, but winning without fighting is the best. Ye Xuan said this famous quote from Sun Tzu's Art of War calmly, without batting an eyelid, under the gaze of everyone's surprise. Anyway, since he had come to another world, there was no one talking about copyright anymore, so the works of those famous people in his previous life were all his own, and he could take them out from time to time to show off and increase his prestige among the soldiers. Ye Xuan thought shamelessly.

  He paused for a moment, and Ye Xuan continued: "In this way, we will attack one place, and the people in that place will definitely be disheartened and retreat. We will guard the place they must pass through, so we can annihilate those rod troops. As for the other rod troops, if they see so many people running away and escape, we will take advantage of the situation to clean them up. If they don't escape, hehe, Third Brother, if you can't even eat such a mob, I'll despise you!"

  Everyone burst out laughing and praised Ye Xuan's plan as excellent.

  Ye Xuan waved his hand and said: "The Ye family army listens to orders, the whole army rests in place for half an hour, and then we set off."

  Everyone immediately put away their smiles and replied seriously: "Yes!"

  ……

  But Ye Xuan didn't have it as easy as everyone thought, thinking to himself that he had just stepped out the door and was already being ganged up on by two others. To say this was a coincidence, Ye Xuan wouldn't believe it even if you killed him. What exactly were they trying to pull, Ye Xuan wondered silently to himself.

  Ye Xuan also let it go, as any conspiracy or trickery would pale in comparison to the absolute strength of the Ye family army when facing this mob. So he didn't take it too much to heart and led the crowd forward.

  ……