Chapter 26: The Battle of Fengling Ferry (Part 2)

  "Why haven't you closed the net yet, General Bian?" Tianyi asked curiously, looking at Bian Zhongxing who was still standing calmly in the formation. Meanwhile, Suo Haimu's vanguard had already clashed with Dugu Yuming's troops, and behind them, more and more Mandan soldiers were pouring in.

  "Report to the mistress, the enemy forces currently crossing the river are not numerous. If we close in now, at most we can inflict casualties of over ten thousand on them, but the remaining strength of the enemy will still be enormous. Moreover, our soldiers have just been formed and what they need most is the tempering of blood and fire. Only through this way can they mature more quickly."

  "Tian Yi smiled slightly: 'General Bian, you don't have to address me like that. Since General is my elder brother's sworn brother, he is naturally also Tian Yi's older brother. In a private setting like this, General can just call me by my name.'"

  Although she was deeply moved in her heart, her face remained calm and expressionless as she said, "I dare not. As the mistress, you should receive the respect that is due to you."

  Tianyi said indifferently: "General, isn't this looking down on Tianyi? I haven't consummated my marriage with the master yet, so I'm not considered the mistress. General, you're a straightforward and upright man on the battlefield, why are you being so rigid about formalities?"

  Bian Zhongxing hesitated for a moment before finally nodding his head. However, in his heart, he couldn't help but feel a sense of envy. Although Hao Tian had many talented individuals under him, his greatest happiness was probably having Tian Yi as an unmarried wife. With Tian Yi's help, Hao Tian didn't need to put too much thought into anything he did.

  On the south bank of the ferry, the two armies finally clashed together. At this critical moment of life and death, the Heshuo soldiers also put down their fears and fought with the enemy without hesitation. Although Soham's iron-clad heavy cavalry was valiant, they made little progress against the defensive formation set up by Bian Zhongxin himself. On the other hand, Dugu Yuming's dragon spear continued to inflict great damage on the enemy.

  Seeing Soham's army stuck near the ferry, Yelü Chih-yuan's face also became increasingly ugly. The command flag was raised, and Mandan's two 10,000-man teams, which had been prepared in advance, marched to the south bank with neat steps. And fighting alongside them was a 10,000-man team under Heji Mu'er.

  On the pale face, a faint smile finally floated up, and he knew that the other side would definitely send reinforcements. Raising his only remaining right hand, Bian Zhongxing simply said one word: "Release!"

  The soldiers standing beside the catapult were obviously impatient, seeing their comrades fighting desperately in front of them while they had nothing to do. Upon hearing Bian Zhongxing's calm order, everyone's spirit was suddenly shaken, and then accompanied by the creaking sound of the catapult, countless wooden barrels flew out and smashed onto the ice surface of the river, shattering into pieces.

  "What is that thing?" On the north bank of the ferry, Yelü Chishui asked with a puzzled expression, while Heshang Haasan and Heqimul also shook their heads, clearly not knowing what kind of trickery was being played either.

  Yelü Chishui and others did not know what it was, but it does not mean that the two Wanhu Langs, Kuoye and Yebixi, who were reinforcing Mandan, did not know. As soon as their troops arrived at the riverbank, countless wooden barrels suddenly fell from the sky and landed on the ice surface. After hitting the ice surface, some strange black oily substance flowed out of the wooden barrels. Upon smelling the familiar smell, Kuoye's face changed instantly, and Yebixi's face was also abnormally pale. Fire oil!

  "Fall back, fall back, quickly!" Koyare shouted loudly, while the soldiers beside him obviously didn't understand what was going on and were stunned in place for a moment.

  "That's fire oil! Retreat quickly, or it will be too late!" Yongbi Xin also shouted loudly. As soon as this was said, the surrounding old soldiers finally came to their senses and, without regard for formation, turned around and ran towards the north shore. Those who had been in the military for a long time were naturally not unfamiliar with fire oil. Fire oil is a specialty of the Xīběi Second Route of the Qingfeng Empire, and it is also produced in Jízhōu and Shízhōu in Hé Suǒ. Its biggest characteristic is that it is highly flammable, and it can still burn on water. In the past, the people of the Xīběi Second Route liked to use this thing for lighting lamps. When they were fighting and raiding camps, they also liked to use fire oil instead of tung oil to set fires.

  Now, Koyar finally understood why the other side had laid down such a layer of flammable materials on the river. They were indeed using fire attacks, but they didn't plan to use these straws and branches for the fire attack. Instead, they hoped to use these things to block the flow of oil everywhere, so as to exert the greatest attacking power of the oil.

  Although the three ten-thousand-man squads now set foot on the river with less than half of their original number, the retreat was still in a state of utter chaos. But before they could run out a few steps, countless rockets had already descended from the sky, and all that could be heard was a deafening roar as the entire surface of the frozen river suddenly erupted into a raging inferno. Except for a small portion of quick-witted soldiers, tens of thousands of soldiers were trapped in the midst of the great fire.

  "Brothers, their support has been cut off, kill!" Dugu Yueming took the opportunity to shout. Seeing this scene, the morale of Soham's 20,000 troops suddenly fell, while the Hetao soldiers were boosted in spirit. Taking advantage of their superior military strength, they immediately surrounded the enemy's 20,000 soldiers.

  The river below has now become a sea of fire, with countless mournful cries constantly coming out from inside. These cries were exceptionally comforting to the ears of the soldiers in the river valley, but for Yelü Chihuan and Heji Mu'er, both were extremely heart-wrenching. The power of the fire oil they knew all too well - once it stuck to something, it was hard to shake off, and even on the surface of the water, it could still burn. The tens of thousands of soldiers above the river and the 20,000 cavalrymen on the southern shore seemed to be unable to escape their fate.

  Among the Mongolian soldiers, there were also clever people. Seeing the big fire in the sky, they had no choice but to escape. Without hesitation, they used their weapons to continuously strike the ice surface under their feet and then quickly removed their armor and dove into the water. However, they forgot that the current water temperature was abnormally cold. In just a short while, all the soldiers who were soaking in the water froze to death. Faced with this situation, Yelü Chihuan was heartbroken but had no choice but to retreat. Without sufficient troops and without perfect logistics, facing an army that was well-prepared and not weak, Yelü Chihuan knew that he had no chance of setting foot on the land of Hetao this winter.

  "Tell the Mandal soldiers that they have no way out and let them surrender immediately." Hao Tian said lightly. From a personal emotional point of view, he naturally hoped to annihilate all 20,000 cavalrymen, but from a rational point of view, he hoped to use these cavalrymen in exchange for the people of Hebei who were kidnapped along the three routes.

  Dugu Yueming faithfully carried out his orders, but these soldiers were indeed the most elite troops of Mandan. Even if they were surrounded and knew they would die, they still refused to surrender. In response, Haotian only sighed and waved his hand, letting Dugu do his best to satisfy their demands.

  As he watched this scene, a storm of changes flashed through Ruo Xiang's eyes, and no one knew what this gloomy old man was thinking.

  "My lord, the Blood Kill Generals are ready." Xuanji stepped forward to remind him, looking at the silent and unresponsive Haotian.

  "Well, since everything is ready, let's set off." Haotian nodded and said.

  Luo Xiang suddenly interjected: "Your Excellency, since the army is going on a distant expedition, why don't you let me go in your place to see them off?"

  Hao Tian was slightly surprised, but he didn't say anything. He just nodded: "That's good too, then I'll have to trouble you, sir."

  Just near the ferry, Lu Xiang saw the 800,000 cavalrymen who were ready to set off and Feng Jing, one of the marshals. Because they were going on a long-distance expedition, all the 800,000 cavalrymen had changed into light cavalry, and even Feng Jing only wore a suit of soft leather armor over his fur coat.

  "Mr. Luo, I don't know what brings you here today? Is it that the master has a new order?" Seeing Luo Xiang walking from afar, Feng Jing couldn't help but ask curiously. They had always been particularly respectful towards Luo Xiang.

  Lu Xiang shook his head: "The master is letting me come to see you off. What about Blood Kill and Xin Ke?"

  Feng Jing smiled and said, "Xue Sha is over there checking the supplies we brought with us, while Xin Ke is on the other side sharpening his battle axe. I think his axe is already sharp enough, I don't know what else he's sharpening."

  Luo Xiang nodded nonchalantly and took a few slow steps forward before saying, "Feng Jing, what do you think is the most important factor in determining the outcome of war and the prosperity of a nation?"

  With a reverent expression, he was stunned for a moment before saying: "I am ignorant, please enlighten me, sir."

  Luo Xiang smiled and looked at Feng Jing, after a long time he said: "It's human. Do you know why the three northeastern countries slaughtered the local people and took them back to their country as slaves after occupying the 16 states of Youyun?"

  Feng Jing nodded: "I understand. Although the three northeastern countries have a population of millions, they are still far inferior to our Divine State. Just in the 16 states of Youyun, there are no less than 300 million people. They temporarily occupied this place, but they didn't have enough population to occupy and rule here, so they simply slaughtered all the people here and then relocated immigrants from their own country. As for abducting strong men back to their country, it should be to serve as laborers."

  He nodded, but immediately shook his head: "You can think of this level, it's already very good, but some deep-seated reasons you haven't understood yet. Population is the most fundamental factor in creating wealth, and they chose to slaughter because they didn't have a firm grasp on permanent rule here. Other reasons, you'll understand later. As for their abduction of strong men back to their country, it's to fill the labor gap."

  "Sir, could you please be clearer?"

  Luo Xiang asked in return: "Feng Jing, you are also a veteran of the military, let me ask you, under normal circumstances, what is the proportion of soldiers to population in a country?"

  He bowed his head in thought for a moment before saying, "Generally speaking, among nomadic tribes, there is one soldier for every three to four people. So, the Northwestern Three Tribes, such as the Iron Eagle Tribe, although they only have a population of 14 million, they can field an army of 4 million. However, their military strength is clearly affected by the climate, and it's a case of all citizens being soldiers. As for us agricultural tribes, this ratio should be around 80 to 100 to one."

  Luo Xiang nodded slightly, somewhat comforted: "Not bad, under normal circumstances, the proportion of soldiers in an agricultural civilization is like this. Taking Qingfeng's 1.4 billion population as an example, excluding the three major families, the regular army would be around 110 million, including the navy. Moreover, the more developed an agricultural civilization and commercial civilization are, the lower their soldier ratio will be. However, during wartime, this ratio can reach as high as 20:1 or even 10:1. Fengjing, calculate for me, among the three northeastern countries, the most populous Mandan Dynasty has a population of only 160 million, what should their military strength be?"

  Feng Jing was somewhat perplexed, but still said honestly: "It should be around 200,000. However, the actual number of their troops should be 800,000."

  Luo Xiang continued, "Right, eight hundred thousand. When they invaded Hebei in three routes, their army was only six hundred thousand, why did the number of troops increase by two hundred thousand in such a short period of time? Have you thought about it?"

  Feng Jing shook his head: "The young man does not understand."

  "That's because they abducted tens of millions of people from Zhongzhou back to their country as slaves. With this free labor force, countless men in their country can be freed from labor and fully devoted to the military. With these tens of millions of slaves, they can increase countless wealth."

  Lu Xiang said gloomily: "Population, civilians, this is the foundation of a regime's survival. Why didn't the court dare to set foot in Hebei Sanlu? It's because Hebei Sanlu only has less than 50 million people left, and they are all old, weak, women and children. The court can't get replenishment of manpower and material resources, nor does it have a foundation for governing its native land."

  "Our lord was able to recover the Hexi Corridor with just 1,000 cavalrymen at first, and now has an army of over 200,000, because the six states in Hexi still have 60 million people. Because of the existence of these 60 million people, although our conditions are extremely harsh, we can still take root here smoothly."

  Although Feng Jing had a vague idea of what Lü Xiang was going to say, he still asked: "Sir, please enlighten me."

  Luo Xiang's eyes suddenly flashed with a cold light: "My point is, the reason why the Mandan dynasty was able to dominate the north and swallow up the Central Plains was that they had an extremely strong foundation of public opinion. Their people yearned for war, their court strongly advocated for war. So although they have a population of thousands, they have become the thorn in the side of my divine state."

  "The kid still doesn't understand."

  "My lord, one day you will surely cross the great river to recover the sixteen states of Youyun. At that time, we will inevitably face the enormous pressure from the imperial court south of the great river and the million-strong army of foreign tribes outside the Great Wall. As for the imperial court, as long as we respond properly, they will have no choice but to leave us alone. However, the foreign tribes beyond the border have always been the mortal enemies of my divine state."

  "Does Mr. mean that Feng Jing should weaken the enemy's national strength as much as possible?"