Chapter 1 No Choice

Zheng Fan knew that A Ming was right; he had no room for choice.

Tian Wujing was indeed good to him and appreciated him, but he was still the Marquis of Jingnan of Great Yan, who could personally sacrifice his family for the sake of the country.

If he knew that Zheng Fan had taken Xue Hai Pass and then simply left, he would be the first to lose his head after the war.

You couldn't even find an excuse to explain why you didn't defend Xue Hai Pass.

Of the entire Three Jins region, strictly speaking, there were only two places that could lead in and out of the snow plains.

One was near his own Shengle, but even traveling light, it would take at least twenty days to get there. If a large army were to move in and out with supplies, it would take at least a month.

The other was Xue Hai Pass. Once you passed through Xue Hai Pass, it was a straight shot from Jin to the snow plains.

Currently, the battle was focused on the Wangjiang line, with the Yan and Cheng armies facing off against the wildlings and Chu troops. Unless the wildlings could break through Wangjiang and simultaneously reach Shengle, and then spend a long time detouring back to the snow plains...

In reality, this was almost impossible. First, the journey was incredibly long. Second, it would require the wildlings to not only break through the Yan-Cheng allied forces' defenses west of Wangjiang, but also to capture Yingdu, and finally to break through the defenses of Xinsu City and Shengle City. In total, they would have to break through three lines of defense.

If the wildlings were truly capable of breaking through these three lines of defense, they wouldn't bother returning to the snow plains. They could simply "reclaim" the Three Jins region.

Therefore, as long as he held Xue Hai Pass, the invading wildling army would be trapped here, in a massive "turtle in a jar" scenario.

Even a military novice would understand the benefits of defending this place. Furthermore, what excuse could he possibly offer to the Marquis of Jingnan for not defending it? Was the Marquis of Jingnan someone who could be easily fooled?

You couldn't even claim stupidity,

Because General Zheng was the Marquis of Jingnan's "prized student!"

Therefore,

There was truly no choice.

"Tell me, why didn't you remind me earlier?" Zheng Fan asked A Ming.

A Ming took a sip of blood and said,

"My lord, that zombie might have been planning this all along."

A Ming didn't say another thing, because he felt that Liang Cheng was essentially forcing the issue.

Before taking Xue Hai Pass, his lord might have been concerned about his own resources and reluctant to fight hard. But once Xue Hai Pass was taken, you had no choice but to fight. The deed was done, so accept it.

Saying this would make it seem like he was trying to curry favor too obviously.

Zheng Fan suddenly remembered what he had said to Liang Cheng that night on the city tower of Fengxin City: "Do it boldly. It doesn't matter if you use up all the resources."

As a result, Liang Cheng,

Really hadn't held back!

"I'm feeling a bit dizzy," Zheng Fan said, touching his forehead.

"Anemic?"

A Ming held the wine skin out to Zheng Fan.

Zheng Fan rolled his eyes at A Ming,

And slammed his hands hard on the city wall,

Saying,

"Let's play, then. Forget about living a peaceful life. Let's have some fun, damn it!"

…

Liang Cheng had been very busy these past few days. On one hand, there were indeed many things he needed to do with the newly captured Xue Hai Pass. On the other hand, he probably didn't dare to face his lord at this time.

His lord had originally given him these hard-earned resources to manage, and even pretending to be an expert, he had only asked for a return slightly higher than the fixed interest rate to outpace inflation. But you turned around and leveraged it for him.

However, to be fair, there really were many things that needed to be done.

First, the large holes in the southern wall of Xue Hai Pass needed to be repaired. There wasn't enough time to rebuild the wall, so they could only tear down houses in the city to find materials to fill them in.

Fortunately, it was winter, and the area was near the snow plains. After repairing the wall, they could spray water on it at night to freeze it. It might not be very sturdy, but it should be barely enough to prevent the wildlings from charging in on horseback like they did when they took the city.

Inside Xue Hai Pass, there were two tribes transporting slaves to the snow plains, totaling about eight thousand people. Because the selection of slaves was strict, they were mostly young and strong men and women, with a roughly one-to-one ratio.

The men could return to the snow plains to be slaves and graze for them, while the women were responsible for bearing children and increasing the population.

These people, regardless of gender, were all required to join the construction team. The men were also issued simple weapons and some armor, and would naturally be used as auxiliary soldiers during the defense of the city.

Everyone is equal before the blade,

Even if you've never held a sword, even if you're facing a wildling warrior, if you stab him when he climbs the wall, he will die. Or you can simply push away his ladder, and he will be crippled.

At the very least, having more heads on the city wall can help the regular army take some arrows, right?

In addition, it wasn't surprising that the wildlings had damaged the walls of Xue Hai Pass. The transportation speed was indeed severely restricted. But because of this, there was still a lot of grain stored inside Xue Hai Pass that hadn't had time to be transported to the snow plains.

The thing that defenders feared the most was a shortage of food. At least for now, they didn't have to worry about the grain problem.

Liang Cheng also specifically arranged for a group of people to cut down trees in the forest south of Xue Hai Pass. They would cut down a section and transport it back, and then have people set fire to the forest on the outer perimeter.

The so-called scorched-earth policy actually included this aspect. It might be fine in normal times, but the areas around truly fortified cities that frequently experienced warfare were always barren. Why would you leave such dense forests for the attacking side to use?

Previously, the Si Tu family's influence had actually extended beyond Xue Hai Pass, and they had even built cities on the snow plains. Therefore, no one had paid much attention to the defense of the south, and it had to be cleared as much as possible now.

One regrettable thing was that Liang Cheng had personally inspected the armory inside Xue Hai Pass. It should have been storing a large amount of military equipment, but it was estimated that the wildlings had taken all of it after breaking through the pass. There was absolutely nothing left.

Xue San, on the other hand, led some people to make some defensive equipment, such as simple turrets, catapults, wooden shields, fences, and so on.

There wasn't enough time to dig fortifications outside the city. Even if there were better designs, there wasn't time to implement them. But Liang Cheng still had people build an earthen wall in front of the south gate.

In short, the city lacked everything except grain. It would be difficult to replenish everything in a short time. It would take at least a month to sort everything out, but they could only speed up the work now and replenish as much as possible.

In the past, using cavalry to defend a city was very wasteful, but when the enemy was also a cavalry-based force like the wildlings, defending the city was actually the most suitable thing to do.

The Yan were notoriously bad at sieges. The Shengle Army might be slightly better than ordinary Yan soldiers, but what about the wildlings? There weren't even a handful of proper cities on the snow plains. How could you expect them to understand siege warfare?

Therefore, considering all these factors, relying on the city walls to defend was still the most cost-effective and sustainable approach.

Everyone inside and outside Xue Hai Pass was working tirelessly, except for General Zheng, who could enjoy some leisure.

However, leisure also came with a prerequisite. General Zheng had to spend some time each day visiting fixed points to boost morale, truly fulfilling his role as a mascot.

On the third day, Jin Shuke and the First Prince returned with their vanguard force. The other two vanguard forces of one hundred cavalry each that were responsible for assisting them did not return, and it was estimated that they wouldn't be coming back.

Without their sacrifice, without their deception, it would have been almost impossible for the main force to jump out and take Xue Hai Pass by surprise.

Fortunately, the First Prince was indeed lucky.

Finally,

On the fifth day,

Wildling scouts appeared outside Xue Hai Pass.

After receiving the news, the soldiers and civilians who had been working continuously for five days were finally able to rest. Those who had been cutting down trees and burning the forest outside also returned to the city.

And Li Mu'er, the Wanhu (ten thousand households) who was the first to arrive at Xue Hai Pass,

His entire face was twisted in anger after seeing the Great Yan black dragon flag and the "Zheng" flag hanging on the Xue Hai Pass city tower.

His unit was originally responsible for guarding Xue Hai Pass, but he had led his main force out to help encircle the Yan soldiers at Gerimu's summons. After the encirclement failed and he couldn't find the Yan soldiers, he instinctively realized that something was wrong. Only then did he rush back with his troops, only to find that the banner on the city tower had changed hands!

Li Mu'er gritted his teeth and barely managed to suppress the urge to order an immediate attack on the city. He was very emotional now, because he knew what it meant for Xue Hai Pass to fall into the hands of the Yan. Whether from the perspective of actual military intelligence or from the perspective of the morale of the front-line army, his loss of Xue Hai Pass was an unforgivable mistake.

But he hadn't completely lost his mind. The holes that had been broken open in the southern wall of Xue Hai Pass had now been blocked. His warriors had just returned with him day and night, and they were already extremely exhausted. He couldn't possibly order them to attack the city now, especially since they didn't even have ladders!

In the end, Li Mu'er issued the order to set up camp. On one hand, he needed to let his warriors rest and recover. On the other hand, the other several Wanzhang (ten thousand commanders) would arrive in the next day or two.

Now that Xue Hai Pass had been lost, everyone had to work together to take it back. He naturally had some responsibility, but Gerimu had summoned him to mobilize his troops, so didn't Gerimu have any responsibility?

…

Night fell,

The south gate of Xue Hai Pass was quietly opened, and a cavalry force of eight hundred men emerged from the city. At this time, the purpose of the wall at the city gate became apparent. The outer perimeter definitely had some wildling scouts watching the movements here, but because it was night, and there was no moon tonight, coupled with the cover of this wall, the small cavalry force was able to leave the city "silently."

This small cavalry force was the condensed essence of the Yan army in Xue Hai Pass.

General Zheng Fan was in it, and Liang Cheng, the main commander, was also in it. Xue San, A Ming, and Fan Li were all in it.

If this small cavalry force was surrounded and annihilated by the wildlings, then Xue Hai Pass, if not directly breached, would definitely descend into chaos.

Because it wouldn't just be leaderless; it would be clawless.

Under the cover of night, the cavalry first followed the city wall. After leaving a certain distance, they spurred their horses and instantly left the city wall.

When they arrived on the outer perimeter of Li Mu'er's camp, everyone stopped again.

Zheng Fan once again witnessed Liang Cheng's understanding of warfare. In Zheng Fan's opinion, defending the city meant simply defending honestly. But Liang Cheng had actually predicted the campsite of this first wave of wildling soldiers, and he had Xue San bury some oil and combustibles nearby in advance.

These details had been planned by Liang Cheng when he sent people to burn and cut down the forest, leaving a "parking space" specifically for the wildling vanguard.

"Everyone, hold your torches tight and wrap yourselves up. Come on, quickly."

The knights began to busy themselves.

Xue San even personally smeared oil on Fan Li's big iron helmet, asking as he smeared,

"A Li, did you wear the golden silk armor that Si Niang (Fourth Sister) wove for us?"

"I'm wearing it."

"Good. That thing can be used as fire protection clothing, so it shouldn't be a big problem. If you get burned, I still have ointment there."

"Okay."

Then,

Xue San nodded to Zheng Fan and said,

"My lord, we are ready."

Zheng Fan immediately looked at Liang Cheng habitually. He was good at giving pre-war speeches and boosting morale, but General Zheng didn't dare to interfere with the specific pre-war deployments.

Liang Cheng immediately said to the surrounding knights,

"According to the Lord's instructions, after you charge in, first light their tents. Their camp has no fences around it because there isn't enough wood, so it's easy to charge in. But remember, after the first round of charging in, just light the fires. Throw away the torches in your hands and immediately retreat. Reassemble in the due north direction, re-form the team, and then we will charge them a second time. During the second charge, you must break through their camp!

Remember, you are all elites that I personally trained, while they are…."

"Cough cough…"

A Ming coughed from the side.

Liang Cheng immediately said,

"You are elites personally trained by General Zheng, while they are wildlings. Don't think they look the same, but when the fire starts, they will be in a mess.

Don't overestimate them too much, and don't underestimate yourselves too much. In General Zheng's eyes, you are no worse than the elite troops of the Zhenbei Army and the Jingnan Army!

We will win this battle!"

Then, Liang Cheng looked at Zheng Fan and said,

"My lord, we can start lighting the fires."

Zheng Fan nodded,

Took out a small iron box from inside his chest armor,

Took out a cigarette from it, bit it,

Then took out a fire starter,

First lit the cigarette in his mouth,

Then passed the fire starter down to let them light the torches.

Fan Li directly lit his big iron helmet,

Instantly becoming a burning tower of fire,

Zheng Fan took a puff of cigarette,

And slowly exhaled it from his nostrils,

Fingers clamped the cigarette,

Calmly flicked off the ash,

Then leaned his body slightly forward,

Then,

Pointed to the wildling camp ahead with his cigarette-holding fingers,

And said very calmly,

"Kill."

Instantly,

Torches were raised high,

Hooves thundered!