Chapter 277: Beacon Fire Signal

The ironclad warship continued northward, continuing its rampage along Jin Kingdom’s coastline, vowing to destroy Jin Kingdom’s salt production.

Meanwhile, in Anyang, Li Xian originally planned to drop bombs on the Jin royal palace after the first jet aircraft trial succeeded; but Yun Feihong said that a true supersonic aircraft could be produced in at most ten days, so Li Xian temporarily postponed the plan. Hmph, once the supersonic aircraft is ready, it’ll be even more exhilarating.

…………

The Commander-in-Chief of Jin’s central army, Li Lisong, was accelerating nonstop, rushing toward the imperial capital, not daring to waste even a single moment.

…………

To the south of Anyang, in Nanyang Prefecture, a grand performance was unfolding.

Kong Donglai and Nangong Zhi led over a hundred thousand routed troops from Nanyang Prefecture, along with some “Jin soldiers,” fleeing in disarray; overhead, planes herded them forward, occasionally dropping bombs; then violent explosions would erupt on the ground.

Behind them, generals of all ranks like Yan Zhengqing, Wang Jian, and Yuan Jinjiang were “crazily” roaring, chasing, and slaughtering them.

But if you zoomed in, you’d see that the “deserters” weren’t nervous at all. Although they looked a bit ragged, they lacked nothing in terms of weapons; some soldiers from Nanyang Prefecture were even already equipped with firearms.

As for the bombs dropped by the planes, they were all empty shells temporarily condensed with magic; the explosions came from small explosive packs carried by the soldiers themselves. Whenever a pack was ignited, there would be no one within fifty meters; above the explosive packs, they’d also place some loose soil, so the flying dirt wouldn’t injure anyone.

As for the “pursuing troops” behind them, it was even more laughable. All the “killed” soldiers would “rise from the dead.” Once the main force passed, these “dead” soldiers would get up, get reorganized by officers, and continue moving forward; afterward, they would quietly blend back into the “pursuers.”

This grand performance began at Xiandai River and moved southward, pursuing “Jin’s General Zhenwei, Chen Zhongping.” In just half a day, both sides had traversed 300 li (thanks to a massive supply of low-level speed-enhancing talismans from Anyang), getting close to the place where Chen Zhongping was hiding.

So, what was Chen Zhongping doing?

General Chen Zhongping was complaining. Ever since he spotted planes half a day ago, he had ordered his 1 million troops—actually only 550,000—to dig in and hide. In Chen Zhongping’s view, bombs were limited—just like rations. With the war dragging on this long, how many bombs could Anyang still have left? So, I’ll just let you bomb to your heart’s content.

But this thinking was a bit one-sided; this was the difference between Chen Zhongping and Li Lisong. Back then, Li Lisong had advanced under bombardment, only dispersing his troops to reduce casualties. When he got close to Anyang’s defense line, he broke through in one go.

Commander Li Lisong not only thought this way—he acted on it too, and nearly succeeded; only due to two pig-headed teammates did Li Lisong ultimately fail.

Now, Chen Zhongping’s “dig three feet” tactic did offer some defense. But when all preparations were complete, General Chen grew frustrated—though planes occasionally flew overhead scouting, no large squadrons had come to bomb them.

Something feels off!

Chen Zhongping did have some military talent. Seeing no aerial bombardment didn’t bring him relief—rather, it raised suspicion: could something be wrong somewhere?

As someone who acted independently, Chen Zhongping had to rely on himself. Though he had advisors and strategists under him, the final decisions still rested with him. Chen Zhongping was capable—one of Jin Country’s four generals—but ultimately, he had a general’s talent, not the supreme command ability of someone like Li Lisong. There was still a gap.

“Send out scouts. Expand the reconnaissance range to 200 li. Guard against a large-scale encirclement.”

Two hundred li wasn’t very far; if there really were a million-strong army coming to encircle them, a 200-li spread was quite normal.

After an hour and a half, a scout returned: “General, we’ve discovered a situation up ahead. The allied forces of Nanyang County and our Jin Kingdom appear to be in retreat. Behind them, soldiers from Dongyuan County and Anyang County are pursuing and slaughtering them frantically; planes are bombing Nanyang County and our retreating Jin troops. The bombing is very intense.

Dongyuan County appears to have suddenly rebelled, leading to the defeat.”

The scout was thorough and detailed in his report of what he had seen.

“Oh, so the planes are bombing the fleeing troops.” Chen Zhongping didn’t panic and instead asked carefully, “Did you see Commander Li Lisong?”

“I didn’t see the Commander himself, but I did spot his command banner and guard unit. The banner seemed a bit tattered.”

“Where was the banner located?”

“In the rear, seemingly covering the retreat. It was alongside the banner of Nanyang Counties’s Inspector Kong Donglai.”

Chen Zhongping asked many more questions, all of which the scout answered. Some of the answers did seem a bit off, but thinking it might be due to the chaos of defeat, Chen didn’t dwell on it. After some brief consideration, he prepared to lead his troops north to receive the Commander.

But just then, another soldier pointed south and shouted, “General, beacon fire, beacon fire!”

“Beacon fire?!” Chen Zhongping’s expression changed instantly. “Beacon fire” was never a good term—it meant a dire battle ahead, often involving tens of thousands of casualties, rivers of blood, and floating corpses.

What’s more, being in a foreign land, whose beacon fire was this? Jin Kingdom’s? Or Nanyang County’s?

Chen Zhongping looked up and saw the thick, distinctive smoke of the beacon fire. He immediately determined it was Jin Kingdom’s beacon fire! Compared to that of Nanyang County—or rather, Great Xia—Jin Kingdom’s beacon fire had a dark red hue.

But then, Chen Zhongping grew suspicious: Great Xia was currently in civil war—it had no strength to attack Jin. In this area, only Dongyuan County and Nanyang County were nearby; further west lay Guangling County. If the invasion came from Guangling, the beacon fire wouldn’t have spread here.

Since the Great Xia Kingdom doesn’t have the ability to attack the Jin Kingdom, why would they light the beacon fires? Beacon fires are not something that can be lit casually.

Wait, there’s another possibility—someone is specifically trying to send me a message! Chen Zhongping suddenly realized.

So who has the authority to light the beacon fires to send a message? The answer immediately appeared in Chen Zhongping’s mind—Lieutenant General Li Lisong of the central army!

In an instant, a scene pieced together in Chen Zhongping’s mind: General Li Lisong led 300,000 troops north, only to encounter an ambush. Unfamiliar with the terrain and being deep in enemy lines, his forces were eventually surrounded by the Great Xia Kingdom’s million-strong army. In the end, the general fought desperately, managing to lead a small group of bodyguards to escape south.

After reaching the border of the Jin Kingdom, Li Lisong learned that he had led his troops north; due to the great distance, and needing to report to the capital, he could only notify himself by lighting the beacon fires. Beacon fires transmit messages quickly, taking just a few hours to cover hundreds of miles.

Chen Zhongping’s guess was full of holes and errors, but in the end, it was correct—not a coincidence, but the wisdom and intuition of a commander. Since Li Lisong chose to use beacon fires to send a message, he naturally had to consider that Chen Zhongping could “interpret” it.

Chen Zhongping’s eyes suddenly sharpened, “So, the conclusion is clear—the soldiers who are supposedly retreating are fake. General Li Lisong’s banner is the biggest loophole.

In that case, Nanyang, Dongyuan, and Anyang counties must have united and swallowed the 300,000 troops of the Jin Kingdom in one go! Hiss…

Could it be… could it be that this entire situation is a trap, and these three counties took the opportunity to weaken the Jin Kingdom?”

General Chen’s thoughts were wildly divergent, imagining things so far-reaching. But this didn’t stop him from turning the situation to his advantage—so you’re pretending to retreat, huh? Then I’ll generously “accept” you.

However, when General Chen saw the beacon fire, Kong Donglai, Nangong Zhi, Yuan Jinjiang, Yan Zhengqing, Wang Jian, and the others also saw it.

“Stop!” Yan Zhengqing’s eyes were deep like water. “The beacon fire transmission method must be from Li Lisong, the central army commander of the Jin Kingdom, who has already escaped.”

Everyone knew Li Lisong had fled, so they immediately considered this possibility.

Kong Donglai was no fool, and he immediately reacted, “Plan failed. I didn’t expect Li Lisong to have such a method. Lighting the beacon fire to send a message. Good tactic!”

“Good tactic!” Nangong Zhi and Yuan Jinjiang also exclaimed in praise. It was indeed a good tactic.

“What should we do now?” Kong Donglai looked toward Yan Zhengqing. Now the three counties were united, but everyone knew that Anyang held the dominant position. Furthermore, Yan Zhengqing had earned respect through countless victories and sacrifices—respect for his leadership.

Seeing everyone looking at him, Yan Zhengqing thought for a moment before making a decision, “We will confront them with an upright army, in an open battle!

If we confront them openly, the Jin Kingdom’s army will be forced to form battle lines; forming battle lines will make them vulnerable to aerial bombing, machine gun fire, and artillery strikes.”

Everyone exchanged glances and nodded, “Good!”

Nangong Zhi added, “According to our scouts, the Jin Kingdom is likely to have 500,000 to 600,000 troops this time. It seems they really want to wipe out our Great Xia Kingdom in one go. Their ambition is enormous.

We have 500,000 troops, along with airplanes, artillery, guns, and a large number of talismans from Anyang’s support. We can definitely fight a hard battle.

As the ancient military saying goes, ‘Engage with the regular, win with the irregular.’ We will engage them openly with an upright army and use airplanes, military supplies, and other new strategies as our irregulars.

However, I have one addition to make. Didn’t the enemy previously dig deep and hide underground? Let the airplanes bomb them first, so they can’t regroup, and we will take advantage of that to speed up our march and encircle them.”

Once the airplanes leave, we will strike, and the enemy will be unable to form a battle line and will be driven away by our scattered forces.”

After several wars, the military commanders of the Great Xia Kingdom were maturing rapidly. A general is only a general if they fight battles; otherwise, they are no more than armchair theorists. But after several major wars and a great deal of suffering, some outstanding generals and commanders began to emerge. Nangong Zhi was such a brilliant leader!

Yan Zhengqing glanced at Nangong Zhi and nodded slightly, “This is a good idea, but it’s still not enough. We’ll send elite soldiers, mostly those above the Foundation Establishment stage, armed with machine guns and many talismans, to form assault teams and cooperate with the airplanes. This will greatly disrupt the enemy.”

Shen Jianfei and Yang Yishan immediately stepped forward, speaking in unison, “General, we’ll go!”

Seeing that Anyang had such fierce generals, the people of Nanyang and Dongyuan counties… kept silent—once again becoming the useless teammates at a critical moment.

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