Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 234: Chapter 224 Searching for the Hu Clan Settlement

Jia City, Assistant General Mansion.

Wang Bin sat in the study, looking at a map of the territory beyond the borders.

“Dad, Master Yang has already led his troops across the border!”

At this moment, Wang Sheng entered the study and spoke.

Wang Bin lifted his head, gave him a glance, and said, “What about the others?”

“They have all set off, they should all be crossing the border today!” Wang Sheng replied.

The military order this time did not specify any tasks, but it required all city garrisons to cross the borders by the twelfth of April.

In simple terms, it means you must set out to war, and what you can do after that is up to you.

There are no mandatory requirements or forced tasks; you rely entirely on your own initiative.

If you fear death, you can just keep to local defense and hide for a few months; if you seek military achievements, you need to find the enemy on your own.

Those who only wish to survive may face accountability after the war, but can preserve their lives.

Those who desire to make a mark must be prepared to risk their lives.

“How do they feel about this?” Wang Bin continued to ask.

Wang Sheng thought for a moment, “It’s too early to say, they all can cross the border today, but what they can do after crossing is up to them.”

Wang Bin nodded slightly.

This was an anticipated issue.

Liang Chu and Lu Chongde did not place their winning chips on these garrison units; in their eyes, the garrisons were mere scarecrows.

As long these garrisons moved beyond the border, it would inevitably provoke the Hu Clans to act, and as long as they acted, they would leave clear traces, allowing other troops to follow these traces and launch a pursuit.

The ones responsible for pursuing the clans would be Wang Bin, Zhou Lan and other Assistant Generals.

As for the Camp directly under Liang Chu, their task was to push towards Fushan City.

Although Chongshan Town could not be considered powerful in terms of troops, it was much stronger than it was four years ago, especially in troop numbers.

Four years ago, Chongshan Town could barely scrape together a hundred thousand troops, but now it could mobilize a hundred and fifty thousand without affecting the defenses elsewhere.

Liang Chu looked at the map, pondering where he should make his move next.

According to the General Mansion’s order, his task was to pacify a three-hundred-li coastal strip, which is the area north of Jia City.

“Let’s dispatch our scouts first!” Wang Bin, after pondering for a moment, instructed.

Wang Sheng acknowledged and then exited the study.

…

North of An Yuan City, borderlands.

Yang Zhenshan had already led the garrison soldiers out more than ten li beyond the border.

On the first day, Yang Zhenshan didn’t rush forward after crossing ten li out of the border; instead, he ordered the soldiers to set up camp.

Once the simple tents were erected, Yang Zhenshan also looked at a map inside the tent.

Han Cheng, Song Dashan, and Yang Mingzhen stood beside him, also examining the map.

“Sir, what should we do next?”

“The higher-ups only asked us to cross the border but didn’t give us a specific task; we can’t just charge around blindly like headless flies, can we?” Han Cheng said, somewhat vexed.

He felt it was tricky.

The northern land is vast, stretching thousands of li in width and length; they definitely couldn’t just wander aimlessly over such a large area.

It wouldn’t matter if they couldn’t find the settlements of the East Sea Hu Clan, but if they were targeted by Northern barbarian cavalry and ambushed, it would be terrible!

However, Yang Zhenshan appeared quite composed as he asked, “What do you think is the primary condition for the East Sea Hu Clan when choosing a settlement?”

Han Cheng was startled, “That, I truly do not know.”

Although he had lived most of his life in Chongshan Town, he didn’t know much about the East Sea Hu Clan.

“Sir, I know!” Yang Mingzhen suddenly spoke out.

“What is it?” Yang Zhenshan looked up, giving him an encouraging glance.

Yang Mingzhen said, “Water sources. Both humans and livestock cannot live without water!”

“The Hu Zei are used to a nomadic lifestyle; they definitely won’t dig wells in fixed locations. So their settlements must be near rivers!”

Yang Zhenshan stroked his beard and said, “Correct, the primary condition for choosing their settlements is a water source!”

“But there are many rivers in the North, so it’s hard to find them!” Han Cheng added.

The North doesn’t have large rivers, but there are many small rivers and streams.

Even if they know they dwell near rivers, it’s difficult to locate them.

“Yes, the primary condition is a water source, and the secondary condition is fertile grasslands!” Yang Zhenshan continued.

Although the East Sea Hu Clan are not purely nomadic, most of their clans rely on livestock. Water and grasslands are their biggest needs.

Yang Zhenshan said this while using a charcoal pencil to mark the map.

He first crossed out the coastal areas, “The coastal areas are saline-alkaline; they lack water and grasslands, we can rule them out straight away.”

Next, he crossed out the areas near Black Cloud Mountain, “Black Cloud Mountain is not particularly treacherous, but it isn’t suitable for grazing livestock, there might be some Hu Zei who primarily hunt, but their numbers should not be many. Besides, searching a large mountain is too troublesome, it’s unnecessary for us to go there.”

“There will definitely be many clans gathered near Fushan City, but there are too many Hu people there, our small force is not enough to be a match!”

“We are too far from the west; we should not go there and compete with our peers!”

Yang Zhenshan ruled out areas one by one, and soon the map was covered in marks.

“Water source, Songyuan River!”

Finally, Yang Zhenshan selected a familiar region.

During the battle of Fushan City that year, Yang Zhenshan delivered food and fodder several times along the Songyuan River, thus he was quite familiar with it.

“However, this section of the Songyuan River is located between Chongshan Pass and Fushan City. With war approaching, the Hu Clan tribes that originally resided here would surely relocate upon receiving the news.”

“They would move away from this area, but wouldn’t completely detach from the Songyuan River!”

“So, I believe there should still be some Hu Clan tribes in this region!”

Yang Zhenshan pointed out the upstream of Songyuan River and its several tributaries.

Han Cheng scratched his head, feeling the vast gap between himself and Yang Zhenshan. He only thought that finding Hu Clan tribes in the Northern territory was like looking for a needle in the ocean, not realizing there were so many factors to consider.

“Master Yang’s considerations are truly thorough!”

Yang Zhenshan smiled and turned to Yang Mingzhen, “Mingzhen, tomorrow morning you and your men will search this area carefully!”

Before setting out, Yang Zhenshan had reassigned the duties of Han Cheng, Song Dashan, and Yang Mingzhen.

Han Cheng was in charge of the cotton-armored infantry, Song Dashan commanded the iron-armored infantry, while Yang Zhenshan personally led the cavalry, with Yang Mingzhen as his assistant in charge of arranging scouts.

“Yes, sir!” Yang Mingzhen replied with joy.

After several years in Chongshan Town, he finally has a chance to fight and accomplish deeds on the battlefield, which excited and thrilled him.

Even now, as Yang Zhenshan had only sent him to scout and search, he still felt immensely invigorated.

The night quickly elapsed.

The next day, at the break of dawn, Yang Mingzhen led dozens of cavalry out of the camp to the area Yang Zhenshan had mentioned yesterday. Meanwhile, Yang Zhenshan continued to lead the remaining soldiers northward.

At the same time, the Royal Capital of Daling also spread the impending news of war to the various tribes.

The Royal Capital of Daling was formerly Fushan City.

Ever since the Daling Dynasty was established, it had made Fushan City the Royal Capital.

However, the Da Rong Dynasty did not recognize the existence of the Daling Dynasty, naturally not recognizing any Royal Capital, and still referred to it as Fushan City.

The Chongshan Town’s campaign to suppress the enemy was something that could not be concealed, and it was also difficult to hide the large dispatch of garrisoned soldiers from the Daling Dynasty.

Although in the beginning, the Daling Dynasty could not guess the specific plans of Lu Chongde and Liang Chu, it did not prevent them from preparing and issuing warnings against the garrison coming out of the pass.

The message spread quickly among the tribes, and these Hu Clan tribes reacted promptly.

They started to conceal themselves and began searching for the garrison troops operating outside the pass.

For a time, the entire North became a vast hunting ground.

Both city garrison troops and Hu Clan tribes became the hunters and the hunted.

…

Yang Mingzhen’s luck wasn’t very good; after searching upstream on the Songyuan River for several days with his handful of cavalry, he couldn’t find any trace of the Hu Clan tribes, making him rather anxious.

It was a rare chance to distinguish himself, but how could he without even finding a shadow of the enemy?

On the bank of the Songyuan River, Yang Mingzhen looked at the endless flow of the river and sighed heavily in slight despondence.

But just then, three cavalrymen dashed from the northeast.

“Master, Master~”

Their voices arrived before they did.

“Did you find something?” Yang Mingzhen quickly asked, his spirit lifting.

“Yes, just ten li to the west, we’ve spotted traces of Northern barbarians there!”

Yang Mingzhen was completely energized, “Let’s go, let’s have a look!”

With that, he mounted his horse and sped along the river towards the west.

A distance of ten li was very short; with fast horses and whipping, it would take only a quarter of an hour to get there.

It wasn’t the flat plains here but rather a hilly terrain dotted with small hills.

Yang Mingzhen didn’t advance immediately. He dismounted at the base of a small hill and crouched as he crept up to the top.

“Master, look there!”

Yang Mingzhen looked over to see about a dozen Northern barbarians sitting together resting in a valley opposite, where they had made a fire.

By their looks, they seemed to be from a certain tribal cavalry, not ordinary members of the Hu Clan.

They definitely weren’t here to graze or hunt.

“There surely is a Hu Clan tribe nearby!”

After observing for a while, Yang Mingzhen confidently said.

He had noticed many signs of activity at the location of those Northern barbarians, indicating that it wasn’t a temporary resting spot they had found, but more likely their regular resting place.

Just as Yang Mingzhen wanted to observe further, a warning was suddenly uttered beside him, “Master, there are Northern barbarians on that side too, and they’re heading our way!”

Yang Mingzhen’s head snapped up to see, and couldn’t help but let out a curse.

“F*ck”

On the hill to their north, three Northern barbarian cavalry were charging towards them.

Clearly, as they were observing the Northern barbarians in the valley, those on the hill had also spotted them.

These Northern barbarians were clever, resting while not forgetting to set up guards in the surroundings.

“Run!”

Without hesitation, Yang Mingzhen legged it down the slope.

There were only five people beside him, while the opposite side had over ten.

Even if they could win, the losses would likely be severe.

And their mission wasn’t to fight the opposition but to trace them.

Since they had already found the enemy’s traces, there was no need to fight to the death anymore.

Yang Mingzhen decisively ran very fast; before the Northern barbarians could catch up, they had already mounted their horses and ran off in a puff of smoke.

However, this unexpected encounter was far from over.