Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 248: Chapter 239 Fire Bull Formation

On the day the two armies joined forces, Yang Zhenshan did not talk much with Wang Bin, not until the following day when Yang Zhenshan came to Wang Bin’s main tent again did he start discussing the situation of the Kolcha Clan.

Inside the main tent, all the Military Officers from the Rescue Camp were present.

Yang Zhenshan stood in front of a map, ready to speak about the Kolcha Clan’s situation.

This map was hastily drafted; it was crude and rough, barely up to standard, but it was just sufficient to make do.

“At present, we are approximately two hundred thirty li away from the Kolcha Clan’s banner land. As far as our reconnaissance goes…”

Yang Zhenshan roughly described the situation of the Kolcha Clan.

Even though Wang Bin had some understanding of the Kolcha Clan, his knowledge was from the intelligence provided by the General Mansion, which contained a lot of information about the entire East Sea Hu Clan.

Yet the information specifically targeting the Kolcha Clan was much fuzzier.

By comparison, Yang Zhenshan and his people had also gathered a lot of information during this period; even though it was not very specific, it was still more detailed than what Wang Bin knew.

After Yang Zhenshan had finished speaking, Wang Bin asked in a deep voice, “Just how many troops does the Kolcha Clan have?”

This question was critical.

Yang Zhenshan pondered for a moment and replied, “It’s uncertain. We interrogated many Northern barbarians, and their figures for the exact force of the Kolcha Clan all hovered around a rough estimate.”

“Anywhere from ten thousand to twenty thousand!”

Indeed, this was a very rough estimate.

The reason for this was not difficult to understand.

The East Sea Hu Clan somewhat embraced the concept of total mobilization, where at the very least over eighty percent of able-bodied men could be considered Cavalry.

From childhood, they grew up on horseback, and as adults, once they mounted a horse, they could be called a cavalryman.

However, such cavalrymen did not truly count as proper cavalry, at least not in Yang Zhenshan’s eyes.

A military force has its standards and requirements.

There was a significant difference between a trained army and untrained Northern barbarians.

At the very least, in terms of discipline and coordination, the Northern barbarian cavalry were far inferior to the garrison camps, which was one of the critical factors enabling the latter to consecutively defeat more than eight Northern barbarian Tribe settlements.

If the Kolcha Clan were to rally all of their able-bodied men, that would be at least twenty thousand cavalrymen.

But the number that could genuinely be considered an army, Yang Zhenshan estimated, probably peaked at about ten thousand.

Upon hearing this, the gathered Military Officers in the tent could not help but whisper among themselves.

Ten thousand Northern barbarian cavalry might still be manageable for them, but twenty thousand?

At present, Wang Bin had under his command two Rescue Camps, totaling a force of six thousand, with half of them being infantry.

Besides the Rescue Camps, there was Yang Zhenshan’s garrison and Zhang Yuanwu’s garrison.

Zhang Yuanwu’s garrison only numbered just over five hundred and had barely sufficient combat strength, almost negligible.

In other words, their total military strength was approximately seven thousand five hundred, with four thousand cavalry and three thousand five hundred infantry.

The enemy was strong while we were weak; that was a fact.

Wang Bin thought for a while before asking, “Does Master Yang have a good strategy?”

He had considered this issue long before, but he had not given up hope because he believed that Yang Zhenshan should have a solution.

Stroking his beard, Yang Zhenshan said with a smile, “Indeed, I have a strategy that might be employed!”

Wang Bin’s eyes lit up, “Please enlighten me, Master Yang!”

“The Fire Bull Formation!” Yang Zhenshan revealed the plan he had come up with during this period.

The Fire Bull Formation, a tactic invented by Qi General Tian Dan during the Warring States period.

During the reign of Yan Zhao King, Yan General Yue Yi conquered Qi, and Tian Dan held out in the city of Jimo. In 279 BC, when King Yan Hui ascended to the throne, Tian Dan pretended to surrender to the Yan Army to lull them into complacency. Then, at night, he mounted blades on the horns of over a thousand oxen, tied reeds soaked in oil to their tails, set them alight with fire, and charged into the Yan Army. Additionally, he followed up with an attack by five thousand valiant soldiers, severely defeating the Yan Army and killing its riders. Tian Dan took advantage of his victory to capture over seventy cities.

Now, Yang Zhenshan had quite a few oxen at his disposal. Not only oxen, but he also possessed a large quantity of fat oil.

Most crucially, the Kolcha Clan did not have a fortified city to defend; they lacked not only a stronghold but also had no wooden palisades surrounding their expansive lands, which were heavily populated.

Moreover, the Kolcha Clan had recently summoned all able-bodied men from other settlements, so the territory under their banner was somewhat chaotic at present.

Under such conditions, if a Fire Bull Formation were launched during the night, one could easily imagine the outcome.

Yang Zhenshan explained in detail how the Fire Bull Formation worked, and as Wang Bin and the rest listened, their eyes widened progressively.

“Can it really be done like this?”

“Why not?” Yang Zhenshan retorted.

Wang Bin pondered a bit, the more he thought about it, the more useful this Fire Bull Formation seemed to him.

Thousands of rampaging bulls causing havoc—if they encountered his Rescue Camp, they would probably break through immediately.

Could the Northern barbarians withstand a Fire Bull Formation?

Unlikely!

Even if they did manage to hold it off, there would still be their own cavalry and infantry to follow up!

However, Wang Bin realized another issue, “To use this Fire Bull Formation, we must deceive the enemy!”

Thousands of oxen were no small number; if they were to herd the oxen openly towards the enemy, the opponent would probably be on guard.

And once the enemy was on guard, the efficacy of the Fire Bull Formation would be greatly diminished.

Yang Zhenshan nodded in agreement and said, “Correct, hence we need to bluff and deceive, concealing the true tactics.”

He pointed to the map and continued, “The cavalry, four thousand of them, will feign to be eight thousand and move to within thirty li to the west of the Kolcha Clan’s banner land. There, they will erect banners extensively and display alarm tents ubiquitously to create a façade, as though preparing for a grand battle against them.”

“The infantry, starting from the south bank of Songyuan River, will detour eastwards for two hundred li before crossing the river and heading southeast!”

He traced on the map to an area of hills to the southeast of the Kolcha Clan, dotted with several small hills and located less than fifty li from the Kolcha Clan’s banner land.

Though the hilltop was small, it was sufficient to conceal the movement of the cattle and the large army.

As long as the Kolcha Clan doesn’t intentionally send out scouts to investigate, they shouldn’t discover us in a short while.

“To prevent the Kolcha Clan from discovering us, the Cavalry must set out first, attracting their attention with feints and confrontations against the Kolcha Clan.”

“The infantry herding the cattle must move quickly, from here to there, and then to there, covering roughly over four hundred li. Traveling by cattle, it must not take more than three days.”

“The longer it takes, the greater the risk of exposure!”

Yang Zhenshan patiently explained his plan to everyone.

After listening, everyone began to discuss it.

Wang Bin thought for a moment before saying, “I think it’s a risk worth taking!”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Yang Zhenshan’s plan was thorough; although somewhat risky, it was highly feasible.

Most importantly, they could use it to defeat the Kolcha Clan with minimal losses.

Otherwise, they had no confidence in defeating the Kolcha Clan.

Seeing that everyone agreed with Yang Zhenshan’s plan, Wang Bin no longer hesitated and immediately started making arrangements.

Orders were passed down, and the next day, the army set off once again.

Wang Bin and Yang Zhenshan led the Cavalry directly towards the Kolcha Clan’s territory, while General Zhao Chengzhi and Garrison Commander Zhang Yuanwu led 3,500 infantrymen towards the previous An Yuan City garrison camp.

Inside the camp, Yang Zhenshan had already asked Wang Sheng to leave behind two thousand cattle, which they could directly lead away upon arrival.

…

“Report, a large enemy force has been spotted approaching from the southeast!”

Inside the Kolcha Clan’s territory, Duobato stood up abruptly upon receiving the report from the Scout, his expression tensing as he asked, “How many of them? How far are they from us?”

“The enemy force numbers over five thousand, all Cavalry, and they are currently about eighty li away from us!”

Although Yang Zhenshan had already led the garrison far away from the Kolcha Clan, Duobato did not relax. Instead, he continued to gather his troops and sent out a large number of Scouts to keep watch over a hundred li area south of the territory.

“Over five thousand!” Duobato’s expression turned extremely grim.

With just over a thousand Cavalry, Yang Zhenshan had successively breached eight Northern barbarian Tribe settlements, and now over five thousand Cavalry had arrived, putting heavy pressure on Duobato.

“Scout again!”

After sending the Scout away, Duobato paced anxiously back and forth inside the felt tent.

He used to look down on the soldiers from Chongshan Town, considering them nothing but lambs to the slaughter.

But now, he dared not underestimate Chongshan Town in the slightest.

Especially Yang Zhenshan and the garrison, even now with nearly twenty thousand Cavalry at his disposal, he still dared not let his guard down.

…

Meanwhile, Yang Zhenshan and Wang Bin were leading the Cavalry towards the Kolcha Clan at a steady pace.

They had already spotted the Kolcha Clan’s Scouts but did not stop them; instead, they restricted their own Scouts’ patrol range, intentionally allowing the enemy Scouts to observe them more closely.

They used four thousand Cavalry to create the appearance of eight thousand, deliberately confusing Duobato.

In the afternoon, they reached a position thirty li west of the Kolcha Clan’s territory and began to set up camp, cook food, and prepare as if they were gearing up for a stand-off and a major battle with the Kolcha Clan.

While the soldiers were establishing the camp, Wang Bin and Yang Zhenshan rode to a slightly higher earth mound, looking towards the distant Kolcha Clan’s territory.

The series of felt tents stretched over a range of seven or eight li, a spectacular sight from afar.

“Do you think they’ll wait for us to make the first move by taking a position of ease?” Wang Bin asked.

Yang Zhenshan raised his head to look at the somewhat gloomy sky.

There were quite a few clouds, but there wouldn’t be any rain for the next ten days, which was good news for them.

“No, I’ve met Duobato before. He’s a very cautious man. He wouldn’t rashly start a battle without figuring out our troop strength first!” Yang Zhenshan confidently stated.

That night, he had clashed with Duobato, and both had retreated without any conclusive victory due to uncertainty.

From this, it’s evident that Duobato was not someone who acted rashly.

“Of course, we can’t be too careless. We definitely need to make some preparations tonight!” Yang Zhenshan was confident but not excessively so.

Better safe than sorry.

If Duobato suddenly went mad and decided on a night raid impulsively, they would be doomed before the battle had even begun.

Wang Bin nodded slightly, “I hope our plan goes smoothly!”

He still had some worries in his heart and would likely remain anxious until the plan succeeded.

“Don’t worry, General! We will surely win this battle!”

Although Yang Zhenshan was also somewhat worried, he did not show it.

Success lies in the effort of those who try.

Since they had decided to act, they must persist to the end.

At this moment, he could not show any sign of weakness, firmly believing in the success of the plan.

Otherwise, if he showed doubts, it would likely cause even more worry among the others, which was not conducive for maintaining morale and spirit.

Wang Bin nodded, not saying anything more.

He only showed his concerns in front of Yang Zhenshan; in front of others, as the leading General, he definitely couldn’t show any signs of dismay, and this he understood well.

The two looked over the Kolcha Clan’s territory for a while longer before riding back to the army camp.