Chapter 70

Although some in the army remained unconvinced, Shao Jingyu's military order had been issued, and no one could question his decision. The veteran generals might have felt displeased, but recalling their performances in the previous two battles, they had no grounds to oppose Shao Jingyu. Instead, they became even more determined than before.
Shao Jingyu was already above them. If they let this unknown youngster surpass them as well, they would lose all face.
With the strategy now fully laid out, Shao Jingyu, Yan Yiming, and the other generals spent their days poring over maps. Using the detailed map Yan Yiming had personally drawn, Shao Jingyu refined the plan to be even more precise and comprehensive.
Apart from Yun Xiao, Shao Jingyu did not assign any other deputy generals under his command. He personally selected the elite troops, focusing his attention on the Mongol Khan to the northeast. On Yan Yiming's side, she led 20,000 cavalry herself, with two generals commanding 10,000 troops each on his left and right flanks. An additional 70,000 infantry were responsible for transporting supplies and breaking through the Left Wise King's forces.
Before the great battle, Shao Jingyu solemnly told Yan Yiming that he believed in her. No matter how the battle unfolded, she must ensure her own safety.
“That's what I should be saying to you, General,” Yan Yiming replied.
The Mongol army's current combat effectiveness was poor. After the previous two losses, the Mongol Khan likely had about two hundred thousand troops left, while the Left Wise King had no more than one hundred thousand. Elite cavalry were especially scarce.
Yan Yiming was facing the Left Wise King, but in terms of danger, Shao Jingyu was undoubtedly in a more perilous position.
Shao Jingyu looked at Yan Yiming with a smile and asked, “Worried about me?”
“Of course I'm worried when it's a matter of life and death,” Yan Yiming said bluntly. “Please take care of yourself, General.”
“Of course.”
Suddenly, Yan Yiming's right eyelid began twitching uncontrollably. She reached up to rub it, and Shao Jingyu noticed. “What's wrong?”
“Nothing,” Yan Yiming shook her head. “My eyelid is twitching a bit. Maybe I didn't rest well last night.”
Shao Jingyu nodded. “Don't overexert yourself before the battle. Rest early today.”
Leaving Yun Xiao to keep watch at night, Yan Yiming returned to her own tent and slept soundly through the night. The next day, she practiced with her sword, feeling inexplicably tense whenever she stopped. On the evening before the battle, Yan Yiming took out Shao Jingyu's card and examined the data on it.
The favorability level had already reached eighty percent.
Every day, she pretended to be a straightforward man who didn't understand, but as the favorability grew day by day, she was well aware of it.
A few days earlier, she had read the letter from Jian Yu'er and even knew what was written in it, a letter that had been burned to ashes without ever being opened.
Shao Jingyu had said it wasn't from anyone important. Yan Yiming was somewhat surprised and suddenly felt a pang of sympathy for Jian Yu'er. Although Jian Yu'er had feelings for several people at once, her affections were genuine in each case. The line “waiting for you to return” in the letter had come from the heart.
Even though Jian Yu'er had already been involved with Nan Gongxuan and, in the original plot, had grown close to Jiang Yi, she would never have described Shao Jingyu as unimportant or irrelevant. Yet Shao Jingyu could say it without hesitation.
Compared to Jian Yu'er, or even Jian Yuyan, Shao Jingyu was actually much colder.
Warm on the outside but cold within, that was Shao Jingyu.
Little A marveled at how someone could be so unabashedly unscrupulous. Should they praise Shao Jingyu for owning his actions or criticize him for being too heartless?
“A bit of both,” Yan Yiming said calmly. “Being unscrupulous or not doesn't conflict with whether one dares to take responsibility.”
That was true. Little A nodded and glanced again at Shao Jingyu's card.
The data on Shao Jingyu's card, especially his action points, were about to reach their peak. His decision-making ability was also steadily increasing. As a successful general, both of these stats were exceptionally impressive.
According to the timeline on the card, it was after this very battle that Shao Jingyu firmly established his footing in the court. In other words, once this battle concluded, Yan Yiming would be forcibly removed from this conquest by the system.
However, much like the previous conquest of Jian Yuyan, Shao Jingyu’s card was an SSR card, which meant she couldn’t leave immediately after maxing out his favorability. Instead, she had to fulfill the turning point that would transform the male lead.
For Jian Yuyan, that turning point had been realizing what he truly wanted in his heart. As for what kind of change Shao Jingyu would undergo because of Yan Yiming, Little A was eagerly anticipating it.
After several days of rigorous troop reorganization, the final battle finally commenced.
Shao Jingyu led 60,000 elite cavalry northeast to directly confront the Mongol Khan, while Yan Yiming, along with the Left and Right Generals, took 40,000 cavalry and 70,000 infantry northwest, aiming to eliminate the Khan’s greatest ally, the Left Wise King.
Shao Jingyu, as the main force, had already set off at the break of dawn. An hour later, the western army also sounded the attack horn.
The wind rustled the military banners as Yan Yiming sat upright on her horse, her back straight. The Left and Right Generals beside her wore solemn expressions.
Yan Yiming was the overall commander of the western army, but she didn’t dare to be overconfident. Even though the two generals hadn’t achieved any outstanding merits, they still had more experience than her.
Seeing that Yan Yiming wasn’t as arrogant as they had expected and often sought their opinions, the two generals gradually let go of their dissatisfaction and became less cold toward her.
Speed was the essence of cavalry, but even so, as they ventured deeper into the heart of the grasslands, Yan Yiming couldn’t help but feel uneasy.
According to intelligence from captured spies, the Left Wise King’s camp should have been no more than five days away at a gallop. Yet, it was already the seventh day, and there was still no sign of him.
Something was wrong.
The Left General, noticing her troubled expression, chuckled and remarked that she was still young. “Actual warfare can never perfectly align with prior expectations. It’s fine, let’s just keep advancing.”
Yan Yiming hesitated, glancing back at the seemingly endless army stretching behind her.
Her right eyelid began twitching violently again. Convinced something was amiss, she ordered the entire army to halt and retreat a few miles.
The Left General immediately grew displeased, snorting coldly. He accused her of hesitating and warned that it would demoralize the troops and delay their progress. What if the Left Wise King caught wind of their movements and escaped?
The Right General also sensed something off. Even if their estimates were off by a day or two, approaching the royal court should have meant encountering some form of outer defense, not this complete lack of vigilance.
The Right General tried to reason with the Left General, but the latter, angered by what he saw as the Right General siding with Yan Yiming and disrespecting him, flew into a rage. “You cowards! If you’re too scared to advance, I’ll go scout ahead myself!”
Yan Yiming sharply rebuked him, refusing to explain further. She commanded the entire army to retreat, but to her dismay, the Left General, during the retreat, took 2,000 elite troops and charged northwest on his own.
Yan Yiming cursed aloud for the first time, “That idiot!”
Shao Jingyu’s and her own two previous reckless actions, though highly successful, had inevitably given others the idea that disobeying orders was acceptable as long as it led to merit.
General Zuo disagreed with Yan Yiming's view, cursing him for being short-sighted and cowardly, then led two thousand elite troops to scout the path.
An hour passed, and General Zuo did not return. Two hours went by, and there was still no sign of him. After three hours, only a hundred or so of the two thousand elite soldiers appeared before the others in a state of panic.
General Zuo, covered in blood, finally caught sight of Yan Yiming and the others before collapsing from his horse in a dead faint. A soldier behind him, also stained with blood, used his last breath to deliver the message, “This is not the Left Wise King's forces, but the Mongol Khan's...”
For a moment, perhaps an illusion, Yan Yiming seemed to hear the thunderous sound of hoofbeats shattering the silence of the grasslands, and her heart felt as if it had been abruptly squeezed.
This was not the Left Wise King at all, it was the main force of the Mongol army under the command of the Mongol Khan. The two hundred thousand troops that were supposed to face Shao Jingyu's most elite divisions were now advancing toward her!
The dark mass of Mongol soldiers resembled a starving giant lion, baring its fangs at Yan Yiming and the thousands of troops.
Yan Yiming's pupils contracted sharply. The Mongol army had deliberately retreated to lure them deeper, they had clearly known their movements all along.
The intelligence they had received earlier could not have been wrong, yet now everything was mistaken. There was only one explanation: the Mongol army had learned of their plans and made adjustments in the shortest possible time.
The distance between the Mongol Khan and the Left Wise King was not too far, cavalry could cover it in at most two days.
The Mongol army had turned their strategy against them, digging a pit and waiting for them to jump in.
Shao Jingyu might end up with nothing or might also fall into the trap, but Yan Yiming had no time to ponder Shao Jingyu's situation. Gripping the reins tightly, she wasted no time and immediately ordered the war chariots to form a defensive barrier to cover the army's retreat.
The main Mongol force was said to number two hundred thousand, while they had only forty thousand cavalry, with seventy thousand infantry still on the way. A direct confrontation with the Mongols was out of the question.
Yet, this battle was not unwinnable.
After calming down, Yan Yiming slowly pieced together the clues.
Even if the Mongols had seen through their tactics, they had little time to redeploy. While cavalry could be repositioned within two days, the infantry and reserves certainly couldn't move that quickly.
So, the so-called two hundred thousand troops couldn't possibly be the actual number.
At least not within these two days.
Sure enough, as the Mongol army advanced and saw the Xia forces halt their retreat, they paused, unable to gauge the enemy's numbers. Both sides entered a standoff.
The enemy's forces far outnumbered their own. The Right General discussed with her whether they should continue to retreat, but Yan Yiming waved her hand. “If we retreat now, the Mongols will surely see through our weakness.”
Once they realized the Xia army was at a numerical disadvantage, they would pursue relentlessly. Thus, the key to this battle lay in how to cut off the Mongols' reinforcements and supplies.
Yan Yiming marked out every possible route the Mongol army could take on the map and, together with the Right General, deduced the most likely path the Mongol reinforcements would use.
Logically speaking, there was a ninety percent chance it would be this route, but with only one opportunity, there was no room for error. A thought stirred in Yan Yiming’s heart. Using an excuse to send the Right General away, she summoned Little A.
“During the last compensation, you promised me one thing. Now, I need to know which route the Mongol reinforcements will take.”
Little A took a deep breath and said, “Are you really going to use such a valuable opportunity on this?”
“Though I’m reluctant, I have to do it,” Yan Yiming replied. After all, she was no longer just herself now.
Little A sighed helplessly. A golden light flashed across the map, and a winding route appeared, tracing its way across the surface. Yan Yiming smiled, rolled up the map, and said,
“Thank you.”
Meanwhile, on the other side, Shao Jingyu had advanced over two thousand li north, crossing the vast grasslands. Instead of finding the Mongol Khan, he encountered the Left Wise King, who had not been prepared for battle.
The moment Shao Jingyu saw the Left Wise King, he knew something had gone wrong with their plan.
If they had encountered the Left Wise King, then what Yan Yiming faced could only be the main force of the Mongol army, the Mongol Khan herself!
Shao Jingyu’s heart sank. The most elite troops were under his command, and Yan Yiming was facing the Mongol main force…
Only one phrase echoed in his mind: slim chance of survival.
But at that moment, he was still in pursuit of the Mongol left flank. If he withdrew now to rush to the rescue of the Xia Army, he would have to let the Left Wise King escape unscathed.
Shao Jingyu was torn, but the situation on the battlefield left him no time to hesitate. His expression turned cold, his eyes dark as ink, and he finally made a decision, declaring firmly,
“Pursue!”