Chapter 49 Breaking Camp and Suppressing Bandits

"The false news that we are going to attack Baling Mountain has already been spread. Over the past two days, I even personally led the garrison troops to drill near Baling Mountain, with only a few people carrying sabers while the rest had only wooden sticks, shovels, and the like to confuse the enemy."

"Presumably, things will loosen up a bit over at Tuo Mountain."

"Moreover, the channels for fencing stolen goods are of utmost importance to Tuo Mountain. Those bandits also have a foundation of trust with the Su family. As long as that Su Daoran plays no tricks, the trap set by your lordship should have no problems."

Wei Shuye analyzed.

An Xin mentally reviewed the strategic layout in his mind.

The core tactics were making a feint to the east and striking in the west, and pretending to cross the State of Guo by asking passage through the State of Yu.

The auxiliary tactics were crossing the sea under camouflage, and acting foolish while keeping one's wits about them.

The execution tactic was waiting in leisure for the exhausted enemy.

After reviewing it once, An Xin felt that the derivation was flawless. As for the actual execution, it would just be a matter of adapting to circumstances and acting according to changing situations.

"Shuye, upon returning, slaughter two pigs and a few sheep, and arrange for the cooks to prepare a good meal."

An Xin instructed.

"Understood!"

Wei Shuye replied.

"Zhang Qian, upon returning to the camp, do a good job with the ideological work of the archers."

An Xin said to Zhang Qian once more.

Since late September, the two brothers Zhang Qian and Zhang Liang had been by An Xin's side for over a month.

While practicing instruction and example, An Xin noticed that Zhang Qian had a more infectious speaking style, was better at getting along with people, and had a temperament that made people willing to approach him.

At the same time, he enjoyed practicing martial arts and was more adaptable to military life.

Therefore, a month ago, An Xin sent him back to the military camp to serve as a camp instructor, specifically responsible for gathering the ideological trends of the soldiers, explaining the reasons and purposes of the battle to the camp troops, and guiding ideology to boost morale.

Even specific methods such as "writing family letters for soldiers," "conducting bitterness-airing activities," and "psychological counseling"—whatever An Xin knew and could think of—were all taught to him.

As for Zhang Liang, he stayed by An Xin's side to act as his secretary.

"Understood!"

Zhang Qian also accepted the task, turned around, and left along with Wei Shuye.

The sky was already quite late. An Xin went to bed, closed his eyes, regulated his breathing, silently counting each inhalation and exhalation, and slowly drifted off to sleep.

Whenever facing major events, one must maintain a calm composure. This was the stress-resistance ability An Xin had slowly cultivated by turning to documents for help after experiencing countless bouts of insomnia in the past.

At around two o'clock in the middle of the night, An Xin climbed out of bed.

"My Lord!"

Zhang Liang was already waiting outside.

Seeing An Xin approaching, he untied the armor from the clothing rack and helped An Xin put it on.

Once the armor was fastened, An Xin looked around with pride; his majestic presence naturally arose, brimming with a murderous aura.

"Set out!"

An Xin strode out the door with a phoenix-winged golden helmet in hand. Outside the side gate, Wan Zewen was already waiting there.

Lifting his black cloak, he gave a light leap and mounted his jujube-red horse.

Hoofbeats broke the chilly night air as the three men and three horses arrived at the south gate. Trusted bailiffs were already waiting here, half-opening the city gate to watch the three of them depart from the city.

"Lord An!"

Beneath the moonlight, a white horse blocked the road. The calling voice was like an oriole singing in the emerald trees, as crisp and melodious as chimes.

Seeing the person on the white horse under the moonlight, An Xin could not help but let out a soft sigh.

"Why must Grandmaster Qin put herself through this hardship?"

As they drew closer, An Xin pulled on the reins, and the jujube-red horse slowed its pace.

"You are not a fish; how do you know the joy of fish?"

Qin Shiyue wore no makeup, her hair tied up into a neat, high ponytail with a bronze clasp. She was dressed in practical black, narrow-sleeved, waist-cinched martial attire, looking entirely like a Jianghu heroines.

This actually led An Xin to discover that this Grandmaster Qin was quite well-endowed in figure as well.

Radiantly spirited, Qin Shiyue said to An Xin, "Lord An, to me, this is no hardship, but rather a novel experience."

An Xin shook his head and said nothing more.

Starting from the Huang family affair, Qin Shiyue had helped him a great deal.

Even for this troop training, without Wei Shuye, it would have been difficult to integrate and train a combat-effective force so quickly.

"Time is pressing. Come with me."

An Xin squeezed his horse's flanks and headed toward the military camp not far away.

Hearing this, Qin Shiyue's heart leapt with joy. With a gentle tug on the reins, her intelligent white horse bounded forward as lightly as the wind, catching up with An Xin's jujube-red horse in just a few steps.

An Xin turned his head to look at Qin Shiyue riding parallel to him and discovered that her horsemanship was exceptionally good; she sat lightly in the saddle as if she were fused into one entity with the white horse.

"My Lord!"

Arriving at the camp gate, Hu Changshan was already waiting there.

The group of six entered the military camp.

The camp was silent. The archers were already fully dressed, some in leather armor and others in padded cloth armor, standing quietly within their respective camp areas. Some were wiping their weapons, while others were maintaining their flintlock muskets.

Over the past month or so, the yield rate of the flintlock muskets was even lower than expected. The craft workshop had manufactured a total of sixty-two that could function properly.

Wei Shuye was also among the archers, having specially selected six squads to form a separately organized "artillery and firearms company."

The firearm company was led by the young officer Qin Ming. To prevent the secret weapon from being discovered by bandits, he had led them deep into the Kunxi Mountains for secret training for over half a month.

Though there were over three hundred people in the camp, no one spoke.

In such a tense environment, no one huddled together to speak seeking comfort; this meant they had already overcome the fear of their first time entering the battlefield.

Tense, yet orderly.

Qin Shiyue clearly felt this.

Until a few sharp blasts of a whistle pierced the silence of the camp, the soldiers moved almost simultaneously.

In less than three minutes, everyone had found their respective ranks and stood in a square formation.

They stood quietly in the night. Throughout the entire process, no one spoke, no one stood in the wrong spot, and there was no disorder.

At this moment, aside from the sound of breathing, there was no other movement.

Silence was a pent-up, unreleased power.

This delivered a very direct and powerful impact to Qin Shiyue!

It also delivered a strong impact to Ge Rong, who was sitting on a wooden box in the corner of the military camp.

Let alone three hundred people, even a chorus of thirty or forty people would take seven or eight minutes just looking around and finding their positions while lining up.

Having trained for over two months to achieve this level of organization in the archer camp, An Xin was satisfied.

It was all thanks to the real gold and silver compensation and the oil-rich meals he provided, which allowed these archers to undergo two and a half months of high-intensity training without resentment and with complete obedience.

Furthermore, when conscripting troops initially, there had been a redundancy of about ten percent. Eating fatty meat every day, receiving silver coins issued punctually by the county magistrate every month, harboring a shared hatred for the bandits, and absorbing the concepts of "pro-people soldiers" and "people-protecting soldiers" taught by the instructors—all of this made them realize they were not those "stinking mercenaries," but glorious bandit-suppressing archers fighting for the county and for their fellow villagers!

Whether it was the treatment or the sense of honor springing up in their hearts, no one wanted to be eliminated, so they were very obedient and trained desperately. Aside from the few who were truly discarded due to physical unsuitability and sent to the craft workshop for odd jobs, the rest were all retained.

These archers, trained according to the methods in his *Essentials of Military Training* through repetitive drills and continuous reinforcement, had developed almost mechanical muscle memory, granting them a tremendous advantage in the high-pressure environment of the battlefield.

This meant that on the battlefield, soldiers could subconsciously and loyally execute the orders given by junior officers, collectively forming a precise machine of war.

"Strike camp! Set out!"

There was no pre-battle mobilization, no reward incentives. With a single word from Wei Shuye, the camp gates swung wide open, and everyone naturally formed two columns, breaking into a light trot and filing out just as they did during ordinary drills.