Call of the Heroes of Chaos in Another World

Chapter 2704 The Two Forces Join Forces to Break Jiang's Scheme; Three Paths Enter Han's H

Chapter 2704 The Two Forces Join Forces to Break Jiang's Scheme; The Three Paths Now Enter Han's Hands

Under Jiang Ziya's instructions, Yao Xiong withdrew very thoroughly. It was not simply a matter of abandoning the Yunling Mountains, the northern frontier defense line that the Great Qian had relied on for hundreds of years. Yao Xiong also completely abandoned the entire Wangbei Road beyond the Yunling Mountains.

After the fire was set at Tianjing Pass, the other four paths of Yunling Five Paths were also set ablaze at almost the same time.

The approximately 300,000 Qian troops along the entire northern frontier fled south in just a few days, taking troop transport vehicles one after another, giving Yue Fei no chance to pursue them after the fire was extinguished.

It can be said that the entire Daqian Wangbei Road is now completely open to Yue Fei, just waiting for him to send troops to take it over.

At the same time, almost as Yue Fei's troops began to cross the Yunling Mountains, Jiang Ziya's troops stationed on Bailang Ridge also began to retreat rapidly towards Xingwu.

However, while Yao Xiong directly used a large fire to prevent Yue Fei from pursuing further, Jiang Ziya played a game of deception with Bai Qi, imitating Yang Yanzhao's use of hanging a sheep and beating a drum in Hebei to buy time for his tens of thousands of troops to retreat.

However, Bai Qi was clearly not so easily fooled, and it didn't take long for him to see through Jiang Ziya's scheme.

However, Jiang Ziya's plan was not so simple. The apparent deception was just a pretense to fool Bai Qi. His real trump card was the backup plan that Bai Qi had left behind after seeing through his deception.

Throughout the entire White Wolf Ridge camp, Jiang Ziya had prepared a large amount of flammable materials and made prior arrangements for concealment during his retreat.

Once Bai Qi sees through the facade he left behind, he may think he is more skilled, or he may be eager to lead his troops across White Wolf Ridge to pursue him after seeing through his disguise.

Therefore, the enemy will definitely be less vigilant the moment they enter the White Wolf Ridge camp.

At that time, the great fire prepared by Jiang Ziya will certainly not be enough to destroy Bai Qi's entire army, but it will be enough to burn tens of thousands of his soldiers and make Bai Qi feel the pinch.

It can be said that if most people in the world encountered such a scheme within a scheme devised by Jiang Ziya, they would probably suffer a great loss at his hands.

Having reached god-like status in both command and intelligence, and not just at the initial god-like level in each aspect, Jiang Ziya is undoubtedly one of the most formidable military commanders in the world today.

Those who are better at direct combat than him are not as good at strategizing as he is, while those who are better at strategizing are not as good at direct combat as he is.

Unfortunately, this time Jiang Ziya's scheme was against Bai Qi, and Bai Qi had another person by his side, Wu Qi, whose abilities were almost no less than his own.

Both of them were top military commanders of their time, and their abilities were almost on par with Jiang Ziya's.

Facing such figures, even dealing with just one of them and successfully outmaneuvering them would be an incredibly difficult task, let alone outmaneuvering both of them at the same time.

However, although Jiang Ziya ultimately failed to outwit Bai Qi, the fire was still ignited.

This is Jiang Ziya. Even if he fails to achieve his goal, he at least strives to ensure his own survival and prevent Bai Qi's forces from pursuing him. Before inflicting casualties on the enemy, Jiang Ziya's first thought is always to preserve himself and seek victory through invincibility.

At this moment, Bai Qi stood reined in his horse at the foot of White Wolf Ridge, gazing at the camp on the ridge that had been burned to ruins, and remained silent for a long time.

The fire was still burning, but it had subsided. The situation at White Wolf Ridge was different from Yue Fei's; Jiang Ziya wouldn't set off a fire that could burn for days and nights—it would be utterly pointless except for widespread devastation. Compared to many military commanders, Jiang Ziya actually had certain principles. He wouldn't resort to such devastating or inhumane methods unless absolutely necessary.

For Jiang Ziya, all he needed to do was buy his troops a time difference to leave, ensuring they could board the troop transport vehicles before Bai Qi caught up. There was no need for him to do something like setting the mountain on fire.

If Bai Qi had not ultimately fallen into his trap, Jiang Ziya might have even deliberately left an opportunity for the Han army to control the fire in time.

The White Wolf Ridge stretches for hundreds of miles, and to the north it is connected to the Cloud Ridge Mountains, which are several times larger. If the fire cannot be controlled, it could spread and burn the entire area. If it could actually burn the Han army inside, that would be one thing, but if it achieves nothing and only causes such a devastating fire, it would surely suffer divine retribution in the future.

Wu Qi rode forward and pulled the reins beside Bai Qi.

“It’s almost all cleaned up,” Wu Qi said first.

"The engineering battalion reported that they cleared out more than 300 barrels of kerosene alone, not to mention countless amounts of hay and sulfur. Jiang Ziya has sacrificed the entire camp."

Bai Qi was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Is there any news from Xue Rengui's side?"

"Yes, after the great victory at Luofengpo, General Xue marched south and has already captured most of Dongye Road and Jianye Road. Yao Xiong retreated quickly, and Wangbei Road is completely empty. General Yue Fei's side should have already entered."

Bai Qi nodded, his face expressionless.

"Xue Rengui fought well," Bai Qi said calmly, as if stating a fact.

"But on our side, despite having several times the number of troops as Jiang Ziya, we ultimately achieved nothing and were easily defeated by him."

Wu Qi was about to say something, but Bai Qi waved his hand, stopping him from continuing.

"Pass down the order," Bai Qi turned his horse around, "the entire army will split into two routes. One route will cross Bailang Ridge and enter Wangbei Road, while the other will immediately turn south and cooperate with Xue Rengui to completely take over Dongye Road and Jianye Road."

"Since the Great Qian has already ceded these three routes, we must take them into our hands as soon as possible. Only by taking these three routes into our hands can we then launch an attack on Xingwu Road from the east and north, respectively, to launch a pincer attack on Xingbei Road and open the northern gate of the Central Plains of the Great Qian in one fell swoop."

"Yes."

Wu Qi clasped his hands in a fist salute and was about to leave when Bai Qi called him back.

"Tell the brothers to set off quickly," Bai Qi said. "Don't keep Xue Rengui and Yue Fei waiting too long."

Wu Qi paused for a moment, then nodded.

Bai Qi took one last look at the still-smoking ruins, then spurred his horse forward.

The guards behind him hurriedly followed, the sound of horses' hooves chaotic and rapid, and soon disappeared into the dissipating dust.