Chapter 95

Chapter 95

Can a strategist not ascend the throne? Volume 3: Galloping through Bingzhou, Troops Depart from Hedong Chapter 95: As Commander, As General

The cavalry camp, led by Xu Rong, demonstrated exceptional ambush capabilities. After Qiao Yan deliberately selected them as her direct strike force against the enemy commander, how could they possibly fall short?

Speed is crucial in warfare, strike first!

At this moment, Dian Wei still held Xu Rong in place, while Guo Jia took over Qiao Yan’s central command position, maximizing the support role of the archery camp. No one expected that the one issuing commands under the commander’s banner was not Qiao Yan herself. How could this not be considered a preemptive strike against the enemy?

As this light cavalry unit circled around to flank the enemy, the leading commander exuded a sharp aura, her helmeted head and the force in her fingertips gripping a long staff adding to her commanding presence.

Liu Hong, witnessing this scene, instinctively stood up.

He found it hard not to be moved by Qiao Yan’s commanding presence.

From the high platform, it became increasingly clear to see her decisiveness and unpredictability in deploying troops.

To act as a field commander while holding the position of a supreme commander was indeed too risky!

But perhaps it was precisely this risk that made him realize more clearly than anyone else—

Why Qiao Yan could truly achieve victory in the surprise attack against the Xiongnu!

She was definitely not a commander who only issued orders and let her subordinates do the work for her.

Although Liu Hong did not know who temporarily replaced Qiao Yan in the central command position, he had to admit that this special substitution was brilliantly executed!

“Marquis of Leping, Marquis of Leping…”

Zhang Rang heard Liu Hong murmuring the title he had bestowed upon Qiao Yan, suddenly recalling the time when Liu Hong casually tossed the seal, which landed precisely in the territory of Leping.

At that time, Zhang Rang thought Liu Hong’s reward was too playful, but Liu Hong probably never expected that this casually given title, opposed by noble families, would be upgraded to a County Marquis, and the person rewarded would bring such a surprise today.

What he saw in Qiao Yan was the commanding presence of a leader who could stabilize the nation.

If one cannot disregard life and death, how can one talk about defeating enemies and quelling bandits!

Good!

What a Qiao Yanshu!

Liu Hong did not think there was any problem with his excessive praise for Qiao Yan at this moment, as she was acting under orders.

And if he, with his god-like perspective from above, felt this way, what about those facing her cavalry charge head-on?

The speed of this cavalry charge was already extremely fast.

And it was more than just that.

In most military formations, it is the roaming cavalry that takes on the responsibility of covering the flanks.

Unless one is confident in directly piercing through the enemy’s front line, as Qiao Yan did in her previous battle against Wang Kuang.

However, before this battle, when Xu Rong and Dong Min discussed their battle strategy, although they did not know exactly how Qiao Yan boosted her team’s morale, they observed that her command methods were still rough. In such a situation, it would be better to directly suppress the enemy’s strengths.

As long as they could seize this opportunity to strike deep, the enemy’s morale would surely collapse.

But it was precisely because of this battle strategy that Xu Rong led the cavalry charge, leaving an opening for Qiao Yan to attack.

The flanks were empty!

Even Dong Min, who considered himself not a general who rose solely through his brother’s influence, felt as if a sharp knife was thrusting towards his heart amidst the thunderous charge.

The archery camp, under his command, immediately turned around.

But before the order to volley could be given, Dong Min saw Qiao Yan raise her hand.

With her command gesture, he also heard a command.

“Throw!”

Throw what?

They were throwing the long staffs they carried while riding!

The blunting of weapons did not affect the number of staffs each camp could request.

At this moment, both the spectators on the high platform and Dong Min’s troops facing Qiao Yan’s attack noticed that the cavalry under Qiao Yan’s command were not holding just one staff.

Following the command, from Qiao Yan to the last person in the queue, they all exchanged one staff to their left hand, while the others were thrown like javelins.

If it were ordinary soldiers, they could not have achieved this.

Since the Spring and Autumn period, javelin throwing had become a common combat weapon, but since most recruits were ordinary civilians, javelin throwing was not an easy skill to master.

But the troops accompanying Qiao Yan in this battle—

Were called the Northern Army Cavalry Camp.

This was a unit always ready to march as the royal army, and their training included javelin throwing.

This unit, guided by Qiao Yan and specially trained, could do one more thing during this javelin throw.

To avoid affecting their comrades, the entire cavalry unit spread out behind, forming a sharp arrowhead.

Then came the rain of javelins!

Even though these javelins did not have sharp tips and could only cause impact without piercing, when at least two hundred staffs were aimed at the archery camp, disrupting their volley was all too easy.

Moreover, the rain of staffs affected not only the archers’ ability to draw their bows but also the horses in the formation.

These unfortunate horses, not part of Xu Rong’s ambush cavalry, were now struck by the falling staffs.

Startled horses are always troublesome, especially in the heat of battle.

People could clearly judge that the weapons brought by Qiao Yan and her troops still met the standards of the competition and would not cause casualties, but what about the horses?

Horses cannot make such astute judgments.

Even though the cavalry surrounding Dong Min were top-notch riders who quickly controlled their startled horses, the formation still experienced a moment of chaos.

This was enough for Qiao Yan!

Because she had already issued her second command.

“Shoot!”

Choosing the cavalry camp over the light cavalry camp for this battle was precisely because of the versatility Han cavalry could demonstrate at such times.

This preemptive strike did not require overwhelming individual combat prowess but comprehensiveness!

Before the archery camp could recover from the staff barrage, the cavalry’s arrow rain had arrived.

For these elite cavalrymen accustomed to shooting while riding, switching from holding the remaining staff to drawing their bows and then switching back to using the staff as a “spear” was not too difficult.

Weapon switching was as natural to them as eating and drinking, a necessary drill to survive on the battlefield.

Even though this was indeed a somewhat strange battle.

In this battle, the range of javelins and arrows had even swapped due to the change in weapons.

But when they held their bows and arrows, the act of releasing the arrow was entirely instinctive.

To prove that the cavalry camp was no worse than the Changshui and light cavalry camps, they absolutely could not let their “arrows” miss!

The arrows flew, hitting their intended targets.

As the paint from the arrowheads marked the soldiers’ heads and necks, they were considered out of the battle, no longer part of the field.

And now, the cavalry camp soldiers had switched back to their staffs.

The quick elimination of these soldiers left Dong Min, who was previously shielded, increasingly exposed to everyone’s view.








In the midst of the battlefield, the soldiers could not return to stop the cavalry led by Qiao Yan, who charged into the already weakened enemy ranks with close combat tactics.

Only then did Dong Min see Qiao Yan’s eyes clearly. Up close, her youthful face was overshadowed by eyes that radiated an ageless sharpness, like a wildfire of ambition ignited within her.

As she discarded her bow and took up a staff, it became a clear signal for attack. The first word she uttered, sharp and urgent, reached Dong Min’s ears clearly. Perhaps he didn’t want to hear it, for the word was—”Kill!”

This was the command that unleashed the cavalry of the Tunqi Battalion into a full assault. Yet, in front of Dong Min, there was no monstrous figure like Dian Wei in the protective infantry formation. Only the remnants of the Shesheng and Infantry Battalions remained.

How could they withstand the ferocious assault of Qiao Yan’s forces, whose momentum had peaked after two rounds of attacks? Qiao Yan’s performance was even more astonishing. Her command might have been rudimentary, but her spear techniques flowed like water. Even wielding a staff instead of a spear, her movements conveyed one thing clearly—she would not be the weak link in her cavalry.

As the cavalry coordinated to break Dong Min’s forces, Qiao Yan charged forward without hesitation, her target unmistakable—the enemy commander. Faced with such a direct and overwhelming assault, Dong Min felt fear creeping in. Though he was a skilled horseman from Liangzhou, his opponent had proven time and again that neither age nor gender limited her ability to win.

He didn’t know the name of her spear technique, but he recognized the deadly intent behind it. For a moment, it felt less like a controlled duel and more like a real battlefield. Qiao Yan treated this as a genuine fight, and Dong Min had to remind himself that he was vying for the position of General of Crossing the Liao, or perhaps another key role as Grand General He Jin had hinted. He couldn’t afford to falter.

But as he tried to turn the tide by targeting Qiao Yan, he saw a flurry of staff strikes bypass his defenses. In a swift, deceptive motion, Qiao Yan struck his jaw with a thunderous blow. She showed no mercy, even though he was Dong Zhuo’s brother, knowing she could blame any fallout on Liu Hong.

She followed up by yanking him off his horse, embodying the ruthless principle of striking when the enemy is down. Yet, the battle wasn’t over. Dong Min’s fall only meant the commander was out, but another key figure remained to rally the troops. Unlike Wang Kuang’s retreat, Xu Rong could still turn the tide if he managed to stabilize the situation.

But Qiao Yan wouldn’t give him the chance. With a wave of her hand, the Tunqi Battalion swiftly regrouped behind her. Whether it was the confidence from their successful decapitation strike or not, the cavalry now seemed even more aligned with Qiao Yan’s fiery, relentless spirit.

Watching from his smaller canopy, He Jin slammed his fist on the table. Wang Kuang’s defeat was within his expectations, but he couldn’t accept that Dong Min and Xu Rong, whom he had high hopes for, had been outmaneuvered by Qiao Yan. He wondered how the Northern Army Five Divisions, under his command, could perform so exceptionally.

Yuan Shao glanced at He Jin, easily guessing his thoughts. He Jin’s obvious intentions had likely influenced the battle arrangements. Yuan Shao doubted it was a coincidence that Qiao Yan faced Wang Kuang first and then Dong Min. Nor did he believe Jian Shuo’s opponents being of such caliber was accidental.

Qiao Yan’s intelligence had proven true, and now Yuan Shao watched the battle’s conclusion with admiration. As Qiao Yan encircled Xu Rong’s forces, it became clear that even without her flanking maneuver, Xu Rong’s 200 cavalry stood no chance against her 400-strong combined force of cavalry, infantry, and archers, expertly commanded by Guo Jia.

Xu Rong, still entangled in a melee with Dian Wei, cursed his luck. If only he had Liangzhou’s Iron Cavalry, or if Duan Wei were his ally instead of Dong Min… But there were no excuses. They had underestimated Qiao Yan’s prowess. Who could have imagined that a girl not yet fourteen could excel not only in governance and scholarship but also in martial arts with such innate talent?

As chaos erupted in the rear, Xu Rong turned to see Dian Wei, the tiger-like general, gripping his horse’s leg with astonishing strength. Before he could react, Qiao Yan loosed an arrow, sealing his fate. With that shot, the drums signaling victory were not far off.

When the announcement of “Marquis of Leping wins this battle” reached her ears, Qiao Yan finally allowed herself a sigh of relief. She reined in her horse, removed her helmet, and let the winter sunlight glint off her sweat-drenched brow. Her eyes, however, shone brighter than the sun itself.

Dismounting, she bowed to the high platform, her gaze filled with the pride of a victor. No one faulted her for it. Even Liu Hong smiled, understanding the unspoken message in her gesture—she, Qiao Yan, had fulfilled her duty with honor.