Chapter 472
The Pass is Breached, Troops Gather
"Useless! All of you are useless!"
With a wave of her hand, Fairy Jinghuan swept a glass lamp off the table and shattered it on the ground.
"They returned empty-handed and without success, unable to even sway the mind of a mere mortal warrior!"
The Fairy of Dreams and the Bodhisattva of Devotion stood silently to one side, trembling with fear.
"Please calm down, fairy." Fairy Dream said cautiously, "This child is born with extraordinary abilities, seemingly protected by the order of destiny, making him difficult to be tainted by ordinary love spells and illusions."
"How about... we start with their ties to the mortal world? Perhaps the Jia family is their weakness?"
Fairy Jinghuan's eyes flashed as she looked at the cluster of fortune in the treasure mirror that represented the Rong and Ning mansions and was already on the verge of collapse.
Although Jia Yu's fortune is on the rise, it is still inextricably linked to the fortune of the Jia family and has not been completely severed.
If the decline of the Jia family can be accelerated, causing violent upheavals and tragedies among its blood relatives, it may be possible to use this as an opportunity to disturb Jia Yu's mind and even trigger the "family tragedies" in his destiny.
"The Jia family..."
A cold glint flashed in the Fairy Disenchantment's beautiful eyes. "The Jia family's coffers are dwindling, and signs of decline are already emerging. In that case, let this decline come even more fiercely and thoroughly!"
"Chi Meng, go and make arrangements. Get those seeds that have already been sown, like Jia Yucun and Sun Shaozu, to move faster. Also, let Feng Jie's competitive and money-making ambitions burn even brighter!"
"Zhongqing, you should find a way to stir up those romantic entanglements around Baoyu, so that the joys and sorrows in the Grand View Garden will unfold ahead of time, and the bigger the commotion, the better!"
She wanted Jia Yu to be fighting in the north while his "home" in the rear caught fire and his relatives perished, to see if he could still be unburdened and continue on the imperial path alone.
In the desolate northern plains, the stars and moon have lost their light.
Jia Yu's cavalry, like precise hunters, relied on their extraordinary battlefield awareness and ability to detect animal signals to silently approach the first elite Tatar force that had infiltrated southward.
The enemy, numbering about five hundred riders, was resting in a sheltered valley, completely unaware that death was imminent.
"Archers, seize the high ground on both sides. Cavalry, divide into three groups, and after the arrows rain down, advance from the center while flanking from both sides."
Jia Yu's orders were concise. His subordinates followed suit swiftly and efficiently.
When the first wave of dense arrows fell from the darkness like the Grim Reaper's scythe, the Tatar camp was thrown into chaos.
Immediately afterwards, the thunderous sound of hooves rang out from three directions, and the steel torrent crashed into the panicked enemy ranks.
The battle's outcome was almost predetermined from the start. Jia Yu led the charge, his Mo Dao unstoppable, his attacks invincible.
He always appeared at the enemy's weakest point or command post, slaying a general with a single blow and instantly shattering the local resistance. Seeing their commander's ferocity, his cavalrymen were filled with fervent morale, and their attacks became even more ruthless and vicious.
In less than half an hour, the valley returned to silence, leaving only corpses scattered on the ground and the mournful cries of warhorses that had lost their masters.
Jia Yu reined in his horse, wiped the blood from the blade, his eyes remaining as calm as ice.
Without pausing, he immediately ordered: "Clear the battlefield, take away usable supplies and horses, finish off the seriously wounded, and bind the lightly wounded for further treatment. The entire army will rest for one hour to replenish food and water, and then proceed to the next objective."
He wanted to act swiftly and eliminate as many of these treacherous spies deep in the heartland as possible before the Tatars could react.
However, just as the troops were taking a short break and Jia Yu was resting with his eyes closed, a very subtle fluctuation suddenly came from the depths of his consciousness, from that wisp of imperial will.
Crisis warning.
A sorrowful and resentful aura, stemming from blood ties, was faintly emanating from the extremely distant south, wafting through the threads of cause and effect that had not yet been completely severed. Jia Yu suddenly opened his eyes, a flash of golden light appearing and disappearing in them. He gazed at the dark southern night sky, his brows furrowing slightly.
"Has the Jia family...started yet?"
He muttered to himself, a cold smile curving his lips: "Jinghuan, do you think you can disturb my mind like this? Little do you know, these worldly ties and karmic debts are nothing more than dust and shackles that need to be swept away on my path to becoming an emperor."
"Accelerate the cleanup! Within three days, I will ensure that the Tatar cavalry advancing south are wiped out within two hundred li of this area!"
The soldiers under his command roared in unison, "Yes, sir!"
Over the next three days, this cavalry force, led by Jia Yu, transformed into the most terrifying ghost hunters on the northern wasteland.
They were nocturnal, moving elusively. Relying on Jia Yu's almost precognitive battlefield sense and skillful use of animal signals, they were always able to accurately locate scattered Tatar cavalry units that were infiltrating, plundering, or conducting reconnaissance.
The battles almost always begin with a surprise attack and end with a crushing defeat.
Jia Yu's military tactics were a blend of cunning and righteousness.
Sometimes they would set ambushes to lure the enemy, feigning weakness until the enemy fell into their trap, at which point the ambush would be launched; sometimes they would launch long-distance raids, using their elite troops against the exhausted enemy, striking once and then retreating; sometimes they would launch frontal assaults, specifically targeting times when the enemy's formation was scattered and their command was uncoordinated, to break through the enemy's defenses.
He himself was unstoppable, and with that long-handled sword, he had already slain countless Tatar generals.
The reputation of the "Cat and Dog General," along with his bloody victories and those "miraculous" rumors, spread like wildfire among the defeated soldiers, border residents, and even some of the garrison troops who were still resisting in the northern frontier.
Many scattered small units and stragglers, upon hearing that "General Jia" was hunting down Tartars, spontaneously moved toward and gathered in the area where he was rumored to be active.
Jia Yu accepted all comers, but not all of them.
He personally selected and eliminated the weak, incorporating the strong and brave into the combat ranks, while the old, weak, or those with ulterior motives were assigned to auxiliary troops and logistics, and were strictly controlled.
In just a few days, the number of troops under his control had snowballed from over a thousand to nearly five thousand, and the core combat force had become increasingly elite, with their personal worship and loyalty to Jia Yu growing day by day.
However, localized victories in hunting could not ultimately reverse the overall collapse of the northern border defense line.
The main Tatar forces launched a three-pronged attack, while the imperial reinforcements were slow to arrive. The garrison at each pass was either outnumbered or fled at the first sign of trouble.
On the evening of the third day, just as Jia Yu had defeated a Tatar raiding party of about eight hundred men and was resting at a riverside camp with low hills behind him, a cloud of dust rose from the south and the sound of hooves rolled in like muffled thunder.
It wasn't a small group of enemy troops, but a defeated army, a vast expanse of defeated soldiers covering the mountains and plains.
Flags were askew, armor was incomplete, and everyone wore expressions of panic, abandoning their helmets and armor, looking as lost and bewildered as stray dogs.
Amidst the cries of the common people, families in tow, they mingled with the fleeing soldiers and fled south.
"Sir! It's a brother who has retreated from Flying Tiger Pass!" The news brought back by the scout made the atmosphere in the camp tense.
Feihu Pass, one of the key towns in the northern frontier, its fall meant that the main force of the Tatars had torn open a huge gap, and the gateway to the heart of the capital region was now wide open.
Jia Yu climbed the low hill and gazed at the tide of fleeing soldiers surging in like a burst dam. His face was calm as water, with only golden light flowing in his eyes.
(End of this chapter)