"A million?" The people of Jiaozhou inwardly sank.
"They must have included logistics. A million men, with at most three hundred thousand actually capable of fighting! The Peacock Dynasty also mobilized over a million troops, who doesn't have an army of a million?" Hannibal sneered.
Xiao Che and others remained crestfallen.
Even so, an army of three hundred thousand dispatched by the Great Qian was a pressure they could hardly bear!
After all, the entire camp was currently in a state of panic.
The Jiaozhou allied forces had now gathered three hundred and fifty thousand men, fifteen of whom were Peacock Dynasty troops.
Once the front line was defeated, those Jiaozhou laborers in the rear could flee at any moment.
Jiaozhou had a population of eight million, and males between fifteen and fifty years old had been heavily conscripted into the army...
"What is your estimate for the enemy's combat troop size?" Xiao Che urgently asked the scout.
The scout captain replied, "Judging by the enemy's stoves and military appearance, they should indeed have three hundred thousand!"
Everyone felt as if a sharp thorn was in their backs, and they urgently began to arrange defenses in various locations.
A hundred li was only two to three days' journey for a well-trained army, and a single day for cavalry.
"Has the Great Qian army really attacked?"
The soldiers of the Tianri clan were eager to fight, their faces filled with bloodthirsty smiles.
In contrast, the Jiaozhou soldiers were ashen-faced, daring not to utter any extraneous words, for fear of becoming tools for these golden-haired, blue-eyed people to vent their fury upon.
Hannibal, using the tragic deaths of five thousand Jiaozhou soldiers, had ignited the ferocity of the Tianri clan, but had also severely demoralized the Jiaozhou troops.
Two hundred thousand Jiaozhou soldiers, half of whom were veterans and weak soldiers, were responsible for logistics.
The Great Qian country, because of that man, had written an invincible legend, even defeating twelve thousand Jiaozhou allied troops in Luzhou, killing two marshals, and shooting down a young lord in brocade robes.
Now, they only wanted to go home and had no desire to engage the Great Qian soldiers...
However, Xiao Che and Xiao Chang had accepted the Tianri clan's proposal, implementing high-pressure rule and strict surveillance, and no one dared to mention retreating.
"This place cannot be lost. If we cannot withstand the enemy here, then Jiaozhou will directly face the Great Qian's might and will surely be defeated! If Jiaozhou falls, the Peacock Dynasty's hundred years of effort south of Jiaozhou will also be ruined. Do you understand the consequences!"
In the military camp, Hannibal repeatedly admonished the Jiaozhou people, who could only nod helplessly.
South of Jiaozhou lay the territory of the Peacock Dynasty, with a vast number of supply stations, pastures, and farmlands along the way. With Su Wen City's collusion, new crops promoted by the Great Qian had been planted in advance.
Similarly, to the west of the Great Qian's Western Regions, there were similar arrangements. Therefore, the Guishuang Dynasty troops preferred to advance towards the Western Regions rather than allow the Great Qian soldiers to march west of Yumenguan and directly threaten the Guishuang Dynasty, destroying their grain and grass fields.
All the deployments of the Tianri clan were for the eventual invasion of the Great Qian.
Once the Great Qian soldiers recaptured Jiaozhou, those farmlands and pastures would naturally become the Great Qian's spoils and then a stepping stone for the Great Qian to conquer the Peacock Dynasty!
Whether the Peacock Dynasty perished or not, the Tianri clan did not care, as they had territories everywhere. What they truly could not accept was the complete loss of the opportunity to defeat the Great Qian, which would trigger a chain reaction.
Rebellions in various places would also reignite!
"Therefore, send someone to Jiaozhou and send some military prostitutes over to vent the soldiers' anger. We can't always rely on goats!" Hannibal urged.
"Jiaozhou only has respectable women left. The prostitutes have all been given to you. If we openly arrest women, it will be extremely detrimental to the rule of Jiaozhou..."
Before Xiao Che could finish, Hannibal interrupted him rudely.
"Secretly! Do you understand!"
After discussing with Xiao Chang, Xiao Che ultimately decided to send Pegasus to notify Jiaozhou and arrange for some military prostitutes to be sent.
Twenty cavalrymen accepted the mission and left the camp overnight.
Looking back at the camp, everyone was terrified.
"Our wives and daughters, and mothers all live in Jiaozhou. What if they arrest our family members..."
"Even if it's not our family, arresting someone else's family isn't appropriate either!!"
On the road, while resting, the cavalrymen sat around the campfire, their faces filled with worry.
"How about this, half of our brothers go back and report false military information, and also notify our families to hide quickly. The other half will go to the Great Qian army to notify that Marquis of Anguo..." Finally, someone voiced the thought that had been suppressed for a long time.
The twenty cavalrymen fell into silence.
Jiaozhou did not have many cavalrymen, and those who could be cavalry were all personal guards of Xiao Che and Xiao Chang.
However, after personally experiencing the tragedy of five thousand Jiaozhou soldiers being slaughtered, their resolve finally wavered.
After a long while, the cavalryman who made the suggestion reminded them, "We are now truly abetting evil. Instead of dying in the hands of Marquis Anguo and being infamous for eternity, why not turn back from our wrong path and protect our families?"
Everyone's hearts went through a fierce internal struggle.
"What do you think?" someone couldn't help but ask an old friend beside him.
"What he said makes sense. To associate with jackals like the Tianri clan is truly... alas! Besides, although we are cavalry, our actual treatment is not as good as that of the most ordinary soldiers in the Great Qian country. Now, the Great Qian court treats soldiers kindly, and the common people rely on the soldiers, showing unprecedented respect. Why should we not surrender to the Great Qian?"
The cavalrymen exchanged words and finally reached a consensus.
Those with wives and children at home would first return to report false military information, then notify their families to hide, while the other ten would carry Xiao Che and Xiao Chang's "brothel recruitment" official documents and run to deliver the message.
On horseback, the cavalryman who first proposed defecting to the Great Qian finally felt relieved, secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and tightened the waist token he took from his embrace.
It was a wooden token engraved with a silver wolf's head, with the character "二" written on it.
Hidden Wolf Guard, Number Two, representing the captain of the second team.
The current Number One was Night Owl, who had made great contributions in Xichuan back then.
And beside this soldier, two other soldiers also held Hidden Wolf Guard waist tokens, their faces filled with excitement.
"Eighteen," "Nineteen"...
Gongsun Ye was stationed in Yuzhang, and Liang Xiao personally led the army, setting up camp sixty li away from the Jiaozhou allied forces.
A large number of scouts and vanguard troops were dispatched in all directions to closely monitor the enemy's movements.
The Tianri clan had a large cavalry force, and the Great Qian forces could not afford to be careless and advance rashly. They could only advance step by step, seize the opportunity, and launch a decisive battle.
The enemy's grain and grass were stored one hundred and fifty li southwest of Yuzhang, piled high like mountains, but it was extremely difficult to bypass the mountains and advance from the southwest.
It was easier to take a mountain road by bypassing the mountains from the southeast and then advancing southwest, making it less likely to be ambushed and surrounded by the enemy.
The Jiaozhou allied forces seemed to have considered this as well, so they had set up several military camps outside the mountains, corresponding to each other.
"Intelligence from Jiaozhou indicates that the Tianri clan is scavenging materials in Jiaozhou to build brand new ballistae and transport them to the front lines. It is currently uncertain whether the enemy's ballistae will exceed a hundred or two hundred. The troops must proceed with caution, and sentries must promptly inform the front lines to avoid ballistae and not to cluster together."
"Our preliminary plan is to seize the grain and grass, or burn it. We will defeat the enemy here, kill the Tianri clan until the rivers run red, and then pursue victory and retake Jiaozhou!"