Reborn Before My Husband Ascends the Throne

Chapter 48

In Ye Suijin's previous life, although he later controlled Dengzhou, it was much later than this life.

The battle with Du Jingzhong was one he had been forced to fight. Du Jingzhong had colluded with Ma Jinhui to attack Ye Manor, forcing Ye Manor to retaliate.

At that time, Jin Emperor's real controlled territory had already advanced southward. Although Ye Suijin had also taken Fangcheng, he had not initially tried to interfere with Tangzhou.

When they later set foot in Tangzhou, they had never seen or heard of Zhou Junhua.

He was either already under their control, obscure and insignificant, or had died early on during Jin's purge.

But Ye Suijin's intuition told him that a former regular army company commander who had been a step away from "General", a deserter who still tried his best to restrain his men, and a man who, when surrounded on four sides, could accurately find the weak point, would not be without ability.

Sure enough, Zhou Junhua endured in silence for a while, clearly provoked by this tactic.

"Ahem," he said. "Actually there are some issues, since you want me to speak, then this humble officer will dare to say a few words?"

Ye Suijin raised his brows: "Let's hear it."

Zhou Junhua first pointed out Third Son's mistakes.

"Third Son's troops are the sharpest, they can be called well ordered and prohibited. It is commendable," he said. "But Third Son has forgotten that today is just a drill. We are all out of the enemy's firing range, so we can be so calm and orderly. If this were a real siege, who could remain like this?"

"In a real siege, the vanguard would suffer heavy casualties. It would be impossible to maintain cohesion front to back. From the initial deployment, it should be heavier at the front, lighter at the back."

"If the front can't get through, everything after is useless."

Indeed, just as Ye Suijin guessed, although Zhou Junhua was a step away from becoming a general, after all he wasn't one. He was a company commander - a junior officer.

In the army, orders from commanders filtered down level-by-level until junior officers implemented them.

For Zhou Junhua to become a Zhaowu company commander, if he didn't have some family background, he must be truly skilled in military affairs, and extremely pragmatic.

Ye Suijin's troops had too many new recruits, new officers and soldiers. What they lacked was experienced veterans like him.

The situation was much better than Zhou Junhua expected.

Where there are people there are rivers and lakes. He had wanted to keep a low profile and just get by eating with Ye's troops. He really couldn't hold back his frustration any longer before speaking up.

But Ye's young masters weren't offended when Zhou Junhua pointed out their mistakes one by one. On the contrary, they all had looks of sudden realization.

They even actively asked questions, as if the headquarters tent was some kind of school.

Absurd.

Yet Zhou Junhua still patiently answered all their doubts in detail.

In the end, the headquarters tent became his stage. He spoke until his mouth was dry and his tongue was tired. Duan Jin, who was also a company commander, stepped forward multiple times to pour him more tea.

By the end, Zhou Junhua was somewhat reluctant for it to end.

Ye Suijin said, "Alright, that's enough for today. We'll go through it again tomorrow."

Zhou Junhua: "..."

On the second day, the drills continued.

People on the manor walls: "..."

This really pissed them off!

Usually they could swagger around, chopping anyone who looked at them wrong. Now they were blocked at their own door, used as training dummies. Who wouldn't be pissed?

But the enemy had greater numbers. To win outnumbered, they would have to pay a price, usually in lives.

Now the enemy wasn't truly attacking, so it didn't seem worth it.

They thought, why not hole up in the manor for a few days and see if the enemy retreats on their own?

On the third day, the enemy showed no signs of withdrawing at all. They were even more extravagant, with coordination between all branches of the military, advancing and retreating, feints.

This really pissed them off to death!

The manor boss had someone bring a bow and shot a few spiteful arrows down.

But the people below were out of range, and the scattered arrow feathers did nothing but vent their anger.

On the contrary, it infuriated those below. They sent a shield-bearing squad to approach and curse them.

So those above and below cursed at each other.

"You have to have people with loud voices who can curse," Zhou Junhua said with hands on hips to the young masters. "Otherwise if you let them curse at you without retorting, morale will be damaged first."

Ye's young masters were well-educated, although they could swear, but... not so vulgarly.

Their horizons had really expanded.

At the sounding of the gong to withdraw troops for the day, Tenth Son was silently reciting some choice phrases to himself.

Duan Jin: "What are you doing?"

Tenth Son said, "This way I won't lose when cursing at someone in the future."

After dinner, Ye Suijin's order was passed down: "The whole army, rest. Attack the city at the third watch."

Everyone sucked in a breath. After three days of playing, were they finally getting serious?

Everyone was pumped up, eager for a fight. Tenth Son was so excited he couldn't sleep holding his saber. He finally dozed off, only to be shaken awake - "Get up, we're attacking the city!"

Tenth Son rubbed his eyes and flipped up from his camp bed like a carp.

The clanking of armor in the cold night was particularly chilling.

Especially with everyone so quiet, even orders spoken in hushed voices. It created a heavy, silent atmosphere.

Tenth Son armed himself and mounted up. He asked, "Sis, how are we attacking?"

Ye Suijin looked at the manor - a typical northern Chinese manor. Usually privately owned by wealthy households, with high walls, like a small town.

This manor was much smaller than Ye Manor. It was insignificant in Ye Suijin's eyes. But even so, it had high walls.

She answered, "Fire attack."

Everyone was stunned.

Third Son pressed down on his horse's neck and leaned down slightly. "Use rockets?"

Third Son had seen soldiers preparing arrow shafts earlier, attaching incendiaries to the arrowheads.

Ye Suijin said, "Yes."

Siege warfare was the least favored battle for commanders.

Casualties were high, efficiency was low, and gains were poor. Even victory was often pyrrhic.

Although this manor was small, forcing the walls would still inflict casualties Ye Suijin didn't want - her sons' lives.

Unnecessary. Better to force the enemy out and fight them face-to-face.

For a large city, rockets might not be effective. But for a small manor like this, their power was multiplied.

Tenth Son was taken aback for a moment. Before he could speak, Ninth Son spoke first, "But..."

Everyone looked over.

Ye Suijin looked over too.

Ninth Son hesitantly said, "But... there must still be commoners inside the manor..."

Although much smaller than Ye Manor, with only north and south gates, there would still be ordinary commoner households inside.

And in a typical northern manor, the closer to the walls, the more commoners there were.

"Commoners have feet, they will run," Ye Suijin said calmly.

Ninth Son: "But, but..."

"Then," Ye Suijin looked at him, "because we are concerned about the enemy's commoners, we waste many days of provisions, fodder, and manpower here. We simply give up and go home empty-handed? Or we waste many of our sons' lives on the enemy's arrow traps just for the sake of a commander's conscience?"

The night was silent.

Only the occasional clanking and grinding of weapons and equipment being moved could be heard.

Many figures were just black silhouettes in the firelight.

"Situations like this happen frequently in battlefields," Ye Suijin swept her gaze over her brothers, "Enemy cities have commoners, or they drive commoners ahead as cannon fodder while troops hide behind them, or they even capture your wives and parents to force your surrender. You will encounter things like this not just once or twice in the future. I ask, what will you do then?"

No one could answer.

Ninth Son even less so.

Tenth Son looked at Ye Suijin, then at Ninth Son. He desperately wished someone would tell him what to choose here, what was right.

Duan Jin held his breath.

"In the future, you will all sit in my position - commander of an army. You will all face many similar situations," Ye Suijin said as she looked over them. "What I said today, keep it in your hearts -"

"An army's commander can never consider the enemy's commoners."

"Sometimes, you can't even consider your own commoners."

"If the enemy pushes commoners ahead to force you to engage, the more you hesitate, the closer they get."

"If they push commoners ahead, don't hesitate. Immediately order archers to suppress them and cry out to let the commoners know to flee to the sides."

The people were told, “If you wish to live, flee to either side. If anyone dares rush into our ranks seeking shelter, you must be cut down on the spot.”

“If one commoner breaks through, it opens up a breach in the great formation. If ten commoners rush in, it tears open ten breaches. Once a breach is opened, it is the lives of our sons that will be harvested.”

“In this moment, any commoner who rushes the ranks is the enemy.”

“The Emperor can be benevolent. Officials can be benevolent. But we who lead armies on the battlefield cannot show benevolence.”

“Those who are merciful do not command troops. I hope I will not have to repeat this to you again.”

“Do you understand?”

In the flickering firelight, her face was both beautiful and cold.

There was a ruthlessness in her expression that was unfamiliar to her younger brothers.

They all felt they could hardly breathe, and lowered their heads, answering, “Yes!”

A guard came to report, “My lady, all is prepared.”

Ye Suijin's horse snorted. Ye Suijin gazed at the black silhouette of the stronghold in the night, and began to issue orders.

“Third Son, Seventh Son, guard the south gate.”

“Fourth Son, Fifth Son, guard the north gate.”

“The rest, come with me.”

They departed to follow her commands, the sound of cloth-wrapped hooves muffled in the darkness.

Ninth Son remained at Ye Suijin's side, feeling just as stifled, like he couldn't catch his breath.

When all was ready, counting the time until Fourth Son and Fifth Son would be in position, Ye Suijin said, "Ninth Son, give the order."

At this, even Zhou Junhua was taken aback.

These were siblings, brother and sister. If it had been an uncle or elder issuing orders, Zhou Junhua wouldn't have thought anything of it. He would have thought it only right and proper.

But Ye Suijin was an elder sister.

She was a woman.

Zhou Junhua had never seen a sister be so stern with her younger brother.

In the firelight, Ninth Son's face was so young, taut with tension.

He gritted his teeth and stepped forward. "Ready...bows!"

In the night came the sound of bows drawn and arrows nocked. The faces of each archer were lit by the flames kindled on their arrow tips.

Ninth Son saw that many were about his own age, some even younger like Tenth Son and Duan Jin.

Ninth Son took a deep breath, sinking his energy. "Loose arrows!"

The flaming arrows were aimed high over the walls of the stronghold. They arced through the air like fiery serpents, plunging with bared fangs into the keep.

"Ready...bows!" Ninth Son's voice was much steadier the second time he gave the order. "Loose arrows!"

The second volley of rockets howled as they streaked into the night sky, illuminating the arrow platforms along the castle walls.

The third volley had barely left the strings when a clamor rose up from the stronghold.

Light bloomed within as the interior was illuminated.

As all eyes were fixed on the stronghold, Zhou Junhua noticed Ye Suijin move out of the corner of his eye.

In the firelight, the elder sister drew near her younger brother, reaching out to caress his cheek left exposed by his helmet. She smiled at him.

The younger brother's shoulders relaxed, then squared again.

It was as if he had suddenly grown a little taller.

Zhou Junhua couldn't help but smile. As he went to turn his head back, he suddenly saw that Duan Jin, the accompanying military officer, was also watching the scene.

There was longing and yearning in the young officer's eyes.

Fixated...