After speaking, I turned to Li Yuanhao, "Lord Li, oh no, Your Highness, it's the old agreement, three cannon shots, and the entire army will attack."
"Are we really fighting this time?" Li Yuanhao asked.
"Really fighting, ending the battle," I said.
"Annihilate the rebels?" Li Yuanhao asked again.
I nodded, "That's right, annihilate the rebels."
This was the rebel army's elite, stubborn force. There was no way to recruit them, nor could we dare to. The difference in numbers was too great. Even if they surrendered, we wouldn't dare to accept prisoners into the city. If they turned on us, Erqi City would change hands. If Erqi City changed hands, it wouldn't matter, but if the King of Hell was captured or killed by them, wouldn't all my efforts be in vain!
Therefore, this battle offered only annihilation as the path forward.
Just as I was about to leave, the King of Hell called me back. He took a jade pendant from his waist and placed it in my hand, "This is my token. If you encounter anyone who disobeys orders, you may execute them first and report later."
"Any rank is acceptable?" I asked with a smile, feeling it might not be necessary. I had discovered that the name Wu Chengfeng was quite useful. As long as I announced my name, the imperial army would obey orders, regardless of the saying "great fame may not match reality." Having fame was better than having none.
"From princes and generals down to common folk, all may be executed!" A glint flashed in the King of Hell's eyes. These words seemed more directed at Li Yuanhao standing beside him, suggesting that a combination of authority and kindness was necessary to keep subordinates loyal and free of deceit.
I felt like I was being used as a pawn by both the King of Hell and Li Yuanhao.
Fine, the capable should bear more burdens.
I attached the jade pendant to my soul-capturing token. Strangely, when the token encountered the jade pendant, its leather cord automatically revived, tightly securing the pendant and attaching it to my waist. The Underworld Prefecture was a royal enterprise, perhaps the soul-capturing token, the cord, and the jade pendant were all products from the same company.
"Let's go!"
Using the Swift Wind Technique, I would circle the crater once more, informing all reinforcements that after three cannon shots, the entire army would charge and utterly annihilate the rebels on the plain below, allowing no one to escape. Such a victory would greatly boost the morale of the entire imperial army.
After arranging the outer defenses, I returned to the city. The main hall had quieted down. According to the palace servants, Zheng Baobao herself had personally led a cavalry unit and wiped out all the rebels within the city. She was truly remarkable; my choice of assistant was not wrong.
I moved to another side. The cannons of the artillery battalion had already been unloaded from the vehicles. Fifty cannons were lined up in a row at a position outside the city that trebuchets couldn't reach. The artillerymen and their ammunition boxes were also in place.
Zheng Bingbing had set up a temporary command post and was discussing with Xiao Nu how to attack the enemy outside the city to inflict the greatest casualties.
Since the enemy had surrounded the city on four sides, even the mountainous area had at least ten thousand enemy troops. Therefore, they were discussing how to establish four artillery positions to strike the enemies on all four sides simultaneously.
I shook my head. If there were two hundred cannons, a bombardment on all four sides might be feasible. But the problem was that fifty cannons divided by four would leave only twelve. Twelve cannons bombarding such a long front line would clearly not be enough. Since most of the rebel army was cavalry, they were quick. They wouldn't stand still waiting for our bombardment. After a round of artillery fire, they would likely move or retreat beyond the firing range.
"To annihilate them completely, two concentrations are necessary," I drew two circles on the paper. "First, concentrate the artillery to form a dense formation, to improve kill efficiency; second, concentrate the enemy, have them all gather on one side, so we can wipe them out in one fell swoop."
"The first is easy," Bingbing said. "The artillery is in our hands, we can position it as we wish. But how to achieve the second? The enemy is divided into four parts, how can we move them to one side?"
"This requires strategy," I smiled, twirling my pen and designing tactics on the makeshift city defense map. "Imagine, under what circumstances would the enemy concentrate their forces to fight us to the death?"
Bingbing thought for a moment and shook her head, indicating she couldn't figure it out.
Seeing Bingbing fall silent, Xiao Nu spoke up, "Unless they see all our forces inside the city and on the mountains, and we are genuinely breaking out, only then will they bring their entire army to attack."
"Exactly!" I snapped my fingers. Only in this situation, with our roughly fifty thousand men, would they bring their entire hundred thousand troops to surround and annihilate us.
When the rebels surround and annihilate us, that will be the time they themselves are annihilated!