I took the lead, dressed in the same attire. I avoided using the Gale Art unless necessary, to show I wasn't all talk and could also fight on the battlefield.
Once prepared, I led two hundred warriors to the eastern ice wall. The slope below had recently lost some troops to fight fires, leaving its defenses relatively weaker.
With a command, we scaled the ice wall, landing on the ground. Using the shields beneath our drums as ice sleds, we quickly slid towards the enemy camp.
The north side of the shields was inlaid with metal, allowing for rapid acceleration. Before the rebels could react, we had broken into their camp with a charge.
Rising up, we utilized the stability of the horseshoes on our feet. The two hundred men began to fight. These Xuanjia soldiers were indeed extraordinary warriors, with astonishing individual combat abilities. Within three minutes, over a thousand rebels were beheaded. I stayed back on the high slope, observing the battlefield. Only when more rebel troops from other camps began to arrive for reinforcement, and a complete encirclement was imminent, did I order a retreat.
Our two hundred men, due to the surprise nature of the attack, suffered almost no losses. The few injured were helped by their comrades as we withdrew from the enemy camp. The enemy attempted pursuit, but without anti-skid devices on their feet, they couldn't catch us. They could only fire arrows from a distance.
This didn't require my teaching. The Xuanjia soldiers knew how to protect their backs. They raised their shields behind them, guarding their backs, drums, and thighs. Each had a shield, complemented by helmets and pauldrons, providing comprehensive protection from a single direction without hindering their escape.
The enemy's arrows, shot upwards, had a low hit rate. Most missed, and the few that hit were blocked by the shields.
We successfully crossed the ice wall. The camp commander counted the troops, reporting eighteen injured, all brought back. Not a single man was lost.
Moreover, these fellows, in a stroke of luck, had also snatched a considerable amount of military provisions from the enemy camp. Everyone cheered, their fighting spirit soaring.
Even Xiaoyanwang and her companions emerged from their platform and stood at the cliff's edge, cheering and applauding us. They must have witnessed our battle. I took some provisions up the slope to Xiaoyanwang. She only took half a biscuit, asking for the provisions to be divided equally among all the brothers.
The rebels, somewhat enraged, switched to siege mode, launching large stones with their trebuchets. The Xuanjia soldiers were also clever. While dodging the stones, they dismantled sections of the ice wall along the trajectory of the falling rocks, causing them to roll back into the enemy camp, killing many rebels in the process.
Soon, the rebels realized the trebuchets were ineffective, causing a hundred enemy casualties for an expenditure of eight thousand resources, and they ceased their attack.
After the brief respite, the enemy began redeploying, transferring troops from several camps in the west to reinforce the east.
This, in turn, weakened the defenses of the western camps. My objective had been achieved.
After the Xuanjia soldiers had eaten and rested, I selected another three hundred men and, following the same tactic, charged again. The target was still the east, as the slope there was gentler, making it easier to charge. Although the enemy was on guard, they had few options. After a brief engagement, I did not press our advantage and retreated once more.
This time, however, we lost three Xuanjia soldiers, but gained more provisions in return. Those three brothers had been caught by the rebels while trying to secure more provisions, and they sacrificed their lives. The gains were enough to sustain the entire army for another day or two.
After the battle, the enemy redeployed again, transferring approximately twenty thousand troops from the western and central camps to the east, reinforcing that area.
This way, the western camps had seven or eight fewer positions, and their military appearance was noticeably inferior to the east. The soldiers in the east dared not enter their tents, fearing another sudden attack from us that might trap and kill them inside. In the west, however, soldiers, to escape the cold, hid in their tents, leaving only a small number of sentries outside.
I estimated the time; it had been about half an hour. But to be safe, I still used the Gale Art to scout.
Just as expected, my subordinates had opened the drainage outlet. Its width was less than the inlet, but it was nearly twenty meters wide, leading directly outside the city.
Dongfang Jibai, following my strategy, had not dug open the entire ice mountain. He had only excavated to a height of about one meter, creating a flat opening. This meant that if rebel cavalry pursued from this direction, they would have to dismount and bend their horses to slowly crawl through the low opening.