Tian Feng touched his beard and smiled, nodding his head when he heard his Marquis's praise.
Min Chun, sitting beside him, remained calm. Although Tian Feng had taken the spotlight, he felt no dissatisfaction.
While he wasn't as adept at strategizing as Tian Feng, he was not inferior in many aspects of strategic governance, and might even be superior.
Therefore, after some discussion, they decided to march quickly at dawn tomorrow and arrive at Gaoliu City as soon as possible.
Then, they would set up camp nearby, forming a pincer movement with Zhang Fei inside the city to block the Xianbei cavalry.
The next morning!
The five thousand soldiers stationed there began to break camp and, led by their officers, slowly proceeded along the road towards Gaoliu City.
At dusk, the army finally arrived at Gaoliu City, at the foot of a hillside several miles away.
This location was easy to defend and difficult to attack, only requiring defense against frontal assaults, making it an excellent spot for setting up camp.
So the army set up camp here, built defenses, and arranged chevaux de frise around the perimeter.
Because Liu Jin's arrival with his troops had already been detected by Xianbei scouts.
Therefore, to be safe, defenses had to be built quickly to prevent a night raid by Xianbei cavalry.
Zhang Fei, who was stationed in Gaoliu City, showed excitement on his face when he learned that his elder brother had arrived with his troops.
Although defending the city for the past few days and continuously clashing with the enemy had resulted in heavy losses, his elder brother's arrival completely relieved his anxieties.
If his elder brother hadn't ordered him to guard the city walls well and constantly observe the Xianbei movements outside the city, and to immediately lead the army out to cooperate if there was any disturbance.
He wished he could leave the city now to meet his elder brother. They hadn't seen each other for more than half a year, and it was impossible to say he didn't miss him.
The sky had completely darkened.
Inside the main tent of the Xianbei camp, Chief Ke Bineng sat at the head, listening to the intelligence from his scouts!
“Reporting, Chief, our scouts just discovered a Han Army several tens of miles away. Due to the dim light, we can only estimate there are roughly a few thousand soldiers.”
Ke Bineng frowned upon hearing this, a look of doubt appearing on his face.
According to his previous understanding, there weren't any strong military forces in these surrounding commanderies, so how could several thousand troops suddenly appear?
Could it be the imperial court's army? Thinking of this, he shook his head. He had only been raiding the border for a few days; the news probably hadn't even reached Luoyang yet, so how could a large army arrive?
He looked at the scout beside him and asked!
“Where did this army come from, what banner are they flying, who is the commanding general, and are there cavalry among them?”
The reporting scout thought for a moment, then continued!
“Reporting, Chief, this army came from the southeast direction, flying a banner with the character 'Liu', and no cavalry movements were detected.”
“As for the commanding general, this subordinate does not know for now.”
Ke Bineng muttered to himself, hearing this. From the southeast direction, wouldn't that be Yanmen Commandery?
According to the intelligence he had gathered, Yanmen Commandery had at most three to four thousand soldiers, and even if they were to deploy all of them, it couldn't amount to several thousand.
Moreover, he had arranged for Tuoba Jiefen, the Chief of the Tuoba Tribe, to lead his troops to guard outside Yanmen Pass, precisely to threaten Yanmen Commandery and draw their forces, to prevent them from sending troops to reinforce Dingxiang.
Now, these several thousand soldiers had appeared, and they were also from Yanmen Commandery.
Thinking of this, Ke Bineng felt his thoughts were somewhat confused. He couldn't figure out where this large army had come from.
The other Chiefs in the tent showed a hint of unease on their faces, and some Chiefs of smaller tribes even began to panic.
After all, Ke Bineng had previously said that there were no significant troops guarding Bing Province in the Han Dynasty, which allowed them to invade recklessly.
Now, after only a few days, an army of several thousand had arrived. If they waited another ten days or half a month, wouldn't tens of thousands more troops arrive?
Ke Bineng, sitting at the head, sensed that his subordinate Chiefs were restless, even panicked.
He frowned slightly, cursing silently in his heart.
They truly are a bunch of useless people; they show such panic just hearing about the Han Army's arrival. How can they achieve great things?
Despite his disdain, the most pressing matter was to appease his Chiefs, lest they become fearful and flee in disarray.
With only the troops he commanded, he truly wasn't qualified to gallop across this Han borderland.
Ke Bineng coughed lightly, drawing everyone's attention.
With a composed expression, he said loudly!
“Everyone, do not panic. It is merely a few thousand Han soldiers, and they have no cavalry. In our eyes, they are nothing but a rabble.”
“Moreover, our army still has five thousand cavalry. With just one charge, we can easily defeat them.”
Many Chiefs in the tent pouted upon hearing this, still feeling somewhat uneasy.
Because they didn't know where this army came from, whether it was an elite force sent by the imperial court, or just a vanguard with tens of thousands more troops following behind.
If that were truly the case, they would prepare to abandon camp and flee tonight, returning to the grasslands early to avoid losing all their accumulated wealth here.
These past few days of continuous assaults on the city had already resulted in heavy losses for their troops.
Some small tribes, who had scraped together a thousand or so soldiers, had lost nearly half of them during the siege battles.
It was more painful than killing them, but they had no choice. They couldn't run, fearing Ke Bineng's retribution later, so they could only continue to endure.
Terunhe remained silent for a moment, then took a deep breath and asked!
“Chief Ke Bineng, although we currently hold the advantage and are not afraid of these few thousand soldiers arriving, we are still somewhat uneasy.”
“After all, the origin of this army is unknown, and we don't know if there are more reinforcements behind them. If we don't find out, we won't feel at ease staying here.”
“How about we withdraw from here first and return to the grasslands? Once we are fully prepared, we can make a comeback. At that time, we will certainly fight bravely and serve as the Chief's vanguard.”
As soon as these words were spoken, the Chiefs of the Duan Bu Tribe and Qifu Tribe's eyes lit up, and they followed suit!
“Chief Terunhe is absolutely right. We feel that our preparations this time were insufficient, and we haven't understood the strength of the surrounding commanderies.”
“For safety's sake, let's withdraw from here tonight. Once we are fully prepared, we will lead a large army here again.”
“At that time, our Duan Bu Tribe and Qifu Tribe will certainly serve as the Chief's vanguard, sweeping away all obstacles.”