In this realistic war game, only I understand the course of the battle.

"Sound the bugle!" Shen Du roared down from the tower, "Sound the retreat bugle!"

The bugler from Team C blew his horn with all his might.

The bugle call was sharp and urgent, echoing over the camp.

But the vanguard cavalry had already gone too far; the sound of their hooves drowned out the horns, and the torrent of three thousand iron cavalry continued to surge southward.

At the same time, a patch of firelight lit up the walls of the central and northern camps.

Meanwhile, three miles away, on the Xiajiaying lookout tower.

Wen Ding - Qing Shan stood by the fence, still half-closing his eyes.

The morning breeze lifted the hem of his civil official robe, revealing a finely crafted chainmail underneath.

The robe was embroidered with a white heron, indicating the rank of a fifth-grade military advisor.

His game ID is Qingshan, and he is the vice president of the Wending Guild. In this instance, his role is a military advisor under Li Jinglong's army. He is not a high-ranking officer, but Li Jinglong trusts him.

Li Jinglong's reason for trusting Qingshan was simple: Qingshan never made a mistake.

He was holding a pocket watch in his hand at that moment.

Pocket watches are not a product of this era, but in games, these kinds of small items that do not affect the balance of combat will not be blocked by the system.

The hands on the clock face pointed to 3:45 AM. Exactly 45 minutes had passed since the Yan army breached the west gate of Baojia Camp.

"Half as fast as planned." The man in the green robe closed his pocket watch, his voice low, as if talking to himself. He turned to a man in a centurion's armor beside him and said, "Baojiaying fell too quickly."

Standing next to him was not a mountain or a river.

Shanhe was still in Jinan assisting Sheng Yong with defenses and was not currently on the front lines in Dezhou. Standing next to him was another core member of the Wending Guild.

The game ID "问鼎-妙算" (Wen Ding - Miao Suan) is the logistics advisor of the Dezhou Guard in the dungeon, responsible for the allocation of food supplies and the coordination of orders between the various camps of the Twelve Linked Cities.

As his name suggests, Miaosuan had the fair complexion of a scholar and spoke slowly and deliberately.

"The original plan was to keep Iron Axe at Baojia Camp for at least an hour."

Miao Suan frowned and said,

"In less than half an hour, the west gate was blown open, the watchtower was destroyed, and now Baojia Camp has fallen. It is estimated that Tiefu is also in dire straits."

The bombing of Ximen used what appears to be a powerful oil canister, not a regular gunpowder pack.

"Use the oil tanker as an explosive device." The man in the green robe repeated, a slight smile playing on his lips, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

"When will Zhu Neng come up with a fresh idea?"

But it doesn't matter. Baojiaying was just bait anyway. Whether it's broken sooner or later won't affect the overall situation.

The trap has been set. Chen Heng's three thousand cavalry are trapped between the central camp and the northern camp, while the Chen family camp and the half-camp have blocked their retreat.

Zhu Di's most capable vanguard fell into a trap; these three thousand men couldn't get out, and the Yan army couldn't hold their ground at the walls of Dezhou.

Immediately afterwards, the man in the green robe pulled a blank sheet of paper from his sleeve, picked up a pen, and wrote a few lines on it. His handwriting was neat and precise, not a single word was altered.

"Brilliant plan! You personally take this military report to Dezhou City and present it to Li Jinglong in person."

The man in green blew the order paper dry, folded it, and handed it over. "Tell the general that the Twelve Linked Cities Pocket Formation is complete, and the Yan army's vanguard of three thousand is surrounded. It is expected that they will be completely annihilated before noon."

"Please remain calm in the city and await news of victory."

Miao Suan took the order and was about to turn around when Qing Shan added another sentence.

"Wait a minute. Also, I'd like to mention to the General that there's a leader in the Yan army's city-breaking camp who fights fiercely. Please keep an eye on the defenses on the south side of the Twelve Linked Cities, just in case."

"The south side?" Miao Suan paused slightly, "The Yan army's vanguard is blocked in the north, and Zhu Neng's main force is still at Baojia Camp. What could possibly happen on the south side?"

"It's best to avoid any unforeseen circumstances." The man in the green robe put down his pen. "But in war, it's always good to be prepared for the worst. Go."

Miaosuan didn't ask any more questions, cupped his hands in greeting, and quickly descended from the observation platform.

A moment later, a fast horse galloped out of the south gate of Xiajiaying and sped away along the official road leading to Dezhou City.

Texas City. The General's Headquarters.

Li Jinglong sat in the grand chair in the center of the White Tiger Hall, with a general map of Dezhou's defenses spread out on the table in front of him.

He circled the twelve cities on the map with cinnabar ink, and labeled each circle with the name of the defending general and the number of troops. Judging from this map alone, Dezhou's defenses seemed impregnable.

But in Li Jinglong's eyes, every stroke of cinnabar on this picture was trembling.

He was in his early forties, with fair skin and three long, meticulously trimmed wisps of beard under his chin.

The armor was a rhinoceros hide armor bestowed by the emperor, the waist was adorned with a Longquan sword bestowed by the emperor, and the feet were shod in deerskin boots bestowed by the emperor.

From head to toe, everything was bestowed by the emperor; from head to toe, nothing belonged to the battlefield.

After the Baigou River incident, he dreamed of the same scene every night: Yan cavalry charging out from the flank, with Zhu Di himself riding a black horse, his long sword dripping with blood.

Then he would wake up, covered in cold sweat, and unable to fall back asleep.

"Report—!" came the voice of the central army outside the hall, "Military Advisor Song from Xia Family Camp urgently requests an audience!"

Li Jinglong's right eyelid twitched. "Send it quickly."

The messenger knelt on one knee in the hall, presenting the military report in a blue robe with both hands.

Li Jinglong took it, peeled off the sealing wax, read two lines, and the muscles on his face visibly relaxed.

"Good." He placed the military report on the table, his voice tinged with barely suppressed pleasure.

"The green robe has indeed lived up to my expectations."

The pocket formation is complete; the Yan army's vanguard is surrounded. They can be annihilated by noon. Good, very good.

The generals under his command all breathed a sigh of relief and offered their congratulations.

Only Qu Neng, the commander of Liaodong, stood beside the pillar, his brows furrowed in a knot.

Qu Neng is from Shandong Province and is fifty-six years old this year. He has been fighting for half his life.

During the Hongwu era, he led troops in the campaign against Yunnan with Mu Ying, and he also led troops in suppressing the Doyan rebellion.

His face was dark red, with two patches of rough skin on his cheekbones, blown out by the north wind. Standing among a group of pale-faced scholars and imperial generals, he looked like a stone moved from the mountains.

"General," Qu Neng spoke, his voice low but steady, "I believe that, for the sake of safety, we should send another detachment of troops to assist in the defense of the passage between Bao Family Camp and Chen Family Camp."

Li Jinglong's brows, which had just relaxed, furrowed again.

"General Qu, the military report has already made it very clear. The ambush is complete, and the 3,000 Yan troops are surrounded. It's only a matter of time before they are annihilated. At this point, dividing our forces to assist in the defense would only disrupt our plans."

"What I'm worried about isn't the three thousand men who are surrounded," Qu Neng said, taking a step forward.

"What I'm worried about is what if someone attacks from the inside and tears the opening open?"

"The general knows the terrain of the Twelve Cities better than I do—the Bao family camp is in the northwest corner, the Chen family camp blocks the retreat, but the main force of the Chen family camp is all concentrated in the north. If the Yan army doesn't retreat from the north, but instead attacks south—"

"South?" Li Jinglong chuckled. "South of that lies the depths of the Twelve Linked Cities, and further south is Dezhou City. Are you saying the Yan army would abandon their retreat route and instead venture into our heartland? Isn't that suicide?"