Chen Mo had already transferred all elite weapons to Linzhou.

After occupying Linzhou, Chen Mo ordered the establishment of two large granaries on both the north and south sides of Linzhou, each storing 500,000 shi of grain, in preparation for launching attacks on Jiangdong and Huai State.

As the saying goes, know yourself and your enemy, and in a hundred battles you will never be in peril.

Chen Mo likes to analyze from both the advantages and disadvantages.

What are the advantages of the Huai Army?

More extensive combat experience, having been through the fires of battle many times, possibly having been in the military for a dozen or twenty years, and having been engaged in warfare recently, thus in terms of experience, definitely stronger than the Chen Army, which was formed only a few years ago.

What are our advantages?

Well-equipped, possessing such powerful weapons as the Divine Arm Crossbow and Pottery Bomb.

Also holding the initiative, as Chen Mo had Liu Ji, who understood Prince Huai's defense layout, besides which, for now, the troops of Huai State did not know that Chen Mo intended to attack Huai State.

Another major advantage is that our troops have trained together for a long time and are quite familiar with each other.

What are the disadvantages?

The navy and infantry from the Wu Family have not yet merged with the Chen Army.

Also, the Wu Army has been stable for too long, with rarely any battlefield engagements, so the overall combat strength might not match that of Chen Mo's Xianzhen Guard.

Therefore, even though the current situation is quite urgent, Chen Mo cannot immediately take the main force to attack Huai State; there needs to be targeted training for the integration of the two armies.

Chen Mo had the Wu Army join the training of the Five Guards (Divine Courage, Divine Martial, Xianzhen, Fish Scale, Xiaoqi), and Lv Tong agreed with pleasure.

Thus, the two armies began high-intensity training that lasted several days.

Of course, time was tight, and Chen Mo could not have them train endlessly. After five days of intensive training, seeing that their coordination was starting to take shape, military orders were orderly, and the whole army's operation was a bit sluggish but already quite impressive.

Chen Mo ordered the main force to rest for two days. During these two days, Chen Mo had his people slaughter pigs and sheep, letting the entire army eat to their fill and satisfaction.

Afterwards, Chen Mo had Sun Meng spread the news that Linzhou's troops were gathering at Qiantang.

Chen Mo had already sealed off Celestial River to prevent the news of his marriage to Wu Mi from spreading.

Additionally, Chen Mo had all the merchant ships in Linzhou assembled and docked on the south bank of Linzhou, and had Nangong Wen convert some of the warships into merchant ships.

...

June 24th, Tenth Year of Xuanhe.

Chen Mo brought the Personal Guard Battalion to the strategic town of Xunwang City on the south bank of Linzhou, having the Personal Guard Battalion and five thousand Divine Brave Guards board the merchant ships, ambushing them in the cabins.

It's worth noting, the overall scale of the merchant ships was in no way inferior to warships, perhaps even larger, though their speed and sturdiness did not compare to warships.

Afterwards, Chen Mo ordered all ship workers on the deck, who were to row and set sail, to wear ordinary hemp clothing, no armor, and had Sun Meng disguise himself as a merchant, proceeding towards Huai State along the river.

Upon returning to Linzhou, Chen Mo temporarily halted the caravans heading to Huai State, resulting in a suspension of what was originally large-scale trade for nearly half a month.

Adding to this, Chen Mo used familiar faces from the trading caravans as ship workers, such that along the way, Huai State's patrols were not alerted; instead, all sentries, including the stationed soldiers, were "completely subdued."

On this point, Chen Mo actually had to thank Prince Huai.

In order to avoid raising his guard and knowing he wanted to attack Qingzhou, Prince Huai did not interrupt the commercial activities between Huai State and Linzhou, even in June, the two states still carried on trading.

Thus, this led to the Huai State garrison troops having no knowledge of such a massive military action by Chen Mo.

On June 25th, in theory, the ships were supposed to dock at "Huainan County," where the water is deep, and docks were built.

However, Chen Mo had the fleet change course to "Xiaotian Town."

On deck, Liu Ji, holding a cane, said to Chen Mo, "Huainan County and Xiaotian Town are both riverfront towns on the north bank of Huai State. Any merchant ship coming from the north intending to go to Huai State has to dock at Huainan County because the water there is deep, and for safety reasons, Huainan County gradually became a strategic town. Although I don't know how many troops are stationed there, as long as Prince Huai isn't a fool, he surely placed heavy guards there.

Marquis, although you have successfully crossed the river, hoping to capture Huainan County with such a small force is impossible. Furthermore, if Huainan County is attacked, the nearby counties like 'Wuguan,' 'North House,' etc., can immediately come to its aid. Xiaotian Town is different; it is remote, surrounded by shoals, the water flow is gentle, and it is surrounded by mountains on three sides, with a small scale of only about three hundred households. The city walls of the county are remnants from the previous dynasty, now just an earth mound left; the city gate is a mere gap without a lintel, making it the easiest to capture.

Even if there are troops stationed there, they wouldn't be many."

As the words fell, Chen Mo hadn't yet spoken, when Sun Meng remarked, "If it's shoals, then our ships can't dock there."

"Indeed the ships can't, but people can. The water at Xiaotian Town is calm; once it's dark, you can go ashore and swim straight over, sneak into the forests on either side, and the sentries on shore won't detect us. Once everyone is ashore, taking Xiaotian Town will be easy." Liu Ji confidently said.

Chen Mo said nothing, believing seeing is believing, and only after seeing the geographic terrain himself would he make a decision.

The result was exactly as Liu Ji described. To avoid being detected by the shore sentries, Chen Mo went to scout alone.

He found that the terrain surrounding Xiaotian Town formed a concave shape, and Xiaotian Town was positioned right at that concave point.

...

That night, there was no moon.

The fleet stopped at the deeper waters of the river outside Xiaotian Town.

"Splash, splash..."

A dozen soldiers adept in swimming jumped off the ship, making their way towards the forested hills on the right side of Xiaotian Town.

Among these soldiers, two were Grade-Entering Martial Artists, each holding a long hemp rope, with one end tied to the ship's mast.

After reaching the shore and entering the forest, they tied the other end of the hemp rope to a tree trunk and then made a torch and lit it.

Under the silence of the night, especially concealed by the surrounding trees, the flame of a single torch was unlikely to draw attention.

At the bow, Chen Mo saw a flicker of light in the distance and waved his hand: "Into the water."

"Into the water," Sun Meng and the personal soldiers conveyed the order one by one.

"Splash, splash..."

Each soldier, removing their armor, jumped into the water from the ship.

Those who couldn't swim sank quickly when they hit the water, but soon they resurfaced and, aided by fellow swimmers nearby, clung to the hemp rope across the river and swam towards the spot where the torch was lit.

It wasn't until midnight that all the soldiers from the ship got ashore.

Finally, they made rafts to transport the armor across.

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