By the riverbanks, torches lit up the forest, and under their glow, the shimmering river reflected a captivating light in the night, like countless diamonds dancing.

The shadows of swaying trees and the joined silhouettes of people were mirrored on the river, swaying with the ripples.

"Quickly, everyone move faster for me."

After Chen Mo gave the order, the Centurion had the troops don their armor two by two, passing the command to the Decurion, who urged the common soldiers below.

The Personal Guard Battalion and Divine Brave Guard were the best-disciplined units in the army; no one fell behind the pace. From giving the order to completing the armor-wearing, it took only a quarter of an hour.

"Sun Meng." Chen Mo said.

"Here, sir," Sun Meng respectfully answered.

"Take the Personal Guard Battalion and sneak to the rear of Xiaotian Town. In one hour, I'll lead the rest from the front to attack. Your task is to prevent anyone inside the town from escaping through the back door to inform the Huai Army." Chen Mo ordered.

Xiaotian Town, according to Liu Ji, was very small. It was more than enough to reach the town's rear in an hour.

"Yes," Sun Meng replied in a deep voice.

...

Inside Xiaotian Town, the main general Xiao Shou, who was in charge, had already gone to bed. On the table lay a map of the surrounding area, but it was so old that it was practically useless. Instead, they relied on oral accounts from the county's elders to modify and redraft the routes.

Xiao Shou, a young member from a collateral branch of the Xiao Family and a Seventh-Grade Martial Artist, had been sent to guard Xiaotian Town just for appearances, to gild his reputation.

Due to the remote location of Xiaotian Town, the military didn't pay much attention, sending only a thousand men to defend it. Naturally, Xiao Shou had become lax as well.

After all, if an enemy army really came, they'd attack a valuable place like Huainan County rather than Xiaotian Town, which would be pointless.

Regardless of any war, seizing the initiative is crucial.

For a town without any strategic value, losing the initiative was simply not worth it.

"Bang..."

At that moment, a booming sound came from afar, shaking the cup off the table, shattering it into pieces.

Then came the thunderous drumbeats, like countless wild beasts charging.

Xiao Shou suddenly awoke, flipping over and sitting up on his bed.

Outside the room, hurried footsteps approached, and soon the door was being pounded repeatedly.

"General, it's not good, there's a thief in the city!"

"What?!"

Hearing this, Xiao Shou panicked, grabbing his sword from the side, without putting on his armor, and quickly walked out of the room, angrily shouting at the reporting soldier: "Where did the thieves in Xiaotian Town come from?"

Dum, dum, dum——

At this moment, even thicker war drums sounded chaotically from outside.

"General, it's... it's not good."

Another soldier rushed over, tripping in his haste without seeing the path, but ignoring the pain, crawled to Xiao Shou: "It's not good, General, it's the Chen Army crossing from the other side!"

Hearing this, if Xiao Shou was panicked before, now he was trembling from the depths of his heart.

The Chen Army, that was a force even the Prince had headaches dealing with.

How could he not be afraid?

But before he could give orders on what to do, a team of his personal soldiers ran in with horror on their faces, saying: "General, it's not good, the Chen Army has already started attacking, the people outside can't hold on, General, we must retreat."

Meanwhile, outside Xiao Shou's residence, cries of slaughter and wails echoed.

Hearing these, Xiao Shou turned pale. He was only here to "gild" his reputation, not to risk his life for this broken county town.

"Retreat, quickly retreat."

Xiao Shou didn't let anyone pack anything; grabbing his sword, he made a quick turn towards the back door.

The personal soldiers quickly followed.

Although Xiao Shou was lax in defending Xiaotian Town, he was quite familiar with its layout.

Using his knowledge of the town's layout, Xiao Shou and more than ten personal soldiers managed to avoid detection by the already infiltrating Chen Army, sneaking to the rear city gate to open it and slip away out of town.

Just as Xiao Shou thought he had escaped disaster, a large group of shadows emerged from both sides of the path after a short distance.

"Don't move."

"Put down your weapons and squat down."

"Surrender and you won't be killed!"

Sun Meng, leading the Personal Guard Battalion, surrounded Xiao Shou and his dozen or so men.

Soon, Chen Mo, arriving with reinforcements, captured Xiao Shou and his men, escorting them back into town and locking them up.

Then, Chen Mo ordered the Divine Brave Guard to seal off the entire town, forbidding anyone to enter or exit.

From attacking to sealing Xiaotian Town, Chen Mo took less than half an hour.

The gates of Xiaotian Town were truly vulnerable; Chen Mo didn't even need to use fire bombs, kicking them open instead.

Most ridiculously, the guards on the city wall were sleeping, only realizing when Chen Mo broke into the city, causing a panic as they scrambled behind cover, looking for helmets and weapons like bows and crossbows, but it was clearly too late.

With one ordered volley, these guards were terrified, either fleeing or surrendering.

The operation was incredibly smooth, capturing over 500 Huai soldiers, with Divine Brave Guard's casualties being less than a hundred.

However, Chen Mo's goal was not this remote Xiaotian Town; his ultimate target was still Huainan County.

He instructed Sun Meng to personally return to Xunwang City to bring over the large force.

After crossing the river, they wouldn't land at Xiaotian Town but would head directly to attack Huainan County.

Xiaotian Town Government Office was brightly lit.

At the end of June, even at night, it was sweltering.

Chen Mo and the Centurions encircled a table with a hand-drawn map in the center, which had just been seized.

"There's a mountain trail here; we can take this route to the rear of Huainan County, and when the main force arrives, we can attack from front and back to take Huainan County," Liu Ji said.

But Chen Mo shook his head: "Since it's a major town, the walls won't be like those at Xiaotian Town. In siege warfare, attack with tenfold force. With our troops plus the main force, even if we take Huainan Town, the cost in casualties would be too great and not worth it."

"So, Marquis, your opinion is..." Liu Ji's pupils shrank, then he exclaimed: "Attack their reinforcements?!"

Chen Mo glanced at Liu Ji, admiringly saying: "Indeed, a person that even Prince Huai can send to Jiangdong as an envoy has some skills."

Then he continued: "Once Huainan County is attacked, they'll definitely seek aid from Wuguan, North House, and other counties. I will intercept them on their relief route."

Chen Mo heavily slapped the table.

The importance of speed in warfare cannot be overstated.

The next morning, after conducting field reconnaissance, Chen Mo left 500 troops to seal off Xiaotian Town, preventing information from leaking and also guarding the defectors.

He then led the remaining troops and Liu Ji through the mountain path towards the rear of Huainan County.

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