A journey of about a 1,000 kilometers would require the steppe nomads to travel for more than ten days, or even more than 20 days. Only then could they ensure that they had enough energy to fight when they arrived at the Central Plains.

When Yan Liuyuan headed south to the Central Plains this time, all of the tribes' elderly, women, and children remained behind on the steppe. Most of their livestock was also left there.

Of the women, only Xiaoyu went along with them. They did not even bring Tsetseg along.

Hassan suggested that his master bring Tsetseg along so there would be someone to take care of his daily needs on the journey. However, Yan Liuyuan rejected him. He knew many people would die in this war.

This time, Yan Liuyuan carefully counted the number of men the imperial court could send out to battle. There were only about 10,000 of them in total.

There were a lot more men initially. However, due to the internal strife on the grasslands over the years, and the deaths of a group of people led by Bulan Zir and Kirghiz Yan when they attacked Stronghold 176, the number of people he could send out seemed much fewer.

But that was not important. Their main fighting force this time was not the nomads but the wolves.

The Wolf King had already scouted ahead with the wolf pack as the advance guard. It was they who Yan Liuyuan truly relied upon.

As for the prewar mobilization, Yan Liuyuan also chose the most suitable way to rally the nomads. After the war was over, he would choose ten of the bravest warriors and bestow blood wine upon them.

This was the greatest encouragement for his believers. On one hand, they could obtain the power bestowed by the gods, and on the other hand, they could obtain the recognition of higher powers.

There was no proclamation of promises to protect whoever. Yan Liuyuan's method to control these nomads had always been simple and crude.

If it were too complicated, they might not understand it either.

Actually, the nomads had indirectly contributed to the war in the Central Plains. The nomads had launched the initial attack on Stronghold 176. After they took down the stronghold, they raided a portion of their food supplies and most of their small arms, such as pistols, automatic rifles, grenades, heavy machine guns, and so on.

Later, when the Wang Consortium took over operation of Stronghold 176, they did not seem to have any intention of defending it for the long term. They did not even replenish Stronghold 176's ammunition depot.

Then, when the expeditionary army attacked the stronghold, the Wang Consortium's troops received the order to retreat once the city was breached. When they left, they definitely had to take their firearms with them.

Therefore, the weapons the barbarians had obtained by the time they invaded the stronghold were not much at all. At most, they only managed to get their hands on some of the guns lying next to the corpses of the Wang Consortium troops. But even so, those weapons were almost out of ammo.

There was also some artillery left behind. But when the Wang Consortium's troops pulled out, they used explosives to blow up the cannon barrels. Actually, even if they did not blow up the barrels, the barbarians would not be able to find any artillery shells to use.

It was a very awkward situation. Therefore, the expeditionary army did not have as much firepower as the Pyro Company thought.

That was why P5092 had some doubts when he fought the barbarians. From the strategy that the barbarians used to lure the Pyro Company into advancing, the expeditionary army was prepared right from the start to use their elderly in place of their able-bodied troops on the battlefield to bait them in.

But since the expeditionary army had obtained firearms from Stronghold 176, why did they plan from early on to give up that forest as a ruse to lure them in? Wouldn't it have been better to just defend the forest?

P5092 vaguely felt that something was off, but he could not figure out what it was at that time.

But in fact, it was because the barbarians did not get their hands on that many firearms. The expeditionary army also knew full well that the firearms they had were not enough to give the Pyro Company a tough time. In the end, they would still have to rely on their own tactics.

Right from the beginning, the expeditionary army had never thought of using those firearms to achieve anything great.

It was not that they looked down on the use of firearms but that they despised the quantity of firearms they had.

…

At this moment, the battle at Mt. Zuoyun had just started. The gunfire from the defensive position was intense. As the 6th Combat Brigade had the upper hand in this battle due to their high vantage point, the heavy machine guns' suppressive fire kept the barbarians pinned.

Just as P5092 had said, if the 6,000 soldiers of the 6th Combat Brigade did not have the advantage of the environment and terrain, they would definitely be overrun by the expeditionary army.

But now that they had forced the expeditionary army to come to them, and with their terrain advantage, he was confident he could take on 60,000 hostiles with 6,000 troops!

This was a ten-for-one deal. In P5092's opinion, it was totally worth it.

P5092 said, "All forces, hide behind your cover carefully. Be very careful of the enemy's artillery attacks."

But when he voiced his concerns, a soldier next to Wang Run said, "Don't worry, the barbarians don't have any artillery, so this strategy is feasible."

P5092 frowned. "Explain?"

"When our Wang Consortium troops pulled out of Stronghold 176, they destroyed all the arty there," the soldier said.

P5092 was stunned. "Then why didn't you mention this when the Pyro Company exchanged intel with the Wang Consortium?"

Wang Run said awkwardly, "Let's not harp on the past at this time. We're all in the same boat now. If you can't hold the position, the seven of us will die as well. Don't worry, there won't be any more situations where we don't share our intel again."

P5092 said coldly, "Who knows if the Wang Consortium even cares what your seven names are? Based on what the Wang Consortium has done, it shouldn't be a difficult choice for them to sacrifice the seven of you, right?"

Wang Run did not say anything else, while P5092 focused on observing the situation on the battlefield.

Right now, the expeditionary army was still only in the probing phase of their attacks, so it was a good time for P5092 to shore up any weaknesses in their defense. No commander could plan everything perfectly right at the beginning of a battle, and everyone would have to make tactical adjustments during the course of the fighting.

P5092 suddenly realized there were a total of four mountain paths below that led up to the defensive position. Four paths were too many, and this might cause the defensive position to collapse under the pressure if the expeditionary army pressed down on them with a large number of troops.

In other words, they could not kill that many barbarians in one fell swoop. Instead, they would get attacked by the enemy's forlorn hopes who would sacrifice their lives in exchange for the expeditionary army's victory.

Based on P5092's understanding of the expeditionary army, it was very likely they would do that.

He said to Ji Zi'ang standing nearby, "Can you make that mountain collapse within the hour to seal off a passage the expeditionary army might use to attack?"

Ji Zi'ang looked at the towering mountain peak and said awkwardly, "I'm afraid it's too late for me to make such a large mountain collapse with my power."

P5092 frowned. It looked like they would have to increase their firepower in advance. But in doing so, they might not have enough ammunition to last the battle.

But then the soldier next to Wang Run who had just spoken said, "With your power, you don't have to blow up the entire mountain."

With that, he took out an automatic rifle and casually fired 12 shots at the mountain. Then he said to Ji Zi'ang, "You just need to make those 12 points turn to sand on a horizontal plane, and the mountain will collapse in on itself. Moreover, the direction at which the mountain will collapse will block the expeditionary army's path."

When the others heard this, they were stunned. It could even be done that way?

Ren Xiaosu looked at the profile of the soldier. He had confirmed his identity.