Rumors had long spread that the King of Bei Xiang was gravely ill and nearing the end of his strength. The civil unrest in Bei Xiang could settle at any moment, and once it did, there was a high chance they would join the war. If that happened, the current siege by seven nations would become eight.
At that point, Tian Sheng would find it even harder to hold the line.
Even within Tian Sheng itself, prolonged warfare risked unraveling the realm from within.
Over the past two to three years, Tian Sheng had finally begun to recover. Development had accelerated, and the common folk had started to enjoy stable, peaceful lives. No general truly loyal to Tian Sheng would wish to see that progress shattered.
General Wei Yuan extended a single finger, pointing to the locations where battle was currently raging.
"If we want to break through this stalemate swiftly, we must make Annan fear us. Terrify them so thoroughly they dare not step one foot further into Yongzhou. Only then can we free our forces to reinforce other critical fronts."
"But the soldiers from Annan won't even fight us properly!"
A vice general voiced the key concern on everyone's minds.
"They're slippery, like eels coated in oil. If they lose, they run. They use hit-and-run tactics, hiding in the forests and mountains.
Annan is filled with dense terrain, and their troops are highly skilled in guerrilla warfare. Our men are unfamiliar with the landscape and untrained in that style of combat…"
Guerrilla warfare?
What a rare phrase to hear here.
Yun Shu propped her chin in her palm, her thoughts beginning to drift at the unfamiliar term. Fortunately, General Wei Yuan's voice was thunderous enough to snap her back to attention.
"If we're unfamiliar with the terrain, then we must find ways to learn it.
They cross into our territory again and again, harassing us before fleeing. Why can't we send men to sneak in, map the terrain, and retreat before they're discovered?"
"That's easier said than done."
The former commanding general of Yongzhou shook his head with a grim expression.
"The forests are vast. Even setting aside whether our men could finish surveying them in a short time, simply entering those woods is no easy task.
Annan is well aware that the forests are their greatest advantage. They have stationed guards all along the outer edges.
Anyone we send would be walking into a trap. They wouldn't return.
Unless we commit to a brute-force strategy, sacrificing tens of thousands of soldiers to feel out every inch of that terrain, it cannot be done."
"Then what if we set the forest ablaze?"
A deputy brought from the capital offered a bold idea.
"If they love hiding in the trees so much, let them stay in there permanently!"
"That will not work either."
Another Yongzhou vice general shook his head with a sigh.
"These forests are densely packed. Setting a fire is easy. Putting it out is not.
If the flames remain within Annan's borders, it would be of no concern to us.
But the forest connects to a cliff and mountain range within Yongzhou territory. Men cannot scale those peaks, but fire can spread freely.
If we light the forest, we risk burning all of Yongzhou alongside it."
"A cliffside mountain?"
Until now, Yun Shu had quietly listened from the side. Only now did she speak.
"You mean to say, there's a cliff within our territory? And at the bottom of that cliff lies the forest we've been discussing?"
"…Yes."
Caught off guard by the sudden question, the vice general of Yongzhou paused before stepping forward to gesture at the map.
"The cliff lies here. The section of the forest we need to infiltrate is over here.
The area General Wang just mentioned, where the Annan forces have concentrated their outer guards, is roughly along this region."
"This formation…"
Yun Shu studied the map in silence for a moment, then smiled.
"Then if one could appear directly inside the forest, would that not solve both problems?
"We could scout the terrain and ambush the Annan troops from behind."
The officers in the tent fell into stunned silence.
So the Crown Princess really hadn't been speaking in modesty earlier. She truly didn't know a thing about warfare.
Now, out of nowhere, she had begun offering wild suggestions. Were they about to witness an amateur meddling in military affairs?
The vice general of Yongzhou offered a polite yet awkward smile.
"Your Highness, what you suggest is not without merit. However, if we cannot first break through the outer perimeter, how can we enter the forest?
"The cliff you mentioned is extremely high. Scaling it is beyond human strength.
Even a master of the highest tier of qinggong would fall to their death attempting to leap from it."
So we can't climb down. Nor can we jump."
Yun Shu nodded thoughtfully, then asked with complete seriousness.
"What if we fly?"
"…"
The entire command tent blinked in confusion.
They were soldiers, not birds. How were they supposed to fly?
While the generals from Yongzhou were still trying to process her words, General Wei Yuan—long familiar with Yun Shu's strange inventions—suddenly lit up.
"Your Highness… have you perhaps built that flying carriage You once spoke of?"
"Not quite."
Yun Shu shook her head.
"That is far too advanced. Beyond my current capabilities. However, I can create a device that allows people to glide from the cliff into the forest. The only question is… do you need it?"
"Of course we need it!" At first, General Wei Yuan had looked a little disappointed to hear she had not built a flying carriage. But after her next sentence, his excitement reignited.
"May I ask, how many people can this device carry at a time?
If we wish to send an entire battalion of ten thousand, would that be possible?"
"…Excuse me?"
Ten thousand?
Yun Shu's eyes widened.
Absolutely not.
She shook her head firmly.
"The device is rather large. Sending that many at once would certainly attract attention.
At most, we can send a small team of elite soldiers. And even then, I will need skilled craftsmen from Yongzhou to assist me.
The group of artisans I requested from the Ministry of Works has yet to arrive from the capital."
"That is easily arranged!"
While it was a pity that they could not send an entire army, even a small elite unit would be enough to resolve their most urgent concerns.
Without hesitation, General Wei Yuan ordered the guards to search the city for capable craftsmen. By the end of the day, they had gathered over two dozen highly skilled woodworkers.
Time was short. Yun Shu did not waste any preparing faulty schematics to slowly walk the craftsmen through correction, as she had done in the past.
This time, she handed them the completed blueprint for an unpowered glider.
The design itself was not overly complex, but it had to be crafted entirely by hand. Even so, the craftsmen managed to finish all fifteen gliders in half a month.
During that time, General Wei Yuan and the other commanders visited the workshop frequently, sometimes checking in several times a day.
And even when all fifteen gliders were completed, none of them could quite believe their eyes.