Battle Royale of the Sinners 157 Forced March

September 2nd.

1 AM.

Tong's 30,000 soldiers continued marching even though it was pass-midnight. Torches in the hands of soldiers made a long dragon line, and the road was illuminated by the torchlight.

Tong and Jia Xu did not walk like the soldiers, they had their own private horses.

As they were heading south, Jia Xu explained his thought.

"This forced march has two goals and one backup plan."

"First is the primary goal, we have to race against time! Liu Ping will also move his troops to this city as it's the best city to garrison large forces. The wall is also higher than the neighbor cities in this province, and he can also use this city as the center of his logistic supply chain."

"Since that eunuch came to our city a couple days ago, I estimated that he should have gotten the edict on early August, which means Liu Ping should have already prepared his troops and he should be ready by now. His first wave of troops should arrive at Ji within a month at the latest. So, we have to claim the city and stabilize the order before his troops arrive."

"Second goal, because we lack information from Zhang He, this rapid march will confirm Zhang He's stances and the capability of Han Fu."

"By now, Han Fu should have received the edict from Liu Ping to mobilize his army. Because of the drought, it will take him two months to gather enough provision for his army."

"He has a total of 40,000 elite infantries at the moment, but he can draft another 100,000 militias from the city population if he really wants to. Judging from his personality, if he's inept as the report said, he won't conscript the militia because he lacks food at the moment."

"As for his military commanders, only a few individuals that can pose a threat on us, Xin Ping, Ju Shou, and Zhang He."

"From all reports, Zhang He is a talented young general. He will definitely notice our troops approaching Ye City in two to three days."

"If Zhang He wants to switch side to us, he will get in the way of the sortie or won't intercept our army midway. Even if there's an interception or a sortie unit, it will be from Xin Ping or Ju Shou Army, which we can handle them easily. Ju Shou and Xin Ping are civil officers, and all our intel said that only Zhang He possesses cavalries. Their troops will be as slow as us."

"However, in the worst case scenario where Zhang He decides to double-cross us, we will see him and his cavalries in the interception. In this case, we will use our backup plan."

Jia Xu stopped speaking to catch his breath and drank water from his bamboo canteen.

Tong asked. "What's the backup plan?"

Jia Xu smiled and laughed. "We'll flee. What else do you think?"

The corner of Tong's mouth twitched. It was that simple?

"What if Zhang He decides to pursue us? What will be your next move?"

"It's not my next move, it's YOUR next move. I will have you soak all villages, forests, farms, and trees with your magic oil. Then we'll burn everything as we retreat."

The face of Tong lost color as he realized, there was a reason why people nicknamed him the venomous strategist. He would not hesitate to utilize anything to achieve his goals.

This forced march, as well, would cause some damage to the soldiers' morale. They would be so tired that they could get a stroke or a heart-attack midway. In addition, there was a high chance for desertion if they gave up on Tong and Jia Xu.

The infamous vicious strategist gave Tong a sneak peek of his fangs.

Tong calmed himself down.

'If it's someone like Zhuge Liang, Sima Yi, or Zhou Yu, those guys are hybrid minister-strategist-military-commander, they would connect this battle results with long term goals. But Jia Xu only cares about winning the war and leaving the rest of the aftermath cleaning up to me.'
'It's alright. Jia Xu is a pure strategist who focuses on battle efficiency.'
'Get Ye City first. I'll worry about the rest later.'

…

7 PM.

The pace of the march got slower as the troops could not handle it anymore. They had not slept last night and their feet and their legs hurt. Everyone was on the verge of collapsing at any moment.

Last night, they were simply walking, which they could handle. However, once the sun rose, Jia Xu ordered everyone to jog and quicken the pace. It was fortunate that all of them had been taught to run at least 2 hours every morning in the army camp, or else, they would have vomited or fainted already.

Fortunately, all of them were traveling light as they were neither wearing armors nor carrying weapons. As a result, they managed to outlast the forced march without sleeping for a night.

"ALL TROOPS! STOP MARCHING! YOU CAN REST FOR TONIGHT!" Jia Xu shouted.

Gazing at Jia Xu in disbelief, all soldiers cheered in collapsed on the ground. The stronger one tried to cut woods to make camp.

"Don't bother making camps! All of us will sleep on the ground for today. Tomorrow, we will resume marching all night again! Get a good sleep while you can!"

Jia Xu's second command shocked Tong and the entire army. Marching non-stop for 24 hours was already difficult, going for another 36 hours marathon would definitely be hell.

"I'm so sorry, my lord. We are racing against time. If we don't do this, Sun Jian will notice us before we can get close to Ye. By now, I think they should have received Liu Ping's edict, too. It's better if we can avoid any unnecessary fight on our way."

A bitter smile appeared on Tong's face.

"Alright, I'll do something to help the soldiers."

Tong thought of a herb that could relieve the muscle pain and boost a bit of their morale. He snapped his fingers.

"[Create Food], peppermint leaves."

A gigantic pile of green mint leaves appeared on the empty ground. The thick soothing aroma of mint made the soldiers looked at Tong with great attention.

"You there, take these leaves and distribute to everyone. For starter, crush a few of these leaves and rub it on your sore muscles or feet. If you have times, boil these leaves with water and fill your canteen with it. They can be used as a herbal tea! You can also rub your swollen feet with the leaves or the tea to ease the pain."

Soldiers, who could still walk, rushed in and took as many leaves they could with their clothes. Once they got back to their friends in the same platoon, they crushed the leaves as instructed.

Cooling aroma spread all over. The soldiers instinctively inhaled the smell as it soothed their spirit.

Some managed to gather enough strength to gather woods and boil water. They threw the leaves into the boiling water, and more mint aroma intensified.

Jia Xu also sobered from the intense mint smell. He also took two handfuls of leaves for himself to boil a tea.

"Ah, it feels so good."
"Wow, it's cold."

The effect began to show. Soldiers lied down on the ground and were calmed by the smell. It did not take long for them to fall asleep.

"We're not patrolling or guarding at all, huh?" Tong bemused.

"You have the sight of the gods. You can take the role as a sentry if you want to." Jia Xu muttered and returned to sleep.

It would be a lie if Tong said he was not tired. He also lied down on his back and looked at his radar map.

The 24 hours forced march showed a result as they had traveled 60km south in a day instead of the regular marching of 15 to 20km a day.

In the regular marching, they wore armors and carried their own weapons. They had to construct a camp before the sunset, arrange sentries, and protect the provision logistic wagons along the way. Furthermore, the roads were scarce and they were not paved in cement. The army sometimes had to trek over obstacles, such as farmlands and forests, which slowed down their paces.

Without any of the task in this journey and the entire day of non-stop walking, they moved three times faster.

In Tong's radar map, Ye City was only 80 kilometers away. A few more days of a regular marching would be more than enough.

'So this is why Julius Caesar often forced marched his troops. This swift movement distance comparing with the time consumed is insane!'
'The quality of my soldiers aren't at that level yet. Julius Caesar did 140km a day without a system cheat while we can barely make 60km.'
'Our movement speed is still too slow comparing to those legends.'
'We don't have roads like theirs. I'll pave roads and connect all of my cities in the future.'

…

September 4th. 6 PM.

Tong Army arrived at Ye Commandery territory. Jia Xu picked a spot 10km away from the city wall to settle the headquarters camp.

"Make camp and rest here for tonight! Tomorrow, we'll enter Ye City.!"

For the first time of the forced march, Jia Xu ordered the troops to make camp. The moment his order sounded, most soldiers collapsed on the ground in exhaustion. A few top elites managed to stay awake and helped each other making a camp.

At the third night of the mobilization, Jia Xu made the troops marched through the night and the next day without resting. All meals were created by Tong which he created small dumplings and passed them to his soldiers, so they could eat it as they were marching.

Though the soldiers managed to get a good sleep on the second day, their leg muscle pain was unbearable to them. Even though the peppermint decreased their suffering, the pain from their blistered feet got more severe.

Tong breathed a sigh of relief after he checked his map. Finished counting his troops, only 5,000 men fell behind because they were too weak and could not catch up with the rest.

25,000 Men managed to last this far, which was more than Tong's initial expectation.

Jia Xu was surprised as well. He thought that there should have been less than 20,000 after a forced march. Moreover, no one deserted even though he had given them a harsh treatment. The 5,000 men, which fell behind, still had not given up following the main troops. Though they were slow, they were only 10km away from the tail of the marching army.

The disciplinary and the strength of these men were extraordinary!

Then Jia Xu was reminded about the perks of being soldiers in Julu.

'Good food, good wage, and a life insurance.'
'What a nasty combination of carrot and stick management.'

The families of any soldier of Julu who fell in the battle would be compensated with the soldier's 2 years worth of salaries. Even the lowest rank of footman reserve had a monthly wage of 100 coins or one-tenth of a tael of gold. Two years of salary would worth 2 gold and 400 coins, which would be more than enough for the family to last for another decade if they were to continue living in Julu.

As such, no one dared to desert or leave behind such generous paychecks.

Chapter end