Unfortunately, things progressed slowly under her command. An entire day passed, and they were still far from organizing a convoy for fifty thousand out of Guanhuang. That could not be helped, because the devastation brought about by the Featherwind Sect and the Sword King threw everything into disarray. Their supplies were buried, their carriages were flattened, and their horses were gone. Unit Commander Haea could not abandon everyone either. She had fifty thousand soldiers in Guanhuang, which amounted to one-sixth of their total forces in the Samfeng Province. That was a considerable amount, enough to sway the odds in their enemies' favor. She could not let any variables affect her overall strategy. Her headaches were compounded by the kingdom's desperate attempts to invade Guanhuang. The moat, and remnants of the walls were the only things keeping them at bay.
However, the woman soon grew suspicious. The Alzar Kingdom's forces should be numerically superior, having up to twice the numbers that the Imperial Council had. This disparity would only grow with the Featherwind Sect and the Sword King's grand battle since her forces would have received greater casualties from being in Guanhuang. General Petra should have realized this too and would have pushed her offensive more aggressively. All the more since she, the Third-In-Command of the Xingyuu Empire's Tai Feng Army, was currently here. The opportunity was too good to pass up! Thus, their inability to capitalize on it was too strange to ignore. Unit Commander Haea's heart skipped a beat. She realized she made a grave mistake!
"Have we heard anything from the northern or southern fronts?" she snapped.
"No, we haven't… The messenger pigeons haven't been able to land since yesterday."
"There's no need to worry," an officer chuckled. "The kingdom's struggling to breach our defenses here. We'll be able to hold out well long enough for our reinforcements to arrive."
"That's true. I was initially worried about the kingdom, but it seems like they're weaker than we thought. The Sword King is gone, and the Ten Dawns are nowhere to be seen. General Petra's incompetence is a pleasant surprise too," another one laughed.
"We should rethink our plans to retreat and consider a counterattack. This could be our chance to capture General Petra instead," a third chimed in. Their cowardice from yesterday vanished, only to be replaced by a swelling confidence. To her though, it was a fool's confidence!
"I want a full report on the kingdom's current numbers and positions from the reconnaissance team. Report everything you find," she said to the reconnaissance division commander, her voice tense.
"What's the problem, Unit Commander Haea?"
"You don't think it's strange? The kingdom isn't fielding their full army to the frontlines."
"We had this conversation before. As we've discussed, the kingdom has limited ways to attack Guanhuang. That… battle in the sky did increase that, but we still have most of our moat and walls. The kingdom can't utilize their numbers against us."
On the surface, this did make sense. A tight hallway might only allow a few people to enter in at once, and adding more people would not change anything. That same logic applied here. The kingdom might have twice the numbers, but that meant nothing if the chokepoints into Guanhuang were few and small. They were fundamentally limited by the environment. The pressure on the council did increase, but they adapted and adjusted their strategies. The situation stabilized and the opportunity faded. Was it so strange then that General Petra lost her chance? It just meant that the council's strategies were superior. The officers failed to understand Unit Commander Haea's point.
"What did I always say? It's better to overestimate your opponent than it is to underestimate. Always assume the worst. General Petra might have been manipulating this battle precisely the way she wanted," she explained.
"But she doesn't benefit from delaying the battle. It would be in her best interests to capture Guanhuang immediately, especially since we're here. It might even be the fatal strike they need to win the province."
"I think you're overthinking things. General Petra might be a famous general, but she isn't perfect. Her window of opportunity closed, and she lost her chance. That's it. I don't think there needs to be an elaborate reason for it."
"And assuming General Petra did plan all this, then what should she have to gain from it? There must be a convincing reason for her to abandon this front. What do you think?"
"She might want to capture this front, but she can't," Unit Commander Haea analyzed, much to the confusion of her subordinates.
"Reporting in!" the reconnaissance team shouted. "We have the information you asked for."
"You're not going to find anything interesting," the officers shrugged. They received constant updates from every corner of the battlefield. This 'report' was a compilation of their latest information and not anything new.
The woman frowned as she read it over. It was like what they said. There was nothing particularly outstanding and everything was as it should be. However, her gut instincts were screaming out at her that something was wrong. It was such a strong feeling that she could not ignore it. She had to find out the source of her discontent! And then, she found it!
"Look at this. This is their day-to-day stockpiles. Do you notice anything odd?"
"…Not that we can tell."
She sighed and explained, "Their stockpile for grain is unusually large, larger than what we would expect from a hundred thousand strong army. Even for a siege, this is too much. However, let's assume that this is overpreparation from their side. Their cattle are the main problem. On average, a herd of a thousand cattle should feed a hundred thousand people a day. Since the kingdom's army is estimated to be around a hundred thousand, then that should mean they're losing a thousand cattle per day, correct? But that isn't what we're seeing. They're butchering far below the expected numbers."
"That depends on their nutritional intake. They might be rationing meat for the officers and above or staggering their meals. That would make our estimates of a thousand cattle per day wildly inaccurate."
"Now, hold on a minute. We have informants confirming that they are eating meat regularly," an officer interrupted. "And since the officers are likely to have better meals than the soldiers, that would increase our estimates considerably. I think this is worth investigating."
"How many cattle did they lose from yesterday?"
"Less than half a thousand," Unit Commander Haea said flatly.
"Are we sure that estimate is correct?" The officers glared the reconnaissance division commander, causing sweat to roll down the man's forehead.
"Our informants in their army have confirmed it too. We're sure of it."
"But this would mean…"
"That our estimates for the kingdom's army are wildly inaccurate. That would explain their large grain stockpile and their inability to capture Guanhuang. They don't have the power to. They're stalling for time like us…" she concluded. "We're not their main objective."
"Then what is?"
***
Simultaneously, in the southern front, the Jian, Jun, and Shui Family armies had a difficult time navigating the mountainous terrain. The paths were winding and narrow which made their convoys dreadfully slow. They were hardly suitable for a hundred thousand strong army. Adding onto that the poor weather from the late winter season, and things became worse. Everyone was understandably miserable. Still, this was the quickest route through the south and Unit Commander Haea urged them to pick up their pace. They needed to coordinate their assault with the northern front. The Jun Family led the front, followed closely by the Jian Family, and the Shui Family remained firmly in the back. The three armies remained fragmented, but they were mostly peaceful. The sole exception was once again created by the two generals whose voices broke the monotony of the forest floor.
"I told you we should have gone westward through the Luofu Pass," General Tang sneered.
"We would've backtracked half a day to get there," General Goumeng said.
"And we would've saved more than half a day in travel time if you had listened to me," he retorted. "Do I need to remind you we're on a tight schedule? Unit Commander Haea wants us to reach the Xushi Point by tomorrow! At this rate, we'd be lucky to get there in two days! If you were going to be this incompetent, you should have given me the general's position."
General Goumeng grunted and whipped his reins, urging his horse forward. He had zero interest in entertaining these arguments. Ever since Unit Commander Haea chose him to oversee the southern front, General Tang would not shut up about it. Like a bad infection, the man kept coming back to annoy him more! Thankfully, he kept a rational mind and steeled his cool. He knew the imminent battle with the kingdom had the biggest priority here. After this though, he would thoroughly deal with this 'infection'. As he passed General Tang, he rammed his horse against the other with just enough force to almost topple the man. General Tang stopped himself with an ugly expression. His inexperience in horse-riding with armor was evident. Meanwhile, General Songlin kept his smile as he watched everything unfold from the back. He was as carefree as could be!