Moreover, this can hardly be called a balanced fight. In fact, our own army seems to have held the advantage in the battles of the past month; after each engagement, the enemy has been pushed back dozens of li. Although their losses have not been great, it is true that they retreat a considerable distance every time they set up camp.

Suddenly, Ethan Brooks seemed to remember something. He recalled a sentence spoken by the officer behind Edward Foster earlier: compared to the great battle to come, this mission was considered an easy one. Did he mean that a major battle was imminent?

On the sand table, the Liujin Kingdom’s army had already retreated over a hundred li. Why, then, was Zheyun Kingdom still sending people out to request reinforcements? But when Ethan Brooks looked at the position of the Liujin Kingdom’s troops on the sand table, he seemed to understand a bit—this next battle was likely to be the final one.

The place where the Liujin Kingdom was encamped was a narrow area; if they retreated any further, they would be completely in a basin. Several li beyond the basin’s perimeter was the Tongliu River, which lay within the territory of Zheyun Kingdom. However, this area had long been ravaged by war and was deserted. Although it belonged to Zheyun Kingdom, the Tongliu River was jointly controlled by several countries.

Ethan Brooks already knew that the commander of Zheyun Kingdom was likely planning to use this final battle to force the Liujin Kingdom’s army into the basin, then breach the dike and flood the enemy troops. One could imagine that once the enemy was trapped in a vast expanse of water, as long as Zheyun Kingdom’s forces seized the peaks on both sides and blocked the passes, it would be a one-sided massacre.

At this thought, Ethan Brooks almost burst out cursing. These bastard officers of Zheyun Kingdom must have grown up eating shit—after fighting over this terrain for so long, did they really think the enemy wouldn’t see through this? And what makes Zheyun Kingdom so sure they can seize the mountain peaks and block the passes?

Moreover, the soldiers of Zheyun Kingdom are clearly in worse physical condition than the enemy—why should the enemy retreat?

But Ethan Brooks quickly understood the intention of his own commander—damn, he’s truly ruthless. Even if they can’t seize the peaks or block the flood, the raiding force would only be three to five thousand men at most, and could at best perish together with the enemy, who number nearly a hundred thousand. Meanwhile, Zheyun Kingdom’s main camp is on high ground, safe from any flood.

However, their own commander is clearly a bit too self-satisfied.

Ethan Brooks has served in the army for seven or eight years. He may not be a top strategist, but he’s seen countless famous battles from both home and abroad. How could such tricks between the two sides possibly fool Ethan Brooks?

It’s now August. One can imagine that if Zheyun Kingdom drives Liujin Kingdom into the basin, what awaits is not a flood, but a great fire. Once trapped in the narrow mountain passes, Zheyun Kingdom’s troops will be wiped out by a blaze set by Liujin Kingdom in this confined area.

And that’s not all. Ethan Brooks is certain that once Zheyun Kingdom’s army is attacked with fire, they’ll either charge forward or retreat. No matter which way they go, Ethan Brooks is sure that what awaits them is the surging floodwaters of the breached Tongliu River. And the ones breaching the dike might even be Zheyun Kingdom’s own soldiers.

Ethan Brooks is even more certain that the Liujin Kingdom’s current camp definitely does not contain all their troops; in fact, most of the camps are probably empty, just waiting for Zheyun Kingdom’s main force to launch a surprise attack.

With this, Ethan Brooks understood what Edward Foster meant by sending them to break out. If he guessed correctly, the route for breaking out to seek reinforcements was definitely designed to avoid the breach point of the Tongliu River, in order to mislead the enemy into thinking that Zheyun Kingdom wanted to join forces with reinforcements and encircle the Liujin Kingdom’s army in one fell swoop.

At the same time, it would also mislead the enemy, allowing their own elite soldiers to sneak up and lie in wait at the key breach point of the Tongliu River.

There was another, even more important purpose: to send them to their deaths. This breakout would definitely involve carrying a letter. To put it bluntly, the letter was meant to be deliberately delivered to the Liujin Kingdom. Letting them know that Zheyun Kingdom was sending for reinforcements—what was the intention? And the letter would certainly be written in code, to show that they had considered the possibility of it being intercepted.

In fact, everyone knew that in such requests for reinforcements, the letter being intercepted was a certainty.

Another point: the soldiers of Zheyun Kingdom might already be lying in wait at several key points along the breach of the Tongliu River, just waiting to break the dike.

If that’s really the case, Ethan Brooks is sure that these Zheyun Kingdom soldiers waiting to breach the dike are already under the surveillance of Liujin Kingdom, just waiting for them to flood their own people.

But that’s secondary. The main thing is that the retreat route of Zheyun Kingdom’s army will certainly have been calculated by Liujin Kingdom as well. They may have already set up ambushes at the places where Zheyun Kingdom would retreat, or, like Zheyun Kingdom, plan to breach the dike at other points along the Tongliu River.

The entire battle plan of both sides was gradually becoming clear in Ethan Brooks’s mind. Zheyun Kingdom wanted to use this final battle to force the Liujin Kingdom’s soldiers into the basin—or perhaps most of Liujin Kingdom’s soldiers were already in the basin—then breach the dike and flood the Liujin Kingdom’s army.

But Liujin Kingdom was clearly aware of Zheyun Kingdom’s plan. Instead of intercepting the Zheyun Kingdom soldiers sent to breach the dike, they would wait for Zheyun Kingdom’s surprise attack, then launch a fire attack in the gorge, scatter Zheyun Kingdom’s troops, and then breach the dike to flood the enemy. Moreover, Liujin Kingdom would block Zheyun Kingdom’s escape routes, ensuring the total annihilation of Zheyun Kingdom’s army.