Chapter 988

On the hill, Zak could no longer bear to watch his soldiers being slaughtered by the Great Yu Empire’s soldiers.

He had originally held out hope for the battle after the two sides engaged, but the scene of blood and fire below him ultimately disappointed him.

In just a brief engagement, his losses were getting heavier and heavier. With the casualties during the charge, he had already lost more than half of his soldiers.

If they continued to be entangled, by the time the reinforcements arrived, there would be nothing left of him. As a banner head of a tribe, he could not bear such losses.

“Ugh…”

After a vicious look at the Great Yu Empire’s cavalry below the hill, Zak ordered the retreat bugle to be sounded.

“Taru, your brother will definitely avenge you.” Tamu’s eyes were bloodshot. They had been defeated, and they had been defeated thoroughly. The only thing they could do now was to gather the cavalry of the Golden Tent Khanate and launch a fatal blow against the Great Yu Empire.

As the bugle sounded, the barbarian cavalry below the hill pulled back their horses and fled. Soon, only the dense corpses of the barbarian cavalry were left below the hill.

Qi Guangyi did not choose to continue the pursuit but led his soldiers to retreat, as he knew that the next batch of barbarian cavalry would arrive soon, and getting into a war of attrition was not a wise choice. He needed to find opportunities on the grassland like a wolf to cause trouble for the barbarians.

Moreover, this battle allowed him to gauge the rifle cavalry he was leading. In his opinion, unless the barbarians could surround him with 50,000 cavalry at once, he would be able to roam the grassland unrestrained.

But at this point, the barbarians could not spare 50,000 people to deal with him, because the three major tribes were the ones who were truly in danger at this time.

…

Raozhou.

The army led by Niu Ben and Luo Quan was less than a hundred miles away from the Dzungar tribe. The mighty army led by the two stretched out across the grassland, a magnificent sight.

In the past few days, barbarian scouts had been appearing around them from time to time, and their hunter cavalry had not been idle either, constantly gathering intelligence on the barbarians.

“About 60,000 cavalry have gathered at the Dzungar tribe. At the same time, the three major tribes have merged into one. The hunter cavalry has sent back news that there are still many artillery pieces that Baishan forged while he was alive in their tribe,” Niu Ben said with a frown.

Luo Quan sneered, “How can these old artillery pieces be compared to the Imperial Guard artillery? As long as the battle starts, our artillery can take out their artillery immediately.”

“That’s true.” Niu Ben’s eyes were deep.

After a pause, he said, “The reason the barbarians are not completely gone is that we did not destroy their tribes. If we only kill their cavalry, it will not be long before more cavalry are born from their tribes. In this way, the northern border troubles will never end. This time, you and I are determined to eliminate the Golden Tent Khanate, so we cannot be soft-hearted.”

Luo Quan’s expression became serious. He understood what Niu Ben meant. During the Warring States period, Bai Qi buried 400,000 Zhao troops alive, not for the sake of killing, but to completely cripple Zhao’s war capabilities. At the same time, because it lost a large number of men, Zhao fell into a decline both economically and militarily and could no longer compete with Qin.

Now that Niu Ben was talking to him about this so seriously, he immediately guessed his thoughts.

After a moment of thought, he said, “Twenty years ago, the barbarians invaded Youzhou, and a million people were tragically killed. In the ten years that followed, they invaded Qingzhou many times, and hundreds of thousands of people were killed and injured. Not to mention this, the barbarians have been raiding the borders for many years, killing countless of our people. Even a few years ago, the barbarians invaded Shu and slaughtered hundreds of thousands of people. Such a blood debt can only be repaid with blood. It was indeed the barbarian cavalry who killed our people, but which barbarian cavalry was not the child of a barbarian? They do not die unjustly. I do not believe in the benevolence and morality of those civil officials.”

“Hahaha…” Niu Ben laughed loudly when he heard this. “Luo Quan, Luo Quan, you haven’t changed at all over the years. You are just my type. You are right, and this is what I am saying. There are no innocent souls under the blade of revenge. This time, let us go all out and completely end the Golden Tent Khanate.”

Luo Quan nodded heavily, clenched his fist, and bumped it against Niu Ben’s in the air.

Niu Ben continued, “In addition, you and I have both reached the highest positions an official can hold. If we add this merit, there will be no more ranks to be conferred. Although our emperor is not an ordinary person, having too much merit is a taboo in the court that has existed for thousands of years. Let’s seize this opportunity to leave some leverage for the civil officials, and we can truly retire from the military.”

“That’s right. If you walk by the river often, you can’t help but get your shoes wet. You and I have been in the court for too long, and it’s time for us to rest.”

With that, the two looked at each other and smiled before continuing their march. Two days later, the army led by the two arrived at the Dzungar tribe’s pasture.

At this time, in order to cope with the Great Yu Empire’s attack, the Dzungar tribe had already dug trenches and built fences for defense. In the gaps of these fences, dark cannon muzzles were aimed in the direction from which the Great Yu Empire’s army was coming.

“Fifty thousand cavalry and eighty thousand infantry. This time, the Great Yu Empire has indeed used a lot of troops.” Bahe said, looking at the Great Yu Empire’s army that was setting up camp through his monocular telescope.

Wotai frowned. He said, “What’s there to be afraid of? We have 60,000 cavalry and 200,000 slave soldiers. Once the reinforcing cavalry arrive, our forces will be three times theirs.”

Pang Duo was observing the Great Yu Empire’s army. His relationship with Baishan had always been good, and because of this, he had almost learned all of Baishan’s skills in dealing with the Great Yu Empire’s army.

As for Baishan’s death, he still felt great regret, because in his opinion, only Baishan in the Golden Tent Khanate truly understood firearms and knew how to deal with the Great Yu Empire’s army.

However, he was at least lucky. The Dzungar tribe suffered almost no losses when they retreated from Guandong and also took a large number of slaves with them from Guandong.

Now that the three major tribes had gathered, they had a total of 200,000 slave soldiers.

And even without the slave soldiers, the three major tribes had a population of more than 400,000 people in total besides the cavalry. In a time of war, every one of them was a warrior.

“We cannot underestimate the enemy. Have you forgotten how Guandong was lost? This campaign is crucial for both us and the Great Yu Empire, and neither of us can afford to lose.” Pang Duo said seriously.

He had already received the news of the attack on the Azure Dragon Tribe, but because he was worried about the morale of the army, he did not tell Bahe and Wotai this news.

However, despite this unpleasant incident, the Azure Dragon Tribe was still on their way to them. In a short time, their remaining cavalry would be able to arrive here.

Bahe and Wotai put away their unruly expressions. They knew that Pang Duo was more skilled in fighting than they were, especially in dealing with the Great Yu Empire. The current defensive fortifications were designed by Pang Duo.

“Don’t worry, Pang Duo. We cannot lose this war. We will not be reckless,” the two promised at the same time.

Pang Duo nodded in satisfaction. He continued to look at the Great Yu Empire’s army, and when he saw the Great Yu Empire’s artillery, he frowned.

The novel has already been fully translated up to the final chapter. You can access it on my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/caleredhair