Chapter 117: The Net

Chapter 117: The Net

Wei Wuji chuckled and nodded: “Prince, I came to report to you. I have formed a cavalry force of fifteen thousand men!”

Xiao Ce didn’t let Wei Wuji finish before interrupting: “Are you thinking of following me into battle?”

Wei Wuji was guessed right by Xiao Ce and nodded excitedly: “Prince, you are wise!”

Xiao Ce glanced at Wei Wuji: “Do you think mounting a horse and holding a weapon makes you a cavalryman? Most of these slaves have been bullied until they have no courage left! I captured many prisoners, right? You should have those men watch, one by one, and go kill them! Rebuild confidence!”

Wei Wuji listened and nodded repeatedly.

Xiao Ce continued: “Do not rush. The next step is to train them! If you want to fight, don’t be impatient. There will be tough battles to fight in the future! You need to conduct specialized training for them! First, make some stirrups for them using sheepskin or cowhide. Then proceed with mounted maneuvers, archery, and a series of other drills!”

As he spoke, Xiao Ce had Zhang Yunqing tell Yan Jia to find an experienced man with leadership skills from among their elite cavalry.

Xiao Ce continued speaking to Wei Wuji: “I will find a veteran to guide you all later! A workman must first sharpen his tools. If you want to fight, you must train these cavalrymen. What use is it if you can’t withstand a single charge when you see the Turks?”

Wei Wuji listened and nodded: “Prince, you make sense. I actually think the same way. I know my own limits. I don’t intend to fight as the main force. I thought of following behind you to mop up, letting them get a feel for the atmosphere of war!”

Xiao Ce listened and nodded: “Then we are of the same mind!”

While speaking, a middle-aged man riding a warhorse and wearing a camouflage uniform approached from not far away.

The middle-aged man had a determined face and was covered in sinewy muscles. Though not tall, he looked very robust!

After the man arrived, he clasped his hands toward Xiao Ce: “Grand Commander of the Ghost Cavalry, Ma Yong, greets the Prince!”

Xiao Ce looked at this man and found him familiar: “Have we met somewhere before?”

The commander clasped his hands and said: “Prince, good eye! I was in the first batch of the old soldier camp that followed you!”

Xiao Ce was somewhat surprised after hearing this: “So that’s it! No wonder you look familiar.”

Xiao Ce said to Ma Yong: “Ma Yong, I now appoint you as Wei Wuji’s Deputy General. Are you willing?”

Ma Yong heard this and glanced toward Wei Wuji beside him.

Wei Wuji instinctively waved his hand and said: “Prince, I am still young. I should be the Deputy General. Let Commander Ma Yong be the main General. I can just learn from him!”

Xiao Ce did not answer but looked at Ma Yong.

Ma Yong clasped his hands and said: “Thank you, Prince. I will follow all your arrangements and commands.”

“Making this young kid who’s still wet behind the ears the General and you the Deputy, are you satisfied?” Xiao Ce asked with a smile.

Ma Yong clasped his hands: “Prince, of course I am satisfied! In the army, it has always been about ability, never age! Prince, you are barely twenty years old, yet you already possess the courage and capability to garrison a region and drive out the invaders. Prince, as long as it is your command, even if you tell me to be a mere foot soldier under General Wei Wuji, I would not utter a single word of objection!”

Xiao Ce nodded in satisfaction. People like Ma Yong were not the two-faced, smooth-talking type.

They said what they truly thought!

“Good! Then you stay here and help train them properly! If you can train these slaves into capable troops for me, I will gain a great asset! We can also plant a thorn deep in the heart of the Turks!”

Ma Yong clasped his hands in agreement.

Xiao Ce said: “I will go to other tribes shortly. After I capture one, I will send you a raven. You follow closely behind to harvest another wave. Consider it training.”

Wei Wuji clasped his hands in agreement.

Xiao Ce thought his instructions were almost complete!

He waved his hand, telling them to go about their business.

He called Zhang Yunqing over and told him to find a way to develop this place quickly.

Manpower and food were not problems here. First, mine and burn limestone, then build a concrete fortress here.

Zhang Yunqing clasped his hands in agreement.

Xiao Ce suddenly remembered Xiao Jiu, who was still waiting in the Valley of Death. He had forgotten about him these past couple of days.

After giving his orders, he had Fei Jie provide several dozen ravens.

Then they set out again with Yan Jia and the others.

His plan this time was simple. First, carry the banner of the Ashina Tribe to attack the Tiesa Tribe next to the Helu Tribe, making them think it was an action by the Ashina Tribe.

Then have others attack Ashina. While they were fighting among themselves like dogs, he would sweep their lairs. The main tactic was to appear and vanish without a trace, throwing their rear into chaos.

Although the Turkic Kingdom had dozens of scattered tribes, in the end, these five tribes held the most authority.

First, naturally, was the Ashina Tribe led by Ashina.

Next was the famously combative Helu Tribe.

Then came the Tiesa Tribe, whose military strength was relatively weak among the tribes, but which had the most livestock and wealth.

Another was the Ashide Tribe. Although this Ashide Tribe was very low-key, they were the earliest royal family of the Turkic Kingdom.

There was once a time of unification in the Turkic Kingdom, and the emperor of the Turkic Kingdom then was Ashide.

Although the Ashide Tribe was the most low-key, it was undoubtedly the tribe with the strongest connections among all.

The last tribe was the Gesa Tribe. The main wife of Helu that Xiao Ce captured earlier, Wuqimu Gesa, was from the Gesa Tribe. This also represented a marriage alliance between the Helu and Gesa tribes.

Xiao Ce decided to attack the Tiesa Tribe precisely because they were rich.

If the Ashina Tribe attacked the Helu Tribe, it could be explained as a war launched due to private friction between the two tribes. Attacking Tiesa was to plunder their livestock and wealth!

His ultimate goal was actually to make those on the front lines think that Ashina advocated attacking the Xiao Kingdom in order to divert their forces; his real aim was to unify the Turkic Kingdom!

If he could make them believe this, it would be best if they started fighting on the front lines!

His main goal this time was not to completely annihilate the Turks, but to cause chaos within the Turkic Kingdom.

His current strength was also not enough to wipe them out completely.

If he pushed them to the brink and they fought him with their lives, given Xiao Ce’s current situation, he might not really be able to handle them.

As long as they were fighting among themselves, he could free his hands to properly develop the Northern Desert. Give him at most three years, and he would have the capability to completely erase the Turks!

…

At that moment, in the Turkic tent at the Mobei-Tujue Border.

Their faces were dark. Little did they know, all of this was just the beginning.

Xiao Ce had already woven a giant net for them.

Helu in the tent was the first to speak: “Ashina, what kind of intelligence was that of yours? You aren’t doing this on purpose, are you? Our Helu Tribe lost three thousand warriors this time!”

Ashina said with a dark expression: “Helu, mind what you are saying! If it were on purpose, sending you to your deaths, would I have my Shield Cavalry charge at the very front? You all know that every Shield Cavalryman I train is carefully selected and cultivated with great effort! Yet they all died together with those worthless slaves!”

Ashina’s gaze turned sinister: “Besides, most of those slaves were from your tribe. How do you manage your slaves? How do they still have their own will and dare to resist us? You have a very big problem!”

When Ashina said this, Helu’s face turned ugly, and he was about to explode.

Ashide, sitting to one side, spoke up: “Everyone, we cannot blame anyone for this battle. We underestimated the enemy! Moreover, it seems now that our intelligence was flawed. Their fighting spirit is completely on par with the former Iron Blood Army!”

“There is no need to doubt it. That army of theirs is the army of Xiao Kingdom’s Military God, Xiao Dingshan. Only the army he trained has such determination!”

“What we should be thinking about now is how to breach the city, not blaming and suspecting each other here!”

After Ashide acted as mediator.

Tiesa, who often played the peacemaker among them, spoke: “Yes, Ashina, Helu. Since we are together, we must trust each other! I think this battle was fought well, and losing it was also good!”

“Before, we were all spoiled by soft-boned fools like Bao An! They made us think the entire Xiao Kingdom was full of such cowards, which is why we were so careless. We all wanted a share of the spoils, but we kicked an iron plate.”

“If only we had been more cautious and used a more reliable, traditional method to attack the city! The casualties wouldn’t have been this great!”

Seeing this, Ashide said: “Good, Tiesa is right. Thankfully, this heavy defeat happened while attacking Yanbei City. If we encountered it later, we would likely be even more passive. Everyone, if you wish to continue the attack, we must first trust each other.”

“If we can’t even manage trust, we might as well disband right now!”

Ashina had calmed down somewhat: “Ashide and Tiesa are right. As the overall leader of this campaign, the responsibility for this heavy defeat lies with me. I will take responsibility for this!”

Helu said coolly: “Save the pretty words. Say something practical! Do you have a way to breach the city? If not, hand over the position of Chief Commander to someone capable!”

Ashina glanced at Helu, suppressing his inner displeasure: “Of course! What Ashide said earlier is correct. We were spoiled by those soft-boned traitors from the Xiao Kingdom. It made us forget that Yanbei City was originally reinforced and supervised by Ma Tie, the leader of the Iron Blood Army. As the first city at the Mobei-Tujue border, Ma Tie spent a lot of manpower and resources to fortify it back then! The walls are high and sturdy, easy to defend and hard to attack.”

“However, successive garrison forces were too weak, making us overlook the city’s sturdiness. Now that a real army has taken over, we were caught off guard!”

Helu said impatiently: “Can you get to the point? How do we breach the city?”

Ashina ignored Helu, his eyes sharply scanning the people in the room: “If we try to take Yanbei City by force, we will definitely suffer many more casualties. Absolutely not! We must use other methods! I have already thought of a method to breach the city with absolute certainty!”