Chapter 87: The Momentum of Three Armies!

Chapter 87: The Momentum of Three Armies!

Liu Xuan and Lin Shou looked at Kan Zongye with suspicion.

“Kan Zongye, what trick are you up to now? Back then, when we didn’t want to kneel, you knelt quickly! Now that we have all knelt, you pull this?”

Kan Zongye glanced at the two of them and was just about to speak.

But he was interrupted by a deafening roar of cheers.

“Your humble general, Han Da, has fulfilled his duty as promised, bringing all sixty thousand troops of the Northern Desert Army! Your humble general pays respects to the King of Northern Desert! Long live the King of Northern Desert! Long live, long live, long live!”

Han Da, at the very front of the formation, dismounted his horse, clasped his fists, and finished speaking.

The soldiers behind him successively roared in cheer: “We pay respects to the King of Northern Desert! King of Northern Desert! Long live! Long live! Long live!”

The shouts of these soldiers pierced the sky. The sound waves reached inside the city, startling a flock of sparrows.

…

The Noble Clans and Prominent Families now got a clear look at these soldiers. Each had a buzz cut.

They saw that not only were their clothes identical, but their hairstyles were the same too.

Looking from afar, there was an endless sea of buzz cuts!

“Why did they all shave their heads!”

“Yeah! Doesn’t that make them the bald army?”

“What do you know? This isn’t called bald; they still have hair! It’s just very short! But, haven’t you noticed? This short hair makes them look even more fierce!”

…

Xiao Ce looked at these loudly cheering soldiers and knew that Han Da had been taught the summarized training manual from later generations.

Han Da carried it out faithfully, even shaving their hair.

Uniform, very short haircuts all around!

But, it must be said, it looked very spirited.

“All officers and soldiers, you have worked hard on your long journey!”

Before Xiao Ce could finish, these soldiers immediately responded in unison with an earth-shaking roar.

“We serve the people of the Northern Desert!”

Xiao Ce couldn’t help but laugh out loud hearing this. Han Da had even taught them this.

The common people on one side, hearing this, felt their scalps tingle and were moved in their hearts.

Soldiers had always come to oppress them, but these loudly cheering soldiers actually stirred some emotion in their hearts.

“Good! You are truly This Prince’s Northern Desert Army! Well done! Tonight, This Prince will reward the three armies. Everyone, drink heartily! A welcome for you all!”

“However, do you still remember the military rules of our Northern Desert Army?”

With Xiao Ce’s single sentence.

The entire army began to recite in unison again.

“First, all actions obey command! Anyone who disobeys command shall be executed!”

“Second, do not harass the people, do not take a single needle or thread from the people! Anyone who violates this shall be executed!”

“Third, anyone who shows cowardice in battle or retreats shall be executed! If the entire squad retreats, the Captain is executed! If the Captain dies in action, the entire squad is executed!”

The soldiers of the three armies shouted each word phrase by phrase.

“Good! We are here to fight the Turks, so we will not enter the city. Our three armies will camp outside the city. This Prince will also stay outside the city with you, drinking and eating heartily!” Xiao Ce shouted loudly.

“Prince! Long live! Long live!”

Xiao Ce waved his hand grandly: “Han Da, order the three armies to set up camp nearby. Do not occupy the people’s main thoroughfares!”

Han Da cupped his hands and said, “As you command!”

Then he waved his hand grandly. These soldiers had already set up camp countless times along their journey.

They began pitching camp very neatly and methodically.

The whole scene was very quiet, the discipline extremely strict.

The common people, seeing such an army, were incredibly excited in their eyes. With such a strictly disciplined great army, why worry about the Turks not being destroyed?

At this moment, the expressions of the Family Heads of the Noble Clans and Prominent Families were not good.

They didn’t quite understand Kan Zongye’s words earlier, but seeing these loudly cheering, so strictly disciplined troops, they were truly afraid!

Especially with them talking about serving the people, caring for the people, and not harassing the people.

These Noble Clans and Prominent Families naturally knew very well that the common people really ate this up!

They indeed felt a sense of crisis now and understood the principle of ‘when the cunning rabbits die, the hunting dogs are boiled.’

Just at this time, Sun Qiang, leading a group of soldiers, said to the people of the Noble Clans and Prominent Families: “Honorable sirs, the Prince is going to reward the three armies outside. The Prince said you might not be very comfortable with it, so please return.”

The group of Noble Clans and Prominent Families thought the same.

After all, they looked down on these common soldier mud-legs from the bottom of their hearts. Making them eat with these soldiers would be worse than killing them!

And so, led by Sun Qiang, these Noble Clans and Prominent Families were taken away.

…

Xiao Ce hurried forward. Lin Zhong had lost a lot of weight and had aged significantly in not much time.

Clearly, he had spent a great deal of mental effort during this period.

“Uncle Zhong, you have worked hard on this journey!”

Lin Zhong waved his hand, smiling, and said: “Compared to what the Prince has done, my efforts are nothing! I never imagined, Prince, that in such a short time you have opened up such a massive situation! Taking nine cities in a row!”

Xiao Ce smiled and said: “Hey, Uncle Zhong, this is nothing… just a bit of good luck, that’s all. However, you trained these soldiers to be like this, something This Prince never imagined. It exceeded This Prince’s expectations.”

Lin Zhong smiled, waved his hand, and said: “I, this old man, deserve no credit for this. It’s all General Han Da’s achievement!”

Han Da awkwardly smiled and waved his hand: “Prince, I didn’t do much either. As long as Uncle Zhong ensured the logistics, supplies, money, and food kept up. With money, these people naturally worked with loud enthusiasm.”

Seeing the two of them modestly declining credit.

Xiao Ce smiled and said: “Hey, alright, no need for courtesy between you two. You both have merit!”

Han Da said awkwardly: “Prince, actually, these soldiers just look impressive. Throughout the journey, I didn’t train them in much military skill. I just did as you said, trained them in unity, marching drills, things like that… If they were really taken to the battlefield, they would be exposed in a real fight.”

Xiao Ce said with a smile: “Do you know why This Prince had you do this?”

Han Da shook his head.

Xiao Ce said to Han Da: “Before you arrived, This Prince had already ordered the lockdown of Lingxiao City to be lifted. Now people from all sides are pouring into this area, including Turks, people from various Noble Clans, and spies. What you did is enough to scare them!”

“Next, This Prince will give you enough time for military training. For now, it’s to intimidate them! Did you see the expressions of those Prominent Families and Noble Clans just now? Their expressions were uglier than if they had eaten dirt!”

Lin Zhong had also heard some news about the situation here and reminded: “Prince, aren’t you afraid you’ve truly scared them? These Family Heads of the Noble Clans are not stupid. Their obedience to you now is completely forced, to save their own necks!”

“You create such a grand display, scare them badly, what if they join forces with the Turks to deal with you!”

A sly smile appeared on Xiao Ce’s face: “To tell the truth, I really do hope they would… But they wouldn’t dare!”

Lin Zhong nodded, then suddenly remembered something and said to Xiao Ce: “Ah, right. Before we came to the Four Northern Desert Prefectures, the Prince of Zhenguo sent a letter. He told us to be very careful of a stab in the back from the Emperor!”