Chapter 225: Marching North to Capture the King
Chapter 225 -157: Marching North to Capture the King
Marching north to capture a king—this was something everyone in the world wanted to achieve, but so far, only Lu Yuan had succeeded.
As his aides, they too would become famous throughout the land.
If nothing else, their names were certain to be recorded in the annals of history.
Lu Yuan, however, felt no excitement. He took out his wineskin, took a light sip, and said in a low voice, “The court doesn’t know the situation here yet, do they?”
“They don’t. I haven’t had a chance to report it,” Xiao Lie said quickly.
Lu Yuan nodded. “Good. Don’t say anything for now. If our court finds out, the other Imperial Dynasties will inevitably get the news as well, which will be detrimental to the next phase of our plan.”
“What plan?” Xiao Lie asked.
‘He was a bit confused. Hadn’t they agreed to return after capturing the Shengman king? How could there be another plan?’
Lu Yuan replied calmly, “We’ve captured the Shengman ruler. If we take him back now, the other Imperial Dynasties and the various Vassal Towns will immediately become wary of our Northern Barbarians. Although we can make the Shengman surrender, it will become impossible to suppress the Ancient Barbarians in the short term.
Therefore, we must seize this opportunity to capture the Ancient Barbarian King as well. When that happens, the Vassal Towns will realize the tide has turned against them. If they know what’s good for them, their return to the court’s fold is inevitable.
And it will be even more impossible for others to try and meddle.
Unify the Three Barbarians and restore the glory of Great Qin.
Who in the world would dare to underestimate us then?”
After Lu Yuan finished speaking, Xiao Lie and the group of young generals were fired up. Although the recent battle had left their blood churning even now, they knew Lu Yuan spoke the truth.
“But… but Her Majesty didn’t order an attack on the Ancient Barbarians,” Xiao Lie said softly, somewhat afraid to look at Lu Yuan.
“A general in the field is not always bound by his sovereign’s command. This is an opportunity. The main force of the Ancient Barbarians has already been dispatched to the border to confront Xiao Xiong. Furthermore, from what I know, they’ve also sent a portion of the Ancient Barbarian Blood Riders into Shengman territory as reinforcements.
They’re currently trying to encircle and annihilate us on the Shengman border. This means that the Ancient Barbarian Royal Tent is not heavily guarded right now, and even their experts are few.
In fact, the most crucial point is that after capturing the Shengman king, our path back is most certainly blocked by a large army. I’m afraid we won’t be able to get out easily.
Am I right, Mangu Tun?” Lu Yuan’s voice was not loud.
But it was enough to make Mangu Tun’s expression change drastically. “You… How did you know?”
“Heh, because of this.” As Lu Yuan spoke, he produced a letter. It was the one the Ancient Barbarian King had written to Mangu Tun.
After Lu Yuan had confiscated his Storage Ring,
the letter had, of course, been read.
Mangu Tun lowered his head and said no more, but despair was already visible in his eyes.
“Prince Qin has a point. Let’s go to the Ancient Barbarians’ territory and bring their king back as well.” To everyone’s surprise, Xiao Ku was the first to agree.
This powerful expert of the Earth Immortal Realm, second only to Xiao Gu within the imperial clan, had spoken.
Xiao Lie also nodded. “I’ll follow Prince Qin’s lead.”
However, as he spoke, he added with a wry smile, “A message just came from the court, asking about our situation.”
“Don’t reply yet. We need to avoid leaking information. We’ll attack the Ancient Barbarians directly. If anything goes wrong, I’ll take full responsibility,” Lu Yuan declared.
Xiao Lie didn’t hesitate. He rubbed his hands together and said, “Alright, we’ll listen to the Prince.”
As he spoke, he took out a map. It clearly depicted the territories of the Shengman and the Ancient Barbarians.
Xiao Lie pointed to a narrow path. “If we set out from here, rotating warhorses as we ride, we can launch a surprise attack on the Ancient Barbarian Royal Tent in five days.”
Lu Yuan nodded. “Inform the men. We rest for two hours, then we move out.”
Their warhorses were the pick of the litter, one in a hundred even by the standards of the Northern Barbarians.
They were perfectly suited for this kind of blitzkrieg.
In the past, no one had ever dared to do this, so the true potential of such a tactic was never realized.
Now, Lu Yuan’s audacious style of warfare was something no one could adapt to.
The Ancient Barbarians would never imagine that Lu Yuan would dare to do something like this right after defeating Mangu Tun.
In truth, this was also possible because the Shengman and Ancient Barbarians had no walled cities.
If they had cities, the effectiveness of such a lightning raid would be greatly diminished.
After all, siege warfare is no easy task.
Without several times the number of troops, a city’s defenses cannot be breached.
While the army began to rest, the Shengman territory had already descended into chaos.
However, there were still some clever people who managed to lock down the news.
They had to prevent it from spreading, because if word got out that Mangu Tun had been captured, the entire Shengman population would likely erupt.
Therefore, not many people knew about it yet.
After resting for two hours and eating something, Lu Yuan and his men headed straight for the territory of the Ancient Barbarian Tribe.
For the next several days, they rested by day and traveled by night.
Moreover, they blocked all their Sound Transmission Stones.
Several days passed in the blink of an eye.
Lu Yuan led his army to the outskirts of the Ancient Barbarian Royal Tent, just as he had predicted.
At this time, there were not many troops left outside the Royal Tent of the Ancient Barbarian Tribe.
Only a few tens of thousands remained on guard; the rest were all away.
Even among the experts, only the Ancient Barbarian King himself was left.
After receiving the Scout’s report, a smile appeared on Lu Yuan’s lips. He looked at Mangu Tun, whose eyes were bloodshot and whose mouth was gagged with a stone. “It seems your relationship with the Ancient Barbarians is quite good.
They mobilized quite a few people to support you, leaving barely anyone to defend themselves.
But don’t worry, you’ll all be reunited soon.”
Mangu Tun struggled, trying to break free from his bonds.
But with his powers sealed, he was completely unable to use his immense strength.
He could only writhe his body like a maggot.
“Why bother? The Three Barbarians were originally one family. If you merge and rebuild Great Qin, that is the righteous path. As long as you cooperate, it’s not like there’s no way for you to live,” Lu Yuan said coolly.
Mangu Tun still glared at Lu Yuan with a furious expression. However, one could see that he was not quite as resistant as before.
「Meanwhile, in the Northern Barbarian imperial palace」
Worry was plain on Xiao Shi’s face. Xiao Hua stood with her head lowered, not saying a word, her hands clenched so tightly that her knuckles had turned white.
“Is there still no news from the army?” Xiao Shi asked in a heavy tone, her voice trembling slightly.
Xiao Gu nodded grimly. “No news at all. We only heard rumors of a major battle near the Shengman Royal Tent, and then nothing. All information from within Shengman territory has been locked down recently. There has been no word from Prince Qin or Xiao Lie.”
Xiao Shi waved her hand wearily. “Continue the investigation. We must get to the bottom of this.”
“As you command!”
After acknowledging the order, Xiao Gu withdrew.
Li Qing and the others also filed out of the great hall.
When only mother and daughter were left in the hall, Xiao Hua stood up. “Mother, I will personally lead an army to the Shengman border to support Yuan.”
At that moment, her eyes shone with a determination that brooked no refusal.
Xiao Shi looked at her. “You can’t. We don’t know what’s happening inside Shengman territory. It’s too dangerous for you to go rashly.”
“Mother, please let me go. If I don’t, I won’t have any peace of mind,” Xiao Hua insisted.
“Wait a little longer. Wait a few more days. If there’s still no news, Mother will go with you,” Xiao Shi said. She had already made up her mind. If something had really happened to Lu Yuan, she would lead the Beast Riders herself and bring him back.
「In the Dayong imperial palace」
The Yong Emperor glanced at the latest war report. “Still no news from the Shengman?”
“None, Your Majesty. The Shengman are too far from us, and we have no one stationed there. However, news from the Northern Barbarians indicates that they haven’t heard from Lu Yuan in several days,” a Eunuch below reported softly.
The corners of the Yong Emperor’s mouth lifted. “Heh, the Northern Barbarians were too quick to trust Lu Yuan. In my Dayong, he was a mere Border Army General, yet that Northern Barbarian empress went and made him a Prince. This time, she’s suffered a double loss.
Losing fifty thousand Beast Riders, while not a crippling blow, is certainly a grievous one for the Northern Barbarians in their current state.”
After speaking, he waved his hand, dismissing the Eunuch.
「In the lands of the Eastern Barbarians」
After receiving the report, the Cyan Emperor made no comment. His gaze simply turned cold, the disdain in his eyes deepening. He then looked at the person beside him and asked, “That prodigious talent who reached the summit, have you found him yet?”
“No, Your Majesty. It’s as if he vanished into thin air. There’s been no news whatsoever,” the Eunuch replied softly.
The Cyan Emperor waved his hand, dismissing him, and said no more.