Mythical Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1664: Chapter 1603: Ambushed

”It truly is the Han Army!” Kun Wan’s expression was incredibly gloomy. ”Is it the full Military Spirit Legion? Given this situation, we must not split our forces. Order all our clansmen to mount their horses and migrate northward. Everyone else, follow me to eliminate that Vice Army on the east that isn’t part of the Military Spirit Legion!”

As the Right Virtuous King who Huyan Chu had tirelessly educated, Kun Wan had always been prepared to become the next Chanyu. As for the Left Virtuous King, unfortunately, he had long died on the battlefields of Central Asia, which was also not a place of peace. Even the Chanyu couldn’t avoid going to the battlefield.

Compared to other Northern Huns, Kun Wan was naturally more astute. Thus, upon learning that the Han Army’s cavalry was the Military Spirit Legion, he roughly speculated how the Han Army had divided their forces.

After all, the Northern Huns’ patrols are stationed in the center of three camps, equidistant from all three outposts. Logically, if the Han Army wanted to ensure equal strength on both routes, then both parties should arrive at roughly the same time due to the infantry.

This way, the patrols of the Northern Huns wouldn’t see one camp’s flames already rising, only to see another camp’s flames gradually rising after a long delay.

With the flames rising at different times despite equal marching distances, it could only mean one side moved quickly while the other moved slowly. A brief analysis revealed that after splitting, one path was pure elite cavalry, while the other was likely a mix of infantry and cavalry.

Only this could explain the speed difference between the two, and with a bit of thought, it was clear that the first path to ignite was undoubtedly the work of the Military Spirit Legion. The latter path, unsurprisingly, had been slowed down by mounted infantry.

To Kun Wan, it didn’t matter whether the Military Spirit Legion split its forces. If they did, he would target the path that ignited later, as the Military Spirit Legion splitting forces meant there was an important objective on that path. If not, destroying the weaker path first would be worthwhile.

After relocating this camp, Kun Wan led all the elite cavalry and miscellaneous Hun cavalry grandiosely towards the direction of Zhou Yu and Chen Xi.

As for rescuing the other camp, just looking at those raging flames, Kun Wan knew that even if he went, it would inevitably be turned into scorched earth. Rather than engage in futile efforts, it was better to kill the enemy to appease the heroic spirits.

Over two hundred thousand infantry and cavalry charged majestically across the plains, leaving a trail of dust in their wake as the silver moon had already tilted towards the west.

”General, what should we do with these cattle, sheep, and warhorses?” Hua Xiong had turned the northernmost camp upside down, taking advantage of the chaos to lead the miscellaneous Hun forces to flatten the entire Hun camp, acquiring nearly a million cattle, sheep, and warhorses. Tadu dared not make a decision on his own and immediately ordered his men to lead the livestock to Hua Xiong for inquiry.

”So many?” Hua Xiong was astonished as he looked at the cattle, sheep, and horses spread across miles. ”The Huns aren’t just wealthy. I said what I meant; take your share of the spoils, and the rest, drive them south of the Great Wall.”

Tadu looked at Hua Xiong incredulously. Truth be told, he was taken aback by the sheer number of cattle, sheep, and horses. While Hua Xiong had previously said they could choose their spoils freely, if the numbers were small, Tadu had no qualms about taking his portion.

But with such a massive number of cattle, sheep, and horses, Tadu felt that if he took a quarter of what he was entitled to, he likely wouldn’t make it back alive. That’s why he came to inform Hua Xiong, not expecting him to be so generous.

Around a million sheep alone, dividing them up could yield over two hundred thousand, not to mention the cattle and horses. Indeed, he hadn’t expected Hua Xiong to be so magnanimous.

In reality, while Hua Xiong might deceive in other aspects, on the battlefield, he certainly wouldn’t withhold rewards. All battle achievements were faithfully recorded, as without such integrity, how could Hua Xiong expect soldiers to follow him to death?

Since the days of Dong Zhuo, this had been the case. Even Dong Zhuo wouldn’t manipulate the soldiers’ stipends and merits, a key reason why Dong Zhuo’s troops didn’t betray him despite his cowardliness that led to his downfall.

Regarding the Xiliang Army’s embezzlement of spoils, honestly, even Li Ru didn’t care. As long as they won battles and submitted a third of their captured military supplies, Li Ru didn’t probe into where the remaining two-thirds went.

”We won’t let General Hua down!” Tadu genuinely respected Hua Xiong at that moment, not just for his martial prowess and ability to command troops, but also for his commitment to rewards.

”Go, go. We can’t stay here much longer,” Hua Xiong said, waving his hand, not even turning back as he watched the fire.

Like the Hun people who are natural riders, the Wuhuan are born herders. In no time, they had gathered over a million cattle and sheep, driving them southward. Led by the head sheep, the flock of nearly a million sheep moved south at a decent pace.

Meanwhile, the cattle began their southward journey, enveloped by the horses, with Wuhuan Elite Cavalry smiling all around. With so many cattle, sheep, and horses, their tribe would be well-stocked for the winter. Truly, this was a bountiful year.

”Let’s go, reunite with Marquis Chen!” Hua Xiong said with a laugh as he looked at the Iron Cavalry gathering around him. Although they had fought in the Northern Huns Territory, the Iron Cavalry soldiers had no casualties.

Hua Xiong led the Xiliang Iron Cavalry to head south first, while the Wuhuan Elite Cavalry, under Tadu’s command, drove the massive number of cattle, sheep, and warhorses behind them.

Honestly, even with all these cattle, sheep, and warhorses, Hua Xiong wasn’t particularly impressed. Without bringing them south of the Great Wall, they couldn’t be considered spoils of war, especially with the Northern Huns potentially arriving at any moment.

If the enemy managed to hold their ground, these cattle, sheep, and warhorses would scatter on the battlefield. No matter how skilled, there wouldn’t be enough hands to gather them again.

However, with time on their side, Hua Xiong decided to bring these cattle, sheep, and warhorses along. After all, the Northern Huns might not catch up immediately, and even if they did, it wouldn’t be now. They could enjoy fresh lamb for a few days before worrying. On this long pursuit, they’ve been surviving on dried fish and jerky; while filling, it’s nowhere as delicious as freshly cooked lamb.

”Hey, isn’t that one of ours?” Hu Feng, looking around, accidentally spotted a cavalryman about a mile or two in the distance, and excitedly pointed it out to Hu Zhen beside him.

”It seems so...” Hu Zhen confirmed after closely inspecting, then exclaimed in alarm, ”Something’s wrong, he’s injured! Our army must have been ambushed.”

Having heard this, Hua Xiong immediately urged his horse forward, rushing towards the soldier who had several arrows in his back, one of which had even pierced through his chest.