Chapter 617: Arrangements

When Yan Liqiang led his troops back to the Wind Border Stockade, their path was paved by dead bodies of Shatu men who were killed during the pursuit earlier.

The soldiers following Yan Liqiang were all in high spirits as they were bursting with morale. They rounded up the now ownerless rhinodrake steeds along the way as spoils of war. With the reins of another extra steed in hand, they followed Yan Liqiang back to the Wind Border Stockade.

Along the way, the soldiers from White Stone Pass kept stealing glances at Yan Liqiang’s five hundred soldiers with awe in their eyes. Initially, they thought that Yan Liqiang’s guards were too young so they couldn’t predict their capability on battlefields. After this battle, the White Stone Pass cavalry was astonished by their performance.

From the start to the end of the battle, Yan Liqiang’s guards had put on the most outstanding performance. They killed most of the enemies without suffering any casualties by the end of the battle. Only a few of them suffered minor injuries at the beginning of the battle when they engaged the Shatu cavalry archers. The injuries weren’t that serious as they could still ride on their steeds.

After the Shatu archers were all killed after a few rounds of coordinated attacks, no one among the five hundred cavalry archers got hurt again because the other Shatu soldiers couldn’t even come close to them, let alone harm them.

When the Shatu cavalry was surrounded, one of the Shatu soldiers actually managed to come as close as thirty meters away from the cavalry archers. However, he was instantly turned into a hedgehog.

It was simply a miracle to have experienced such a battle without any casualties.

Wang Naiwu looked at Yan Liqiang’s five hundred cavalry archers with his burning gaze. As a barrack general, he was naturally more knowledgeable than ordinary soldiers. Even so, Wang Naiwu never thought cavalry archers would be this powerful when united on a battlefield. Yan Liqiang’s troops were very organized in everything they did. They operated as a single unit and adopted completely different battle strategies than a normal cavalry. They were an eye-opener to Wang Naiwu.

If only he could also lead a troop like that…

The thought flashed through Wang Naiwu’s mind. However, the thought was instantly shattered when he looked at all the luxurious bows hanging on the saddle of the five hundred cavalry archers’ steeds. Wang Naiwu sighed inwardly. In his opinion, Yan Liqiang was probably the only person in the entire northwestern region who could afford such extravagant and expensive equipment on his guards.

Putting aside the challenge in training a qualified archer, just the five hundred rhinodrake steeds that those cavalrymen were sitting on and the five hundred bows alone were enough to make many people flinch. Since the northwestern region was quite famous for its rhinodrake steeds, it was still possible to acquire them as a military ranch existed in Gan Province and it was situated right next to the Gulang Plains.

However, a decent war bow had always been the most scarce of the most expensive weapons in the Great Han Empire. Even all the weaponsmith quarters under the jurisdiction of the Gan Provincial Military Governor’s Office were only able to produce about a thousand of them per year. After these war bows were distributed, each army in every province could only get their hands on very few of them.

Not only that, but some of them might also be damaged by the time they were distributed to the army. No matter how well one could take care of their war bow, the lifespan of one war bow was only two to five years at most. The daily trainings, as well as the natural expansion and contraction, gradually wore these war bows out until they would eventually be discarded. Hence, it wasn’t like troops could actually accumulate many of them over time.

Of course, there were cheap bows too. In fact, those made out of bamboo were extremely cheap so it wasn’t hard to bulk purchase them. However, bows like that were jokes on the battlefield as they couldn’t even penetrate leather armor from fifty steps away. Not only that, but they would be out of shape after a few months of use. Aside from the White Lotus Society who would use them to scare their enemies with numbers, only the natives among the southern mountains used this kind of bow.

By the time Yan Liqiang arrived at the Wind Border Stockade with his troops, the battle there had also ended. The ground outside of the stockade village was littered with mostly Shatu corpses.

The Shatu soldiers who stayed here earlier didn’t expect the ongoing battle in the distance to end so quickly. As soon as the Shatu cavalry over there started to escape, the morale of those who were here instantly hit rock-bottom as well. They wanted to escape too, but they were stopped by the Han Chinese in the Wind Border Stockade. By the time Tie Yunshan arrived with his men, they inevitably lost the battle as they had been trapped by their enemies at the front and back. Apart from the dozen soldiers that managed to escape, the rest were all reduced to corpses.

As soon as Yan Liqiang’s foot touched the ground, Tie Yunshan brought a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties over. He had a square face, a pair of thick eyebrows, and was dressed in regular civilian clothes.

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“Peng Zhaohan greets the Protectorate General…!” The man greeted Yan Liqiang respectfully.

“My lord, Peng Zhaohan is the chief of the Wind Border Stockade!” Tie Yunshan explained at the side.

Yan Liqiang cast a glance at the man. His eyes were red as he wore a mournful expression on his face. He had a few injuries on his body. Hanging on his waist was a bloodstained saber. Around four or five hundred young men from the stockade village were quietly watching them. They were holding different weapons in their hands.

The fire inside and outside of the stockade village hadn’t been completely extinguished at this time. Aside from the Shatu corpses on the ground outside the stockade village, there were also quite a few corpses wearing Han Chinese civilian clothes. Many elderly people and women were holding those corpses while crying in anguish and shouting the names of those who had fallen.

The atmosphere was heavy and Yan Liqiang could only sigh inwardly when he saw the scene. The Shatu people who came to invade the stockade village had been eliminated. Even so, the damage they had done to this village wouldn’t just vanish along with their deaths.

“How many people are left in the Wind Border Stockade now?” Yan Liqiang asked directly. This wasn’t the time to be consoling people. As the Protectorate General, he must make a decision in the shortest time possible to minimize losses. At the same time, he must make those Shatu people feel as much pain as possible.

“There were about 2,300 people before, but now there are only less than two thousand!” Peng Zhaohan replied with grief.

Yan Liqiang pointed at the stockade fence which had been burnt down as he spoke firmly, “All of you can’t stay here any longer. None of your people will survive the next attack from the Shatu people if we come too late. You need to immediately gather the people in your stockade village to prepare for evacuation and return to White Stone Pass…!”

Peng Zhaohan turned his head around to look at the scene behind him and knew that this was no longer a safe place to stay. The Shatu people were determined to raze the Wind Border Stockade to the ground. If they continued staying here, not even the White Stone Pass garrison would be able to save them during the next invasion just as Yan Liqiang predicted. He turned his head back again, clenched his jaw, and wiped his eyes. “Understood. I shall make the necessary arrangements and prepare for evacuation as instructed…”

Yan Liqiang looked at Tie Yunshan. “Get the wounded soldiers who are no longer able to fight to leave with them together!”

“Understood!” Tie Yunshan replied with a serious look on his face.

“How far is the Tuli Tribe from here?”

“The Tuli Tribe’s encampment is just about a hundred li away!”

Yan Liqiang narrowed his eyes. A murderous glint flashed across his eyes as he immediately issued an order. “Get on your steeds, everyone! We will raze the Tuli Tribe to the ground and take their heads…!”

“My lord, we would like to join you to avenge the deaths of our people too!” Peng Zhaohan balled his fists and looked straight at Yan Liqiang.

Yan Liqiang immediately agreed without saying much. “Leave two hundred young and able men to escort the villagers to White Stone Pass! For those who would like to join the battle, get on a rhinodrake steed and follow me!”

Peng Zhaohan looked at the five hundred cavalry archers by Yan Liqiang’s side, “My lord, there are still many arrows which we have prepared to fend off the Shatu people in the stockade village. You should give them to your men!”

“Good!”

Yan Liqiang only stayed in the Wind Border Stockade for a few minutes before he got back onto Snowstorm Cloud. With a troop of two thousand men, they rode murderously toward the Tuli Tribe’s encampment…