The pursuing cavalry came back one after another. The blades of the cavalrymen on the rhinoceros dragon horses were stained with blood and their armors were soaked with sweat, but everyone's face was filled with excitement after the great victory.
Just now, many of the Shatu people in the Tuli tribe were not riding horses when they fled. When the cavalry chased them, although it was impossible to kill all the fleeing people of the Tuli tribe on the spot, anyone who did not hide well and was caught up would basically not escape death.
Although it was already night, large numbers of vultures that had smelled the scent of death were already circling in the sky, staring at the corpses on the grassland, ready to come down for a feast at any time.
No matter which era, for these soldiers fighting on the battlefield, victory is the best stimulant and the highest reward for them. Although many people have followed Yan Liqiang and fought from outside Baishishan Pass to inside Baishishan Pass for a whole day, no one will complain.
Yan Liqiang was standing on the mound where the Tuli tribe's tent was located, watching teams of cavalry returning one after another.
Tie Yunshan, Wang Naiwu, Peng Chaohan and Xiong Gungun all came to Yan Liqiang to report. Except for Xiong Gungun, the other three looked like they were fished out of a blood jar. The original colors of their armor and clothes could no longer be seen on their bodies. Peng Chaohan had two wounds on his body, but he didn't care at all. Excitement was on their faces, and even the way they looked at Yan Liqiang was different.
Yan Liqiang raised a finger and looked at the four people. "Pass the order down. Everyone has one hour to rest. Pack up the spoils. Take away everything that can be taken away. Burn everything that cannot be taken away. After one hour, the entire army will evacuate immediately!"
Wang Naiwu and the others from Tieyun Mountain looked at each other, puffed out their chests, and clasped their fists together, "Yes, I obey your command!"
After receiving the order, the three of them immediately went down to make arrangements, only Xiong Gungun stayed behind.
Yan Liqiang looked at Xiong Gungun and asked, "How was the battle today?"
Xiong Gungun smiled innocently and touched his head. "I always felt that the people of the seven Shatu tribes were very powerful. We were facing the merchant caravans of the seven Shatu tribes, but I didn't feel anything special. I always wanted to see how strong the regular warriors of these Shatu people were. But after today's battle, I felt that these Shatu people were so weak!"
It's not that the Shatu people are weak, but the tactics of these 500 archers are crushing to the Shatu people. They can't find an opponent among the Shatu people today. At the same time, in the two battles between him and the Shatu people today, he caught the opponent off guard. Under the combined effect of various factors, Xiong Gungun felt that today's victory came easily. If it was a different person or a different occasion, it might not be the same.
Yan Liqiang's face turned serious. "If you have such thoughts, you will suffer a great loss in the future. Don't be careless. The most crucial point for our great victory today is that Tuli dispersed its strength after dividing its troops, and at the same time, it was not prepared to fight with us. That's why we took them by surprise and defeated them one by one. This time when we go back, each class must hold a summary meeting as usual. We can't be complacent after winning one or two battles!"
"Yes!" Xiong Gungun's face suddenly turned serious, but then he added carelessly, "I don't want to think about what the future will be like. Anyway, we will do whatever the adults tell us to do. If they tell us to kill, they kill. If they tell us to retreat, they retreat. I don't care about that!"
Seeing Xiong Gungun's look, Yan Liqiang didn't say much. Xiong Gungun was not a good general. He couldn't lead the troops in battle. He couldn't manage too many people. But when he was placed beside him as a personal guard commander, he was very dedicated and loyal, and dared to fight and charge. Thinking of this, Yan Liqiang slowed down his tone a little, "How many enemies did you kill today?"
“Hehehe…” Xiong Gungun’s smile deepened, and he said honestly, “About seven or eight. There were a few times when everyone shot at them at the same time. With so many arrows, I don’t know if I hit them…”
"Let everyone rest immediately and recover their strength and horsepower. After an hour, you and I will cover their retreat. There may be more battles at that time!" Yan Liqiang said to Xiong Gungun.
Hearing that there might be another fight, Xiong Gungun's body straightened up suddenly, "Yes!"
…
As soon as Yan Liqiang's order came down, everyone started to get busy. Tieyunshan's men and the young and strong men in Fengbian Village didn't even have time to eat at this time. They were all cleaning the battlefield and collecting spoils. Those gorgeous tents were the residences of the nobles of the Tuli tribe. In those tents, there were all kinds of gold, silver and treasures, and the quantity was not small, many of them were in boxes.
In addition to these, the greater wealth of the Tuli tribe is the cattle, sheep, and rhinoceros horses raised by the Tuli tribe. Right by the small river where the Tuli tribe settled, there are large areas of fences for the livestock raised by the Tuli tribe. The most numerous are sheep, at least more than 100,000, there are tens of thousands of cattle, and there are more than 10,000 rhinoceros horses. When Yan Liqiang brought his men to kill them, it was just getting dark, and the people of the Tuli tribe had just driven the cattle, sheep, rhinoceros horses and the like into the fences.
At this time, the cattle, sheep and rhinoceros horses were like freshly baked dumplings, waiting for people to take them away.
The cavalrymen who came to clean up the battlefield were all stunned when they saw the cattle, sheep and rhinoceros horses in the fences. It was not easy to see so many livestock inside the pass. When they thought that they could take these things as they pleased, everyone's mouths were watering.
“Let the rhino horses out first. We must take all of them away. Then let’s go the cattle. Anyone who can drive horses and cattle, come here. Don’t worry about the sheep for now. Sheep can’t run fast. It will take us three days to get back to Baishishan Pass with those sheep…” Wang Naiwu shouted while standing by the river, directing his men and the young and strong men from Fengbian Village to drive the rhino horses and the warriors’ yaks out of the fences. They were all very excited.
It has been who knows how many years since the soldiers of the Han Empire had tasted the feeling of making a fortune on the Gulang grassland. Everyone knows that although these things will not be theirs when they take them back and must be handed in, it is said that the governor is rich enough to rival a country and generous. If the governor rewards people according to merit, they will definitely get a share.
Everyone was in high spirits, searching through the Tuli camp, taking horses and cows away, and setting fire to those tents that were empty after searching...
The 500 horse archers all dismounted and took their rhino horses to the river to drink water. They also took out the cloth bags they carried with them, which contained the best mung beans. They sprinkled wine on the mung beans and fed them into the rhino horses' mouths one handful at a time. The rhino horses liked this kind of food the most, and this kind of food was specially prepared by the horse archers for the rhino horses, which could quickly restore their strength.
After taking care of the rhinoceros horses, the archers took out the dry food they carried with them - strips of beef jerky, and began to eat them quickly to restore their physical strength. Then they looked for arrows in the Tuli tribe to replenish their consumption...
…
"Sir, look..." Tie Yunfei appeared in front of Yan Liqiang, holding a purple-red horn python bow in his hand.
When Yan Liqiang saw the bow, his eyes lit up. He took the bow, looked at it carefully, and praised, "What a good bow!"
"They found this bow in the big tent where Tuli lived. It's a 50-stone horn python bow, and it was hung on the wall as a decoration. I don't think any of the Tuli people can pull it. I saw that you didn't bring a bow today, so you can't use your archery skills, so I brought this bow to you!"
Yan Liqiang looked towards the northwest, squinted his eyes and nodded, "Okay, I'll see if I still have a chance to shoot this bow today!"
"I will stay behind to cover our retreat. Sir Protector, please go first!" Tie Yunshan said in a deep voice.
Yan Liqiang shook his head. "No, your mission is to bring people and things back. You don't have to risk your life to cover the rear. I just need my 500 guards!"
"This is too dangerous..." Tie Yunshan's expression changed slightly.
"That's why I want to stay!" Yan Liqiang shook his head firmly. "The reinforcements from the Baki tribe may not dare to come. Even if they do, there will only be a few thousand people who can come in a hurry. They will definitely not be able to keep me. Okay, don't say anything more. It's decided..."
An hour later, Tie Yunshan, Wang Naiwu, Peng Chaohan and others led their troops, driving large groups of rhinoceros horses and cattle towards Baishishan Pass. The cavalrymen on horseback even tied two sheep to their saddles, and took away almost everything they could.
Under everyone's complicated gaze, Yan Liqiang led 500 horse archers and stayed on a slope next to the Tuli tribe's camp, resting and quietly waiting for the arrival of reinforcements from the Bakiyi tribe...
Yan Liqiang's judgment was correct. Just about an hour after Tie Yunshan and his companions left this place, the roar of iron hooves came from the northwest...
Under the moonlight, nearly four to five thousand Shatu cavalrymen rushed towards here with murderous intent...
(End of this chapter)