Chapter 655: Western Expedition 2

Bai Lang was filled with murderous intent. The generals he brought along this time were all fellows who had risen through the ranks while campaigning with him over the years. Regardless of their martial prowess, their ability to command troops was likely even stronger than Bai Lang's own. Bai Lang's type was the supreme warrior of the world; he did not need to be constrained or directed in battle. He only needed three or five hundred elite cavalry following behind him, and naturally, whatever he struck would be shattered, and whatever he attacked would be conquered. However, with so many troops in the world, where could one find so many Bai Langs?

Therefore, his subordinates were mostly generals who could truly lead troops—the incompetent had already been weeded out. Bai Lang, Bai Bao, and Bai Biao were all the type of masters who would ruthlessly kill; incompetent generals could not live for long. Although Bai Lang led his army strictly, he was also prompt and generous with rewards, so there were quite a few capable officials and great generals under his command. For daily marching and camping, Bai Lang delegated everything to his "pig" generals and the clerks and registrars who marched with him, while he himself only drank wine and ate meat.

On this long expedition, there were no women in the army, even if it were the Emperor himself on a personal campaign. Bai Lang did not bring any imperial concubines, and naturally, there were no military prostitutes in the camp. The great army drove herds of cattle, sheep, and horses out of the pass and headed north. Along the way, light cavalry ventured out for hundreds of miles. Bai Lang took turns leading different cavalry units out; firstly, to scout for enemy tracks, and secondly, if he encountered any Mongol tribes, he could just as well "raid for grass and grain."

Sometimes they would encounter tribes of a hundred tents, which were naturally shattered by Bai Lang in a single charge. Men, women, old, and young were all captured—since they were Mongols, Bai Lang did not adopt the "wheel execution" this time, because they could be put to use. Naturally, he forced the young and strong to herd sheep and horses, while the old, weak, women, and children were left in place; Bai Lang was too lazy to rob these poor wretches of their skinny sheep. Mongols were always better than Cossacks; they could be spared a little.

However, the Mongol tribes further north were not so lucky. By this era, the Mongols were practically finished, and although the troops from within the pass were not much in Bai Lang's eyes, they were, after all, battle-hardened soldiers and not conscripts used to fill numbers. Thus, they could not withstand the charge of the Great Qin cavalry not led by Bai Lang either. After breaking their formation, it was all "wheel execution"—any young man taller than a cart wheel was beheaded.

He had walked this northern road several times over the past thousand years. During the Han Dynasty, he dared to run rampant in the Northern Court with only a thousand men, treating the millions of Xianbei and Wuhuan as nothing. Now, stepping onto this path once again, Bai Lang had an intuitive understanding of the climate changes over the millennium: "The last time I came, this place was still considered lush with water and grass; who would have thought it has now become a desert and Gobi." Naturally, the population growth was also far inferior to what it was back then.

Sometimes they would walk for a thousand miles without seeing a single tribe, until they saw Lake Baikal, the place called the "North Sea" by the Han sons within the pass. There were settlements by the lake, and without a doubt, they were not Mongol, but Cossack. Because it was a massive lake, the climate was much better than the Gobi—at least the water body was a good thermal container. Bai Lang did not say much, directly leading his cavalry to charge those settlements.

At this time, the Cossacks used muskets and sabers, and they did not wear armor, or at most, they wore mail armor. They were multi-functional light cavalry, and logically speaking, they should not have been able to defeat the heavy armored cavalry under Bai Lang. However, the Cossacks had good horses. Bai Lang did not let his heavy armored cavalry wear armor; instead, the men wore mail armor and the horses wore felt. He personally led them and killed his way over.

Muskets were ineffective against Bai Lang, and they were of no use against the White Tiger ghosts he had raised, so the settlements were uprooted one after another. Except for the women, the rest of the Cossacks were beheaded, and their heads were piled into a "Jingguan" (monument of heads). Along the settlements, Bai Lang's army slaughtered over ten thousand people, wiping out the Tsarist Russian Empire's hard-won expansion of over a hundred years in a single night. Of course, it was impossible for Bai Lang to fight all the way to Eastern Europe and break Vienna like the Mongol Western Expedition of the past.

If he were to walk the great grasslands, it would probably take a year and a half to two years to reach the true territory of the current Tsarist Russian Empire, so this was an impossible task. He only needed to fight to the Caspian Sea and cut off the hands extended by the Tsarist Russian Empire to the north. At that time, there should be a decisive battle—the Tsarist Russian Empire had always feared the Tatars coming from the eastern grasslands, knowing that a "Yellow Peril" had come from the east again and had uprooted their Cossack strongholds that had expanded for years, so the various Russian nobles would certainly not be able to sit still.

They would almost certainly assemble a great army to fight this battle; after all, they did not want the nightmare of the Golden Horde to be staged again for another few hundred years.

Bai Lang thought of this layer, so he did not specifically hunt down the fleeing Cossacks, but only drove them to the west and north. There were almost no people left west of Lake Baikal, and Bai Lang had already been on the expedition for nearly nine months, which could be called god-like speed. Now, he was heading west to the Caspian Sea; if possible, he would fight a battle there. How to return was hard to say; should he go to the Khyber Pass and head south to have a good plunder?

At this time, the "San'er" (India) region was essentially a collection of independent states, and they all seemed quite wealthy. To say nothing else, just the women of those Aryan San'er seemed both fair-skinned and beautiful. Moreover, the San'er were too easy to fight; the Khyber Pass, such a vital strategic location, didn't even have any heavy fortifications or strong cities to lock it down. Generally speaking, the Khyber Pass was as good as undefended. Once you crossed this pass, apart from the two great rivers, the San'er had no natural barriers to defend.

If he plundered this time, would there be tens of tons of gold? It was better to just think about such a good thing; if he really wanted to do it, Bai Lang would have to think twice.

Just like this, he slowly marched toward the Caspian Sea. Along the way, there would be no more obstacles—the powerful Khwarazm was already dust in the wind, and the climate and the Mongol slaughter made it impossible for there to be so many people here anymore.

Although Bai Lang was on a long expedition outside the territory, the imperial court documents delivered by fast horses would be sent to him in a pile every month. Of course, Bai Lang would also occasionally order the border light cavalry to take carts and horses out to transport the looted items back. Bai Lang's long expedition did not bring much logistical pressure to the country; anyway, he "relied on the enemy for grain." Now, he had also sent back quite a lot of looted wealth, documents, and antiques.

Bai Lang's great army had been walking for more than six months, and now it had finally moved slowly to a place where the Caspian Sea could be seen. There were cities here—although by the standards of the Central Plains, they were all just castles and earthen walls...

Bai Lang's great army had military pay from looting, so their morale was still very high, especially since they had never been defeated following Bai Lang. Now that they saw the cities, it was just right to vent the anger accumulated from months of marching. These cities had cannons, but how could they withstand the attacks of monster-like warriors? Of course, Bai Lang had "you have cannons, I have divine skills," directly charging up the city walls under the cannonballs, killing all the defending troops, and opening the gates to let his own subordinates in...

After capturing the city, Bai Lang also received a piece of news—the Tsarist Russian Empire's great army was already approaching. ===== CHAPTER 656 =====