Chapter 282: Outstanding Battle Record

"The Cuncao Tribe's shaman, Wu Ma Yanyang, greets you, Wanhut Erldun."

Wu Ma Yanyang forced himself forward to bow.

Deep inside, he held great contempt for Erldun, who had suffered defeat.

His cavalry had been reduced to infantry, fleeing in panic—utterly shaming the Steppe Alliance.

But there was no choice; most tribes across the steppe now had to bow to the Tatar clan.

The Cuncao Tribe had long chosen to submit to the Tatars, just to secure the lucrative opportunity to raid Shandong.

Unfortunately, their luck was terrible—they struck out and immediately suffered heavy losses.

Erldun's forces had suffered devastating casualties, casting a shadow of failure over this raid before it even truly began.

"Why are there only so few of you? Where are the rest of the troops?"

Erldun asked, clearly displeased.

According to the Grand Khan's orders, the Gui Fang cavalry sent to support him should have numbered around thirty thousand; this force before him was less than one-tenth of that.

In fact, his greatest confidence in daring to advance alone all the way to Jinan's gates was the thirty thousand reinforcements behind him.

With forty thousand cavalry assembled, they were unstoppable across Shandong's land.

Even if the Great Dayu summoned its regional armies, they could not touch them.

But plans changed faster than expected—in a moment of carelessness, he had already lost ten thousand of his own troops.

Among the Tatars, his rank as Wanhut was indeed weak.

But compared to the Gui Fang cavalry, he could still crush them easily.

His defeat was entirely due to being caught utterly off guard.

None of his troops' armor or firearms had time to be deployed before they fled in disgrace.

Without weapons in hand, they could only suffer passively.

"Your Wanhut, the Cuncao Tribe served as the vanguard, arriving at the battlefield first.

The remaining reinforcements are expected to arrive at the front line over the next three days."

Wu Ma Yanyang spoke slowly.

Cavalry moves quickly—that's relative to infantry.

The normal marching speed of ordinary Gui Fang cavalry is sixty to eighty li per day.

During forced marches, they can manage a hundred li per day, but that's not the norm.

No one anticipated a defeat at the front; everyone marched at normal pace.

"Hmm!"

"Immediately send messengers to all units—accelerate and join us."

Erldun gave the order at once.

Out of gratitude for saving his life, he had no intention of picking a fight with the Cuncao Tribe.

The scattered remnants from last night still needed these men to help gather them; there was no need to make relations too tense.

If he truly offended them, and they targeted isolated Tatar soldiers with ambushes, he'd have no recourse.

The battlefield was in chaos—who escaped, who didn't—it was all a mess.

Suddenly, the distant sound of ten thousand horses fleeing reached them.

"Bad news—the Yu cavalry is coming!

Your Wanhut, our forces are insufficient—we must withdraw at once!"

Wu Ma Yanyang said grimly.

Before engaging the enemy, he could ignore the Yu army—but not now.

Having witnessed the Yu infantry's ferocity, he had long lost all contempt.

Ten thousand elite Tatars had been turned into beggars fleeing for their lives, nearly annihilated.

He did not believe his own small cavalry force could defeat them.

As he spoke, Gui Fang cavalrymen had already brought forward spare mounts.

"Fine—we retreat!"

Erldun gritted his teeth.

At this moment, his hatred for the relief armies ran deep into his bones.

Had he possessed sufficient strength, Erldun would have charged back immediately to sever the Marquis of Marquis Wuyang's head and avenge his fallen clansmen.

No sooner had the words left his mouth than Erldun leapt onto his horse.

His accompanying soldiers followed suit without delay.

In the blink of an eye, the column vanished into the horizon.

Watching the enemy depart, Qin Qin Tianrui could only offer a bitter smile.

After all this effort, he had failed at the final moment—the big fish had slipped away.

After a brief moment of shock, he quickly regained his composure.

Last night's battle had already been a great victory.

The enemy commander's escape would not diminish his fame from this single clash.

"Quickly clear the battlefield—this is no place to linger."

Glancing at the corpses on the ground, Qin Qin Tianrui gave his order decisively.

Regardless, killing so many enemy troops meant this pursuit was not in vain.

According to official classification, both the Tatars and Gui Fang could be categorized as Northern Bandits, qualifying for the highest military merit.

To encourage troops to kill, the court decreed: for every Northern Bandit cavalryman slain, one rank promotion or fifty taels of silver.

The silver reward would likely be reduced, but the promotion was real.

Of course, expecting instant promotion to the highest ranks was impossible.

Killing dozens of enemies in a single engagement did occasionally occur in the army.

But the requirements for promotion of ordinary soldiers differed from those of mid- and high-ranking officers.

Promotion of officers above the rank of Company Commander required careful consideration from multiple sources.

Military merit was the primary factor, but calculation was no longer based solely on individual heads; it now accounted for collective combat performance.

Typically, battlefield results were subtracted by losses; the remaining surplus was proportionally converted into an officer's official merit.

Due to the Great Dayu's decline, cases of defeating larger forces and killing vast numbers of Northern Bandits were exceedingly rare.

Under practical necessity, the court had lowered its standards.

Sometimes, killing a hundred Northern Bandits while losing one hundred twenty of one's own was still counted as a great victory by the Ministry of War.

…

With the relief armies on the move, scattered Northern Bandit stragglers across the land met their doom.

Surrender was out of the question—in the eyes of the Yu troops, they were nothing but mobile military merit.

In the Great Dayu, capturing prisoners carried no greater merit than decapitating them.

Prisoners had to be fed—they added no merit but increased consumption.

Unless they held special status, taking prisoners alive was simply inviting trouble.

On the battlefield, killing as many enemies as one could earned cheers.

But killing prisoners after capture risked impeachment by the Censorate.

During the earlier rebellion, many prisoners were taken because the commander had issued orders—troops acted accordingly.

Now the situation was different; knowing the Northern Bandits were dangerous, Li Mu would never issue such an order.

Most crucially, the two sides could not communicate—most Northern Bandit soldiers did not speak Yu's language.

Even basic communication between them was nearly impossible.

"My Lord, preliminary battle statistics are ready.

In this engagement, we shattered ten thousand elite Northern Bandits and killed eight thousand enemy soldiers.

Due to the fire, many enemy heads were reduced to mere skulls.

Currently, only four thousand skulls can be directly identified as genuine Northern Bandit heads.

Our troops are still pursuing the remnants; another thousand or so heads are likely to be added."

Li Mu reported with a smile.

The battle results were even more glorious than expected.

The panicked Northern Bandit soldiers, lost in unfamiliar territory, could not hide.

As for the shortage of heads, there was nothing to be done.

The roaring flames inevitably killed many.

Bodies had become fuel; finding skulls at all was already fortunate.

Most had been reduced to ash, their bones entirely consumed.

Whether these skulls could be verified as genuine enemy dead depended on the Ministry of War's forensic skills.

Crushing ten thousand elite Northern Bandits was a fact—no need to fear official verification.

Even without sufficient heads, the battle merit could still be reported.

"Well done!

Do not wait for further results—estimate a final number and report the victory to the court.

The Northern Bandits have invaded; the court and people are in panic—they need a great victory to stabilize morale in the capital."

……

(End of Chapter)