Chapter 1598: To Catch, One Must First Let Go

Therefore, Xuanyuan reprimanded the Soldier in charge at the time and issued a punishment; although he himself had been injured, his erroneous command had led to the deaths of more Soldiers, which was his culpability, and unless he were dead, he would still have to be punished.

From then on, Xuanyuan set a requirement for his subordinates: unless there was a significant disparity in numbers and strength between the two sides, they were not permitted to request reinforcements; if they could fight on their own, they were to do so, and they were not to pursue too far, lest they encounter an ambush.

After this battle, Huaxia and the Xuanyuan Tribe focused on deploying their Soldiers and stopped preparing for an offensive against Xingtian, as they discovered that they still had quite a few problems of their own.

As for the Xingtian Tribe, the returning Soldiers brought back the seized Weapon, and although they also had Soldiers who died or were injured in battle, upon hearing that the results were even greater, Xingtian did not show any sadness, because this was a pure victory.

He distributed those weapons to the Soldiers who had performed meritorious service as a reward, and publicized this battle to the tribesmen, which immediately boosted morale; it was not only Huaxia that could harass and raid them, for they were equally capable of launching counterattacks.

Yet Xingtian was not satisfied with this; what he needed was not just such a small gain. Defeating Huaxia and the Xuanyuan Alliance was something he had to do; only by thoroughly defeating them could he protect the Shennong Clan, otherwise, the Shennong Clan might really be wiped out by them.

Consequently, he prepared to carry out a few more such harassment raids, but not using the exact same methods; instead, he would concentrate his forces to attack one side, leaving Huaxia and the Xuanyuan Tribe unable to discern the truth from the false, and unaware of his true intentions.

He planned to repeat his first strategy later to disrupt the judgment of Huaxia and the Xuanyuan Tribe, but he slightly underestimated his enemies and lacked a sufficient understanding of the enemy's strength.

By noon, taking advantage of the time when the sun was most scorching, the Xingtian Tribe swapped in a new batch of Soldiers and began their second attack, with several hundred people concentrating on one side to strike.

But this time, they were facing the Huaxia and Xuanyuan Tribe Soldiers who had been redeployed and reorganized; they were more numerous and more concentrated, and they did not flinch in the face of the sudden Xingtian Tribe Soldiers.

And because there were Soldiers acting as sentries in the trees, they made the discovery relatively early, made preparations in advance, and launched a swift counterattack.

However, this time it was also a pity; because the line of sight was clear enough, several sentries in the trees were exposed and surrounded, resulting in the death of all the Xuanyuan Tribe sentries.

Only one Huaxia sentry survived because he was carrying an Explosive on his person; when he noticed the Xingtian Tribe people preparing to climb the tree to surround him, he threw the Bomb down in time, not only saving himself but also blowing many people to death.

He did not have many Explosive Packs in his hands, but as long as he picked one up, the Xingtian Tribe people had to retreat and dared not surround him, which was why he was able to survive under the siege of many enemies.

A Xuanyuan Tribe Soldier holding a Telescope, upon realizing that he had no way to retreat and was certain to die, prioritized smashing the Telescope in his hand while in the tree; crystal was still very fragile, and the protruding tree knots easily shattered the lenses of the Telescope.

That had been issued to them by Huaxia and, in fact, still belonged to Huaxia; after the war ended, they would have to return it, but he also understood that if this thing fell into Xingtian's hands, it would definitely pose a threat to his own tribe, so he had to destroy it.

The Xingtian Tribe people picked up the broken Telescope but did not think it was a useful object and simply discarded it; the situation at the time was extremely urgent, and it did not allow them to think too much.

Coupled with the fact that their judgment was wrong this time and the number of enemies was too high, they were at a clear disadvantage, so they could only retreat again and again, and then flee completely.

Xingtian was not troubled by this failure, nor did he blame his Soldiers; it was inevitable for Huaxia and the Xuanyuan Tribe to make adjustments, and if they did not do so, he would only look down on Huaxia and the Xuanyuan Tribe.

However, he was not without gains; at the very least, he had roughly guessed the troop strength of Huaxia and the Xuanyuan Tribe. The forces on both sides were basically equal, and the forces in the middle were definitely more numerous. Adding in some Soldiers guarding the camp and protecting their Tribal Chief and food, Xingtian inferred that the Huaxia and Xuanyuan Tribe Soldiers added up to at least seven thousand, which was already close to their own numbers, so Xingtian felt that this was a real hard battle.

This time, the commanders of the Xuanyuan Tribe and Huaxia did not make any erroneous commands, successfully holding their positions and achieving certain results, which counted as a small victory.

But the death of the sentries in the trees also made them realize this problem: the sentries were at the very front, deep behind enemy lines, and alone, which was truly too dangerous; once they encountered the enemy and were surrounded, it was difficult to have a chance to escape.

The only one who escaped was the Huaxia Soldier, who relied on a Bomb to save his life. However, not arranging sentries in the trees made it difficult to discover the enemy at the fastest speed. If they were to be arranged, either all Huaxia Soldiers would have to be used to fill this most dangerous post, or the Xuanyuan Tribe Soldiers would also have to be equipped with Bombs, but in that case, the people of the Xuanyuan Tribe would be able to have long-term, intimate contact with the Bombs.

Comparing the two, Baifeng decided to equip the people of the Xuanyuan Tribe with Bombs, but the requirements were quite strict: if they threw one out, they had to hear it go off; if they did not hear it go off, they would have to pay a huge compensation.

A few were issued each time they went out, and as long as they were not used, the same number had to be returned upon their return; the packaging and everything else could not have any damage, otherwise, they would still have to pay compensation.

Every word and implication was a lack of trust in the Xuanyuan Tribe, but Xuanyuan also understood Baifeng's worries; how could one not be concerned about such a treasure, something that could determine the fate of a tribe? If it weren't for the fact that Baifeng could not bear to lose his own Soldiers, he would never have let the people of the Xuanyuan Tribe use this thing.

Baifeng was actually not afraid of the Xuanyuan Tribe studying the Bombs; they could not deduce the formula from the already finely mixed Gunpowder, and they did not even know what Sulfur and Saltpeter were.

Baifeng actually hoped that one Bomb casing would be dismantled; in any case, the people of the Xuanyuan Tribe would be unable to restore it, and it would just so happen that Baifeng would have a sufficient and irrefutable reason to extort a large sum from them; this could be considered a strategy of "letting them go only to catch them."

Xuanyuan was even more eager for this opportunity; as long as he could have more contact with them, even if it meant paying compensation to Huaxia, he would still want to get another Bomb back. It would be best to hide one during a chaotic battle, as no one would hear how many went off at that time; as long as there was one more, they would have one more chance to replicate it.