Chapter 75: Triumphant Return

"Colonel Pan, take a squad of soldiers and cut off their retreat."

Chang Wei stood on a high slope, overlooking the entire battlefield.

Discovering signs that the Northern Di soldiers were attempting to flee, he immediately ordered men to head north from the woods to intercept them.

Now, the Northern Di soldiers were wrapped up in the middle by the Personal Army soldiers like dumplings; unable to look after front or rear, they fell continuously under the blades of the Personal Army soldiers.

In truth, the outcome had already been decided; the remaining time was merely for cleaning up the remnants of the enemy.

However, he did not actually care whether they could completely annihilate the ambushing Northern Di soldiers.

What he truly cared about were the three thousand fine horses in the valley.

"Twenty-first!" On the battlefield, Lv Chang's Armor was almost dyed red with blood.

Now, their numbers also held the advantage on the battlefield, and the space for the Northern Di soldiers was being squeezed smaller and smaller by them.

"Tuoba Lie, you have ruined me!"

Among the Northern Di soldiers, a Northern Di man dressed as a merchant was filled with grief and indignation.

Before coming, Tuoba Lie had told him that this trip would be absolutely foolproof.

But now, it was clear that Tuoba Lie's intelligence had gone wrong.

Their trade was finished, and they had failed to wipe out the Yan Wang's one thousand soldiers; now, even his own life was about to be lost.

In his gaze, the Northern Di soldiers were still fighting the Yan Wang's soldiers one by one.

It was just that their ferocity had not yielded any results.

The Yan Wang's soldiers were like cold, steel monsters, moving forward step by step; every step forward took away the life of a Northern Di soldier.

And the space they could move in was further compressed, finally becoming a circle of about ten meters.

"Eternal Heaven, I will not be a prisoner." The Northern Di merchant knelt on the ground, picked up a Curved Blade from a dead Northern Di soldier, slashed it fiercely across his own neck, and slowly collapsed.

He knew that he carried too many secrets; once captured, it would cause great losses to the Northern Di.

His vision gradually blurred; in his remaining time, the Northern Di merchant only saw the Northern Di soldiers falling one by one. In the final scene, a group of soldiers in silver Scale Armor came before him, and everything went black.

"General, most of the Northern Di soldiers have been annihilated, over a hundred have hidden in the deep mountains, and seven or eight hundred of the Qingfeng Stronghold bandits have escaped." The battle over, Lv Chang came before Chang Wei.

Chang Wei patted Lv Chang on the shoulder; he liked this kid.

In the battle, Lv Chang's ferocity was quite like his own in his youth.

Moreover, this baiting of the enemy was very dangerous.

If he had arrived even a little later, it would have been hard for Lv Chang and the others to hold out.

Because although their Armor was very sturdy, this sturdiness was better utilized in open areas by using formations.

While it could achieve miraculous results in such narrow places, if the enemy reacted, gave up on slashing with blades and swords, and directly grappled and wrestled with the soldiers, the advantage of the Armor would be greatly weakened.

While observing the battle, some Northern Di soldiers had already realized this; after snatching the Weapon of the Personal Army, they wrestled with the Personal Army soldiers.

After returning, he must report this situation to the Yan Wang to see if a method could be found to avoid this.

"Do not pursue them; clean up the battlefield, and if there are any survivors, bring them back," Chang Wei said.

Lv Chang nodded and led the soldiers away.

By the afternoon, the battlefield was cleared, and Chang Wei and Lv Chang left Qingfeng Pass for Yan Commandery.

"General, this was truly satisfying; over a thousand Northern Di died, which can be considered avenging the brothers from last time." On horseback, Lv Chang was in high spirits.

This was his first time on the battlefield, and his blood had been awakened.

Mentioning the incident from last time, a flash of anger crossed Chang Wei's eyes.

The scene of the Northern Di slaughtering the people of Yan Commandery appeared in his mind once again.

"That we could win a great victory this time is because His Highness's plans were flawless. Moreover, these Northern Di soldiers were merely Servant Soldiers; do not underestimate the Northern Di because of this. You will understand when you encounter Northern Di Cavalry in the future."

Chang Wei said.

Lv Chang nodded; although this batch of Northern Di soldiers was more resilient than those of Qingfeng Stronghold, they were indeed inferior to them.

Furthermore, the Armor and Weapon of this batch of soldiers were average, only slightly better than those of Qingfeng Stronghold.

He had once seen Northern Di Cavalry; the Armor they wore and the bows and arrows they carried were very refined.

Although they were certainly not as sturdy as the Armor from the Armory, they could compare to the Armor of the Great Song Imperial Guard.

Lv Chang nodded, "This subordinate understands. But even if the Northern Di Cavalry comes, this subordinate is not afraid; I will still beat them until they are routed."

Having said that, he whipped his horse's rump and headed forward.

This was his spoils of war.

Chang Wei shook his head; this Lv Chang was fierce, but he was also truly reckless.

Two days passed.

Chang Wei and his party arrived at Yancheng from Qingfeng Pass.

Having received the news in advance, Zhao Xu, together with Liu Fu, arrived at the city gate to welcome them.

"Your Highness." Seeing Zhao Xu, Chang Wei dismounted.

"Looking at this, you have achieved a great victory," Zhao Xu smiled.

When they left, the soldiers only carried Weapon and a few days' worth of dry rations.

When they returned, however, there were fine horses and carts one after another.

"Just as Your Highness suspected, Lv Chang was ambushed, but this subordinate gave them a counter-ambush, and we won a complete victory," Chang Wei smiled.

Liu Fu had already learned of this operation; looking at the endless line of fine horses and carts, his face blossomed with joy, "In the past, it was always the Northern Di robbing us; now, we have finally robbed them once."

Hearing this, everyone laughed.

Zhao Xu said, "Do not linger here; let us return to the North Camp first."

Having said that, the group headed toward the North Camp.

Along the way, the commoners, having learned that the Prince's Personal Army had won a victory and seized horses from the Northern Di, were all grinning from ear to ear with joy.

"His Highness the Yan Wang is our savior. In the past, which of the Rich Clans in Yan Commandery dared to provoke the Northern Di, let alone seize their belongings?"

"Exactly, this autumn, we will finally be able to live peaceful lives."

"When I get home, I will have Erlang join the army. The Yan Wang truly fights the Northern Di."

"The soldiers of the Prince's Personal Army are truly formidable; they look so imposing in their Armor."

"..."

The whispers of the commoners reached the ears of the Personal Army soldiers, who immediately puffed out their chests and held their heads high.

The praise from the commoners filled them with immense pride and self-esteem.

The group arrived at the North Camp, and Chang Wei ordered the Du to lead the soldiers in dismissing.

Those soldiers who had not gone out to fight this time immediately surrounded these soldiers, asking questions one after another without pause.

Upon learning the details of the battle from these soldiers, they were all filled with envy.

"Are these the traded goods?" Zhao Xu walked up to a cart, which was piled high with lumps of Refined Iron.

These were produced by melting Iron Ore and then forging it.

They only needed to be taken back, heated, and forged.

Besides the Refined Iron, the other carts contained piles of Weapons and Armor.

"They are all here, but it is a pity that the Northern Di merchant committed suicide, and we didn't capture any important figures at Qingfeng Stronghold; they were all small fry." Chang Wei also felt some regret about this.

"You cannot be blamed for this. Zhang Kang is still very cautious. I have already learned that Zhang Kang did not let anyone from the Zhang Family or the Yuan Family go." Zhao Xu narrowed his eyes; this was the news brought by Xu Ke and his son.