Chapter 987: Gun Cavalry

"Ashuer, my younger brother!"

Just after walking a few steps with the cavalry, Mule Hongzhen suddenly thought of the Ashuer Tribe, and his heart skipped a beat.

During this short time, Ashuer's eastern route had been very quiet; the two sides had been in a stalemate, neither achieving results nor collapsing.

Now, with the disastrous defeat at Lingwu County, he had to lead his troops to retreat back to the Grassland.

The Great Song troops would inevitably rush to Yulin without stopping to encircle and annihilate the Ashuer Tribe.

Thinking of this, he immediately ordered a change in the direction of the retreat, heading first to Yulin to rendezvous with Ashuer before returning to the Grassland.

Wulanba and the other kings of the royal tent did not object.

They could not abandon the Ashuer Tribe.

At the same time.

As the Northern Di retreated, the Great Song soldiers in the trenches waved their flags, held up the Qin-series rifles in their hands, and let out bursts of cheers.

"We won!"

"Hahaha, the Northern Di have run away. Don't go, come back and fight your grandfathers again."

"You can run from the monk, but you can't run from the temple. Just wait, we will slaughter our way onto the Grassland."

"..."

Because they had not received orders to pursue, they simply crossed the long trench fortifications and occupied the Northern Di camp.

In order to escape, the Northern Di had traveled light, abandoning even their tents and running for their lives.

Seeing the Northern Di retreat, Bai Shang, Huo An, and other generals gathered together again.

Previously, they had been spread out across the battlefield to command.

"Di Ying, you stay behind to clean up the battlefield; we are going to support General Ma Han's White Tiger Army," Bai Shang said once the generals had arrived.

"Why should the Black Tortoise Army stay to clean up the battlefield? We aren't a reserve force; we came to fight. We contributed quite a bit to this battle too. It's fine that you took the machine guns, but why leave this menial labor to us?" Di Ying protested.

Before setting out, his direct superior, Yang Zhen, had specifically cautioned him.

Do not be intimidated by the Central Army generals; win some face for the Black Tortoise Army.

Upon hearing this, Bai Shang's eyes widened, "What? You brat, you dare to disobey orders on the battlefield? Never mind you, even if your General Yang Zhen came himself, he would still have to clean up the battlefield for me. When I saved your General Yang back in the day, you didn't even know where you were!"

Di Ying was scolded roundly by Bai Shang and was instantly silenced.

With Bai Shang bringing up this old story, he lost his temper and hung his head, saying nothing.

Bai Shang wore a triumphant expression, and the other Central Army generals laughed one after another.

Huo An patted Di Ying on the shoulder, "Compared to your four armies—Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise—our Central Army can be considered the eldest brother. You can compete with the other three armies in the future."

Having said that, Huo An turned to organize his troops, preparing to depart.

The other generals passed by Di Ying, each of them patting him on the shoulder as well.

Di Ying rolled his eyes.

Just as Yang Zhen had said, the Central Army generals were indeed all very overbearing.

However, he also had to admire the Central Army.

When the battle started, the generals truly commanded well, and the soldiers were brave and fierce, with very rich battlefield experience.

Watching the Central Army generals depart, Di Ying turned and ordered his soldiers to clean up the battlefield.

In truth, he really did not want to clean up the battlefield, because there was simply too much work to do.

Just burying the corpses of the Northern Di soldiers alone would likely take them several days.

Otherwise, letting these corpses rot would easily lead to a plague.

Besides that, they also had to catch the warhorses wandering the battlefield.

The dead or injured warhorses could not be wasted either; they could let the soldiers have a hearty meal of meat.

Just as he was thinking this, a general finished listening to a soldier's report, turned to him, and advised, "General, actually, staying behind isn't bad. We found a large number of cattle and sheep in the Northern Di camp that they didn't have time to take; we can fill our bellies."

Hearing this, Di Ying was furious, "You lot only have this much ambition, only knowing how to eat, eat, eat... Uh, save me a whole roasted lamb."

"You got it, General," the general said with a cheeky grin.

Yin Mountain.

With the great victory at Lingwu County, the Northern Di retreating, the Central Army rushing to Yulin, and the Black Tortoise Army left behind to clean up the battlefield.

Chen Hu's Gun Cavalry were living a life of luxury.

Over these past few days, they had continuously raided the Northern Di herdsmen teams delivering cattle and sheep to the Northern Di army, seizing thirty thousand head of cattle and sheep in total.

By feeding off the enemy, they naturally no longer worried about the issue of provisions.

Every day at the foot of Yin Mountain, they chopped wood, slaughtered sheep and cattle, and ate until their mouths were slick with grease.

However, while attacking the enemy's supply lines, they had also been sending out cavalry to keep an eye on the Yongzhou battlefield.

After more than two days, he received the battle report that Mule Hongzhen had been defeated and was heading to Yulin to rendezvous with the Ashuer Tribe, preparing to retreat back to the Grassland.

"As expected of the Central Army," Chen Hu slapped his thigh.

He had belonged to the Prince's Personal Army since he joined the military.

Therefore, the Central Army was his old home, and he had deep feelings for it.

After offering praise, he said to the generals beside him, "Have the soldiers prepare to depart. Since the Northern Di have been defeated, there is no need to guard this supply line anymore. We are going to catch Mule Hongzhen."

The Northern Di wanting to retreat back to the Grassland safely was nothing but a pipe dream.

Yan Wang had equipped them with horse rifles, allowing his cavalry to be reborn.

If he didn't take this opportunity in the war to produce some results, he wouldn't dare show his old face in front of Yan Wang in the future!