Chapter 426: If Our Iron Cavalry Continue Forward!

"Commandant, the scouts report that both the northern and southern Xiongnu forces have withdrawn. The northern force of two thousand riders led by the Grand Danghu has retreated to Divine Spring Mountain, two hundred li away. The southern force of two thousand riders led by the Gudu Marquis has fallen back to Little Salt Lake, a hundred li to the southwest, where they have set up camp again and are lingering without leaving!"

After feasting on mutton for three days straight, seasoned with the green salt of Huama Lake, every Qin soldier had grease running down his chin and his appetite was thoroughly satisfied. The scout riders, now full of energy, formed teams of a hundred and ranged further west to probe, finally locating the Xiongnu's tracks.

"Where is Little Salt Lake?"

Heifu knew Divine Spring Mountain — it was the necessary route from Huama Lake to the Great River and Helan. Half a year ago, Chen Ping had passed through there; it was a natural barrier on the open plain, with a spring of a hundred paces on the mountain. Any Xiongnu raiding Huama Lake had to water their horses there. But he had no idea where Little Salt Lake was.

Heifu had Wushi Yan point it out for him on the map. It turned out that Huama Lake, with a circumference of eighty li, was the largest saltwater lake in the area, hence also called Great Salt Lake. A hundred li to the southwest, the salt lake farthest from the town, with a circumference of twenty-seven li, was called Little Salt Lake. Though its water and grass were not as lush as those by Huama Lake, there were some streams and springs nearby that could be used for drinking.

"The Xiongnu are encamped between Huama Lake and Xiao Pass, lingering without leaving. It is nothing more than being unwilling to accept their defeat days ago. They want to keep watching, waiting until our army's provisions run out and the supply convoy turns south to fetch more grain, then seize the chance to raid us. It seems these Xiongnu haven't been hurt badly enough by the caltrops yet..."

At Heifu's words, all the commanders burst out laughing. After the battle days ago, even the baggage troops no longer feared the Xiongnu. The weapons and equipment of the two sides could already be described as a "generational gap," and they had a full set of tactics and formations against cavalry. The Xiongnu, relying on mounted archery alone, could not bridge this gap.

Still, the Xiongnu waiting by Huama Lake like carrion crows made everyone uneasy. Until they were driven back to Helan, the main army could not withdraw to the interior.

Yiqu White Wolf, Qiang Hua, Fu Zhi, and others all clamored for battle, arguing that the cavalry should strike deep into the wilderness and first annihilate the two thousand Xiongnu at Little Salt Lake. But Heifu rejected this rash tactic.

He had already held Huama Lake and achieved the result of a thousand enemy heads taken. After a victory, it was easy to grow arrogant and underestimate the enemy. An arrogant army was bound to lose. If he sent the cavalry deep alone, they might instead fall into a Xiongnu trap. Although the Xiongnu's last attempt at luring the enemy had backfired, Heifu's approach to marching and warfare was too deeply influenced by Wang Jian. He would rather be a general who "fears a small foe" than squander his advantage recklessly.

Besides, in war, what is difficult to achieve tactically can often be easily accomplished strategically.

"Within a month, the Xiongnu will definitely retreat."

Heifu once again made a prediction, his gaze extending beyond the map of Huama Lake to the east of this region, and to the west!

"Don't forget, this time, it is not only my Beidi Commandery fighting the Xiongnu!"

In late first month of the twenty-ninth year of Qin Shi Huang, a few days after Heifu issued his prediction that "the Xiongnu will definitely retreat," at a place called Stone Gully, the midpoint between Divine Spring Mountain and Little Salt Lake, over a hundred Xiongnu riders appeared. Xubu Sheng had invited Huyan Lan to meet him there to discuss their next move.

The two men were still brooding over their previous failure, but because they had only lost a thousand men and still had the strength to fight, they had both lingered a hundred li away without leaving. Even a tiger dozes sometimes; with a gambler's mentality, they hoped to catch the Qin army off guard, raid their supply convoy again, or lure the Qin cavalry into coming to them.

Beyond that, they also pinned their hopes on cavalry from Touman City and the Hetao bringing the Loufan and Baiyang vassal tribes as reinforcements. Once they gathered a host of ten thousand riders, they would no longer fear the Qin armored formations!

But today, Xubu Sheng told Huyan Lan that the reinforcements were not coming...

"The Linhu have rebelled."

Xubu Sheng announced the news both had long suspected, and at the same time told Huyan Lan: "The Qin army sent over ten thousand men into Linhu. A Qin general named Zhang Han led convicts and laborers to fell trees and open roads, and built watchtowers and sentry posts at every strategic pass and narrow defile. Qin scout riders, guided by the Linhu people, have been ranging everywhere, even reaching the edge of the Kujie Sands, with a tendency to push toward Loufan. The Grand Chanyu had no choice but to order the ten thousand riders from the Hetao to garrison Loufan and guard against the Qin army."

Besides the military operation in Shang Commandery to take over Linhu, there were also signs of large-scale Qin chariot and cavalry movements east of Touman City and Jiuyuan in the Xiongnu heartland. Under Meng Tian's direction, the Qin army was gradually restoring the abandoned Zhao Great Wall beacon towers. Touman Chanyu had to guarantee the safety of the Chanyu's royal court, so the main Xiongnu force could not move either...

Compared to the threat to their heartland, losing Huama Lake was merely a minor ailment. What Touman Chanyu needed to consider most now was not how to punish the rebellious tribes and display Xiongnu might, but how to prepare for the full-scale offensive the Qin dynasty was bound to launch next year.

The so-called "one hundred thousand bowstrings" was the total mobilization of the entire Xiongnu people, plus the forces of four vassal tribes, spread across the vast grasslands. But this winter, Touman Chanyu could only mobilize thirty to forty thousand riders.

Without reinforcements, Xubu Sheng and Huyan Lan had lost any possibility of defeating the Qin army at Huama Lake. They were now stuck in a dilemma...

Fortunately, a scout hurrying back from Helan gave them a reason to retreat.

Fear was written on the scout's face. He hastily jumped off his horse and prostrated himself before Xubu Sheng and Huyan Lan, his voice still hoarse.

"Grand Danghu, Gudu Marquis, terrible news! Helan has been attacked by the Qin! Several tribes along the Great River have already been destroyed. The great fire has burned all the way to Green Mountain Gorge!"

As if the Xiongnu's atrocities against Xuyan a month ago were being replayed, wails rose everywhere. The peaceful Xiongnu tribes along the Great River, caught in the Qin army's sudden raid, were instantly thrown into panic and terror.

The able-bodied men of the tribes had all been conscripted by the Grand Danghu, leaving only women and half-grown children to resist with small bows. But hundreds of Qin cavalry charged in, their swords and long lances swinging at them without hesitation. Corpses soon littered the ground all around.

After killing everyone still alive, it was the sheep's turn. Over a thousand sheep were shot dead, their bodies bristling with arrows, feathers standing upright on the carcasses.

After this wanton slaughter, the cavalry dismounted, used flints to light the torches they carried, and hurled them onto the felt tents. The dry felt met the fierce flames, and with the wind aiding, they instantly ignited. In moments, the entire tribe was a blazing inferno, rolling black smoke rising into the sky and coalescing into a dark cloud that would bring unease to the Xiongnu beyond the mountains...

Bodies, felt tents, sheep, fodder — everything was swept up by the great fire and turned to charcoal. This meant that even if the herders who had fled returned, they would face a winter of hunger and bitter cold.

Amid the firelight, only a white-haired general on a white horse, draped in a red cloak, stood at the edge of the battlefield, his gaze fixed on the massive mountain range ahead that made the Great River's current swift and blocked the cavalry's path.

These two mountain ranges flanking the river were called "Green Mountain Gorge" by the Xiongnu, formed by the Helan Mountain spur and Ox Head Mountain pinching together. The ten-li-long gorge was a place where mountains and water intertwined, with sheer cliffs on both banks. One had to detour dozens of li to the southeast to bypass it, and then one could enter the Helan grasslands.

But Li Xin knew he did not have that much time.

Half a month ago, after receiving Qin Shi Huang's order for Longxi to dispatch troops to assist Beidi Commandery in attacking the Xiongnu, he had set out from the newly built "Jincheng" in Longxi Commandery with a thousand cavalry, traveling downstream along the Great River for eight hundred li, and had struck all the way to the confluence of the Great River and the Wu River, a place called Xujuan.

This was where the Xiongnu's southernmost tribes were located, over three hundred tents of Xiongnu herding here.

Because the war was happening to the east, and Beidi Commandery was to the south, the few remaining Xiongnu bowstring warriors had all gone to graze in the upper reaches of the Wu River. They had never imagined that the enemy would come killing from the upper reaches of the Great River.

Li Xin led his men to destroy the Xiongnu tribes at Xujuan, slaughtering all their cattle and sheep and burning their stockpiled fodder to ashes. Then, without stopping, he continued downstream, ravaging seven or eight small tribes in the same manner along the way, until he reached the foot of Green Mountain Gorge, where his horses' hooves were halted by this natural barrier.

It was time to turn back. Li Xin looked at his subordinates. A full thousand cavalry had set out; now only five hundred remained. Most had fallen behind, a few had died in battle. The Xiongnu were very brave and fierce; even the women could draw strong bows and attack them. Quite a few Qin cavalry had suffered for it.

So Li Xin gave the order: kill them all, regardless of women or children!

Some Qin cavalry could not bear this and resisted somewhat, but Li Xin did not waver easily. War is merciless. Creating immense panic behind enemy lines was the purpose of his lone deep strike, so he would use any means necessary.

But this venture ultimately had its limits.

"A pity. The distance is too great; supplies simply cannot be brought here. My four thousand foot soldiers can only fall behind several hundred li away, building watchtowers and barriers along the river. Otherwise..."

If they advanced any further, they might encounter the several thousand Xiongnu cavalry returning upon hearing the news. Li Xin had tasted the consequences of a lone deep strike many years ago.

Li Xin suppressed the urge to lead his five hundred cavalry over this gorge to raid the Helan grasslands and looked toward the cavalry commander Qiang Huang, who was dragging a Hu man back. Qiang Huang was the elder brother of Heifu's subordinate Qiang Hua; the two brothers looked as if they had been cast from the same mold.

"Commandant, this man resisted stubbornly and just shot dead two of our comrades!"

Qiang Huang pressed the young Xiongnu man down before Li Xin, but the man still refused to bow his head, craning his neck to glare at Li Xin. His narrow eyes reflected the firelight. He was the son of the tribal chief, left behind to guard, never expecting to meet this calamity of annihilation.

"He is a true man. Do not mistreat him."

Then, the Xiongnu man heard the white-haired general speak while having a Wushi guide translate.

"I have heard that the Xiongnu have a saying: 'The Hu are the proud sons of Heaven!'"

"The Xiongnu have their Xiongnu pride. You believed that only the Xiongnu could bring destruction and suffering to the people of the Central Plains — seizing Jiuyuan, plundering Yan and Zhao."

"And that the people of the Central Plains could at most repel the Xiongnu at their doorstep, and that once you galloped back to the grasslands, they could do nothing to you? That when autumn came next year and the horses grew fat, you could start a new round of raiding?"

"But from this day forward, everything is different!"

Li Xin gestured with his hand and gave the order: "Gouge out his eyes! Gouge out the eyes of all survivors!"

Agonized howls came from behind, but Li Xin remained unmoved!

"Tie ropes to their hands and leave them to be found by the Xiongnu returning to help."

"Let these blinded men bring a message to all the Xiongnu! A message of war! A message of fear!"

"From this day forward, not even the Xiongnu hiding in the deepest parts of the grasslands will be safe!"

Amidst blood and fire, Li Xin turned his head back, gazing at the great river that had gone from gentle to raging, gazing at the Green Mountain Gorge whose peaks pierced the clouds, and swore an oath:

"When I return next year, the hooves of the Qin army's horses will not stop here!"

(End of Chapter)