Chapter 256

The eight hundred cavalry led by Luo Feng shuttled through the snow and quietly surrounded the small Xiongnu tribe located in the valley.

This tribe had sparse tents, only about twenty or thirty, so it seemed the population was less than two hundred.

"We are in urgent need of supplies." Luo Feng's voice was very soft, "Don't be soft-hearted; the Xiongnu are not good people!"

The veterans naturally knew this truth, so Luo Feng said this to the recruits in the team.

Being soft-hearted to the enemy on the battlefield is being cruel to oneself!

"Everyone! Kill!" Luo Feng didn't hesitate, charging out first toward the Xiongnu tribe!

Even a lion uses its full strength to catch a rabbit; Luo Feng didn't get careless because the other side was weak, commanding while charging.

"Shoot arrows!"

Arrows were shot out in the first instance, and crying and shouting suddenly rose in the Xiongnu tribe.

But the Xiongnu's reaction wasn't slow, and those who were still alive picked up weapons to fight back.

However, ordinary herdsmen wanting to resist iron cavalry was no different from a pipe dream; but in the time of a stick of incense, most of the Xiongnu resistance was wiped out, and the remaining dozen or so were captured and concentrated in the open space in the center of the tribe.

"Separate them and interrogate them; I want to know the specific location of their Royal Court!" Luo Feng still didn't fully believe what the previous Xiongnu had said; this matter had to be handled with caution!

Under the torture of these veterans, Luo Feng soon got the answer; some people said the same thing as the previous Xiongnu, that the Royal Court was at the foot of the Qilian Mountains, but others said the Xiongnu Royal Court was at Langjuxu Mountain.

"This is very interesting!" A flash of sharp light passed through Luo Feng's eyes.

"Captain Luo, let me go and interrogate them further!" An old soldier felt he had been deceived and turned around with a dark face.

Luo Feng didn't stop him, following behind the old soldier to see the situation.

As a result, no matter how the old soldier tortured them, the Xiongnu insisted that the Xiongnu Royal Court was at Langjuxu Mountain.

Seeing this, Luo Feng patted the old soldier on the shoulder: "Alright! No need to ask anymore!"

"Captain, this... what should we do now?"

Everyone looked at each other; they hadn't expected one tribe to give two answers, which sounded absurd no matter how you listened to it.

"This just shows that they actually don't know the location of the Royal Court at this moment!" Luo Feng should have thought of this earlier; the Xiongnu are extremely cunning, and the special nature of nomadic peoples leads them to constantly change positions.

How could the location of the Royal Court remain unchanged?

The news these people knew might not be from a long time ago.

Luo Feng bent down and stared at the eyes in front of him: "Tell me, has any large group of Xiongnu cavalry passed by recently? Which direction did they go?"

The old soldier on the side hurriedly helped translate, and the Xiongnu didn't answer immediately after hearing this, but stammered and didn't want to open his mouth.

The old soldier turned the small knife in his hand and prepared to step forward, and the Xiongnu immediately shouted: "Don't! Don't do it! Half a month ago, a team did go east, about a thousand people, carrying a large amount of... supplies."

Everyone instantly understood that the so-called supplies in this Xiongnu's mouth were the bodies of their Beijiang people!

And Luo Feng's purpose in asking this was also very clear; these things were the 'supplies' Adunla had captured on the front line, which had to be sent to the Royal Court, so the direction this team went was where the Xiongnu Royal Court was located!

"Kill them all, leave no one alive!" Luo Feng ordered coldly.

A recruit was somewhat reluctant, "Captain, should we kill these children too?"

"Kill!" Luo Feng didn't have the slightest soft-heartedness; there was no distinction between women and children in wartime.

If they let the other party go, and the other party raised wolf smoke to inform the Royal Court as soon as they left, then this team would be lost here.

So even if it was for the sake of everyone's lives, Luo Feng wouldn't leave a single living soul.

The old soldier patted the recruit on the shoulder, "The Xiongnu are cunning; the Captain is doing this for our own good!"

So everyone didn't hesitate anymore, and after wiping out the Xiongnu, they began to organize the supplies.

This tribe might have been too small, or perhaps they hadn't made any merits on the front line, so they hadn't been allocated any 'supplies'.

They were glad they hadn't seen the remains of their own people, and this tribe's cattle and sheep were not few, enough for Luo Feng and the others to have a full meal.

"Kill all these livestock, start a fire tonight and drink mutton soup! Roast what you can't finish and take it as dry rations!" Luo Feng prepared to rest here for the night.

Starting a fire in the other party's tribe shouldn't attract attention.

However, to be on the safe side, the necessary patrols couldn't be skipped.

And the bodies of these Xiongnu also had to be cleared to prevent passersby from discovering anything unusual.

Everyone moved very quickly, first clearing the surroundings of the tribe to ensure that no abnormalities could be seen from afar before they started slaughtering cattle and sheep.

And Luo Feng stayed in the tent to continue drawing the map, trying his best to supplement everything he had come across along the way.

The next day, the group was fully prepared and walked toward the east with the captured dried meat.

But three hours later, they discovered the traces of another tribe.

"Captain, this looks like an ordinary tribe, kill?" The old soldier whispered.

Luo Feng narrowed his eyes to observe; this tribe was much larger than the previous one, and on the surface, it looked ordinary, but his keen battlefield intuition made him notice a trace of the unusual.

The tents on the edge of this tribe were arranged in an orderly manner, forming a simple defensive circle, rather than being arranged randomly.

"Not simple." Luo Feng's voice was very soft, but it made the surrounding soldiers tense their nerves.

"Look at that patch of tents on the east side, the fur hanging out to dry."

Everyone followed his gaze and saw a large amount of fox fur and deer fur hanging outside several tents, looking like ordinary hunter's belongings.

"The way the fur is dried."

Luo Feng explained, "Ordinary herdsmen dry it along the direction of the hair growth to keep the fur intact, but this fur is hung against the grain!"

A sharp light flashed in the old soldier's eyes: "The habit of Xiongnu messengers! Hanging fur against the grain is their way of passing information in the wild!"

Luo Feng nodded: "This tribe is not simple; it is very likely a Xiongnu intelligence relay station! Prepare to attack, but leave living captives, especially the elderly and women; they might know more than the warriors."

The order spread silently throughout the army.

The eight hundred cavalry were divided into three routes; Luo Feng personally led three hundred men to strike directly into the center of the tribe, two hundred and fifty men blocked the retreat on the east side, and the remaining men cut off the escape route to the west.

Luo Feng raised his long spear!

"Kill!"

However, contrary to the Ming Army's expectations, the resistance in the tribe was extremely tenacious.

Those seemingly ordinary herdsmen organized an effective defense in the first instance.

There were not only bows and arrows in the tribe but also scimitars, which made Luo Feng realize that his judgment was correct.

The combat skills and reaction speed of these people far exceeded those of ordinary herdsmen, more like soldiers who had undergone strict training in disguise.

"Don't be soft-hearted! They are Xiongnu elites in disguise!" Luo Feng shouted, his long spear sweeping across, beheading a Xiongnu who was rushing over with a knife under his horse.