The Right Wise King’s breath hitched. He immediately led his generals out of the tent and up to the high tower to observe.
As expected, five miles to the east, a vast, dark mass loomed.
The enemy was far from their encampment, but even if the observers could not make out faces, they could discern that the captives in the front row were likely wearing only light-colored, thin tunics.
Were those not the plain tunics of their own barbarian soldiers?
“Marshal! The enemy claims they will use eight thousand of our captured men for a flag-raising ceremony!”
The messenger’s terrified report infuriated the Right Wise King. “They’ve gone too far! Announce this to the entire army!”
The barbarians quickly learned that the Great Gan army planned to use their captured kinsmen for a flag-raising ceremony. The entire army, without exception, was aghast!
The Great Gan nation had always been known for its benevolent policies and kind treatment of captured foreign tribes. Under the supervision of its scholars, the Great Gan had always provided good food and shelter for prisoners. Those who could not be assimilated were simply sent back to their own countries.
Such an action had never been taken before!
On the eastern road, Liang Xiao and Lü Yi rode fine horses, personally leading their troops to oversee the escort of the captives.
Liang Xiao rode the treasure horse "Wan Li Yun Yan" gifted to him by Lü Yi. Lü Yi himself rode another crimson treasure horse, "Liu Huo." Both horses were of comparable stature.
Sixty thousand Great Gan cavalrymen followed, each wielding a saber or spear, their presence imposing.
Ahead of them were over eight thousand bound barbarian captives, each led by a Great Gan cavalryman. If anyone lagged behind, they were whipped with the flat of a saber or impaled with a spear.
Once upon a time, the barbarians had similarly humiliated the surrendered Great Gan soldiers!
The captives pleaded, begging the Great Gan soldiers for their lives, but their only responses were cold glances and shouts.
The Right Wise King and his generals watched from the high tower as the Great Gan cavalry and captives drew closer, their eyes bulging with rage.
The Great Gan cavalry stopped about two miles from the barbarian camp. A group of riders dismounted and kicked the captives to the ground. “Kneel properly, all of you!”
One hundred blood-red Great Gan military banners were erected in front, fluttering in the cold wind.
The barbarian captives continued to kowtow and beg, vowing never to invade Great Gan again. However, the cavalry acted as if they heard nothing, raising their weapons to pierce their legs or sever their Achilles tendons, awaiting only a command from their superiors to begin the flag-raising ceremony.
Only when the barbarian cavalry approached within two miles did Liang Xiao finally give the order: “Execute!”
Commanders around them shouted, the message spreading from one to ten, then to a hundred.
The Great Gan cavalrymen behind the over eight thousand barbarian captives, their faces filled with resentment, swung their long sabers.
Amidst screams, the more than eight thousand captives were simultaneously executed. Heads rolled, and blood spilled across the ground!
Liang Xiao drew his Sunset Bow and released the Dragon Tooth Arrow. It shot forth like a streak of light, flashing past and killing a warhorse of the approaching barbarian cavalry in the distance.
The Great Gan soldiers collected blood on-site to anoint the Great Gan banners, honoring the fallen. They then gathered the heads of the barbarians, kept in cloth bags, and mounted their horses, returning to the camp with Liang Xiao and Lü Yi.
The barbarian cavalry roared in fury, preparing to pursue, but discovered a silk letter tied to the tail of the Dragon Tooth Arrow.
"You barbarians, immediately follow the Left Wise King and Right Wise King in baring your bodies and leading sheep to surrender. You may then spare your lives. Otherwise, you will face this offering!"
As the barbarian general read the words, the barbarian cavalrymen turned pale with shock!
At that moment, they finally recalled the ten thousand skeletons of Helan Mountain soldiers they had discarded on the path of the Great Gan army!
Today, the Great Gan nation retaliated in kind, an eye for an eye, blood for blood!
As more and more people learned the content of the silk letter, the barbarian cavalrymen’s faces grew increasingly grim. In the end, they could only sullenly return to their camp to report to the Right Wise King.
The Right Wise King's face was pale, his teeth nearly ground to dust.
He had lost this battle and was so thoroughly humiliated by Liang Xiao and Lü Yi!
“Liang Xiao is indeed with the army. How vicious this child is…” the Left Wise King sighed.
The barbarians had never considered how they had displayed the heads of the ten thousand Great Gan soldiers after annihilating them, nor how they had left their corpses to rot in the wilderness after eleven years. How brutal and wicked.
The Right Wise King finally trembled, his voice starting to shake. "This king will definitely capture Liang Xiao and Lü Yi, personally dismember them, and then use them for a flag-raising ceremony!!"
The news spread rapidly throughout the barbarian camp, filled with crying, roaring, and wailing…
The barbarians, whose morale was already low, were now terrified and uneasy.
"Seize this opportunity to spread hatred and heighten the soldiers' animosity and fighting spirit!" the Left Wise King quickly advised.
The Right Wise King understood and immediately sent people to make arrangements.
"We will kill the Great Gan An Guo Marquis, Liang Xiao!!"
The entire camp echoed with the solemn roars of the barbarian soldiers, each one wishing they could fly to Liang Xiao’s face and skin him alive, break his bones, and suck out his marrow!
A large portion of the barbarian soldiers, however, had faces ashen and were trembling, daring not to speak, clearly having been scared witless.
Liang Xiao, who had proposed the flag-raising ceremony, sat calmly on Wan Li Yun Yan, listening to the clamor from the barbarian camp behind him.
"This action boosts our army's morale and vents the hatred of our soldiers. It is satisfying, indeed. If the Right Wise King has any sense, he should use this event to motivate the barbarians."
Liang Xiao explained, "Either make them completely fear us, or force them to fight. Either way, we are happy for them to make a decision quickly."
Lü Yi finally burst into laughter on his horse.
The barbarians had suffered heavy losses in yesterday's battle and dared not come out to face the Great Gan crossbows. All they had was impotent rage.
In fact, Lü Yi had always worried that Liang Xiao would be too soft-hearted and let the barbarians off easily.
Seeing this now, the ruthlessness Liang Xiao displayed towards the enemy sent a chill down even his experienced spine!
"The Great Gan nation needs this kind of iron-blooded commander, alongside benevolent civilian officials," Lü Yi muttered involuntarily.
Liang Xiao had been exceedingly kind to the common people. Promoting smallpox prevention, lowering the price of salt, even forgoing taxes on his twenty thousand household fiefdom, and popularizing newspapers and relatively low-priced white sugar were all good proofs. Therefore, Lü Yi did not worry about Liang Xiao being bloodthirsty.
"This child, he's only twenty years old…" Lü Yi sighed inwardly, even doubting if Liang Anguo had lied about Liang Xiao's age back then.
In contrast, Liang Xiao kept looking back to observe the situation behind them, fearing the enemy might pursue while his own side grew lax.
After the cavalry returned to the camp, Lü Yi immediately ordered people to strengthen the fortifications, aiming to develop it into a fortified city.
The forty thousand-plus corpses of the barbarian cavalry, after being beheaded, were taken to a barren area and piled up for burning, to prevent the stench of decaying bodies from spreading with the wind and causing a "plague."
Only after the Great Gan cavalry had departed did the Right Wise King order the bodies to be buried.
The entire barbarian camp was filled with a sense of humiliation and anger.
The Great Gan army's encampment was strategically chosen, effectively pinning down their own camp.
If they wanted to dispatch large numbers of cavalry, they had to take a long detour to avoid being intercepted and shot by the enemy.
Such a detour risked total annihilation if they were suddenly attacked by the Great Gan cavalry!
The barbarian camp, running north-south, faced the Great Gan camp running east-west, yet they dared not leave the mountains!
In the southern regions of Great Gan, spring had already arrived. Most of the northern areas also welcomed warm winds. In the Tianjiang River section around Helan Mountain and Shuofang, the ice was continuously melting, and this area was about to fully thaw. The ice flood upstream was also nearing its end.
At that time, all sections of the Tianjiang River would be open for navigation!
The Great Gan army camp and the barbarian army camp remained in a standoff, neither side making any rash moves for the time being.
The victory report of beheading fifty thousand men had already been sent to various regions. It first arrived in Shuofang City and was now spreading to the capital and other places.