Lv Yi was overjoyed and eagerly asked, "What are the enemy's movements?"
The orderly replied, "We have gathered the remnants of the scattered troops from the white-robed soldiers, but they did not pursue our army. The white-robed soldiers have taken the heads of the barbarians and the captured warhorses and armor, and have returned to rest!"
"They didn't pursue the white-robed soldiers. What are they gathering there for?" Lv Yi frowned.
It wasn't until Lv Changhe entered the military tent and reported the situation that Lv Yi understood the full picture.
It turned out that after Lv Changhe and Nan Jiyun's two thousand white-robed soldiers broke through the enemy vanguard, another two thousand enemy soldiers arrived.
As a result, Nie Yuan and Zhuo Ying also rushed to support from afar. The six thousand white-robed soldiers encircled and pursued them from three sides, forcing the barbarians to flee in haste.
The white-robed soldiers were naturally unwilling to let them go easily. After a pursuit of five li, a large number of barbarian cavalry were seen galloping from afar.
To minimize casualties, Lv Changhe had no choice but to lead his men to retreat.
After the enemy troops rendezvoused with the barbarian remnants, they swiftly retreated, leaving behind a ground full of white bones during their withdrawal.
"White bones?"
Liang Xiao and Lv Yi fell into silence simultaneously.
Lv Changhe nodded and said, "Our scouts are observing the enemy. They discovered that the enemy is still continuously retreating and should have gone far by now. It is likely that the enemy also feared our cavalry gathering and catching them off guard."
Lv Yi dared not be complacent and immediately assembled forty thousand cavalry, with Lv Changhe as the vanguard to lead the way.
The Da Qian army marched at a deliberately slow pace, escorting the supply wagons, ensuring their safety.
The Qingtian Guards and Da Qian Iron Guards each pushed a small cart laden with their weapons and some rations.
The entire army only advanced twenty-five li in a day, finally arriving at the place filled with white bones.
This was precisely the location where the barbarians had retreated.
"Marshal, our scouts have discovered that those white bones appear to be some of the remains of the one hundred thousand soldiers and over a thousand Tian Shan chivalrous warriors who perished in the Helan Mountain battle..."
Upon receiving the news, Liang Xiao and Lv Changhe were both shocked and immediately sent people to investigate!
The setting sun bled like blood. The Da Qian soldiers looked at the endless scattered white bones, all of them horrified.
Not a single complete skeleton could be seen among these bones!
When Lv Yi received the news and rushed to the scene with Liang Xiao and others, he found that quite a few soldiers had already gathered there, letting out roars and wails of anger and grief.
The group arrived at the center of the bone pile and found several wooden markers standing on the ground, inscribed with Da Qian characters written in fresh blood.
"In the Helan Mountain battle, one hundred thousand elite Da Qian soldiers were beheaded. Today, their remains are scattered here. If you dare to advance further, you will suffer the same fate."
The ground full of white bones and a few wooden markers were a shocking sight, and the entire army was stunned!
Even Liang Xiao was filled with righteous anger!
In the past, when the Da Qian nation redeemed some of the soldiers' remains, his father Liang Anguo and his uncle Liang Dingguo were missing a large part of their bodies.
Among these bones were those of his father, his uncle, and many of the Liang family's personal guards and soldiers!
It was evident that the barbarians intended to use the remains of these Da Qian martyrs to humiliate and intimidate the Da Qian soldiers!
A mournful cry swept through the entire army.
At least a quarter of the soldiers who went on this expedition had their fathers or brothers perish here!
The soldiers searched the bones in vain, unable to recognize their loved ones' remains, their hearts filled with sorrow.
As one of the main generals of Da Qian in the past Helan Mountain battle, Lv Yi felt immense shame.
Prompted by Liang Xiao, Lv Yi issued an order to the entire army: "The Marshal decrees that we shall bury these remains. We shall recover Helan Mountain and behead the barbarians to comfort the spirits of our fallen heroes!!"
Under Lv Yi's personal supervision of the sacrificial ceremony, the three thousand barbarian cavalry heads obtained by the white-robed soldiers were used as offerings, and arrangements were made to bury the remains of these Da Qian soldiers.
Lv Yi was certain that even if these bones were not all Da Qian soldiers, they could not be barbarian ones, as the barbarians would have no reason to scatter their own kinsmen's remains here.
The emotions of the entire army shifted from sorrow to indignation, and then to rage.
"If Helan Mountain is not recovered, this Marshal swears not to return to the northern border!!" Lv Yi declared passionately to the entire army, pledging his blood oath.
Inspired by Lv Yi, the entire army united against a common enemy, their fighting spirit erupting with their anger, longing to fly to Helan Mountain immediately and engage the barbarians in a decisive battle!
The barbarians guarding Helan Mountain also received news of the vanguard's defeat.
The Right Wise King roared in fury, "Seven thousand elite troops, defeated by two thousand white-robed soldiers??"
The orderly nodded, "It was nearly five thousand men who launched a frontal assault. After losing the archery duel, they were forced into close combat. As a result, they were quickly routed in close combat, and two generals who led the charge were beheaded by the enemy commander..."
"Even then, there were two thousand men to reinforce them. Even with the threat of arrows, they shouldn't have had three thousand beheaded!" The Right Wise King's face grew increasingly grim.
The orderly explained, "Later, more white-robed soldiers arrived to support. Although we also had reinforcements, they were no match for the enemy. We could only fight and retreat, merging with the vanguard camp before driving away the white-robed soldiers. According to our soldiers' descriptions, the enemy's losses were likely less than a hundred..."
"How did the white-robed soldiers become even more valiant than last year??" The barbarian generals in the tent were all astonished!
A casualty ratio of one to thirty was simply unbelievable!
The Left Wise King, who had been silent, asked, "Who was leading them? General Tian?"
The orderly shook his head, "It was definitely not General Tian!"
The generals turned pale.
Without General Tian, the white-robed soldiers had become increasingly brave, capable of frontally defeating the barbarian elites with a one-to-three advantage...
The Right Wise King observed the reactions of the generals and sighed, asking, "Were those remains scattered on their inevitable path?"
After receiving the orderly's affirmative reply, the Right Wise King sneered, "Our army has finally won a round! Whether it's to intimidate them or to provoke them, in any case, we cannot let them return to Helan Mountain easily!"
The Left Wise King looked ashamed at this.
Earlier, barbarian scouts had gone to his camp and seen piles of human heads, causing them to faint on the spot and become prisoners of the Da Qian soldiers. This incident had terrified the barbarians and greatly boosted the morale of the northern border soldiers!
The Right Wise King clearly intended to emulate this.
"Issue an order to my corps: starting tomorrow, dispatch thirty thousand cavalry daily to harass and destroy the enemy's supply lines in rotation!"
For several days thereafter, the barbarians began to dispatch cavalry daily to harass the northern border soldiers.
Under Lv Yi's command, the northern border soldiers calmly responded, sending out scouts to investigate and cavalry to repel the enemy.
These Da Qian cavalry were also filled with rage due to the barbarian's deliberate display of the dead, but fortunately, Lv Changhe led and restrained them. They did not venture deep into enemy territory, only killing the invading cavalry units as much as possible.
Including the three thousand from the first chapter and a large number of scouts, the barbarians had lost over five thousand men in total.
The white-robed soldiers were officially a force of seven thousand, but in reality, their numbers approached nine thousand.
This was because a portion of the members served as reserves, acting as cavalry units to replace fallen white-robed soldiers at any time and maintain the seven-thousand-man establishment.
News of the northern border army's deployment had already spread throughout Yanzhou and the capital.
On this day, merchants from Yunzhou and Shuofang began to stir.