The Qilian Mountains spanned from east to west, with Mount Yanzhi within them being an especially crucial treasure.
Liang Xiao's objective was to seize the entire Qilian Mountain range, not sparing even Mount Yanzhi!
"Why is there no movement in the Mount Yanzhi area yet?"
Halfway through their journey, as dusk fell, Liang Xiao suddenly felt something was amiss.
He and Lü Changhe had split up, but their routes were actually similar. If everything had gone according to plan, Mount Yanzhi should have already been taken by Lü Changhe, as there were few defenses and the Left Virtuous King's troops were at their last legs.
Upon capturing the Qilian Mountains, Lü Changhe should have immediately dispatched troops to notify them, as this was a necessary passage.
After a moment, the sound of hooves echoed from afar, and the Da Qian cavalry tensed up.
Liang Xiao saw the approaching troops in the distance and frowned.
It was the twenty thousand men that Lü Changhe had taken!
After the two forces rendezvoused, Liang Xiao asked urgently, "Mount Yanzhi couldn't be taken?"
Lü Changhe and Nie Yuan, along with others, carried the heads of barbarians but wore bitter expressions.
"Deputy Marshal, we pursued and killed over two thousand enemy soldiers. We were suddenly hit by heavy rain, and the falling rocks and mud blocked our path. We had to detour this way!" Lü Changhe sighed.
Liang Xiao understood immediately.
It must have been a sudden situation involving heavy rain and mudslides. Fortunately, the soldiers did not suffer casualties.
"The Qilian Mountains have been secured, with over ten thousand heads taken! We will advance northwest and attack Mount Yanzhi under the cover of night!"
Liang Xiao gave the order, and the fifty thousand Da Qian cavalry converged, advancing majestically towards Mount Yanzhi!
Inside Mount Yanzhi, the Left Virtuous King, with eight thousand cavalry, had fled to this location and mobilized his troops for retreat.
"Everyone evacuate Mount Yanzhi immediately! Take your cattle, sheep, horses, and people with you, and then destroy the roads!"
At the Left Virtuous King's command, the barbarian women and children living in Mount Yanzhi looked on in confusion.
After hurried explanations from the soldiers, Mount Yanzhi and its surroundings were filled with lamentation.
"We are defeated!"
Tens of thousands of women and children were forced to mount horses.
The Left Virtuous King's troops didn't even bother with the livestock; they drove them south, only taking the horses capable of running and carrying people, along with some strong oxen, dry provisions, and water.
The remaining livestock, especially newborn young, were casually killed by the barbarians. The rest were used to delay the Da Qian cavalry.
As the barbarians were mobilizing, the general Hu Yan Shura also rushed over with several hundred remnants of his army.
"Reporting to the Left Virtuous King! Our army was intercepted by Da Qian cavalry on the road, and the Right Virtuous King is in danger! You absolutely must not be captured again!"
Upon receiving the news, the Left Virtuous King shivered, his face turned ashen, and he stammered, "Da Qian's An Guo Liang Xiao is coming! Retreat to the Great Desert immediately!"
The barbarians whipped their horses and evacuated Mount Yanzhi as a whole tribe.
"These Qilian Mountains and Mount Yanzhi are our treasures. How can we hand them over to the Da Qian people?!"
The barbarian women, especially some of the young women about to be married, had pale faces. Their former radiance and beauty were gone, and they were distraught.
"Are we not going to retreat and wait to die? Da Qian's An Guo Hou has arrived! Do you know Da Qian's Liang Xiao has arrived?!"
Tens of thousands of barbarians were terrified, their hearts shattered. They looked south in panic, towards the soon-to-be-lost Mount Yanzhi, and finally let out heart-wrenching cries:
"To lose Mount Yanzhi is to make our women lose their color. To lose the Qilian Mountains is to make our livestock fail to thrive."
All the barbarians were filled with unwillingness, their mournful songs echoing endlessly.
They knew this all too well!
Once Mount Yanzhi was lost, grazing would be difficult, and life would be impoverished. Without the red flowers from Mount Yanzhi used to make rouge, how could the barbarian women maintain their beauty?
With the loss of the Qilian Mountains, horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, dogs, and chickens would find it difficult to multiply in the desert, and how could they eat meat long-term...
The good days of the barbarians were over, never to return!
The Left Virtuous King commanded his entire army to retreat, gazing south with immense sorrow!
Including their allies, a total of nearly four hundred seventy thousand troops were almost completely annihilated. The Right Virtuous King was surrounded. Without twenty to thirty years, the barbarians would never recover!
After all the barbarians had evacuated Mount Yanzhi, the Left Virtuous King then ordered his cavalry to destroy the wooden bridges and passages along the route, cutting off the advance of the Da Qian cavalry.
"Why does the Da Qian kingdom have such terrifying fighting power? Is it only because of the addition of Liang Xiao and a Heavenly General?"
The Left Virtuous King murmured to himself on horseback, tears welling up. He regretted it immensely!
Why had they seized Mount Helan back then, instead of maintaining peace with the Da Qian kingdom?
Why had they brandished the heads of Liang Anguo and Liang Dingguo back then...
"Liang Xiao and Da Qian's revenge may have only just begun..."
"Even without the Heavenly General's divine intervention this time, the Da Qian soldiers have still erupted with such terrifying combat power. They are no longer comparable to the barbarian cavalry alone..."
The Left Virtuous King murmured on his horse, shivering with dread, not having taken a single drop of water for a long time.
He knew very well that with Liang Xiao's decisive and ruthless demeanor, he would never let him and the entire barbarian tribe go.
Now, with only eight thousand cavalry left to return home, the barbarians could only rely on the harsh desert weather and pray for their own survival!
It was already night. The barbarians fled without rest, fearing that the Da Qian cavalry might descend upon them like divine soldiers.
"I don't want to leave Mount Yanzhi!!"
The barbarian children couldn't endure the bumpy ride and cried and fussed on horseback, struggling with all their might. Even when slapped by their parents, they wouldn't stop.
Finally, someone in desperation resorted to a threat.
"Da Qian's Liang Xiao is coming!!"
"Da Qian's An Guo Hou is coming!!"
The children who had been crying and making noise immediately fell silent, trembling all over, their voices hushed.
Seeing this, other parents also followed suit, threatening their crying children, with remarkable effect.
Finally, there were no more children crying...
All that remained was the soft sobbing of the barbarians along their journey.
After this battle, the name of Da Qian's An Guo Hou, Liang Xiao, would be enough to stop barbarian children from crying at night!!
"Deputy Marshal! We've discovered a large number of cattle and sheep blocking the road ahead. Our scouts can't find any barbarians!"
When Liang Xiao's troops arrived at Mount Yanzhi, they found cattle and sheep blocking the path.
"This Left Virtuous King still has some brains. Perhaps the road north of Mount Yanzhi is already heavily obstructed, and we can only stay here to repair the road first!" Liang Xiao said hatefully.
That murderer of his father had escaped again!
But he couldn't disregard the overall situation for the sake of personal revenge. He could only take the Qilian Mountains first, which offered the most spoils, to support the western border at any time!
The soldiers present naturally knew of Liang Xiao's hatred for the Left Virtuous King and comforted him, "This victory is enough to console your father's spirit in heaven..."
Liang Xiao simply nodded, "Enter the mountains under the cover of night to assess the situation at Mount Yanzhi!"
The Da Qian cavalry finally charged into the Mount Yanzhi area, looking at the devastated northern road with great indignation.
"Damn it, we were just a little bit short!" Lü Changhe, Nie Yuan, and others regretfully beat their own heads.
"The timing was not right, it's not your fault. Chasing and killing two thousand people is already a perfect achievement." This time, it was Liang Xiao who comforted everyone.
Even with Liang Xiao's words, the soldiers felt a sense of relief. While occupying Mount Yanzhi, they dismounted and recounted their recent pursuit.
Upon learning that the Right Virtuous King had been captured, Lü Changhe and the others felt a great sense of vindication!
"Deputy Marshal, what do we do next?" The soldiers looked expectantly at Liang Xiao, hoping for a more satisfactory answer.
The campfire illuminated Liang Xiao's handsome face, reflecting his stern eyes as he gazed northward, as if his eyes were burning with the fire of hatred.
"Rest for a few days, wait for the army to rendezvous, repair these destroyed roads, prepare military provisions, and then follow me..."
"North beyond the desert, shed blood in the enemy court, slaughter all barbarians, and achieve further great victories!!"