The Great Gan soldiers, after filling their water skins from the vast sea, finally turned south.
With an additional forty thousand barbarian captives, the army's pace slowed considerably.
After several days of marching, the Great Gan army finally returned to Mount Langjuxu.
Gazing at the majestic, layered mountains, the soldiers were filled with high spirits. They set up camp on the spot, preparing for the ceremony of sealing heaven and offering sacrifices to earth.
The Chanyu's three golden seals and two golden statues for sacrificing to heaven were all in Liang Xiao's possession.
The soldiers had already bathed thoroughly in the vast sea as a sign of respect.
"Our sacred mountain..."
Upon learning that Liang Xiao was about to perform the sacrificial ceremony, the captured barbarians were overcome with grief and terror.
"The Marquis of Anguo has ordered that there be no disturbances!"
After being reprimanded by the Great Gan soldiers, the barbarian captives fell silent, trembling.
Liang Xiao, the Marquis of Anguo of Great Gan, had long since become their nightmare, a name as fearsome as a taboo!
Liang Xiao then produced the prepared imperial edict, read it aloud, and declared, "By order of His Majesty, after sweeping through the barbarians and conquering the desert, we shall seek a high mountain in the northern desert to seal heaven and offer sacrifices to earth, thus showcasing the might of our nation!"
"His Majesty is wise!" The entire army rejoiced!
The ceremony of Feng Shan was generally only qualified for emperors, but Xiao Qing could not personally lead troops to this distant land.
However, performing the Feng Shan ceremony here was highly necessary. Liang Xiao, the Marquis of Anguo of Great Gan, and Lü Yi, the Marquis of Zhenguo, were perfect representatives.
The two golden statues for sacrificing to heaven corresponded to Mount Langjuxu and Mount Guyan respectively. However, Mount Guyan was on the other side, so Liang Xiao first prepared the sacrificial ceremony at Mount Langjuxu.
The Great Gan soldiers faced Mount Langjuxu, looking at Liang Xiao on the nine-foot-high platform to the east. Their hearts were filled with unprecedented excitement!
At this moment, he would represent their hundred thousand soldiers, and indeed all the soldiers and civilians of Great Gan, in sealing Mount Langjuxu!
And they, as the direct participants and witnesses, would return home to bring glory to their ancestors and leave their names in history, which was more significant than conquering three mountains!
Because, after sweeping through the southern desert, Great Gan had also incorporated the Hetao region and even the vast sea into its territory!
Especially the Hetao region, which was a rare and excellent pastureland!
Why could the barbarians raise a large number of warhorses and form the seemingly invincible barbarian cavalry? The Hexi Corridor and the Hetao region played an indispensable role!
The loss of these two treasures meant that the barbarian cavalry would henceforth become dust in history, and the Great Gan cavalry would soon rise as a new star in the river of time!
On the table on the high platform were writing tools, paper, ink, and that golden statue for sacrificing to heaven, along with two imperial edicts.
Liang Xiao picked up the brush, ink, paper, and inkstone from the table, pondered for a moment, and wrote the inscription, reciting it aloud.
This time, Liang Xiao was determined to include the name "Xiao Shuangzi," even though it was actually her brother's name.
"In the third year of Jian Yuan, the year Jia Zi, on the ninth day of the sixth month, Xiao Qing, the Son of Heaven of Great Gan, dispatched Liang Xiao, the Marquis of Anguo, to lead one hundred thousand Great Gan soldiers to break through the barbarian lands, sweep across the desert, annex the lands of the vast sea and Hetao, capture forty thousand barbarians including the Chanyu, and water their horses in the vast sea, and seal Mount Langjuxu! A stone tablet is erected here to inform the world."
"All barbarians from the four directions who dare to offend shall have their nations destroyed, their clans annihilated, and their descendants eradicated!"
Liang Xiao's final sentence was relayed by the herald to the entire army. Everyone was filled with righteous indignation, reciting it repeatedly, their spirits soaring!
Liang Xiao also separately rewrote this final sentence of the inscription and erected another stone tablet to demonstrate that the authority of Great Gan was inviolable.
As Liang Xiao finished reciting, the bright sun on the summit of Mount Langjuxu dispelled the gloomy haze of the barbarians that had shrouded the mountain, revealing a vast, clear sky.
Liang Xiao gazed into the distance at the sky, his expression unchanged.
Watering their horses in the vast sea, sealing Mount Langjuxu, and carving inscriptions on Mount Yanran, he and his soldiers had accomplished it all!
Looking back at the history of his homeland, these were all legendary achievements. Huo Qubing accounted for the first two.
Throughout history, sealing Mount Langjuxu and carving inscriptions on Mount Yanran were the lifelong aspirations of countless soldiers in that land, yet few achieved them.
In fact, the spoils of war from carving inscriptions on Mount Yanran were not much inferior to sealing Mount Langjuxu. If one marched from Dai Commandery, Mount Yanran (present-day Khangai Mountains in Mongolia) was even slightly farther than Mount Langjuxu (present-day Kent Mountains in northeastern Mongolia).
However, later generations generally placed greater importance on sealing Mount Langjuxu.
Besides the difference in personal charisma between Huo Qubing, who sealed Mount Langjuxu, and Dou Xian, who carved inscriptions on Mount Yanran, there were many complex reasons.
Sealing Mount Langjuxu represented a breakthrough from nothing. Emperor Wu of Han defeated the powerful Xiongnu, but this was only one reason, not the key one.
Furthermore, besides sealing Mount Langjuxu, Huo Qubing also ventured deep into the northern desert, reaching as far as Lake Baikal.
However, most people in later generations overlooked an extremely important reason.
Sacrificing to heaven!!
The Xiongnu had long formed a belief system centered on worshipping "Heaven" as a natural deity. Therefore, sacrificing to heaven was a major event for the Xiongnu. Like other peoples, the Xiongnu had their own totems and objects of worship, serving as spiritual symbols or anchors for their nation.
And Huo Qubing performing a sacrificial ceremony to heaven at Mount Langjuxu was a sacrifice to the gods of Han!
On Xiongnu territory, sacrificing to the gods of Han... this was an extremely heavy blow to the Xiongnu's faith!
Liang Xiao, of course, had also learned that the barbarians also had a faith in heaven, as evidenced by the two golden statues for sacrificing to heaven.
Once the remaining barbarian tribes in the northern desert learned that Great Gan had sealed Mount Langjuxu, their faith would also be severely shaken!
After the sacrificial ceremony of sealing heaven at Mount Langjuxu, Liang Xiao immediately led his soldiers to Mount Guyan without delay, erected another high platform, and performed the ceremony of offering sacrifices to earth, leaving behind the same inscription.
There were ten stone tablets of each type, which were placed on the southeast, northwest, and central peaks of the two mountains.
The tablets on the summits of both mountains were personally led by Liang Xiao, with generals like Lü Changhe accompanying him, to climb the mountain and erect the tablets!
"From this day forward, this heaven will empower my Great Gan!!"
Enthusiastic cheers and exclamations of the Great Gan soldiers echoed from the foot of the mountain.
As Liang Xiao had predicted, the forty thousand barbarian captives, upon learning that Liang Xiao had sealed Mount Langjuxu, were all devastated, kneeling and wailing.
"Even the Heaven we have worshipped for generations no longer protects us..."
Some even fainted on the spot!
The barbarians had risen from the desert multiple times to raid the southern lands, and in their eyes, this was also due to the protection of the Heaven of the vast desert.
And now, even this Heaven and Earth belonged to Great Gan!
The faith of the forty thousand barbarians collapsed here!
The Chanyu and the Left Wise King of the barbarians were already at a loss, murmuring, "It's gone, everything is gone, never to return..."
The once awe-inspiring barbarian kings no longer held any prestige in the hearts of their people!
Even Blaid and others, who were temporarily captives, had pale faces and trembled.
At this moment, the sense of honor among the hundred thousand Great Gan soldiers was unprecedented.
This was the most glorious moment of their military careers. How could they not be excited!
The ceremonies of sealing heaven and offering sacrifices to earth on the two mountains took a full day, but all the Great Gan soldiers endured it willingly, wishing the moment could last forever.
The Great Gan soldiers looked at the figure in white returning to the high platform with immense gratitude and admiration.
The barbarians all knelt and bowed their heads, not daring to look up.
Liang Xiao, the Marquis of Anguo of Great Gan, at the age of twenty, watered his horses in the vast sea, sealed Mount Langjuxu, and carved inscriptions on Mount Yanran, completely breaking the backbone of the barbarians and destroying the foundation of their nation!
"All soldiers, obey my command, we march back to our country!"