The ceremony concluded, and the Great Qian soldiers were not tired but instead their morale soared!
On this expedition, they lost three hundred and seventy comrades, ten of whom died of illness en route, while annihilating over forty thousand enemy, including ten thousand Xianbei cavalry!
A battle damage ratio exceeding one to one hundred!
Of course, this was due to overwhelming troop superiority, upgraded armaments, and the adept command of Liang Xiao, Lü Changhe, and others.
The three hundred and seventy fallen heroes were cremated on the spot, as per their dying wishes, with their ashes and ceremonial attire to be returned to their homeland, a glorious return to their roots!
Before their departure, Liang Xiao finally ordered Bryda to be summoned.
"Go back and tell Attila that you barbarians are best off leaving the desert. If you dare to invade Great Qian's land from the south again, the consequence will be the destruction of your nation and extinction of your race!"
Bryda listened to Liang Xiao's warning, nodding like a pecking chick, his face filled with terror.
He considered himself brave and resourceful, no less than Attila, but facing this Marquis of Anguo of Great Qian, he felt only fear and submission!
Bryda and his retinue were given the warhorses they had left behind earlier and fled north in a panic, eager to escape Great Qian's territory as soon as possible.
"Vice Marshal, this man seems no simple character. Anyone else would have been incoherent by now!" Nan Jiyun praised.
Liang Xiao nodded, "We have already learned about the barbarian situation through the captives. If this man and Attila still possess any wisdom, they will lead the barbarians to withdraw from the desert and migrate southwest. After all, the barbarians are now incapable of dealing with the Tianri tribe and other foreign races like the Xianbei. If these barbarians are swallowed by the Tianri tribe or the Xianbei, it would not be a good thing for Great Qian."
Zhuo Ying suddenly understood, "I see! If these barbarians migrate southwest, they may gradually come into conflict with kingdoms like the Tianri tribe and the Kushan Empire. It's a case of setting one wolf against another, which would be truly beneficial to our Great Qian!"
A scout from the front line ran back with a report: there was no activity in the Yanran Mountain area, and the stone tablet remained undisturbed. Liang Xiao was finally at ease to leave.
Liang Xiao glanced at the map of the barbarian lands and ultimately decided to return to Helan Mountain, while simultaneously dispatching a swift horse back to Yanzhi Mountain to inform Lü Yi, preparing to rendezvous at Helan Mountain to pay homage to the fallen heroes.
The hundred thousand Great Qian soldiers had achieved an unprecedented victory, their spirits high and proud, finally returning home triumphantly!
Bryda and his men fled in disarray to the vast sea, looking back south with profound sorrow.
"Go back and tell Attila, no matter what, you must not covet the lands south of the desert again. You cannot even stay in the north!"
Grief-stricken, Bryda could not even muster the courage to destroy the inscriptions on the two high mountains, leading his retinue in a hasty retreat north.
From then on, the barbarian royal court was no longer seen south of the desert, and even encountering a barbarian was a rare event.
The people were gone, and the mountains were empty.
The majestic and precipitous Langjuxu Mountain and Guyan Mountain echoed with mournful winds.
To the east, west, north, south, and atop the mountains, two stone tablets stood respectively.
Eternal mournful winds are frequent guests, and from henceforth, no royal court south of the desert!!
Ten days had passed since Liang Xiao watered his horse in the vast sea and sealed Mount Langju.
The soldiers bearing the news had gradually arrived in the northern regions of Great Qian.
"Our Great Qian's sage, Marquis of Anguo Liang Xiao, leading one hundred thousand soldiers, smashed the barbarians, swept across the desert, slew forty thousand enemies, captured forty thousand barbarians including their Chanyu, seized over a million livestock, and countless treasures, inscribed stones at Yanran, watered his horse in the vast sea, and will seal Mount Langju in due course!!"
News spread throughout the northern regions, and the soldiers and civilians alike felt as though they had experienced an unprecedented earthquake!
"The might of Great Qian!"
The Great Qian soldiers guarding Helan Mountain, Qilian Mountain, and Yanzhi Mountain sang with joy day and night. Lü Yi and Ding Wuyi were ecstatic!
"He did it! He actually did it!" Ding Wuyi's hands, holding a treasure chest, trembled violently.
This chest contained ten topographical maps of mountains and rivers from the Dongye clan, marked with numerous mineral deposits.
The Shadow Guards, after months of searching, had finally found the Dongye clan's treasure deep within Helan Mountain, containing over three hundred thousand taels of gold and four million taels of silver!
However, to Xiao Qing, the truly valuable items were these topographical maps!
Great Qian needed large quantities of copper ore, iron ore, and several silver mines, and even a gold mine!
Among these, iron ore was naturally the most crucial!
For no other reason than Liang Xiao believing iron ore to be the most important, they also considered it so!
With sufficient iron ore, Great Qian could smelt more steel, equipping more Great Qian soldiers with better armaments. How could the nation be strong without a strong army!
"This child is truly remarkable!" Lü Yi couldn't help but laugh uproariously at the sky.
His son, Lü Changhe, had also sent word of his safety. After the hundred thousand soldiers returned, there would undoubtedly be further rewards!
The people of Yanzhou were filled with pride, with people dancing and singing everywhere in the streets and alleys, celebrating the hundred thousand soldiers sealing Mount Langju.
At the Liang Manor in Yanzhou, Liang Xiao's wives, with their significantly bulging pregnant bellies, were both surprised and overjoyed.
"Watering horses in the vast sea, sealing Mount Langju, inscribing stones at Yanran..."
The Liuyunzi and the Three Sages of Great Qian present muttered to themselves, feeling immense pride.
"This is my little brother!" "This is my son-in-law!"
"Oh dear, Xiao Qinwan, Xiao Yue Lian! You both look like you're carrying twins, be very careful not to move around too much!"
The Saint of Zither, Gongsun Jing, and the Saint of Medicine, Mu Xueqin, couldn't help but step forward to support the two women.
The two women nodded tearfully, "He will surely return safely..."
Zhuo Xun cupped her small face, pouting, feeling a pang of sadness in her heart.
Her sisters Qinwan and Yue Lian were both pregnant with twins, while she...
But Zhuo Xun quickly broke into a smile.
Her biological father, Zuo Wushang, had accompanied Liang Xiao deep into the desert. After this expedition, it would be enough to demonstrate his loyalty!
Henceforth, even if Zuo Wushang's identity were revealed, he would not have to worry about being suspected by the military and civilians due to his status as a former inhabitant of the Great Heng Kingdom.
Everyone was overjoyed, and the Liang Manor was festooned with lanterns day and night, generously distributing alms.
"Quick, help my grandfather..." Luo Qingxue hurriedly pointed to Luo Changfeng, who was swaying precariously nearby.
Luo Changfeng waved his hand and chuckled, "It's nothing, Grandpa is just overcome with emotion, there's nothing wrong!"
Liang Qing and Du Pingling helped Luo Changfeng, their faces adorned with honest smiles.
At this moment, they no longer knew how to express their inner joy.
Except for Liang Xiao's political rivals, the entire populace of Great Qian was jubilant.
Mu Hong, who had returned to Yanzhou and was responsible for defending the city, smiled wryly, "What can be done? There are simply too many people signing up to join the army, and they all meet the recruitment standards!"
They were naturally happy to receive the news of victory, but they were also overwhelmed with work due to the enlistment.
After capturing the Three Mountains, the enthusiasm of young men in the northern regions to join the army had already soared.
On the day the news of victory from the northern desert arrived, countless young men in Yanzhou flocked to the military camps, their workload increasing tenfold compared to normal...
"Then let's slightly raise the standards. Quality over quantity!" Liu Fan said with a smile.
As men of letters, both of them wished they could have accompanied Liang Xiao to water his horse in the vast sea, but they knew their own limitations and feared they couldn't even endure the desert climate.
The capital also received news via carrier pigeon in advance, and the entire city was shocked!
Xiao Qing, who was resting at the West Palace Villa, collapsed into Ning Xuejun's arms the moment she received the news, "They even captured the Chanyu and the Zuo Xian King, heavens above..."
After resting, Xiao Qing rushed to the Imperial Ancestral Temple overnight to offer sacrifices to the ancestral emperors, to inform the past emperors, as well as her mother and imperial brother, and then hastily wrote an imperial decree, sending it via eight-hundred-li urgent dispatch to Helan Mountain.
"By Imperial Order: Await the triumphant return of Marquis of Anguo Liang Xiao and his soldiers, and bestow generous rewards!!"