The forces of Great Qian, like bears and tigers, quickly annihilated the Left Virtuous King's troops. Only twenty thousand of the barbaric people surrendered on bended knee.
"Quickly cover my escape to the northern desert!!"
Roared the Left Virtuous King from atop his horse, desperately hoping to slip away.
His intuition told him that once captured, he would never return to the barbaric lands!
He would either become a prisoner of Great Qian forever, or be torn to shreds by the enraged soldiers of Great Qian!
But he had underestimated the resolve of Nan Jiyun and Nie Yuan. Indebted to Liang Xiao for his patronage and well aware of the national hatred and personal vendetta Liang Xiao bore, their fathers having been tragically slain by the Left Virtuous King, they now charged forward, piercing through more than a dozen of the Left Virtuous King's personal guards, finally leading their troops to his side.
The Left Virtuous King's face turned pale. He raised his long spear and met the attack himself.
"I am, after all, the foremost of the three great warriors of the barbaric lands!"
Nan Jiyun ignored the Left Virtuous King's ravings. Instead, he, Nie Yuan, and Lü Changhe joined forces. Three spear shadows, appearing and disappearing like phantoms, converged on the Left Virtuous King. He could not defend against them.
Finally, Nan Jiyun's spear struck the Left Virtuous King's left leg, unhorsing him!
The soldiers surged forward and bound the Left Virtuous King tightly.
"Are you not the fierce generals of Great Qian? Why do you not challenge me to a duel!"
Nie Yuan said gravely, "At such a critical juncture, who would engage in reckless bravado?"
The Left Virtuous King was silenced.
Beside him, the now-captured barbarians were utterly despondent.
The ferocity and order of the Great Qian soldiers had shattered their last illusions.
Their own tens of thousands annihilated, the enemy's losses were perhaps only about a hundred!
Faced with abundant crossbows, powerful repeating crossbows, and incredibly explosive short-range weapons like the Zhuge Repeating Crossbow, the soldiers of Great Qian held an absolute numerical advantage. The barbarians had completely lost their ability to resist.
"Finally, we understand what it feels like to have superior numbers!"
The soldiers of Great Qian on horseback felt a sense of exhilaration.
This was the Left Virtuous King of the barbaric lands' crucial battle!
In past decisive battles against the barbaric armies, the enemy had always outnumbered them by tens of thousands, and they were primarily cavalry. Now, they were all cavalry, facing the barbaric cavalry four to one!
The Left Virtuous King, bound tightly, was transported in a carriage, personally escorted by several generals.
Lü Changhe and the others looked at the crestfallen Left Virtuous King and shook their heads in lament.
The formerly invincible king of the barbaric lands now lacked even the courage to commit suicide.
Had he chosen to take his own life the moment he saw the tide turning against him, the soldiers of Great Qian would have had no opportunity to capture him alive!
It was evident that the current Left Virtuous King feared death and clung to wealth and status more than anyone.
"This Left Virtuous King must have been utterly terrified by General Tian long ago!" Lü Changhe laughed heartily on his horse.
"Indeed! I heard that General Tian once rode alone into the barbaric army, scaring the Left Virtuous King so much that he turned and fled. Later, General Tian manifested, and the Left Virtuous King was so stunned..." the soldiers couldn't help but tease.
The culprit who had caused the deaths of a hundred thousand martyrs and hundreds of thousands of Great Qian citizens, the hero of the barbarians, had become this pathetic state, which was quite disappointing!
In the eastern camp, all the barbaric soldiers were bound, and the other barbaric people also had their hands tied, daring not to move rashly.
The Chanyu, kneeling before Liang Xiao, gazed expectantly at Liang Xiao: "Marquis of An Guo! I..."
"Hmm?" Liang Xiao frowned, staring at the Chanyu.
The Chanyu suddenly realized and chuckled nervously, "I, I am willing to surrender all the barbaric people in the territory!"
Liang Xiao scoffed, "Thirty thousand people, whom even our Great Qian soldiers dared not slaughter, and you dare! Do you think the barbaric people deep in the northern desert will still respect you in the future?"
Originally, Liang Xiao had not planned to slaughter the barbaric captives. His idea was to send the men to do hard labor, the women to weave cloth, and forbid them from marrying and reproducing in the future, slowly causing these barbaric people to die out. Though cruel, it would at least eliminate future trouble.
But then, the barbarians themselves had first massacred three hundred thousand people!
The soldiers cast looks of disgust at the Chanyu.
The Chanyu sighed, "Those who achieve great things are not bound by trivialities, isn't that an ancient saying from your Great Qian?"
"Nonsense! You damn scoundrel, you call this a triviality? I, your uncle, have studied the classics for two years!" Yue Qingtian was the first to curse loudly.
The surrounding soldiers looked at Yue Qingtian with disbelief, utterly unconvinced that he could read.
The Chanyu ignored Yue Qingtian and looked at Liang Xiao.
Liang Xiao said sternly, "From now on, you will never have a chance to return to the desert, understand?"
The Chanyu drooped his head, then turned to look north, feeling tears well up.
He, once the Son of Heaven of the barbaric lands, the supreme Chanyu, had fallen to become a prisoner of Great Qian's Liang Xiao, a disgrace to his ancestors!
"Vice Marshal, General Lü and the others have captured the Left Virtuous King and returned!"
Upon receiving the news, Liang Xiao could not hide his joy and went out personally to greet them.
"Who captured him?"
Lü Changhe immediately produced a list he had written on horseback and handed it to Liang Xiao. It read: "Three thousand five hundred white-robed soldiers."
The white-robed soldiers standing behind Lü Changhe all said, "The three of them have the greatest merit!"
Liang Xiao nodded with satisfaction, "Very good! When we return, I will personally sponsor twenty thousand taels of gold, and you shall divide it according to the proportion of merit listed!"
He knew with his toes that Nan Jiyun, Nie Yuan, and Lü Changhe were undoubtedly the ones with the most merit. The list only recorded that the three would each take "one-tenth," meaning five percent, intending to distribute the gold as much as possible to the white-robed soldiers.
The white-robed soldiers had always fought bravely and feared no danger, so such an allocation was deserved.
Hearing that Nan Jiyun and the other three had allocated it this way, Yue Qingtian and Zhuo Ying also declared they would only take a tenth.
Originally, the Chanyu was the one Liang Xiao had shot off his horse. Liang Xiao intended to distribute twenty thousand taels of gold to the three thousand five hundred white-robed soldiers and the one thousand Great Qian Iron Guard cavalry, and three hundred Qingtian Guard cavalry. Yue Qingtian and Zhuo Ying would each receive two thousand taels.
The other cavalry had no objections. After all, the three major legions had charged at the forefront and faced the greatest danger. It was reasonable for each person to receive a few taels of gold.
The Left Virtuous King and the Chanyu, kneeling before Liang Xiao, listened to the soldiers yielding to each other, their spirits utterly broken.
Were the soldiers of Great Qian really so united?
"Liang Xiao... no, Marquis of An Guo!" The Left Virtuous King looked at Liang Xiao with a sincere expression, speaking incoherently, "I... I admit defeat to you. Show mercy, won't you?"
Liang Xiao glanced at the Left Virtuous King and simply ignored him, instead inquiring if the scouts had returned.
Seeing Liang Xiao's reaction, the Left Virtuous King couldn't help but lower his head in dejection.
Liang Xiao's response made him realize that he no longer had the right to converse with Liang Xiao.
What awaited him was a trial at Helan Mountain.
As for whether he could survive...
The Left Virtuous King cast a pleading glance at the Chanyu, who could only offer a wry smile and shake his head, "I can barely protect myself!"
The two barbaric kings, their faces covered in dust, their former might completely vanished!
"Vice Marshal! It is indeed the North Sea ten li ahead, but it looks more like a large lake, with clear water! The barbaric people also call it the 'Vast Sea'!"
After the scout reported, Liang Xiao smiled and stood up, "Everyone, do you understand now? We are the ones who will water our horses at the Vast Sea! Let's go, sweep through the ten li to the Vast Sea, and let all our warhorses taste the clearest water of the Vast Sea."
As soon as he finished speaking, all the soldiers cheered.
"We thank the Vice Marshal for leading us to water our horses at the Vast Sea!!"