"Vice Marshal, don't we need to form ranks?" Nan Jiyun couldn't help but remind him.
The generals mounted their horses, looking at Liang Xiao.
Previously, the great victories at Yanzhou and Helan Mountain were all fought in formation. This time, while pursuing the Right Virtuous King, Liang Xiao had only ordered them to chase and fight freely.
Liang Xiao said without hesitation, "Forming ranks before battle is the norm in warfare. The brilliance of its application lies in the general's heart. The barbarians are now desperately fleeing back to the Qilian Mountains, their will to survive far stronger than ours. They have no intention of fighting. It's good enough if we can catch up to them."
Nan Jiyun suddenly understood.
Liang Xiao saw it but merely smiled.
Yue Qingtian and Nan Jiyun were more suited to be generals who charged into battle. In comparison, Lu Changhe and Zhuo Ying were better at strategic warfare, while Nie Yuan possessed both qualities, leaning towards the latter. Among the five, Nan Jiyun was the strongest in cavalry combat, Yue Qingtian was not bad, but the best in infantry combat. Each had their strengths, and all were promising talents.
Of course, Nan Jiyun wasn't completely ignorant of military strategy. It was just that compared to Lu Changhe and Zhuo Ying, he was clearly inferior. Perhaps it was because his family was poor in his early years, and having time to practice martial arts was already good enough; he couldn't afford to study. However, his comprehension ability was excellent.
Nan Jiyun and Zhuo Ying led the White Robe Army to forge ahead, while Liang Xiao held the center, and the army continued its rapid advance towards the Qilian Mountains.
In contrast, the defeated troops of the Right Virtuous King appeared extremely disheveled.
Their warhorses could eat wild grass, but the soldiers of Great Gan had the barbarian warhorses they killed along the way as food. They, however, could only slaughter live horses that had broken down.
Moreover, they were truly exhausted from running. Whether they could rest depended on when the White Robe Army rested.
Once they sensed the White Robe Army approaching, they had to run, even in the dead of night. How tragic!
At this moment, the Right Virtuous King and his soldiers were all haggard and disheartened.
Hearing the neighing of warhorses in the distance, the Right Virtuous King was startled and immediately mounted his horse, "Run! We are less than a hundred li from the Qilian Mountains, we'll be there soon!!"
Five days had passed since Liang Xiao led his troops a thousand li to pursue the Left Virtuous King.
This was already a commendably fast pace for both sides traveling at forced march.
Five days was enough for Lu Yi to dispatch flying horses and fast boats to report back to Shuofang and other places!
"Our army has recovered Helan Mountain. The estimated decapitations in this battle alone exceed two hundred and fifty thousand. The Vice Marshal is currently leading troops to retake Qilian Mountain and Yanzhi Mountain!!!"
Lu Yi had included the fifty thousand decapitations from before, as well as the possible decapitations brought about by Liang Xiao's pursuit, which was reasonable.
"Two hundred and fifty thousand?!"
The military and civilians in various regions who received the news were dumbfounded and disbelieving!
Another earth-shattering great victory, and they had also recovered Helan Mountain!
Most importantly, their Vice Marshal, Liang Xiao, the Marquis of An Guo of Great Gan, was going to retake Qilian Mountain and Yanzhi Mountain??
Once these three mountains were successfully recovered, it would mean that the entire Hexi Corridor would be incorporated into Great Gan and be difficult to lose!
The military and civilians rejoiced, and the news had been sent by express courier of eight hundred li, soon to reach Yanzhou and the capital!
In Shuofang City, Zuo Jing and the Yun Tian Guards looked at each other, their hearts churning like a stormy sea.
"This is truly useful intelligence. We must immediately send someone back to the Great Liang Kingdom to inform our master to get a head start and complete the mission!"
The Emperor of Great Liang, Mu Cheng, had tasked this "Marquis of Zhenbei of Great Liang" with collecting intelligence on Great Gan. This was a great opportunity, and they had to beat the intelligence personnel from Mu Cheng and the noble families!
"There's no news of General Tian's miraculous intervention this time. It seems that the northern soldiers, under his reforms, have developed to a level where they can annihilate the barbarians without needing General Tian..." Zuo Jing muttered to herself.
The Yun Tian Guards' hearts tightened, and they all nodded.
Incredible!
How strong were the barbarian cavalry? The former remnants of the Great Heng Kingdom knew very well. After all, Zuo Wushang had a lot of information about the barbarians.
Later, this information was transferred to Liang Xiao, making it easier for him to know himself and his enemy, and win every battle...
Helan Mountain was stabilized after several days of battlefield cleanup.
Lu Yi had already led a force of fifty thousand troops to support Qilian Mountain. The remaining troops would defend Helan Mountain and await news.
The Right Virtuous King, who was desperately fleeing, only felt relieved and allowed his men to rest in place after the scouts reported that the White Robe Army had stopped. They slaughtered horses to eat and drank horse blood directly to quench their thirst.
"Marshal! We only have twelve thousand men left!"
Hearing the general report the number of men, the Right Virtuous King was filled with grief and sighed, "It's not that I don't know warfare, but the northern soldiers of Great Gan are no longer what they used to be. That Liang Xiao is truly unpredictable. Lu Yi alone could not have achieved such results..."
The generals were terrified, and they all trembled, "No wonder the Heavenly General of Great Gan has always protected this person. It turns out he is the key to destroying our barbarians..."
At this moment, every barbarian soldier was terrified and despairing. They didn't even have the courage to curse Liang Xiao.
The Right Virtuous King merely shook his head and smiled foolishly, speaking incoherently.
They had been utterly defeated. Out of the three hundred thousand troops, combined with the few thousand taken by the Left Virtuous King, less than twenty thousand remained.
Twenty-eight thousand decapitated?
Adding the seventeen thousand defeated at Yanzhou, and subtracting fifty thousand mercenary and slave soldiers, wasn't that forty thousand decapitated? It was simply horrifying!
"It's over, the barbarians are completely finished!"
"Even if we can escape, I'm afraid the Tianri tribe will take advantage of our misfortune!"
The generals were filled with worry and sighed.
The Right Virtuous King was full of shame. He drew his sword from his waist, intending to commit suicide, but the generals quickly stopped him.
"Marshal! We still have a chance to make a comeback. We can rest for ten or twenty years at most!"
The Right Virtuous King then looked at the soldiers of Great Gan and said in a deep voice, "That's right! In the past, the King of Donghai and the Marquis of Dingguo defeated our barbarian people so badly that they scattered. We still made a comeback! It was possible then, and it's possible now..."
But the more the Right Virtuous King spoke, the less confident he became.
Was it the same?
When the King of Donghai defeated the hundreds of thousands of troops of the ancient Xiongnu King He Luofu, he only beheaded less than a hundred thousand. After all, the Great Heng Kingdom could not catch up to the ancient Xiongnu cavalry. After entering the desert, due to unfamiliar terrain, they lost sixty thousand soldiers of the Great Heng Kingdom along the way and were forced to abandon the pursuit.
As the Marshal, the Marquis of Dingguo, Gongsun Wuji, along with the founding Emperor of Great Gan, Xiao Ping, personally led the expedition and defeated the barbarians, beheading only a hundred thousand. Finally, they went deep into the desert and almost suffered a complete annihilation!
But Liang Xiao had led troops in both battles, beheading four hundred thousand barbarians with a loss of possibly less than ten thousand, almost shattering the backbone of the barbarians, destroying the barbarian nation's foundation, and almost amounting to a war of annihilation!
Perhaps even the Youyun Kingdom and the Taiji Kingdom could now look down on the barbarians!
The Xianbei to the east, who had surrendered to the barbarians for a hundred years, might also rise up. The barbarians were in danger!
But now, the Right Virtuous King had no time to think about what to do in the future. He only wanted to survive and flee back to the desert from the areas of Qilian Mountain and Yanzhi Mountain.
Because Liang Xiao was leading the cavalry of Great Gan to pursue them again!
The two sides began another life-and-death struggle. The reason the arrows of the Great Gan cavalry were not exhausted was purely because the front army had shot them all, and the rear army went to pick them up, along with the barbarian arrows, making the consumption very difficult to maintain...
Two hours later.
"Vice Marshal, we are in front of Qilian Mountain. The Right Virtuous King should be twenty li away and has already entered the mountain!" a scout ran back to report.
Liang Xiao stood up and said, "Qilian Mountain has no defensive fortifications. It's flat. Let's retake it. The time to achieve merit is now!"