Big Moon Ballad

Chapter 2673 Killing God

The battle ultimately failed.

Upon learning of the approaching army, the Western Rong cavalry and bandits who had occupied Youzhou City fled in panic, heading north.

Ying Baoyue and her group entered Youzhou City without a fight.

"They ran away way too fast," Gui Chen remarked in the tent where the three commanders were gathered. "If only every city would flee at the mere sight of them from now on."

“The first few cities are definitely like that,” Mu You said, stroking his beard as he sat to the side. “This place is deep in the heart of Northern Wei territory, not their own land. Faced with such a large army, these bandits have no reason to defend the city.”

To put it bluntly, this was never their land or city. Faced with overwhelming enemy forces, it would be strange if the Western Rong people didn't flee.

“The closer to the north, the harder it is to conquer,” Ying Baoyue stared at the map on the table and drew a long line running east to west. “The cities south of this line should be easy to conquer.”

“I agree,” Mu You nodded. “Going further north will probably be more difficult.”

"How much longer will it take us to march to this line?" Ji Jiashu asked.

“At the current pace, it will take about fifteen days,” Ying Baoyue stared at the line, “but I want to speed things up.”

"Why?" Ji Jiashu asked, puzzled.

The army's march was extremely difficult, and the current pace was already making the soldiers' work very strenuous.

"Hmm, do you want those wild beasts to vomit something?" Mu You asked.

Ying Baoyue nodded, her gaze sharp. "They will definitely pay the price. Don't think they can eat their fill and then run back to Xirong."

After she finished speaking, she looked up, and Meng Shi was just lifting the curtain to come in.

"How is it?" Ying Baoyue asked.

Meng Shi has just led a group to investigate the situation inside the city.

"It was a horrific sight," Meng Shi said, her eyes reddening with hatred. "The grain and gold and silver were all looted. Everything that could be taken was taken, and what couldn't be taken was burned. The people..."

Meng Shi closed her eyes, unable to continue, "That's just how people are."

Having grown up on the frontier, she knew from a young age what the fate of ordinary people would be after the city fell.

The able-bodied men in Youzhou City either died defending the city or were taken away by the Western Rong people to be enslaved. The old and weak were almost all slaughtered, and the women's fate was even more tragic. In addition to being tortured to death in the city, those beasts would also take the women away as spoils of war.

It is better to be a dog in peacetime than a man in troubled times.

Ying Baoyue let out a heavy sigh.

"With so much stuff, those bandits can't get far. We need to speed up our march and catch up with those beasts."

The Western Rong cavalry were known for their high mobility and combat effectiveness, but their combat effectiveness would decline once these steppe wolves entered the Central Plains.

Because a wolf that has eaten its fill cannot run fast.

A cold glint flashed in Ying Baoyue's eyes, "Chase!"

……

……

Three days later, the Qin army's swords were stained with blood for the first time.

Ying Baoyue didn't even give the Northern Wei army a chance to make a move.

"elder sister!"

By the time Meng Shi's left flank army arrived, the battle was already over.

Hundreds of corpses of Western Rong cavalrymen lay scattered across the wasteland, interspersed with the bodies of several Zen monks. Many large wagons lay overturned in the distance, some carrying valuables and provisions, while others were covered with tattered white cloths, revealing numerous scantily clad women inside. "Meng Shi," Ying Baoyue sheathed her sword, "take them home."

Meng Shi gazed at the girl riding the black horse, took a deep breath, and said, "Okay."

The mere group of fleeing Western Rong soldiers did not require the former Qin king and her Silver Cicada Guards to intervene.

However, Ying Baoyue rushed too fast, and the others couldn't catch up with her at all. Only the Silver Cicada Guards desperately chased after her.

Meng Shi glanced at the central army behind her, whose composure had been thrown into disarray by Ying Baoyue's sudden action, and sighed inwardly.

The commander's reckless advance was a major taboo on the battlefield, yet she couldn't utter a single word of reproach.

Because she was also a woman who was saved by Princess Zhaoyang in the same way back then.

“Your Majesty, thank you,” Meng Shi instructed her men to rescue the women in the carriages as soon as possible, “but next time, please give the Northern Wei people a chance to take revenge themselves, okay?”

“Okay,” Ying Baoyue looked at her and nodded, “I was impulsive.”

“It’s okay, I understand,” Meng Shi shook her head. “That’s just who you are.”

However, the Northern Wei army did not have many opportunities for revenge afterwards.

News of the former Qin king and the Silver Cicada Guards' massacre of the Western Rong people who had once occupied Youzhou City quickly spread throughout the north.

Afterwards, along the marching routes of the three armies, the Western Rong soldiers and Zen disciples who had occupied major cities ran even faster, and dared not take away large amounts of supplies and women.

You need to be alive to enjoy food and women, but that's all.

The former Qin king showed no leniency towards the Western Rong cavalry who abused women and massacred cities; even if he led his army to pursue them for dozens of miles, he would kill them all.

With this notoriety of killing, the people of the north gained temporary peace.

The people of the north also got to know "Princess Zhaoyang" who had returned to the border in a new identity.

This guardian of the border has returned.

This march lasted for more than ten days, and the army stopped to rest in Shuozhou City, which was about thirty miles away from the Great Wall of Yongye.

The Western Rong cavalry that had occupied Shuozhou City had already withdrawn three days ago. Although the city was looted, it was not as devastated as Youzhou City before, and the people did not suffer multiple rounds of slaughter.

“At first, we killed a group of people and left another group to work for the wolves,” an old man pouring tea for Meng Shi and the others said tremblingly in the Shuozhou City government office. “But later, when they heard that the former Qin king was coming, the wolves dared not kill anyone anymore.”

"I heard that the pack of wolves even had a fight among themselves. Some of the young soldiers didn't believe in the evil spirits and insisted on killing people and continuing to rob women. They were directly beheaded by several cultivators in the street, and their heads are rolling around everywhere!"

"Was it done by a disciple of the Zen temple?" Meng Shi frowned.

If it weren't for the cultivators exchanging information, the news that Ying Baoyue would kill the Western Rong soldiers who massacred the city wouldn't have spread so quickly.

“That’s right, he was indeed the master of some Zen temple,” the old man said, picking up the teapot. “The Zen temple master said that those wolf soldiers were ignorant and had no idea how powerful Princess Zhaoyang was.”

"It's a pity that I've lived for so long and have never seen the princess's beauty."

"The cultivators all say that Princess Zhaoyang is dead," the old man rambled on. "How can the dead come back? The princess must really be a fairy goddess, and she has come back to save us..."

Meng Shi listened to the old man's words with mixed feelings, and looked up at the girl standing by the window with a long sword at her waist.

"By the way, young lady, would you like some tea? Please sit down and rest for a while."

The old man walked up to Ying Baoyue and said, "How could such a young girl like you be on the battlefield? This world is dangerous."

“Old man,” Ying Baoyue turned around, “I heard that there are still Western Rong cavalry in Yanggao County ahead who haven’t withdrawn. Is that true?”

(End of this chapter)