Can't a princess ascend the throne?

Chapter 363 Horse Farm
Seeing the mare leader give in, Jiu Que couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. She smiled and patted the stubborn leader, then cheerfully led her to rejoin her personal guard.

On the way back, passing by the Akhal-Teke horse, Jiu Que waved and greeted it. The horse neighed excitedly and rushed over to rub against Jiu Que's leg. However, this action displeased the wild horse leader, who nudged the horse. The Akhal-Teke horse paused for a moment, then the two mares exchanged a glance and almost simultaneously rammed each other's heads!
"That's not good. I'd be heartbroken if anyone got hurt."

Just as the two horses collided, Jiu Que, with one in each hand, pushed them apart and gently patted their foreheads as a warning.

Seeing that the two horses had finally calmed down, Jiu Que breathed a sigh of relief. By the time he and his personal guards gathered together, they had brought back most of the wild horses. Seeing that there were still a few missing, Jiu Que patted the leader's head. The leader raised its neck and let out a long, drawn-out cry. Soon, the wild horses that had scattered returned. They weren't surprised to see so many two-legged creatures; they circled around the leader, appearing quite docile.

The Northern Frontier Army following Jiu Que was incredibly excited, but they still remembered to keep their voices down so as not to scare them away. However, they still couldn't help but whisper to their companions.

"These wild horses are of excellent quality. If they can be tamed, they will be a great help. If they can breed with our military horses, they will be stronger with each generation."

"I've been to the grasslands quite often before, so why can't I find a herd of wild horses?"

"You think you're Lord Ying? Lord Ying is protected by the gods. Not only is he invincible, but he's also incredibly lucky. Look at these wild horses. In the past, they would disappear before they even saw us, but now they've come back on their own. So what if we can't find the horse ranch? These wild horses are definitely of better quality than those from the ranch."

"makes sense……"

By this time, everyone had given up looking for the wooden horse farm, after all, they had searched for three days and three nights without finding one. However, just as everyone was about to head back, the wild horse leader suddenly stopped, refusing to move forward, and began to neigh incessantly towards the southeast.

At first, no one understood what he meant. Jiu Que paused for a moment, then looked thoughtfully towards the southeast.

"In that case, let's go take a look. It won't get in the way anyway."

So the group followed the direction led by the mare leader. After crossing several sand dunes, they heard a familiar neighing sound. Upon closer inspection, they were stunned. Wasn't that the neighing of horses? Most of the soldiers who had come with the Ninth District were deeply passionate about horses and had extensive knowledge of them. They recognized the sound immediately. This wasn't the neighing of just one or two horses; it was clearly the noisy cacophony of a large herd living together. The question was, why hadn't they encountered anything like this before?
A moment later, suppressing their excitement, the group bypassed the sand dunes and arrived at the hidden horse ranch. Sure enough, this was a horse ranch secretly maintained by the grasslands. There were still guards there, numbering about a thousand. They were probably unaware of the grasslands' defeat and were still busily working in an orderly fashion.

In the past, people would have hesitated for a moment when they saw this number of grassland soldiers, but now that the largest army on the grassland has been scattered and so many grassland soldiers have been captured, they really don't take this mere thousand people seriously.

Immediately, some soldiers volunteered to launch the attack, and Jiu Que was more than happy to oblige. Most of these personal guards had participated in the previous two battles. Although they could no longer continue to fight on the grasslands and accumulate merits, the thousands of soldiers at the horse farm were still a considerable achievement. They never expected that they would encounter such merits after following Lord Ying out to find the horse farm. Lord Ying was indeed a great lucky star!

"Charge!" The leading general quietly gave a signal. The Da Jing soldiers silently surrounded them. They were already in sync; no one dared to move until the steppe soldiers noticed anything amiss. The steppe soldiers, especially the guards at this horse farm, each possessed a magnificent steed. Cavalry excels at charging, but they must maintain distance. The more distance they closed at this moment, the more they could diminish the enemy's advantage.

Inching closer and closer, as Jiuque held his breath in anticipation, the Great Jing soldiers drew ever closer to the horse ranch…

A steppe cavalryman was carrying hay for the horses as usual. It was getting dark, and he was thinking about what to eat for dinner when he suddenly caught a glimpse of something shiny out of the corner of his eye. His first reaction was confusion. What was that? Why was it reflecting light?

He subconsciously craned his neck to look in that direction, and his companion couldn't help but sneer at the sight.

"Aragoo, what are you looking at? Did you spot a wild rabbit? Look how greedy you are!"

"Don't speak yet, I think I see something that reflects light..."

"call out!"

Araghu was about to retort when he heard a sharp whooshing sound. The next moment, he felt a heat on his neck and collapsed to the ground. His companion, who had been laughing and joking with him, froze for a moment, then quickly reacted, gathering his strength to shout. But he wasn't so lucky; before he could utter a sound, he was shot dead by a hidden arrow.

More and more steppe cavalrymen were killed, and even the most foolish among them realized something was wrong. Sirens blared throughout the stables, and everyone sprang into action. Some rushed to the stable fences, ready to release the horses. This was a stable; if the enemy attacked, it would undoubtedly be for these carefully tended horses. Whether successful or not, they needed to release these fine horses first. If they were lucky enough to win, they could retrieve them later. Horse breeders like themselves had some ability to gather the horses. It would be disastrous if the enemy wiped them all out.

However, how could the Jing soldiers, who had long coveted this horse, let them let these fine horses go? Having been prepared, the group abandoned their sneaky tactics and charged forward with deafening battle cries.

The reason these horse ranchers were assigned here was, of course, because they were no match for the regular steppe cavalry in terms of physical strength and combat ability. Those valiant steppe cavalrymen had all been defeated; these men were no match for the Great Jing soldiers.

Jiu Que didn't even make a move; he simply stood behind and carefully observed the battle. The fight ended without any suspense after lasting for about half an hour.

The grassland people suffered a crushing defeat.

This horse ranch also came under the ownership of Da Jing.