The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 200 Anger Attacks the Heart

As dawn broke.

Lingdan Khan and the others felt utterly disheartened.

Eight large armies, totaling over 40,000 men, were dispatched.

It was already 8 a.m., but they still hadn't received the agreed-upon signal.

A dozen or so heads of households wanted to lead a group to investigate.

As a result, just as they were about to crawl into the hole, they discovered something unusual.

Overnight.

The hole at the base of the city wall that they dug out with the help of over a thousand people was densely covered with camel thorns.

It was as if they were afraid the other people wouldn't recognize them.

The camel thorn plants had all their leaves plucked off.

His whole body was bald.

All that remained were hard thorns, longer than an adult's finger and thicker than a little finger.

The spikes were obviously very sharp.

At this moment, the old and new grudges of the chieftains surged into their hearts:

"So that's how it is! Great Khan, so the Bei army was behind those five hundred-plus top-quality horses falling into the pit!"

"Even a horse's thick hide can be pierced by these splinters. We probably wouldn't survive if we tried to crawl through this hole."

"Who knows how many camel thorns are waiting for us inside the wall!"

"Those who went in, I'm afraid, I'm afraid..."

What are you afraid of?
It seems the chances of survival are slim!

How many years has it been since we last dealt with each other? Has the Bei army become this strong now?
Ling Dan's face turned from blue to purple, then purple to white, and his back was completely soaked.

Finally, he swallowed hard and made a difficult decision: "Let's go, let's go back to base camp!"

The remaining 50,000 elite troops were the last trump card of the Mongol Empire in northern Mongolia.

He can lose face, but he can't afford to lose his family's wealth!
The 50,000-strong army hurriedly marched from outside the city walls back to their main camp, which was 30 miles away.

Ling Danhan, his body soaked with sweat and morning dew, had just returned to the royal tent.

Before I could even catch my breath, I took a sip of mare's milk.

Then a group of horse herders and sheep herders came to see him.

Upon seeing him, they all knelt down in unison.

A very bad feeling suddenly arose in his heart.

He asked tremblingly, "What happened?"

The horse herders kneeling in front, their faces contorted with grief, kept kowtowing and saying:

"Great Khan, Great Khan, spare us! Our home has been raided! More than 10,000 wounded horses, more than 3,000 mares, and all our sheep have been stolen!"

"Just like those two hundred cows last time, they were stolen quietly. We chased after them to three checkpoints, but we didn't find a single footprint!"

"Your Majesty, the thieves are too cunning! We guarded the sheepfold while we slept, but we still couldn't stop them!"

"Waaaah, Your Majesty, spare my life!"

Lingdan Khan: What a bolt from the blue!
His vision blurred in waves.

They could discard the wounded warhorses; they were just waiting to die anyway.

but.

Mares were their most reliable source of water for marching.

They had long since run out of dry rations, and the sheep were their only source of food.

These sheep were originally intended to be eaten during the post-war victory celebrations!
Now, all the provisions have mysteriously disappeared!
In a state of panic.

Lingdan Khan felt a tickle in his throat, along with a fishy smell.

After enduring it for a long time, he finally couldn't hold it in any longer. With a "whoosh," he spat out a mouthful of blood!

Then everything went black before his eyes, and he lost all consciousness.

The direct descendants of the Golden Family inherited their tall stature.

Judging from his weight in modern times, Lingdan Khan was about 1.78 meters tall and weighed about 170-180 kilograms.

He was over fifty years old and ate meat as his main food at every meal, without needing to do physical labor or military physical training.

Such intense grief and anger can easily rupture blood vessels in the brain.

No one reacted yet.

Their sweaty bodies fell backward, creating a large crater in the sand.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty! What's wrong?"

"Quickly, call a doctor! Quickly, call a doctor!"

"."

Several doctors who had been summoned spent a long time trying to rouse Lingdan Khan, but they were unable to do so.

One of the doctors concluded:

"The Great Khan has been suddenly attacked by wind-evil. He may, may later develop symptoms such as facial paralysis, slurred speech, and hemiplegia."

Isn't this what the Han Chinese call a stroke?
The leaders of the various small tribes still possessed this kind of common sense.

It's rare for people on the grasslands to get this disease, so it's normal that doctors don't know how to treat it.

A doctor who was quite familiar with Han Chinese medicine said:

"It's not entirely incurable. At least the imperial physicians in Shangdu definitely have a way! The key is to treat it promptly, otherwise it will only get worse."

Anyway, none of these doctors have such great skills.

Did they run to the capital of Bei State to kidnap a royal physician for the Great Khan?
Let's not even talk about whether it can be done or not.

It will take several months, in terms of time.

Could the Great Khan's illness be delayed until then?
After much deliberation, everyone agreed that it would be best to send the Khan back to the royal court as soon as possible so that his wives and concubines could take good care of him.

The situation is very tricky.

The twenty heads of households are discussing the Khan's illness and the current war situation.

More than half of the people advocated withdrawing the troops:

"We can't wait any longer. We'd better leave immediately! If we leave now, we still have 50,000 men and more than 70,000 warhorses."

“It’s not that we’re unwilling to continue fighting, but the border line we just breached has now been blocked. We can’t get in, so we can only continue fighting at those three gaps. The Bei army might just want us to wear them down here.”

"I've heard that there are many talented and extraordinary people in the martial arts world of Bei, the most famous of whom is the Thieves' Guild among the Eight Outer Gates! It is said that from the imperial palace to the imperial tombs, there is nothing they cannot steal as long as someone can afford the price!"

"You mean the Bei army hired martial arts practitioners to help them? Then we need to leave quickly! We don't know how to deal with these unorthodox methods."

Those who oppose the withdrawal are in the minority, but their stance is firm:

"Withdraw? We've exhausted all the resources of our tribe to fight to this point, how can we face going back? I'd rather die on the battlefield than slink back like this!"

"Without the mares to provide us with enough water, and without the sheep to feed our 50,000 men, we might not even be able to leave the territory of Southern Mongolia. How are we going to withdraw our troops?"

We can't win, and we can't escape.

What to do?
Those who wanted to withdraw their troops suddenly realized something:
"Saving face is something you give yourself! If we've suffered a loss here with the Bei army, we'll make up for it elsewhere. Since what we lack right now is water and food, let's go plunder!"

"what do you mean?"

"I've heard that the Ordo tribe in southern Gobi is very wealthy. Don't they claim to be the most loyal guards of the Heavenly Khan? Now that our Great Khan is in trouble, shouldn't the guards offer up their wealth?"

"That makes sense! Our Khan is still alive! They should obey the King's orders!"

"The sheep are gone, but we still have several hundred cattle for hauling goods. Slaughter all the cattle and divide them equally among each Batel. If we still can't get a sheep after eating all this beef, we won't be able to get back!"

"."

(End of this chapter)