The Prodigal Son

A day and a half later, Xiao Yangguang received a message from the grain escort team.

They were ultimately too late.

Just as the grain transport team began burning the grain, the Ning army's cavalry charged in.

Roughly estimated, at least 80% of the grain would fall into the hands of Ning's army.

Upon receiving this news, Xiao Yanguang flew into a rage once again and cursed Yelü Shu in his heart.

But since things had come to this, he had no other choice but to order the destruction of the bridge connecting Yunzhou and Xiazhou, so as not to give the Ning army a chance to invade Yunzhou.

At the same time, he ordered Xiao Baoju to speed up the process and move everything that could be moved within a day, and burn everything that could not be moved!

Yes, burn it!

Yelü Shu's crushing defeat thoroughly enraged Xiao Yanguang.

He wants to burn the entire Huya to the ground!

All that was left for the people of Ning was ruins!

As for things like public opinion, he doesn't care about them at all now!

He simply refused to believe that burning Huyao would incite the people of Yan north of Panjiang to rebel!

Might makes right!

If those people from the destroyed country dare to make any move, he wouldn't hesitate to raise his sword!

Xiao Baoju wanted to persuade him, but seeing that Xiao Yanguang was in a fit of anger, he could only give up.

On the fourth night, Xiao Yanguang led his troops to retreat north of Panjiang in batches.

As the last group of men withdrew, Xiao Yanguang ordered his men to burn Huyao to the ground.

"Knock knock..."

Xue Chengdao, who had just fallen asleep, was awakened by a series of urgent knocks on the door.

"Commander Xue, Tiger Stronghold is on fire!"

The voice of a bodyguard rang out from outside the door.

Xue Chengdao sat up abruptly, quickly dressed, and followed his personal guards up to the gate tower of Tiger Pass.

When Xue Chengdao arrived at the gate tower, there were already several surrendered generals from the Yan Kingdom standing there.

Looking up into the distance, the sky in the direction of Huyao seemed to be on fire.

It's obvious that the entire Huyao is now engulfed in flames.

Everyone stared silently at the distant sky, their eyes burning red as if they were on fire.

A surrendered general from the Yan Kingdom knelt down with a thud, his eyes filled with tears as he looked in the direction of Huyao.

"Thump, thump..."

With someone taking the lead, the surrendered soldiers and generals on the city wall knelt down one after another.

There was no sound of weeping, only the sound of people kneeling down.

All the surrendered generals and soldiers stared at the distant sky with reddened eyes, silently shedding tears.

That's Tiger Crest!

This is the location of the ancestral temple of the Yan state!

Now, the Yan state has been destroyed, and even Huyao has been reduced to ashes.

The ancestral temple of the Yan state will also be completely destroyed in this fire.

The traces of the Great Yan are being rapidly erased.

Seeing the crowd kneeling before him, Xue Chengdao slammed his fist into a pillar of the gate tower, roaring murderously, "That scoundrel Xiao Yanguang is utterly depraved!"

"General Xue, this humble general requests permission to fight!"

A surrendered general from the Yan Kingdom, his tiger-like eyes filled with tears, looked at Xue Cheng and said, "Please, Commander Xue, grant me permission to lead troops to take the head of that villain Xiao Yanguang!"

"The last general also invites you to fight!"

"And there's my subordinate!"

"And me..."

In an instant, a group of surrendered generals from the Yan Kingdom roared and volunteered for battle.

"What kind of battle are you asking for?"

Xue Chengdao glared at the crowd, annoyed. "Xiao Yanguang has already set Huyao ablaze. Do you think he'll still be waiting for us to attack from the main camp? They must have quietly retreated after dark! Who are you going to fight?"

Faced with Xue Cheng's questioning, everyone was speechless.

Yes!

Surely Xiao Yanguang wouldn't go so far as to cut off his own escape route?

They must have set fire to the city after withdrawing their troops.

Thinking of this, everyone felt even more grief and indignation.

Seeing the grief and indignation of the crowd, Xue Chengdao couldn't help but sigh, "I understand your feelings!"

"This general also wishes he could tear that scoundrel Xiao Yanguang to pieces!"

"But the enemy has already withdrawn, so there's no point in requesting to fight now!"

"But I can assure you, I will lead you into Northern Qi in the future!"

"Today's Toramasa will be tomorrow's Ōiwa Castle!"

"We will not rest until the Northern Qi are destroyed!"

With his last breath, Xue Chengdao roared out the last sentence.

"We will not rest until the Northern Qi are destroyed!"

The next moment, several generals joined in the shouting.

"We will not rest until the Northern Qi are destroyed!"

"The Undying Northern Qi..."

These eight simple words seem to possess endless magic.

From surrendered generals to surrendered soldiers, everyone roared in unison.

Their voices spread far and wide, and soon almost everyone in Huyao was roaring along with them.

Hearing the thunderous roar, a hint of a smile flashed in Xue Chengdao's eyes.

I really have to thank Xiao Yanguang.

The morale of these surrendered soldiers has been a headache for him these past few days.

Although these people surrendered to Da Ning, their morale was almost nonexistent.

He knew that Xiao Yanguang's troops did not have many men, but he still dared not attack rashly, partly because of the weather and partly because of morale.

Xiao Yanguang's actions actually helped him solve the morale problem.

He believed that after one winter, more than 90% of the soldiers would truly be loyal to the country.

When they attack Beiqi, these soldiers will roar and fight to the death with the Beiqi people.

However, he couldn't understand how Xiao Yanguang, a veteran general, could make such a mistake.

……

The fire at Huyao lasted for three whole days.

When Xue Chengdao led 5,000 cavalry to Huyao, the once prosperous Huyao was reduced to ruins.

The entire Tiger Peak was lifeless and devoid of any vitality.

Only the howling cold wind seemed to be wailing for Hu Yao.

As they entered Huyao, everywhere they looked was charred black.

There were still sporadic flames that had not been extinguished, and smoke was still rising from many places in the city.

"Ugh!"

Xue Chengdao let out a heavy sigh.

What a fine tiger caravan!

Pity!

Just as Xue Chengdao was secretly sighing, a messenger rode up at full speed.

"Reporting to Commander Xue, Commander Qin has sent a battle report!"

The messenger quickly delivered Qin Yu's battle report.

Battle report?

That kid got into a fight with Bei Qi?

Xiao Yanguang set fire to Huyao; was he trying to support their forces in seizing Shengzhou?

Xue Chengdao quickly opened the battle report.

Looking at the battle report, Xue Chengdao was overjoyed: "Haha, good lad! Well done!"

Qin Yu not only annihilated Yelü Shu's 20,000 cavalry, but also seized the supplies that Xiao Yanguang had sent to Yelü Shu's troops, and even occupied Xiazhou!

Currently, the bridges in Xiazhou and Yunzhou have been destroyed by the Northern Qi.

The two sides are locked in a standoff across the river!

Pretty!

No wonder Xiao Yangguang set fire to Huyao; this is the reason!

Haha!

Xiao Yanguang's attempt to steal a chicken backfired spectacularly!

Why can't he just stay and occupy the three prefectures north of Panjiang?

You have to be greedy!

Now look what happened! They lost both supplies and troops, maximizing their losses!

OK!

By pushing Bei Qi's power back north of Panjiang, they no longer need to spend too much energy guarding against Bei Qi.

Both Beiqi and Daning will enter a long period of rest and recuperation.

Now, we can finally clean up the mess left by the Yan Kingdom...