Having many children brings many blessings; the struggle for power begins with marriage.

Chapter 105 Xiao Pengtian's Intuition

The barbarian tribes did not have fixed dwellings for many years; they lived a nomadic life, moving with the water and grass.

Now, they're suddenly asked to settle down somewhere, establish a country, and farm the land. How could they possibly get used to it?

Therefore, the common people of Daxia were of paramount importance. Yelü Nanyan's idea was to ease the relationship between the common people of Daxia and the barbarians, and then integrate the barbarians into the agricultural culture of Daxia.

As a result, when the people of Daxia heard that the barbarians were coming, they all ran away. What use is it for the barbarians to occupy the Beijun area?

Without the people of Daxia, are we supposed to let these herders who have been herding for years farm the land?

They have no experience in farming, and if they can't integrate into the agricultural culture, even if they occupy the land of North County, they will still plunder southward in the future.

However, raiding south would directly conflict with the core interests of the Great Xia. Those vassal kings and noble families who originally cooperated with the barbarians would inevitably unite and send a large army north. By then, it would be hard to say whether the barbarians could even hold onto the Northern Commandery.

The barbarians excel at cavalry, possessing high mobility. They are fine for attacking cities, but they have no experience in defending them.

This is very disadvantageous for them.

At this moment, Xiao Hongbo was riding his horse, standing on a high slope in the grassland, gazing in the direction of Yancheng.

A while later, a cavalry unit was rapidly approaching their main force in the distance.

It's Xiao Pengtian and the others who have returned.

Xiao Hongbo quickly turned to look at the army led by Xiao Pengtian. Xiao Pengtian stood in front of Xiao Hongbo with a serious expression.

"Your Majesty, the cities we visited are all deserted. Most of the people of Great Xia have already migrated to the south."

"We captured several civilians from the Great Xia. According to their confession, the Northern King had issued an order a long time ago to move all the civilians to the south. He will lead 30,000 soldiers from the Northern Commandery to fight us to the death in Yancheng."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Hongbo was taken aback.

He then asked incredulously, "Does the Northern King intend to fight us to the death in Yan City?"

Although Xiao Hongbo had never met the Northern King, he had heard about him from the merchants of Daxia. The Northern King was a good-for-nothing prince who was ignorant and pleasure-seeking.

After the Northern King arrived in Beijun, he spent his days indulging in pleasure in his palace and never paid any attention to Beijun.

Moreover, the Northern King seems to be only 17 years old at most this year. Although 17 years old is considered an adult in this era, most 17-year-olds are still seen as children by others.

In Xiao Hongbo's eyes, the Northern King was no exception; in his view, the Northern King was just a little brat.

He always thought that as soon as the Northern King heard the news of his southward march, that little brat would be so frightened that he would run away in a panic.

Now Xiao Pengtian is telling him that not only has the Northern King not fled, but he is waiting in Yancheng to fight him to the death.

This piece of trash actually dares to say he'll fight me to the death?

To the barbarian cavalry, what were 30,000 soldiers? They were nothing more than a bunch of two-legged sheep with weapons.

At this moment, Xiao Pengtian said, "Your Majesty, this is what the common people we captured all said. It is said that the imperial court issued an order to the Northern King, instructing him to defend the Northern Prefecture to the death and not to escape."

The common people, of course, did not know that the imperial court had given the Northern King an order to defend the Northern Commandery to the death; these were all guesses made by the common people themselves.

After all, the Northern King was perceived as a useless prince. It seemed impossible that he would suddenly declare that he would fight the barbarians to the death in the Northern Prefecture. Therefore, the common people believed that this was actually an order from the imperial court, forcing the Northern King to stay in Yancheng.

Upon hearing Xiao Pengtian's words, Xiao Hongbo laughed loudly and said, "Hahaha, that's right. How could that brat dare to confront my iron cavalry?"

"Is the Xia Emperor planning to completely abandon this useless prince?"

Xiao Hongbo accepted Xiao Pengtian's explanation. He also felt that the Great Xia Dynasty had given the Northern King a death order not to retreat, which was why the Northern King had no choice but to grit his teeth and defend Yancheng.

To occupy the entire Northern Commandery in a short time, they must pass through the Wanning River Valley, and Yancheng is located below the Wanning River Valley, so they must capture Yancheng.

Perhaps in the eyes of the Great Xia, Yancheng's geographical location was better, and having the Northern King guard Yancheng would keep the barbarians to the north of Yancheng.

This idea is actually correct. In the past, the barbarians would most likely not have attacked Yancheng directly.

In the past, the barbarians mainly raided southwards for food and women, so other cities north of Yancheng were sufficient to meet their needs.

In addition, in the past they were mainly cavalry and did not have siege equipment. It would have been impossible to conquer a city like Yancheng with tens of thousands of soldiers in less than a few months.

But this time it's different. This time they want to take over the entire North County, and they prepared siege equipment from the very beginning.

Taking Yancheng is not a difficult task at all.

Then Xiao Hongbo shouted, "Immediately issue the order to rush to Yancheng at top speed! I must capture that brat, the Northern King! We can't let him escape!"

Upon hearing Xiao Hongbo's words, the soldiers behind him immediately sounded the bugle.

At this moment, Xiao Pengtian reminded him, "Your Majesty, it's best to be careful. Yancheng only has 30,000 soldiers. How could the Northern King possibly say something like 'fight to the death' with us?"

"In my opinion, we should first send a vanguard to scout the situation before sending the main army south."

Xiao Pengtian had a feeling that something was wrong; the whole thing seemed strange.

If the Northern King truly wanted to defend against the southward advance of the barbarians, he would not have withdrawn all the defenses north of Yancheng.

Although the cities north of Yancheng are not as fortified as Yancheng itself, it will still take the barbarians time to conquer them.

If the barbarians spend time attacking those cities, they will buy Yan City enough time.

In this way, some vassal kings within the Great Xia territory would have time to mobilize troops to the north to assist the Northern King in resisting the barbarians.

Although the Great Xia court dared not send troops at this time, it would inevitably order the vassal kings to send troops, but the vassal kings were all rather slow in sending troops.

Logically, the longer the Northern Commandery is held up, the greater the chance that the Northern King will be able to defend it.

Even if the Northern King doesn't understand anything, surely his soldiers understand the importance of those cities in the North?

As a result, the Northern King withdrew all the soldiers and civilians from those cities.

This made Xiao Pengtian suspect a conspiracy.

Upon hearing Xiao Pengtian's words, Xiao Hongbo burst into laughter, then said, "Xiao Pengtian, you're just too cautious."

"Do you know why you weren't chosen as the Sirius King by the elders? It's because you're too indecisive and not decisive enough."

As soon as he finished speaking, Xiao Hongbo rode his horse straight towards Yancheng, leaving Xiao Pengtian alone in the same spot.

Watching Xiao Hongbo's retreating figure, Xiao Pengtian could only sigh.

For some reason, he always felt uneasy, as if something bad was about to happen.

(End of this chapter)