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

Chapter 114 Order the Imperial Army to Clean Up the Battlefield

Seeing the North County soldiers covered in blood, with bloodstains still wet on their armor and knife marks all over their bodies, it was as if they had just been through a great battle.

Lin Xiuming's heart skipped a beat. Could it be that Beijun was really fighting the barbarians before they entered the city?

Without much thought, Lin Xiuming leaped up and landed directly on the city wall of Beijun.

As soon as Lin Xiuming jumped onto the city wall, he saw barbarian corpses scattered all over the ground outside the city wall, as well as countless large pits.

Some of the barbarian soldiers and horses died in particularly gruesome ways, almost with their limbs torn apart, and organs scattered all over the ground. The land outside the city was stained red with blood.

Seeing this, Lin Xiuming was completely stunned.

He even forgot to walk up to Lu Chen and bow.

This shows that a major battle did indeed take place before the imperial army entered the city.

Moreover, judging from the large number of corpses left behind by the barbarians, they must have been driven back by the garrison of the Northern Commandery.

Lin Xiuming was extremely surprised. He wanted to know how so many barbarian soldiers could have died, and it seemed that those barbarian soldiers had died before even getting close to the city walls of Yancheng.

Lin Xiuming was particularly puzzled by the large pits on the flat ground. What were those pits for?

Of course, as surprised as he was, Lin Xiuming still did not believe that what they had heard earlier about the Northern County soldiers killing 200,000 barbarian soldiers and capturing 100,000 barbarian soldiers was true.

Lin Xiuming took a deep breath to calm himself down, then looked up into the distance.

At this moment, a young man wearing golden armor was standing on the wall, gazing into the distance. Lin Xiuming had seen Lu Chen before, so he recognized Lu Chen at a glance.

However, for some reason, Lin Xiuming always felt that Lu Chen's aura was quite unusual, and his entire demeanor had undergone a significant change.

When Lu Chen married the princess, he also attended Lu Chen's wedding banquet. At that time, Lu Chen did not have this kind of temperament at all.

Lin Xiuming quickly walked towards Lu Chen. Only after getting closer to Lu Chen did Lin Xiuming suddenly realize why he felt that Lu Chen was different.

It turned out that Lu Chen exuded the aura of a martial artist, and he also had a strong killing intent. Ordinary martial artists would have to kill a lot of people to have such a strong killing intent.

The Northern King is actually a martial artist?

How is that possible?

Lin Xiuming felt even more confused. The Northern King he met in the capital was a complete waste, a person with no strength and no skill in martial arts. How could he be a martial artist?

The key point is that Lin Xiuming felt that Lu Chen's strength was not weak, at least he had reached the level of a half-step grandmaster, and even Lin Xiuming, a grandmaster, felt some pressure in front of Lu Chen.

Lin Xiuming immediately bowed and said, "Greetings, Your Highness. I failed to arrive in Beijun immediately. Please punish me."

Lu Chen didn't turn his head; his gaze remained fixed on the north. At this moment, he spoke calmly, "Punishment? No, no, no, General Lin, you've arrived just in time."

Last night's battle killed 200,000 barbarian soldiers, and now the entire Wanning River Valley is littered with the corpses of barbarian soldiers and horses. Although Lu Chen had considered having the captured barbarian soldiers carry the corpses and clean up the battlefield.

But those barbarian soldiers had only just been captured. Lu Chen was worried they might have other intentions.

So they weren't allowed to clean up the battlefield, but the battlefield needed to be cleaned up. If so many barbarian soldiers and horses' corpses were left in the Wanning River Valley, there was a high chance of a plague.

Moreover, there is the Wanning River in the Wanning Valley. With so many corpses on the riverbank, the entire river is polluted. Where will Yancheng get water from then?

These corpses must be dealt with. Since the barbarian soldiers cannot handle them, Lu Chen was thinking of having the soldiers of Beijun or mobilizing the common people to do so. He had just sent someone back to the city to announce the results of the battle in order to mobilize the common people.

However, now that the imperial army of 70,000 has arrived, there is no need for civilians anymore; it's a good opportunity for these 70,000 troops to clean up the battlefield.

Since we've come all this way, how can we just go back without doing anything?

At this moment, Lu Chen continued to say to Lin Xiuming, "General Lin, the task of cleaning up the battlefield is now in your hands."

Lin Xiuming was stunned for a moment upon hearing this.

Clean up the battlefield?

Have the barbarians already retreated?

Lin Xiuming then asked, "Your Highness, has the barbarian army already retreated?"

Upon hearing this question, Lu Chen simply replied, "You'll understand once you leave the city and clean up the battlefield."

After hearing that the imperial army had arrived in Yancheng, Lu Chen returned with only a few men. The soldiers of Beijun are still clearing the battlefield outside Yancheng. Lin Xiuming and the others will be able to find out what the situation is like outside when they go out later.

If we tell Lin Xiuming the outcome of this war now, he probably won't believe us. So let's let them, let the imperial army go out and see for themselves.

Lu Chen had already ordered the artillery battalion to remove all the howitzers, so even if Lin Xiuming and the others went out now, they wouldn't see any howitzers.

As for heavy cavalry.

It wouldn't be a problem for Lin Xiuming and the others to see it. After all, the Northern County had achieved such great results, and there had to be a reasonable explanation, otherwise it would only make people more suspicious.

Heavy cavalry is a good example.

When Lin Xiuming and his men see the tens of thousands of heavily armored cavalry of Beijun, they will most likely conclude that Beijun's victory was due to these heavily armored cavalry.

This would make it easier to conceal howitzers, and whether heavy cavalry would arouse the court's suspicion was inevitable.

However, Lu Chen also knew that the court and his father, the emperor, had no intention of dealing with him, the vassal king of Beijun. The emperor's focus was on purging the court and eliminating powerful families.

He is unlikely to take action against the feudal lords before eliminating the powerful clans.

Moreover, the imperial court had just issued an order to expand the army. As a prince who could recruit up to 150,000 soldiers, it wouldn't be a problem to maintain a cavalry force, right? The order to expand the army did not say that it was forbidden to form a cavalry unit.

At this moment, Li Feng arrived at the city wall.

When Li Feng saw that the general who came was Lin Xiuming, he was stunned for a moment. He thought to himself that it was good that General Mu had also returned earlier, otherwise it would have been troublesome if Lin Xiuming and the others found out later.

Li Feng bowed to Lu Chen and said, "Greetings, Your Highness!"

Lu Chen turned to Li Feng and said, "General Li, I'll trouble you to lead General Lin and the others to clean up the battlefield next."

"I'm a little sleepy, so I'll head back now."

Li Feng immediately replied, "Yes, Your Highness!"

Lu Chen then turned and left.

Watching Lu Chen's departing figure, Lin Xiuming was stunned for a moment, then he looked at Li Feng beside him and said, "General Li, has the barbarian army retreated?"

Lin Xiuming still had some impression of Li Feng, after all, Li Feng was considered Mu Changtian's right-hand man in the Tiger Legion.

Upon hearing Lin Xiuming's question, Li Feng smiled and said, "General Lin, the barbarians are not just someone we've driven back. Once we leave the city, you'll see just how much our Northern County soldiers have accomplished under the Prince's leadership."

Seeing that Li Feng was also keeping things mysterious, Lin Xiuming frowned slightly.

He couldn't help but wonder if North County had really achieved a great victory this time.

Did they get lucky and kill an important figure in the barbarian royal court?

(End of this chapter)