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

Chapter 168 A War with Zero Casualties

Seeing the Northern King killed by Lu Chen's spear, Xiao Pengtian felt a chill run down his spine.

Just as he expected...

The strange, club-like weapon in the Northern King's hand was as terrifying as the Thunderclap Bomb.

Although the King of Northern Xian is quite old, he is still a grandmaster!

A grandmaster was killed from so far away without even seeing the enemy's face.

terrible!

terrible! ! !

At this moment, Xiao Pengtian was somewhat relieved. Fortunately, he had already pledged allegiance to the Northern King. If he had harbored wicked thoughts when he left Beijun to return to the Tianlang King tribe last time, and had directly declared himself king in the Tianlang King tribe and run away with the tribe instead of coming to Beijun, he would have been different.

He might encounter the Northern King's army on the battlefield again in the future, and the Northern King might just shoot him.

The thought of the huge bloody hole in the chest of the Northern King made Xiao Pengtian feel a stinging pain in his chest.

He didn't want to be bombed by those terrifying weapons from Northshire again.

At this moment, Lu Chen turned to Xiao Pengtian and said, "General Xiao, I'll leave the rest to you to clean up this mess."

Upon hearing Lu Chen's voice, Xiao Pengtian snapped out of his shock and quickly knelt down, saying, "Your subject obeys!"

Since Xiao Pengtian joined Beijun, Lu Chen has recruited some barbarian soldiers from the Tianlang King tribe. There aren't many, but there are still seven or eight thousand of them.

Many of these seven or eight thousand men were scouts, mainly to help Lu Chen control the movements of the entire northern grasslands, but there were also five thousand light cavalry.

Since Xiao Pengtian had already pledged allegiance to him, he couldn't leave Xiao Pengtian with no soldiers at all. How could Xiao Pengtian remain loyal to him if he became a general without any troops? Therefore, Lu Chen entrusted Xiao Pengtian with the command of these five thousand barbarian light cavalry.

Lu Chen could also see that Xiao Pengtian and these five thousand barbarian soldiers had been wanting an opportunity, an opportunity to show their loyalty to him.

Lu Chen could have simply sent the Black Cavalry in to end the battle, but he ultimately decided to give Xiao Pengtian and his group a chance.

Only when their hands are stained with the blood of barbarians can they feel at ease, and can they also reassure the others in the Northern Commandery. Only then can these barbarian light cavalrymen be more easily integrated into the Northern Commandery's army.

Upon receiving Lu Chen's order, Xiao Pengtian leaped up and jumped off the city wall, then led his 5,000 light cavalrymen directly towards the Northern Xian King's army.

At this point, the soldiers on the city wall had stopped throwing bombs, and the infantry formations of the Northern Commandery began to close in. However, the black cavalry led by Wenren Lie and Xuanyuan Chen did not enter the battlefield.

Their black cavalry stood guard at the city gate, coldly watching everything unfold before them.

When the soldiers of the Northern Xian King saw that their king was dead and that the soldiers of the Northern Commandery had surrounded them, they were all terrified and turned pale, not knowing what to do.

At this moment, they saw a light cavalry charge out in the distance. Upon seeing this light cavalry, the barbarian soldiers of the Northern Xian King knew that they could not escape.

Just as Xiao Pengtian's 5,000 barbarian light cavalry were about to make direct contact with the Northern Xian King's barbarian army, one of the Northern Xian King's barbarian generals suddenly shouted, "We surrender!!! Don't kill me!!!"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Pengtian almost couldn't stop his horse. He was about to swing his sword, but the other party said he was surrendering?!

Upon hearing the barbarian general's words, the other barbarian soldiers instantly came to their senses. They hurriedly threw away their weapons, dismounted, and knelt on the ground.

this!!!

Xiao Pengtian was instantly filled with anger.

Logically, the surrender of the barbarians should have been a great thing for North County, as it would have reduced casualties and saved lives.

After all, it is war. No matter how much of an advantage you have on the battlefield, as long as it is close combat, people will inevitably die. In the last battle of Wanning Valley, Beijun still lost tens of thousands of people despite having such a great advantage.

If the Northern Xian army had not surrendered, at least several thousand would have died, if not tens of thousands.

The reduction in casualties was naturally a relief for Lu Chen, the ruler, but Xiao Pengtian and his 5,000 light cavalrymen looked grim.

Damn it, they were planning to kill the barbarians to prove their loyalty to the Northern King, but these guys just surrendered.

If they surrender, how can they show their loyalty to the Northern King by staining their hands with the blood of barbarians?

Xiao Pengtian stared at the barbarian general with a dark expression. Although he was very unhappy, he still said, "You made the right choice!"

At this point, Xiao Pengtian snorted coldly and then said to the soldiers behind him, "Clean up the battlefield!"

Seeing that the barbarian soldiers had laid down their weapons, Mu Changtian and the others on the city wall couldn't help but sigh.

This is the change in warfare brought about by gunpowder.

In the past, even if the barbarian army of the Northern Xian King, numbering over 100,000, were surrounded, they would definitely fight desperately to find a way to break out of the encirclement.

But things are different now. After being blasted by the thunderbolt, they are filled with fear, and all their fighting spirit is gone.

Such a large-scale war ended with zero casualties in North County.

If such a victory were reported, the imperial court would certainly not believe it.

Not to mention the imperial court wouldn't believe it, even the soldiers in Beijun standing on the city wall felt like they were dreaming.

This is a barbarian army of over 100,000!

As it turned out, none of them died! This had never happened before in history.

At this moment, Mu Changtian approached Lu Chen and asked, "Your Highness, how should this battle report be written?"

If a battle report of zero casualties were to reach the imperial court, the officials there would certainly not believe it; there's no doubt about that.

Whether they believe it or not is another matter. If the imperial court really finds out that they suffered zero casualties, they will definitely try to find out how Beijun was able to face an army of hundreds of thousands of barbarians with zero casualties. This is not a good thing for Beijun.

Therefore, writing this battle report was not an easy task.

Upon hearing Mu Changtian's question, Lu Chen pondered for a moment before saying, "Strip those barbarian soldiers of their clothes and replace them all with the clothes worn by the soldiers of the Northern Commandery."

At this point, Lu Chen turned to the commander of the Imperial Guard beside him and said, "Go to Yancheng and have Lin Xiuming bring 20,000 cavalry from the imperial court to Tianguang City in half a month. Tell them that the war is extremely fierce and we need their help."

"Yes, Your Highness."

As soon as he finished speaking, the commander of the Imperial Guards left the city tower.

Hearing Lu Chen's words, Mu Changtian and the others were a little confused. What was the prince trying to do?

Just then, Wenren Lie and Xuanyuan Chen leaped from their horses outside the city and jumped onto the city wall.

Lu Chen then said to Xuan Yuan Chen and Wen Ren Lie, "General Xuan Yuan, General Wen Ren, you two take 40,000 heavy cavalry and escort these barbarian prisoners back to Yan City."

Xuan Yuan Chen and Wen Ren Lie immediately replied, "Yes, Your Highness!"

Lu Chen continued, "The Northern Xian King led an army of 200,000 south. I led 50,000 Black Cavalry in a fierce battle against the barbarian army. The Black Cavalry suffered more than 40,000 casualties, and countless ordinary soldiers were killed or wounded. In the end, I managed to hold the Northern County, and the Northern Xian King led his remaining troops back to the grasslands."

Upon hearing Lu Chen's words, everyone instantly understood his intention: Lu Chen was planning to conceal military intelligence!

Everyone looks at each other.

Others conceal military intelligence because they want to exaggerate their war achievements to the heavens, and they want to say that they killed hundreds of thousands of barbarian soldiers.

However, instead of reporting the true military situation, they fabricated a large number of casualties among their own soldiers.

Lu Chen sighed and said, "If the North doesn't have any enemies, my days ahead won't be easy."

At this point, Lu Chen glanced at the barbarian prisoners of the Northern Xian King in the distance.

The Sirius King tribe of the North is gone, and now the Northern Xian King's army has also been defeated. There are no major enemies left in the Northern Commandery.

If there are no enemies in Beijun, does Beijun still need an army of 150,000?

Once they report that the Northern Xian King has been killed, the next thing the court will do is find a way to reduce the number of soldiers in the Northern Commandery.

Therefore, this battle achievement certainly cannot be reported truthfully.

Hearing Lu Chen's words, Mu Changtian and the others understood what Lu Chen meant.

Indeed, if Beijun no longer had the enemy of the Northern Xian King and the threat of the barbarians, then the 150,000 soldiers of Beijun would become a thorn in the side of the imperial court, and the court would try every means to reduce the number of troops in Beijun in the future.

Of course, they could also choose to hide their troops and conceal their numbers, but Lu Chen didn't intend to go through that trouble. Even if they concealed it, as long as there were no enemies in Beijun, the court's attention would be focused on him.

Others' attention is on you, so no matter how much you try to hide the number of troops, it's useless. The best way is to stop those idle people in the court from keeping an eye on the troops in Beijun.

If the report is now submitted that 40,000 heavy cavalrymen have died in Beijun, the imperial court will certainly no longer consider that there are tens of thousands more heavy cavalrymen left in Beijun.

Even if their heavy armor is still there, training heavy cavalry still takes a lot of time. It's not that you can unleash the combat power of heavy cavalry just by putting on heavy armor.

In addition, there are barbarian tribes in the north, so the court will naturally no longer pay attention to the northern prefecture. Before long, people will shift their focus to other places.

Mu Changtian then said, "Your Highness, Lin Xiuming can probably tell that those people wearing Xia Dynasty clothes are barbarians."

Mu Changtian thought that Lu Chen had changed all the clothes of the barbarian soldiers' corpses and then had Lin Xiuming bring 20,000 troops to clean up the battlefield and remove the corpses.

If that's the case, then Lu Chen's plan would be exposed.

Although the barbarians and the Xia people look similar, there are some differences. People like them who have fought against the barbarians can tell at a glance whether a person is a barbarian soldier or not.

Although Lin Xiuming was young, he had fought several battles with the barbarians of the North. Even if the barbarians' clothes were stripped off, he could still recognize whether a person was a barbarian or not.

If Lin Xiuming finds out, he can write a battle report and send it up, and Lu Chen's plan will be ruined.

Upon hearing Mu Changtian's words, Lu Chen laughed and said, "General Mu, you don't actually think I sent Lin Xiuming and the imperial army of 20,000 to collect the corpses, do you?"

Mu Changtian was stunned for a moment?

Is it not?

If Lin Xiuming, the general sent by the imperial court, is not allowed to personally see the dead, how can anyone believe their battle reports?

Mu Changtian thought that Lu Chen had deliberately sent Lin Xiuming and the imperial army to clean up the battlefield so that they would know that many of their soldiers had died.

Lu Chen said calmly, "No need for that. Just bury all these corpses."

"I summoned Lin Xiuming here simply to let the court know that the situation in Beijun is not optimistic."

"The snow is falling heavier and heavier, and there is snow everywhere. Lin Xiuming is leading 20,000 troops of the imperial court to Tianguang City. It will take at least ten days to half a month. In addition, I originally told Lin Xiuming to come to Tianguang City in half a month. It will take at least a month for Lin Xiuming to arrive in Tianguang City."

"By the time they reach Tianguang City, the bodies of these barbarian soldiers will have already frozen solid. How can we let them clean up the battlefield? If they want to verify the authenticity of the battle report from Beijun, let them dig up the graves. I don't believe they can tell that the bodies of barbarian soldiers are buried for a month."

Although winter arrives and the rate of decomposition slows down considerably, bodies buried in the ground will inevitably undergo some changes.

If Lin Xiuming and his group really go to dig up the grave and find out a barbarian corpse, the surface of the corpse will be damaged or contaminated with soil. Since the difference between barbarians and Great Xia people is not that big, if they really dig up a barbarian corpse, would Lin Xiuming dare to say that it is a barbarian corpse?

Moreover, the dead should be respected, and these soldiers were nominally from the Northern Commandery, who died fighting for the Great Xia. How could Lin Xiuming dare to dig up their graves?

Lu Chen then turned to Wenren Lie and Xuan Yuan Chen and said, "When you two are escorting the barbarian prisoners back to Yancheng, try to march at night and don't let the people of Yancheng notice your actions."

Xuan Yuan Chen said, "Your Highness, rest assured, I will disguise these barbarian prisoners as existing barbarian prisoners in Yan City, making them appear as if they were sent to mine."

Hearing Xuan Yuan Chen say this, Lu Chen felt relieved. He continued, "By the way, remember to remove your heavy armor when you go back, so that no one can tell."

Xuan Yuan Chen replied, "Yes, Your Highness."

Lu Chen then said, "Alright, that's enough for now. Let's all go do our own things."

As soon as Lu Chen finished speaking, Mu Changtian and the other generals returned to their respective soldiers and directed them to clean up the battlefield.

half a month later.

A restaurant in Xuan Yue Palace.

Lin Xiuming sat alone in a private room at the restaurant, drinking a little wine and looking out at the heavy snow.

As a general supporting the Northern Commandery in resisting the southward invasion of the barbarians, he had no idea what the current situation was in Tianguang City. He felt like he was on a paid vacation to see the snow scenery of the Northern Commandery.

Lin Xiuming sighed. If he had led the army to fight against Da Wu, he would have accumulated countless military merits by now.

Sending him to North County is a waste of his talent.

The Northern Commandery has the Northern King's heavy cavalry; they still need him there.

Just as Lin Xiuming sighed, a mature woman's voice sounded behind him.

"It's not fair to send you to North County, you've been forced to come to the restaurant to drink every day."

Upon hearing this, Lin Xiuming turned his head and discovered that it was actually Lin Wanyun.

Lin Xiuming asked curiously, "Sister Yun, why are you still in Beijun? Didn't the Palace Master of Xuan Yue Palace already return?"

(End of this chapter)