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

Chapter 170 Lin Xiuming's Speechlessness

Although Lin Xiuming was young, he had led troops in many battles. Although he rarely led troops in winter, he still had some understanding of the battlefield situation on rainy days.

Although the numerous cart tracks and horse tracks in front of him were covered by heavy snow, he could still roughly estimate the number of people based on the footprints.

Judging from the repeated trampling on the snow, a large number of people must have passed through this area.

The footprints in the middle are mostly human footprints, while the footprints on both sides are those of horses, indicating that a cavalry unit was transporting something.

To be precise, they weren't transporting anything; judging from the footprints of so many people, they were probably escorting someone.

Just then, a soldier next to Lin Xiuming said, "General, look, there are some black stone chips in the snow. If I'm not mistaken, these should be black stone chips."

They have been stationed in Yancheng for almost two months and are aware of some of the major events that have occurred there, such as the stoves and coal introduced by the Northern Prince's Mansion.

Their military camp survived the winter thanks to the stoves in the Northern Prince's mansion. If it weren't for the coal and stoves from the Northern Prince's mansion, they don't know how frozen they would have been.

The soldiers had also heard of the raw material for the carbon balls, "black stone," and knew that the carbon balls of the Northern Prince's Mansion were made of black stone.

Seeing the coal slag scattered across the snow, the soldiers immediately recognized it as black stone slag.

Upon hearing the words of the soldier beside him, Lin Xiuming dismounted, squatted down, picked up a piece of black stone dust from the ground, and smelled it.

"Yes, it is indeed black stone slag."

Lin Xiuming then threw the black stone fragments in his hand onto the ground, stood up, and glanced at the intermittent black stone fragments in the snow.

The soldier beside Lin Xiuming continued, "These should be soldiers from the Northern King's Mansion escorting those barbarian slaves to transport the black stone ore."

Lin Xiuming didn't speak; he stared at the black stone fragments on the ground, deep in thought.

Judging from the scattered black stone fragments on the ground, it does indeed look like the barbarian slaves of the Northern King's Palace were transporting black stones, but...

Lin Xiuming glanced at the direction in which these marks stretched, and judging from the direction, those people came from the north.

Is there a black stone mine belonging to the Northern King's Palace in the North?

Lin Xiuming was not familiar with the distribution of the black stone mines in the Northern Prince's Mansion, and the first place he could think of was not the black stone mines, but Tianguang City in the north.

Judging from the hoofprints, there were a large number of cavalrymen escorting these people. Lin Xiuming knew that there were only 50,000 heavy cavalrymen in the entire Northern Commandery.

Although there were light cavalry in the North Commandery, their numbers were very small, probably less than ten thousand.

However, judging from the hoofprints in the snow, the number of cavalry coming from the north definitely exceeded ten thousand.

Didn't they say that the heavy cavalry of Beijun had suffered more than 40,000 casualties and were almost wiped out? How come the King of Bei still has so many cavalry?

Seeing Lin Xiuming staring blankly at the hoofprints on the ground, the soldier beside him asked in confusion, "General, have you discovered something?"

Lin Xiuming then came to his senses and said, "It's nothing. I was just thinking about something. Okay, let's continue on our way. We can use these footprints to head north."

The areas marked by these footprints had less snow and were still able to touch the ground, making it easier to move forward, which was a good thing for Lin Xiuming and his troops.

Subsequently, Lin Xiuming led 20,000 soldiers of the imperial court northward, following in the footsteps of Xuan Yuanchen and his men who had marched south.

Although the footprints were quickly covered by the heavy snow, they were still able to travel a long distance using them, saving a lot of time.

Without these footprints, it would probably have taken them a whole month to reach Skylight City.

Throughout his journey to Tianguang City, Lin Xiuming kept a close eye on the footprints. He had a feeling that the situation in Tianguang City was not as he had heard, and that the Northern King was definitely hiding the truth about the war.

Their northward journey was probably not to defend against the southward advance of the barbarians; it was most likely just a formality.

Seeing so many hoofprints, Lin Xiuming could only think of the 50,000 heavy cavalry of Beijun.

Lin Xiuming had basically guessed Lu Chen's thoughts, but he didn't intend to say it; he pretended not to know anything.

Since his father had already decided to support the Northern King, he would definitely side with the Northern King as well, so he just needed to cooperate with the Northern King's performance.

Originally, Lin Xiuming faced considerable pressure heading north. Although the idea of ​​making a name for himself had always been in his mind, he only had 20,000 imperial cavalry under his command. The thought of the Black Cavalry being wiped out made him doubt whether his 20,000 cavalry could withstand the Northern Xian King's army.

Upon seeing the hoofprints on the ground, Lin Xiuming suddenly realized that it was probably not the Black Cavalry that had been wiped out, but the army of the Northern Xian King.

He said that how could the Northern King possibly lose to the Northern Xian King? The Northern King possessed a terrifying weapon that could instantly blast barbarian soldiers into dust. Although he had never seen the Northern King's army use that weapon, he had already guessed the approximate power of that mysterious weapon from the large pits he had seen during his last visit to Yancheng.

With such weapons, let alone the barbarians, even the Great Wu would be utterly defeated in front of the Northern Commandery.

After traveling for more than half a month, Lin Xiuming and his group finally arrived at Tianguang City.

This winter in Northshire is colder than usual, with snowfall becoming heavier and heavier, reducing daytime visibility to less than five meters.

When Lin Xiuming led the imperial army of 20,000 to the south gate of Tianguang City, Li Feng rode out on horseback to greet him.

Looking at Lin Xiuming and the imperial army of 20,000, Li Feng pretended to be very excited and said, "General Lin, you have finally arrived. If you had come a few days later, we probably wouldn't have been able to hold out."

Seeing Li Feng so excited that he was almost in tears, Lin Xiuming chuckled inwardly.

They really acted like it was the real thing.

Lin Xiuming asked with concern, "General Li, is the Prince alright?"

Li Feng sighed, putting on a sorrowful expression. "The prince wasn't injured, but because of the annihilation of the Black Cavalry, he's been quite depressed these past few days, and hasn't been able to eat or drink."

"Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. It's snowing heavily outside, let's hurry into the city."

Subsequently, Li Feng led Lin Xiuming and the imperial army of 20,000 into Tianguang City.

Because Lin Xiuming and the imperial army were coming, Mu Changtian and his two sons left Tianguang City. The three of them were already considered dead in Daxia, and it wouldn't be good if Lin Xiuming saw them.

However, the three of them did not return to Yancheng. Lu Chen assigned them a rather special task.

After entering Tianguang City, Lin Xiuming looked around at everything. He noticed that the morale of the soldiers in Beijun seemed to be quite low.

Almost every North County soldier he encountered looked sullen and sighing, as if they had really lost a battle.

Seeing them like this, even Lin Xiuming began to doubt whether his guess on the road was wrong.

The soldiers' dejected appearance seemed genuine; they were truly depressed.

Lin Xiuming frowned slightly, then asked, "General Li, have the Black Cavalry truly been completely wiped out?"

Li Feng sighed deeply, "They weren't completely wiped out, but only a few thousand are left, and they're all wounded. I'm afraid they won't have much fighting power left."

"This time we have suffered heavy losses. No one expected the Northern Xian King's army to be so powerful. We underestimated them."

At this point, Li Feng sighed again. Ever since Lin Xiuming met Li Feng, Li Feng had been sighing incessantly.

This completely baffled Lin Xiuming.

He couldn't help but wonder if the heavy cavalry of the North County had really been wiped out.

Lin Xiuming didn't ask any more questions. He quietly followed Li Feng to Lu Chen's temporary residence.

However, when they arrived at Lu Chen's command post, they did not see Lu Chen, but only Bai Qingqing.

Li Feng then asked, "Commander Bai, where did the Prince go?"

Bai Qingqing replied expressionlessly, "I went to see the Black Cavalry."

Just as Lin Xiuming was about to ask something, Li Feng turned to him and said, "The prince has recently been going to the place where the Black Cavalry were buried and has been lost in thought. I'll take you there now."

This……

Lin Xiuming then ordered the imperial army to rest in the city, and then he followed Li Feng alone to the place where the Black Cavalry were buried.

Before long, they arrived at the foot of a small hill outside the city.

In the wind and snow, the silhouette of a young man was faintly visible.

The young man stood on the hillside, gazing into the distance, seemingly reminiscing about something.

By this time, snow had piled up on the young man's head and shoulders, indicating that he had been standing there for a long time.

Lin Xiuming was stunned.

If it was acting, then it was acting too convincingly.

At this moment, Li Feng approached Lu Chen and whispered, "Your Highness, General Lin has arrived with 20,000 troops from the imperial court."

Hearing Li Feng's words, Lu Chen sighed deeply, then turned and walked towards Lin Xiuming.

Lin Xiuming quickly stepped forward and said, "Greetings, Your Highness!"

Lu Chen looked at Lin Xiuming and said with a deep expression, "General Lin, I've finally been waiting for you. If you had come a few days later, Tianguang City would probably have already been occupied by the barbarians."

Lin Xiuming asked, his face full of confusion, "Your Highness, haven't the barbarian army retreated yet?"

Lu Chen replied, "They haven't withdrawn. They still send troops to attack Tianguang City from time to time."

"See those hoofprints in the distance? They were here this morning, but this time they didn't attack."

Upon hearing Lu Chen's words, Lin Xiuming looked towards the distant snowfield and indeed saw many hoofprints, making it seem as if barbarian cavalry had been there.

Lin Xiuming glanced at the large mound of earth in front of him again. He still had some doubts and couldn't believe that the Black Cavalry of Beijun were gone.

Lu Chen said, "Now that General Lin has arrived, the defense of Tianguang City will be handed over to the imperial army."

Lin Xiuming was stunned when he heard Lu Chen's words.

The army handed over to the imperial court?

Is the Northern King planning to return to Yancheng?

Lu Chen continued, "Alright, the snow is heavy here, let's go back into the city and talk about it first."

The three then returned directly to the city.

After returning to the city, Lu Chen and Lin Xiuming explained a few things, and then Lu Chen led most of the soldiers from Beijun back to Yancheng without any delay.

Lin Xiuming did not ask Lu Chen how the Black Cavalry was destroyed. Regardless of whether the Black Cavalry was truly destroyed or not, if Lin Xiuming was on Lu Chen's side, he would not feel comfortable asking about the details of the war.

If the Black Cavalry were truly wiped out, his inquiry to the Northern King about the details of the war would be tantamount to reopening the Northern King's wounds.

If the Black Cavalry hadn't been wiped out, then there was even less need for him to inquire about the details of the war. In any case, his father had already decided to side with the Northern King. The Northern King's claim that the Black Cavalry had been wiped out was most likely an attempt to conceal the military strength of the Northern Commandery and avoid constant scrutiny from the imperial court.

After personally seeing Lu Chen off, Lin Xiuming returned to the city. Looking at the heavy snow falling from the sky, Lin Xiuming couldn't help but wonder if the Northern Xian King's army had really not retreated.

With such heavy snow, why would the King of Northern Xian still come to attack Beijun? Is he out of his mind?

Just then, Lin Xiuming's confidant came to him and said, "General, we have discovered something."

Upon hearing this, Lin Xiuming immediately said, "Take me there to take a look."

Lin Xiuming then followed his trusted confidant to the northern part of Tianguang City.

A large number of buildings in the northern part of the city collapsed. Although the heavy snow had covered the traces of the battlefield, a closer look still revealed that a large-scale battle had broken out in Tianguang City.

The large craters in the ruins immediately reminded Lin Xiuming of the craters he had seen in the Wanning River Valley.

Seeing the dilapidated state of Beicheng, Lin Xiuming chuckled and muttered to himself, "That was a really convincing performance; I almost fell for it."

Just by glancing at the battlefield, Lin Xiuming vividly recalled the scene of the battle that took place in the northern part of Tianguang City.

Clearly, the Northern King and his forces adopted a strategy of luring the Northern Xian King's army into a trap. They first led the Northern Xian King's army into Tianguang City, then bombarded the army with the mysterious weapons of the Northern Prefecture, and finally sent troops to defeat the Northern Xian King's army.

Lin Xiuming then glanced at the North City Gate again. The fact that the North City Gate was intact was enough to conclude that the Northern King and his men had deliberately let the Northern Xian King into Tianguang City.

The war that took place in Tianguang City was basically the same as the last major battle in Wanning Valley. Both involved luring the enemy into a narrow space, leaving the barbarian cavalry nowhere to escape, and then annihilating the barbarian cavalry.

Lin Xiuming thought of the footprints they had seen when they traveled north, and he could roughly guess who those footprints belonged to.

In the last battle of Wanning Valley, the Northern King captured more than 100,000 barbarian prisoners, and he probably captured quite a few barbarian soldiers this time as well.

At this moment, Lin Xiuming's confidant asked, "General, how should we report the annihilation of the Black Cavalry to the imperial court? We weren't even on the scene when the war broke out, so we have no idea what happened."

Lin Xiuming said calmly, "Just report the facts. We'll report whatever the Northern King says."

This time was different from the last. This time, they only had 20,000 men heading north, and they didn't even bring a military supervisor. So Lin Xiuming was the only one writing the battle report. He could write it however he wanted, as long as it wasn't too outrageous.

Just then, drums suddenly sounded from the city wall. Hearing the rapid drumbeats, Lin Xiuming was startled.

At that moment, Li Feng rushed over in a panic and said, "General Lin, something terrible has happened! The barbarian cavalry are here again!"

Lin Xiuming frowned and quickly said to the soldiers beside him, "Assemble the troops and prepare for battle!"

Lin Xiuming and Li Feng then went to the city wall of Tianguang City.

The wind and snow were getting heavier, and they could only see a dark shadow in the distance.

After an unknown amount of time, Lin Xiuming was able to clearly see the appearance of those dark figures. Judging from the fur clothes they were wearing, they were indeed barbarian cavalry.

Lin Xiuming frowned. Was what the Northern King said actually true?

Did the barbarians really not leave?

How is that possible?

He had just seen the signs of war in the northern city and thought that the Northern King's army had been wiped out. But as soon as the Northern King left the northern city, the barbarian army came again.

Lin Xiuming squinted and roughly estimated the number of barbarian cavalry outside.

The number of barbarian cavalry was not large, but there were still about five thousand men. It was impossible for five thousand men to take down Tianguang City, especially since he had brought the imperial army of twenty thousand men to Tianguang City.

Just as Lin Xiuming was about to order his soldiers to fire their arrows, a soldier rushed up to him in a panic and said, "General, something terrible has happened! Tianguang City has run out of arrows, and all they have are catapults. They don't even have stones to throw! Our soldiers only have a few arrows left; they can't possibly withstand the barbarian siege!"

They were in a hurry when they headed north, and the supplies they initially transported to North County had already been handed over to North County. Now, apart from some melee weapons, they didn't have many arrows left.

If it were a city defense, they could only rely on the weapons of Tianguang City itself for defense. However, when the soldiers arrived at Tianguang City, they found that there were no ranged weapons, which terrified them.

Hearing the soldier's words, Lin Xiuming was also stunned. Tianguang City actually had no arrows or stones?

How is that possible?

How can they defend themselves without ranged weapons?

Lin Xiuming immediately turned to Li Feng and asked, "General Li, how come Tianguang City has no arrows? Even if a major battle broke out, surely plenty of usable arrows could be recovered during the battlefield cleanup?"

Li Feng coughed and said, "Ahem, it's probably because the prince took them away earlier. We're not only defending Tianguang City, but also several other cities in the west. I guess the prince thought that General Lin's army was well-equipped and had its own weapons, so he didn't need the weapons from Tianguang City and took them all away to send to other cities."

"General Lin, as you know, our Beijun is relatively poor and lacks resources, especially military supplies, which are even scarcer. We can only borrow from other places."

Hearing Li Feng's sarcastic remarks, Lin Xiuming was so angry he wanted to curse.

The military supplies they initially transported from the capital had long been handed over to Beijun; they had no weapons or equipment to begin with.

This was the first time he had ever heard of a large-scale troop rotation at the front, in which all the weapons from the front lines were taken away with them.

Not only did they take the arrows, but they even took the stones used for throwing.

Are you kidding me?

(End of this chapter)