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

Chapter 72 I Want to Make Him My Slave

After listening to Mu Changtian's words, Lu Chen looked at the map and fell into deep thought again.

This is indeed a problem. The Wanning River Valley is not long, and it wouldn't be too difficult for barbarian cavalry to pass through quickly.

Once the howitzers are used, the barbarian cavalry will be thrown into chaos; they will either charge forward or retreat.

Whether the barbarian cavalry charged forward or retreated, they needed a large number of soldiers to hold off the barbarian cavalry.

Of course, if their only intention was to repel the barbarian soldiers, then they only needed to hold the front of the Wanning River Valley.

However, Lu Chen had great ambitions; he didn't just want to repel the barbarian cavalry.

If we only manage to repel the barbarian cavalry, those barbarian cavalry will not be able to capture Yancheng, and they will likely go on to attack other cities.

His greatest goal in this battle was to eliminate the barbarian forces and prevent them from gathering troops to march south for a long period of time.

Therefore, these 300,000 people absolutely cannot be released.

If they were released back, wouldn't those barbarian soldiers start raiding south again once they recovered? Lu Chen didn't believe that howitzers could completely intimidate them.

Lu Chen had heard about the situation in the north. In winter, even in the northern prefecture, many people would starve to death, let alone the barbarians on the grasslands.

Lu Chen wasn't sympathizing with the barbarians; he simply believed that people on the verge of starvation are capable of anything, and that the barbarians wouldn't be deterred from moving south just because the Northern County had howitzers.

Lu Chen sighed and said, "Let's hurry up and recruit soldiers."

Hearing this, Mu Changtian still said with some worry, "Your Highness, in such a short time, it will be very difficult to train the new recruits to be able to fight against the barbarian cavalry."

Mu Changtian's words were somewhat conservative; it was simply impossible to train soldiers to fight against barbarian cavalry within two months.

Lu Chen naturally understood this principle, and he immediately said, "I plan to create an artillery battalion. The newly recruited soldiers will not participate in the main battle. At that time, all 30,000 soldiers of the Northern County can enter the main battlefield."

Artillery battalion?

What is that?

Hearing the new term from Lu Chen's mouth, everyone was confused, as they had never heard of an artillery battalion before.

Lu Chen looked at Li Rui and said, "Prefect Li, I'll leave this matter to you. You need to cooperate with General Li and the others to recruit 10,000 new soldiers as soon as possible."

Upon hearing Lu Chen's words, Li Rui immediately replied, "Yes, Your Highness."

Li Rui sighed inwardly. He had originally wanted to persuade the Northern King to retreat south, but judging from the Northern King's tone, no one had any intention of retreating south at all.

If he were to propose retreating south at this time, wouldn't he offend the Northern King?

Li Rui couldn't help but think, what use would it be to recruit 10,000 more soldiers? Let alone 10,000 soldiers, even if 100,000 more new soldiers were recruited, it would still be impossible to stop the barbarian cavalry.

Although he thought this in his heart, Li Rui did not dare to say it directly, after all, the Northern King was a vassal king, and he was the master of the Northern Prefecture.

Lu Chen looked at the map on the table and said, "Once the artillery battalion is established, I will show you the new weapons of the Northern Prince's Mansion."

Hearing this, everyone became even more curious. The Northern King seemed very confident in the new weapon he mentioned. They wondered what kind of new weapon it was that gave him the courage to fight the barbarian army in Yan City.

Although they were curious, they did not ask any further questions. The Northern King had already said he would show them, so the main task now was to recruit soldiers as soon as possible and build a new army.

……

The northern lands, the royal court of the barbarians.

On the boundless grassland, there are felt tents of all sizes, also known as yurts.

The yurts in the middle get bigger and bigger, and the largest one is where one of the barbarian kings lived.

The barbarians are widely distributed across the grasslands, and there are seven kings in total. The one located directly north of Beijun is the Sirius King, who is the barbarian king who is preparing to attack Beijun and plans to establish a kingdom there.

At this moment, a woman dressed in animal skin rode a horse to the center of the yurt cluster.

The woman had fair skin and a beautiful, delicate face; she didn't look like someone who lived on the grasslands at all.

As soon as she dismounted, she asked her slave, "Has Wu Yuan returned?"

The slave with tattoos on his face who was leading the horse beside her immediately replied, "You're back, Your Highness."

Upon hearing this, the woman excitedly rushed to the smaller yurt next to the large one. After lifting the tent flap, she discovered that the man she had been talking about had indeed returned.

At this moment, the man named Wu Yuan was kneeling on the ground, reporting some information to a stunningly beautiful woman.

Inside the yurt, a stunningly beautiful woman lay half-reclined on the bed, revealing her long, white legs. She wore a gorgeous woolen dress and was adorned with glittering gold jewelry from head to toe, exuding charm and allure.

She was the most important woman in the barbarian branch of the Sirius King, and also the queen of the previous Sirius King.

According to the customs of the barbarians, after the death of the previous Sirius King, she must marry the current Sirius King.

However, for some reason, she has not yet married. But she has promised the current King of the Wolf that if he can conquer the Northern County and establish a kingdom there, she will marry him and become his queen.

At this moment, the woman who entered the tent bowed and said, "Greetings, Your Highness."

Although the beautiful woman before them had not yet married the current Sirius King, everyone acknowledged that she was the queen.

Yelü Nanyan glanced at Xiao Wenyao, then said softly, "Get up."

Yelü Nanyan's voice was incredibly gentle, making listeners feel as if they were bathed in a spring breeze.

Xiao Wenyao, the woman who entered the tent, is the daughter of the current Sirius King, Xiao Hongbo. Originally, they did not have a surname.

However, in order to learn from the Great Xia Dynasty, everyone in the Sirius royal family has now adopted a surname, and the royal family of the Sirius King has adopted the surname Xiao.

The name Xiao Wenyao was given to her by Princess Yelü Nanyan not long ago.

Yelü Nanyan's attention returned to the man before her, and she asked, "I've heard that the Prince of Beijun is a lecherous man who spends his days indulging in pleasure at his palace. Since he went to Beijun, he has never interfered in its affairs. Is that really true?"

Wu Yuan replied, "Your Highness, that is indeed the case."

Upon hearing the man's reply, Yelü Nanyan smiled. "So, does that mean the Northern Commandery is already within your grasp after this southern campaign, Your Majesty?"

Wu Yuan reminded her, "Your Highness, although the Northern King is just a useless piece of trash, the Great Xia army will not stand idly by. Once the King sends troops, Great Xia will definitely send a large army north."

Yelü Nanyan said calmly, "By the time the Great Xia army arrives, Your Majesty will have already established a firm foothold in Beijun. Moreover, internal strife is about to break out in Great Xia, and the Xia Emperor will not have the energy to deal with us."

At this moment, Xiao Wenyao interjected, "Your Highness, if we capture the Northern King after conquering the Northern Prefecture, could you hand him over to me? I've heard that the Northern King is exceptionally handsome, and I'd like to make him my slave."

(End of this chapter)