Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Desperate North

"Boss Luo, why don't you reconsider? It's clear that this kid Xue is not going to let us have an easy life."

"It’s perfectly safe outside Wangjiang City, and the Northern Barbarians haven't dared to attack again. Why should we run out there and throw our lives away?"

This time, Bearded Wang really wasn't trying to be deliberately difficult with Xue Chengqian; he was genuinely afraid.

Xue Chengqian said with dissatisfaction, "Bearded Wang! Back when we were training, we agreed that we needed to lead our men out to investigate the movements of the Northern Barbarians. You're acting like a coward now—are you even a man?"

He knew that Bearded Wang had followed Luo Fang for a very long time and, like Kang Yu, was one of his most trusted confidants, which is why he had been patient with him until now.

By now, the elite troops had been forged, and Lu Xiaoyuan’s hostility was becoming increasingly undisguised. Anyone with eyes could see that remaining trapped outside Wangjiang City offered no future. Yet, at a time like this, Bearded Wang was still shaking the morale of the troops.

Fortunately, Luo Fang remained steadfast.

"My mind is made up. From now on, everyone listens to the kid Xue!"

Kang Yu immediately chimed in, "I’m happy to listen to him, too. He has a clear plan and a sharp mind. Right now, what we lack is someone with a decisive strategy!"

She said this without thinking, but when Luo Fang heard it, a strange expression crossed his face, though he said nothing more.

Xue Chengqian pointed toward the Nu River. "In just a few days, the Nu River has frozen over again. However, the Northern Barbarians haven't crossed the ice to attack; they’ve only left behind a small detachment."

Bearded Wang didn't dare to object loudly, so he muttered under his breath, "A small detachment? That’s still five hundred cavalrymen. Can you beat them in a frontal assault?"

Xue Chengqian shot him a sharp look and continued, "I’ve observed that the small group of cavalry left behind by the Northern Barbarians keeps patrolling along the Nu River without straying too far from Wangjiang City."

"Given the nature of the Northern Barbarians, they would usually be pillaging everywhere. The fact that this cavalry unit remains suggests their sole purpose is to monitor the movements of Wangjiang City. Since the Great Liang Imperial Guards rely primarily on foot soldiers, even if they can't defeat or block them, they can still send word to their main force."

Luo Fang nodded repeatedly; this matched his own understanding of the Northern Barbarian cavalry.

Kang Yu, however, said with a headache, "If that’s the case, we are also under their surveillance. How are we supposed to move under the noses of a cavalry unit?"

Xue Chengqian chuckled. "The Northern Barbarians don't even consider our small group worth their attention. If it were you, would you think a mere hundred cavalrymen posed any threat to the main force of the Northern Barbarians?"

"When Boss Luo was training the men earlier, I deliberately kept us hidden in the distance, and with the cover of additional refugees, they wouldn't notice us at all."

"Wangjiang City is seven miles wide and long with sixteen gates. Five hundred cavalrymen can only watch the city gates so closely. The gaps in their patrol rotations are enough for us to cross the ice under the cover of night!"

Luo Fang immediately made the call: "That’s exactly what we’ll do!"

Xue Chengqian’s assessment was remarkably accurate.

One could even say the actions of the Northern Barbarian cavalry were far too regimented, making them easy for him to track. Under the cloak of night, they quickly crossed the ice and slipped into the forest.

The group acted with great decisiveness. As people born into military households, once they decided to act, they didn't drag their feet. This alone made them look very much like an elite force.

They constantly checked the surroundings from the sparse patches of the mountain forest, and even took the risk of climbing high ridges to look out into the distance.

Xue Chengqian realized he had underestimated the danger of this operation.

To put it another way, the "outside world" was far more dangerous than they had imagined.

There were Northern Barbarian cavalrymen constantly galloping back and forth in every direction. They had almost completely abandoned any defense of the roadsides, acting as if they were in their own backyard stables, not at all like an army preparing to fight the Liang forces.

Conversely, they saw no traces of any Liang military activity at all.

"Damn it, this is the northern border of Great Liang! Even if the frontier troops were defeated, there should at least be a place for everyone to regroup, right?"

On the battlefield, defeating and routing an army is entirely different from annihilating one.

The Northern Barbarian iron cavalry’s raid had been as swift as lightning, and the border troops had indeed been routed in one blow. However, knowing that Luo Fang had been able to lead a group of military families to Wangjiang City proved that the Northern Barbarians had only routed the border troops—at most, driving them southward—without the capacity to wipe them all out.

With so many scattered soldiers, there had to be somewhere for them to land. As long as a capable Liang general could reorganize them, they would still have some combat capability.

"Besides, it’s been quite a while since the major defeat at the border. We’ve seen more than one imperial reinforcement force in Wangjiang City, but what about the rest of the northern border?"

"How is it that there’s not even a shadow of imperial reinforcements to be seen anywhere else!"

Xue Chengqian sighed softly. He didn't respond to Luo Fang.

Everyone knew what this meant, and Luo Fang understood it too; his words were more of an emotional outburst.

The other Liang forces on the northern border, including the imperial reinforcements, had been terrified by the defeat at the border!

The Central Plains nations had always won fewer battles than they lost against the Northern Barbarian iron cavalry, harboring a certain degree of fear, and this time, that fear had been magnified infinitely.

Although the imperial court had sent reinforcements, they were undoubtedly concentrated in key northern strongholds like Wangjiang City, relying on high walls and deep moats to dare to oppose the Northern Barbarians.

As for the other villages and towns, or even the smaller, scattered border outposts, they had all been abandoned by the court!

Whether the local militias and the common people survived was entirely a matter of luck.

If their city walls were still intact enough to resist cavalry, or if the Northern Barbarians hadn't set their sights on their small town, they might just survive until the end.

"By doing this, isn't the imperial court essentially handing over most of the northern territory to the Northern Barbarians? If all the main armies are huddled behind city walls, not daring to take the initiative to attack, how will they ever recover the border?"

Xue Chengqian analyzed calmly, "The court is likely waiting for winter to end. Only when the Nu River and other northern waterways thaw can the imperial navy move, potentially cutting off the enemy cavalry’s retreat or dividing them, allowing the various armies to strike out."

"Waiting for the rivers to thaw..."

Luo Fang closed his eyes in despair. He knew Xue Chengqian’s logic held water, but that logic only made him feel more hopeless.

That would take at least two more months. How many people in the north would still be alive by then? And the border fortresses would be completely razed by the Northern Barbarians!

Xue Chengqian didn't know how to comfort Luo Fang.

For their small group to take the initiative to scout the enemy was already a testament to their courage; even he wouldn't dream of driving away the main force of the Northern Barbarians with these few men.

Just then, one of the brothers who had been sent to the high ground to scout the enemy hurried back.

"Boss, there’s something going on up in the mountains!"

"What is it? Are the Northern Barbarians lying in ambush in the mountains?" Luo Fang and the others became highly nervous.

"No, no. It’s some refugees who were driven into the mountains by the Northern Barbarians to hide. They are all our Liang people. They might know the movements of the Northern Barbarians. Won't you come and take a look yourself?"

"Oh?"

Luo Fang and Xue Chengqian exchanged a glance and immediately followed the men to investigate.