Chapter 261

C261 – Please Instruct Us

Lee Cheng walked into Zhao Sanlang’s tent and saw him looking at the map with his head propped up. The map was based on the map drawn by Adnan. It was made by Huang Can, the military counselor. He was afraid that even Adnan himself did not know that someone could draw the map of the barbarians based on a few sentences he said.

“Has the general thought of a plan to fight the enemy?” He sat across from Zhao Sanlang and asked.

Zhao Sanlang looked up at him, then looked at the map again. He took a pencil and marked a few places. After a long time, he said, “You see, the barbarians have been fighting and killing each other all these years. They are divided and united. There is more or less some enmity between the tribes. But this time, they can unite and fight against the enemy. What does that mean?”

“It means that the enemy is very strong this time. They can’t fight with just one tribe or a few tribes.”

“Right, then the number of enemies they revealed before is very problematic. ” Twenty thousand people. Can they really devour the entire barbarian race and cause their minds to be thrown into chaos? Do they want to borrow soldiers from us? “

“Are you saying... that they are hiding something?”

“Maybe. “But before coming this time, the Empress told me a few words in private, he said, do not rush at the very front, be careful not to be used as a gun, and be even more careful when your former allies stab you in the back.”

Lee Cheng’s eyes darkened, “They dare!”

Zhao Sanlang rolled his eyes at him and said sarcastically, “County Prince is also someone who has been on the battlefield. How can you not understand this? “What if this is just a scheme of the barbarians? They will use the Great Tang’s elite soldiers to repel the enemy and take advantage of the time when we are both injured to destroy the bridge. At that time, our ten thousand Black Armored Guard won’t be able to return home. “

Lee Cheng was certainly not brainless. He had to guard against such a possibility. If he was in his shoes, he would really do such a thing that repaid kindness with enmity. It was possible that the barbarians would dare to do anything.

“What do you think we should do?”

“The enemy needs to fight, but we can’t fight with everything we have. At least, we must let these Northern barbarians know how powerful we are, and they won’t dare to attack us.”

Zhao Sanlang pointed at the marks he drew on the map and said, “These places are the places Adana mentioned when he fought with the enemy. It is said that all the original tribes have been wiped out. I want to send a few people to these places to see if it is as he said, and to see if we can find any traces of the enemy.”

“What’s next?”

“The grassland is vast. It is too long from the east to the west. We don’t have time to waste here. The more we waste, the more dangerous the soldiers will be. It is best to lure the enemy out.”

Lee Cheng also understood that this was the best way. He suggested, “I’ll bring some people to lure the enemy out. Find a suitable place to ambush them.”

Zhao Sanlang finally looked at him. His eyebrows were cold. The corner of his mouth slightly curled. “Come on, don’t make any decisions. This kind of thing is not for you to do. There is another job for you to do.”

Lee Cheng did not argue with him. He obediently replied, “General, please instruct me.”

“Tomorrow morning, take Crown Prince back to Suzhou.”

Lee Cheng stood up abruptly. “Impossible. If the enemy attacks, Black Armored Guard will not be safe if they split into two.”

“It’s because of this that we have to send the Crown Prince away. The Emperor and the Empress let the Crown Prince train with their background, but they probably didn’t expect the enemy to be stronger than expected. The Crown Prince is the only one. If something happens to him, what will you do to the Empress? The Great Tang cannot lack an heir.”

Lee Cheng knew that every word he said was right, but he would definitely not agree to let him leave at this critical moment. The battlefield was constantly changing, and he would be gone for at least two days and two nights. Anything could happen.

He slowly sat down, and his temper instantly vanished. “Tell me about your plan first.”

Zhao Sanlang looked at him in surprise. He did not expect that the hot-tempered young man in the past would change so much. His temper was at ease. He had really grown up.

However, it was always a good thing that he was obedient. Zhao Sanlang continued, “We were attacked as soon as we left Su Province. This means that the enemy is not too far away from us. Otherwise, we would not be able to deal with them so quickly. Since they are nearby, we need the barbarians to find them. This is their territory. If we can’t even do this, we should leave as soon as possible.

Also, we must let them fight the first round. We are only allies. We are not in charge of the vanguard. “

Lee Cheng nodded as he listened. He felt a little disappointed when he saw that Zhao Sanlang had a clear mind and had arranged everything perfectly. He thought that he would be able to help if he followed Zhao Sanlang out, but he seemed to have underestimated Zhao Sanlang.

Looking at Zhao Sanlang’s finger pointing at the map, his eyes paused. He did not know which string was wrong, but he actually reached out and held his hand.

The man’s hand was wide and had distinct joints. There were hard calluses everywhere, and it was not delicate at all. However, he held it so tightly that his heart rippled and he was overwhelmed by emotions.

Zhao Sanlang walked past him and stopped in his tracks to ask a question. “The Northern Barbarians are unprecedentedly united. What if they turn around and deal with us after winning?”

Huang Can laughed even more happily. “General, Su Zhou has 200,000 soldiers. If they really dare to do this, This vast plain will soon be ours.”

Zhao Sanlang and Lee Cheng looked at him in surprise and asked, “When did you store the soldiers?” One of them was the commander and the other the deputy commander, but they did not know.

Huang Can said in a profound tone, “It was I who asked Crown Prince to gather the soldiers in his name from nearby to protect His Highness outside Suzhou City.”

Zhao Sanlang frowned. “Aren’t you afraid of incurring His Highness’s injustice? You need Tiger Tally to mobilize soldiers, right?”

“I only mentioned it this way. His Highness has really completed it. It means that His Majesty must have given him the Tiger Tally before he went out. Don’t worry, the Suzhou Prefecture will definitely send a letter to His Majesty.”

At noon that day, they also received a military newspaper from Su Zhou. It was written by Crown Prince Yuan himself. It stated what he did after he returned to Su Zhou, as well as the fact that he would be waiting for the soldiers in Su Zhou to return home.

After Zhao Sanlang read the letter, he put it down and said with emotion, “Each and every one of them is really bold. Fortunately, His Highness doesn’t have any other brothers, otherwise...”

He did not say anything else, but everyone understood that the Crown Prince was the only child of the Empress. There was no competition, and that was why he could obtain the support of the soldiers. Otherwise, this step would not be so easy to complete.

The alliance army of the various races was full of momentum. Sure enough, after going through a fierce battle, they wiped out the enemy. Even the thousands of people who escaped were all captured.

Although the battle was intense, it was not dangerous. The Northern Barbarians’ minds were wavering after they won the battle. A few of the leaders of the big tribes were discussing whether they should take the opportunity to capture the Black Armored Guard.

“Aren’t you ungrateful by doing this?”

“Heh, there is no deception in war. We have never been enemies or friends with the Great Tang.”

“But they are strong, and they might not be able to easily take them down. We have suffered quite a loss this time.”

“It’s strange to say that nearly forty percent of our soldiers have been injured, but have you calculated the losses of the Black Armored Guard?”

“What do you mean?”

“I secretly asked someone. Less than ten percent of the Black Armored Guard’s soldiers have been killed.” As soon as these words were spoken, The moment these words were spoken, all the leaders were dumbfounded. Someone asked in disbelief, “Really?”

“I’m sure of it.”

Everyone’s expressions were colorful. Those who had said that they would be ungrateful did not say anything. They were fighting together with the Black Armored Guard, so there shouldn’t be any possibility of them saving their strength. It could only be said that the Black Armored Guard was indeed capable and capable.

Someone pointed out the main point. “Their weapons are excellent, and their armor is almost impervious to swords and spears. The weapons they use are much tougher than ours. Have you noticed that the bows and arrows they gave us are not ordinary weapons? They gave us such important military supplies just like that. If we turn around to deal with them, it won’t make sense, right?”

Everyone nodded. Of course, it was not because they felt guilty about destroying the bridge after crossing the river. It was because they knew that even if they won, they would definitely suffer heavy losses.

Moreover, from the looks of the alliance army, the Tasan Tribe definitely supported the Great Tang. If they used all their strength to defeat the Black Armored Guard and ended up being taken advantage of by the Tasan Tribe, the losses would truly be greater.

After the war ended, Zhao Sanlang naturally needed to lead his army back. All the tribes had sent a large number of gifts. Zhao Sanlang narrowed his eyes and said, “There’s no need for gifts. We don’t lack these things, but we need to take those thousands of captives with us.”

The leaders did not understand his intention. They asked, “What does General Zhao want these captives for? They will not sincerely submit.”

“This is our own business. We should kill them and keep them. We have to bring them back to His Majesty to decide.”

The Northern Barbarian leaders thought that this was a rule of the Great Tang, so they didn’t say anything. They had originally planned to kill all of these captives, but keeping them was a waste of food. Since General Zhao wanted them, they had given them to him as a favor.

However, they still forced Zhao Sanlang to take their gifts. “This is a small token of our appreciation. It’s all thanks to General Zhao’s help that we can be safe. This is nothing.”

Zhao Sanlang took the opportunity to accept it. The long convoy followed behind the cavalry and returned to Suzhou in a mighty manner.

Lee Cheng’s men had heard the conversation from before. They wanted to strike first, but Zhao Sanlang did not agree. He said, “Since they did not attack, we should not have attacked first. Otherwise, it would be unreasonable.”

“Is this the key to a war?”

“This is a national matter, so we should be careful. Otherwise, even if we defeat the Northern Barbarian Alliance Army, their civilians won’t submit to Great Tang. “Why?”