"A great victory! A great victory for our army!!"

At the temporary encampment of Duan Jiong's army, several guards stood ramrod straight at the entrance of the camp.

Hearing the commotion, the guards looked in the direction of the sound and saw a messenger on horseback galloping towards the camp. The messenger on horseback kept shouting about the great victory.

"Quickly, open the camp gates!"

Upon seeing this, the captain of the camp gate guards immediately ordered the gate to be opened.

The messenger, seated on horseback, nodded to the guards and then galloped straight toward the central command tent.

"General Duan, our army has achieved a great victory! I have come to deliver the battle report on General Zhang's orders!"

"Great job! Haha~ Zhang Qiao is awesome!"

After reading the battle report, Duan Jiong couldn't help but burst into laughter. He had expected this great victory, but he hadn't anticipated it would be so quick and decisive.

Duan Jiong then took out paper and pen and signed his name on the battle report.

Then Duan Jiong picked up the battle report and handed it to a guard beside him, saying loudly, "Immediately present this victory report to the Emperor!"

"promise!"

Duan Jiong's personal guards turned and left with excited expressions.

After the guards left, Duan Jiong looked at the messenger and said in a deep voice:

“Go back and tell Zhang Qiao to inform Ma Yi that, in addition to the 1 billion taels of embezzled funds, he must also pay for the losses incurred by our army during this expedition, as well as the pensions for our fallen soldiers and the rewards for meritorious soldiers, totaling 2 billion taels, all of which will be Ma Yi’s responsibility!”

The messenger replied respectfully, "Yes, sir!"

Soon the messenger left Duan Jiong's camp and sped off towards Zhang Qiao's troops.

At the same time, Duan Jiong also ordered the army to set off and continue marching towards Shaodang.

"Uh...you heard me right? General Duan really said that?"

Looking at the messenger in front of him, Zhang Qiao wondered if he had misheard something.

He had never encountered such a situation before: the other party was supposed to foot the bill for the soldiers' rewards and compensation. Wasn't this blatant robbery?

But doing that is... so awesome!!

Zhang Qiao quickly sent someone to inform Ma Yi, asking him to send over the twenty coins as soon as possible.

"Those robbers!!"

When Ma Yi learned that the Han army was actually demanding two billion coins from him, he flew into a rage, drew his scimitar, and smashed the table in front of him to pieces.

After venting his frustrations, Ma Yi sat slumped in his seat, his chest heaving.

He didn't want to give two billion coins, but he didn't dare not. Every time he thought of the battle between the Qiang allied forces and the Han army, he felt a chill.

The formidable fighting power of the Han army made him acutely aware of the disparity between the two sides.

Ma Yi looked at Qian Lai beside him and asked, "Guard Qian, what should we do?"

Qian Lai chuckled and then said, "In my opinion, the reason Duan Jiong is making such an outrageous demand is because he's afraid!"

"What? He's scared?"

Ma Yi stared at Qian Lai in astonishment, starting to wonder if this guy had lost his mind. Duan Jiong was afraid of them? He never dared to think that way.

"good!"

Qian Lai paid no attention to Ma Yi's strange gaze and continued, "Duan Jiong's purpose in doing this is simply to force the big shot to fight him!"

"Um?"

Ma Yi was slightly taken aback, then asked, "What do you mean by that?"

Qian Lai smiled and said softly, "Because of what Dahaoren did before, Duan Jiong felt a sense of threat! He was afraid that if Dahaoren gained power in the future, he would become a formidable enemy of him and the Great Han, so he wanted to take advantage of Dahaoren's weakness to suppress him."

"So, whether it's those slaves or this demand for reparations, it's all just a pretext. Duan Jiong's real target is me?" Ma Yi pointed to his nose in astonishment.

Qian Lai nodded. "That's right, otherwise who would mobilize an army of ten thousand for a mere few hundred slaves?"

"Hiss~"

Upon hearing Qian Lai's analysis, Ma Yi couldn't help but gasp. This Duan Jiong was indeed a ruthless fellow.

But thinking of those two billion dollars, Ma Yi felt a pang of heartache for no reason. Half of his fortune was gone just like that.

Seeing Ma Yi's hesitant look, Qian Lai advised, "Great Lord, there's no need to be reluctant. Now that all the leaders of the Shaodang tribes have died in battle, their remaining followers and livestock, plus the things and wealth obtained by the Shaohe tribe, are far more valuable than two billion! The best course of action now is to get Duan Jiong to retreat as soon as possible!"

"You're right, it's just two billion, I'll give it to you!!"

Although Ma Yi listened to Qian Lai's advice, his hatred for Duan Jiong reached its peak.

Soon, Ma Yi handed over the 2 billion in assets as Duan Jiong had requested.

Zhang Qiao and his soldiers, on the other hand, were overjoyed as they escorted the valuables on their return journey.

Unexpectedly, halfway there, Zhang Qiao's team was stopped by a large number of Qiang herdsmen who had come after hearing the news.

"General, you can't leave! What will we do if you leave?"

Several elderly men came to Zhang Qiao, pleading with the Han army to stay, tears streaming down their faces.

Zhang Qiao quickly dismounted and came to the old men. Looking at them, he couldn't help but sigh.

Zhang Qiao looked at the elderly men in front of him and said slowly, "Old men, it's not that we don't want to stay, but this is not the territory of our Great Han. We came here only to retrieve those fugitives. Now that our mission is complete, according to regulations, we have no choice but to leave today!"

This chapter is not finished, please click the next page to continue reading!