Xiande Prefecture is not very large.
Destroying it is quite simple.
By burying gunpowder at key locations along the city walls, the walls and gate towers were completely destroyed.
The houses in the city were mostly wooden buildings, so Li Xin burned them all down.
A raging fire rose into the sky above the entire city of Xiande.
The entire city gradually turned into a pile of ashes.
Li Xin wasn't particularly saddened by Xiande Prefecture. After all, such a small city, with so few troops to defend it, was like a chicken rib—tasteless to eat but a pity to throw away.
Now we'll burn it down to prevent Xiande Prefecture from becoming a base for grassland bandits.
As for rebuilding the city after stabilizing the surrounding situation, that's all!
After all, the current Dongning City and Shuangcheng Prefecture City were completely demolished and rebuilt!
Even concrete buildings are much better than the wooden houses we have now!
After burning down Xiande Prefecture, Li Xin led the elite guards of the royal palace, along with captured grassland bandits, back to Shuangcheng Prefecture.
Upon returning to Shuangcheng Prefecture, the prisoners were settled within the city and put in charge of land development.
The Shenji Battalion and other soldiers also took over the city's defenses once again.
Meanwhile, the Divine Might Battalion, the Divine Martial Battalion, and the Divine Valor Battalion were not idle either, and once again entered the mountains and forests to intercept the grassland bandits.
Meanwhile, the grassland bandits who had fled from Xiande Prefecture also reported the news to Kulunbu in the mountains.
When Cullenbu learned of this news, he was completely stunned.
"Xiande Prefecture has fallen?"
Kulumb stared wide-eyed, unable to believe what he was hearing.
However, upon closer reflection, the traces of Dongning's army in the mountains and forests had indeed diminished considerably over the past six or seven days.
It turns out that these Dongning troops were going to attack Xiande Prefecture!
Now, Xiandefu is lost!
That means the grassland bandits no longer have a base in the entire Dongning Province!
Without a base, there is nowhere to store food and fodder!
It will be extremely difficult to conquer Dongning City again!
I can't stay in Dongning Province any longer!
Their mission is doomed to fail here!
Thinking of this, Kulumb's face turned ashen, so gloomy it was almost dripping with water.
“Kulenberg,”
Hajilang, standing beside him, shook his head with a wry smile and asked, "What should we do now?"
What else can we do?
Kulunbu sighed helplessly and said, "With the fall of Xiande Prefecture, we've run out of food supplies."
How can we, with our thousands of elite cavalry, survive here?
Moreover, it's already late autumn, and heavy winter snow will close the mountains; we're afraid...
well! "
Kulenbu didn't finish his sentence, but Hajiron understood what he meant.
Thinking about it, that's true.
Winter is fast approaching, and once the mountains are blocked by heavy snow, their only option will be to retreat.
The only option for retreat was to retreat to the grasslands!
The war in Dongning Province has been a complete failure!
Hajilang smiled bitterly to himself, never expecting that the Dongning army would be so powerful!
"Order all units to prepare for retreat!"
Kulunbu ordered, "Retreat to the grasslands!"
Once the order was given, the grassland bandits and cavalry in the mountains and forests began to assemble and retreat towards the grasslands to the northwest.
However, it was clearly too late to retreat at this point.
After returning to the mountains and forests, the Shenwei Battalion, Shenwu Battalion, and Shenyong Battalion also joined the guerrilla warfare in the mountains and forests.
Even though the grassland bandits and cavalry were gathered together, they were still in dire straits facing the constant attacks from the mountains and forests.
From the mountains and forests thirty miles east of Shuangcheng Prefecture, it is a distance of over a thousand miles to the northwestern grasslands.
This distance is mostly mountainous and forested.
In this vast mountain forest, the soldiers of the Prince's Guard were widely scattered, and they would occasionally launch a surprise attack.
Although each attack could only kill a few grassland bandits, it could still delay the retreat of the grassland bandit cavalry.
In a mountain forest, a dozen fully armed soldiers of the Shenwei Battalion crouched among the weeds, squinting at the distant mountains.
Ta-da!
Ta-da!
The sound of horses' hooves echoed over.
"They're here!"
A team leader whispered a reminder: "A dozen or so people, not many! This is an opportunity!"
"Captain, the scouting on the flanks is complete, no enemy troops have been spotted."
One of the soldiers said, "The retreat route has already been planned."
"good!"
The captain nodded and said, "Prepare for action!"
Immediately, the captain gripped his crossbow tightly and aimed at the grassland bandit cavalry ahead.
As the grassland bandit cavalry drew closer, the captain shouted, "Attack!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the captain pulled the trigger.
Instantly, the crossbow bolt flew out and struck a grassland bandit cavalryman directly in the chest.
The grassland bandit cavalryman groaned and fell off his horse.
At the same time, the other soldiers around the captain also pulled the trigger.
A dense swarm of crossbow bolts rained down from the sky.
In an instant, six or seven grassland bandits were shot dead.
After firing a volley, the captain and his men didn't linger. They turned around and disappeared back into the forest.
The grassland bandits in the distance were somewhat enraged and charged towards them.
However, when they arrived, the surroundings were empty, and they found no trace of the Dongning army soldiers.
These soldiers of the Dongning Army were like birds in the mountains and forests, shooting here and there, darting about unpredictably.
Even the most elite of the grassland bandit cavalry were completely ineffective against such tactics, like a hammer hitting cotton.
Under the harassment of the Dongning army, hundreds of corpses were left behind by the grassland bandits and cavalry along the way.
Fortunately, Kulumb and his men did not linger in the fight and were determined to leave as soon as possible.
After traveling through the mountains and forests for six or seven days, Kulunbu and his bandit cavalry finally escaped the vast forests and entered the grasslands.
Looking at the familiar grassland, Kulunbu couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief, as if a huge weight had been lifted from his heart.
On the vast grasslands, Kulunbu and his companions also had time to rest.
The departments below also began to tally the casualties.
According to rough estimates, only about 5,800 grassland bandits and cavalrymen escaped from the mountains and forests.
They originally led more than 10,000 cavalrymen into Dongning Province, but now only five or six thousand have returned.
This battle yielded no results; instead, it resulted in the loss of over four thousand men!
Such battle losses also angered Kulumb!
"It's numb!"
Kulumb muttered angrily.
However, he only cursed and had no way to deal with the Dongning army.
After resting for a while on the grassland, Kulunbu led his grassland bandit cavalry back towards his tribe.
This crushing defeat in Dongning Province means that it will be even more difficult for the nomadic cavalry to set foot in Dongning Province again!
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