The war was about to break out. All the generals came out of the meeting room and began to perform their duties. Some were responsible for inspecting the troops, and some were responsible for defending the city. General Li patted An Yong on the shoulder and said, "Good boy, your future is limitless!"
An Yong had great respect for this old boss and said respectfully: "I would also like to thank General Li for the promotion."
General Li laughed and left, followed by An Yong. In the evening, the generals had already counted the troops, and with the order of Marquis Zhenyuan, An Yong and his army set out under the cover of night. In order to confuse the enemy, Marquis Zhenyuan ordered them to light a fire and cook as usual.
At noon the next day, the soldiers responsible for evacuating the people returned. Because the evacuation started yesterday afternoon, all of them had been evacuated to a county town thirty miles away from the border. They were also given tents and some heating items.
When General Wang came to report, he said, "Commander-in-chief, when we were evacuating the people today, we encountered a small group of barbarians, but we have wiped them out, but more than half of the villagers were killed or wounded."
Zhenyuan Hou nodded and said in a deep voice, "I understand. Divide your team into ten teams and patrol all the villages that may be looted. Make sure those barbarians never return."
General Wang clasped his fists and saluted, saying, "Yes, Commander."
On the other side, General Li, General Liu and An Yong led their troops from a small road directly to the Barbarian Army's royal court. When they arrived near the royal court, their troops split into three groups and formed a siege and came to the outside of the royal court.
When the general guarding the city gate saw a group of soldiers approaching this side, he never thought that it was the army of the Great Yong Dynasty. He thought that they were the supplies looted and sent back by his own army.
After seeing clearly that it was the army of the Great Yong Dynasty, the little leader guarding the city gate shouted, "Close the city gate, close the city gate quickly." But just after he shouted twice, he felt a sharp pain in his chest. He looked down in disbelief, only to see an arrow tip sticking out of his chest, and then he fell down.
It turned out that the arrows were fired by the soldiers on horseback. The poor barbarians guarding the city gate were shot to death before they could react. The barbarian leader did not expect that someone would be so bold as to attack the imperial court, so there were only a hundred soldiers guarding the city gate.
An Yong and his group successfully entered the Barbarian Army's imperial city. After leaving more than a thousand people to guard the city gate, the rest of the troops headed straight for the imperial court.
This imperial court was far inferior to the imperial palace of the Dayong Dynasty. At best, it was just a collection of fairly solidly built houses. An Yong and his party captured it without any effort.
General Li ordered the soldiers to arrest all the royal family members, but after counting, they found that the only one missing was the newly appointed barbarian leader. General Li gnashed his teeth in anger and said, "Pass the order down, dig three feet deep to find the barbarian leader."
It was a coincidence, perhaps An Yong and the barbarian leader were destined to meet. When An Yong went to the bathroom, he found the barbarian leader digging a dog hole to escape.
Why did An Yong find out that this was the leader of the barbarians? It was because the leader of the barbarians looked too much like the one An Yong had killed. An Yong guessed that this might be a member of the royal family of the barbarians, but after the palace servants identified him, they realized that this was the leader of the barbarians, so he made another great achievement without knowing it.
General Li was also impressed by An Yong's luck and said, "Good boy, you can actually find this. When you get promoted again, you must treat us to a drink."
An Yong was also generous and said, "Okay, thanks to General Li, if I really get promoted, I will definitely host a banquet for everyone, with plenty of wine, meat and food."
All the generals burst into laughter, and the barbarian leader who had just been captured was so angry that he blew his beard and glared, and was severely whipped by the soldier next to him.
The soldiers of Dayong looted the imperial court, carrying gold, silver, jewelry, and a string of barbarian royals and officials, and marched towards Juyongguan in a grand manner, looting as they went.
By the time the chief general of the barbarian army learned that his lair had been destroyed, General Li was already less than a hundred miles away from Juyong Pass.
The leader of the barbarian army was furious and without any regard for the barbarian royal family and officials, he commanded his army to fight to the death with General Li's troops.
But Zhenyuan Hou was not a pushover. He left 20,000 soldiers to defend the city and led 40,000 soldiers to attack from both sides. By the time the angry barbarian commander reacted, he was surrounded by the soldiers of Dayong. Zhenyuan Hou gave an order and the ruthless fight began.
A great battle lasted from dawn to dusk. When the barbarian commander realized that victory was hopeless, he led a group of his trusted men, tore open a gap in the enemy's territory, and escaped.
Zhenyuan Hou looked at the remaining barbarians and thought of the letter from His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to him some time ago, which said that a large number of corvée labor was needed to mine stones, but he did not want to waste money and manpower, so he asked him if there was a way to solve the problem. Zhenyuan Hou looked at the strong barbarians, and suddenly an idea came to his mind, and he shouted: "Your leader has been captured alive, and those who surrender will not be killed!"
His words were spread to every corner by his confidants.
When the desperate barbarians heard this, they all put down their weapons. Zhenyuan Hou ordered his soldiers to search the surrendered barbarians, string them together with ropes, and bring them back to Juyong Pass.
After returning to Juyong Pass, Zhenyuan Hou ordered: "First detain these barbarians, do not let them gather together, and only feed them one meal of porridge a day, just enough to keep them from starving to death."
The general in charge of guarding the prisoners clasped his fists and said, "Yes, Commander."
When Zhenyuan Hou returned to the Commander-in-Chief's Mansion, he went straight to the study and wrote a letter to the Crown Prince, telling him that he had captured nearly 30,000 barbarians. As for whether these 30,000 captives could be used by the Crown Prince, it was none of his business. Then he wrote a memorial about the battle and gave it to his confidant along with the letter to the Crown Prince, asking him to deliver it to the capital as quickly as possible.
It was already fifteen days later when the emperor received the memorial from the Marquis of Zhenyuan. The emperor looked at the contents of the memorial and was so excited that he couldn't help laughing. After laughing, he ordered: "Chen Zhong, summon the crown prince, the prime minister, the imperial tutor and the ministers of the six ministries to the imperial study to discuss the matter."
Chen Zhong bowed and said, "Yes, Your Majesty." Then he walked out and ordered his eunuchs to summon the Crown Prince and several adults.
The prince was in the East Palace at this time, and had received the letter from the Marquis of Zhenyuan. After reading it at a glance, he also laughed out loud. After putting on his court clothes and about to go to the imperial study, he saw his personal servant coming with a familiar young eunuch.
The young eunuch saw the prince bow and said, "Your Highness, His Majesty invites you."
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince followed the young eunuch to the imperial study, and found that the other adults had not arrived yet, so he entered the imperial study first.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
