The next day, just as the sun rose, Zhou Qi and Zhang Sai, who had traveled overnight from Shangdang City with three thousand soldiers, arrived at the place where Wang Han was encamped.
Zhang Sai and Zhou Qi had just arrived with their soldiers when they saw the battlefield, which was almost entirely covered by black arrows, making it appear somewhat dark even in the morning light.
Upon arriving at the battlefield, everyone saw the corpses of the Hun soldiers, strewn with black iron arrows like wheat stalks, and felt an overwhelming sense of cruelty and desolation unique to the battlefield.
"General Zhang Sai, Zhou Qi." Zhao Liu, who was on night watch for the second half of the night, saw Zhang Sai and Zhou Qi arriving with their troops and quickly stepped forward to greet them, saying, "Our lord is still resting. You should clean up the battlefield first and burn these corpses to prevent the spread of plague."
"Okay." Zhang Sai nodded upon hearing this, then turned around and loudly ordered the soldiers behind him, "Clean up the battlefield, collect everything useful, and gather all the corpses to burn."
Upon receiving the order, the soldiers, though exhausted from traveling through the night, quickly sprang into action, for in their hearts they were serving their revered Marquis Dingshan.
As the sun rose higher, when Wang Han awoke and stepped out of his tent, he saw flames raging in the distance. Zhang Sai was directing his soldiers to burn the corpses of the Xiongnu. Not far away, bundles of collected iron arrows were neatly tied together and placed to one side along with the collected supplies.
"My lord," Cai Yan said, bringing a basin of water and a towel to Wang Han as he stepped out of the tent. "The water for washing is ready."
Seeing this, Wang Han looked around and realized that everyone else had already gotten up. His face flushed slightly; he was the last one to get up. Then, Wang Han casually took the basin and washed up, saying to Cai Yan, "Thank you for your hard work. You don't need to do this next time. Just focus on memorizing the book."
"Thank you, my lord." Cai Yan replied, "Serving you is my duty and will not interfere with my memorization of the books."
"No need for that, I can take care of my own washing up," Wang Han said, shaking his head. "You should just focus on memorizing the books, since I have more important things for you to do in the future."
"My lord." Seeing that Wang Han had gotten up and finished washing up, Zhang Sai knelt down on one knee and reported, "My lord, the battlefield has been cleaned up. A total of 11,330 Xiongnu corpses were burned, 12,000 weapons such as swords and spears were collected, more than 10,000 intact Xiongnu bows were collected, 1,035,000 black iron arrows and nearly 300,000 ordinary Xiongnu arrows were collected, and the looted Xiongnu supplies, including grain and cloth, were recovered."
"Hmm." Wang Han nodded and said, "Take two thousand soldiers and bring these weapons back to Shangdang City. Leave another thousand soldiers with me as we leave Yanmen Pass, and leave the grain for me to use as military rations."
"Is our lord going to war against the Xiongnu?" Zhang Sai asked quickly upon hearing this, feeling somewhat worried.
Wang Han nodded and said, "That's right. It's only polite to reciprocate. Since they dare to plunder, I should naturally pay them a visit with force."
Seeing Wang Han nod in agreement, Zhang Sai quickly advised, "My lord, the road to conquer the Xiongnu is treacherous, and it is their territory. It is too dangerous. My lord, let's reconsider this matter."
"This matter was decided as soon as I arrived in Bingzhou," Wang Han said, shaking his head. "We must go to the Xiongnu this time."
Seeing that he could not persuade Wang Han, Zhang Sai had no choice but to settle for second best, saying, "Then my lord, take more soldiers with you, and I will immediately transfer another five thousand soldiers from Shangdang."
“No need, a thousand soldiers are enough.” Wang Han shook his head and said, “I don’t need them to fight the Xiongnu head-on. I can handle the battle myself. I need them to clean up the battlefield and bring back supplies. You can make the arrangements.”
"Your subordinate obeys." Upon hearing this, Zhang Sai, seeing that Wang Han's mind was made up and knowing that Wang Han's personal strength was immense, could only helplessly agree. He immediately went to personally select soldiers to accompany Wang Han on the expedition to Yanmen Pass. In his heart, he decided that after returning to Shangdang City, he would raise an army and march to Yanmen Pass, ready to rescue Wang Han at any time.
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Outside Yanmen Pass, on the vast grasslands, Wang Han sat in a carriage, looking at the books Cai Yan had memorized. He explained to her some modern perspectives, key points about historical reform and development, and his own views. However, Wang Han didn't say anything too far ahead of his time. Not only was the difference in thought between two thousand years too great to easily understand and believe, but the development of an era also had to be gradual. Wang Han told Cai Yan this because he admired her knowledge and wanted her to publish books in the future, hoping she would be the first to change the course of history through culture.
Cai Yan listened quietly to Wang Han, constantly jotting down his advanced ideas on the paper in front of her, just like a student eager for knowledge. She was constantly amazed by Wang Han's forward-thinking ideas and concepts, some of which she never even dared to consider. She was especially astonished when Wang Han talked about enabling everyone to read and write and to improve the status of women by encouraging them to attend private schools. No one had ever said such a thing before, let alone thought of it, much less done it.
On both sides of the carriage, Zhao Liu and his three companions guarded it closely, not allowing anyone to approach. They knew Wang Han was discussing something important. Behind the carriage, a thousand soldiers followed in a long, orderly line, leading the carriage along.
It is said that the grasslands are vast, stretching as far as the eye can see. If someone is cooking, you can see the smoke rising from their chimney from a great distance. Such terrain suits Wang Han's purposes perfectly. Wang Han did not just want to teach the Xiongnu a lesson. This time, Wang Han wanted to kill them so badly that they dared not even light a fire, to send them back to the era of Mao Ru drinking blood and eating raw meat, to terrify them, and to drive them out to become the second Scourge of God for the Western peoples, or perhaps the first.
Zhao Liu suddenly approached the carriage and reported, "My lord, a scout has reported that a settlement of a Southern Xiongnu tribe, numbering about three thousand, has been discovered ten miles to the northwest."
"We've finally found the first Xiongnu tribe." Upon hearing this, Wang Hanfang picked up the book in his hand, stepped out of the carriage, and instructed, "Zhao Liu, I'll go over first. You bring the troops over here."
After saying that, Wang Han rode his white rhinoceros and headed in the direction the scout had reported.
"Turn around, proceed northwest!" After Wang Han left, Zhao Liu shouted and led his team in the same direction.
As time passed, Wang Han's forces gradually penetrated deeper into the grasslands, finally beginning Wang Han's massacre and expulsion of these foreign tribes who would poison the Chinese nation's history and future.
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