At this moment, Wang Chen, a young man from the Southern Xiongnu, was leading three hundred soldiers, escorting about two thousand women and children from the tribe as they fled southeast.
Because they escaped in haste, they only managed to take a few hundred horses with them, while most of the others fled on foot.
Wang Chen, riding on horseback, guarded the rear of the fleeing group, constantly looking back, hoping to catch a glimpse of his father.
Just then, a troop of cavalry appeared in the young man's sight on the distant horizon behind them.
"Young master! It's bad! Their men have caught up with us!"
One of the soldiers next to Wang Chen immediately recognized them as the Jie cavalrymen who had attacked their tribe.
Wang Chen, seeing the pursuers, was filled with grief and indignation. He knew that his father was likely dead, and his tribe was finished!
"Ah~ Father!!"
Thinking of this, Wang Chen couldn't help but roar in grief and indignation, and he was swaying precariously on his horse.
"Young Master!!"
Upon seeing this, the guard beside Wang Chen quickly helped him up.
"I'm fine!!"
At this moment, Wang Chen was panting heavily, suppressing his grief and trying to regain some composure.
At this moment, the Jie pursuers were getting closer and closer, and the young man's face turned extremely ugly.
Looking at the women and children still desperately fleeing ahead, Wang Chen sighed and said:
"We're too slow! At this rate, they'll catch up with us sooner or later!"
"My lord! I believe it's impossible for all of us to escape. We don't have enough horses. The only option now is to take some children and young women and ride away!"
"What...what did you say?? What about the others? What will happen to them??"
Wang Chen stared wide-eyed at the guard beside him in disbelief.
If what the guards said is true, they can only take away a maximum of three hundred women and children, leaving the remaining thousand-plus people to be slaughtered by the Jie people.
In other words, it was about using those people's lives to stop the enemy's pursuit and to buy themselves a chance to survive.
His father and the warriors of the tribe risked their lives to help them escape; how could he just abandon them? For a moment, Wang Chen hesitated.
Seeing Wang Chen's hesitation, and hearing the approaching Jie guards' urgent call:
"Young master, don't hesitate any longer! Only in this way can we avoid being wiped out by them! Only in this way can our tribe avoid extinction!!"
Wang Chen then came to his senses, "Yes! If we take some people with us, the tribe still has a chance to survive. If we all leave together, I'm afraid everyone will be slaughtered!"
Having thought this through, Wang Chen no longer hesitated. He then looked at the guard beside him and gritted his teeth, saying, "Alright!! We'll do as you say!!"
At this moment, the Jie pursuers were only five miles away from them, and the women and children, their faces filled with terror, quickened their pace of escape.
Then, with red eyes and a face full of grief and indignation, Wang Chen shouted loudly to the soldiers riding around him on horseback:
"Warriors!! To prevent our tribe from being wiped out by these hateful beasts, to leave our tribe with a glimmer of hope! Take the women and children before you and come with me!!"
After saying this, Wang Chen spurred his warhorse, bent down, picked up a child and put him on the horse's back, bypassed the others, and galloped off towards the direction of the burly man.
"Quickly, keep up with the young master!!"
The guard also shouted and lifted a young woman onto the horse's back.
Seeing this, the other soldiers also reacted and quickly followed suit, lifting the women and children they could reach onto the horse and following behind Wang Chen.
"No!! Don't leave us behind?"
"Why? Why did you abandon us?!"
"Take us with you!!"
Thus, Wang Chen and his three hundred soldiers escaped with only a few women and children, leaving behind more than a thousand helpless women and children crying out in despair.
Soon, the Jie pursuers caught up. Seeing the women and children abandoned there by the young man, they smiled cruelly and charged forward on horseback without hesitation.
A massacre ensued.
After they had slaughtered everyone, Wang Chen's team had once again escaped their sight.
"Should we continue the pursuit?"
"Chase them! This operation must not be leaked, so we absolutely cannot let them escape!!"
Among the Jie people, the leader in charge of the pursuit rallied his Jie soldiers and once again chased after Wang Chen and the others in the direction they had fled.
In the tribe, looking at the collected cattle, sheep, horses, and some grain and salt, the Jie people's leader Shi Qing couldn't help but frown.
The loot was indeed a great haul, but for their tribe of over 40,000 people, it was still far from enough.
Looking at the corpses of the Southern Xiongnu scattered on the ground, Shi Qing said coldly:
"Take them all back with you!!"
Upon hearing Shi Qing's order, the Jie soldiers began to collect the corpses of the Southern Xiongnu, and they seemed quite adept at it.
On the other side, Lü Bu led 5,000 Bingzhou wolf cavalrymen slowly toward the Southern Xiongnu tribe.
A scout also arrived before Lü Bu with the latest information.
Report!
"Reporting to the general, the cavalry of the Shi Kingdom has already breached the Southern Xiongnu tribes!"
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