Chapter 230 Severe Injury
Upon hearing this, the soldiers of the Blue Feather Kingdom had no choice but to retreat. Wherever the messenger's voice reached, the soldiers of the Blue Feather Kingdom scattered hastily like a tide.
The Sixth Prince is the Emperor's most favored son and is highly likely to be the future Crown Prince of Lanyu Kingdom. For the sake of the Sixth Prince's safety, they cannot act rashly and must return as soon as possible to discuss a rescue plan.
Soon, only the Crimson Xuan Army soldiers, Wen Zhiming, and the Sixth Prince remained. At this moment, Cao Ran arrived with a large number of Tiger Soaring Army soldiers.
"Reporting to the King of the Northern Frontier, we have collected approximately 30,000 soldiers today. Commander Ren and General Liu have already brought them back to our camp. I will check if there are any more soldiers to collect. Once we have collected them, I will return to camp with Your Highness."
The expressions of Leng Tieyi and the generals of the Chixuan Army were even more disgusting than if they had eaten shit. The Chixuan Army had about 100,000 soldiers, and there should have been more than 10,000 casualties in this battle. That is to say, about half of the remaining soldiers were lured away by the Huxiang Army.
Now they're even coming to pick it up in front of their commander; this is outrageous!
Leng Tieyi's lips twitched, and he looked at his subordinates, asking, "The Northern Frontier King's men have come to collect soldiers. Does anyone want to go with them?"
The soldiers shook their heads. It wasn't that they didn't want to leave, but with their commander here, they had to give him some face. They couldn't bring themselves to defect to another general in front of their commander.
Leng Tieyi nodded with considerable satisfaction.
"The Northern Frontier King has some clever methods. I've already checked for you; there are no soldiers to pick up here."
Wen Zhiming smiled and said, "General Leng, you flatter me. The gates of the Tiger Soaring Army's camp have always been open to the Crimson Profound Army, and we welcome General Leng and all your soldiers to join the Tiger Soaring Army at any time."
Leng Tieyi really didn't know whether to cry or laugh.
This Northern Frontier King not only took his soldiers right in front of him, but now he even wants to take him as a general.
Surprisingly, he wasn't very angry.
If it weren't for the fact that he received a salary from the imperial court and had always kept the word "loyalty to the emperor" in mind, he would have wanted to be abducted by the King of the Northern Frontier like those lowly soldiers.
The King of the Northern Frontier is both a scholar and a warrior, and is extremely popular with the people. He is indeed more suitable to be the emperor than the current emperor.
But this idea can only be thought about; as long as he sits in this position, he must not do anything that constitutes a rebellion.
With so many soldiers leaving, the Emperor couldn't punish their families because of the sheer number of them. But if he dared to harbor any ill intentions, his relatives in the capital would be the first to suffer.
Originally, he still wanted to persuade the King of the Northern Frontier to repent and join him in defeating the Blue Feather Kingdom, and then return to the capital to plead guilty, hoping to gain forgiveness and rewards for his merit in repelling the foreign enemy.
It seems there's no need to speak up right now.
He knew that if the Northern Frontier King didn't come today, the Chixuan Army would suffer even greater casualties. He might not even be able to save his own life.
Therefore, although he could not shake hands and make peace with Wen Zhiming because of his status, he could not speak ill of Wen Zhiming either.
Leng Tieyi said, "The King of Northern Frontier has returned with a full load today. If there is nothing else, you should return to camp as soon as possible. Farewell!"
Wen Zhiming didn't say much. After saying "Farewell," he took the rope from Cao Ran and tied the Sixth Prince to the horse.
The Sixth Prince, not forgetting to sow discord, stretched his neck from horseback and said, "King of the Northern Frontier, if I were you, I would wipe out the rest of the Crimson Profound Army right now. Opportunity knocks but once. If you let these good-for-nothings go today, they won't let you go tomorrow!"
Wen Zhiming did not respond, but simply tied the rope more securely.
Cao Ran pulled a rag from his clothes and stuffed it into the Sixth Prince's mouth. The Sixth Prince was so angry that his face turned red, and he struggled with his mouth bulging, unable to say another word.
The group left in a grand procession.
The civil official sent by the emperor had been hiding in a corner watching the battle, but now that everyone else had left, he hurriedly ran up to Leng Tieyi and asked in confusion.
"The Sixth Prince is right. With such a good opportunity, why doesn't the King of Northern Frontier simply wipe out the Crimson Profound Army? Is there some other conspiracy or trickery involved?"
Leng Tieyi walked forward without making a sound, with the civil official following closely behind him.
The two walked to the center of the battlefield, where they saw wreckage everywhere, blood flowing like a river, and many wounded soldiers struggling and rolling on the ground. Everywhere they went, there was a scene of utter devastation.
Leng Tieyi said with a sorrowful expression, "We all know how cruel war is, but unfortunately the king does not. If it weren't for the Northern Frontier King showing mercy, there would be several times more corpses today, and there wouldn't even be anyone to collect them."
"If he could kill but didn't, what kind of conspiracy could he have? It's just because the Crimson Profound Army was once his father's army, and because he still has some compassion for human life."
The civil official's legs went weak at the sight of the casualties scattered across the ground.
He stammered, "But, but we failed to defeat the Blue Feather Kingdom, and so many of our soldiers have defected to the Soaring Tiger Army. How are we going to explain this to the Emperor? What should we do next?"
Leng Tieyi coughed up another mouthful of blood, frowned and said, "The soldiers have legs on their own bodies. Whom do they want to defect to? How can we stop them? Let's report the situation to the Emperor and wait for his decree."
"In my opinion, the Blue Feather Kingdom won't be arrogant for long. The Northern Frontier King will deal with them. Let's take it one step at a time."
Should we continue to stay here, or retreat elsewhere and await the Emperor's orders?
The fact that so many members of the Chixuan Army were abducted at once could not be concealed. If the Emperor were told about this, he would indeed be furious. However, if he were to investigate all of them, the capital would be thrown into chaos. At this critical juncture, the Emperor could only tolerate it for the time being.
As for how the Emperor will deal with him after he returns to the capital, we'll see then.
In his opinion, it's still uncertain who the emperor will be then.
The Crimson Army was busy cleaning up the battlefield, while the Blue Feather Kingdom's soldiers retreated back to their own camps in one go.
Before they could even catch their breath, the soldiers guarding the camp informed them that all the food supplies in the camp had been looted by the Tiger Flying Army, leaving not a single grain of rice.
The entire military camp went from cursing and swearing to sighing and lamenting, and then to looking gloomy.
They had the upper hand earlier today and withdrew in time, so their casualties weren't too high. But losing so much food for so many people is a big problem.
With the sixth prince captured and the commander-in-chief Lan Ying killed, the remaining junior officers discussed the matter and decided that they could not wait there on an empty stomach. So they simply searched the homes of the common people for some food, ate a simple meal, and then led the entire army straight back to the capital of Lanyu Kingdom.
The Sixth Prince was not like Lan Ying; he was the most favored prince of the Blue Feather Kingdom. How to rescue him depended on the emperor's orders, so their retreat to the capital had a suitable reason.
...
Wen Zhiming, along with the Sixth Prince and a group of soldiers, returned in triumph.
Along the way, Cao Ran noticed that Wen Zhiming's face was somewhat pale and he spoke less. He guessed that Wen Zhiming might be seriously injured. He didn't want the Sixth Prince to know about his commander's injuries, so he kept quiet and didn't ask.
When he returned to the camp, he saw Meng Lingge waiting at the entrance. Just as he was thinking how affectionate the couple was, Wen Zhiming fell off his horse and landed right in Meng Lingge's arms.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com