Chapter 1: The Sun Rises for the First Time Section 15

  Regarding Que's abnormal behavior, Murong Feng was puzzled about his true intentions for a while. He repeatedly consulted with Tie Ao and still couldn't understand why Que insisted on staying in the original location. If he didn't approach He Lian, under the circumstances that Ke Zui's cavalry had been completely annihilated, there were already gaps in the encirclement of Murong Feng. In other words, Que giving up fighting against the main force led by Tie Lang and others who were flying Murong Feng's flag actually meant letting Murong Feng escape from the encirclement.

  "Is there still a stop at Queliu or along the Kuozi advancing route?" Murong Feng hesitated to ask Tie Ao.

  "If there is a follow-up, it means leaving one support army."

  "But our scouts have been observing along this route, and there are no cavalry within a hundred miles."

  Tie Gong did not make a sound. Because he had no insight into commanding such a complex battle situation. He was always commanded by his superiors and led his troops to fight bravely.

  The Xianbei people had no written language, no education, and only a native tongue. When there was something important to convey, it would be drawn on a wooden board with a few symbols, and the so-called wise man or relatively smart person in charge of conveying messages in the tribe would translate it for the tribal leader. In this primitive civilization and backward culture, people often relied on experience or intuition to do things, even when fighting. Therefore, people like Murong Feng, who had great wisdom, were self-taught but highly educated, and were regarded as half-gods by the Xianbei people, who worshipped and trusted them.

  Murong Feng used to be the strategist for Tan Shi Huai, a rare and exceptional hero of his time. There were many talents like Murong Feng by Tan Shi Huai's side, but Murong Feng excelled in military affairs. After Tan Shi Huai's death, these people were either killed, escaped, rebelled, or changed their allegiance, leaving only a few survivors. Since his escape, Murong Feng had been trying to make a comeback, but rarely met anyone as knowledgeable and eloquent as himself.

  He often stays alone in the big tent, thinking deeply. Every time he thinks of the past. A group of people gathered around Tan Shi Huai, talking and laughing, can gather their thoughts and solve many problems. Unfortunately, no one can help him. Xiong Ba is already very good. Murong Feng thinks he lacks spirituality and it's hard to become a great instrument. As for Li Hong who has been following him recently, first of all, he is a Han person, after all, he is a troublemaker. Secondly, he was once injured, his brain is sometimes clear and sometimes confused, no one knows when he can recover. Normal people can't even talk about it, let alone the brilliant ones.

  Murong Feng stood in the darkness, silently thinking about Qu Ge's problem. At this time, he saw Li Hong.

  Li Hong was surrounded by a group of Xianbei soldiers, loudly shouting and waving a one-foot (equivalent to 23 cm today) thick tree trunk. On the ground around Li Hong were inserted seven or eight long and short war knives. Li Hong bared his upper body, dancing the tree trunk with a whooshing sound, but didn't touch a single knife. The surrounding soldiers let out waves of gasps and cheers.

  Murong Feng said to the guard standing behind him, "Go and call back Baozi."

  Li Hong wiped the sweat from his body with one edge of his clothes, and walked quickly to Murong Feng's back, panting heavily.

  "General..."

  Murong Feng furrowed his brow, "Put your clothes on. Do you think this physique of yours looks good?"

  Li Hong immediately exerted himself and made a knife-chopping motion, flexing the muscles on his body like small hills. He asked the surrounding guards of Murong Feng with a pleased expression: "How's that?"

  The guards couldn't help but burst out laughing, and even Murong Feng couldn't resist kicking him in the foot, laughing and scolding, "Don't make a scene!"

  Li Hong put on his clothes and followed Murong Feng as he walked through the large camp. Seeing the commander inspecting the camp, the soldiers along the way stood up one after another to pay their respects to the commander.

  Murong Feng waved his hand in response, while loudly speaking to the soldiers. In the intervals, Murong Feng expressed his concerns to Li Hong. Li Hong always blindly believed that the general must have had a plan and was just testing him, so he said casually: "The general's goal is to make Mi Ga and Murong's three tribes participate in the war. Since the two have already crossed the river, their determination to participate in the war is clear, why worry about it? We will eventually eat away at Que's residence, why care if he has reinforcements or not. Let's launch a full-scale attack, surround Que's residence at the fastest speed, and eliminate it. Then we'll eat away at his reinforcements, and then eat away at He Lian. Our army is like a hot knife through butter, looking at the world, who can be the general's opponent?" Li Hong became more and more excited as he spoke, and later almost raised his arm to shout loudly.

  The surrounding warriors only heard Li Hong loudly saying "Look at the world, who is the great general's opponent", and suddenly felt that this hairy Han man was extremely reasonable. Immediately, there were clever warriors shouting loudly: "The Great General is invincible!"

  At first it was a small group of people shouting, then it was a large group of people shouting, and finally the whole camp was shouting.

  "The Great General is Invincible..."

  Its voice shook the clouds, the excited soldiers opened their throats and shouted loudly. Suddenly everyone felt their hearts surging, hot blood boiling, as if they couldn't wait to mount their horses and gallop onto the battlefield.

  Murong Feng was infected by the high morale of the soldiers and was also excited with tears in his eyes. Li Hong only felt that he was full of energy, shouting hoarsely.

  Murong Feng summoned Tie E and other generals to the main tent in the middle of the night. Everyone was unaware of what had happened, and they all rushed to the camp on horseback. The urgent horseshoes startled many soldiers who had just fallen asleep.

  "Tomorrow morning, we will rush to Juntu and annihilate the Qiang people." Murong Feng said, and everyone sat down.

  "General, tomorrow at Blue Sky Tribe, the Wolf Tribe will arrive. There are also some tribes that are farther away and are coming one after another, shouldn't we wait?"

  "I won't wait any longer. I'll leave some men here. Once they arrive, have them rush to Jietun for support."

  "The enemy has 5,000 troops and horses, while we only have 8,000. We can't guarantee that we can swallow them in one bite. Commander, wouldn't it be better to wait for two more days until all the reinforcements arrive?" The commander of the Xian Zhi tribe said in a low voice.

  "The Iron Wolf, Duan Song's 5,000 troops will arrive at the fort one step ahead of us. They will start attacking from the northwest first. The Iron Turtle, Hou E, will lead 4,000 iron cavalry to cut in from the northeast, while I will lead the Wuyan tribe's Junyou, the Sumu tribe's Fei Ji, the Lijian tribe's Li Kui, and the Xizhao tribe's Chuang Xiao, four small commanders, to cut in from the southwest. With 13,000 against 5,000, we should have a good chance of winning quickly."

  Murong Feng looked at everyone and said slowly, "After devouring the Longluo Department's Quanju, plus the Hu Department's Ke Zui is basically finished. In the central Xianbei, only the two Murongs on the south bank of the Ruoshui River still have the power to fight with us. After this battle, everyone can get a lot of spoils from these two big departments, which should make up for the losses of each department."

  Yi Tie'e and other tribal leaders hastily paid their respects to Murong Feng, "Thank you, General, for your generous gift."

  The sky was still dimly lit, and the wild geese flying overhead began to sound loud cow horn sounds.

  The troops are gathering. The warriors have finished their breakfast. Under the urging of the bugle call, everyone is packing up their tents in an orderly manner, extinguishing the remaining fires, harnessing their horses, and slowly gathering under the large flag of their respective units.

  The divine eagle of the Black Eagle tribe soared in the sky above the Wild Goose Enclosure, its mouth emitting a clear and crisp cry. Looking down from the sky above the Wild Goose Enclosure to the ground below, there were five streams of people of different colors flowing towards the grasslands outside the Great Camp.

  Murong Feng stood on horseback under his own scarlet banner. His expression was stern, gazing at the endless stream of soldiers in front of him, his eyes filled with excitement, and his whole body exuded a high morale.

  Murong Feng turned his head to look at Li Hong, who was sitting on horseback and looking around. Li Hong's black leopard seemed to sense the impending battle and was pacing back and forth restlessly, occasionally letting out a loud cry. Li Hong kicked his horse's belly in embarrassment, "This little guy is not being honest."

  "Are you still nervous?" Murong Feng asked kindly. Li Hong's face immediately turned red as he recalled the tension of the battle at Ma Zui Slope. He hastily shook his head, puffed out his chest and shouted loudly: "Report to General, not nervous anymore!" Then with a pleased tone in a low voice said: "How about it? I was right this time, wasn't I? Fighting is really exciting."

  Murong Feng was amused by him, "You're a genius, didn't I say so?" Immediately, his eyes flashed with a hint of worry and concern that was hard to detect. What was he worried about? Looking at Li Hong's black hair fluttering slightly in the morning breeze, Murong Feng suddenly felt that this world was really unfair. The weak Great Han had an abundance of talent, and even a fool could be a genius. In contrast, the vast Xianbei country couldn't find a young man like Li Hong. Although the Great Han had many talents, they were weak in national power, often suffering from a lack of talent but being invaded by the powerful Xianbei country at will. Perhaps this world was fair after all. But Li Hong was a Great Han person, and once he regained his memory or encountered some stimulation, he would still go back. What would someone like him mean to the Xianbei country if he held military power in the Great Han?

  Li Hong did not know what Murong Feng was thinking, he was still proudly showing off his cleverness to Murong Feng, "The general's plan is truly flawless. Eliminating Quwu and then quickly surrounding and connecting with it, this way the initiative of the entire central Xianbei battlefield has already been firmly grasped by the general. Regardless of whether Pohan Mountain succeeds or fails, the general has already secured an unbeatable position."

  Murong Feng looked at him in surprise, "Leopard, you have the entire Xianbei situation memorized?"

  "Isn't it said that a great general must grasp the overall situation in his heart before he can gain the greatest advantage on the local battlefield?"

  Murong Feng nodded in approval, "It's one thing to say it, but another thing entirely to actually do it."

  Orderlies from various departments galloped in on horseback, loudly reporting to Murong Feng that their troops had assembled.

  Murong Feng turned around and made a gesture of departure with his hands behind him.

  "Uggghhh..."

  A long, drawn-out bugle call awakened the sleeping dawn. It opened its eyes slightly and saw in a daze that thousands of horses and soldiers were advancing under a huge red banner, like a burst dam, making a deafening roar, rushing forward with a loud howl, and pouncing on it with great momentum. It was shocked and frightened, and suddenly opened its eyes wide.

  Suddenly, the brilliant red glow that filled the entire sky shot out from the horizon and enveloped the turbulent waves.

  The sun has just risen.