Chapter Twenty-Four: Chaos Erupts

  In a luxurious courtyard, a middle-aged man said to an old man in a green robe beside him: "Li Yuanwai, now that the Ma family is finished, isn't it our turn next? This Prince of Liao is really lawless and doesn't put us aristocratic families in his eyes at all."

  "The other is a royal prince of the imperial court, what can I, a small official, do?" The old man in green clothes said slowly with his eyes narrowed.

  "Li Yuanwai, this won't do! A small prince of the imperial court dares to lead troops to destroy the Ma family without permission. Will there still be space for our aristocratic families to survive? For thousands of years on the Central Plains, who has dared to treat us aristocratic families like this? Moreover, wasn't it because of our aristocratic families' support that the Great Qin Empire was established?" said the middle-aged man.

  "Nonsense! Are you not afraid that these words will reach the imperial court?" the old man in green robes shouted.

  "It's the imperial court that won't let us old families live a good life, I'm also helpless." The middle-aged man said.

  "What do you think should be done?" asked the old man in green clothes.

  "My Dongfang family in Wuwei may not have a large foundation, but to give our family a chance to survive, I must petition the Emperor to punish the Liao King's crimes. At that time, I hope Mr. Li will strongly support us." The middle-aged man said.

  "All right, all right, I will definitely sign the petition at that time." The old man in green clothes nodded and said.

  "In that case, I'll take my leave." The middle-aged man stood up and said.

  "You're welcome!"

  After the middle-aged man left, an old man dressed as a housekeeper came to Li Yuanwai's side and asked: "What do you think?"

  "The Prince of Liao has already established a strong foothold in Wuwei, and with the addition of the 100,000 elite soldiers of the Tianlang Army and the wealth of the Ma family, even without the support of the imperial court, he can still stand firm in the northwest. Moreover, at this time, the imperial court will not be able to deal with them."

  "Why? Tell me, Shang Ningbo."

  "Now the imperial court's 100,000-strong Tiger Troop in Yumen Pass and the 100,000 Mongolian Iron Cavalry outside are locked in a fierce battle that is hard to resolve. The Peacock Troop is stationed at Ritsuryo Fortress, while the Phoenix Troop, Leopard Troop, and Fire Lion Troop are deployed along the borders of the Qing Empire. The Silver Fox Troop is monitoring the Daiji Empire from Lianyungang. The Blue Bull Troop, Stag Troop, and White Crane Troop are fighting against the Heifeng Empire. As a result, only local garrison troops, the Imperial Guard, and the Forbidden Army remain in the empire. However, the emperor will not mobilize the Imperial Guard or the Forbidden Army under any circumstances. Moreover, the local garrison troops are no match for the Tianlang Troop. Furthermore, there are tens of thousands of Mongolian Iron Cavalry stationed in Lanzhou. For the sake of stability in Guanzhong, the imperial court will not take drastic action."

  "What you said is not wrong, now the imperial court has not established a crown prince, and various factions are vying for power. They want to win over the Liao king, but who would dare offend him at this time?" Li Yuanwai instructed Shang Ningbo: "Order everyone in the Li family to behave themselves in Wuwei, otherwise don't blame me, Li Jianfeng, for being impolite."

  "Yes."

  ……

  Ma's Ranch, no, it should be Northwest Ranch now. After Ma's downfall, Yang Chengfeng occupied the ranch and turned it into a cavalry training base for the Heavenly Wolf Army.

  The three thousand heavy cavalry played an important role in this attack on the Ma family ranch, and Yang Chengfeng expanded the heavy cavalry to ten thousand. The commander of these ten thousand heavy cavalry was Peng Yunlong's man.

  Apart from the 10,000 heavy cavalrymen, the Heavenly Wolf Legion also had 60,000 light cavalrymen. The six commanders of the 10,000-man units were Sutu Laideng, Deng Zhenglai, Nie Songbo, Luosaka, Wang Zuwei and Sun Yingjie. Kong Zhaojun, Sun Dongfang and Pan Yinglong respectively commanded a heavy infantry unit and two light infantry units.

  In addition, Yang Chengfeng's personal guard suffered heavy losses in this battle of Narati grassland. After this war, Yang Chengfeng expanded his personal guard to 2,000 people, with 1,000 cavalry and 1,000 infantry.

  Of course, as Yang Chengfeng's personal guard, this thousand cavalry was selected from the Tianlang Army and was an elite force. According to Wang Zuowei and Situ Leideng, this thousand-strong personal guard could defeat 5,000 cavalry of the Tianlang Army, showing just how formidable they were.

  "Your Highness, the nomads of Nalati Grassland in the north have rebelled." This was how King Zu Wei hastily reported to Yang Chengfeng in the great hall.

  "What? What's going on?" Yang Chengfeng turned his head and asked.

  "It was said to be for revenge on the Ma family, but now it has grown to five thousand people and is heading towards the ranch." Wang Zuwei said.

  "Don't be so arrogant." Yang Cheng let out a cold snort. "Summon Deng Zheng and Nie Songbai for me."

  "Yes."

  Before long, Deng Zhenglai and Nie Songbai arrived at the ranch's main hall.

  Yang Chengfeng briefly introduced Wang Zuwei's report and said, "The situation is like this. This time I summoned the two of you to deal with these herders."

  "Your Highness, just give me three thousand light cavalry, and I will annihilate them all." Nie Songbai said.

  Yang Chengfeng turned his head and asked Deng Zhong: "How does General Deng see it?"

  "Is Your Highness thinking of annihilating these rebels or catching all the herders on the Nalat Grassland in one net?" Deng Zhenglai did not answer Yang Chengfeng's words, but instead asked back.

  "How about annihilating this rebel force? What if we capture them all at once?" Yang Chengfeng asked.

  "Annihilate this rebel force, just as General Nie said, dispatching three thousand cavalry can eliminate them. If we catch them off guard, now is not the time to deal with these rebels. Let the hidden enemies appear and then annihilate them." Deng Zhong said.

  Yang Chengfeng nodded secretly, this Deng Zhenglai was a material that could be cultivated, and in the future, he might have the potential to stand out on his own.

  "Alright, I command General Wang Zuwei as the commander-in-chief, General Deng Zhenglai and General Nie Songbai as deputy commanders, to lead 30,000 cavalrymen to handle the matter of Narati Grassland. I hope that within a month, Narati Grassland will be completely under my control."

  "Yes." said Wang Zuwei, Deng Zhenglai and Nie Songbo.