Chapter 42: Abandon?

  Zha Muhe feared that the enemy general would rush forward and harm his troops, so he hastily led his imperial guards and light cavalry to press the attack.

  Qian Buli did not move, he didn't want to provoke Jamukha. The most important thing now was to preserve his strength and then take the opportunity to capture Li Jiancheng's city of Xiongshi. An internal enemy is far more terrifying than an external one, Qian Buli, who knew history well, understood this point clearly.

  "Ready!" A soldier in front of the catapult raised his small red flag, and Du Bing hastily led the cavalry to make way, fearing that the catapult would accidentally injure their own people.

  "Down!" The soldier waved the red flag down. In fact, the original Ji Zhou country used whistling to command the catapults, but Qian Buli changed it. The two words "prepare" were also from Qian Buli's teachings.

  A dark mass rose into the air, gradually dispersing in mid-air, and finally shrouded an area of over a dozen square meters before crashing down with a loud thud. Without standard catapult stones to impede him, Qianli ordered his soldiers to deepen the stone troughs on the catapult carts, filling them with large and small pebbles instead. These had far less lethal force than whole catapult stones, but their intimidating effect was unmatched by any single stone.

  A commotion broke out in the ranks of the Imperial Guard's light cavalry, with men shouting and horses whinnying. The range of the grapeshot was too great, and in an instant more than thirty Guardsmen were struck down, their heads broken and bleeding. Many warhorses were also injured and frightened, galloping wildly about and throwing the ranks of the Imperial Guard into disarray. However, the casualties were not as severe as they could have been; apart from four cavalrymen who had been knocked unconscious and lay stiff on the snowy ground, most of the wounded men were struggling to restrain their frightened mounts.

  They actually brought catapults? Jamukha waved his hand, Chahar galloped past, leaned over to the side of the horse, picked up the glue pot from the ground, and then turned the horse around to retreat. Chahar ran while looking back at Qian Bu Li, apparently, San Wei's mysterious death had a huge impact on him.

  "Ready!" The soldier raised the little red flag again: "Fire!"

  Another cluster of black shadows rose into the air, and the Imperial Light Horsemen silently watched as a hail of stones flew over their heads. Not one person moved, without the king's order, not to mention throwing stones from above, even if they were dropping fireballs, they would never retreat half a step! This kind of strict military discipline is precisely why the Imperial Light Horsemen became one of the most elite cavalry units on the grasslands.

  "Retreat!" The commander of the southern camp cavalry unit, who had been waiting with his longbow at the ready, gave the order to withdraw. In his heart, he knew that the death of San Kui would have a huge impact on the soldiers, and even if it wasn't, his own generals were now unwilling to continue fighting. The look of relief on Chahar's face when he returned to their own camp had already made this clear!

  The third squadron of black shadows rose into the air, but at this moment, Jamukha's bodyguards had already run out of range of the catapults. Block after block of goose eggs hit the snowy ground, making the snow skin fly everywhere and crackle with a loud noise.

  Money didn't leave his heart, and he finally let out a sigh of relief. He gazed in the direction that Jamukha had fled with a faint smile on his face, silent and speechless. Although he had only temporarily repelled Jamukha, the strong crossbow was at its end, and it was hard to penetrate the thick armor. Could the Imperial Guard cavalry, which had already lost three battles, still launch a decent attack?

  Unfortunately, Qian Buli's smile came and went quickly. Just when he was laughing the happiest, he suddenly thought of something, something he couldn't solve, and Qian Buli's face changed.

  Du Bing urged his horse to run up, just wanting to open his mouth to congratulate Qian Buli, but found that Qian Buli's face looked extremely unpleasant. Du Bing couldn't help but stare, Commander, what's wrong? Didn't we win?

  Qian Buli didn't respond to Du Bing, suddenly whipped his horse and rushed straight towards the central army. Du Bing was stunned for a moment, then hurriedly urged his horse to follow Qian Buli's back.

  "Unrivaled!" Ji Sheng's emotions ran high after hearing the news of their victory, and she couldn't help but poke her head out of the carriage window to greet Qian Buli. But to her surprise, Qian Buli didn't even give her a glance, instead rushing past her carriage without stopping his horse. Before the warhorse came to a stop, Qian Buli leapt up and jumped onto Jia Tianxiang's carriage. However, this acrobatic move was beyond Qian Buli's current abilities, and he stumbled, almost falling under the carriage. Fortunately, one of Jia Tianxiang's guards was quick-witted and caught hold of Qian Buli just in time.

  Qian Buli pushed open the curtain and walked in, inside Jia Tianxiang was sitting in a corner of the carriage with a vacant expression. He saw Qian Buli suddenly rush in without greeting, and he couldn't help but be taken aback. As soon as he made out Qian Buli's pale face, Jia Tianxiang let out a bitter laugh: "You've thought of it too?"

  Qian Buli was taken aback for a moment, and then his face revealed anger, he growled in a low voice: "You've known all along?! Then why didn't you tell me earlier?!"

  "My greatest wish in life, and that of Your Majesty's, is the same: to ensure that the people of Zhou are no longer threatened by the nomads. That's why I've been gathering information about them from various channels." Jia Tianxiang shook his head slowly: "I'm well aware of their combat strength. If we make even a slight mistake, we may never leave this snowy land again. And... my old friend is waiting for us up ahead! It's already not easy for you to lead us out of here safely; how can I let other things distract you?!"

  "This... how can this be considered something else?" Qian Bu Li let out a long sigh and plopped down on the ground.

  "What are you talking about?" Ji Shengqing lifted the car curtain, looking at Qian Buli and Jia Tianxiang in surprise. Ji Shengqing had heard their conversation but couldn't understand what they were saying.

  "Your Highness, we were discussing...” Jia Tianxiang hesitated for a moment before deciding to tell the truth: “We were talking about Xueyuan City. Jamuka suffered a great loss here and if he retreats, it's likely that he'll leave from Xueyuan City. With less than 200 guards left in Xueyuan City... it will be massacred!”

  "Heavens... Budi, you must think of a way!" Ji Shengqin rushed over and grabbed Budi's arm, looking at him with an expectant expression.

  Qian Buli looked down at the carpet, silent and speechless. Everyone has emotions, although Qian Buli's personality conformed to the essence of " benevolent but not martial", he left his own world and came here, his heart inevitably feeling empty and lonely. On the night of the grand victory celebration, the simplicity and enthusiasm of the civilians in Xueyuan City deeply moved the lonely Qian Buli: the blushing girl who presented him with flowers; the cheering children who jumped for joy; the men who gazed at him with adoring eyes; the elderly who struggled to walk out of their homes and stood in the cold wind just to catch a glimpse of Qian Buli. Can he abandon them now and not save them from death? Qian Buli's heart ached...

  I'm really sorry today... Something unexpected came up and I didn't have time to write, I'll be back this afternoon, I'll write a chapter first, everyone scold me.