Chapter Forty-Four: Arch-Enemy

  Qian Bu Li's estimate was correct. After he led his troops to rush for ten miles, the movement of the troops had been transmitted by the flying eagle tribe scouts to Jamukha, and Jamukha again brought his team to follow closely behind.

  For men, there is one thing that absolutely cannot be lost, and that is face! Of course, this is a colloquialism. If we go deeper, "face" can be interpreted as "dignity" or "glory". For Jamukha, who rose to power on the grasslands and roamed the grasslands, three consecutive defeats are a great humiliation! To the point where he has now lost his judgment, as long as there is a glimmer of hope, he will pursue it relentlessly, he wants to regain his dignity! Chahar repeatedly hinted at Jamukha's retreat, after all, the Flying Eagle tribe still had an elite army of 100,000, and the most important thing for now was to return to the grasslands, revenge could be taken in the future. Unfortunately, Chahar's correct suggestion angered Jamukha, who scolded him until he was covered in dog blood.

  Unfortunately, neither Qian Buli nor Jamukha thought of one thing at this moment. Failure is a double-edged sword for a generation of heroes! There are losses and gains! Years later, when Jamukha led his troops to battle against Qian Buli on the grasslands, his leadership style became extremely stable, making it impossible for Qian Buli to find any weaknesses in him. In the end, Qian Buli was forced to choose a strategic retreat.

  After the event, Qian Buli sighed and finally understood that if he could only defeat an opponent without being able to kill him, it was better not to fight at all. Defeating him but not killing him would only make him stronger next time, and the experience gained from victory is never as valuable as the lessons learned from failure. Repeating this process, one day you will be the one who fails, no matter how big the gap between you two was initially! Qian Buli had an epiphany: opponents are meant to be slaughtered, not just defeated! Cherishing each other? Mutual respect? Those are just idle fantasies of scholars and poets!

  Qian Buli's leading style has also undergone a major change, using troops to become more cunning and ruthless. Before he can defeat his opponents, he would rather retreat and avoid battle, bearing the shame of being weak, than give them the opportunity to learn from their failures. One after another, famous generals fell before Qian Buli's banner, many of whom were not convinced, but unfortunately, Qian Buli did not care about their conviction, only their death! Having already learned a profound lesson, how could Qian Buli possibly give others the same opportunity?

  But Qian Buli was unaware of the things that would happen in the future, he was sitting in his tent listening with interest to Wang Rui's report.

  Originally, Wang Rui's vanguard troops also made a forced march, and the scouts on the front road discovered several deep and uncovered wheel tracks after shooting and killing several suspicious people who tried to escape. After this news reached Wang Rui's ears, he immediately ordered the cavalry squadron to set out in its entirety, following the wheel tracks to pursue them, and soon caught up with a convoy of over 40 guards.

  After a brief exchange of fire, more than 40 people were killed and several others who escaped were captured by Wang Rui, and they seized ten carts of baggage.

  As for where these supplies came from and why they appeared on the snowy plain, Qian Buli and Wang Rui had their own ideas. Qian Buli was directing his troops to gather and regroup while ordering Ren Shuai to interrogate the captured prisoners.

  Jamuqa took advantage of the Southern army's disarray and ordered his Imperial Guards to charge, but this battle could only be considered a minor skirmish. Jamuqa, who had previously led by example, seemed to fear the enemy commander's mysterious weapon and did not lead the charge himself, instead standing far behind. The Imperial Guards also lost their momentum, exchanging only a few rounds of arrows before quickly retreating from the battlefield.

  The two armies marched forward in such a strange way, from the normal sequence, Zhamuhe's near guard light cavalry was more like Qian Bu Li's rear team, and the cavalry team squeezed by Du Bing under the middle army arrow camp looked a bit out of place.

  Still early in the morning, setting up deer horns, setting up horse-dragging ropes, digging pitfalls, building arrow towers, watchtowers, and sentry posts. These are all tasks that require strength and time. Want to skip them? On the battlefield, skipping is a life-and-death price!

  "Adults." Ren Shuai and Wang Rui walked into the commander's tent together: "Those captives were beaten unconscious many times, but no one was willing to confess, and they kept saying that they wanted to go to the Imperial Court to accuse us of torturing merchants.

  "Wang Ruidao said: 'Sir, I reckon they are all loyal followers of He Jiong's dead soldiers. There is no way to get them to speak.'"

  "Even punishment must be carried out with both kindness and severity." Qian Buli raised his head: "You've been beaten enough, now it's time to save them once."

  "Save them? How?" Wang Rui looked at Qian Buli in surprise.

  "Send a few people disguised as assassins to kill one of them, then send soldiers to rush in and drive the assassins away. If they are not stupid to the extreme, I think they will make a wise choice."

  "I understand, sir." Ren Shuai bowed and turned to leave.

  "Give it back to me, let Wang Rui do this." Qian Buli hastily called out to Ren Shuai, this guy was a bit clever, but his violent temper was also true, and letting Ren Shuai handle these delicate matters made Qian Buli worry that he would mess things up.

  If it were foreign assassins trying to kill someone in an army, it would be almost impossible, but if it were acting, it would be much easier. Two people wearing black clothes and masks sneaked into the temporary tent where prisoners were being held at night, inside which there were four prisoners tied to wooden pillars and two night watchmen sleeping on a small table.

  "Hush..." One of the men in black raised his index finger, and several prisoners exchanged glances with each other, their eyes revealing a mixture of surprise and delight.

  Another man in black crept up and knocked out the two soldiers with the handle of his knife.

  "Your Excellency... why save us? We are just merchants, and our goods were confiscated by corrupt officials. We have nothing to repay you with." One of the captives asked cautiously in a low voice.

  A man in black walked up to him, suddenly stretched out his hand and covered his mouth, the dagger in his hand made a swift slash across his neck, and instantly a stream of blood shot out.

  The other three captives were shocked and pale, before they could make a sound, suddenly there was a shout from outside the tent: "Assassins! Come quickly, assassins!!"