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Chapter 105: 105 Xiao Pengthian’s Intuition i
Chapter 105: 105 Xiao Pengthian’s Intuition i
Chapter 105: 105 Xiao Pengthian’s Intuition i
Translator: 549690339
The Barbarian Tribe has always been nomadic, with no permanent residence; they migrate with the water and grass, living pastoral lives.
Now they’re suddenly supposed to find a place to settle down, establish a country, and even farm the land—how could they possibly get used to that?
Therefore, the common folk of Great Sum are crucial. Yelv Nanyan’s idea is to ease the relationship between the Great Sum commoners and the Barbarian Tribe, then integrate the tribe into the agricultural culture of Great Sum.
But as soon as the Great Sum commoners heard that the Barbarian Tribe was coming, they all fled. What use is it for the Barbarian Tribe to occupy North City if there are none of them left?
Without the Great Sum commoners, could it be expected for these people, who are used to herding all year round, to farm the land?
How can they, inexperienced, farm the land effectively? If they can’t integrate into the farming culture, eventually, even if they occupy North City, they will still head south to plunder.
Heading south to plunder will directly conflict with the core interests of Great Sum. Those Seigniors and Aristocratic Families who initially cooperated with the Barbarian Tribe will surely band together and send a large army north. By then, whether the Barbarian Tribe can hold North City remains uncertain.
The Barbarian Tribe excels in Cavalry, with high mobility. If it comes to attacking a city, fine, but defending a city is something they have no experience in.
This is very disadvantageous for them.
At this moment, Xiao Hongbo was riding on horseback, standing on a grassy knoll, gazing in the direction of Yan County.
After a while, a cavalry unit approached rapidly towards their main forces.
It was Xiao Pengthian and his men returning.
Xiao Hongbo quickly turned to look at the army led by Xiao Pengthian. Xiao Pengthian arrived in front of Xiao Hongbo with a rather solemn face.
“My King, all the cities we visited are deserted. The majority of the Great Sum commoners have already migrated southward,” he said.
“We’ve captured some Great Sum commoners. According to them, the North Prince issued an order a while ago, instructing all commoners to move south. He plans to lead thirty thousand soldiers from North City to fight us to the death in Yan County.”
Upon hearing this, Xiao Hongbo was stunned for a moment.
Then he asked incredulously, “North Prince wants to fight us to the death in Yan County?”
Although Xiao Hongbo had never seen the North Prince, he had heard from the Great Sum merchants about what kind of person the North Prince was—a Prince who was ignorant and indulgent, a wastrel.
After the North Prince came to North City, he spent every day in the Prince’s Mansion indulging in pleasure, never bothering about the affairs of North City.
Moreover, it seems that the North Prince was only about 17 years old this year. Although 17 is considered an adult in these times, most 17-year-olds are still seen as children in other people’s eyes.
The North Prince was no exception in Xiao Hongbo’s view. To him, the North Prince was just a bratty kid.
He always thought that as soon as the North Prince heard of his march south, that young scoundrel would be so frightened that he would scamper away with his tail between his legs.
Now Xiao Pengthian was telling him that the North Prince hadn’t run away but instead was waiting in Yan County to fight them to the death.
This worthless Prince actually dares to fight me to the death?
To the iron cavalry of the Barbarian Tribe, what are thirty thousand soldiers? Nothing more than a herd of two-legged sheep with weapons.
Xiao Pengthian then said, “My King, this is what the commoners we captured said, and it was reportedly an imperial edict to the North Prince, ordering him to hold North City to the death and not to flee.”
Of course, the commoners had no idea about any imperial edict ordering the North Prince to hold North City to the death—it was all their own speculation.
After all, the North Prince gave the impression of being nothing more than a wastrel Prince, and his sudden declaration of a decisive battle against the Barbarian Tribe in North City seemed utterly implausible. Therefore, the commoners believed that it must be an imperial command forcing the North Prince to stay in Yan County.
After hearing what Xiao Pengthian said, Xiao Hongbo laughed and said, “Hahaha, indeed, how could that young scoundrel possibly dare to confront my iron cavalry.”
“So the Sum Emperor is planning to completely abandon that useless Prince of his,”
Xiao Hongbo accepted Xiao Pengthian’s reasoning, and he, too, believed that it was a strict order from the Great Sum court to North Prince not to retreat, which was why North Prince was left with no choice but to stubbornly hold his ground at Yan County.
To take the entire North City in a short amount of time, one must pass through Wanning Valley, and Yan County sat right below it, making it imperative for them to capture.
Perhaps to Great Sum, the strategic location of Yan County was advantageous, and by having North Prince defend Yan County, they could block the Barbarian Tribe to the north of Yan County.
In truth, this idea wasn’t wrong, as in the past, it was highly unlikely that the Barbarian Tribe would directly attack Yan County.
Because previously, the Barbarian Tribe mainly raided to the south for food and to abduct women, and the other cities north of Yan County could satisfy their needs.
Moreover, in the past, they mainly deployed Cavalry without siege equipment; taking a city like Yan County with tens of thousands of soldiers would have been impossible without several months.
But this time was different, as they were resolute in capturing the entire North City, and they had prepared siege equipment from the onset.
Taking Yan County wouldn’t be difficult at all.
Xiao Hongbo then loudly ordered, “Immediately send out the command, march to Yan County with utmost speed, 1 must capture that greenhorn North Prince! We can’t let him escape!”
Upon hearing Xiao Hongbo’s words, the soldiers behind him immediately sounded the trumpets.
At that moment, Xiao Pengthian cautioned, “My king, it might be wise to exercise caution, with only thirty thousand soldiers, how could North Prince propose a decisive battle to the death with us?”
“In my view, we should first dispatch a vanguard to scout the situation, and then have the main army move south.”
Xiao Pengthian always felt something was amiss, with strangeness apparent in every aspect of the situation.
If North Prince really wanted to resist the southward invasion of the Barbarian Tribe, he wouldn’t have dismantled the entire defense to the north of Yan County.
Although the city walls north of Yan County weren’t as solid as Yan County’s, the Barbarian Tribe would still need time to conquer those cities.
If the Barbarian Tribe spent time attacking those cities, it would buy enough time for Yan County.
In turn, some Seigniors within Great Sum would have time to dispatch troops to aid North Prince against the Barbarian Tribe.
Although the court of Great Sum didn’t dare to deploy troops recklessly at this time, they would inevitably require the Seigniors to send forces, albeit those Seigniors tend to drag their feet.
Logically, the longer North City could stall, the greater the possibility of North Prince defending it.
Even if North Prince understood nothing, those generals and soldiers beside him surely must recognize the importance of those cities in the North Land, right?
Yet, North Prince had withdrawn all the soldiers and civilians from those cities.
This made Xiao Pengthian sense the scent of conspiracy.
Hearing Xiao Pengthian’s words, Xiao Hongbo burst into laughter and then said, “Xiao Pengthian, you are just too cautious.”
“Do you know why the Elders didn’t choose you to be the Sky Wolf King? It’s because you’re too indecisive and not decisive enough in your actions.”
With those words, Xiao Hongbo rode his horse straight towards Yan County, leaving Xiao Pengthian alone in his place.
Watching Xiao Hongbo’s retreating figure, Xiao Pengthian just sighed.
For some reason, he felt a deep unease in his heart, as if something terrible was about to happen..