Ten miles of rapid marching took less than two hours.
The outline of the barbarian vanguard camp loomed faintly in the wind and snow.
Just as Xu Zhan had expected, the barbarian camp was completely off guard at this moment.
Perhaps they were certain that the Great Qian army was already too starved to lift their swords, or maybe this godforsaken weather simply made everyone too lazy to move.
The two sentries at the camp gate were huddled in a sheltered corner, hugging their spears and sleeping like dead pigs.
In the center of the camp, however, a massive bonfire was burning, and the faint sounds of drinking games and revelry could be heard.
These mongrel bastards are living quite comfortably.
Lu Dayou lay flat in a snow pit, his eyes turning red as he stared at the glistening roasted whole sheep in the distance.
He made a simple gesture: a slice across the neck.
No extra words were needed.
Xu Zhan led a dozen of the most agile scouts and silently crept forward.
Pfft! Pfft!
A few barely audible muffled sounds echoed, the sound of sharp blades slicing through windpipes. The two barbarian sentries at the gate went to meet their Eternal Heaven in their sleep, without even having the chance to let out a scream.
Immediately after, the camp gates were pushed open without a sound.
Lu Dayou slowly stood up, his ghost-head broadsword flashing with a cold gleam in the snowy night.
Brothers.
Dinner is served!
The next second, the silent black dragon suddenly erupted!
The slaughter had begun.
This was by no means a fair fight.
On one side was a well-fed, long-premeditated vengeance; on the other were bleary-eyed, disheveled sitting ducks.
The moment the battle cries exploded, the barbarian camp fell into total chaos.
Enemy attack! Enemy attack!
A barbarian centurion had just rushed out of his tent, pulling up his pants, when he ran straight into the bloodshot-eyed Xu Zhan.
Where did...
Squelch!
Before he could finish, the horse-cleaving sword, driven by the momentum of the charge, hacked him down, armor and all.
From your ancestors!
Xu Zhan kicked the corpse aside and roared, Kill them all! Leave no one alive!
The battle presented a completely one-sided situation.
It wasn't that the Great Qian soldiers had turned into supermen, but rather that the barbarians were in complete disarray.
In the darkness, they had no idea how many enemies had come. They only felt that battle cries and swinging steel blades were everywhere.
Fear was sharper than any sword.
Many barbarians couldn't even find their weapons before they were surrounded by a few well-coordinated Great Qian veterans and hacked to pieces.
Blood dyed the snow red, and the agonizing screams were torn to shreds by the wind and snow.
It was a highly efficient purge.
Goudan was in a killing frenzy by now. Unlike the big shots who had a systematic fighting style, he relied purely on brute force, grabbing any isolated barbarian and stabbing them wildly.
This is for eating meat! This is for throwing your weight around! This is for blocking our gates!
Every thrust of his blade vented the pent-up anger of the past few days.
Aside from those who scattered and fled deep into the blizzard, the barbarian vanguard camp was practically leveled.
As the sky grew slightly bright, the wind and snow began to subside.
A heavy stench of blood and burning lingered in the camp.
Lu Dayou sat on the tiger-skin chair that had originally belonged to the barbarian commander. His tattered armor was covered in ice shards and gore.
He wasn't holding a sword; instead, he gripped a leg of lamb rescued from the fire pit and took a vicious bite.
Delicious! It's been a long time since I've eaten this well!
Lu Dayou mumbled a curse with his mouth full, but the corners of his eyes were slightly moist.
Sir.
Xu Zhan limped over. His left arm was wrapped in a cloth strip, still seeping blood, but the expression on his face was more exhilarated than ever before.
The tally is complete.
The barbarians left behind over eighteen hundred corpses. The rest scattered. In this godforsaken weather, without horses or clothes, few of them will survive.
How many did we lose? Lu Dayou paused his movements.
Five hundred lightly wounded, heavily wounded... and three hundred and sixty dead. Xu Zhan's voice lowered slightly. Most were hit by stray barbarian arrows during the initial charge.
Lu Dayou nodded and fell silent for a moment.
To launch a night raid with three thousand remnant soldiers against five thousand elites and achieve this casualty ratio was already a miracle.
However...
Xu Zhan changed the subject, pointing to the mountainous pile of supplies behind him, his voice trembling. We struck it rich!
We captured eight hundred warhorses! The cattle and sheep haven't been fully counted yet! But the most crucial thing is...
Xu Zhan pulled a handful of bloodstained roasted barley flour from his chest and stuffed it into his mouth. Provisions! Enough provisions to last us a full half month!
Lu Dayou looked at the spoils of war scattered across the ground, and then at his brothers who were currently looting the barbarian corpses and changing into thick fur coats.
He let out a long breath, as if a thousand-pound weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
We survived this battle.
All thanks to County Princess Xu's miracle medicine...
Lu Dayou stood up and gazed toward the south, his eyes filled with complex emotions.
If it weren't for that sustaining bite of hot food, let alone killing the enemy, the brothers would have collapsed halfway here.
Lu Dayou roared at the soldiers cleaning up the battlefield around him.
Brothers, we owe County Princess Xu our lives!
In this battle, County Princess Xu deserves the highest merit!
The soldiers of the entire camp raised their captured barbarian scimitars and cheered in unison.
Long live County Princess Xu! Long live braised pork!
Xu Zhan's eyes grew hot, his heart pounding like a drum.
To think that his sister, who only knew how to squander money back in Jiangning, had actually rewritten the battle situation in the Northern Frontier with a few jars of overly salty, junk food?
What are you staring blankly for!
Lu Dayou kicked Xu Zhan in the rear, urging him.
Hurry up and write the battle report!
Send it eight hundred miles expedited to the Ministry of War! Submit it directly to the Emperor!
Write it with everything you've got! Explain clearly how County Princess Xu was far-sighted and how she developed this peerless military ration that replenishes divine strength and wards off the severe cold!
Xu Zhan jolted and immediately rushed into a relatively intact tent.
Finding paper and brush, Xu Zhan ground the ink, his hands trembling with excitement.
The ink fell onto the paper, turning into lines of flamboyant, dancing calligraphy.
Your subject, Lu Dayou, Centurion of the Northern Frontier Outpost Camp, bows his head weeping blood!
The sister of my subordinate Xu Zhan, named Qinghuan, harboring the world in her heart, spent her entire family fortune of fifty thousand taels.
She developed the special military ration Xu Family Meat Brick, containing high salt to solidify the foundation, heavy sugar to generate vitality, and strong liquor to expel the cold.
Unslaked lime boils upon meeting water, turning ice and snow into a divine soup!
Our soldiers drank it, their physical strength surged, fearing no severe cold, and on a snowy night, utterly defeated the five thousand barbarian vanguard!
Writing up to here, Xu Zhan's tears fell pit-a-pat, mixing into the ink.
His mind was filled with the pitiful image of his sister being hounded by loan sharks to scrape together the shipping fees.
Sister, don't worry, this time your brother will definitely make the Emperor reward you heavily!
With the appearance of this peerless military ration, you are the living ancestor of the Great Qian military!
Half an hour later.
Several soldiers mounted their warhorses, carrying this battle report that was enough to shock the entire court and country, and rode off through the snow.
Piercing through the wind and snow of the Northern Frontier, they flew straight toward the capital.
......
Meanwhile, in the warm pavilion of the Lingering Garden in Jiangning.
Xu Qinghuan, wrapped in an expensive fox fur coat and happily eating lychees, suddenly shuddered without warning.
Hiss... why does my back feel so creepy?
Xu Qinghuan spat out a lychee pit, muttering to herself with a smug look on her face.
Calculating the time, Second Brother should have eaten that unslaked lime meat brick by now.
"An upset stomach is the least of their worries. If they end up delaying military operations, the imperial decree exiling them to Lingnan is undoubtedly already on its way!"
Standing off to the side, Li Sheng saw the twisted smile on his young mistress's face and silently took two steps back.
