Zheng Fan furrowed his brows. "The south?"
If the Qian cavalry were coming from the north, it should be the cavalry from the Three Towns coming to support them. However, they shouldn’t be that quick.
This time, the Qian cavalry is coming from the south. This suggests it’s possibly the Qian State forces moving northward.
This unit of Wolf Land Soldiers is actually the first batch moving northward, implying the follow-up forces are not far away.
Zheng Fan glanced around. The current chaos in the city indicated to him that now could be their chance to breach the gate, but ultimately, this city couldn’t be defended.
The men he brought are cavalry and not numerous enough. What they rely on is individual soldier quality and maneuverability.
Zheng Fan made his decision.
Lady Daxi looked at Zheng Fan with a sorrowful expression.
So all her effort in disguising herself as a man was just to hear a bit of noise?
But the Blind One was, after all, the Blind One; he rarely makes impulsive decisions due to emotional involvement. So, Lady Daxi’s body trembled, and she fainted.
"Ah Li, protect the Blind One’s body."
Zheng Fan’s gaze shifted to the over two hundred captive native soldiers kneeling to one side.
A look of profound compassion appeared on his face. He said, "They are pitiful too. Heaven has the virtue of cherishing life. We’ll take Lady Daxi with us and let the rest go. I don’t kill prisoners."
"Understood, my lord," Liang Cheng nodded.
After saying that, Zheng Fan waved his hand and spurred his horse north, a troop of cavalry galloping after him.
Liang Cheng lingered behind slightly.
He ordered the surrounding cavalry, "Kill them all."
Failing to capture Mianzhou City was a great regret. Twice the city had lain vulnerable before them, as if deliberately luring them in, playing coy with a feigned resistance for the sake of atmosphere.
But the Green Willow Fortress army did not make it in this time.
They had indeed lost some men and horses.
But thanks to Lady Daxi’s divine maneuver, she had essentially delivered a wave of enemy heads.
Thus, this surprise attack was still immensely fruitful. In terms of military merit counted by heads taken, it far exceeded what Zheng Fan had gained during his last city infiltration.
And this was without even counting the huge gains made by the dwarf assassins in his own team.
The journey back north was not entirely smooth sailing, as the Three Towns in the north had indeed responded after receiving the beacon fire signals.
However, just as Zheng Fan had said to the Earl of North Border while they were roasting a leg of lamb, "Give me a few more men and horses, and I can make the Qian people cordially escort me out of their territory."
This time, the Qian people did not cordially escort them out, but faced with over a thousand Yan iron cavalry radiating a torrential killing aura, those small groups of one or two hundred Qian cavalrymen truly dared not advance to intercept them.
Although they clearly had opportunities to delay them, they didn’t dare to engage. Some only dared to follow from a great distance, merely making a token effort.
Even when the Green Willow Fortress cavalry contingent changed direction slightly, those Qian cavalrymen had to retreat.
The Qian people were waiting for their main force to arrive. However, their main force—more precisely, for the past few months, after being forced to retreat by the ten thousand Jingnan Army iron cavalry personally led by Lord Jingnan—had been holed up in their military garrisons, not daring to venture out recklessly. Thus, it was almost impossible for them to arrive in time.
Even if they did arrive in time, how could they possibly catch up to over a thousand brazen cavalrymen charging directly north, especially without auxiliary troops to actively intercept and delay them?
This was a cavalry force, a lavishly equipped one with two horses per man!
On the way back, the army’s morale remained high because they were not retreating in defeat but returning in triumph.
Unless a Qian cavalry force of nearly two thousand appeared before them, it would be practically impossible to compel them to change direction.
The reason Zheng Fan had been pursued to the point of having to dodge east and west during his last retreat was mainly because his forces had been too small. He had taken out four hundred tribal cavalry, some of whom were lost during the assault on the city. Moreover, they hadn’t been fully prepared for the expedition and were inevitably exhausted. Therefore, when faced with Qian pursuers, they had chosen to evade and detour. If Lord Jingnan hadn’t intervened, they would likely have perished in the Qian State.
But there was no such issue this time.
Everyone was eager to return, because the merit from the heads captured this time was enough for the prisoner soldiers to secure freedom for their families, and for the tribal soldiers to obtain household registration.
Moreover, the hairstyles and ear pendants of the Wolf Land Soldiers made their heads easily identifiable, so there would be no trouble verifying the kills. There was no need to worry about being accused of killing civilians to claim unearned merit.
However, pioneers often have the best luck. After this bloody lesson, the Wolf Land Soldiers would probably no longer dare to attempt such an audacious maneuver as chasing cavalry across the plains.
"Well, my lord, look! So many Qian cavalrymen are ’escorting’ us."
The Blind One was unconscious, carried on Fanli’s shoulder.
Xue Three was not present, and it was unknown if he was alive or dead.
Liang Cheng was commanding the troops, and Siniang was only suitable for nighttime activities.
So, only A Ming was available to chat with Zheng Fan at this moment.
More and more Qian cavalrymen began to gather by the sides and rear of the column, but they were soon left behind. Their stamina was no match for the lavish two-horses-per-rider setup of Zheng Fan’s men. Besides, they lacked the determination to charge forward and seek battle.
Being cavalrymen themselves, they were all experts. They knew full well the quality and temperament of the cavalry before them. Perhaps if they were blindfolded, they might have tried their chances. But no one was willing to knowingly throw themselves like eggs against a stone.