Tiger Guards

Chapter 505 Capturing the Thief and Capturing the King
Sheyan Wangting, night fell on the fifteenth.

The bright moon hung high in the night sky, and the soldiers had already adapted to the recent snowy night scene.

Apart from the sparse, necessary warning fires, the patrolling officers and soldiers no longer even lit any fires.

East of the royal court, the retreating Xiongnu troops set up tents, and the Xianbei easily pushed back their more than 10,000 cavalry.

There wasn't even a physical collision; they practically fled at the first sign of trouble.

Throughout the night, Xiongnu cavalry continued to retreat. The later the cavalry returned, the more likely they were to abandon the winter supplies they had brought with them, and lose the resources they had to set up tents together.

Some even abandoned their spoils of war, but there was no instance of abandoning the wounded or sacrificing their lives for their comrades.

In the royal court, Zhao Ji couldn't stay idle, so he could only participate in night patrols, leading a team of more than thirty cavalrymen in sleds to patrol around the camp and relax.

He had no interest in hosting a banquet for Liu Qubei and Xiutu Dada. Only by personally patrolling the night and experiencing the hardships endured by the patrolling officers and soldiers could Zhao Ji rekindle his desire to fight.

Having reached a high position, he could have avoided fighting, and so did those around him. His personal involvement in the battle was seen as a dereliction of duty by his personal guards and a disgrace to the other generals and soldiers.

Feeling the biting cold, Zhao Ji was also gathering his killing intent.

He considered himself a civilized person and truly abhorred killing unless absolutely necessary.

Killing is a means, not an end.

In the quiet room of the royal court, Jia Xu lowered his brows and stared at the sand table. He was not at all surprised by the Xianbei people's quick reaction and the accurate and targeted response of the Qiang people from the three counties.

He knew the various Hu tribes in the border regions too well, as well as the powerful local clans, and he also knew the Grand Marshal.

Jia Xu remained calm no matter what strange things happened on the battlefield in Shangjun.

From the very beginning of the Grand Marshal's planning, this war was aimed at attacking the Xianbei people.

It would be best if we could launch a surprise attack on the Qiang tribes in the three prefectures, but it wouldn't matter if we failed.

It is impossible to pacify the three counties by means of a sneak attack.

Only a decisive and thorough annihilation battle can eliminate the mobile resistance forces of the Qiang people; then the scattered Qiang cities and stone fortresses will become easy prey, which can be captured one by one with overwhelming local forces.

Only by simultaneously annihilating and severely damaging the Xianbei people's intervention forces can we strike a blow to the morale of the various Qiang tribes.

If even the Xianbei cannot rescue the Qiang people, then truly no one can save them.

Once you're in dire straits, many wars become much easier to fight.

The Qiang tribes of the three commanderies had a history of surrendering to the Han army when they couldn't defeat them; it wasn't unacceptable for them to feign surrender again.

Back then, Grand Commandant Duan was so ruthless. Could Grand Marshal Zhao be even more ruthless than Grand Commandant Duan?

At this moment, Jia Xu was no longer thinking about the battlefield situation.

He was analyzing who had tipped off the Hu people and Xianbei people in the three commanderies. It could be a disgraced member of the Xiongnu nobility, or a discontented official under the Grand Marshal.

Another possibility is that the Grand Marshal sent someone to leak the secret, with the aim of luring the Xianbei people into the trap.

If Zhao, the Grand Marshal, had not sent anyone to leak the secret, nor had it been leaked by a disgruntled Xiongnu nobleman, but rather by a scholar-official from the border region who leaked the secret through captured letters and prisoners, then surely many more people would have died.

Jia Xu was worried about this issue because his intuition told him that this was the most likely scenario, and if he couldn't decisively sever some ties, it might implicate him.

Jia Xu had no doubt about the outcome of this war.

Back then, Grand Commandant Duan led the charge, with over a thousand men chasing and cutting down hundreds of thousands of Qiang and Hu tribes; now, Xu Huang, Zhao Yun, and Zhang Liao in the vanguard are all no less brave than Grand Commandant Duan.

Not to mention Zhao, the Grand Marshal, who was right beside him. Given the fragile resilience of the allied forces of the various Hu tribes, they would be utterly unable to withstand Zhao's onslaught in the event of a field battle. Jia Xu stared at the map with a deep, listless gaze, mentally sentencing each of his former officials to death.

As he quietly cleared away the burden of his personal connections, Zhao Ji returned from his camp inspection, radiating a chill.

Zhao Ji wasn't in a hurry to warm himself by the fire; if he were to suddenly warm himself by the fire after being frozen, he would feel uncomfortable.

He handed a military intelligence report that he had personally received to Jia Xu: "Strategist, the allied forces of the Gao Nu and Qiang tribes, numbering over ten thousand cavalry, who are attacking the southern route army, are heading north along the straight road and are already over forty li away."

Jia Xu took the military dispatch with both hands and read it, silently estimating in his mind: "Now it seems that apart from these newly arrived more than 10,000 people, there are more than 30,000 Qiang allied troops and more than 10,000 Xianbei cavalry in the Fushi area?"

"more than."

Zhao Ji stared at the sand table: "From the north come not only the Xianbei vanguard, but also the Qiang and Hu tribes from the north who came with them, numbering over 20,000. The Qiang tribes of Fushi and Yulin, when united, will number nearly 40,000 infantry and cavalry. In addition, there is the Xianbei chieftain Kui Tou's troops who came south from Shuofang and Wuyuan, whose size will be between 20,000 and 30,000 cavalry."

For the Xianbei people of Shuofang, winter marches south into the border regions for warfare were not an obstacle, as the ice and snow along the way represented a trek and advance towards warmer areas.

They will surely be able to enter the pass to obtain supplies before they run out of the fodder they brought.

They had long since adapted to the harsher, colder environment, and their winter campaigns south into the border regions actually provided a sense of comfort and respite from the cold.

People's physical constitutions vary greatly. The Xianbei people who could spend the winter in Shuofang must have been more resistant to the cold, while those who were not resistant to the cold had long since died.

"How did the Grand Marshal determine that the leader would come?"

Jia Xu inquired, and he did not believe that Kui Tou would come. Although there was no intelligence support, it would be somewhat difficult for the Xianbei people to come south from Shuofang without prior preparation.

Sending over 10,000 cavalry south to fight in the border region presents two different logistical challenges compared to sending 30,000 to 50,000 cavalry south. The requirements for the prestige of the Xianbei ruler, Kui Tou, are also fundamentally different.

The failure of sending 10,000 cavalry south will not affect the leader's status.

However, if he were to lead 30,000 to 50,000 cavalry south but suffer a defeat, or even return empty-handed and enduring the cold and hardship, it would seriously shake his position as the king and chieftain.

Logically speaking, Jia Xu concluded that Kui Tou would not intervene on a large scale.

Zhao Ji looked at the sand table and smiled: "I've heard that Kui Tou is only thirty-two years old. If someone his age knew my age, how could he possibly resist?"

The smile on his face quickly faded. Zhao Ji raised his hand and picked up the three flags that symbolized the ten thousand Xianbei cavalry. He stacked them together and placed them in Kucha, more than twenty miles north of the Yulin Pass: "He is my prey."

If we can remove the head of the chieftain and severely damage the combined Qiang forces of the three prefectures gathered in Fushi, then we will have a chance to pacify the three prefectures this winter.

Zhao Ji had no interest in attacking the cities and fortresses occupied by the Qiang tribes, eliminating their manpower, and crushing their fighting spirit in order to quickly dismantle their will to resist.

The head of a nomadic chieftain is of great political significance.

Defeating the opponent, injuring the opponent, the opponent dying after being seriously injured and fleeing, and capturing and killing in battle—these are four different meanings.

In reality, ordinary people and herders had no choice. The heads of the Han and Hu chieftains mainly affected the middle and high-ranking leaders.

Both his own head and the head of the leader could determine the fighting courage of hundreds of thousands of people.

When Jia Xu saw Zhao Ji's judgment, he immediately felt that it made some sense, as Kui Tou was only thirty-two years old, or even younger in reality.

If Kui Tou were nearly forty, he would certainly be very patient and would slowly while away the time with Zhao Ji until one of them could no longer bear it.

Just as they were discussing the chieftain, reinforcements from the Northern Xianbei and various Qiang tribes, who had completed a temporary rest in Fushi City, poured out from all the gates.

Holding torches, they launched a fierce attack on the two camps outside the city where Zhao Yun, Xu Huang, and Zhang Liao were located.

Fortunately, the two camps were backed by the Sheyan River, whose surface had not yet frozen, so they could only be surrounded from three sides and could not be completely encircled.

(End of this chapter)