The low-key prince summons trainees from the Imperial Household Department at the start of the game.

May 17th, Yunzhou.

Han Chong's 30,000 elite guards completed a textbook encirclement battle outside Yunzhou City.

Li Wenzhong's 500 elite cavalry lured the enemy deep into their territory, leading 3,000 cavalrymen from the Right Guli King's tribe of the Hu people into an ambush, while Han Chong's heavy cavalry surrounded them from both flanks.

In one battle, eight hundred were beheaded and more than five hundred were captured. The Right Guli King himself was captured alive by Li Wenzhong, tied to a horse and dragged back to the Yunzhou camp.

Han Chong personally poured a bowl of wine for Li Wenzhong in the commander's tent.

This taciturn young centurion proved himself to be the most outstanding vanguard commander in the Tiger Guard in less than a month, through three ambushes, two skirmishes, and a decisive encirclement battle.

He pushed the Right Guli King to the center of the command tent. The old Hu chieftain, his face covered in blood, knelt on the ground, cursing in his Hu language.

Han Chong, holding his wine bowl, nudged Li Wenzhong's knee with his toe and laughed, "Stubborn? Wait until you get to the capital and meet His Majesty, then let's see how long you can keep up the act, Li Wenzhong!"

"Your subordinate is here!" Li Wenzhong knelt on one knee, the blood on his armor still wet.

"You have made the greatest contribution in this battle. I recommend you to His Majesty for the position of Captain of the Tiger Guard. Your qualifications are not enough for the position, but I never judge people based on their seniority. I will reward you with one hundred taels of silver and ten bolts of brocade. When we return to the capital, I will personally host a victory banquet for you."

After Han Chong finished speaking, he took a short knife from his waist, the scabbard of which was engraved with the words "Tiger Warrior".

That was his keepsake; he threw the knife to Li Wenzhong.

Let him take it to the Tiger Guard camp and choose whoever he wants. Once he has chosen a thousand men, they will be organized into the Tiger Guard Independent Vanguard Battalion.

The hilt of the knife still carried the warmth of Han Chong's palm.

Li Wenzhong accepted the sword with both hands, kowtowed to receive the order, and strode out of the command tent. The midday sun was so bright that he squinted slightly.

He looked down at the two characters "Tiger Warrior" on the scabbard and suddenly remembered how Zhu Yuanzhang had given him that sword in his previous life.

It was just a casual toss, and the same phrase: "Choose whoever you want."

He tucked the dagger into his waistband, glanced up in the direction of the southern capital, and a smile that only he knew appeared on his lips.

In his previous life, he was the Prince of Qiyang of the Ming Dynasty, one of the six founding dukes. In this life, he starts from scratch.

However, starting over in a different place, he is already much stronger than when he started in his previous life.

In his previous life, he didn't even have a horse when he joined the army; in this life, he now has a thousand of the most elite iron cavalry of the Tiger Guard.

In mid-May, in Shuozhou.

Huo Qubing's five hundred elite cavalry had already made a name for themselves.

Since the night raid on the supply camp, Chen Jing has given him full autonomy.

There are no restrictions on the combat area or the combat method; there is only one requirement: to prevent the Hu people's cavalry from approaching Shuozhou City again.

The five hundred elite cavalrymen were all veterans personally selected by Chen Jing from the Imperial Guard. Each of them was equipped with a horse, a riding sword, and a crossbow, traveling light and swiftly.

Huo Qubing divided his 500 men into five teams of 100 each, and they took turns attacking day and night, specifically targeting the nomadic cavalry.

The Hu people sent out a scout team to scout, but half of them were wiped out before they even reached the city.

The Hu people dispatched three cavalry squads to coordinate with each other, so Huo Qubing attacked from three directions simultaneously, making each of them appear to be the main force attacking.

After more than ten days, the Hu people's cavalry suffered heavy losses, and Attila had to reduce the reconnaissance range from twenty miles outside the city to five miles outside the city.

In the command tent of the vanguard battalion commander, Huo Qubing was studying the troop deployment of the Hu people on a sand table.

Because Attila had been unable to capture Shuozhou for a long time, he had called up reinforcements from the rear to help, and the Hu people's vanguard forces had increased rather than decreased.

But the arrival of this reinforcement also revealed a crucial piece of information.

Attila's royal court is now militarily depleted, and in order to take down the tough nut of Shuozhou, he has committed all the elite troops of the royal court headquarters.

Huo Qubing lightly tapped the location of the royal court with his finger. If he led five hundred elite cavalry to bypass the main force of the Hu people and go straight to the royal court.

We do not seek to conquer the city, but merely to set it ablaze. Attila will surely come to its aid, and the siege of Shuozhou can be lifted without a fight.

Suddenly, the sound of rapid hoofbeats came from outside the command tent. A guard lifted the tent flap and came in, presenting a copper tube with dew still clinging to its surface.

Huo Qubing took the copper tube, unscrewed the seal, and pulled out a paper strip as thin as a cicada's wing.

The note was written in neat, small handwriting.

The Heshengyuan caravan has arrived in Shuozhou, carrying 100 barrels of kerosene, 100,000 arrows, and a detailed map of the terrain around the royal court, which was hand-drawn from memory by the caravan guide.

The signature is "行".

Huo Qubing held the note up to the candle flame and burned it; the ashes fell into the bronze plate.

Then he stood up, strode out of the command tent, mounted his horse, and galloped toward Chen Jing's command tent.

With this batch of oil, he could set several more large fires in the royal court.

The nomadic people lived by following the water and grass, and the royal camps were all made of felt tents. Once a fire started, the wind would fan the flames, and the fire would spread and burn down the entire camp.

Inside the command tent, Chen Jing remained silent for a long time after hearing his plan.

Five hundred elite cavalrymen bypassed the main force of the Hu people, marched hundreds of miles, and struck straight at the royal court.

This was a risky move; if all five hundred men were to perish there, it would be a heavy blow to the morale of the Shuozhou army.

But what makes a veteran a veteran is that he knows when to play it safe and when to take a gamble.

At present, Han Chong has captured the Right Guli King alive in Yunzhou, and Attila's five-tribe allied forces have lost one unit.

If his royal court is destroyed, Attila will have no choice but to retreat, no matter how unwilling he is.

He looked up at Huo Qubing and asked him if five hundred cavalrymen were enough.

"That's enough," Huo Qubing replied crisply.

Fewer people mean faster speed, and fewer people mean they can bypass the Hu people's scouts.

He didn't attack the city, he just set it on fire.

Each of the five hundred riders carried two jugs of oil; when they stormed into the royal court, they would have a thousand jugs of oil, enough to burn down Attila's stronghold.

They burned everything and ran, never lingering in battle, so the barbarians couldn't catch them.

Chen Jing remained silent for a moment, then stood up, picked up a tiger tally from the table, and handed it to Huo Qubing.

With this tiger tally, he could command all the cavalry in the Shuozhou army.

Huo Qubing accepted the tiger tally with both hands, snapped to attention, gave a military salute, and uttered only two words: "Victory is assured."

Then he turned and strode out of the command tent, the Breaking Formation Blade on his back gleaming with a deep, cold light in the midday sun.

The guard watched his retreating figure and whispered to Chen Jing, "If Commander Huo really manages to take down the royal court this time, what official position should he be given when he returns?"

Chen Jing sat upright behind his desk, his fingers slowly tapping the tabletop, a complex expression flashing in his cloudy old eyes.

"If he truly destroys the royal court, I will vouch for him as a guerrilla general before His Majesty."

"He is only eighteen years old. An eighteen-year-old guerrilla general is unprecedented since the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty."

"But if this kid keeps fighting like this, one day he'll rise to a position even higher than a guerrilla general, high enough to make those old guys in the court uneasy."

"But that's for the future. Right now, as long as we can lift the siege of Shuozhou, I'll risk my old face to fight for it."

After he finished speaking, he picked up the medicine bowl and took a sip. The medicine had gone cold and tasted so bitter that he frowned.

He recalled his youth, when he had fought valiantly on the northern battlefields.

He was fearless in the face of adversity, which made those in power both love and hate him.

But the future of the Great Zhou Dynasty ultimately depends on these young people; that's all this old man can do.

While they could still stand atop the city walls, they would shield them from the open and covert attacks from the imperial court.