In my dream of returning to the Tang Dynasty, I snatched Wu Zetian from my lap.

boom! !

With a loud crash, accompanied by the crisp sound of bones cracking, Nu Xiba's entire right foot instantly turned into a bloody mess and turned into a pulpy pulp.

"ah!!"

A piercing scream tore through the sky, echoing the battlefield shrouded in black smoke.

The captured Xueyantuo people knelt on the ground, all trembling with fear.

The Tang army members all showed expressions of relief and kept cursing.

"Ah... spare my life, spare my life, I surrender, I'll take you to find more rangers, I'll help you make a name for yourself!" Nuxiba's veins bulged, he spoke incoherently, and cold sweat poured down his face.

"You couldn't even hold on for a second?"

"Weren't you very arrogant?"

"The fifth division of the Shatuo Army's cavalry, after killing people, even left their names behind," Li Yuanchang mocked.

Nu Xiba was in unbearable pain and was about to speak when Li Yuanchang struck him with his hammer again.

boom!

Click!

His other foot was also shattered.

"ah!!"

The extreme pain contorted his features and caused his facial muscles to twitch.

"Give me... a quick death!!"

Li Yuanchang sneered: "Feeling good?"

"Why don't you just give the Tang army a quick death?"

"If you like playing, then I'll play with you slowly today!"

"Men, put him down!" Li Yuanchang shouted.

"yes!"

The guards quickly cut the ropes, and Nushiba, unable to stand, collapsed to the ground.

"Hold his hands down!" Li Yuanchang shouted.

"What, what are you going to do?"

"What are you going to do?" Nuxiba asked in terror.

puff! !

Enraged, the Tang soldiers cut off one of his ears.

"ah!!"

Nuxiba screamed again, blood streaming down his entire cheek.

But this was only the beginning. Gong Yun had suffered inhuman torture before his death, and Li Yuanchang would never let him die a quick death.

"Pick up your ear!"

"Pick it up!"

Nuxiba was terrified and instinctively grabbed his ears in pain.

"You actually picked it up?" Li Yuanchang's expression changed.

"No!"

boom!

"what!"

Immediately afterwards, a new round of hammering began.

Each blow resulted in one of Nuxiba's fingers shattering.

The agonizing screams continued intermittently.

Nu Xiba fell into a coma seven times and was woken up seven times, until he watched as his own hands were also crippled!

The brutal torture was truly horrific.

The surrendered soldiers of the northern nomadic tribes, known for their cruelty and ferocity, all turned pale and dared not raise their heads.

The day before, they had been relentlessly hunting down and killing soldiers from Lantian County along the grain transport route; now, they had become lambs to the slaughter.

It was clear that Nuxiba was dying.

Li Yuanchang seized the opportunity and returned everything that Gong Yun had suffered.

The entire execution lasted for a full quarter of an hour.

Every minute and every second was a painful ordeal for Nu Xiba, a relentless pursuit of revenge.

After it was done, Nuxiba was barely alive and couldn't even scream.

Li Yuanchang ordered that he be given boiling numbing soup to relieve the pain, so that he would die slowly in extreme agony—a ruthless act to avenge his comrades.

When Nuxiba was hung up like a pig or a dog, the soldiers shouted in unison, their voices shaking the heavens.

"Your Highness, what should we do with these people?"

"Should we take it back to the camp?" Guo Chao stepped forward and whispered.

Li Yuanchang's cold gaze swept over the swarming surrendered soldiers, who were now without weapons or armor and had no ability to resist.

Bringing people back by headcount will earn you a reward.

But he hardly hesitated. These men were now unarmed, but their hands were stained with the blood of those soldiers who could never return.

"Drag them to an open area and execute them all, leave no one alive!"

"yes!!"

"..."

Soon, shouts, curses, and resistance erupted, causing some turmoil.

Upon realizing that the Tang army was about to attack them, some surrendered Xueyantuo soldiers resisted, but to no avail. They were all riddled with arrows or had their heads cut off.

Six hundred rangers, all wiped out!

The stench of blood was overwhelming. The blood gushed out in a river, flowing continuously from the ditches, eventually staining a large number of terraced fields on the right side of the village with an eerie blood-red hue.

After doing all this, Li Yuanchang ordered the battlefield to be quickly cleaned up, and all the supplies that could be taken away were taken away. He also buried the more than ten innocent civilians who had died tragically.

In this battle, out of 350 men, only 60-odd died thanks to a surprise attack and perfect teamwork, but a considerable number were wounded.

However, Li Yuanchang dared not stay in one place for too long. He had to move to another place after firing a shot. This is common knowledge that even junior high school students in later generations know when playing video games.

He was unsure whether the other cavalry of the Shatuo army would attract them, because the Xueyantuo had lit beacon fires not long ago when they besieged and annihilated Nuxiba.

Although it was quickly quelled by Tusitong, it remains an unstable factor.

Less than an hour after Li Yuanchang led his men to relocate.

Outside the village, which was devastated and littered with corpses, the thunderous sound of hooves echoed once more. The riders were tall and strong, with uniform scimitars at their waists, numbering three hundred.

They moved with incredible speed, arriving at the battlefield in the blink of an eye, and in complete victory.

Upon entering the village, they saw countless Xueyantuo cavalrymen lying in pools of blood, amidst the constant curses of the nomadic barbarians.

The man at the head, who was eight feet tall and had a hooked nose, immediately turned pale.

As Nuxiba, who had been hanging naked from the tree, was lowered down, many Xueyantuo people's eyes narrowed in shock.

There wasn't a single part of his body intact; all four limbs had been violently smashed, and all the blood in his body had been drained, leaving him terrifyingly light.

"General, it is the chieftain of Xiba." Someone recognized him.

They spoke with trepidation, for everyone knew the relationship between Nuxiba and the Shatuo general.

Seeing his brother-in-law's gruesome death, the hook-nosed man flew into a rage, drew his knife, and furiously chopped down a tree. The tree, as big as a bowl, was sliced ​​horizontally with a single blow and crashed to the ground!

"They are the elite troops of the Tang Dynasty!"

"They must be the elite troops of the Tang Dynasty!"

"If I don't avenge this, I swear I'm not a man!" he roared, startling a whole forest of birds. He exuded ferocity and madness.

"General, the fire is still burning and the bodies are not yet cold. The Tang army must have just retreated not long ago."

Upon hearing this, the hook-nosed man immediately reacted like a wolf smelling blood.

"Immediately light the signal fires and summon all the Shatuo cavalry. Cease attacking the supply lines. This general intends to encircle and annihilate this elite Tang army, turning their commander into a human drum and their corpses into a mountain of bones!"

The roar was like thunder; the bloodthirsty nomads went mad.

"yes!!"

The Shatuo army reinforcements shouted in unison.

Immediately afterwards, a plume of smoke rose from the scene of the incident, billowing black smoke straight into the sky.

This thing was the best way to warn people in ancient times. It could be seen from miles away, not just a few miles, but even dozens of miles away, as long as the smoke was thick enough.

Moreover, the Xueyantuo cavalry, stationed in and around Baidaochuan, began to travel around, exchanging information and conducting reconnaissance.

"..."

Not long after, in an unknown, deep forest.

Li Yuanchang was forced to bring his wounded soldiers here to rest temporarily. There were simply too many wounded soldiers, and a considerable number of them were seriously injured.

It was impossible to retreat back to the camp on the Baidao River as quickly as possible, unless the wounded soldiers were abandoned.