Chapter 739: Chapter 573: Hell Descends upon the World Part 2
They didn’t separate by too far, always maintaining a distance of no more than a hundred li.
When they encountered medium to small-sized tribes, they would each launch an attack. If they encountered large tribal settlements, they would unite their forces and attack together.
The soldiers from both camps were like two rollers dipped in red paint, drawing two long bloody streaks on the verdant grasslands.
At times they crossed paths, sometimes they converged, and at other times they separated by tens of li.
Initially, they merely roamed the west side of Menghe Mountain, but soon they charged deeper toward the heart of the Wuliang Royal Court.
A reckless charge, a reckless slaughter.
It didn’t matter if horses were run to exhaustion, for the Wuliang Hu Clan never lacked warhorses. They could always replenish their horses from tribes big and small, as long as the men could endure, they would not stop.
By late May, they had already raided over eight hundred li, and within just seven days, they had attacked twelve Hu Clan tribal settlements, bearing the formidable momentum of Yang Zhenshan’s seven-day raid on eight tribal settlements years ago.
However, Yang Zhenshan had only attacked medium to small-sized settlements back then, the largest of which had a population of less than ten thousand.
Yet now, Yang Chengze and Yang Mingzhen had breached a large tribal settlement with a population of twenty thousand.
In terms of the number of killings, they had far surpassed those of Yang Zhenshan back then.
Of course, back then, Yang Zhenshan had only a little over a thousand soldiers under his command, while now Yang Chengze and Yang Mingzhen commanded over ten thousand.
The two situations were not comparable.
Regardless, Yang Chengze and Yang Mingzhen had already caused widespread panic in the heartland of the Wuliang Hu Clan.
Messages spread incessantly, and fear continued to propagate.
May 24th.
Tang Wuxi received news from the rear at the East Que Pass.
"What?"
Tang Wuxi looked at his subordinate, shocked and angered.
"Prince, Gurigur is gone!" The subordinate said with a bitter expression.
"How is that possible?"
Tang Wuxi could hardly believe it. Gurigur was a tribal region branched from his Chi Ci Tribe, located to the northwest of Monghe City.
Gurigur had over twenty thousand tribe members, and it was an important supplement location for Monghe City. Given the city’s surging population and surrounding arable but unsuitable pasture land, Tang Wuxi had supported Gurigur twenty years ago, allotting it vast grasslands.
And Gurigur’s duty was to provide Monghe City with sufficient livestock, meat, and fur.
But now Gurigur was gone?
This was unquestionably a significant loss for the Chi Ci Tribe.
Tang Wuxi could overlook those medium and small tribes, but he could not ignore the destruction of Gurigur.
"Who were the invaders?"
"I do not know, according to those who escaped, those men were clad in Iron Armor and seemed to be Da Rong’s soldiers! Not only Gurigur, sir, but I have also received news of the destruction of six other tribal settlements before coming here!"
"Damn it!"
Tang Wuxi furious, said, "Immediately have Andu’er lead the warriors of East Que Pass to find these Da Rong dogs for me!"
"Yes!" The subordinate complied and hastened out to deliver the orders.
Tang Wuxi paced back and forth in the room, his mind preoccupied with figuring out where these Da Rong soldiers had come from.
At first, he suspected the army from Chongshan Town at the exit of Menghe Mountain Pass, but he soon dismissed this thought, as he didn’t believe the forces from Chongshan Town could cross Menghe Mountain.
In his mind, there was only one passage through Menghe Mountain, and that was Menghe Mountain Pass.
Not only did he think this way, but the herdsmen on both sides of Menghe Mountain thought the same.
Despite having lived around Menghe Mountain Pass for decades, they did not have an in-depth understanding of it.
Herdsmen would not venture into Menghe Mountain for grazing or deep into the woodlands for firewood, and even hunting was mostly confined to the outer areas of Menghe Mountain.
As long as one is not brainless, who would venture into the depths of Menghe Mountain for no reason?
Alright, the people sent by Zhou Lan were somewhat brainless. In search of a passage, they wandered within Menghe Mountain for two or three years, but what they found was not a path, just a series of mountains that could be crossed.
To put it this way, some steep slopes, if one is willing to take the risk, can still be crossed, but herders and hunters will not risk it, and they have no need to.
For the soldiers of the left and right camps, this path is fraught with danger; hundreds of people have tumbled off the cliffs.
To the twelve thousand soldiers from the left and right camps, a hundred people might not seem like much, but remember, the soldiers from Camp are the elite of the elite, all Martial Artists.
Even Martial Artists might fall from cliffs, let alone ordinary people.
Thus, the path taken by the left and right camps can hardly be called a path.
Tang Wuxi does not believe that the soldiers from Chongshan Town could cross Menghe Mountain, so he thinks that those Da Rong soldiers must be from Beiyuan Town.
However, he cannot understand why the soldiers from Beiyuan Town would appear on his side.
Alright, now Tang Wuxi is a bit bewildered.
On this side, Yang Mingzhen and Yang Chengze are already slaughtering mightily in the heartland of the Wuliang Hu Clan. Meanwhile, at the edge of the snowy plains, the unfortunate Yang Zhenshan is leading the soldiers of the front, middle, and rear camps in their grueling march.
Their path is indeed much easier to travel than the one taken by Yang Mingzhen and his group. Most of their route allows for horse riding, with only a small section requiring dismounting and walking. There are neither steep cliffs nor rugged mountains, only the unique sight of endless conifer forests.
The trees in the land of the snowy plains are mostly frost-resistant coniferous trees. The main species include spruce, fir, and deciduous larch, etc. Due to the sparse human activity in the land of the snowy plains, the forests are vast, containing many trees that have grown for hundreds or even thousands of years.
These ancient trees form vast seas of forest. While their branches and leaves are not very lush, primarily consisting of coniferous trees, these forest seas are untouched by human presence.
Most importantly, the path is longer than Yang Zhenshan expected. According to the map given by Zhou Lan, they only needed to bypass Menghe Mountain, but in reality, Menghe Mountain extends deep into the snowy plains.
They detoured north for more than fifteen hundred miles, then west for over four hundred miles, followed by south for more than five hundred miles to get out of the snowy plains. Just bypassing Menghe Mountain, they had already traveled over two thousand five hundred miles, taking more than twenty days.
Fortunately, the snowy plains are not very cold in May, with temperatures being relatively cool.
However, he only brought ten days worth of dry food; for the subsequent ten plus days, they relied entirely on eating horses to stave off hunger.
By the time they emerged from the snowy plains, they had already slaughtered more than three thousand warhorses.
At this moment, Yang Zhenshan, gazing at the lush green grasslands, felt somewhat dazed.
"Darn it! I’ve lived for decades, and this is the first time I’ve suffered so much!" Yang Zhenshan said morosely.
Behind him stood Yang Minghao, looking disheveled and dirty, his face grimy and his hair tangled, resembling a beggar.
"Dad, let’s find a place to raid first, I’m really sick of eating horse meat these days!"
Yang Minghao smacked his lips, feeling a foul taste in his mouth.
It’s not just the people, even the warhorses had lost a significant amount of weight. Although the warhorses could nibble on vegetation along the way, these plants were nowhere near as nutritious as carefully prepared fodder.
The army’s fodder wasn’t just dry grass, it also included beans, grains, and food salt, among others.
Especially salt, without which, the warhorses wouldn’t have the strength for long-distance travel and full-speed racing.
At this time, the soldiers all looked like beggars, and the warhorses appeared listless, even Red Cloud seemed somewhat lethargic.
This was even after Yang Zhenshan had given them quite a bit of Spiritual Spring Water to drink. Without the Spiritual Spring Water, it’s likely that all these horses would have turned into mules.
"Let the light cavalry scout the surroundings; if any clans are found nearby, report immediately!"
Yang Zhenshan also felt it was time for a raid; they needed not only fodder but also salt. Without salt replenishment, even Martial Artists couldn’t endure.
"Yes!"
Yang Minghao perked up, personally leading the light cavalry to scout the area.
However, their luck didn’t seem very good. Yang Zhenshan rested in place for most of the afternoon, and the thousands of light cavalry couldn’t find a single clan.
It wasn’t surprising, after all, this was the edge of the snowy plains, where few clans would settle.
It wasn’t until late at night that Yang Minghao returned, dusty and reported breathlessly, "Found it, found it, to the southwest, eighty miles away, there’s a small clan!"
Yang Zhenshan looked up at the dim night sky and said, "Rest for the night, we’ll set out tomorrow!"
Today was already May 30th, and the night sky had only a thin crescent moon, completely unsuitable for traveling at night.