Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Chapter 1267 – Who Wins and Who Loses
House of Ogedai, Loulan City.
After the Turkish Khanate was destroyed, its Capital City Luolan City became the Capital City of the House of Ogedai.
Ogedai, the mighty Lord that set the foundations of the Yuan Dynasty, had a really ugly expression as he asked, “Has Father really decided to pass the throne to 4th Brother?”
“Yes, Ogedai!”
“Why?” Ogedai was in disbelief.
“I heard that it’s because you have ascended to the position of the Mongol Khan before. Genghis Khan worries about Great Xia, which is why he chose Tolei.” The official replied.
“Great Xia!”
Ogedai gritted his teeth as his eyes shone with a vicious light. Before this, when he received his Father’s order to make way for the Great Xia Army, Ogedai had already been really unhappy. Now, with such a matter happening, Ogedai hated Great Xia to the bone.
“Ogedai, what should we do?” The official asked.
Once Tolei obtained the throne, they probably could not keep the House of Ogedai.
Ogedai was a really decisive ruler, and he muttered, “Father since, you have abandoned me, do not blame me for this.” As he said this, Ogedai gave a series of instructions.
The official was astonished and asked with uncertainty, “Ogedai, will that work?”
“At this stage, even if it does not work, it has to work.” Ogedai was a mighty character. Once he made up his mind, there was nothing that he feared, “At most, we will flee toward Persia.”
During the Mongol west conquering expedition, the House of Ogedai had sent their absolute main force. The Mongol army always gave rewards base on one’s contributions, so a large half of the cities obtained in the west conquering expedition were given to Ogedai.
That would be their backup plan.
…
10th month, 13th day, West of Tibet.
The carefulness of Wang Ben saved the life of the entire army.
Morning, just as Wang Ben’s forces were about to bump into the Ashoka Dynasty army, the scouts sent noticed the abnormally in the enemy grain transport squad.
In ancient times, to ensure the safety of the grain line, they would usually send an army to accompany the laborers to act as a bodyguard. Even then, the entire group would mainly consist of laborers that pushed the grain carts slowly up the mountain paths.
Especially since this was the core Tibetan land and was not far away from the Ashoka dynasty. Naturally, Ashoka would not be worried about sneak attacks, so there should only be a small number of bodyguards.
However, the Qin scouts discovered that this grain group was different. They basically had a guards squad every few hundred meters.
Apart from that, there was something up with the laborers pushing the grain carts.
According to the report of the scouts, more than half of the laborers were muscular. They emitted a menacing aura, and their eyes shone with energy.
The problem was that the ones in charge of transporting the grain were Tibetan civilians that were forced into labor. One could imagine that although they would be respectful, they would not be eager and filled with energy.
Furthermore, after being tortured by the Ashoka Dynasty troops, the food that they receive would surely be terrible. There was no way that their bodies would be so healthy and strong.
All signs pointed toward the fact that the so-called grain transport group in front of them were disguised Ashoka Dynasty soldiers.
Temporary camp, commander tent.
When Wang Ben received the report, he smiled and said, “The enemy is so crafty, actually disguising as a grain transport force. No wonder we couldn’t find them; they had been hiding under our eyes all this time.”
After entering Tibet, Wang Ben had sent out many scouts to find traces of the enemy to try to avoid them. After all, their mission was to siege the enemy’s grain transport line and not engage their main force.
Now that the enemy was mixed into the grain transport troops, they had no choice but to fight them.
“Commander, this is a good chance to obtain merits.” the deputy general pondered.
Wang Ben smiled and nodded before saying, “That’s right. The enemy hiding amongst the grain force means their weapons and armor are hidden on the grain carts. As long as we catch them by surprise, we can win right away.”
“Order the troops to rest up; we will go to war tomorrow!” Wang Ben ordered.
“Yes, commander!”
The deputy left excitedly.
…
The next morning, after Wang Ben had his breakfast, the entire army mounted their horses and quickly proceeded to hide behind one of the hills. At the foot of the mountain was a route that the enemy grain line would have to pass.
At 9am, the Ashoka grain transporting force appeared at the start of the path.
Since they were travelling from the backlines and had 500 thousand imperial city guards defending them, the transporting force had nothing to fear. They were even too lazy to send sentries and simply waltzed over.
“Commander, the enemy is here!” the deputy reported.
Wang Ben was really calm, “Wait a while more.”
This place was not a valley, and Wang Ben’s forces were unable to blow the mountain up to block the enemy’s path. If they wanted to use 70 thousand troops to defeat 500 thousand, they could not attack the middle; they had to try to separate the front and the back instead.
If they did that, it was possible that the front and back of the enemy forces would be able to pincer them in.
Even so, Wang Ben did not want to take a small victory and only eat up the enemy’s vanguard. His plan was to kill 200 thousand enemies before immediately retreating.
After that, they would find more chances to disturb the enemy.
However, at that time, the enemy would be prepared and the disturbances would be a lot less effective because Wang Ben’s forces would already be exposed. As a result, the first battle was the best chance for them, and they had to try to utilize it to its best effect.
Two hours later, the deputy reminded him, “Commander, it’s more or less time!”
Wang Ben looked up at the sky. Seeing that it was close to noon, he nodded and said, “Mount your horses!”
“Yes, commander!”
With a ‘Shua!’ the waiting soldiers all mounted their horses.
After that, they did not charge down screaming and announcing their presence. Instead, they swiftly climbed up the mountain and looked down from above. From their vantage point, they could see the travelling enemy.
“Fire!”
With the order given, the arrow rain was like a massive net that spanned numerous miles and covered the heads of the enemy.
With the help of gravity, these arrows shot from above were like meteors crashing down. With low ‘Puchi’ sounds, they pierced the flesh of the enemy soldiers.
Screams broke out all over. In the blink of an eye, many soldiers fell to the ground in pain.
“Sneak attack! Enemy sneak attack!”
The grain transportation forces were like birds that had heard a gunshot. The first to react were the totally equipped bodyguard force. They either knelt down or gathered into formations to shoot back to counterattack.
The soldiers disguised as laborers took out their weapons from the grain carts. As for their armor, as time was of the essence, they did not have time to equip it.
Ancient armor was really complicated and was not something that could be worn in a short amount of time.
There were some true Tibet civilians laborers among them. Right away, they were so afraid that they hid under the grain carriages, shivering and praying to survive this ordeal.
With no one to take care of them, all the animals cried out, and some of them even broke free and charged around the troops. Many grain carts were knocked down, and bags of grain fell to the ground.
Some grain bags opened up and white rice flowed out, scattering all over the ground.
The entire scene was really chaotic.
Wang Ben’s forces used their geographical advantage to rain down from above. After three rounds, the enemy troops suffered heavy casualties, especially those soldiers who were disguised as laborers. They did not have any armor to protect them, so they died immediately after they were shot.
Fresh blood was splattered all across the ground, mixing with the dirt and rice. It was impossible to split them apart.
Facing such a situation, the troops that were attacked could only try to flee. Soldiers, laborers, and animals all mixed together with one another as they all tried to escape, what an exciting mess.
‘Aang~~’
A cow fell to the ground after being shot, crying out in pain.
“Bastard, move away!”
The escaping Ashoka Dynasty troops did not hesitate when they saw laborers blocking their path. They simply raised their blades and cut down. They stepped on their corpses as they escaped.
“They are killing, the soldiers are killing people~~”
The laborers mostly came from the same area, and some even came from the same village. Seeing their friends being killed while they were all treated like slaves, they were filled with resentment. All this exploded out when they were on the verge of life and death.
“Go all out against them!”
As they said that, some of the laborers picked up weapons and charged forward.
“Bastards, you still dare to rebel?”
The Ashoka Dynasty soldiers were furious; they were never soft when they killed laborers.
Now, it was getting exciting – the enemy troops were trying to escape while fighting amongst themselves.
Wang Ben’s forces that stood above did not even move as they continued to fire expressionlessly, claiming the lives of the enemy. Anyways, there were too many enemy troops, so after a wave ran away, there would be more to replace them.
Such killing felt really comfortable.
The Ashoka Dynasty army was not composed of fools. After the initial panic, they calmed down. Some of the soldiers that were not attacked even donned their armor and formed up, climbing up the mountains.
They were planning to block the escape path of the Great Xia Army after they ascended the mountain.
No matter what, the Ashoka Dynasty held an absolute numerical advantage, and they did not fear anything. The moment the troops climbed up the mountain, the victor would become uncertain.
“Commander, the enemy troops are at the midpoint of the hill.” the deputy reported.
Wang Ben nodded and ordered, “Stop firing and get ready to face the enemy!”
As the hill was steep, it was not a suitable environment for cavalry to charge. If they really charged down, they might kill the enemy, but there was also a chance that they might knock into the cliff on the opposite side.
“Yes, commander!”
Very quickly, Wang Ben’s forces formed up, turning their horses around and charging toward the backline. At this moment, the Ashoka Dynasty backline had just charged up the hill. Before they could gain a stable footing, they had to face the rumbling horse hooves of the Great Xia Army.
“Kill!”
The Qin army soldiers that had suffered close to no losses raised their spears as they charged forward.
Facing such an iron flood, the Ashoka Dynasty army had no way to fight back. The soldiers only had time to give out desperate shouts before they were stepped into meat paste.
Wang Ben’s forces charged across the mountain peak like a bulldozer, clearing out the Ashoka Dynasty troops charging up the mountain. They were either killed one by one or were knocked off the hill with their fates becoming unknown.
This sent a chill down everyone’s spine.
The Ashoka Dynasty army that was climbing up could not help but stop and pause. Following which, they charged up the hill with even greater speed.
When people fought on a narrow path, the courageous party would emerge victorious.
The enemy had already charged past. Now, they just had to charge up and form up. After that, they would definitely be able to block it. As long as they were able to block the first wave, more of their allies would be able to charge up.
The outcome of this battle was still far from decided.
