"Continue to observe them," Li Qianqiu replied.
Ren Baqian overheard the conversation and chuckled, "Looks like they finally chose a good burial spot. It might be a bit desolate, but the scenery is still pretty good."
"If that's the case, we should fulfil their last wishes." Li Qianqiu said gravely.
According to their projected route, the Protectorate of the South's reinforcement troops were scheduled to arrive in the afternoon.
The reinforcement army had a radio station and receiver on hand, making it easy for them to join up.
They would be able to completely destroy Great Xia's army with the additional 5,000 people.
With two and a half day's worth of marching to go, there was no way Great Xia's army could get out of this alive.
Ren Baqian stood up and stretched. Seeing the tired bodies of the aboriginal soldiers lying all over the floor, he reminded himself that this would all be over soon.
This war had produced 500,000 casualties in the past one and a half months alone. Although it was simple and direct, war in this world was still cruel.
He would go fetch the empress once the war ended. Oh rainbow clouds! Fortunately, the rainbow clouds couldn't fly. If that was the case, he would have been caught unprepared.
Li Qianqiu stood by the radio station all morning to monitor the reinforcement army's movements.
It was barely noon when the reinforcement army chanced upon the mounted scout that Li Qianqiu had sent out. Not long after, a few goat riders could be seen riding toward them.
"Sir, they've arrived."
"Great!" Li Qianqiu uttered. A moment later, a dark mass of soldiers came into full view.
Several large flags bearing the word "South" were flown above the soldiers. The reinforcement army had indeed arrived.
5,000 armor clad and saber wielding warriors stopped 500 meters away. A few of their leaders dismounted from their horned cows and made their way toward Li Qianqiu.
"Is that you Sir Li? My troops and I greet you! All 5,000 of them." The officers walked up to greet Li Qianqiu. One of them handed him a token.
"It's been hard work getting here!" Li Qianqiu stuffed the token into his waist belt and nodded. "Please take a good rest, have a meal, and spend the afternoon getting ready. Gentlemen, come over in the evening to receive orders, for we attack tonight. This old man will treat all of you to a feast once this war has ended."
"Understood!" the officers roared.
Ren Baqian had thought that there would be quite a number of things to settle when the two armies met. He wasn't expecting it to be this efficient, ending with the handover of a token and a few words spoken.
After the reinforcement army's officers left, Li Qianqiu said, "That was Hong Ze, son of the General-in-Chief Who Supports the Nation. What a lad, truly living up to his father's name."
That was how Ren Baqian found out that Hong Wu's son was part of the reinforcement army.
He appeared to have an impression of Hong Wu's son, who was also Hong Xian's father. Du Changkong had mentioned that Hong Xian's grandfather was Hong Wu and that his father was the Protector General of the South. Ren Baqian didn't have anymore contact with the Hong family after the Great Hunt.
However, none of those officers looked familiar to him. Ren Baqian wasn't terrible at recognizing faces, but it was hard for him to tell the aboriginals apart. To him, they were all ripped, gigantic, and had fierce faces.
The Protectorate of the South's reinforcement army rested the entire afternoon. Li Qianqiu sent for the reinforcement commanders before nightfall.
There wasn't much to prepare for. All they had to do was launch an attack at full force to scatter Great Xia's troops before chasing them down.
Ren Baqian's mortar fire would lead the attack, breaking their formation and letting the winged cavalry charge through unimpeded. Li Qianqiu would then storm the camp with the rest of the soldiers.
The Protectorate of the South was to flank them from the other side.
The winged cavalry and Li Qianqiu's group would move in from the southwest while the reinforcement army would attack from the southeast. The plan was to herd them toward the north.
It was pointless to fight them head to head; flushing them out in one fell swoop was the way to go.
Once the enemy had dispersed, the winged cavalry would continue to chase down and scatter any small units that were attempting to reform. This would make mopping up the stragglers a lot easier.
Li Qianqiu handed out several walkie talkies to the reinforcement commanders. Things were going to go much smoother with these in hand.
They were dismissed after the quick briefing. Preparations had to be made.
After dinner, the well-rested soldiers took out their whetstones and honed their blades.
The winged cavalry sharpened their nicked saberss with bitter hatred.
These swords were their lifeblood, and they hated Great Xia for causing such damage to them.
The bulk of the forces set off at midnight to get ready in time for the final assault. The agreed upon time was around three in the morning, more than two hours before sunrise. The sun would then rise as Great Xia's army scattered, making it easier to chase them down.
"They've noticed us," the mounted scout reported.
Ren Baqian rolled his eyes at Captain Obvious's words. Li Qianqiu had brought his soldiers so close to the Great Xia camp that they could see the sentry. Even a blind man would have noticed them.
Ren Baqian dismounted from his fork-horned cow. He followed Li Qianqiu up to higher ground for a better look at the Great Xia formation. To his surprise, they no longer huddled together like before.
Instead of the four troops formation, Ren Baqian saw almost 20 smaller groups, each in their own individual formations.
"To think they thought of countermeasures!" These smaller formations were much easier to reform after being shelled.
Li Qianqiu brought Ren Baqian up into the air a total of three times. Upon landing, Ren Baqian drew the camp's layout on the ground, marking out the positions of all 20 groups.
Everyone was waiting in silence.
An austere mood pervaded the air around them, covering the entire area in a blanket of eerie silence. The final battle was about to begin.
The atmosphere was incredibly stifling. Ren Baqian felt as if a large rock was pressing down on his head, and he needed to let loose real badly.
"Ahhhh!" Ren Baqian shouted.
Everyone turned to look at him.
"Don't mind me—just clearing my throat." Ren Baqian whirled his hands around restlessly. "How much longer?"
"Half an hour."
"Let me know when it's a quarter of an hour," Ren Baqian quipped.
After some time, one of the guards said, "Sir, it's time."
"Let's go!" Ren Baqian removed the cover from one of the crates to reveal stacks of mortar shells.
"Support!" Ren Baqian shouted.
Two seasoned guards promptly stepped up to support the mortar's body.
Boom! Boom!
Two shells exploded right in the middle of the 20 formations within the camp. The Great Xia soldiers responded by squatting down and covering their heads. The sight of 80,000 soldiers going low to brace for a mortar barrage was quite magnificent.
Over the next seven minutes, Ren Baqian fired a total of 40 shells, about six per minute. He had rewarded ten of the 20 formations with four each.
Firing more would have been pointless.
Many of the formations would have reformed in the time between the last bout of fire and the first winged cavalry charge.
"Kill!" Not giving two hoots about the shelling's effectiveness, Li Qianqiu roared when it was his turn to shine.
1,000 winged cavalry warriors charged forth, covering a distance of 200 meters in a mere 11 seconds before accelerating further into the Great Xia camp.
"Kill!" Bloodthirsty cries rose up from within the camp.
Ren Baqian plopped his butt down on the ground after seeing Li Qianqiu storm into the camp. There was not much left for him to do here. This war was essentially over.
He reached into his bag and popped a White Rabbit Creamy Candy into his mouth. Ren Baqian lay down and looked up into the starry sky. He thought it was strange that this bag of candy had lasted him this long.
These candies would have been gone in a few days if Lin Qiaole was around.
Lin Qiaole???
Ren Baqian was surprised when he suddenly thought of Lin Qiaole. Come to think of it, where was his powerful bodyguard? Lin Qiaole often found places to doze off even when the empress was around… He had completely forgotten about her after the empress left! They had simply left Liao City just like that!
Surely that White Rabbit Creamy Candy guzzling Spirit Wheel level expert was not sleeping back in Liao City?