Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 237: Chapter 2278: Flee in Panic

Yang Zhenshan, alone on his horse, swept over from the north side of the camp, while three hundred cavalry rolled across from the south side.

In just a moment, the Northern barbarian cavalry attacking the camp’s defenses were thrown into chaos.

Some were torn into pieces, some panicked and tried to flee, others were still clueless and fought desperately.

But at this moment, Zha Yan on the hill finally reacted.

”Quick, quick, have them all retreat!”

Wuu wuu wuu~~

The dull sound of the horn resounded.

The Northern barbarian cavalry besieging the camp heard it and fled helter-skelter.

But could they really escape?

The camp was so small, making a circle around it was merely two li, and it only took Yang Zhenshan a couple of minutes to charge from the back of the camp to the entrance on horseback.

Xi lu lu~~

As he reached the entrance, Red Cloud unexpectedly lifted its leg and kicked a horse in front flying.

”Don’t kick the horses, those are our horses!” Yang Zhenshan watched the warhorse thrown a zhang away and said with some heartache.

This was spoils of war, and a single warhorse was worth at least dozens of silver.

But with Red Cloud’s excitement, dozens of silver just turned into a few, and the good warhorse could only be slaughtered for meat.

Xi lu lu!!

Red Cloud shook its big head and bared its teeth at Song Dashan next to it.

The blood-soaked Song Dashan also grinned.

Yang Zhenshan saw his foolish appearance and couldn’t help but shake his head.

”Stop messing around, chase them down, kill them!”

Three hundred cavalry had already charged over, Yang Zhenshan joined them and headed directly towards the western hillside.

By this time, Zha Yan saw the bad situation and had already fled with his men.

What does it mean to flee in complete disarray?

This is it!

When Yang Zhenshan charged to the top of the small hill, Zha Yan had already led less than two hundred Northern barbarian cavalry hundreds of meters away.

”Stop!”

Yang Zhenshan raised his long spear, stopping the soldiers who wanted to continue the pursuit.

Although with Red Cloud’s speed, catching up to them was not difficult, Yang Zhenshan did not intend to continue the pursuit.

Because this battle was the soldiers’ first battle.

A stirring victory was enough; there was no need to prolong the battle and let the high morale of the soldiers fall.

Maintaining the current morale and boosting the soldiers’ confidence was the most important thing.

As for those Northern barbarian cavalry who escaped, could they really get away?

Don’t forget, they still have their clan settlements.

Yang Zhenshan turned and looked at Yang Mingzhen, whose face was filled with excitement, ”Organize people to keep watch in the surroundings, do not be negligent!”

Although the battle had just ended, this was not the time to be careless, lest the enemy launches a surprise attack or other Northern barbarian cavalry come to attack.

”Ro.”

Yang Mingzhen responded and immediately led a few dozen cavalry to spread out and keep watch.

Meanwhile, Yang Zhenshan led the remaining cavalry back to the camp.

The battle came quickly and ended just as fast.

Actually, the entire battle, from Yang Mingzhen running back to report to Yang Zhenshan leading the cavalry back to camp, took just over half an hour.

But in this half-hour, the An Yuan City garrison soldiers killed nearly a thousand enemies, demonstrating extraordinary combat capability.

”My Lord!”

Upon seeing Yang Zhenshan return, Han Cheng had an irrepressible excitement and joy on his face.

For the garrison to kill nearly a thousand enemies on their first encounter!

It was too unexpected, too exaggerated, too incredible.

Although Han Cheng was responsible for the battle within the camp, he still found it unbelievable.

Actually, he had been somewhat worried before; the battlefield was brutal, and anyone going to battle would feel jittery and apprehensive, Han Cheng was no exception, he had even prepared himself to die on the battlefield.

However, he didn’t expect that the fight would end just like that.

Helpless, he had never been on a battlefield, he knew the garrison soldiers were very strong, but he didn’t have a clear concept of how strong.

Not just him, in the entire garrison, probably only Song Dashan had some idea since Song Dashan had been on the battlefield before and had fought with Northern barbarian cavalry many times.

”How are the casualties?” Yang Zhenshan asked calmly.

”Casualties!” Han Cheng was startled, then quickly reacted and said: ”This subordinate will go and tally them immediately!”

”My Lord, I have already tallied them!”

At this moment, Song Dashan, wearing blood-stained iron armor, walked up, grinned, and said, ”My Lord, there are no fatalities, just a dozen broken bones, the rest are superficial injuries!”

Yang Zhenshan’s eyebrows raised; such a casualty rate was surprising, yet somehow expected.

In this battle, the strength of both sides was nearly equal.

But the enemy assaulted while we defended, with the enemy primarily using cavalry, and our defense leveraging the camp’s fortifications.

Even though there were no sturdy castles to defend, under the attack and defense, the garrison still had the advantage of fortifications.

Besides, although the strength of both sides was similar, there was a significant gap in the individual military prowess and training level of the soldiers.

Most of the garrison soldiers were Martial Artists, whereas the Northern barbarian cavalry had less than 20% Martial Artists.

About their training, the Northern barbarian cavalry were fierce and daring, but in terms of training, they were not as good as most of the Camp Soldiers of Chongshan Town.

And there was also a gap in weaponry and equipment.

Simply put, aside from their ruthlessness, these Northern barbarians hardly had any advantage.

But in front of the well-trained garrison, their fierceness appeared extremely fragile, completely unable to withstand a single blow.

For such battle results, Yang Zhenshan was very satisfied.

Three years!

It took him a full three years to train such an elite force. If he lost hundreds of men in one battle, it would be too disrespectful to his investment.

”Immediately arrange for military doctors to treat them. Zhou Ren has the wound medicine and medicinal wine I prepared, go and collect them later!” Yang Zhenshan ordered.

The garrison does have military doctors, but only twenty.

Among them, only two are true physicians, the remaining eighteen are apprentices trained by these two physicians.

It can’t be helped, physicians are too difficult to train. A few years is not enough to let Yang Zhenshan train formidable military doctors.

As for the wound medicine and medicinal wine, they were prepared by Yang Zhenshan himself, brewed or refined from the Spiritual Spring Water and herbs within the Spiritual Spring Space, having great therapeutic effects on external injuries and fractures.

Subsequently, everyone began to clean up the battlefield. The casualties were small, but the gains were substantial.

Nearly a thousand Northern barbarian cavalry were left here, their armaments and warhorses all became spoils of war for the garrison.

Although most of the armaments and warhorses were damaged, there were still quite a few intact ones.

As night fell, Zhou Ren came to Yang Zhenshan’s tent, ”My lord, the battle results have been summarized!”

”Hmm!” With his eyes on the map and without lifting his head, Yang Zhenshan responded.

Zhou Ren reported: ”In this battle, our garrison beheaded eight hundred and forty-six people, captured three hundred and twenty-three horses, and obtained seven hundred and eighty various types of weapons, complete sets of seventy-three leather armors!”

Yang Zhenshan then lifted his head.

”Three hundred twenty-four horses?”

”Indeed, all are fine warhorses!” Zhou Ren said happily.

To behead over eight hundred but only capture three hundred horses, clearly, other horses were either injured or dead.

This is quite normal, on the battlefield, the loss of warhorses is significant.

As to why there are no captives, the reason is simple. Yang Zhenshan doesn’t have the time to manage captives, so even if there were captives, they would end up being beheaded.

Yang Zhenshan’s lips slightly curled upward.

It took him three years to accumulate over three hundred horses for the garrison, but just after venturing out, they captured over three hundred horses in one battle.

”Very good! First, distribute the horses!”

Although the garrison only has three hundred cavalry, it does not mean that the garrison can only have three hundred cavalry.

In fact, every soldier in the garrison has received training in riding skills.

As long as Yang Zhenshan had enough warhorses, the entire garrison could become cavalry.

And two hundred soldiers with Iron Armor would become heavy cavalry.

”Yes!” Zhou Ren responded, then exited the tent.

Thereafter, Song Dashan came in holding two large bowls.

”My lord, it’s time to eat!”

He placed the meals on the table.

Yang Zhenshan picked up the chopsticks and looked at the food in the bowls—two large coarse grain cakes, a bowl of dried vegetable soup, and a big bowl of meat.

The garrison’s rations consisted of coarse grain cakes, dried vegetables, and dried meat.

The meat in the bowl should be horse meat.

Yang Zhenshan didn’t mind and started eating heartily.

”Has Ming Zhen not returned yet?”

Yang Mingzhen, after arranging the perimeter vigilance of the campsite, led a dozen cavalrymen out again to track the traces of these Northern barbarian cavalry.

Song Dashan said: ”Not yet!”

”Hmm, go arrange for everyone to rest well tonight, we might go out to battle tomorrow!” Yang Zhenshan said, thinking of the Northern barbarian cavalry that appeared during the day.

The appearance of this group of Northern barbarian cavalry around the camp meant that their settlements should not be far from the camp, and Yang Mingzhen had already found their traces earlier, which should be near the Songyuan River to the west.

While Yang Zhenshan was eating, Yang Mingzhen was carefully climbing up a small hill with three soldiers.

They crawled close to the ground, inching towards the top of the hill.

Under the cold moonlight, Yang Mingzhen gestured quietly towards his men, observing in silence.

This time was early spring, the vegetation on the mountains and fields had just begun to sprout, yet not enough to conceal their figures.

However, the hill was scattered with various sized rocks, which could offer them some concealment.

Yang Mingzhen stretched his neck carefully observing the surrounding area while his ears also listened attentively to the sounds around.

A gentle breeze wafted, faint sounds of breathing came intermittently.

Yang Mingzhen moved again, reaching behind a huge rock.

Scout!

He quickly discovered a figure curled up under the huge rock.

His eyes brightened.

He had noticed someone here during the day, but he didn’t come to check and waited until now.

Since there was a scout here, it meant that there was a Hu Clan settlement nearby, probably just over the other side of this hilltop.

Thinking of this, Yang Mingzhen did not hesitate and quietly moved to the back of the huge rock.

Although the Hu Clan scout had been observing his surroundings, he failed to notice Yang Mingzhen’s presence.

The next moment!

With a ”pfft”, a dagger pierced his throat.

Yang Mingzhen’s figure had appeared in front of him.

After confirming the man was dead, Yang Mingzhen immediately started to survey the surroundings, and once sure that there were no other people around, he let out a light sigh.

Then, he looked towards the other side of the hilltop.

He saw it!

Under the cold moonlight, outlines of felt tents appeared in his view, along with a few faint lights.

”Found it!”

Yang Mingzhen was overjoyed.