If Old Man Zhao had not seen it with his own eyes, he would not have believed what he saw. Only an incense stick of time had passed when the fire in a tribe gradually dimmed and the cattle and sheep on the distant grassland fled in all directions. Li Xiang did not have the time to care about them and turned to rush to the next tribe.
"Can't bear to part with it?"
Li Xiang saw that Old Man Zhao looked back every few steps. Apart from taking away the gold and silver in the tribe, he did not take the rest of the things. You know, the other things were also valuable, especially the livestock on the distant hillside, there were thousands of them. If they were all pulled back, it would be a huge sum. These were all our spoils of war.
"Your Highness, didn't you say before? Our military funds are insufficient. It will only take us an hour at most to round up all those animals. If we take them all back, how much will they sell for?"
Old man Zhao knew that he was a bit petty, but the Zhechoufu in the border areas were so poor that they couldn't even afford to eat. Now they finally became rich, but the commander-in-chief didn't even want those things. He said he would go all out to rush to the next tribe. Do we have a grudge against money?
"What we give up now, we can get back a hundredfold or a thousandfold in the future. Are these things still valuable in Tuyuhun? Even if they all scatter, they will eventually end up in other Tuyuhun tribes. We must be swift today. If we advance southward steadily in the future, no tribe's valuables will escape. Let them keep them for us for now, and we will get them back sooner or later."
Li Xiang had nothing to worry about. The Tuyuhun grassland was so small that no matter where these cattle and sheep ran to, they would eventually gather in the camps of various tribes. We would never give up unless we defeated Tuyuhun this time. So no matter where they ran to, they were just being raised by the Tuyuhun people for us. In the future, this place would be the empire's pasture.
"Then we should keep those people who just surrendered. If we transport them back, even if we don't sell them, Your Highness can take them back to the capital and let them farm for you. These are all Your Highness's slaves."
Old Man Zhao thought again of the hundred or so men he had killed. These men were all young and strong laborers. Killing them would certainly deter the grasslands and reduce Tuyuhun's war potential, but wouldn't it be better to keep them for us to farm? Just having something to eat was enough. They worked all day, over three hundred days a year.
"There are millions of people on the Tuyuhun grasslands. Will there ever be a shortage of slaves? Killing them now will declare to everyone with their blood that our Tang Dynasty is different from before, and the victory we seek in war is also different from before. If they dare to resist, this will be their fate."
After Li Xiang finished speaking, Old Man Zhao looked confused. It was really difficult for someone like Old Man Zhao to understand what Li Xiang was thinking. However, as the war progressed, it was estimated that Old Man Zhao would gradually understand.
In addition to spreading the atmosphere of terror, Li Xiang wanted speed. Some people might have already escaped from the previous battle. If these people spread the news everywhere, the time left for us will be less and less. The remaining two tribes are not small in size and are dozens of miles away. We must speed up. If we deal with this tribe, it will probably be dawn, and the task cannot be completed overnight.
Just as Li Xiang had thought, when they arrived at the second tribe, the people here had already begun to reorganize. Compared with the first tribe, no drinking was done here that night. Now more than 300 cavalrymen have rushed out. Fortunately, we came quickly. If we had delayed for half an hour, the more than 600 cavalrymen in the tribe would have been able to reorganize, and then we would have faced greater danger.
"Javelinmen."
Li Xiang made a gesture, and Huo Qubing immediately understood what was going on. Our cavalry is not strong enough to charge them head-on. It's not that we are afraid of them, but in this situation, we have to adopt newer tactics. The war has just begun, and we only have more than 3,000 people. We must conserve our strength, otherwise we will not be able to hold on to the end.
More than a hundred javelin throwers immediately appeared in the team. In addition to the original spears in their hands, there was a porcelain bottle tied to the back of the spear, which was filled with lamp oil.
When these javelin throwers finished throwing, the rocket soldiers under General Li Guang also began. Their task was not to shoot the soldiers charging from a distance, but to shoot the burning arrows into the lamp oil scattered on the ground. They only needed a large range and did not need to shoot too accurately.
"These Tang soldiers are fools. They were throwing javelins at us when we weren't charging at them just now, and now they want to set us on fire. Don't they know it rained heavily yesterday? I wonder how you can set this vibrant grassland on fire! Brothers, charge and chop them up!"
The tribal leaders of Tuyuhun laughed heartily. If the Tang army fought like this, they believed that victory would already be in their favor.
Hundreds of cavalrymen rushed into the range of the lamp oil in an instant. Although some of the lamp oil evaporated into the air due to the trampling of horses' hooves, and they also smelled some different odors, the charging speed of the war horses had increased at this moment, so they had no time to care about the strange smell. Even if there was any, they would have to deal with it after the battle.
It's burning...
It was just as he said. It had just rained heavily here, and even though a lot of lamp oil was scattered, it was still difficult to start a fire. But lamp oil was lamp oil after all. When the amount of lamp oil reached a certain level, the long-awaited fire would come.
No matter how fast the war horses galloped, they could not exceed the speed of the burning flames, especially since many of the horses were splashed with lamp oil. So no matter where the horses ran, they could not escape the range of the burning flames. Moreover, because of the fast running of the war horses, the range of the burning flames was expanded a lot, causing the soldiers who were originally fine to fall into the sea of fire.
Old man Zhao slapped his forehead helplessly again. His Highness was such a spendthrift when it came to war. These were all top-quality war horses, each of which cost more than 350 strings of cash. Hundreds of them were burned to ashes in an instant.
Li Xiang laughed at this moment. Am I a prodigal son?
Every soldier killed will add different points to Li Xiang based on their background and abilities. All points, including the warhorse, will be returned to Li Xiang in the form of points. I haven't lost a penny...