Chapter 36: Return

The carriage had locked onto Daha, and his subordinates hurriedly distanced themselves from him. But Daha was not one to be easily cornered; he immediately dashed back into the crowd.

“No! Chief, please don’t come any closer!”

“Chief, lure it away, please!”

“Chief, we will always remember your great kindness!”

The commanders were all dismayed—what a hopeless leader they had!

Daha felt bitter as well. How could he possibly leave the crowd? If he had to die, he’d rather not die alone. He had no intention of letting his women be divided among the others.

The carriage kept its sights on its target for a while, but this group of cowards had not the slightest killing intent. Bored, Lin Shu opened the carriage window and looked at the chief a few meters away.

“My goodness! Fatty, your horse is really something!”

By his estimate, it weighed at least two hundred jin, its length unknown, but likely not far off from his own.

Turning his head, Daha saw a pale, hairless face—neither tall nor robust, with little flesh on his bones.

“You—you, don’t come over! Are you the Northern King?” Legend had it that the Northern King was a hairless-faced man, and sure enough, his carriage fit the description of the demonic vehicle.

Compared to the wild men with their shaggy hair and beards, Lin Shu’s face, shaved daily by carriage assistants, bore only eyebrows and short hair—nothing else.

Suddenly, Lin Shu found this fat pig rather agreeable, perhaps because he was shorter and uglier than himself.

“General Daha, how long do you plan to run? My carriage is well stocked with food—we could keep this up for a month.”

As he spoke, Lin Shu gnawed on a rabbit leg.

“Ah, you!” Daha gulped. He hated seeing others eat meat in front of him—especially at a time like this!

“Ah! Northern King, I beg you, spare me! Go after General Xite and his men instead! They have forty or fifty thousand—our handful is not enough to satisfy you!”

Earlier, Daha had witnessed several warriors, man and horse, vanish atop the carriage. He believed it now: this demonic carriage truly did eat people!

“Enough nonsense! All of you, stop and pledge yourselves to me! If anyone runs, I’ll kill you first.” Lin Shu dared not kill dozens at once, but to slay a few or ten at a time was nothing.

Surrender? So that was possible! A smile returned to Daha’s face.

“Very well! Warriors, stop running. From now on, we are the Northern King’s cavalry—one of his own! Stop at once!”

One of his own? He won’t eat us? The commanders were stunned.

“Hurry, surrender! Stop running!” Daha called again, gradually slowing himself. He wasn’t about to keep fleeing—if death came, so be it.

Seeing the chief really stop, the commanders believed it, too.

“Yes! Stop! No need to run, we are one of his own now, Northern Army too.”

“Yes, one of his own.”

The commanders began shouting orders, and the personal guards around them relayed the message.

The carriage pursued for several hundred more meters before twenty thousand cavalry all halted.

In truth, they couldn’t run any farther; their warhorses would collapse if forced on.

To show his sincerity, Lin Shu stopped as well and stood atop the carriage.

Looking up at the Northern King on the roof in his black leather coat, Daha sighed bitterly. Why stand so high up?

As soon as the Donghu cavalry stopped, they dismounted; they had no choice, for their exhausted horses might turn against them otherwise.

Leading his yellow steed and clad in a sheepskin coat, Daha brought the commanders to the carriage.

“Greetings, my lord. Daha of the Whiteshade Tribe humbly begs to return under your banner.”

“Greetings, my lord.” The commanders knelt on one knee in allegiance as well.

Lin Shu nodded with a smile. “Well said—returning to your roots! The Donghu lands, even the great desert, belong to the Yanhuang Empire by right. Now that I have returned and the Empire is restored, your tribes should return as well.”

So the whole desert was his? Daha didn’t know whether to doubt or believe.

“Yes, my lord. The Whiteshade Tribe has always belonged to the Yanhuang Empire. We submitted to the Donghu Tuoba tribe only by force, with no other choice! Fortunately, my lord has now returned!”

Daha bowed low again, eyes reddened with excitement, though he forced out only oil—not a single tear.

“Very good! The Whiteshade Tribe’s loyalty to the Empire is clear! Now, rest in place for an hour, then follow me in pursuit of the traitorous Xite.”

In an instant, they were all on the same side, and Daha no longer had to worry.

“As you command, my lord.”

Lin Shu nodded and returned to his carriage, which then rolled aside so as not to frighten the cavalry.

Wiping sweat from his brow, Daha exhaled deeply.

“Warriors, rest here. In an hour, we’ll follow our lord to destroy the traitor Xite.”

A traitor? The chief commander was speechless. This chief was crafty indeed—no wonder his brothers could never outmaneuver him!

An hour passed swiftly, and the twenty-thousand-strong force followed the carriage toward the Shallow Ford of the Western River, a branch of the Black River.

At the Shallow Ford, the riverbed was broad and sandy, allowing men and horses to cross easily.

If Xite hoped to escape quickly, he would have to head for the Western Shallows. After a stretch without the carriage in pursuit, the forty-thousand cavalry rested briefly before pressing on to the ford.

By nightfall, sixty thousand Donghu cavalry arrived near the ford.

Exhausted, they sent no scouts to reconnoiter the area, but their movements were soon detected by the Moon God’s reconnaissance riders.

“I didn’t expect our lord to rout the Donghu so swiftly! Now the two enemy forces together are only sixty or seventy thousand strong!”

After hearing the scouts’ report, Wei Qianqian was the most astonished among the commanders.

Xuan Jian smiled and nodded. He knew well how formidable their lord was—otherwise, he wouldn’t have pledged allegiance so quickly.

The Lesser Priestess’s eyes flickered, but she gave no visible reaction, though she too was deeply shocked.

The Donghu army had numbered a hundred twenty thousand, yet by the end of the day, only half remained.

The Moon God was not surprised by the inevitable defeat of the Donghu, but the current situation was fraught with danger.

“Xuan Jian, the Donghu still have sixty or seventy thousand cavalry. If they attack tomorrow, can we hold them off?”

The ten thousand cavalry stationed across the ford would have trouble repelling a massed assault, for the river hindered a cavalry charge, but if sixty thousand surged across, they would not be able to stop many.

Xuan Jian frowned and after a moment replied, “Moon Priestess, with only our ten thousand cavalry and four black tiger war machines, we can barely hold out until our lord arrives, but stopping them all is unlikely.”

Never pursue a desperate foe; if driven to the brink, the Donghu would fight with fierce resolve.

Yet this was the Moon God’s first time commanding an army in battle—she could not bear to let sixty thousand Donghu escape.

“Tomorrow, we’ll try to hold them as best we can. If casualties are too high, we’ll withdraw. Our lord has only twenty thousand cavalry—I dare not risk the annihilation of all ten thousand.”

Xuan Jian, the Lesser Priestess, and the others nodded at once—this was the only way.

...

Daha set up camp. As the last rays of the sunset faded, Lin Shu drove his carriage across the river to the cavalry camp.

Before the sentries could report, the carriage arrived before the command tent.

As soon as it stopped, Lin Shu floated down.

“Greetings, my lord—”

What? The lord himself? The Moon God, overjoyed, stood up at once.

Before the others could exit the tent, Lin Shu floated inside.

“My lord—” everyone saluted with cupped fists.

Their lord floated half a meter above the ground, without the slightest hint of martial aura—this left Xuan Jian both amazed and puzzled.

Heavens, how frightening! Wei Qianqian covered her mouth and quickly lowered her head.

Floating in and out of the gloom of night—he scarcely looked human!

Lin Shu smiled wryly and sighed. It seemed his attempt at posturing was a failure.

“All right, be seated. Let’s first discuss the situation with the defeated Donghu.”

Once everyone was seated, the Moon God spoke: “My lord, the defeated Donghu have split into eastern and western groups, a dozen li apart. The eastern force exceeds forty thousand, the western at least twenty thousand. We were unsure we could prevent them from crossing, but now, with your arrival, there is no need for concern.”

Now that their lord was here, the Donghu could not hope to escape.

Lin Shu nodded; he hadn’t expected the Donghu cavalry to break so easily—they’d fled after two or three exchanges!

With the Northern Army’s heavy losses, they were unable to pursue, so Lin Shu had hurried ahead to reinforce them.