Chapter 201: Departing for Battle

Precious horses!

Truly peerless precious horses!

Geng Bing rode back and forth outside the camp for several laps. In his mind, a feeling of reluctance to dismount began to spread.

Without a doubt, both white horses were first-class precious steeds!

“As the saying goes, one should not receive a gift for no merit. The Baron would not give me such unseen precious horses for nothing. So, tell me, what do you need?”

He did not know when, but the Great Han Dynasty had developed a trend that any gift must come with a request.

Geng Bing was not an insatiably greedy man, but he truly did not want to miss out on the precious horses beneath him, so he opened his mouth to ask.

“This subordinate has an unreasonable request.” Mo Xiaobai naturally knew how power ful the White Qilin Horse could be for a General. He immediately bowed his fist beside Geng Bing.

“Speak freely.”

“This subordinate requests permission to fight.”

“Oh? Where to fight?”

“Leave the Fortress, pass through Jiuquan and Dunhuang, and attack Yiwu City in the north.” Mo Xiaobai spoke his first goal directly.

Geng Bing did not say yes, nor did he say no. He just flicked his riding whip. “Yiwu is a remote small town. Why attack it?”

“At this moment, it seems that Yiwu, being close to the Western Regions, has no impact on the battle situation. But if we capture this city first, when the General later crushes the Northern Xiongnu, the Xiongnu will surely flee north. Once the Xiongnu flee north, if they ever want to return, they will have to seek help from the Western Regions. At that time, the troops stationed in Yiwu City can easily cut off the communication line between the fleeing Xiongnu and the Western Regions.”

Mo Xiaobai’s reply had not a single moment of hesitation, because these were originally orders that Dou Xian and Geng Bing would have given. However, they would issue these orders after defeating the Northern Xiongnu. Now, Mo Xiaobai was simply stating them in advance to prepare.

“Yiwu, Yiwu~”

Geng Bing furrowed his brow and whispered the name. As a Great General who fought in the northwest all year round, he naturally knew the schemes of the Xiongnu and some small states in the Western Regions. If the Xiongnu fled north, this seemingly insignificant small town of Yiwu would indeed become the second Jilu Fortress.

After pondering for a long time, Geng Bing turned his side to look at Mo Xiaobai. “How many troops do you want?”

“My own unit has nearly a thousand men. If the General grants permission to fight, please also allocate one thousand more soldiers for me and provide enough war horses.” Mo Xiaobai did not hesitate or be stingy. He directly stated his request.

“Good. I will complete your force to two thousand cavalry, with a ratio of two men to three horses.”

Geng Bing was a very bold commander. Once he made a decision, he would not drag it out. But after nodding in agreement, he added his requirement: “However, the Baron must break Yiwu City within one month. After that, I will transfer garrison troops to Yiwu. After all, the Baron only holds the rank of Colonel and cannot lead an army alone.”

“This subordinate strictly obeys the General’s order!”

Mo Xiaobai immediately accepted this military order. Then he grinned. “The General transferring garrison troops is perfect. Actually, I do not want to just guard that small town. I also want the right to attack freely to some extent.”

“Heh~ Your fox tail is showing. What small town Yiwu? You clearly want to go to the Western Regions.” Geng Bing was the current General of the West of the Great Han Dynasty. As soon as Mo Xiaobai finished speaking, he had already guessed his intention.

However, Geng Bing did not oppose it. He just looked at Mo Xiaobai deeply for two seconds. “Capture Yiwu within twenty days, and I will approve you to attack the Western Regions.”

“Yo!”

Although the thirty days turned into twenty in a blink of an eye, Mo Xiaobai still bowed his fist firmly.

Geng Bing did not like subordinates who bargained, and Mo Xiaobai did not feel he needed to fight for those extra ten days anyway. Now that he had the approval of the General of the West, his trip to the Western Regions was perfectly justifiable.

…

Two days.

In fact, calculating it fully, he only used one and a half days.

Mo Xiaobai saw the more than a thousand soldiers sent by Geng Bing to the Drill Ground, along with a full three thousand war horses.

“Tsk, tsk. I always thought the national strength of the Great Han Empire during the Western Han was far superior to the Eastern Han. It seems I was too young before. With just these Beidi war horses, even Wei Qing in the period of Emperor Wu might not have been able to allocate them.”

In the eyes of Fatty, war horses were as delightful as lovely girls. These war horses before them were all in their golden age between seven to twelve years old. Unless the nation was incredibly powerful, how could they produce such horses?

A-Dai was right next to Fatty at this moment, equally unable to let go of the war horses before him. Earlier, Fatty had already given him a Yellow-Maned Horse, but the appearance of that horse could not be compared to the Xiongnu Horses before his eyes.

However, compared to Luyu and A-Dai, Mo Xiaobai was more concerned about the soldiers assigned to him now.

After asking Li Ji and Li Guang several times, Mo Xiaobai now truly thanked Geng Bing. Geng Bing did not simply transfer troops from one of his own units directly but took out dozens to over a hundred men from different Generals and Officers.

It looked like the subordinates were mixed and messy, but for Mo Xiaobai, this was a good thing. Because the troop group with the most people in the Drill Ground at this moment was still his own Daming Town troops.

After concentrating the two thousand troops and horses in one place, Mo Xiaobai quickly arranged the commanders.

Li Ji, Li Guang, Zhang He, and Gao Lan temporarily held the position of Commandant, each leading five hundred soldiers.

He Chun, Li Xin, Yang Zhi, and a transferred Southern Xiongnu Centurion named Hu You served as the Vice Generals for the four. Among them, Gao Lan and Hu You were naturally the Vanguards, while Zhang He and Yang Zhi were the rear guard. Mo Xiaobai and Li Ji, Li Guang would lead one thousand cavalry together.

After all preparations were ready, Mo Xiaobai quietly left the Camp that night.

At the same time, many Players of the Great Han Dynasty were still waiting for the main story mission to arrive. Occasionally, they received tasks at the Camp, but they were all small, corner communication missions.

Under the dark and heavy sky, more than three thousand war horses galloped in all directions.

However, high in the sky where no one noticed, fifty unremarkable Wild Geese were also flapping their wings, following the track of this huge army toward the west.

…

Great Ming Dynasty Instance, Battle of Taizhou.

Shangshan Ruoshui, who started plotting to “pick up leaks” as soon as he entered the Instance, spent several days and finally found a way.

Because the war was happening at this moment, and with the guarantee of his superior Hu Zongxian, Yu Dayou was not sent to the Imperial City. In fact, if Yu Dayou really entered the Imperial City’s Imperial Prison, even with a tough life, he might not be able to come out, let alone come out several times.

Yu Dayou was mostly arrested with a meaning similar to “local confinement.” The Emperor hoped he would continue to fight, and Hu Zongxian wanted to gain merit from him. Locking him up from time to time was simply to better control these great Generals who held military power at the moment.

“Old Sister, it seems the situation is a bit strange. There are quite a few Players coming.”

West of Taizhou, looking at the prison gate of the dungeon right in front of him, Shangshan Ruoshui had a strange look in his eyes. “Look over there. Yang Yang Yang has brought Qin Liangyu. Also, behind us, that group of people is probably also Players.”

“If we can guess it, others can certainly guess it too. Only having this small number of people here is already considered lucky enough.” A Wisp of Morning Light was not in a hurry. Instead, he smiled faintly and spoke:

“Actually, we should be grateful that she has come as well.”

“What do you mean?”

“Yang Yang Yang is also a representative of high-level Players in the Great Ming Players. Her appearing here shows that the ‘big leak’ of the Instance she knows about is also Yu Dayou, not some other matter.”

As A Wisp of Morning Light spoke, his gaze turned toward Yang Yang Yang in the distance. “If she hadn’t come, I would really have to consider whether there was some other important matter in the Battle of Taizhou that the Great God and I had overlooked.”