1055 Tricks Of The Headmaster And His Disciple, Backed By Chang’an (2/2)

Upon finishing the fish, she felt even more hungry. She turned to the indigo dog and asked, ”I want meat.”

The indigo dog kept his eyes wide open and seemed extremely innocent while Sangsang squinted her eyes and seemed extremely indifferent. The indigo dog lowered his head and returned to the snow world with its tail between the legs.

Sangsang did want some meat. Although she did not need food, she no longer felt disgusting upon human food. Most importantly, the one inside her was hungry.

When she first realized there was a child in her matrix, she was startled and even felt angry and resentful. It was only until recently that she started to get used to the little existence inside her.

She did not think that she had affection for the child because it was Ning Que's trick. She was merely hungry and wanted some meat to warm herself up.

Indeed, that must be the reason, she told herself.

After a long while the indigo dog came back with a freshly killed snow fox. Sangsang was very satisfied. She cooked it and spared a rear leg for the dog.

She started eating the roast meat. It was nothing compared with the lamb feast the Headmaster treated her to on the grassland many years ago. But she found it tasteful.

She could no longer travel a thousand miles in a single step to enjoy a feast in the Song and come back right after to her place to have a peony fish as a night snack. She was more and more like an ordinary human being.

However she found it not too bad.

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Apart from the hidden her by the snow sea, the other most important matter for the human world was the battle between the Tang and the Golden Tribe Royal Court.

The Golden Tribe had migrated to the south and threw the entire tribe into battle. As for the Tang, they could only send the Northern Battlefront Army because of the pressure from Taoism, and seemed to be outnumbered ever since the beginning.

The Golden Tribe Royal Court had the strongest cavalrymen on the grassland and proceeded like wildfire. The Tang army was good at both attack and defense. Xu Chi, the General of Northern Battlefront was particularly well known for defense. He had been defending the north of Tang extremely tightly for decades. If it was in the past he would never worry at all.

But that was long ago. Ever since the Golden Tribe Royal Court raided the south a few years ago and took over seven cities including Wei and Kaiping, the Tang's north battlefront was no longer unbeatable. The Tang used to spend heavily in building dozens of barracks along the west and north of Xiangwan Plain. However they had all been taken by the Golden Tribe Royal Court one after another, which further weakened Tang's north line of defense.

For the Tang army, the worst thing was the lack of war horses. The formerly well-known cavalry of the Northern Battlefront Army was barely a unit now and had to be merged with the infantry. They fought arduously against the cavalrymen from the grassland. They even lost the Chengu Pass ten days ago. The best cavalrymen from the Golden Tribe Royal Court could almost reach their North Battalion.

At the beginning of this war, the Tang army seemed unexpectedly weak. It was a strategic choice as well as a matter of fact.

In early spring, both sides were facing a shortage of supplies. The Tang army retreated so that the Golden Tribe Royal Court had to travel a longer way to deliver their supplies. It seemed to be a smart move. But they did not expect the Golden Tribe to be so ferocious and desperate to proceed to the south. They seemed to have never cared about running out of supplies. The supplies they brought should have only been sufficient for them to come to the defense line of the Northern Battlefront Army. If they could not break through the defense line they would not be able to return to the grassland. It seemed to be an unreasonable move for them to make such a desperate strike. However it turned out to be extremely effective. The grassland cavalry was crushing the Tang army like desperate wolves.

Although they had been forced to inferiority, the morale in the North Battalion was still quite normal. The North Battlefront Army had been fighting against the cavalry of Golden Tribe Royal Court for so long that they were used to the brutality of the grassland barbarians. It could no longer scare them.

Xu Chi stood on the Xiangliang Mountain next to their barrack and stared quietly at the grassland in snow storm. Some snowflakes fell on his lips and whitened his newly shaved beard. It seemed funny.

Several chiefs stood around him. But they did not find it funny because they knew how much pressure their general was undertaking. He even seemed stooping.

”No more retreating,” Xu Chi said after a long while. The few words came out of his frozen lips and sounded emotionless. It seemed that even he was not expecting himself to say so.

The chiefs were shocked. They did not understand why he suddenly changed their original plan. Although the vanguard had been struggling and the morale was sinking, they still believed that the well-trained Northern Battlefront Army could hold on for a further while.

Xu Chi turned back and wiped the snowflakes on his beard. He straightened up his slightly stooping figure and became the awe-inspiring martial art master of Tang again.

Seeing the disagreement on the chiefs' faces, he did not explain further. He looked at Hua Ying who was waiting for an order and said, ”I want you to guard Guhe.”

Hu Ying risked his life to come back from the frontline last night. His clothes were torn and he seemed miserable. But his eyes were still showing calmness and vigor.

It was a very simple military order, providing no conditions or escape. The general gave him only one choice, to guard Guhe.

Hua Ying did not keep quiet as the other chiefs did. Because he was the one to guard Guhe. And his hundreds of soldiers would be the ones fighting the bloody battle until the end.

”For the safety of the North Battalion?” Hua Ying asked.

He was not challenging Xu Chi, or had any doubt about this order. He was hoping that the general could provide a reasonable answer so that he could convince his subordinates, more importantly, convince himself.

Xu Chi said indifferently, ”When you are all gone, I will move our headquarters out of the North Battalion and come to join you. If you fail to guard Guhe, I will back you up.”

”Why?” Even those chiefs who had been trying to control themselves could no longer refrain from objecting.

”Why? If we lose Guhe, Chanyu's army would proceed through Chuanling, bypass us, and enter the Hebei Prefecture via the southwest of Min Mountain, after that…” Xu Chi looked at Hua Ying and the other chiefs and said calmly, ”The eight hundred miles of plain is the favorite battlefield for the grassland cavalrymen. Who could take the responsibility if they drive straight into the Central Plain? The Tang has a vast territory. But we, the Northern Battlefront Army cannot retreat further because Chang'an is right behind us.”

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