512 Fleeing (2/2)
Old Man Mu followed closely behind him. The corpses strewn around the battlefield were a huge temptation for him, causing him to keep groaning in agony.
”Remember your oath and shut up,” Gu Shenwei told him. He did not appreciate the old man's constant groaning.
”I can remember my oath, but shutting up will be a little hard,” replied Old Man Mu. He was standing on top of a horse, but it did not affect his ability to lead it. From a distance, he even seemed like a rider on horseback. ”Dragon King, do you know how a deity feels like after he or she has been banished to earth and lost all of his or her sorcery? I feel like that now, I...”
Gu Shenwei acted swiftly and demonstrated great hand-eye coordination as he stuffed his horsewhip into the old man's mouth. He needed to focus on catching up with his guard troops, instead of listening to an old man explain his feelings.
Old Man Mu remained silent for a while before spitting the horsewhip back out, muttering, ”What sort of taste is that? Now I've lost even the desire to kill...”
The guard troops were indeed still at their original spot. Even the Queen had made a symbolic appearance on the battlefield, but they were still waiting in the camp. Dugu Xian had drawn a line at using this unit only in critical life and death situations.
Their vice commander, Wu Zongheng, had still not returned, and Gu Shenwei had appointed a centurion to temporarily take over command. He ordered the centurion to set off immediately. ”Take boats and cross the lake. Seize the capital of the Kang Kingdom as fast as you can and shut its gates. Do not hand the city over to anybody unless you get orders from me.”
All of the guard troops were incredibly overjoyed to see the Dragon King, believing that they could take part in the chase and contribute to the battle finally. They did not expect to receive orders to seize a nearly defenseless capital.
Gu Shenwei could not explicitly tell them his plans and could only try to encourage them. ”The entire Dragon army will return to the north coast very shortly. You are our vanguard unit and bear a heavy responsibility. Please remain frosty and take care.”
”Shall we seize the other three capitals?” asked the high-ranking military officers of the guard troops, as they began to get excited. There were not many soldiers from the Golden Roc Army on the north coast and they consisted mainly of scattered and small units. As such, they would definitely not be able to withstand the 1000 strong guard troops.
”Secure the Kang Kingdom and don't let anyone in. You are not to leave the city as well.”
After he had given them his strict order, Gu Shenwei led a little over 100 of the guard troops to catch up with the main body of the Dragon army.
Most of the battle-ready ships in the Xiaoyao Lake were in the hands of the Right General, Shang Liao. There were still many civilian bots docked at the harbor on the south coast, and the guard troops immediately sail to the north coast, unimpeded throughout their entire journey.
Gu Shenwei arrived at the temporary encampment set up by the Dragon King after midnight. The fatigued soldiers were already mostly asleep.
Nobody dared to stop the guard troops as they marched into the camp, holding the Dragon King's banner up high. They immediately passed on the Dragon King's instructions to the other soldiers, ”The soldiers and officers have suffered today, and no one is to wake anybody up.”
Gu Shenwei entered the main tent alone and lit the candles up. He secretly admired Dugu Xian's discipline; even at such a chaotic time, the tent was organized neatly, as if the army had already set up here for many days.
The first thing he did was to look through the reports of the past few days. All of Dugu Xian's orders were recorded in them, and through the dry documents, he quickly understood what had happened for the past few days when he was away.
Gu Shenwei frowned as he read about the Queen's making a personal appearance in the military camp.
A guard standing watch outside lifted the flap to his tent and walked in. ”Your Majesty, the Prime Minister is asking to see you.”
It was uncertain as to whether Zhong Heng was the first to notice the Dragon King's arrival because he could not fall asleep or whether there was somebody who had disobeyed orders and reported it to the Prime Minister.
Zhong Heng had originally wanted to kneel and offer his congratulations upon seeing the Dragon King, but immediately changed his mind after really meeting him. He occasionally forgot that he was dealing with the Dragon King not the officials from the Central Plain that he used to work for.
”There are still 20000 enemy soldiers that have fled west. The Left General felt that it was not suitable to press them too tightly, and the Right General is nowhere to be found. It would be a great help to us if we had his boats and Fierce Bombs.”
Zhong Heng went straight to the point and explained the situation with a few words. Gu Shenwei nodded. Since the Prime Minister was already here, he got his guards to wake Dugu Xian up.
The Right General arrived very quickly and was slightly surprised to see the Prime Minister. He then immediately kneeled down on one knee as he addressed the Dragon King. ”I didn't know that you've arrived, Your Grace, and thus missed welcoming you. Please forgive me.”
Dugu Xian had never behaved so respectfully toward the Dragon King. He had just won an important victory but was behaving as humbly as a defeated general. Zhong Heng secretly approved; he thought that the Left General was not entirely unaware of the rules of court.
”How do you plan to deal with the remaining 20000 Golden Roc soldiers, General Dugu?” Gu Shenwei asked the most pressing question in his mind, as he readily accepted the show of respect.
Dugu Xian rose as he replied, ”Our army should slowly advance and force them to flee the north coast. We'll then send out another army from the capital of the An Kingdom to travel northward, creating a stranglehold on the exit on the northeast portion of the Xiaoyao Lake. As such, the enemy can only return to Jade City through the passage on the northwest. The desert will take care of the remaining 20000 enemy soldiers as they did not bring enough food and water with them.”
It was about the same as Gu Shenwei's plan, but he pointed at the map in front of him, saying, ”What about this bridge? After the Golden Roc Army returns back to the north coast, they will definitely destroy it. Our troops will then be unable to pursue them.”
”It's indeed a valid problem,” replied Dugu Xian. He was a little nervous as he had not thought of a solution.
What he did not know was that many people tried to destroy that bridge.