Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 902 - 743: I Won’t Indulge You_3

Chapter 902: Chapter 743: I Won’t Indulge You_3

The weather grew colder, and it was likely that there would be snowfall throughout the region by August.

—This snow actually did not help alleviate the drought but merely caused the already dry grass to freeze to death.

The Jin Army was stationed east of the Aruhun River, showing no intention of crossing it. Their cavalry roamed extensively, sweeping through all the grasslands day and night.

The ’Divine Blood Azure Phoenix’ soared in the sky, coordinating with the Jin Army’s ’Yebushou’ on the ground to monitor military intelligence everywhere, preventing any Meng Wu tribes from grazing east of the Aruhun River.

While lush pastures lay just opposite them, their livestock had no chance to partake.

Yexian planned to continually disrupt the Jin Army’s food supplies with his lightweight cavalry or to wait until the frigid weather in September when the prairie was blanketed in deep snow—hoping that the Jin troops from the south could not withstand the harsh cold of Mobei, using the power of the severe winter to disintegrate the enemy.

However, more and more facts showed that it might be they from Meng Wu who could not hold out first.

The tens of thousands of cavalry Yexian had deployed had not achieved any significant victories; some had even lost all contact and were never heard from again.

Then, the ’Night Hawk’ that Yexian left in the Datan grasslands brought him something called a ’woolen sweater,’ which plunged his spirits to a new low.

Knitting sweaters from wool was an old practice on the prairie. However, it was labor-intensive, requiring dozens of people working together for days, so only the wealthy tribal leaders ever wore them.

But Yexian’s ’Night Hawk’ told him that this dense, lightweight, comfortable, and warm woolen sweater was almost standard issue among the Jin troops.

They also used captured fur to mass-produce simple fur coats and boots, distributing them among the Jin soldiers.

—Which meant that the Jin Army’s resistance to the cold was far stronger than Yexian had imagined.

At that moment, west of the Aruhun River, Yexian, who had occasionally visited a few grasslands during his leisure, found that the grass was dry and yellow, with little left usable; many of the animals would rather starve than eat it.

This left Yexian feeling immensely heavy-hearted.

It was during this time that Yexian received devastating news.

Wulangha Khan Borzigin Azhashiri, along with his 26,000 Black Wolf Riders, had all been killed in battle at Jiesheng Ridge.

All 26,000 of the fiercest Meng Wu knights were annihilated by the Jin Army, with almost no survivors.

"Is this information confirmed?"

Because the news was so shocking, Yexian’s body trembled slightly, nearly unable to stand steady.

He then looked at his chief of the Night Hawks with wolf-like eyes, "Did Azhashiri truly die in battle? But how exactly did he lose? How could all of them have been killed?"

"The news is absolutely certain!"

The chief of the Night Hawks prostrated himself, "I visited the battlefield. They were straightforwardly crushed by the Jin Army, then encircled and trapped on a narrow river beach, leading to their total annihilation.

And it’s not just the Wulangha people. In the past twenty days, more than ten thousand of our riders fell along the Jin Army’s supply lines. They failed to harass the Jin supply lines, instead suffering heavy losses themselves. The Doyan Sanwei, which had barely mustered 15,000 elite riders, was also ambushed and completely wiped out by the Jin general Wang Yuan from Jizhou."

From the intelligence received so far, it appears to be related to a type of "revolver" extensively equipped by the Jin Army, but I am unaware of the specific tactics and usage. The Jin people are very secretive, and ever since their palace coup, the capabilities of their Xiuyiwei and inner Jishi Bureau have increased manifold. The Jin Army’s night operation and Xiuyiwei are shielding the entire grasslands, causing heavy losses to our night hawks."

Yexian couldn’t help but frown; he was well-aware of the situation with the Jin people.

Ever since Empress Sun and the Zhengtong Emperor fell, the Princess of Jin notably increased the salaries of the Xiuyiwei and the inner Jishi Bureau and strenuously carried out a purge.

Now, not only have the numerous ’moles’ planted in the grasslands been decimated, but even his current ally, the powerful ’Jinque Palace,’ is finding it difficult to gather information about the Jin Army.

Yexian deeply exhaled a breath of turbid air, "Dasiming of the Jinque Palace mentioned that the Jin territory is facing a disaster, do you think the Jin people could run out of food?"

"No!"

The night hawk leader firmly shook his head, "Great Khan, the Jin people’s grain boats are continuously transporting grain and fodder to the Capital City, and the grain convoys from Xuanfu to Ulan Bator are also endless. The food they have stored in MoBei is also sufficient to last two months.

Besides, there is more bad news. The Jin Army’s garrisons in Jizhou and Liaodong are mobilizing, seemingly preparing to open a new front at the end of July to sweep through the three Datans."

Yexian’s face became extremely grim momentarily.

He wondered where the Jin Dynasty was getting so much money and grain; they even had the spare capacity to open a third battlefield.

The three Datans would likely not hold out. Their strongmen had been halved in last year’s battle at Xuanfu, and now they had lost another fifteen thousand cavalry.

Just as Yexian’s mood worsened beyond measure, the Mongolian Shaman Guoshi Abas entered with a solemn expression on his face.

"Great Khan!" Abas’s voice was gravelly, "I have some bad news. Just two shichen ago, seventy thousand households of the Datan Central Army clashed with thirty thousand of your households, resulting in over seven hundred deaths. Afterward, the Datan Central Army of seventy thousand households mutinied, claiming they couldn’t survive any longer and wished to cross the river to surrender to the Jin."

Yexian was startled and immediately rose, "Where are they now? Have they crossed the river?"

"No!" The Mongolian Shaman Guoshi Abas shook his head with a serious tone, "I took the liberty of killing those who led the revolt. But the situation is now dire. The resentment among the various Datan factions is strong, and the Vala Department has many complaints against you. Great Khan, we might not hold on much longer, and come August, we might collapse."

Abas’s eyes conveyed deep helplessness. He wondered why the strategies that had proven effective against the Great Ancestor and Emperor Taizong of Jin in the past were useless this time?

Yexian also closed his eyes with a solemn expression, and after a moment, he clenched his fists, "Send someone to inform the Jinque Palace that on the tenth of July, I will lead the troops to cross the Aruhun River and battle the Jin Army!"

He realized he had no other choice, to either keep avoiding battle until morale was completely depleted and suffer defeat without fighting; or to make a desperate stand on the battlefield and decide on a victory or defeat with the Jin Army.

Yexian believed he still had a chance of victory; he had already gathered over 700,000 warriors on the western side of the Aruhun River and had even trained many herdsmen into soldiers.

Correspondingly, the Jin Army, due to maintaining their supply lines and sweeping the pastures, had decreased to less than 400,000 soldiers.

In a few days, he would lead 900,000 Mongolian warriors towards Ulan Bator to sweep the area and restore the unbeatable fame of the Meng Wu Iron Cavalry!

Their only disadvantage now was the presence of the most top-notch warriors.

Whether it was Shaofu Yu Jie or that white-clothed woman who appeared that day, both were sources of immense concern for Yexian.