Chapter 13 Use Troops Like a God Han Xuanzhi (Part 2)_1

Chapter 13

Huang Sanyuan had been on edge because only he knew that there were just two bandits present in the Frog Fort. Judging by Han Xuanzhi's momentum, he had mobilized more than a thousand troops and if he discovered what he (Huang) had encountered, the only path awaiting him would lead to sure death. Therefore, Huang Sanyuan was constantly thinking of how to find an opportunity to escape on the way.

However, when the team began to move, Huang Sanyuan gradually felt that perhaps the problems he had been considering were not really problems. Because there were bigger issues within the troop.

The roads were far from smooth, rugged and tumultuous, bushes and trees flourishing. Walking on these roads could only be described as torturous. Among the thousand-man squad, people were getting sick, others had diarrhea, few of the heavy armor soldiers fainted, and the military supervisors were compelled to ride horses within the cadre, whipping the soldiers to make them advance.

Amid such a team, there was even a luxurious horse carriage with two horses drawing the carriage, and plush brocade blanket laid inside. Han Xuanzhi sat in the carriage, lightly swaying his handheld fan, looking calm and collected.

Huang Sanyuan had held back for long before finally voicing his concern, "Young City Lord, aren't we supposed to march quickly? But why are you sitting in the horse carriage?"

"I am not a soldier and am not responsible for attacking ramparts," Han Xuanzhi's brows arched into an imposing visage, "My duty is to lead them in battle. Neither suffering nor tribulations can bring out my worth. Do you understand this principle?"

"I understand, I understand," Huang Sanyuan hastily nodded. He once again sensed that "you made such a persuasive argument that I have nothing to reply to, however, I can't help but feel that there's something wrong" kind of sensation.

"You wouldn't understand." Han Xuanzhi glanced out of the carriage window, sighing reflectively: "The eminent ancient general Chen Xuanzhi could kill enemies thousands of miles away while staying in his tent during a military expedition. He left the enemy in ashes with one swift stroke. How admirable the seniors were."

Keeping pace with the fact that you undoubtedly have the disease, but not the fortune of the eminent general. Huang Sanyuan mentally scoffed, now he gradually understood what type of person Han Xuanzhi was. In this world, there were scions who idled away their time in gratification and there were also ambitious scions; there were also those who believed themselves to be ambitious but were, in reality, pleasure-seekers. As for the master before him...unquestionably, he belonged to the latter category.

Black Stone City, a day following Han Xuanzhi taking the army out, Xue Banchuan came to the city lord mansion.

The weather was very hot, Han Huju, the city lord, was stripped to his waist as he gulped down his wine, and even then he was drenched in sweat. The two sisters, Hua and Cao, were waiting on him; they only wore gauze clothing, their beautiful and delicate bodies visible through the thin gauze.

When Xue Banchuan entered the mansion, he caught sight of this scene and lowered his gaze hurriedly, not daring to look straight at it.

"What is it?" Han Huju was quite displeased.

"City Lord, the young master has already been away for a day. I have a disquieting feeling in my heart, why don't I lead a hundred cavalry to have a look just in case something unexpected happened?"

"What mishap...oh, okay then, go, go…" Han Huju impatiently waved his hand.

Xue Banchuan backed out of the room and straightened up only after he was outside the room.

Half an hour later, a hundred light cavalrymen gathered at the drill ground. In the past, Xue Banchuan had trained 500 soldiers, these hundred light cavalry were the elite among them. Each one of them was in their youth of twenty or thirty years and each one fit and robust. They formed a square in a five-person formation with bows and arrows. They had spears in their hands and short knives strapped to their waist.

No one spoke a word, even the war horses maintained a silence. A hundred strapping lads silently gazed at Xue Banchuan.

They didn't need a brain, Xue Banchuan was their brain, they didn't need a thought process, Xue Banchuan was their thought process.

Xue Banchuan paused momentarily before mounting his horse.

"Move out!"

The war horses galloped away neighing. Even the sound of the horse hooves hitting the ground followed a rhythm. They galloped away like a pack of lions following Xue Banchuan's lead.

A hundred minds functioning as one, a hundred pairs of limbs acting as one pair, that was what truly constituted elite troops.

...

The team was slowly moving, nearly reaching Frog Ridge by dawn. The journey of over a hundred li took a whole day to cover.

"Young City Lord, we are soon going to reach Frog Ridge, how about letting the soldiers rest a bit? They have been travelling non-stop all day and night," Huang Sanyuan suggested.

"Rest!" Han Xuanzhi looked at Huang Sanyuan puzzled: "Steward Huang, don't you know that expedience is of utmost importance in the military? If we rest and the thieves come for a surprise attack at night, what will we do?"

"Um…" Huang Sanyuan said: "But the soldiers are too exhausted, they can't hold on much longer…"

"My soldiers should have the courage to confront adversity, and the will to survive in desperate situations. Steward Huang, we are at war. There will be casualties, so what if they suffer from a bit of fatigue?"

Damn it! That feeling again; you made such a persuasive argument that I have nothing to respond with, but still, I feel like there's something off.

The sound of horses approached; a military supervisor came by the carriage: "Young master, there's a fork ahead. One is the official road and the other is an intricate narrow alley. There's also a canyon down the path, may I ask Young City Lord, which of the two routes should we choose?"

"You fool, of course we will take the official road! Is there even a need to ask." Huang Sanyuan cursed out loud, praying in his heart: my dear predecessors; I hope there won't be any more unexpected hitches.

"Hold on!" As expected, Han Xuanzhi had that "None of you understand, only I do" express on his face again. He said: "Steward Huang believes we should take the official road, everyone else will think the same, won't the bandits know we will take the official road too? They will surely set up an ambush on the way. However, I will act out of the ordinary and spoil their plans."

Huang Sanyuan almost spurted a mouthful of blood. Act out of the ordinary your mom! There are only two bandits what is there to ambush. Oh, forget it. After all, there are only two bandits; it won't matter which route we take. The soldiers will just end up being tossed around a bit more.

The group started to change directions and started moving toward the intricate alley.

Huang Sanyuan was indescribably bothered in his heart, he was, however, unaware that pairs of eyes were watching the team from the surrounding bushes.

In the past few days, Xu Shenji had visited all the mountain fortresses around Mount Qingniu, talking about only one matter: Black Stone City was planning to launch a big military operation to attack the bandits around Mount Qingniu.

No one would have believed his words, but they had their reservations and sent someone to take a look anyway. When Han Xuanzhi's troops reached near Mount Qingniu, they had already been spotted and the bandits rapidly reported back to their respective mountain fortresses.

A thousand-man team! Every mountain fortress was on tenterhooks.

Flying Tiger Village, Apricot Blossom Ridge, Dog Head Ridge, Wild Boar Forest, Bald Slope...The leaders of all the mountain fortresses were hiding in the woods on both sides of the main road, each of them feeling like they had a thorn lodged in their back.

One of them was dressed in black, a large blade glittering with a chill in his hand; he was Gao Feihu, the leader of Flying Tiger Village. Next to him was his younger brother Gao Feibao.

"Big Brother, it seems that they are not heading our way, this road leads to Frog Ridge, right?"

"How many people are left in Frog Fortress now that would require so many soldiers to attack?" Gao Feihu furrowed his brows, unable to understand the logic: "If only our military counselor were here now...Let's keep watching and see what is happening today."