Chapter 90: Feeling Powerless
"Zhao Yan!" Yan Ju was furious. He turned around, drew out his sword and was about to chop Zhao Yan.
Zhao Yan was startled and hid behind the screen.
The other officers in the army also hurried forward and grabbed Yan Ju.
An incompetent general exhausted the entire army. They were very frustrated and even wanted Yan Ju to really kill Zhao Yan, but they didn't dare!
"Zhao Yan, don't think that your position as crown prince is secure. Do you know who died?" Yan Ju still looked at Zhao Yan with uncontrollable anger.
Zhao Yan was also frightened and asked in a weak voice, "Who is it?"
"The great master of the Confucian chess school is Yiqiu; one of the eight elders of the Taoist sect, the elder who preaches the Tao is Jingyunzi; one of the famous debaters is Gongsun Qing; the chief judge of the Legalist faction is Shenshi..." The more Yan Ju spoke, the lower his voice became, and tears of blood slowly fell from his tiger eyes.
Although he had only met those people once, their reputations had already spread throughout the world. And now, because they did not help, these gentlemen who should have been famous all over the world and had great influence in the court have all died on the grassland.
The names popped up one by one, and the whole tent was quiet and cold. Zhao Yan's heart was also trembling. These people were the heads of their families, and the forces and backgrounds behind them were terrifyingly powerful.
What Yan Ju said about his unstable position was no longer empty talk. If the incident at Yanmen Pass were to get back to Handan and spread throughout the world, the public would be so excited that his father would really reduce his position!
"What's the situation in the barbarian camp now?" Yan Ju took a deep breath, suppressed his anger and sadness, and asked the commander of the scout camp.
He cannot let your blood be shed in vain. If the decapitation operation succeeds, the barbarians will be leaderless and fall into chaos. Although they are few in number, they can also go out and fight, and drive the barbarians back to the grassland to graze!
"Still waiting for the scouts' report!" the scout camp commander replied in a low voice.
It takes time to gather intelligence, and now we can only wait for the scouts to report.
Yan Ju didn't say anything else, and the entire tent became eerily quiet. Everyone was waiting for the latest information to be delivered.
"Report~" An hour later, a fast horse finally came with urgent news, and the scouts rushed into the big tent.
"Speak!" Yan Ju immediately stood up and asked.
"For some unknown reason, the barbarians fell into chaos. The armies of Jianlan, Loufan, Linhu and Xiongnu retreated, and the Donghu army is marching towards Yanmen Pass!" The scout hurriedly handed over the information he had obtained.
Yan Ju frowned. Of the five tribes that had joined forces, four were now retreating. Did that mean that the leaders of the four tribes were killed in a decapitation operation, and then the Donghu leader, in anger, led his army to attack the city?
But if you think about it carefully, it is also possible that the leader of the Donghu was killed, and then the angry Donghu wanted to massacre Yanmen Pass in revenge for their leader!
But that doesn't seem right. If that were the case, the four tribes should have joined forces with the Donghu to come forward instead of retreating.
"Have you seen who is leading the Donghu troops?" Yan Ju continued to ask.
"The Left Wise King of Donghu!" the scout replied.
The scouts at Yanmen Pass were familiar with the leaders of the major tribes on the grassland, so they recognized the leading general of the Donghu at the first opportunity.
"Didn't you see the Donghu leader?" Yan Ju continued to ask.
"No!" the scout answered decisively.
Yan Ju frowned again. He had no idea what had happened in the barbarian camp. They had too little intelligence.
"Pass the order, prepare the army for war and do not take the initiative to attack!" Yan Ju ordered.
This time Zhao Yan did not dare to say anything more. He was only thinking about how to eliminate the anger of the hundreds of families and prevent the incident at Yanmen Pass from being exposed.
There were 50,000 defenders at Yanmen Pass, but the Donghu had an army of 150,000. Together with the armies of the four tribes in the rear, the total force reached an astonishing 300,000, which was unprecedented.
"Zhao Yan, just wait for the wrath of the king and the State of Zhao!" After Yan Ju said this, he led a group of generals to the city tower.
Mainly composed of barbarian cavalry, beacon fires were constantly lit, one after another.
Yan Ju looked at the beacon fires burning everywhere with a grim face, but he did not dare to order help.
Because of Zhao Yan's concealment, the people within the entire Yanmen Pass defense line were unable to evacuate into the city, and Yunzhong and Jiuyuan, which served as front-line warnings, lost their value.
"I don't know how many people died at the hands of the barbarians!" Yan Ju said in a low voice.
They did not dare to leave the pass, nor could they protect the people they were supposed to protect. They could only sit in the isolated city and watch the barbarian cavalry rush through the pass, enter the pass, and burn, kill and loot.
Then they watched the barbarians returning with their fellow sisters in triumph as they retreated back to the grassland.
Jin Yao, Meng Qing and Tian Long had been in a coma for three days and finally woke up, but they were all seriously injured and could no longer participate in the battle. They even needed help to walk.
"Still failed to save him!" Jin Yao inserted his ten fingers into his palms, and the bandages on his body began to bleed again because his muscles were tense with anger.
"I only regret that I couldn't break through to the Minggui level at that time and couldn't kill everyone!" Jin Yao said self-reproachfully.
If he could break through to the Minggui realm in the big tent at that time, he would be able to kill all the barbarian commanders instead of just the Donghu leader.
"I hate it. I hate that I have been at the border for so many years but still cannot understand or speak the barbarian language!" Tian Long was also blaming himself angrily.
If I could understand and speak the barbarian language, then I would be the one who entered the barbarian tent at that time, and I could follow Jin Yao into the tent and kill everyone. In that case, it would be worth it even if I died.
"You have done enough. We are too incompetent. With the battle going like this, we all deserve to die, but we are still alive!" Yan Ju also blamed himself. He punched the wall of Yanmen Pass again and let the blood flow without paying any attention.
"Barbarians are like this. They will not stop plundering just because of the death of their leader. Even if you and all of you kill all their leaders, they will still enter the pass!" The general guarding Yanmen Pass whispered to comfort.
They have fought with the barbarians many times. Beheading will not affect the barbarians' invasion, and it may even make other small tribes of the barbarians happier.
Now that the leader who was oppressing them is gone, they can turn against the leader, devour the leader's tribe, and strengthen themselves.
However, before that, they would take the opportunity to avenge their leader to invade the Central Plains, and then incorporate the army originally under the leader's command into their own forces.
This is the law of survival on the grassland.
"We're going back!" Jin Yao didn't say much and chose to leave. He had already sent a message to Yang Lou, and the God-killing Swordsman and Yang Lou had also arrived.
"Sir, have a safe journey!" Generals such as Yan Ju did not try to persuade Jin Yao and Mo Jia to stay. Jin Yao and Mo Jia were no longer of any use and could only watch the barbarians plundering.
"I'm going back too!" Tian Long and Meng Qing also chose to leave. This time they felt deeply powerless and chose to follow the Mo family and leave, going back to seclusion and never coming out again until they became masters.
If they had the strength of a grandmaster, the result might be different!
