Chapter 299: Decisive Battle In The Northern Desert, Advance To The Onon River
Two hundred li east of Woluoduo, the summer pasture upstream of the Tula River was in a season of abundant water and grass.
The reeds on both sides of the riverbank grew taller than a horse’s belly, and when the wind blew, they raised green waves; the sheep flock stepped on the soft turf, with tender grass juice stuck between their hooves.
This was the Chuluosi tribe’s habitat in spring and summer.
The young woman Wulunna squatted by the riverside fetching water, looking at the sheep flock happily grazing in the distance, a light smile appearing on her face.
“Look at that black sheep; it was only knee-high a couple of days ago, but now it’s gotten so fat it’s almost unable to walk.”
The old women beating sheepskin nearby all laughed: “The grass in the summer pasture is a treasure granted by Tengger to our tribe.”
“Last year, my family’s cattle were raised here for three months, and the calves they bore were three jin heavier than in previous years.”
“It was just that Dad left in too much of a hurry.”
On the other side, the girl Agula with double braids packed milk tofu into a sheepskin bag: “He promised to take us to the Zhezhe Yundushan Mountains for the celebration, but he went ahead by himself.”
The girl’s dad was the leader of the Chuluosi tribe; he had gone to the Zhezhe Yundushan Mountains to pay respects to Temüjin, so he couldn’t attend the Woluoduo alliance meeting.
Wulunna straightened up, gazing at the mountain range to the northwest, and said: “I heard Lord Wanghan is going to pass the khanate to Leader Temüjin; Dad hurried off to offer congratulations.”
“Before setting out a few days ago, he said that as long as our Chuluosi tribe is the first to submit, Leader Temüjin will reward us with the pasture downstream of the Kherlen River—its winters are much warmer than here.”
Wulunna was the sister-in-law of the girl Agula.
In other words, these women were all noble womenfolk of the Chuluosi tribe, so they could leisurely discuss major grassland affairs, cattle and sheep pastures, and so on.
Meanwhile, those slaves and female slaves were still laboring desperately to earn a pittance of reward from their masters to fill their starved bellies.
While these women were chatting and laughing, Wulunna suddenly frowned slightly, a trace of doubt flashing in her eyes.
She looked up at the sky: “Is it going to rain?”
But the sky was clear without a hint of thunder, so why was there a faint low rumble coming?
Not just her; the older women all felt it too.
At first, everyone thought it was a horse herd running by, until the tremors grew stronger, even rippling the river water.
Agula suddenly looked terrified, pointing at the western horizon and screaming: “What is that?”
At this moment, a white wave was surging from the horizon, gleaming with a chilling killing intent under the sunlight.
It wasn’t a sheep flock or a horse herd; it was countless cavalry clad in White Armor, the red edges on their armor glaring like bloodlines.
At the forefront, the flagpole bore the Sun and Moon Battle Flag with a white background and red edges, flapping loudly in the wind as if to tear the clear grassland sky.
“It’s cavalry!”
An old woman screamed first, her smile freezing on her face.
Wulunna reacted too, grabbing the dazed Agula and abandoning everything to run toward the mountain forest.
But the ground beneath their feet trembled ever more violently; the Northern Frontier Army’s iron hooves were already close.
Wang Jiu gripped a hooked scythe spear, charging forward with the main force, sweat already in his palms.
Though he had served in Western Xia before, it was all small skirmishes; this was his first time joining a large-scale cavalry army charge.
The sight of the iron cavalry thundering forward stirred his blood; the terrified fleeing enemies seemed as weak as ants in his eyes.
Gradually, Wang Jiu adapted to the intensity of the charge, forgetting his tension.
“Kill~”
Captain Zhao Wu’s roar came from ahead.
Wang Jiu fiercely clamped his horse’s flanks, his face twisted ferociously: “Kill!”
On the battlefield, the more afraid of death one is, the more likely one is to die.
Kill all the enemies before you, and no one will threaten your safety anymore.
These were Zhao Wu’s words before the battle; Wang Jiu remembered them firmly.
“Loose arrows!”
With the Northern Frontier Army chiliarch’s angry roar, countless arrows shot toward the Chuluosi tribe.
The enemies preparing to mount and counterattack fell screaming one after another.
War horses neighed, cattle and sheep fled in panic in all directions, and the entire tribe descended into chaos.
When the cavalry charged into the camp, Wang Jiu’s horse smashed the wooden frame of the first yurt.
Screams of women and roars of men rang out from inside.
Sensing danger, he instinctively swung his spear; with a “puchi” sound, the spearhead seemed to pierce something.
Captain Zhao Wu thrust his spear to fell a herdsman soldier wielding a saber, and seeing Wang Jiu’s clumsy state, he roared: “Harder! Are you waiting to die?”
Wang Jiu snapped back, seeing his spearhead stuck in an old herdsman soldier’s ribs; the old soldier’s eyes bulged round, still trying to counterattack despite his wound.
Wang Jiu’s face turned savage; he swung his spear forcefully, instantly piercing the old herdsman soldier’s neck.
Blood spurted out, staining the ground under Wang Jiu’s feet and baptizing his courage.
“Kill~”
Wulunna led her sister-in-law and several other women fleeing toward the mountain forest, but they were soon overtaken by the Northern Frontier Army.
Two Northern Frontier soldiers reached from behind, scooping them up and pressing them onto the horses’ backs in front.
“Ah~”
“Let me go.”
“Let go, help~”
Wulunna and the others shouted and struggled desperately, flailing their hands and feet, but this only elicited more excited yells from the Northern Frontier soldiers.
An old woman knelt on the ground kowtowing, crying out in agony: “Tengger, what have we done wrong?”
“Your mistake was not recognizing Heaven’s will!”
Responding to her was a man around twenty, clad in white cotton armor; originally a slave of the Kereit Tribe, captured by the Northern Frontier Army, he had earned military merit and was now a sergeant in the Sixth Garrison.
With fanaticism toward Li Xiao on his face, he bellowed in the Kereit Tribe’s language: “The Great Protector is the true chosen by Heaven, the one and only Tengger Gur Khan.”
In the camp, the slaughter continued.
In the eyes of the Northern Frontier officers and soldiers, all who didn’t attend the Woluoduo alliance meeting were enemies, to be shown no mercy.
“We’re not Temüjin’s people!” A young man in a leather robe cried out; his response was a feathered arrow piercing his throat.
“What are you howling for? Your leader didn’t come to the alliance, so he’s Temüjin’s dog.”
Wang Jiu saw an old shaman charging with a sacred staff, the bronze bells on it jingling; the old man chanted unintelligible spells.
But before he got close, Zhao Wu speared him flying.
“Tengger… open your eyes…” The old shaman gazed at the blue sky and white clouds, blood foam bubbling more from his throat.
“We sacrifice the best ram to you every year; why do you let these devils slaughter our tribe?”
His voice grew fainter until he died.
Sounds of killing, cries, and hoofbeats mixed together.
When the sun rose overhead, the slaughter gradually subsided.
The Chuluosi tribe’s summer pasture turned blood-red; the surviving tribesmen were herded into a mountain valley, men with hands bound behind kneeling on the sandy ground.
The women were crowded on the other side; Wulunna and her sister-in-law were among them.
Seeing her husband’s head placed at the top, Wulunna in the fence suddenly broke down crying: “Tengger…”
“The chieftain just went to submit to Temüjin; why treat us like this?”
“Tally the spoils of war!”
The chiliarch shouted loudly, riding over trampling corpses, the blood on his White Armor congealed to dark brown.
Soldiers began rummaging through every tent, piling up ironware, fur, meat, milk, grain, and other supplies.
Wang Jiu was assigned to herd the sheep flock; thousands of sheep had scattered over mountains and fields, needing to be driven back entirely.
The presence of these cattle and sheep ensured ample fat and sheep milk in their bellies, reducing reliance on grain.
When the sun set in the west, the spoils were distributed.
Wang Jiu got five sheepskins and two ewes.
Zhao Wu patted his shoulder laughing: “Not bad; your haul this time is enough for an ordinary family to eat for over half a year.”
“And this is just the first tribe; tomorrow we go to the Datu tribe—more cattle and sheep there, prettier wives too.”
Wang Jiu lay on the captured sheepskin mat, looking at his spoils, excitement on his face.
This was merely the first tribe; there were more ahead.
“Sure enough, war is the best path to wealth.” Wang Jiu muttered to himself.
But suddenly he heard women’s cries from the next tent, as if the entire grassland wept for the Chuluosi tribe.
When the eastern sky dawned, Wang Jiu stepped out of the tent.
Looking at the distant Jingguan, countless crows and vultures were pecking at the heads; in just one night, many corpses had become skeletons.
This Northern Frontier Army chiliarch force herded the sheep flock and women toward the next tribe.
The Sun and Moon Battle Flag with white background and red edges flapped in the morning wind, as if proclaiming a new era on the grassland—one paved with blood and white bones.
In the following days, the Northern Frontier Army continued advancing toward the Kiyan tribe’s location, destroying numerous hostile tribes’ camps along the way.
The Northern Frontier Army included many Naiman and Kereit remnants, who grew up on the grassland and knew every mountain hollow and river like the back of their hand.
Plus guides from the auxiliary army under Zhamuha and Zha Heganbu.
The Northern Frontier Army was like an eagle with eyes, always precisely rooting out nomadic tribes trying to hide in the gaps between grassland and mountain forest.
Meanwhile, these messages quickly reached the Kiyan tribe army.
Though fierce, the Northern Frontier Army couldn’t exterminate every tribe completely; some fish always slipped the net.
Sometimes, the Northern Frontier Army even deliberately let old women go.
Just to let them spread word of the Northern Frontier Army’s might and terror across the grassland, shaking the morale of the tribes.
Grasslanders fear power, not virtue; only by being harsher and more vicious, making them feel fear, can the Northern Desert be pacified.
……
Since Temüjin broke through the Zhezhe Yundushan Mountains, tribal leaders had come one after another to pay respects.
This day, a cavalryman ran panting into the Adar Tribe leader’s tent.
“Leader, the Chuluosi tribe has been wiped out!”
Hearing this, the Adar Tribe leader was instantly shocked.
“What?”
“The Chuluosi tribe… their leader is still at the Zhezhe Yundushan Mountains; how could they be gone just like that?”
Meanwhile, other tribal leaders received more news one after another: the Northern Frontier Army had massacred over a dozen large and small tribes in succession.
The leaders all fell silent in dread, worrying if their own tribe was next.
Thus, some leaders with closer private ties gathered together.
The Duosa’er tribe headman in black mink fur looked ashen; he had just received news from his son at the pasture.
The Northern Frontier Army’s White Armor cavalry had passed upstream of the Longju River, less than ten days from their tribe’s summer pasture.
“The Jin Dynasty at least only killed male laborers when reducing population.”
A wrinkled old man said tremulously: “But the Northern Frontier people spare not even nursing infants…”
These words chilled the tent further.
The Adar Tribe leader stood abruptly, face pale with fear: “We shouldn’t have come to this damned place.”
“At the Woluoduo alliance meeting, I said we should go pay respects to that Tengger Khan…”
“What’s the use of saying that now?”
The Duosa’er tribe headman interrupted him, voice hoarse: “Our tribe’s elites are all here; family and cattle and sheep are back at the main camp.”
“If the Northern Frontier Army attacks, there won’t even be a warrior to wield a knife in resistance.”
But someone said at this point: “However, the Northern Frontier Army doesn’t kill everyone; they let some old women go.”
“Hmph, what’s the use of letting them go? Can they fight or bear children?” the Duosa’er tribe headman snorted.
Old women could neither fight nor bear children; they were the most useless on the grassland.
Had the Northern Frontier Army let them go to show mercy?
“The Northern Frontier people let them go to bring us a message.”
“What message?”
“The Northern Frontier people say, as long as we report the Kiyan tribe army’s position and troop numbers to them at any time.”
“They’ll give us a chance to atone with merit and spare our tribe…”
“Even if we help the Northern Frontier Army capture or kill Temüjin, we’ll be enfeoffed as myriad household commanders, sharing prosperity with the Northern Frontier forever.”
This was equivalent to a bounty on Temüjin.
The myriad household here wasn’t a real power myriad household of the Six Garrisons, but treatment equal to one.
But the status and wealth were real.
The tent fell instantly silent; the tribal leaders’ gazes scanned each other’s faces, seeing hesitation in one another’s eyes, but no one spoke.
As the Northern Frontier Army pressed on, Temüjin’s unease grew stronger.
He decisively ordered the army to relocate.
After days of observing the Northern Frontier Army, Temüjin realized their strength was beyond imagination.
Their combat prowess was no less than the Jin Dynasty elites, far beyond what the Kiyan tribe and allied forces could match.
“We must leverage our advantages.”
Temüjin stood on high ground, gazing at the vast grassland beyond, tone resolute.
“Use the grassland’s vast terrain to constantly maneuver against the Northern Frontier Army, stretch their lines, exhaust their energy, then seek chances for ambushes.”
Nomadic peoples’ wars with the Central Plains had always been thus: hide in the vast grass sea, leaving Central Plains armies unable to locate them, scurrying blindly.
When exhausted, nomadic armies would ambush supply lines or throw dead cattle and sheep into rivers to spark plagues in Central Plains forces.
Through constant attrition, wear down the Central Plains armies’ combat strength.
But Temüjin forgot: the Northern Frontier Army wasn’t a Central Plains army, but a heavy nomadic force.
They knew the grassland even better than the Grasslanders.
Li Xiao had long studied Temüjin’s tactics thoroughly.
A few days after Temüjin led the Kiyan tribe army and allied forces away from the Zhezhe Yundushan Mountains, heading deep into the northern grassland.
A scout arrived panting at Temüjin’s camp tent.
He reported: “Great Khan, the Northern Frontier Army main force didn’t go to the Zhezhe Yundushan Mountains; they’re coming our way.”
“What?”
Temüjin shot to his feet, face changing abruptly.
His heart sank; he knew someone must have leaked the army’s movements.
But with so many tribal leaders under him, suspects were countless; impossible to investigate.
Helplessly, he ordered the army to turn direction, trying to shake off the Northern Frontier Army pursuit.
A few days later, a scout reported urgently again: “Great Khan, the Northern Frontier Army is chasing again; less than five hundred li from us.”
Temüjin’s face grew uglier; he ordered another turn.
This time, he went ruthless, ordering execution of several tribal leaders with known disloyalty, to kill the chicken to warn the monkey and deter the rest.
Yet even so, a few days later, the scout’s news was still heart-chilling: “Great Khan, the Northern Frontier Army is less than two hundred li away.”
Temüjin sat in his chair, mood heavy to the extreme.
He had conquered the Kereit Tribe khanate by surprise attack, awe-inspiring but criticized by the tribes.
Forced by his might, they submitted.
Now, with the even mightier Northern Frontier Army killing in like a fierce tiger, the tribal leaders turned disloyal.
The allied army under Temüjin had become a leaky house.
Unless he abandoned the army and fled with a few elites, he couldn’t escape the Northern Frontier Army’s encirclement.
But he had finally defeated the Kereit Tribe, gaining submission from so many tribes.
On the verge of becoming Great Khan of the Northern Desert, how could he abandon this hard-won status and honor?
Finally, resolve flashed in Temüjin’s eyes; he stood abruptly, ordering loudly: “Pass my command: entire army form up for decisive battle with the Northern Frontier Army.”
At this moment, he had no choice.
Continued flight would only scatter the Kiyan tribe army’s morale.
Grassland warriors submitted to the strong; they wouldn’t respect a leader who only fled.
Moreover, the Northern Frontier Army chased too fast; Temüjin had seized much cattle and sheep from the Kereit Tribe, slowing them down.
But abandoning them would collapse the army even faster.
Thus, the only path left was decisive battle.
Defeat the Northern Frontier Army, seize their supplies, and all difficulties would resolve.
……
While the Kiyan tribe army maneuvered on the grassland, the Northern Frontier Army rapidly closed in.
Among this, grain’s importance was self-evident.
Normally, cavalry marching had war horses grazing slowly while advancing.
After all, grass energy was low; only constant massive feeding could sustain the war horses’ huge bodies and loads.
But in wartime, no time for leisurely grazing.
Thus, the Northern Frontier Army fed war horses fine grain, letting them eat quickly to save time for forced marches and battles.
Temüjin’s army lacked such grain for the war horses.
Thus, in short time, the Northern Frontier Army closed the gap with Temüjin’s allied forces.
Deep in the grassland, wind rolled grass waves.
Before the armies clashed, their scouts fought first.
Ten Northern Frontier scouts in yellow armor galloped across the grassland, charging at the Kiyan tribe scouts ahead.
Their cloth armor gleamed softly in the sun, lighter than cotton armor.
Their waist quivers bulged with sharp arrows.
“Loose arrows.”
With the sergeant’s shout, the ten scouts drew longbows for long-range shots.
Opposite, the Kiyan tribe scouts were shocked at the distance: shooting from so far?
They hastily raised bows to return fire, but their bows looked crude, bowstrings barely pieced from beast sinew.
“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”
Northern Frontier Army arrows whistled sharply toward them.
Their bows and arrows were crafted by Hexi military equipment workshops, top quality and craftsmanship.
Longer range, sharper arrows; one volley downed several Kiyan tribe scouts screaming from their horses.
Kiyan tribe arrows flew feebly, some dropping midway.
Even those hitting Northern Frontier cloth armor lacked force, bouncing off the tough armor without real harm.
In moments, the Kiyan tribe scouts were shot down entirely, only a few left.
Looking at the wolf-like Northern Frontier Army, terror filled their eyes; they wheeled their horses and fled madly.
The Northern Frontier cavalry pursued at a steady pace in their flight direction.
Soon, a vast camp appeared ahead: the Kiyan tribe allied forces camp.
Tents densely packed endlessly, cooking smoke rising; they were having lunch.
Northern Frontier scouts quickly estimated enemy troops, observed camp layout, memorizing key intel.
Soon, urgent hoofbeats; a larger force of Kiyan tribe cavalry charged over.
The Northern Frontier scout sergeant decided: “Withdraw!”
They swiftly switched to spare horses, turned, and raced back to their camp.
The news quickly reached Li Xiao’s desk.
“About thirty thousand cavalry?”
This number matched the secret reports from tribal leaders.
Temüjin originally had under two thousand direct troops; after raiding the Kereit Tribe khanate, incorporating remnants and nearby tribe submissions, he expanded the allied forces to thirty thousand in short time.
But most were rabble, fine for fair-weather fights; few would truly die for Temüjin.
Then, Li Xiao summoned Northern Frontier generals to discuss formations and assign tasks.
At sunset, Li Xiao’s palm slammed heavily on the Northern Desert map.
Looking at all the generals, he said gravely: “Pass the order: tomorrow dawn, full army advances to the Onon River.”
“Against Temüjin’s allied forces~”
“Decisive battle!”
