Chương 222: Slaughter 2

Kebineng was young, but he was able to rise to prominence among the various Xianbei tribes not because of brute force, but because of his intelligence.

This rising star of the Xianbei was indeed quite capable. He left three thousand elite troops to guard his home and set up more than a dozen sentry posts around the camp, with even more hidden sentries.

It's really not easy for an ordinary army to launch a surprise attack.

Unfortunately, he encountered Liu Ce.

"My lord, there are three sentry posts three miles ahead, each manned by five men," the captain of the Yan Yun Eighteen Riders reported back.

"Two miles further ahead, there are four hidden sentry posts, concealed in the grass."

Sentry posts? In the face of a compound bow, they're practically useless.

Liu Ce nodded and said, "Dragon Cavalry, eliminate the visible sentries; Yan Yun Eighteen Riders, clear out the hidden sentries. Remember, be quick and make no noise."

"yes!"

Half an hour later, all the sentries disappeared without a sound.

Liu Ce led his main cavalry force swaggering to the outside of Kebineng's camp—it was just getting dark, and the camp was having dinner, with smoke rising and the aroma of meat filling the air.

"What a waste of this meal," Liu Ce sighed, then raised the Heavenly Dragon City-Breaking Halberd, "Charge!"

"kill!!!"

More than three thousand cavalrymen surged toward the camp like a flood.

Kebineng's garrison reacted quickly; the alarm sounded immediately, and the soldiers grabbed their weapons, mounted their horses, and went to meet the enemy.

However, Liu Ce's army was too fierce—the heavy armored charge of the Jingse Iron Cavalry was simply unstoppable by the light cavalry in leather armor.

Even more terrifying were the composite bows of the Longxiang Battalion—they would start shooting arrows from 300 paces away, raining down arrows, specifically targeting officers and standard bearers.

Before the Xianbei army even engaged in battle, half of its command system was already in disarray.

Liu Ce headed straight for the core area.

Kebineng's wife was a formidable character. Upon hearing that the Han army was coming, she not only did not flee, but instead organized her personal guards to resist.

She rode a white horse, wielding a curved sword, and led more than two hundred guards to block the front of the tent.

Liu Ce laughed and said, "Oh, she's quite the heroine."

"Han general! State your name!" the woman said shrilly.

"Champion Marquis Liu Ce." Liu Ce reined in his horse, sizing her up.

"You're Kebineng's wife? You've got some guts."

"The Marquis of Champion?" The woman's pupils contracted, then she gritted her teeth.

"My husband will avenge us!"

"It's a pity you won't be able to see this." Liu Ce didn't bother with any more words and spurred his horse into a charge.

The woman drew her knife to fight—her courage was commendable, but the difference in strength was too great.

"Pfft—" The tip of the halberd pierced through the armor and emerged from the back.

Her eyes widened as she looked down at the halberd shaft on her chest, her face filled with disbelief.

Liu Ce drew his halberd, and the corpse fell from his horse.

"Madam!" The guards cried out in anguish as they rushed forward.

Dian Wei, Xu Chu, and others rushed forward, cutting through everything like melons and vegetables.

Several trusted elders, the tribe's strategists, were dragged out of their tents by the soldiers, and they still tried to negotiate: "Han general, we can surrender, and we can help you persuade Lord Kebineng..."

Liu Ce waved his hand and said, "Kill them."

A flash of light appeared.

Even Kebineng's one-year-old son, who was being held by his wet nurse and hidden in the back tent, was not spared.

It wasn't that Liu Ce was cold-blooded, but he knew in his heart that Kebineng was too ambitious and too capable, and keeping his bloodline would inevitably become a disaster in the future.

It's better to nip it in the bud than to leave it as a hidden danger.

With the key figures eliminated, the battle on the periphery is also nearing its end.

Kebineng's three thousand defenders were indeed brave, but in the face of an overwhelming disparity in strength, bravery was useless. (Dragon) The Xiangying's gleaming armor was impervious to swords and spears, the Jingse Iron Cavalry's heavy armored charges were unstoppable, and the composite bows provided ranged suppression...

An hour later, the camp was quiet.

"The usual procedure." Liu Ce wiped the blood from his face.

"Build a mound of skulls and arrange the characters."

...

Looking at the pile of heads, Liu Ce pondered: the core elites of the Eastern Xianbei, Central Xianbei, Kebineng tribe... have been basically wiped out. What remains is the Xianbei royal court.

The Xianbei royal court was once a symbol of glory when Tanshihuai unified the grasslands.

Although the region is now divided, the location of the royal court remains the spiritual center of the Xianbei people.

When the brothers Kui Tou and Qian Man went south, they took most of the royal court's elite troops with them, leaving only more than 7, 000 soldiers and the elderly and weak to guard their homeland—they believed that the Han army could not possibly attack from the heart of the grasslands.

So when Liu Ce's cavalry appeared outside the royal court that night, the guards were completely dumbfounded.

"That... that's... the Han army?"

"How is that possible! Aren't the Han army in Youzhou?"

"Quickly! Sound the alarm!"

The alarm bells rang, and the royal court was thrown into chaos.

But it was too late.

Liu Ce gave the enemy no time to organize a defense and led his troops in a direct charge.

"Dragon Cavalry, suppress with arrows! Jingse Iron Cavalry, break through the defenses! Yan Yun Eighteen Riders, follow me straight to the main camp!"

"kill!!!"

Arrows rained down on the outskirts of the royal court, and the defending soldiers fell in droves.

The Jingse cavalry, like a moving city wall, smashed through wooden fences, collapsed tents, and sent flying anyone who stood in their way.

All the elaborate ceremonial guards and altars of the royal court were trampled to pieces.

What the Xianbei people considered sacred was no different from broken wood under the iron heel of the Han people.

Liu Ce took the lead and headed straight for the largest golden-topped tent in the center of the royal court—the tent of the Chanyu. Although the Xianbei no longer had a true Chanyu, the tent still stood, symbolizing power.

Xianbei warriors tried to stop them along the way, but they could not stop the Heavenly Dragon City-Breaking Halberd at all.

Liu Ce was like a human tank, causing chaos and destruction wherever he went.

Rushing to the front of the main tent, an old man with white hair stood at the door. He was the Xianbei Grand Elder, the most respected person in the tribe.

"Han people! The Eternal Heaven will punish you!" The old man leaned on his cane, his beard and hair standing on end.

Dian Wei charged forward and cleaved down with his halberd.

"Snap!"

The scepter broke in two, and the old man was split in two.

Liu Ce didn't even look at him before rushing into the main tent.

Inside the tent, the leader's family was frantically packing their valuables.

The women screamed and huddled together, while the children cried loudly.

"Leave no one alive," Liu Ce coldly ordered.

Dian Wei, Xu Chu, and others rushed in, amidst the flashing swords and screams of agony.

Liu Ce left the main tent and looked at the other tents—where Qianman's relatives, the elders of the royal court, and the elite nobles of the Xianbei were staying.

"Clean it all up." He waved his hand.

The eighteen riders of Yanyun scattered like ghosts and rushed into the tents.

A flash of light, and screams of agony followed.

The Longxiang Battalion and the Jingse Iron Cavalry cleared out the remaining defenders on the outskirts, and the battle ended quickly.

When the last tent fell silent, Liu Ce stood in the center of the royal court, looking at the corpses scattered on the ground and the burning flames.

The Xianbei royal court is finished.

The core elites were all wiped out, their families and elders were slaughtered, the golden tent symbolizing power was set on fire, the altar was overturned, and the totems were trampled to pieces.

From then on, even if the Xianbei were not wiped out, it would take them decades to recover.

The entire core area of the royal court was awash in blood. Anyone related to the chief or who held a voice in the tribe was wiped out.

Liu Ce stood on the main seat in the royal court—a large chair covered with a tiger skin—and looked at the corpses scattered on the ground. Suddenly, he laughed.

"So this is what it's like to sit in this position."