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"Woo..."
A deep and desolate horn sound rose with the wind, soaring into the clouds, under its command, countless troops of the nomadic tribes gradually converged, becoming one entity, the mass of people engulfing the green grassland like the vast shadows cast by rain clouds in the peak of summer, their fierce and heavy aura almost suffocating, fearsome to behold...
Just in time, atop a small hill a dozen miles away from the nomadic army, Lei Heng of Lü Mountain, along with his brother Liu Meng, rode their sturdy steeds and gazed far into the distance at the dark mass of clouds on the horizon, both instinctively holding their breath.
To have ten thousand, is to have no end in sight; to have a hundred thousand, is to merge with the skies!
The distant dark mass of troops, was it not more than two hundred thousand?
After a while, Liu Meng forcefully exhaled a breath of turbid air, his brows and eyes wild with a reckless laughter, "It has finally begun!"
Lei Heng slowly let out a breath of turbid air, his face clouded with worry as he let out a silent sigh, "Yes, it has finally begun..."
Since that rare blizzard began last December, the two brothers had been concerned about the situation on the grasslands, braving the snow every so often to delve deep into the grassland to spy on the movements of the Danes and Oirats...
Having lived beyond the border for a long time, the brothers were very familiar with the nomads.
They well understood that in recent years, in the struggle for dominance over the Northern Desert Grasslands with the intent of reunifying the grasslands, internal power struggles within the Danes and Oirats had intensified. Several hundred tribes, large and small, across the Northern Desert Grasslands were either actively or passively drawn into this battle for supremacy.
For a long time, the entire Northern Desert Grasslands had been running at a deficit, barely maintaining a subsistence by consuming their reserves.
Last year’s rare blizzard was tantamount to snapping the already fragile lifeline of the Northern Desert Grasslands!
In the face of severe livestock casualties and the remaining livestock unable to sustain the grasslands’ current population, the leaders of the major tribes were left with only two choices.
The first choice was to continue the deadly struggle, half might die, but the other half could possibly live.
The second choice was to set aside past grievances, band together, move south, and make a big play—winning meant everything, and losing... at least some would survive.
There were only these two choices.
All other options, whether further north, or west, or east, were dead ends.
Because those places were either colder or poorer—going there would yield little gain.
Moreover, the several hundred thousand soldiers of the Wei army, eagle-eyed on the Great Wall to the south, wouldn’t simply stand by and watch them draft a large number of strong men to attack other places without reacting.
This was an open secret.
The chiefs of the grasslands knew it.
The Wei military commanders within the Great Wall knew it.
Even bandit leaders like Lei Heng and Liu Meng could see it clear as day.
When the brothers saw the gathering nomadic troops in the sky today, they already knew... those nomadic chiefs had chosen the second path!
At this moment, although both brothers felt a heavy weight in their hearts, they also felt an indescribable sense of relief.
’Good!’
When a curved blade was hanging over their heads, every day and night they worried about when the blade would fall.
Now that the curved blade had finally fallen, they felt settled, free from the torment...
A man dies like a bird flying towards the sky, one who doesn’t die lasts forever!
Fear nothing!
"Let’s go!"
Lei Heng took a deep breath, turned his horse around to head home: "After returning, you lead the brothers from the mountain into the pass to settle down, and inform the second brother of the nomads’ movements, tell him to prepare early."
Liu Meng hesitated for a few moments, then asked in a low voice, "Can so many of us really get in?"
Lei Heng nodded: "It shouldn’t be difficult, if the second brother’s face doesn’t work, there’s always the second lord’s... However, once you get there, you must speak well with others, don’t make things difficult for the second brother."
"I understand!"
Liu Meng nodded, then asked again, "What about you?"
Lei Heng, with a grunt in his voice, replied, "I must hurry to lead those remaining thirty thousand Dongying servant soldiers into the grasslands and kill them all, absolutely cannot let them become dogs for the nomads!"
"Right you are!"
Liu Meng hastily replied: "But that’s over thirty thousand servant soldiers, not thirty thousand sheep! Can you manage them on your own? Don’t act rashly yet, wait for me to enter the pass and call the second brother over. He’s been a general for many years, he knows how to lead troops better than either of us."
Lei Heng turned his head and gave him a deep look.
Liu Meng, feeling uncomfortable, turned his head away: "What? Is there a flower on my face?"
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Lei Heng laughed: "There’s no flower on your face, but there are characters."
Liu Meng: "What characters?"
Lei Heng: "’Brother’ characters."
Liu Meng: "Which brother?"
Lei Heng: "The ’brother’ character of our fifth brother."
Liu Meng was stunned for several seconds before suddenly coming to his senses, snorted disdainfully, but said no more.
Lei Heng continued: "The nomads will be attacking the pass soon, the second brother will be busy, let’s not bother him with this triviality, big brother can handle it!"
Liu Meng muttered discontentedly under his breath: "Always taking care of him..."
Lei Heng turned his head: "What did you say?"
Liu Meng shouted back: "I said nothing!"
As the brothers rode side by side for a while, Lei Heng suddenly raised his hand and patted his shoulder: "As the eldest, of course I should look after you younger ones."
Liu Meng: "Then just you wait; through water and fire, in life or death, we’ll shoulder it side by side!"
Lei Heng: "Agreed!"
...
In Luoyang, within the Ziwei Palace, in the back garden.
Zhao Hong, dressed in vigorous attire, grasped a wooden sword single-handedly, wielding it broadly and energetically by the banks of Lotus Pond Lake, creating a fierce gust as he moved.
Nangong Feiying hastened his steps into the back garden, and upon seeing Zhao Hong practicing with his sword by the pond, he couldn’t help but slow down...
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