Chapter 588-Using Battles to Replenish Troops
Translator: ryangohsf
Editor: Nora
The moon hung high above, while the surroundings were dead silent.
On the vast grassland, many green tents had suddenly appeared, merging with the plains.
Seeing the Han Army set up their tents so quickly, the surrendered Xiongnu soldiers felt extremely impressed. They could not imagine how a backpack-sized item could become a massive tent that could house so many.
Because of the side effects of the Bloodthirst Talisman, Ouyang Shuo had returned to his tent to rest long ago. He had left matters such as camp arrangements and the interrogation of prisoners to advisor Zhao Kuo.
As it was still early, Ouyang Shuo naturally would not fall asleep.
He held a jade pendant and a book in his hands.
The jade pendant was the General Soul Zhou Yafu had dropped.
On this topic, it was the first time that Ouyang Shuo had obtained an emperor rank General Soul.
In the Martial Temple of Shanhai City, there was still a king rank General Soul.
Wei Zhang's revival let Ouyang Shuo clearly see the importance of General Souls.
The future territory wars would only grow crueler and crueler. Shanhai City was massive, and they had many stars gathered, so who knows when one of them would fall.
At that time, a General Soul could save a life.
Without this General Soul, Sha Pojun could not revive Zhou Yafu. As a result, he had chased them relentlessly.
The current Sha Pojun would probably be coughing out blood in anger.
"So this teaches you that one should not be too arrogant!" Ouyang Shuo muttered.
As they said, personality decides destiny. Sha Pojun was an incredibly arrogant person, and he was condescending toward everyone. He did not know when to stop, which resulted in his defeat today.
On the contrary, Di Chen, who had suffered multiple defeats at the hands of Ouyang Shuo, had grown more and more mature. During this plot, he had hidden behind Sha Pojun, becoming a fisherman.
The Divine Martial Guards had suffered heavy losses, while Di Chen's forces remained perfectly fine.
During this battle, Ouyang Shuo did not leave everyone in his wake. If he did not act decisively and kill Zhou Yafu, the future situations would be much worse.
On this topic, the growth of these aristocratic family children during these two years was truly shocking. They were not at a complete disadvantage anymore in their battles against Ouyang Shuo.
Even Chun Shenjun had grabbed a big win during the year end.
Sha Pojun was the only exception. After this defeat, it would be hard for him to climb back up.
This time, Ouyang Shuo had indirectly helped Wandering Magic.
It was said that after the exchange event, in the battle of Guangxi Province against Wandering Magic, Sha Pojun had suppressed him at every opportunity. He acted like he was the big boss of the entire province.
……
As for the small book, it was an unexpected reward.
After he obtained this item, Ouyang Shuo had been on the run, so he had lacked the time to take a look.
Mongol Cavalry Training Diary: This diary records what the famous general Zhou Yafu learned while reading the Mongol Cavalry Training Manual, as well as his thoughts when he trained the soldiers.
When Ouyang Shuo saw this description, he could help but break out into laughter.
The gods worked themselves in their own ways.
In the end, the two items that Sha Pojun had obtained from the auction had basically fallen into Ouyang Shuo’s hands.
Although this diary could not allow Shanhai City to train an elite mongol cavalry, it could act as a guide to raise their cavalry training standards.
Apart from that, Ouyang Shuo also thought of Sun Wu. With the abilities of the War Saint and this diary as a base, he could probably start up mongol cavalry training classes in the Army Military Academy.
It was not impossible for the mongol cavalry training method to appear in Shanhai City.
This time, Sha Pojun had done Shanhai City a great favor.
After placing the two items into his storage bag, Ouyang Shuo started to cultivate. The side effects of the Bloodthirst Talisman lasted for two days, but the period could change and differ based on the person.
Ouyang Shuo possessed a strong body. As a result, the time period of the after effects would shorten.
Now, Ouyang Shuo wanted to use the Yellow Emperor Internal Cultivation Technique to speed up the healing process.
The Yellow Emperor Internal Cultivation Technique was a body changing medical technique.
Hence, the golden primordial energy was extremely good for healing internal injuries.
In the end, the Bloodthirst Talisman only activated the potential of one’s body. As long as he nourished his body with the golden primordial energy, he could replenish himself and remove the side effects.
In such an uncertain world, it would be a huge matter if he really could not use his martial arts for two days. Hence, the earlier he recovered, the better.
……
At 8 PM, Zhao Kuo entered Ouyang Shuo's tent.
"Lord!"
Zhao Kuo entered the tent and bowed before starting to report the interrogation findings.
The current Ouyang Shuo had finished adjusting his body.
The Yellow Emperor Internal Cultivation Technique did not disappoint him. Latest tomorrow noon, he would fully recover.
With the help of the military intelligence officer that had followed along, the interrogation process went incredibly smoothly. All of them, including the Xiongnu cavalry commander, had reported everything they knew.
After learning that these cavalry forces had just retreated from the front lines, Ouyang Shuo grew extremely interested. Regretfully, they did not know where his next target laid.
"Lord, how do we deal with these prisoners?" Zhao Kuo asked.
"What are your views?"
"I think we should keep some and remove some." Zhao Kuo replied.
"How so?" Ouyang Shuo smiled.
"During this battle, the Divine Martial Guards have suffered heavy casualties and badly need new members. Hence, I suggest that we learn from the Han Army and use the Xiongnu war prisoners to fight against the Xiongnu people." Zhao Kuo was truy implementing what he had learned.
"Since that's the case, why remove a portion of them?" Ouyang Shuo asked once more.
Naturally, removing some meant killing them.
In history, military rumors stated that killing the surrendered would result in bad consequences.
Baiqi did that and he had a bad end.
Li Guang did that and he had to commit suicide out of shame.
Hence, generals in the army were extremely against and worried about killing surrendered soldiers.
"Firstly, there's a limited number of Divine Martial Guards, so too many prisoners will pose a huge risk. Secondly, their standards vary, and the weak ones should be eliminated." Zhao Kuo explained.
Ouyang Shuo looked at him and did not speak for a long while.
After Zhao Kuo described his views, he was also expressionless.
Ouyang Shuo had no idea whether Zhao Kuo’s words were his true feelings or if he was testing his Lord. Logically speaking, in history, Zhao Kuo's troops were conned by Baiqi into defeat.
Although Zhao Kuo had not personally killed the surrendered, he must have been familiar with the idea.
The thoughts of this advisor before him ran far deeper than most of his other generals. Sometimes, even Ouyang Shuo as his Lord could not grasp what he was thinking.
Of course, Zhao Kuo's loyalty was undeniable.
It was not that Ouyang Shuo had high perception or great deciphering ability. It was just that Zhao Kuo’s loyalty stat had reached 90.
"In that case, for those surrendered soldiers that do not pass, take their equipment and their horses. Keep them out of the camp, and let them survive on their own." After a long while, Ouyang Shuo gave his final instructions.
"Yes, my Lord!"
Zhao Kuo nodded. The moment he lowered his head, happiness flashed across his eyes.
After Zhao Kuo bid goodbye, Ouyang Shuo was no longer in the mood to sleep.
The Battle of Mobei was a battle that Ouyang Shuo had the least idea about. From start till now, he had been passively solving everything that was thrown at him.
If it was not for the strength of the Divine Martial Guards, he would have been kicked out of this race.
Recruiting Huo Qubing was just a dream.
Zhao Kuo's suggestion had totally opened up Ouyang Shuo's eyes. During the Battle of Mobei, fighting alone was a bad idea. Using the aboriginal and native powers was the key to claiming victory.
With just three thousand men, they definitely could not keep up with their losses.
Only by replenishing themselves from the battle could they succeed.
Thinking about these points, Ouyang Shuo walked out of his tent.
Outside of his tent, the night curfew was already in place. All the soldiers were to stay in their tents and not come out unless new orders were given.
The entire camp was extremely quiet.
Only the place where the surrendered troops were locked up had cries and shouts.
Ouyang Shuo raised his head and looked at the sky; the stars were bright and the moon hung high overhead.
“Tomorrow will be another day of good weather!"
"Lord what are you looking at?"
Suddenly, a question sounded out from behind Ouyang Shuo.
"Who's there?"
Ouyang Shuo was extremely alert, and he pressed his hand against his sword. At this moment, he also felt that this matter was exceedingly strange. This was the camp of the Divine Martial Guards, so how could an outsider enter?
Turning around, the person that came into view stunned Ouyang Shuo so much that his mouth gaped open.
"Lord does not recognize me?"
His smile contained an undisguisable greed and trickiness.
The person that had suddenly appeared behind Ouyang Shuo was actually the grain officer of the main camp. His huge tummy was blinding to Ouyang Shuo's eyes.
"How is it you?"
Ouyang Shuo did not try to hide his surprise.
"I'm the grain officer. Naturally, I’m to send the Lord some supplies."
"Supplies?" Ouyang Shuo frowned. Then his eyes lit up, and he asked uncertainly, “You mean to exchange for battle resource points?"
"Lord is smart!"
The grain officer was incredibly smooth when he tried to flatter someone.
"But I currently only have a pitiful 50 points, just that can make you busy?" Ouyang Shuo did not dare to underestimate this person.
Obviously, this grain officer was similar to the mysterious merchants; he was a special NPC Gaia had arranged.
"Lord has a treasure in his hands, how can he be pitiful?"
The grain officer was as toady as usual.
"Treasure?" Ouyang Shuo was a little confused.
"Battle map token!" The grain officer unveiled the mystery.
Ouyang Shuo was enlightened. He retrieved the token from his back; it was the item he had obtained from the desert bandit leader. He still did not know what uses this item had, “How many battle resource points is this worth?"
The grain officer shook his head, “The Lord can use this token to make a request."
"Any request?" Ouyang Shuo's interest was piqued.
"The Lord can raise a request. Then I'll judge if it's viable or not," the grain officer replied.
Ouyang Shuo frowned; this trap of his was extremely deep! How would Ouyang Shuo know how much the token was worth? What if he raised a request that was too small, wouldn’t he lose out on so much?
Ouyang Shuo could not help but think about the Silver Prayer House that was similar in nature.
It was truly a case of a leopard unable to change its spots; the grain officer was still incredibly crafty.
Ouyang Shuo definitely did not want to let himself be taken advantage of.