Chapter 126 The Silent Warhorse

Chapter 126 The Silent Warhorse

The battle at Yanmen Pass reached a brief stalemate.

Although they had cured themselves of the poison from the poisonous plant and won several brilliant skirmishes, the atmosphere in the cavalry battalion did not ease up much.

On the contrary, an eerie atmosphere, more unsettling than the plague, was hovering over the racecourse.

The morning air was bitterly cold.

Pei Yunjing, accompanied by Tang Li and Tie Kui, had just entered the horse farm when they witnessed a heartbreaking scene.

The huge stable was deathly still.

The thousands of warhorses neither neighed nor ate.

Most of them drooped their heads, like clay and wood sculptures that had lost their souls, standing quietly at the head of the trough.

Even if there is concentrated feed with good black beans and eggs in the trough, they will not even glance at it.

In just a few days, these once plump and strong warhorses have visibly lost weight, with their ribs clearly visible.

"Waaah—"

In the distance, the faint sound of patrol horns could be heard.

In that instant, the previously indifferent herd of horses seemed to have been greatly frightened.

They suddenly pricked up their ears, their whole bodies trembled violently, some even collapsed to their knees with their legs giving way, white foam spilling from their mouths, their eyes filled with terror.

"What a tragedy..."

Seeing this, Tie Kui was so anxious that blisters formed around his lips, and he slammed his fist hard against the railing:

"What's going on?! Wasn't the poison all neutralized? Why is he still refusing to eat?"

Several elderly veterinarians with gray hair knelt on the ground nearby, their faces also filled with despair and fear:

"Reporting to Your Highness and General... this pulse is stable, there is no poison in the body, it is definitely not an illness!"

"If it's not an illness, then what is it?" Tie Kui roared. "Could it be that we're possessed? Have we been cursed by that Northern Rong shaman?"

It's no wonder Tie Kui is superstitious.

Warhorses are a cavalryman's second life.

With their horses ruined, the cavalry became like legless infantry, and charging into the Northern Rong cavalry on this vast snowfield would be suicide.

This is even worse than being cut off from supplies.

Pei Yunjing frowned, his gaze sweeping over the trembling warhorses before turning to look at Tang Li beside him:

Can you see anything?

Tangli did not answer immediately.

She let go of Pei Yunjing's hand and walked into the stable alone.

She didn't examine the horse's eyelids, check its hooves, or take its pulse like a veterinarian would.

She simply walked quietly in front of the rows of mangers, closed her eyes, and let go of her senses.

[Boom! Boom!]

[So much blood... Master... Master's head is off...]

[Run...run fast...that's a knife...]

I don't want to eat this... It's disgusting... It tastes like blood...

Countless noisy, chaotic, fearful, and desperate voices surged into Tang Li's mind like a black tide.

That wasn't the sound of a horse.

Those were the silent cries of hundreds and thousands of warhorses that had survived life-and-death battles, witnessed the tragic deaths of their masters, and survived explosions and fires.

Tang Li suddenly opened her eyes, staggered, and turned pale.

It's too noisy; it's the sound of a soul breaking.

"Your Highness?" Pei Yunjing stepped forward to support her. "What's wrong?"

Tang Li took a deep breath, calming her racing heartbeat, which had been shaken by those negative emotions.

She turned around, looking at Pei Yunjing and Tie Kui with an unusually serious expression:

"They are not sick."

"He wasn't possessed by any evil spirits."

Tie Kui became anxious: "Then why aren't you eating or drinking? You're starving to death!"

"Because of them..."

Tang Li stretched out her hand and pointed to the nearest trembling chestnut horse, her voice soft yet firm:

"I was terrified."

"Terrified?" Tie Kui's eyes widened, as if he had heard something out of the blue. "Your Highness, are you joking? These are battle-hardened warhorses! They'd charge forward at the sound of drums! How could they be scared?"

"Warhorses are also made of flesh and blood."

Tang Li looked at Tie Kui, her tone serious:

"General Tie, have you ever seen new recruits who have just crawled out of a pile of dead bodies? Some of them will shout and yell, some will become dull and wooden, and some will even go crazy at the slightest sound."

"Humans do this, and so do horses."

She pointed to the horse that knelt down upon hearing the horn:

"The battle a few days ago was too brutal. Some of them were injured, some watched their owners being hacked to death, and some had their ears injured by the sound of gunpowder explosions."

"This fear remains in their minds, and they can't forget it no matter what."

"They don't eat because their gastrointestinal function is disordered under stress, so they don't feel hungry at all. They even feel like they're going to vomit when they smell the blood on the battlefield."

Tie Kui was stunned.

He had led troops his entire life, and this was the first time he had ever heard such a statement.

But looking at the terrified eyes of the horses, he felt... that what the princess said seemed to make sense.

"Then...what should we do?"

Tie Kui was completely at a loss and could only pin his hopes on Tang Li: "We can't exactly give Ma Ye some calming soup, can we?"

"There is no cure even with medicine."

Tang Li shook her head:

"A mental illness requires a mental cure."

She walked up to Pei Yunjing, looked up at the man who held the power of life and death:

"Your Highness, give me three days."

"I may not be able to get them into battle immediately; that's asking too much of a strong horse."

Tang Li's gaze swept over the silent warhorses, a gentle yet resolute light gleaming in her eyes:

"But I have a way..."

"Get them to eat."