Chapter 316 Jiang Yuan Returns Home

Chapter 316 Jiang Yuan Returns Home

Feeling that the Wei soldiers had run out of options, they rushed hastily toward the now-destroyed passes and garrisons.

It's no wonder they were greedy and reckless. Indeed, the passes and garrisons of the Great Wei before them were wide open and dilapidated inside, with the soldiers exhausted and vulnerable.

With the gates breached and the buildings inside the city destroyed, the Wei soldiers who had fought a fierce battle with their Tatar vanguard all night were also weakened and short of weapons. Wasn't this the perfect time for them to take advantage of the situation?

Having made this judgment, the Tatar nobles eagerly commanded their soldiers to charge into the dilapidated passes and garrisons before them.

The Wei soldiers, who had already noticed these guys, did not hold their positions at the passes or garrisons because they were in an overwhelmingly unfavorable situation.

They didn't even have time to clean up the battlefield. Under the command of their own generals, they set up tripwires and fired arrows from a distance while withdrawing from the passes or garrisons they were originally guarding.

Even so, those Tatar nobles who came to take advantage of the situation still encountered a head-on attack from the Wei soldiers shortly after entering the territory of the Great Wei.

It turned out that the kerosene and makeshift bombs in the city were not the only backup plan that the Wei soldiers used to entertain the Tatar soldiers.

Behind the passes or garrisons they were responsible for, they also arranged many surprises for the Tatar soldiers.

Although the terrain behind each pass and garrison is different, they are all uninhabited.

Without the step of temporarily relocating ordinary people, the mobility of the Wei soldiers naturally increased.

They can do whatever they want around the passes and garrisons.

Some of the blueprints for the mechanisms and hidden weapons that Xie Wanniang drew to protect herself, which were not originally suitable for defending the city, were actually very suitable for creating "surprises" for the Tatars.

The Tatar soldiers who wanted to take advantage of the situation suffered repeated losses. On the contrary, the Tatar soldiers who remained stationary outside the three major passes did not have any of the Wei soldiers take the initiative to leave the pass and attack the camp.

A small group of Tatar nobles, led by the Tatar commander, stayed there peacefully, but they were not feeling well either.

Although they had long anticipated this outcome, they still harbored a certain degree of wishful thinking because things were not yet settled.

Now everything is going according to their worst expectations, so it would be strange if they could be happy.

Although the defeat in battle was partly due to the objective fact that the Great Wei had developed new weapons, those who commanded the army still had to bear the blame.

In particular, they also have long-standing feuds and political enemies within the Tatar community, and those people will definitely do their best to kick them when they are down if they get the chance.

However, they no longer need to worry about the scarcity of resources within the Tatars. Although the southward advance was destined to come to nothing, this protracted war had consumed a large portion of the Tatar population.

These people will not only stop consuming resources, but will also leave behind a "legacy"—grasslands, livestock, and people remaining in the tribe. These can become fresh blood for other tribes, allowing powerful tribes to survive by annexing weaker ones.

Leaving aside how the Tatars would practice the law of the jungle afterward, the soldiers of the Great Wei, because of their thorough preparation and proper operation, achieved a complete victory in this war at the lowest cost, and their morale was high and their fighting spirit soared.

If the firearms workshops hadn't been so limited in their production scale that they couldn't provide everyone with enough homemade bombs, the soldiers wouldn't have allowed the Tatars to continue garrisoning outside the three major passes.

Because of this, countless people sighed and lamented even after winning battles, simply because they were unable to take the initiative to strike, severely damage the Tatars, or even conquer the grasslands.

Fortunately, everyone was quite disciplined. The commander-in-chief, Marquis Dingbei, and the generals stationed at the pass ordered them to hold their positions and not come out. No matter how unwilling they were, they still obediently carried out the orders.

Unlike them, Jiang Yuan had no desire to break through the pass and invade the grasslands right now.

As a general, he naturally had the ambition to make achievements, but the problem was that his wife, Xie Wanniang, was about to give birth. He was not willing to leave Xie Wanniang alone to endure the pain and risks of childbirth, while he led his soldiers deep into the grasslands.

At times like these, unless the war is at its most intense and he has no other choice but to stay by Xie Wanniang's side, he will try his best to stay with her.

Chang Yao had a deep understanding of how much Jiang Yuan valued his wife, so when Jiang Yuan began to occasionally become absent-minded and restless, Chang Yao generously allowed him to return to Tang County to accompany Xie Wanniang.

If it were someone else, Chang Yao would worry about whether the other person would overthink it or think that he was using them and then abandoning them. But Jiang Yuan was different. Rather than staying here and continuing to accumulate his meager merits, Jiang Yuan wanted to go back and accompany Xie Wanniang, who was about to give birth.

Jiang Yuan was overjoyed to receive leave permission. Without hesitation, he packed his things and quickly returned to Tang County with his personal guards before Xie Wanniang gave birth.

Upon seeing him, Xie Wanniang was surprised rather than pleased. Once only she, Hao Yu, Chen Shi, and Haitang were left in the room, she anxiously asked Jiang Yuan, "Why did you come back at this time?"

While washing his hands and face, Jiang Yuan gently explained to Xie Wanniang, "The war has come to an end. The Tatars have suffered heavy losses and cannot cause any major trouble in the short term. The Crown Prince saw that I was worried about you, so he gave me a leave of absence to come back and be with you."

Hearing him say that, Xie Wanniang finally felt relieved. She asked, "Could you tell us more specifically about the battle situation?"

Jiang Yuan didn't hide anything from them, "By the time I returned, the Tatar forces had already lost about 50% of their strength. In the next few years, they probably won't try to attack the Great Wei again."

And after several years, no, even just a few months, those artisans who specialize in making firearms should be able to produce a sufficient number of homemade bombs.

At that time, not only will the Tatars no longer be able to cause trouble on the northern border of the Great Wei, but other foreign tribes around the Great Wei will also have to obediently put away their claws and teeth and put on a docile appearance if they know what's good for them.

By then, the Great Wei will truly be a land of peace and prosperity.

All of this was because of Xie Wanniang's sudden, whimsical reminder.

After washing up, Jiang Yuan ate two large bowls of hot soup noodles made by the cook, under the watchful eyes of Xie Wanniang and the others.

The guards who accompanied him to the estate were also served hot soup noodles from the kitchen a little later.