Chapter 1012 – Battle of the Northern Frontier (Forty-Eight)
“Today, let me teach you a phrase—’The victor is king; the loser is the bandit!'”
Jiang Pengji curled her whip in her hand, pressing it against her opponent’s face, leaving behind a red mark.
The Seventh Prince pressed his lips together and spat out a mouthful of blood towards Jiang Pengji, but alas, she was already aware, and he missed.
Breathing heavily, he snarled, “Cut the crap— you said it yourself: ‘The victor rules, and the loser suffers!’ Those people, heh, they deserved to die! Don’t even get me started on the Northern tribes; even you so-called benevolent folks have never treated prisoners well! Stop pretending to be virtuous.”
In this era of cold weapons, captives were not considered human; they didn’t deserve humane treatment, merely being spoils of war. The victors had the right to dispose of their spoils, an ancient, unchanging iron rule, and the Seventh Prince felt no remorse or shame.
Since the Northern Frontier won, they had the right to deal with the citizens of Shangyu three cities.
Men were killed to satisfy their bloodthirsty impulses.
Women were violated, their bodies and cries serving to gratify their inner desires.
This was the right of the victors; what face did the losers have to insist on rights and treatment?
Jiang Pengji smiled instead of getting angry as she retorted, “By your logic, if I wipe out the Northern barbarians, would that also be justified?”
Though it was a question, Jiang Pengji spoke with a tone of absolute certainty, each word dripping with an alarming killing intent.
The Seventh Prince trembled, his pale complexion turning ashen.
“You’re not Liu Thief; how can your words hold weight?”
Despite his passionate rhetoric, the Seventh Prince was a standard hypocrite. When the Northern Frontier triumphed, they could slaughter, pillage, and humiliate their enemies without question, but when they were defeated, they couldn’t stand being treated in kind.
Jiang Pengji replied, “What I say naturally holds weight.”
The Seventh Prince froze for a moment, and a terrifying thought invaded his mind, causing his muddled awareness to snap into focus.
“You— you are—”
In that instant, the Seventh Prince felt a sense of speechlessness wash over him.
If he remembered correctly, this small general had consecutively defeated three major generals of the Northern Frontier; how could he… no, how could she possibly be Liu Thief?
“Liu Xi?” the Seventh Prince exclaimed in disbelief, leaning over his horse in rapid breaths, “How could you be Liu Xi?”
Jiang Pengji raised her hand to dig at her ear, clicking her tongue.
“Why so surprised? Haven’t you ever seen our Lord fighting in person?”
The Seventh Prince was choked by her words, unable to respond, while regret gnawed at him.
If he had known she was Liu Xi, they would have done everything possible to kill her.
The Seventh Prince forgot that their Dai Wang had even ordered a surprise attack, yet what happened?
Not a single hair on Jiang Pengji had been harmed.
How embarrassing!
Cold sweat dripped down the Seventh Prince’s back as he recalled their conversation amidst the battle cries echoing around him, adding tremendous psychological pressure.
“The Central Plains Han family believes in Confucianism and Daoism, priding themselves on kindness; do you really dare to openly defy the world and wipe out the Northern Frontier?”
The Seventh Prince glared fixedly at Jiang Pengji.
“You’re the butcher’s knife, and I’m the fish on the chopping block.”
The battlefield tilted in Jiang Pengji’s favor, with nearly half of the Northern Frontier’s territory already in her grasp. The Seventh Prince found it hard to maintain his defiance.
Hearing this, Jiang Pengji smiled.
“I understand one thing now: morality only restrains the noble, it cannot bind the wicked. You can slaughter the innocent people of Shangyu without a care while we are supposed to show you kindness?” Jiang Pengji gripped the Seventh Prince’s chin, applying just enough pressure that he felt her fingers were like iron pincers, nearly crushing his jawbone. “Tsk, your face sure is big.”
The Seventh Prince winced in pain, tears streaming down as fresh, sticky blood oozed from his open wound.
Jiang Pengji chuckled softly, “Don’t worry, I won’t wipe out the Northern Frontier, but from now on, I’ll make Northern Frontier history.”
A cold glint shimmered in her eyes, causing a pang of foreboding in the Seventh Prince’s heart.
“What do you mean?”
Breathless, the Seventh Prince’s pale, blood-stained cheeks flushed abnormally.
“When the bloodline of the Northern Frontier no longer speaks the barbarian tongue, cannot read barbarian writing, and even forgets where their ancestors came from— wouldn’t that be the annihilation of their clan?” Jiang Pengji’s smile bloomed like a flower, yet it appeared as fierce as a demon in the Seventh Prince’s eyes. “Too bad you won’t get to see it.”
Fury surged to the Seventh Prince’s head, making him faint from the emotion.
Jiang Pengji coldly snorted with disdain as she mounted her horse, Xiao Bai, and yanked the reins.
“Xiao Bai— let’s go!”
With over ten thousand Northern Frontier cavalry trapped by Jiang Pengji’s forces on both flanks, they couldn’t retreat.
The main elite forces had been thrown into disarray by a charge from the three thousand heavy cavalry, the soldiers wailing in despair, breaking the army’s formation completely.
Fu Wang, seeing the situation, decisively ordered— “Full army, attack!”
The elite center followed closely behind the heavy cavalry, charging at the enemy’s main forces, harvesting enemy heads.
“Kill! Who told you to hide in the back?!”
In a sudden turn of events, the Sixth Prince watched the battlefield unfold in fury, his eyes bloodshot.
How could the Northern Frontier cavalry, known for their invincibility, possibly fail?
The enemy had only three thousand heavy cavalry; how could they drive back their more than a hundred thousand men?
The Sixth Prince refused to accept such defeat, yet reality slapped him hard—
The Northern Frontier cavalry were not invincible; they had tripped over a steel wall.
“Who dares to take a step back, kill without mercy!”
The Sixth Prince drew his sword and killed a few soldiers attempting to flee backward, striving to stabilize the morale.
But it was all too late—
Once the heavy cavalry charged in, they barreled through like a wave, causing immense psychological pressure and chaos among the Northern Frontier. Before the heavy cavalry could exhaust themselves, Fu Wang led his troops straight in, not only supporting the fatigued heavy cavalry but also taking the “baton” from them, further pressuring the Northern Frontier’s fighting spirit, completely shattering their courage.
The morale of the Northern forces was already low, and they were finished now.
“Dai Wang— retreat—”
The Northern Frontier general, protecting the Sixth Prince, showed rare vulnerability on his usually stern face, his eyes bloodshot.
“If we retreat now, we still have a chance—”
Having already lost the will to fight, the Northern Frontier faced increasing losses if they failed to retreat.
At such a time, a commander should decisively withdraw to limit losses.
The Sixth Prince gritted his teeth in frustration; if he retreated now, wouldn’t Liu Thief just press on?
“Retreat— retreat to the royal city, if we don’t go now it’ll be too late—”
Just then, the Eldest Prince, armored and drenched in blood, rode over, fatigue written all over his face.
The Sixth Prince clenched his fists in rage, biting out a single word—
“Retreat!”
What good was it to be bitterly unwilling?
He didn’t want to lose his life here.
The Third Prince followed close behind the Eldest Prince; having just fought fiercely, he bore several wounds and was soaked in blood.
“Retreat now?”
The Eldest Prince shouted, “Old Three, if we don’t retreat now, we won’t get the chance to leave—”
The Third Prince’s eyes widened, filled with sorrow as if he might weep.
“What about our cavalry if we retreat now?!”
