"One?"
Alpi was even more furious.
"Yes, General, I wouldn't dare lie." Bujia quickly pointed to the other soldiers who escaped with him. "If you don't believe me, General, you can ask them, they all saw it."
The other soldiers all nodded, eagerly explaining what they had seen.
"Yes, General. We saw it with our own eyes. Only one person came."
"Does the person have three heads and six arms?" Alpi looked incredulous.
"Uh... no, he didn't."
"The man's face was filthy, so we couldn't see it clearly, but he silently took out five or six of our men. He even said: 'What are you looking at? Want to taste a few peanuts?'"
"Yes, yes! There was also a big strange box made of fine iron behind him. We don't know how many peanuts were inside, so we had to escape back and report."
"Enough!"
The more Alpi listened, the more surreal it sounded, so he angrily interrupted them, "Did you pick up any of those peanuts and bring them back?"
"General, those peanuts were terrifying, they killed our men from a hundred paces away. We couldn't get close," Bujia was almost in tears.
In that chaos, he couldn't even figure out how his comrades were killed, let alone retrieve any peanuts.
They only heard it from Prince Xiaoyao's reinforcements.
Alpi paced, his murderous gaze sweeping over the group of useless men, mumbling, "Reinforcements? Peanuts?"
What was going on?
Princess Yujia sent spies into Ling'an City, bribed two of Prince Xiaoyao's trusted aides with a thousand cattle and sheep, and plotted to ambush and kill him.
With Prince Xiaoyao dead, Ling'an City would fall into chaos, unable to send support to Yong'an City. They could take advantage of Yong'an City's supply shortage and lack of reinforcement to capture it in one swoop.
What an opportunity!
But now the ambush on Prince Xiaoyao had failed, and inexplicably strong reinforcements appeared...
Strong reinforcements?
As Alpi was thinking about it, he suddenly realized something, slapped his head, and shouted, "Quick! Quickly relay my orders, retreat! Everyone retreat!"
"Yes!"
The messenger immediately turned and went out to relay the order.
The people in the tent all started to move, preparing to retreat.
Alpi quickly returned to the desk, wrote a few lines on a slip of paper, and watched as it was tied to the leg of a hawk by the falconer.
A moment later, a hawk flew into the depths of the grassland under the twilight sky...
Due to the rugged and narrow road with terrible conditions, when Han Lei and Zhao Zun's group arrived at the northern gate of Yong'an City in the emergency vehicle, it was already approaching midnight.
It was completely silent inside and outside the city walls.
There were no shouts of battle, no clash of weapons, nothing to indicate that a war was ongoing.
The torches on the walls illuminated the entire camp.
Through the car window, Xiao Zhengfei could only see soldiers dragging their emaciated bodies, transporting arrows, logs, and other defense supplies down the wall.
"What's going on?"
Xiao Zhengfei was bewildered, turning to report the scene to Zhao Zun, who was lying in the back compartment.
"Let's go take a look." Zhao Zun was also momentarily stunned.
Han Lei found a suitable spot and parked the vehicle steadily in front of the camp. Xiao Zhengfei unfastened his seatbelt, opened the door, and jumped out.
Throughout the journey, with Han Lei's guidance, Xiao Zhengfei had gained a basic understanding of the simple operations in the driver's cabin.
The soldiers, busy at work, were suddenly startled by a big thing with two glaring eyes howling as it charged toward the camp.
Instantly, everyone panicked and instinctively grabbed the weapons nearby, watching the big monster warily.
The garrison commander of Yong'an City, Ma Cheng, saw someone jump out from the thing and cautiously approached with his hand on the sword at his waist.
Before he got close, Xiao Zhengfei recognized him under the emergency vehicle's lights.
"General Ma. What's going on? Is the battle over?" Xiao Zhengfei asked loudly.
"Commander Xiao, is it really you!"
Recognizing Xiao Zhengfei's voice, Ma Cheng was full of surprise and finally spread his hands, replying, "We don't know either! The fighting was hard, and then the Turkic forces suddenly retreated out of nowhere."
"Retreated?"
Xiao Zhengfei raised an eyebrow, completely puzzled.
Upon hearing that the Turkic forces suddenly retreated, Zhao Zun, lying on the stretcher bed, instantly sat up.
Han Lei turned to meet Zhao Zun's gaze, both of their eyes filled with questions.
"Quick, help me out!" Zhao Zun urged needfully.
In the freezing cold, if the Turkic forces truly retreated, it would undoubtedly be wonderful news for them.
The rations on Han Lei's vehicle were certainly limited, and the soldiers would still be hungry. But at least they wouldn't have to fight on empty stomachs.
"Oh!"
Han Lei obediently responded, swiftly removing the needle from Zhao Zun's hand and slowly assisting him out of the rear compartment.
"Wait, hold the car door first, and stand properly."
The back compartment's floor was quite high, and Zhao Zun's figure was tall and sturdy, making it hard for Han Lei to support him.
Han Lei took a wheelchair from the wall mount of the vehicle, took a deep look at Zhao Zun, and then helped him sit down.
When getting out, she noticed that Zhao Zun had clearly strained his thigh wound, yet he showed no change in expression.
A tough guy!
Han Lei couldn't help but quietly give a thumbs up in her heart.
Zhao Zun sat in the wheelchair, curiously touching this and looking at that.
"Prince, wait for me."
Seeing that they had all left the emergency vehicle, Ping Chuan became anxious. Mimicking Han Lei, he directly yanked out the needle, pressed on the needle mark on his hand, and followed them out of the emergency vehicle.
When Han Lei pushed Zhao Zun around the emergency vehicle, Xiao Zhengfei led Ma Cheng over.
"Subordinate pays respects to Marshal." Ma Cheng immediately clasped his fists and saluted upon seeing Zhao Zun.
Zhao Zun was the commander-in-chief of the garrisons in both cities. Usually, the soldiers in the army would call him Marshal, only a few close to him called him Prince.
Zhao Zun nodded, "I heard the Turkic forces retreated?"
"They suddenly sounded the retreat bells at dusk, in great haste."
Upon hearing this, Ma Cheng noticed Zhao Zun's bandaged thigh and, startled, exclaimed, "Prince, how did you get hurt?"
Ma Cheng was stepping forward to lift the armor and inspect Zhao Zun's wound, while suddenly a 'ding' sound echoed in Han Lei's mind——
"Ding! Congratulations to the host for assisting in the retreat and being awarded a map of Da Jing's mineral deposits."
Huh?
Could the Turkic forces' retreat be related to me?
Han Lei was completely puzzled, but since the system said so, she readily accepted the map.
"Thanks to Miss Han's rescue!"
At this moment, Ma Cheng saluted Han Lei, and she quickly came back to her senses.
Apparently, in the moment she was dazed, Zhao Zun had already explained the ambush incident to Ma Cheng.
"Don't worry about it. I just happened to be there."
Han Lei smiled and exchanged pleasantries with Ma Cheng, then took the initiative to suggest that Ma Cheng send someone to load food supplies.
Upon hearing about the food supplies, Ma Cheng was overjoyed. He quickly waved over a Centurion and instructed him to begin arranging the task.
Seeing Han Lei head to the emergency vehicle to move the food, Ma Cheng escorted Zhao Zun to the central command tent to report the battle situation.
As Ma Cheng walked, he kept glancing back at the emergency vehicle and asked Xiao Zhengfei.
"Commander Xiao. What is that? How did you come out of it? And why is Miss Han's face painted in such bright colors?"
Seeing his questions about the emergency vehicle, Xiao Zhengfei immediately swaggered, looking at Ma Cheng with an expression reserved for country bumpkins.
"You mean that? It's a carriage that runs without needing horses. Let me tell you, this carriage is really fast and doesn't need to be fed hay..."