The Lucky Farmgirl

Chapter 2271 - 2246: Deception

Junior General Meng was startled and sat up straight, inadvertently pulling at his wound and hissing in pain, as he asked, "What?"

After asking, he immediately stared at Jin Kui’an.

Jin Kui’an’s expression was quite calm, but Junior General Meng still caught a glimpse of momentary shock amidst his fleshy face, coupled with his slightly widened eyes just now...

Junior General Meng immediately looked up to exchange a glance with the shocked Assistant General Nie, and the two of them immediately said, "We’ll rest for a night, and tomorrow we’ll leave."

Assistant General Nie turned to look at the captives, his gaze deep as he said, "Let’s deal with them all by tomorrow morning."

Bai Shan slightly frowned, wanting to stop them, but Junior General Meng spoke first, "No, they are captives now, we can’t kill them."

Assistant General Nie said, "With a formidable enemy in front of us, keeping these people is more trouble than it’s worth. If their reinforcements rush in and they turn against us..."

"Then we’ll recruit them," Junior General Meng insisted, staring intently at him. "These captives have been taken; killing them would be against the court’s law."

But killing captives before the battle, who would know unless someone deliberately reported it?

He hadn’t even made them all join in the action yet.

Bai Shan softly cleared his throat and said, "We could try to persuade them."

"And if they say yes, we just believe them? What if they betray us at the last moment?"

Bai Shan said, "Don’t you always need cannon fodder in the front lines when dealing with camp intrusions?"

This indeed wasn’t against the rules, so Junior General Meng said nothing more.

Assistant General Nie was still very reluctant to keep those captives, but with Junior General Meng speaking so, and Bai Shan agreeing — since Bai Shan agreed, naturally Zhou Man would share his opinion. After all, she was in charge, and to some extent, he had to listen to her.

Assistant General Nie fell silent.

Junior General Meng felt he had won, his expression softened considerably, and he explained to him, "Assistant General Nie, our Left General, is a Turk. If he knows we’re slaughtering captives in the Western Regions, not only we but even my father would be held accountable."

It was only then that Assistant General Nie remembered the Left General. With a sigh, he nodded, "Alright."

However, they didn’t take all the captives. Assistant General Nie’s gaze swept over the wounded soldiers and decided to leave behind the seriously injured bandits the next day.

Without food, water, or horses, they likely wouldn’t survive long. It wasn’t much different from killing them, and the key was they didn’t have to do it themselves.

Manbao treated Jiechen’s reopened wound; fortunately, he hadn’t sustained any new injuries, which was a good thing.

She stood up, stretched her sore neck, and then called Zhou Liru over to tend to the bandits’ wounds.

Zhou Liru didn’t think much of it, grabbing the medicine box and heading over, but Liu Huan was dumbfounded and pulled her back, "Wait, you’re still going to treat the bandits’ wounds?"

Manbao said, "Even if we save the medicine, at least we should clean the wounds, stitch them up for quicker bleeding control, and faster healing."

She was a doctor; she couldn’t just watch people bleed to death right in front of her, could she?

Zhou Liru couldn’t stand it either, so the two of them went over to tend to the wounds. Bai Shan saw this and instructed Bai Erlang and the others to help out, saying, "They all know a bit of Chinese, talk to them more about Princess Jinjiang’s consort."

"Princess Jinjiang?" Recently tasked with memorizing the royal family tree, Bai Erlang thought hard for a moment before remembering, "Oh, the Left General Sili, why mention him?"

Bai Shan said quietly, "He’s a Turk."

Bai Erlang: ...

Yin Huo chuckled and said to Bai Erlang, "Come on, he’s thinking about recruitment."

But in one night, they probably couldn’t win these people over.

However, staying up all night treating injuries and stopping bleeding did earn some goodwill from them, somewhat easing the previously tense situation.

Manbao worked late into the night, finally taking a quick wash of her face and hands before removing her outer garment and collapsing to sleep in the carriage.

The others were about the same.

Early the next day, Sister-in-law He brought people to make some dry food. After everyone had eaten, they were to set off immediately.

Manbao and the others gave up the carriages for the seriously injured soldiers. As for the fallen soldiers’ bodies, Assistant General Nie specifically had a large pit dug to bury them. He wasn’t sure if this sandpit would shift and later expose them again, but at least for now, while they were fresh, they wouldn’t be devoured by wolves.

Assistant General Nie collected their tags and turned to leave.

Manbao and the others mounted their horses, taking one last look before urging their horses onward.

Erge, Jin Kui’an, and the others were thrown into a carriage, and Assistant General Nie left many wounded captives behind. No one objected; that they hadn’t killed all the men but took some captives with them was surprising enough.

If it were them, they would’ve killed all the men and taken only the women.

But... seeing the bandages on their bodies, the captives weren’t sure whether to feel grateful. Their emotions were complex, and for the moment, they didn’t feel like speaking.

Manbao and Bai Shan had no time to dwell on such matters for now, so they didn’t dwell on them for long. The two of them rode alongside Assistant General Nie, flanking a carriage, while Junior General Meng leaned against the carriage, speaking to them, "If Tubo really has reinforcements, you should flee straight away; we’ll cover you."

Manbao looked touched, "Junior General Meng, such great righteousness."

Junior General Meng raised his hand and said, "How could I deserve such praise?"

He said, "We can’t let civil servants and a bunch of students go into battle, can we?"

Assistant General Nie complained to him, "Junior General Meng, since you brought a thousand soldiers, why didn’t you bring more people?"

"Most of those left at the checkpoint are infantry. Weren’t I the one pursuing you? I hurried over, but how could they catch up?" Junior General Meng said, "I’m telling you, we’d be better off returning to the checkpoint. Lightening our load and riding back quickly would only take two days, but from here to Gaochang would take at least three days. Besides..."

He disdainfully glanced at the baggage-laden carriages and said, "Your baggage is too much. At this speed, reaching Gaochang would take at least four days."

Bai Shan said expressionlessly, "Heading south from here for two days, I’m afraid we’ll run into the Tubo reinforcements head-on. But heading north from here, I think they’ll need time to catch up."

"I left people at the checkpoint over there."

"What if there are too many reinforcements on the other side for you to hold off? Bai Shan said, "By the time we request aid from the Anxi army, it’ll be too late."

And how foolish would he be to flee in the direction of the Tubo reinforcements?

What if they encountered the Tubo reinforcements before reaching the checkpoint?

This possibility was significant enough that not even Junior General Meng dared to declare there was no danger. Assistant General Nie didn’t even have to think about it, immediately opting to head for Gaochang.

A good horse doesn’t eat returning grass, and a brave man doesn’t retrace his steps. He wasn’t stupid enough to go back, only to have to head back to Gaochang afterward.