Country Maiden: Fields and Fortune

418, All to Return (6 Updates)

Li Hengyi sat astride his horse, his voice casual as he said, “What’s the hurry? There are still four thousand horses that haven’t been brought over!”

He was delaying time.

To give the rear enough time to lead the stallions out of Ice Valley.

Never mind ten thousand, six thousand would be plenty.

A mare can give birth only once a year, but a stallion can mate many times.

Six thousand stallions, by next year, could sire tens of thousands of foals.

“Does His Highness the King want to go back on his word?” Rong the shaman exclaimed in shock.

The man in his fifties twisted his features in agitation.

“Go back on my word? As long as the ten thousand stallions are delivered, your crown prince will naturally be returned, but if you play tricks…” Li Hengyi took a bow and arrow from someone nearby, aiming it at Fubino, “Today’s Ice Valley shall be the burial ground of Fubino!”

Fubino looked up, his gaze icy as he stared at Li Hengyi.

“If His Highness the King is so mighty, then shoot,” said Rong. “Us Rong warriors will not beg for mercy!”

What noble rhetoric.

A hypocrite.

However, Li Hengyi didn’t expose him, and it wasn’t until nine thousand stallions had been led away, leaving the last thousand, that he ordered someone to push Fubino to the front.

“The crown prince…” a Rong general exclaimed in alarm.

After all, Fubino looked utterly wretched.

Yuanbao stepped forward, opened the cage, and yanked him out.

“A defeated general,” Yuanbao declared gravely.@@novelbin@@

There came a whoosh from behind, and Li Hengyi knew that the nine thousand stallions had been led away.

He knew that Rong were skilled at training horses, so once those horses were led out of Ice Valley, they were stuffed with cotton in their ears and blindfolded.

Oriented by signals.

Fubino suddenly understood as well.

He silently cursed Li Hengyi for his multitude of deceptions.

It wasn’t until the last horse and Fubino crossed paths that both sides’ archers and shield bearers had reached the forefront, with both sides retreating.

Both were crown princes, born directly from the empress and the empress dowager, future successors of Rong and Dazhou. Each side was being extremely cautious, fearing a misstep, lest the prince perish in the Ice Valley.

No one dared to be careless.

Li Hengyi held his bow and arrow, aimed at Fubino.

Waiting until those one thousand youngsters had blindfolded the stallions, plugged their ears, and quickly led them away in retreat.

But they were running too fast.

The butterfly effect.

A sound came from the mountaintop.

“Master, avalanche!” Yuanbao cried out in alarm.

Li Hengyi’s voice was stern, “Let the rear guard take the lead, retreat!”

In front of nature’s might, no matter how formidable or valiant you are, it counts for nothing.

Even Fubino got onto a carriage at once, “Let the rear guard take the lead, retreat quickly!”

He would settle the score with Li Hengyi another day.

Both armies were fleeing at top speed; the vanguard troops even made way for the cavalry behind to pass first, most importantly allowing Li Hengyi to go first.

“Boom, boom, boom!”

Li Hengyi heard the sound and turned his head to see.

Indeed, an avalanche.

“Quick, one horse carries one man, one horse carries one man!”

He raced past the front, not caring who the caught person was, grabbing a youngster by the hand and flinging him onto the back of the horse.

The cavalrymen, seeing this, did the same, seizing anyone at hand and hurling them onto the backs of their horses.

Boom, boom, boom.

Avalanche, mountain collapse, Ice Valley was leveled to flat ground.

Li Hengyi rode on horseback, “Go see, how many of our people made it out?”

“Your Highness, everyone made it out, not a single person perished!” Deputy Commander Zhao stepped forward to report.

The excitement was indescribable.

Having gone through such a life-and-death experience, the soldiers felt an even deeper allegiance to His Highness the King, and many had already knelt down on one knee.

“We swear loyalty to His Highness unto death!”

“We swear loyalty to His Highness unto death!”

Dazhou’s morale soared as a result of this action by Li Hengyi.

For the first time, the soldiers truly united, bound together as one.

Li Hengyi rode on his horse, slowly beginning to chuckle.

He was very grateful to Xie Zhinuan.

When Xie Zhinuan made idle conversation, he said, “Water can carry a boat but can also capsize it. If you want someone to follow you through life and death, first you have to touch their heart. Once they are moved, they will die for you!”

This is the way to lead those below you.

Chapter 420