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Chapter 208: Chapter 168 Zero Casualties War_2

Translator: 549690339 |

This is a horde of more than a hundred thousand soldiers from the Barbarian Tribe!

And not a single one of them died! Such a thing has never happened in history.

At this time, Mu Changtian came before Lu Chen and then asked, “Prince, how should this war report be written?”

If news of zero casualties were to reach the imperial court, the officials there would certainly not believe it, there’s no need to think twice about that.

Whether they believe it or not is beside the point, if the imperial court really finds out about their zero casualties, they will surely try every means to find out how North City managed to face an army of more than a hundred thousand from the Barbarian Tribe and still have no casualties—this is not good for North City.

So writing this war report is not going to be easy.

Hearing Mu Changtian’s question, Lu Chen pondered for a moment, then said, “Strip those Barbarian soldiers of their clothing and dress them all in the uniform of North City soldiers.”

Having said this, Lu Chen turned his head and said to a Brocade Guard Commander standing beside, “Go to Yan County and have Lin Xiuming bring twenty thousand cavalry from the imperial court to Tianguang City half a month later. Tell them the war was extremely brutal and that they are needed for assistance.”

“Yes, Prince.”

As the words fell, the Brocade Guard Commander left the city wall.

Upon hearing Lu Chen’s words, Mu Changtian and the others were somewhat perplexed. What was the Prince planning to do?

Just then, Wenren Lie and Xuanyuan Chen leaped directly from the horses outside the city and onto the city wall.

At this point, Lu Chen then said to Xuanyuan Chen and Wenren Lie, “General Xuanyuan, General Wenren, you are to directly escort these Barbarian prisoners back to the Yan County garrison with forty thousand Heavy Cavalry.” Xuanyuan Chen and Wenren Lie immediately responded, “Yes, Prince!”

Lu Chen continued, “North Pre King led an army of two hundred thousand south, I led fifty thousand Black Cavalry to fight bitterly against the Barbarian Army, with over forty thousand of the Black Cavalry wounded or killed, and countless normal soldiers injured or dead. In the end, I managed to hold North City with difficulty, and North Fre King retreated with his surviving troops back to the grasslands.”

Hearing what Lu Chen said, everyone instantly understood his intention; Lu Chen was planning to conceal the military situation!

They looked at me and I looked at them.

When others conceal military information, they wish they could report their military exploits as magnificently as possible, claiming to have killed hundreds of thousands of Barbarian soldiers.

But they were concealing military information by fabricating massive casualties of their own soldiers.

At that moment, Lu Chen sighed and said, “If the North Land doesn’t have some enemies, my days ahead will not be easy.”

With that said, Lu Chen glanced at the prisoners from North Fre King’s Barbarian Tribe in the distance.

The Sky Wolf King tribe of the North Land was gone, and now the army of North Fre King has also been defeated. There are no longer any significant enemies in North City.

If North City no longer has any enemies, does it still need an army of a hundred and fifty thousand?

Once they report that North Fre King has been defeated by them, the next thing the imperial court will definitely do is find a way to reduce the number of soldiers in North City.

Therefore, they definitely cannot report this military achievement truthfully.

Hearing Lu Chen’s words, Mu Changtian and the others also realized what he meant.

Indeed, if North City no longer had North Fre King as an enemy, without the threat of the Barbarian Tribe, the size of North City’s army of a hundred and fifty thousand would become a thorn in the side of the imperial court, and the court would find ways to reduce the number of troops in North City.

Of course, they could choose to hide their army and underreport its numbers, but Lu Chen was not planning to let it be so troublesome—even if they hid the numbers, as long as North City had no enemies, the imperial court’s attention would be on them.

When others are focusing on you, no matter how much you conceal the strength of your army, it is futile. The best solution is to keep those idle officials at the imperial court from constantly watching the troop count of North City.

Now, by reporting that North City lost forty thousand Heavy Cavalry, the imperial authorities will certainly not be thinking about North City still having tens of thousands of Heavy Cavalry anymore.

Even if their heavy armors remain, training Heavy Cavalry also requires a lot of time; it’s not as if simply donning heavy armor will enable one to exert the combat power of Heavy Cavalry.

Furthermore, with the Barbarian Tribes still present in the North Land, the imperial court naturally won’t pay much attention to North City any longer, and soon people will shift their focus elsewhere.

At this time, Mu Changtian said, “Prince, Lin Xiuming may well be able to tell that those dressed in Great Sum’s uniform are Barbarians.”

Mu Changtian still thought that Lu Chen had switched the dead Barbarian soldiers’ clothing with their own, and then was sending Lin Xiuming with an army of twenty thousand to clean up the battlefield and dispose of the bodies.

If that’s the case, wouldn’t Lu Chen’s plan be exposed?

Although the Barbarian Tribe and the people of Great Sum look similar, there are slight differences. People like them, who have fought against the Barbarian Tribe, can tell at a glance whether someone is a Barbarian soldier.

Lin Xiuming, despite his youth, had fought several battles against the Barbarians of the North Land, so even if he stripped a Barbarian of their clothes, he could still identify whether the person was from the Barbarian Tribe.

If Lin Xiuming realized this, and later wrote a battle report to send up the chain, wouldn’t Lu Chen’s plan be ruined?

Upon hearing Mu Changtian’s words, Lu Chen said with a smile, “General Mu, you surely don’t think I asked Lin Xiuming and the Imperial Army of twenty thousand to come just to collect the corpses, do you?”

Mu Changtian was taken aback.

Wasn’t it so?

If General Lin Xiuming, dispatched by the court, didn’t personally inspect the dead, who would believe their battle report?

Mu Changtian had thought that Lu Chen was deliberately having Lin Xiuming and the Imperial Army clean up the battlefield, just to let them know that many of their soldiers had died.

Lu Chen said indifferently, “There’s no need for that trouble, just bury all these bodies.”

“I asked Lin Xiuming to come over only to let the court know that the situation in North City is not optimistic.”

“The snow is falling heavier, piling up everywhere. For Lin Xiuming to lead the Imperial Army of twenty thousand to Tianguang City, it would be impossible without ten days to half a month. Plus, I already asked Lin Xiuming to come to Tianguang City half a month later, so it will take a month before he can reach Tianguang City.”

“By the time they get to Tianguang City, these Barbarian soldiers’ bodies will have already frozen into ice lumps. How could I let them come to clean up the battlefield? If they want to verify the battle report from North City as true or false, let them dig graves. I don’t believe they can still tell that the buried bodies for a month are the corpses of Barbarian soldiers.”

Even though winter has come and the rate of decay for bodies becomes extremely slow, there will be changes to bodies buried in the ground, after all.

By the time Lin Xiuming and his men really run to dig graves, and if they dig up the bodies of the Barbarian Tribe, the surface of the bodies will have been destroyed, or contaminated with soil. Since the difference between the people of the Barbarian Tribe and those of Great Sum is already slight, if they really dig up the bodies of the Barbarian Tribe, would Lin Xiuming dare to claim they are the bodies of the Barbarian Tribe?

Moreover, respecting the dead is paramount, not to mention these soldiers are nominally from North City and died for Great Sum. How could Lin Xiuming dare to dig their graves?

At this point, Lu Chen turned to Wenren Lie and Xuanyuan Chen and said, “Both Generals, when escorting the Barbarian prisoners back to Yan County, try to march at night as much as possible so that the ordinary people in Yan County won’t notice your movements.”

Xuanyuan Chen said, “Your Highness can rest assured. At that time, I will disguise these Barbarian prisoners as if they were Barbarian captives who were already in Yan County, making them look as though they are being sent to the mines.”

Reassured by Xuanyuan Chen’s words, Lu Chen continued, “Right, remember to take off your heavy armor when you return, so as not to be recognized.”

“Yes, Your Highness,” replied Xuanyuan Chen.

Lu Chen then said, “Good, that’s it then. Everyone return to your duties.”

As Lu Chen finished speaking, Mu Changtian and the other commanders returned to their respective soldiers to direct the cleanup of the battlefield.

Half a month later.

In a tavern in Mysterious Moon Palace.

Lin Xiuming sat in a private room of the tavern, drinking by himself and watching the heavy snow outside the window.

As a general assigned to support North City against the southward invasion of the Barbarian Tribe, he was completely unaware of the current situation in Tianguang City. He felt like he was on a taxpayer-funded vacation to admire the snow scenery of North City.

Lin Xiuming sighed. If he had led his troops to fight against Great Wu, he would have already established numerous military achievements by now.

It was a waste of his talents to be sent to North City.

With the Heavy Cavalry of the North Prince in North City, there was no need for him.

As Lin Xiuming sighed, a mature woman’s voice sounded from behind him.

“So you feel wronged being sent to North City and end up drinking in the tavern every day?”

Upon hearing this, Lin Xiuming turned his head and saw that it was Lin Wanyun.

Curiously, Lin Xiuming asked, “Yun, why are you still in North City? Didn’t the Palace Master of Mysterious Moon Palace already return?”