Fearing being killed for his overwhelming merits, the empress decided to marry him.

"Taiji Kingdom, strike!"

"Aaaaaah~"

Seeing that the Goguryeo cavalry had fallen into complete chaos, Wang Xuance seized the opportunity and roared, ordering the entire army to attack.

Instantly, the Taiji Kingdom soldiers, as if injected with adrenaline, launched a fierce counterattack against Goguryeo under pressure from the supervising team.

"Ya ya ya ya~"

"Xu~~"

A soldier from the Taiji Kingdom, shouting something unintelligible, desperately pushed forward against the opposing warhorse, bracing himself against the heavy tree shield.

With a mournful neigh from the warhorse, the cavalryman on its back was finally thrown to the ground.

"Ah~"

The next moment, more than a dozen spears surrounded the Goguryeo soldier and began a frenzied stabbing.

No matter how fierce the Goguryeo cavalry were, once they fell to the ground, they could only become fish on a chopping board, at the mercy of others.

"Die!"

Under the cover of smoke, a soldier from the supervisory team leaped up behind a cavalryman, pressed his katana against the man's neck, and pulled back sharply.

Finally, the two men and their warhorses collapsed into the dust.

More Taiji soldiers began to gather and surround a warhorse, forcefully dragging the cavalryman on its back to the ground to fight to the death.

At this moment, the battle situation seemed to be developing in a direction favorable to the Taiji Kingdom.

Due to the smoke and fire, the warhorses were startled, and the cavalry's advantage was completely lost.

With their overwhelming numerical advantage, the Taiji Kingdom seized the opportunity to divide and surround them one by one.

After sending a Goryeo soldier flying with a single spear thrust, Dang Rui looked at the chaotic battlefield and, knowing his advantage was lost, immediately roared, "Retreat! Retreat immediately! Quickly!"

Judging from the current situation, it seems that the thousand heavily armored cavalry are doomed to perish. The only way to secure the remaining two thousand light cavalry and retreat to Rangzhou is to find a new opportunity to fight.

He never expected that Goguryeo would one day be defeated by this group of arrogant Taiji people, a fact that was hard for him to accept.

Although the attack was thwarted, it did not affect the cavalry's retreat.

Without the heavy armor of the cavalry, these light cavalrymen, upon receiving the order to retreat, decisively followed the banner of the cavalry in the direction they had come from.

"Lord Zhenguo, they're trying to escape!"

Ban Dingyuan was extremely anxious upon seeing this scene.

"If this cavalry force is not eliminated, there will likely be many obstacles to overcome on the road to attacking Rangzhou."

Shen Lang chuckled lightly: "Can they really leave?"

As he spoke, he fixed his gaze on a stretch of Gobi Desert at the edge of the wilderness.

Ban Dingyuan followed Shen Lang's gaze and his eyes lit up.

Suddenly, a large cavalry force appeared in the Gobi Desert, with a rough estimate of no less than a thousand men.

A cruel smile appeared on Shen Lang's face: "This is our trump card."

"what--"

A group of foreign cavalrymen in the Gobi Desert emitted strange cries.

The cavalry commander, Shatuo, wearing a fish-scale armor and wielding a 38-pound mace, roared and charged directly at the Goguryeo cavalry.

The cavalry behind him, each wielding a long spear, a curved sword, and a carved bow, charged forward with all their might.

"Those are people from the Shatuo tribe! Damn it, what are they up to!"

When Dang Rui saw the cavalry, he was immediately horrified.

"Prepare to defend against the enemy!"

However, having just experienced a series of fierce battles, both horsepower and manpower had reached their limits.

With the arrows still in flight, the Goguryeo army was in an extremely passive position.

"Fellow tribesmen! It's time for revenge! Goguryeo oppressed us for centuries. Today is the day to seek justice for our fallen people!"

"Kill!"

Shatuo's words quickly resonated with the tribesmen behind him.

Since Goguryeo occupied Liaodong, the remaining tribes and people living in this land have been subjected to cruel exploitation.

Their pastures were occupied, their hunting range was restricted, and every year young men from the tribe were forcibly conscripted for corvée labor.

The Shatuo tribe had an irreconcilable blood feud with Goguryeo.

Bang~

As the two armies passed each other, Shatuo's spiked club slammed into a Goguryeo cavalryman.

The Goguryeo cavalryman's back bulged out on the spot, revealing half of his broken spine, and he was crushed to death on his horse.

"Ha~"

Having landed a successful blow, Shatuo raised his mace high in one hand and spun it in the air. Using the momentum of his horse, he thrust forward, and another Goguryeo cavalryman was immediately struck in the cheek, flying backward from his horse without uttering a sound.

"Drink~"

Shatuo delivered another sweeping blow, striking a cavalryman in the back and causing him to vomit three liters of blood on the spot.

"kill!"

"roar~"

The Shatuo's martial prowess quickly inspired the rest of their tribesmen, who soon joined the cavalry battle.

The sounds of battle shook the heavens, and warhorses neighed.

On the Liaodong battlefield, two cavalry forces fought fiercely, and the smell of blood constantly filled the air.

After an unknown amount of time, Dangrui killed a Shatuo cavalryman with a single spear thrust. Looking back, he saw that the entire battlefield was surrounded by Shatuo cavalry and Taiji Kingdom troops.

He was left all alone on horseback.

"Long live Goguryeo!"

Suddenly, he let out a long howl, threw away his spear, drew his sword and slashed it across his own neck, instantly staining the ground three feet with blood.

The battle lasted from daytime until dusk, finally ending with the complete annihilation of three thousand Goguryeo cavalry.

……

As night fell, Shen Lang sat alone by the campfire, warming himself.

Ban Dingyuan approached him, carrying a book listing the names of the fallen.

"Duke Zhenguo, in today's battle, 3,628 soldiers of Taiji Kingdom were killed, more than 4,300 were wounded, 728 members of the command team were killed, and 17 people committed suicide due to their injuries. Please take a look."

Shen Lang did not take the list of the dead, but instead said to Cui Mingji, who was sitting next to him with the army, "These are all people from your Taiji Kingdom. Go back and think about how to distribute the compensation."

"Yes."

Cui Mingji took the roster, but didn't care about Shen Lang's words.

Compensation? What kind of compensation do you want?

These unruly people are honored to die for the Taiji Kingdom, so why should they receive compensation?

There was no precedent in the Taiji Kingdom for providing compensation to these cattle and horses; when ordinary people died, they would simply receive a bundle of straw mats and that would be the end of it.

Shen Lang ignored Cui Mingji's expression and instead looked at Shatuo: "Chief Shatuo, thank you very much for your help this time."

Shatuo replied directly, "My lord, there is no need to say anything. We and Goguryeo are sworn enemies. Since you have agreed to our conditions, we hope that you will keep your promise."

Shen Lang: "Of course, I always keep my word. What belongs to you, I will naturally give to you."

His success in persuading the Shatuo tribe to become his staunch ally was not solely due to simple verbal persuasion, but more importantly, to the incredibly tempting promises of substantial benefits he made to them:

Once Rangzhou City is captured, half of its astonishing wealth and numerous beautiful women will be at the mercy of the Shatuo people!

With such a huge temptation in front of them, it's no wonder that the Shatuo tribe chose to ally with him without hesitation.

Shen Lang doesn't care at all about the interests of those who are not of his kind.

The lives and deaths of the people in the Goguryeo capital had absolutely no bearing on him, nor did they resonate with him.