Deposed Crown Prince: After three years of service on the frontier, the entire court knelt and begge

Wei Wuji chuckled and nodded: "Your Highness, I'm here to report to you. I've already established a cavalry force of 15,000 men!"

Before Wei Wuji could continue, Xiao Ce interrupted, "Are you thinking of going to war with me?"

Wei Wuji was thrilled that Xiao Ce had guessed correctly, and nodded repeatedly, "Your Highness, you are wise!"

Xiao Ce glanced at Wei Wuji: "Do you think that just because you're on horseback and carrying weapons you're a cavalryman? Most of these slaves have been bullied and have lost their courage! I've captured a lot of prisoners, so you can have those guys watch them kill one by one! Rebuild their morale!"

Wei Wuji nodded repeatedly as he listened.

Xiao Ce continued, "Don't rush. Next, we'll train them! Don't rush into battle; there will be tough battles to fight! You need to provide them with specialized training! First, make some stirrups for them using sheepskin or cowhide. Then, they'll practice horseback riding, shooting, and a whole series of other training!"

As he spoke, Xiao Ce instructed Zhang Yunqing to have Yan Jia find someone from their elite cavalry who was experienced and had leadership skills.

As he spoke, Xiao Ce continued to Wei Wuji, "I'll find an old soldier to train you later! A craftsman must first have the right tools if he wants to do his work well. If you want to fight, you need to train these cavalrymen. What good will it be if you can't even withstand a single charge from the Turks?"

Wei Wuji nodded in agreement: "Your Highness, what you say makes sense. That's what I was thinking too. I know my own limitations. I don't want to be the main force; I just want to follow behind you and clean up the rear, so they can experience the atmosphere of war more!"

Xiao Ce nodded in agreement: "Then we're thinking the same thing!"

As they were talking, a middle-aged man in camouflage uniform riding a warhorse came from not far away.

The middle-aged man had a resolute face and a muscular physique. Although he was not tall, he looked very strong!

After the man approached, he cupped his hands in greeting to Xiao Ce: "Ma Yong, Grand Commander of the Ghost Cavalry, greets Your Highness!"

Xiao Ce looked at the man and felt he looked familiar: "Have we met somewhere before?"

The junior commander cupped his hands and said, "Your Highness, you have a good eye! I was one of the first veterans to follow you!"

Xiao Ce was somewhat surprised after hearing this: "So that's how it is! No wonder you looked familiar."

Xiao Ce said to Ma Yong, "Ma Yong, I am now appointing you as Wei Wuji's deputy general. Are you willing?"

Ma Yong glanced at Wei Wuji standing to the side as he listened.

Wei Wuji subconsciously waved his hand and said, "Your Highness, I am still young. I will be the deputy general, and Commander Ma Yong will be the general. I can learn from him!"

Xiao Ce did not answer, but looked at Ma Yong.

Ma Yong cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, Your Highness. I will follow Your Highness's arrangements and orders."

"Are you satisfied with making this kid, who hasn't even grown his beard yet, a general, and me his deputy?" Xiao Ce asked with a smile.

Ma Yong cupped his hands in respect: "Your Highness, of course I am convinced! In the army, it is always about ability, never age! Your Highness, you are only twenty years old, but you already possess the courage and ability to guard a region and drive out the Tartars. Your Highness, as long as it is your order, even if it is to serve as a foot soldier for General Wei Wuji, I will have no objection!"

Xiao Ce nodded in satisfaction. Ma Yong was not the kind of person who was all sweet talk and silver tongue.

They say exactly what they think!

"Very well! Then you stay here and do your best to help and train them! If you can train all these slaves for me, I will have a great help! And I will be able to drive a thorn into the heart of the Turkic lands!"

Ma Yong clasped his hands in agreement.

Xiao Ce said, "I will visit other tribes later. After I conquer one, I will send you ravens. You will follow closely behind and harvest another wave. This can also be considered as training."

Wei Wuji clasped his hands in agreement.

Xiao Ce figured he had given enough instructions!

He waved his hand, telling them to go about their business.

He then summoned Zhang Yunqing and asked him to find a way to quickly build up the area.

There are no problems with manpower and food here. First, we will mine lime for burning paper, and then build a concrete fortress here.

Zhang Yunqing clasped his hands in agreement.

Xiao Ce suddenly remembered Xiao Jiu, who was still waiting for him in Death Valley. He had forgotten about him for the past two days.

After giving his instructions, he had Fei Jie give him several dozen ravens.

They then led Yan Jia and his men on another mission.

His plan was simple: first, to go and sweep through the Tiesa tribe next to the Helu tribe while displaying the Ashina tribe's flag, making them believe it was the Ashina tribe's doing.

Then send others to attack Ashina, and while they're fighting amongst themselves, raid their stronghold. The main objective is to target someone who appears and disappears without a trace, throwing their rear into chaos.

Although the Turkic Khaganate consisted of dozens of scattered tribes, ultimately, these five states held the most sway within the Turkic kingdom.

First and foremost was the Ashina tribe, led by Ashina.

Secondly, there is the Helu tribe, known for its formidable fighting prowess.

Next is the Tesa tribe, which is relatively weak in military strength among the tribes, but has the most cattle, sheep and money.

Another one is the Ashide tribe. Although the Ashide tribe is very low-key, they were the earliest royal family of the Turkic Kingdom.

The Turkic Khaganate once enjoyed a period of unification, during which the emperor was Ashide.

Although the Ashide tribe is the most low-key, it undoubtedly has the strongest network of connections among all the tribes.

The last tribe is the Gesa tribe. Wu Qimu was the wife of He Lu whom Xiao Ce had captured earlier. Gesa was from the Gesa tribe, so it can be considered a marriage alliance between He Lu and the Gesa tribe.

Xiao Ce decided to attack the Tiesa tribe because he was rich.

The war between the Ashina tribe and the Helu tribe can be said to have been launched due to private friction between the two tribes. The purpose of attacking Tiesa was to seize their cattle, sheep and wealth!

His ultimate goal was to make those on the front lines believe that Ashina's advocacy for them to attack the Xiao Kingdom was a ploy to lure the enemy away from their stronghold, and that his real aim was to unify the Turkic Khaganate!

If we can convince them of this, then fighting on the front lines would be the best outcome!

His main objective this time was not to annihilate the Turks, but to destabilize them.

He doesn't have the strength to annihilate them all right now.

If they are truly pushed to the brink and fight him to the death, given Xiao Ce's current condition, it's not certain he will be able to handle them.

As long as they fight amongst themselves, he can free up his resources to properly develop the northern desert. Give him a maximum of three years, and he will have enough power to completely wipe out the Turks!

...

At this moment, they were in the Turkic tent on the border between the Mohe and Turkic regions.

They all looked grim; little did they know that this was just the beginning.

Xiao Ce has already woven a large net for them.

Helu, who was inside the tent, was the first to speak: "Ashina, what the hell kind of intelligence is that? You didn't do this on purpose, did you? Our Helu tribe has lost three thousand warriors this time!"

Ashina said with a gloomy expression, "Helu, watch your words! If I were doing this on purpose to send you to your deaths, would I have sent my shield cavalry to the front? You all know that I carefully select and painstakingly train each shield cavalryman! And yet, those scumbags managed to take them all down with them!"

Ashina's gaze turned sinister as he spoke: "Those slaves are mostly from your tribe. How do you manage them? How do you allow them to have their own consciousness and even dare to rebel against us! You have a very serious problem!"

Upon hearing Ashina's words, Helu's face darkened, and he was about to erupt in anger.

Ashide, sitting to one side, spoke up: "Gentlemen, we can't blame anyone for this battle. We underestimated them! And now it seems our intelligence was flawed. Their fighting spirit is in no way inferior to the previous Iron-Blooded Army!"

"There's no doubt about it anymore. Their army is the army of Xiao Dingshan, the God of War of the Xiao Kingdom. Only an army led by him could have such determination!"

"We should be thinking about how to break through the city, not blaming and distrusting each other!"

After Ashide came out to mediate...

Tesa, who was playing the good guy, spoke up: "Yes, Ashina, Helu. The reason we're together is because we trust each other! I think this battle was fought very well, and it was a good defeat!"

“Before, we were all fooled by those spineless cowards, Bao An! They made us think that the entire Xiao Kingdom was full of such spineless people, which is why we were so careless. We all wanted a piece of the pie, but we ended up kicking a hornet’s nest.”

"If only we had been more cautious and used more conservative and traditional methods to attack the city, the casualties wouldn't have been so high!"

Ashide said, "That's right, Tesa is right. It's fortunate that this crushing defeat happened during the attack on Yanbei City. If we had encountered it later, we would have been in an even more passive position. Gentlemen, if you want to continue the attack, we must first trust each other."

"If we can't even trust each other, we might as well break up!"

Ashina's mood calmed down considerably: "Ashide and Tesa are right. As the overall leader of this operation, the responsibility for this crushing defeat lies with me. I will take responsibility for this!"

He Lu said calmly, "Stop with the nice talk, get to the point! Do you have a plan to break through the city? If not, hand over command and let someone more capable take over!"

Ashina glanced at Helu, suppressing his displeasure: "Of course! Ashide was right just now. We were fooled by those spineless traitors from the Xiao Kingdom. They made us forget that Yanbei City was personally reinforced and supervised by Ma Tie, the leader of the Iron Blood Army. As the first city on the border of the Mo Tuo, Ma Tie spent a lot of manpower and resources to reinforce it! The city walls are high and strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack."

"However, the previous garrison troops have been too cowardly, causing us to underestimate the city's fortifications. Now that a new, more serious army has arrived, we've been caught off guard!"

He Lu said impatiently, "Can you get to the point? How do we break through the city?"

Ashina ignored Helu, his sharp eyes scanning the people in the arena: "If Yanbei City tries to launch a direct attack, we will suffer heavy casualties. Absolutely not! We must use other methods! I have already come up with a method that I am absolutely certain of succeeding in taking down the city!"