Chapter 64: Take Her Back to Be the Bandit Chieftain's Wife!

"Well... you could look at it that way, I suppose!"

"Don't worry, we're just acting. I won't take advantage of you."

Sumu looked earnestly at Xu Qing in front of him, offering reassurance time and again.

Xu Qing pouted her lips, feeling quite indignant, and stared fixedly at Sumu with her round eyes.

"Captain! Do you really find me that annoying?"

"Is there any need to give me guarantees like this?"

"You blockhead! The captain is just a block of wood!"

Xu Qing turned around angrily and stormed off.

Watching Xu Qing's retreating figure, Sumu shrugged helplessly.

How did she manage to get angry?

At that moment, Fatty Li could no longer hold back his laughter and walked over.

"My young master! You really are utterly devoid of romance!"

"Even I can tell that Xu Qing fancies you!"

"I reckon if you just gave the word, she'd throw herself right into your arms."

Sumu was taken aback and gave a dry cough.

"Battalion Commander! Qinghe Town is facing a life-or-death crisis right now. How could I possibly be in the mood for romantic matters?"

"As long as these barbarians remain uneradicated for a single day, I have no time to spare for romance!"

Fatty Li rolled his eyes at Sumu and took a bite of his chicken leg.

"Driving the barbarians out of Daliang isn't solely your responsibility, is it?"

"Besides, none of us know whether we'll live to see tomorrow's sun. Cherishing the present might just be the better choice."

Fatty Li glanced in the direction of the Tianxiang Pavilion, looking somewhat sentimental.

"Song Hui's greatest regret all these years was that she and Brother Jiang never got to hold a wedding."

"It's a pity that now she's gone, that wedding is destined to never happen."

Sumu fell silent for a moment, let out a long breath, and flashed a wistful smile.

"Time will erase everything."

"Battalion Commander, I'll leave Qinghe Town in your hands for now."

"I'm taking the others out to sweep the area!"

"Make sure you arrange some teams to meet us and take back the supplies."

Fatty Li nodded, patted his chest, and said with a serious expression, "Don't you worry! Leave that kind of work to me!"

...

Thirty miles away from Qinghe Town.

Sumu, leading a troop of cavalry disguised in barbarian attire, held Xu Qing in his arms and wore a smug expression.

" Lads! Bring all these grain supplies back with us! And this woman too!"

Sumu proclaimed with a grand, swaggering air.

The cavalrymen behind him raised their hands and cheered loudly.

Xu Qing lowered her head, suppressing the amusement bubbling up inside her.

You have to hand it to him!

The barbarian language Sumu had picked up sounded remarkably authentic.

If you didn't know better, you'd actually think he was a barbarian born and bred!

Presently, as Sumu and his company roamed about, riding a full several dozen miles, they finally encountered a squad of barbarians.

There appeared to be only a few dozen men in total.

At this sight, the corner of Sumu's mouth twitched.

Just this handful of people?

What are they supposed to do with this?

It wouldn't even be enough between their teeth!

Sumu glanced back at Guan Qing and gave a hand signal.

Guan Qing instantly understood Sumu's intent, drew his long saber, and led a troop of men in pursuit of the barbarian squad.

Before those barbarians could even react, their throats were slit straight away by their supposed "comrades."

To their dying breath, they had no idea what was actually happening.

Utterly bewildered!

"Captain!"

"These barbarians must be completely dumbfounded, never expecting to be stabbed in the back by their own people."

Guan Qing flashed a triumphant grin.

Sumu shook his head and waved his hand dismissively.

"This is just a mere appetizer!"

"Previously, it was the barbarians sweeping across our Daliang territory, but now it's our turn to sweep through them."

"Kill every last barbarian we encounter! As long as their numbers are under a thousand, we leave not a single soul alive!"

Hearing Sumu's words, the others nodded one after another.

"Understood!"

Over the next few days, Sumu and his men scoured every inch of territory surrounding Qinghe Town.

The largest barbarian squads they encountered numbered only a few hundred men.

Upon running into Sumu's troop, they barely had time to react before being wiped out.

Sumu picked up his small notebook and meticulously recorded the tally.

"This is the twentieth barbarian squad we've wiped out this time. Over the past three days, the total number of barbarians we've eliminated adds up to four thousand."

Sumu closed the ledger and shook his head.

The efficiency was still somewhat lacking.

"Captain, don't set your standards quite so high!"

"You have to remember, before this, if anyone wanted to wipe out a four-thousand-strong barbarian detachment like this, it would cost the lives of a full ten thousand Daliang soldiers!"

"The fact that we haven't suffered a single casualty is already something to celebrate."

Xu Qing said with a helpless expression from the side.

Having spent this much time by Sumu's side, she had finally figured him out: unless he could slaughter ten thousand barbarians in one go, Sumu had no intention of calling it a day.

"It's different. Every extra barbarian we kill now means our pressure will be that much less when the main barbarian army presses down upon us."

"That is the most crucial point."

Sumu understood very well!

Even though the Sky Wolf Guard had lost twenty thousand men, the remaining Tiger-Wolf Cavalry and Ivory Elephant Troops were the two trump-card armies that were hardest to deal with.

Furthermore, when they chose to lay siege to the city, it wouldn't just be those elite units; there would also be regular barbarian conventional armies.

By then, outside Qinghe Town alone, a full fifty thousand strong army would inevitably gather.

The disparity in troop strength was far from trivial.

Therefore!

The safest approach was to strike first and gain the upper hand!

Never give these barbarians any opening whatsoever.

"Captain, I understand what you mean, but..."

Before Xu Qing could finish her sentence, the sound of hoofbeats echoed from the distance.

At the sound, the expressions of Sumu and the others changed drastically.

Judging by the noise, the troop numbered at least a thousand.

Sumu raised his banner, and the soldiers behind him instantly grasped his intention.

They immediately began posing as barbarian soldiers, slightly disrupting their formation.

It was entirely impossible to tell they were a regular military force.

Soon, under the watchful eyes of Sumu and his men, a cavalry unit numbering over a thousand appeared in their field of vision.

Sumu's pupils constricted.

Judging by their equipment, this troop of thousands of cavalrymen was none other than the notorious Tiger-Wolf Cavalry!

Judging by the numbers, there were roughly three to four thousand of them!

Seeing this, Sumu understood in a flash!

This Tiger-Wolf Cavalry unit was heading out to launch an attack on them!

A hard battle was coming!

But if they played their cards right, there might still be a chance!

Sumu feigned nonchalance, clearing a path while wearing a fawning expression as he watched the approaching Tiger-Wolf Cavalry commander, Altur.

Altur reined in his horse, glanced sideways at Sumu and his men, and frowned.

"Have you lot seen any other patrols recently? Why are they nowhere to be found?"

Altur asked coldly.

Sumu gave a dry cough, lowered his voice, and feigned a weathered, raspy tone.

"My lord, we haven't run into them."

Altur raised an eyebrow, cast another glance at Sumu, and let out a cold snort.

"A bunch of good-for-nothings! If we had to rely on you lot to capture Qinghe Town, I fear it would be far too late for anything!"

"Fall back into formation, and advance toward Qinghe Town!"

At Altur's command, the cavalrymen behind Sumu fell back into line one after another.

Approaching the Tiger-Wolf Cavalry from various directions.

Seeing these movements, for some reason, Altur suddenly felt a deep sense of extreme unease.

"Wait! Which legion do you bastards belong to?!"

Just as Altur shouted those words, Sumu's pupils constricted sharply as he raised his hand and gave the signal.

"Attack!"