The Blood Demon Descends Upon the Northern Plains
After completely annihilating the first Xianbei army they encountered on this grand northern expedition, and after the Xianbei chieftain who chose to cooperate with the Han along with his warriors joined their ranks, Yuan Shu's forces moved forward as if nothing in the world could stand in their way.
The feast that followed their first battle—an utterly overwhelming victory—felt like advance compensation for the grueling forced marches that would come afterward. Yuan Shu led his army with swift and decisive speed, beginning the subjugation of the northern barbarians in earnest.
The fact that he had deliberately spared a few of the Xianbei warriors from the memorable first victory instead of slaughtering them all was entirely intentional. The reason was simple: to spread word of the Yuan army's terrifying power far and wide.
Well, some might hear the rumors and dismiss them as nonsense. To most ears, it would sound like nothing more than an absurd tall tale. But if people refused to believe the truth even after hearing it... then there was only one thing to do: make them believe it.
After all, three people repeating the same story can create a tiger out of thin air. Of course, this wasn't a lie—it was the cold, hard truth. Still, there would always be doubters. If enough people spread the truth, wouldn't they have no choice but to believe?
And even if they didn't believe, if their rage at the mere existence of this punitive force drove them to attack first, it would save Yuan Shu the trouble of hunting them down himself. With that in mind, the next target for the Yuan army was a certain Wuhuan tribe that had been growing stronger lately by absorbing nearby settlements.
Unlike the Xianbei or Xiongnu, who specialized in mounted archery, the Wuhuan were a nomadic people whose greatest strength was their ferocious, head-on charges. In other words, they were the perfect opponents for Yuan Shu to crush with ease. One could even say it was a favorable matchup.
There was no guarantee that enemies who relied on the annoying hit-and-run tactics of mounted archers would ignore him like before and commit to an all-out charge. If they kept their distance and harassed from afar, the chances of them escaping alive would only increase.
Of course, such concerns only mattered against ordinary opponents. Against monsters like these, the words held no meaning whatsoever.
At any rate, when the Wuhuan chieftain heard that Yuan Shu was coming to attack, he burst into loud laughter and immediately launched an offensive.
They brought a force even larger than the first Xianbei army they had faced. Moreover, these were veteran northern warriors far more skilled at head-on combat than the Xianbei.
However... what they were about to face were the greatest human meat grinders of all time—beings with almost no equals throughout history.
The battlefield became a hellscape of blood, flesh, and screams.
"Huh?"
The Wuhuan chieftain, stunned by the unimaginable carnage, had his head cleanly severed in a single stroke. The grasslands were dyed red with the blood and flesh of the Wuhuan people.
Tens of thousands of cavalry couldn't even last a single day. They were completely swept away, becoming nothing more than fertilizer to help the grass grow thick and lush. Those not granted permission to flee couldn't even run. Aside from the few deliberately spared, every last one was taken prisoner and sent into slavery.
Riding the momentum of that victory, Yuan Shu's forces crushed every barbarian tribe in the region. Then they set their sights on the most powerful groups among the Xiongnu.
Since their own casualties were practically nonexistent and their military strength was overwhelmingly superior, there was no reason to hold back.
"...Their momentum is no joke. We'll need to respond with extreme caution...!"
Having heard the rumors, the Xiongnu chose to act carefully, planning to nibble away at their enemy through attrition.
However, every plan looks perfect—until it gets smashed to pieces.
Using the range and mobility of their mounted archers to strike and retreat, the so-called swarm tactic. Countless soldiers had been driven to despair by this strategy before, but to Yuan Shu's army, it meant absolutely nothing.
The strategy Yuan Shu's forces used to counter it was ridiculously simple.
The four strongest warriors of the Yuan army simply charged forward as usual, displaying their overwhelming martial might.
"Huh? Why are they getting closer to us?? We're clearly retreating while shooting...???"
"F-fuck, their arrows are bouncing right off those bastards?!"
"Are they ghosts?! Monsters?! What the hell are they?!!?"
"W-what? They're faster than us even though we're on horses after eating... c-collision imminent...!!"
And they reached the enemy faster than the Xiongnu could retreat. It was only natural. These four monsters weren't just strong—they were also masters of horsemanship, capable of riding faster than the nomads themselves. In truth, their physical abilities were so monstrous they could probably outrun horses on foot, but that would look undignified, so they usually didn't.
Riding horses was more fitting for generals, after all. It looked cool.
On top of that, while they could deflect every arrow that came their way, they only blocked the ones aimed at their horses for the sake of the performance. The rest they simply took with their bodies as they charged forward—an insane display of power.
When arrows didn't even pierce their skin and simply bounced off harmlessly, it triggered a primal terror in their enemies. Were these men truly indestructible? Or were they backed by some divine spirit? And when they witnessed human lives being snuffed out more casually than swatting flies, morale plummeted even further.
Finally, the four of them rampaged freely through the gaps, slaughtering everyone in their path.
In an instant, the enemy formation collapsed. With unstoppable penetrating power, they charged straight through and took the head of the enemy leader. At that point, the Xiongnu were no longer hunters racing across the vast grasslands to devour their prey. They were nothing more than game being hunted by an overwhelming predator.
Just four. Just these four men reversed the encirclement and annihilated entire armies. Unless someone stronger than them appeared, or someone capable of stalling them even for a moment, there was no way to stop this simple yet devastating tactic.
And unfortunately for the Xiongnu, they had no such valiant generals.
To be precise, there was one person who tried to buy time.
Despite his bravery, his skill didn't match. Instead of stopping them, he was cut down in a single stroke, his head stored on a horse's saddle.
At any rate, while the enemy was being shredded apart, when the cooperating Xianbei forces and the main army arrived, how could they possibly avoid being slaughtered? These people, whose greatest strengths were speed and flexibility, became easy prey the moment their legs stopped moving and their bodies froze stiff with fear.
Especially when that quartet of terror was still rampaging wildly even as they pushed forward!
Trapped in a crossroads of death where they couldn't properly focus on either threat, there was no way they could remain unscathed.
And so, procuring all necessary resources locally by crushing countless tribes, they continued their bountiful advance. After several months of endlessly slaughtering and crushing the northern barbarians...
The number of Xianbei, Xiongnu, and Wuhuan tribesmen trampled beneath this unstoppable, gruesome march reached tens of thousands dead and hundreds of thousands taken prisoner.
A magnificent achievement accomplished in just a few months.
The mere sight of the character "Yuan" was now enough to send barbarians scurrying into hiding in terror. Their prestige had become utterly overwhelming. Whenever large groups gathered, they were crushed by the punitive force, forcing them to scatter against their will. Those with sharp instincts or real ability simply surrendered to Yuan Shu outright.
While displaying such overwhelming might, Yuan Shu actively used the surrendered Xianbei to hunt down and eliminate those still holding out. In the northern plains, now dyed red with blood, there was no one left who dared raise their head before Yuan Shu.
His fame had grown so absolute that there was no one—Han or barbarian—who hadn't heard his name...
To the Han, he was known as a mighty general who had achieved extraordinary military merits.
But to the northern barbarians, he had become an object of unparalleled terror.
Mountains of corpses and seas of blood!
Wherever he went, the earth was covered in the flesh and bones of men and horses. Rivers ran thick with flowing blood and entrails. Yuan Shu was a calamity incarnate.
Thus, he came to be called the Blood Demon.
In the original history, Gongsun Zan had earned the title of White Horse General by spending many long years suppressing the barbarians. Yet even though Yuan Shu's campaign had been much shorter, he had established a reign of terror far beyond what Gongsun Zan ever achieved.
After all, ever since Modu Chanyu, the northern tribes had never managed to unite again. Instead, they had only grown more divided, constantly turning on one another. They were no match for Yuan Shu.
Of course, there were some losses during all this wandering. But the gains more than made up for every single one of them.
He had rampaged across the vast plains with such joy that he hadn't even thought about utilizing the strongholds he'd captured. Now there were no more enemies left to fight. While the nomadic peoples were fewer in number than those living in the Central Plains, this didn't mean they had been completely wiped out. They had simply fled far away.
After all, this world had an even larger population than the ancient era Yuan Shu originally came from.
Still, for the time being, the barbarians wouldn't even dare piss in the direction of Youzhou or Bingzhou. After all, there were four human meat grinders capable of single-handedly destroying entire legions. The tribes that had chosen to cooperate with Yuan Shu had gained great benefits, but having witnessed his true power firsthand, they were so horrified that they wouldn't dare look in that direction again even if their numbers grew.
The fear that Yuan Shu might come for them if they raided Han borders had been burned deeply into their minds. Moreover, since Yuan Shu would claim the majority of the spoils they had gained, it was only natural that those once-mighty tribes would only grow even stronger. Therefore, instead of rebelling, they chose to submit.
Having achieved such overwhelming results, Yuan Shu had Jia Xu divide the spoils and bribes to be sent to the Emperor and the Ten Attendants, as well as the supplies to be sent to the Yuan family. After assigning troops to escort them, he turned the army around and began the march back to their base.
The one leading the escort for the bribes was Ma Teng. It was a considerate gesture, allowing him to see his family after so long. He was also an excellent commander who could be trusted with leading troops.
The campaign had lasted longer than expected and produced far greater results than anticipated...
Having accomplished the role given to him far beyond anyone's imagination, the concurrently appointed General Who Pacifies the Xianbei, Yuan Shu, began marching majestically toward Geyong County.