Chapter 111 Germination
After the leader finished cursing, he quickly fled the battlefield on his horse.

The Black Armor Guards immediately sent out pursuers, but after only a short while they turned around and rode back.

Until then, Chen Huaian said: "Your Highness, this is the eighth group of Western Tartars we have let go. Will they really mobilize their forces to pursue us with all their strength?"

Wang An just stared at the direction where the leader left, and after a moment he said, "Of course they will. They haven't appeared yet only because we haven't hurt them enough."

Wang An and his men had been in Baicheng for nearly three days, and during these three days they had strangled eight Western Tartar troops.

After each strangulation, Wang An would deliberately let a few people go so that they could find other companions who were scattered to plunder. In this way, when these Western captives found out that Wang An, the prince of the Southern Dynasty, was so bold as to go out of the city to fight, they would definitely concentrate their forces to kill Wang An.

Just as the Daliang court was eager for the head of the Western Tartar Khan, the Western Tartars were also extremely looking forward to Wang An's head.

Although the Eastern and Western bandits would invade Jizhou every year, they did not have the courage to go too deep. After all, a lean camel is bigger than a horse. Today's Daliang is still a huge monster that they cannot defeat.

If they could capture Wang An's head, it would be an achievement that the Western Tartar generals could boast about for half their lives.

What's more, everyone heard what Wang An said on the city wall. These Western Tartars knew very well that the Western Tartar Khan hated Wang An. If they could take Wang An's head, it would undoubtedly greatly please their master.

It’s just that these Western Tartars are too scattered, and it will take some time for them to connect together.

After hearing Wang An's words, Chen Huaian stopped talking immediately, but his expression of worry was clearly visible on his face.

Wang An knew Chen Huaian's worries very well. He sighed and said, "Huaian, do you blame me?"

Chen Huaian shook his head and said, "I dare not, but..."

Chen Huai calmed down for a while and said, "In the past three days, the Black Armor Guards have suffered a lot of losses. So far, more than a dozen brothers have died in the battle and more than 30 have been injured. If it weren't for the emergency, they should have been sent back to White City for recuperation."

Chen Huaian said, looking at Xu Huang beside him and said, "If it weren't for Brother Xu Huang bringing the brothers of Jizhou Guard to help, I'm afraid we would have been in danger the next day if we were the Black Armor Guard alone."

Wang An agreed, "That's true. Now that I think about it, is it right or wrong to declare war on the Western Tartars just because of my momentary impulse..."

Xu Huang had been listening silently, but suddenly he said, "I think what the prince did was right. We are real men!"

"If we have to sacrifice a woman to save ourselves, are we still men?"

Chen Huaian said: "Xu Huang, that's not what I meant."

Without waiting for Chen Huaian to continue, Xu Huang waved his hand and said, "Alright, Brother Chen, I know you are a man, but I feel sorry for the casualties of your brothers. Damn it, these Tartars are really hard to deal with!"

While they were talking, the villagers, who were already trembling with fear at the sudden attack by the Western captives, slowly came out of their homes and were in disbelief when they saw the corpses of the Western captives scattered all over the ground.

After a long time, an old man in the crowd came to Wang An with a few young people and said tremblingly, "May I ask who this noble man is? Today, we are really grateful for your help. Otherwise, all the old and young in our village would have died here!"

Wang An said kindly: "I am the Prince of Xin, and our Jizhou is my fiefdom. It is my duty to help you elders. You don't have to be so polite, old man!"

Jizhouwei is sparsely populated, and the news is very isolated. Wang An has been in Jizhou for more than a month, but the village in front of him still doesn't know Wang An's existence. However, the old man in front of him obviously has some knowledge, otherwise he would not have been elected to ask about Wang An's origins. Hearing this, he was immediately shocked and hurriedly knelt down in front of Wang An.

"I didn't know it was the prince who came. Please forgive me for my impoliteness!"

Wang An got off his horse, reached out his hand to help the old man up and said, "Father, you don't have to do this. This is an extraordinary time and we need extraordinary things. There is no need for such a grand ceremony!"

However, the old man knelt on the ground and refused to get up, and Wang An did not dare to use too much force.

After all, the old man in front of him was very old, and Wang An was worried that he would use too much force, which might dislocate the old man's arm.

Not only did the old man refuse to get up, he turned around and called out to the villagers behind him, "You unlucky people, we in Jizhou have a prince too, why don't you come over and kneel down and pay homage!"

Most of the villagers were dressed in rags, with pale faces, skinny bodies and dull eyes.

Wang An felt that they might not even know what a prince was, but at the old man's call, the villagers immediately stepped forward and knelt down like zombies.

When Wang An looked at the villagers in front of him, a feeling of sadness suddenly welled up in his heart. After all, these people were all Wang An's people.

As a person from the later generations, Wang An could not turn a blind eye to such a tragedy, and he could not help but solemnly say: "Fellow villagers, I'm sorry! I'm late!"

The villagers' dull eyes suddenly brightened up. Although they didn't know what a prince was, looking at Wang An's attire and temperament, as well as the many aggressive soldiers behind him, they knew that Wang An was an important figure.

In addition, what the village chief just said that we in Jizhou also have a prince, so we know that this is probably the highest official in Jizhou.

Such a big shot not only led his troops to rescue him, but also killed all those terrible Western Tartars, and was so polite to him. This was the respect and kindness that these villagers who had never left the village in half their lives had never received.

I don't know who took the lead, but they shouted, "Long live the prince!"

The villagers also shouted, "Long live the prince."

Chen Huaian on the side frowned slightly. The words "Long live" are not something that a prince like Wang An can use.

However, when he thought that these were just ignorant villagers, Chen Huaian felt relieved.

Suddenly, among the young people following him, one of them looked at Wang An with sparkling eyes and said, "My Lord, I also want to follow you to fight the Western Tartars!"

Wang An's lips curled slightly, lowered his head and smiled: "But fighting is very dangerous, and you may die on the battlefield."

"You are still young, do you really have the courage?"

The young man nodded firmly and said, "Instead of living in fear every year, it is better to fight these Tartars like these older brothers!"

(End of this chapter)