Devouring Evolution: I Reborn as an Arctic Wolf

Chapter 1007: Chapter 586: The South America Alliance Landing._2

This Qiang Cavalry unit, previously impoverished along the vast frontier line, finally achieved its centuries-long dream of equipping all its riders with armor, thanks to the strong support from both the Northern Wilderness and the Southern Dynasty. Unlike ordinary cavalry, the Qiang Cavalry’s sabers were ring-arm knives that had long been retired from the theater of war. These weapons were bound as one with ring-arm plate armor on their arms, and unless someone chopped off the entire limb, the blade would never leave their grasp. Apart from the ring-arm knives, the Qiang Cavalry carried traditional short knives called “Thigh Patting Knives” strapped to the outside of their thighs, much like a farmer harvesting autumn grains. They would use these blades to sever enemies’ ears and heads as trophies.

Over eight thousand Qiang Cavalry sprinted southward. At the front was a burly man who bent forward, caressing a Thigh Patting Knife passed down through generations. The Leader of Ten Thousand’s gaze was fierce, brimming with hatred.

Back then, those surnamed Xu from the Central Plains invaded the northwest, slaughtering all rebellious adults on the spot. Even children barely taller than a horse’s back did not escape. While they were not immediately sentenced to death, Xu Family cavalry severed their thumbs! This meant even if the children miraculously survived, they could never wield a weapon firmly, nor could they brandish blades against the Northern Liang Frontier Army. This middle-aged Leader of Ten Thousand, surnamed Jin, belonged to a tribe massacred by the Xu Family cavalry. He was lucky. On that fateful day, as a teenager, he had been out hunting with a small group of young men to gather food for the winter. By the time they returned, all they saw were corpses strewn across the ground and children sobbing in agony, their hands drenched in blood. At their feet lay the bodies of their parents.

He swore on that day to personally use his Thigh Patting Knife to sever the thumbs of every person surnamed Xu within Northern Liang territory. No exceptions—not even newborn infants wrapped in swaddles! Especially the son of that butcher, the new Liang Monarch inheriting the title, he vowed not only to cut off that young man’s thumbs but also to claim Xu Fengnian’s head, limbs, and all ten fingers!

The Leader of Ten Thousand slowly straightened his back, gazing toward the sprawling southern landscape with a vicious grin.

It was said that within Liu State, a butcher’s son named Xu Longxiang was infamous among Southern Dynasty aristocrats. Last year, he reportedly left several military towns in Gusai State riddled with holes and destruction. Jin Cheng did not expect his fewer than nine thousand cavalrymen to single-handedly capture this man. But before aiding Great General Liu Gui in completely annihilating Liu State, he vowed to savor the blood of Northern Liang citizens and drive that young man, whose veins carried the butcher’s filthy blood, into unspeakable despair. That boy, commanding the Dragon Elephant Army with merely thirty thousand riders, thought he could defend all of Liu State? To Jin Cheng, this was nothing more than an old Central Plains farce: a vendetta between brothers. Clearly, the young Vassal King feared his brother’s grand frontier achievements and deliberately sent Xu Longxiang and his direct lineage to their deaths!

In the season of dried rivers and yellowed grass, warhorses were far less robust compared to autumn and summer. For the Central Plains, especially the Jiangnan common folk, winter was the least suitable time for waging wars. Yet for the seasoned, cold-resistant Northern Liang and Northern Wilderness forces, once their resolve to fight crystallized, even the cursed weather of heavy snowstorms couldn’t prevent life-and-death struggles across any battlefield.

Jin Cheng, the Qiang Cavalry Leader of Ten Thousand, actually relished the winter’s brutal skirmishes. He found the sight of spears piercing enemy chests and dragging bloody trails across snow-covered terrain far more exhilarating than drinking fine wine.