Mythical Three Kingdoms-Chapter 1699 - 1624: An Empire Not to Be Underestimated (Part 2)

Sure, here is the translated text:

Pouring the tung oil stored in the water bags onto the corpses, Guo Si casually blew on the fire starter stored in a bamboo tube. The dry grass gathered by the soldiers quickly ignited the tung oil, and soon everything was engulfed in flames.

Within an hour, after burning this place to the ground, Guo Si led the charge, galloping on horseback over it. Then the soldiers of the Xiliang Iron Cavalry also madly trampled the area until it was completely unrecognizable. Guo Si turned to look at the soldiers behind him.

Except for the two unfortunate ones who were shot dead by arrows, the rest of the men had, at most, minor injuries. Guo Si roared, "Everyone grab your spoils, from tomorrow we will be exterminating bandits in the Thirty-Six States of the Western Regions, kill every one we see!"

As for the Kushan Diplomatic Mission, who knows, they might have been blown away by a storm in the desert, or perhaps cut down by bandits. Anyway, everyone saw that our Wuxi Colonel from the Protectorate of the Western Regions saw them off for thirty li before returning.

From that day onwards, Wuxi Colonel Li Jue began leading three thousand Xiliang Iron Cavalry in a frenzy of bandit extermination in the Thirty-Six States of the Western Regions. As for the reason, it is rumored that Guo Si was ambushed by a bandit army of three thousand during his escort of the Kushan and lost two men.

As for the truth of the matter, the nobility of the Thirty-Six States of the Western Regions were not very clear. Anyway, the rumor seemed close enough. After that, bandits without backing were basically exterminated by Li Jue. Those with backing who hadn't managed to convert into official troops were also wiped out.

As for reasoning? Even Dayuan and Wusun did not have the guts to argue with Li Jue. Although their two states had fifty thousand troops and one or two with Inner Qi Manifestation, really clashing head-on with the Han Dynasty, just seeing the elite of Li Jue's cavalry, they knew not to provoke them.

Of course, Li Jue did not realize that many of the bandits he exterminated in the Western Regions were official troops of the Thirty-Six States. After all, silk is such a coveted commodity, and the Thirty-Six States would drool over the prospects of robbing some, intercepting some, conducting some cost-free transactions, and if there was no risk, they would not mind at all.

After all, in this era, silk is an almost universally recognized hard currency across the world. From the Han Dynasty up to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, this thing was always a hard currency. Only in the Western Regions was its value higher. In the Mediterranean, it was solid as gold.

But due to the overwhelming strength of the Han Dynasty, the Thirty-Six States of the Western Regions did not dare to provoke them. However, watching silk, which was more golden than gold, pass by every day, the Thirty-Six States were certainly tempted, hence the so-called official bandits emerged.

But this time, these bandits all met disaster. With Li Jue's Legion Talent, creating that kind of eggshell defense that absorbs attacks, the Xiliang Iron Cavalry of three thousand, already touching the weft of the Military Spirit Legion, would suffer no deaths against bandits unless they faced constant misfortune. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

So Li Jue, like a steamroller, crushed all the thieves of the Thirty-Six States. The King of Wusun watched from the Wang City as Li Jue easily overturned twice their number of mounted bandits with no casualties, quelling any thought of confrontation.

Unlike other Legion Talents, Li Jue's consumes an enormous amount of energy, but because it was a miracle achieved by Li Jue in breaking through the invisible barrier, it was a miracle born of his will to reduce casualties among the Xiliang Iron Cavalry.

Therefore, his Legion Talent directly wards off attacks below a certain intensity, and attacks that exceed the lower limit, after breaking the eggshell defense, are still neutralized to some extent. All of this comes at the expense of the duration of Li Jue's Legion Talent.

Simply put, as long as his Legion Talent is not exhausted, his unit will suffer casualties to an unbelievably low degree. If facing miscellaneous soldiers, a terrifying scenario could arise - zero casualties after the battle.

Usually, such a frightening scenario doesn't occur. Even among miscellaneous soldiers, there are one or two strongmen who can break the eggshell defense, and the remaining force, if it can penetrate the strengthened equipment defense and physical defense of the Xiliang Iron Cavalry, can still take them down.

Unfortunately for them, this time it was mounted archer bandits and Central Asian scimitar bandits who faced Li Jue. Known for high attack speed but low attack power, these cavalrymen met their match in Li Jue, resulting in a zero casualty rate. The Wusun nobility watching from the Wang City were trembling.

Naturally, all the little schemes of the Thirty-Six States of the Western Regions were shelved. The Wuxi Colonel that arrived this time not only had the backing of the Great Han Empire but was also mightily powerful himself.

Thus, Li Jue firmly established himself as the Local Tyrant of the Thirty-Six States of the Western Regions, once again wielding the power to command the forces of the Thirty-Six States as Ban Chao had in those days.

At this time, Vasu Deva I had not received any news about the Great Han Empire's homeland. However, the existence of the Wuxi Colonel had already been communicated.

Thus, Vasu Deva I extinguished the idea of pushing further east along the Onion Ridge. As for heading west, it seemed Parthia had been in decline for the past century, but Vasu Deva I felt it necessary to observe further; it wasn't something that would collapse overnight.

Moreover, defeating Parthia would mean facing the sword of Rome directly. To be honest, compared to the relatively gentle Han Empire, the Kushan were more afraid of the Roman forces coming from the west.

So if unnecessary, Vasu Deva I thought it best not to court disaster. Thus, he began to cautiously and methodically advance into India, as the other directions were either impossible to attack or invincible anyway. Vasu Deva I concentrated on quietly advancing into India.