After the statistics were compiled, it was found that over thirty thousand of the Beichen Commandery troops were killed in the battle at Beichen Pass, while over fifty thousand soldiers from the Allied Nations perished. Another twelve thousand were captured. Altogether, that was nearly a third of their entire military force, which was considered a major defeat.
However, on Plumera Kingdom's side, the Northern Frontier Army also suffered heavy losses, with nearly twenty thousand casualties, including many elite soldiers. It could only be called a bitter victory.
The two hundred thousand troops Elara had brought with her, on the other hand, were mostly unharmed.
Under the supervision and arrangements of Damon and Egbert, not only were all the usable iron arrows, iron weapons, and other materials on the battlefield recovered, but they also brought back five thousand sets of iron shields and armor stripped from the five thousand elite soldiers destroyed from the Allied Nations.
Elara did not distribute these five thousand sets of iron shields and armor to the two hundred thousand troops she had brought. Instead, she turned to look at Senior General Duanmu and General He.
"These five thousand sets of iron shields and armor, divide them equally. Each of you take twenty-five hundred. Clean them up and equip the elites in the Northern Frontier Army."
The Northern Frontier Army was full of brave and fearless warriors, but there were only a thousand sets of iron shield armor, which was far too few.
Although the quality of these five thousand looted sets wasn't the best, they would do for now. They were more than enough to face off against the Allied Nations' armies.
Senior General Duanmu and General He hadn't expected that Elara would directly hand over all five thousand sets to them.
They instinctively glanced at Damon and Egbert behind Elara. Seeing no change in their expressions, the two of them immediately knelt on one knee to express their thanks. Their eyes, as they looked at Elara, became even brighter and more grateful.
The Northern Frontier Army truly needed this armor.
In terms of individual combat strength, the Beichen Commandery Army was no weaker than the Allied Nations' forces. The only gap lay in those over ten thousand sets of iron shield armor.
Now that they had received these five thousand from their ruler, their strength surged. Next time, they would never allow so many of their brothers to die on the battlefield. Victory would be theirs.
After all the battlefield materials had been counted and distributed, General Q also sent word. He reported that they had already taken over the Northern Yan Commandery of the Allied Nations. Only the northernmost city, Shangding, which bordered Salvia Kingdom, remained. Once they captured Shangding City, they would fully control all of the Allied Nations' territory.
After reading General Q's letter, Elara summoned Damon, Egbert, Senior General Duanmu, and General He into the tower for a small meeting.
The Allied Nations and Salvia Kingdom forces had suffered a crushing defeat at Beichen Pass, losing nearly one-third of their troops. But the remaining soldiers still numbered in the hundreds of thousands.
With such numbers still intact, the Salvia Kingdom Army might not retreat to seek help. And Elara had no intention of letting them escape back home either.
So she decided to have General Q hold off on taking Shangding City for the time being. Instead, he would monitor the area while silently sending troops to cut off the communication between the Salvia Kingdom reinforcements and their homeland.
Once that connection was severed, the reinforcements and the remnants of the Allied Nations would be completely trapped here.
Next, those trapped soldiers would be surrounded by her two hundred thousand troops and the Northern Frontier Army, slowly eliminated little by little.
Since the Salvia Kingdom had dared to send a hundred thousand troops to support the Allied Nations and even planned to attack her Northern Frontier, then none of them would be allowed to return.
She, Prince Yu, and Prince Leland had all launched this northern campaign together with a shared goal: the Salvia Kingdom.
The Allied Nations, Jiasi Kingdom, and Narcissus Kingdom were just appetizers before the real battle began.
Once more concrete news came from Prince Yu and Prince Leland, confirming that the other two vassal states had been nearly conquered, the three of them could unite and launch a joint assault on Salvia Kingdom.
Salvia Kingdom, as a second-class nation, had a massive military. Even without the three vassal states acting as meat shields, their total military power was still close to one million.
But in order to support those three vassals, Salvia Kingdom had already sent about four hundred thousand soldiers to Narcissus Kingdom, the Allied Nations, and Jiasi Kingdom.
Elara naturally had to seize this opportunity to directly eliminate the 400,000 troops sent by Salvia Kingdom.
This way, once the three nations each dealt with their respective subordinate states, the isolated Salvia Kingdom would only have around 600,000 troops left.
With 600,000 troops against the combined forces of the three nations, they wouldn't be able to hold out for long.
Not to mention that Gladiolus Kingdom was also a second-tier country, and its overall military strength was not weaker than Salvia Kingdom.
And the greatest national treasure of Salvia Kingdom, the sacred object known as the [Divine Mirror], had already been destroyed by her.
With only military force left, Salvia Kingdom could not possibly hold out against the joint attack of the three nations.
With this, the outcome of the Northern Expedition had basically been decided.
The vast territory of Salvia Kingdom would be divided among Plumera Kingdom, Dahlia Kingdom, and Gladiolus Kingdom, becoming newly governed lands under each of the three nations.
Plumera Kingdom's overall power would also greatly increase after this campaign.
After discussing the plans with the four others, Elara immediately wrote a letter to General Qi.
Senior General Duanmu and General He were already half-kneeling before her, asking for the mission.
"Your Majesty, please allow us to take on the task of suppressing Salvia Kingdom and the remaining forces of the other nations!"
In the Battle of Beichen Pass, the Northern Frontier army lost too many elite soldiers. Among them were not only their relatives and subordinates, but also many other family members and brothers from the Northern Frontier army.
So within the Northern Frontier army, everyone held back their grief, determined to avenge their fallen loved ones.
Elara agreed to their request and also instructed Damon and Egbert to lead their troops to lie in wait and monitor the battlefield from all sides. While preventing any unexpected incidents, they were also to ensure that the trapped troops of Salvia Kingdom and the other nations had no chance to escape and seek help from their home countries.
Two more days passed, and the battlefield situation developed exactly as Elara had predicted.
After General Qi cut off their connection to Salvia Kingdom, Senior General Duanmu and General He led the vengeance-fueled Northern Frontier army straight to the camps of Salvia Kingdom and the other nations, charging in and out three times as if using the enemy as live training.
At first, Salvia Kingdom and the other nations resisted in shock, but after the Northern Frontier army equipped themselves with the 5,000 iron armor and shields taken from the destroyed forces, their strength increased dramatically. They were completely unstoppable.
Realizing something was wrong, Salvia Kingdom and the other nations decided to send troops back to Salvia Kingdom to seek help.
But the road between them and Salvia Kingdom had long been cut off by General Qi.
The soldiers sent to request reinforcements never returned. All were intercepted and captured by General Qi.
Only then did the reinforcements from Salvia Kingdom and the other nations realize they had fallen into a trap, like turtles in a jar. Alarmed, they tried to flee.
But in front was the fierce offensive of the Northern Frontier army, and behind was the 200,000-strong army from Plumera Kingdom cutting off their retreat. They were completely surrounded with no way to escape.
Two days later, with the cooperation between the Northern Frontier army and Damon and Egbert, the 100,000-strong forces of Salvia Kingdom and the other nations were ground down and torn apart until only a few thousand remained. At that point, Prince Yu and Prince Leland finally sent news.
They had fully captured Jiasi Kingdom and Narcissus Kingdom and had dealt with the reinforcements sent by Salvia Kingdom. Now they were ready to launch a joint northern attack.
Elara immediately ordered the Northern Frontier army and Damon and Egbert to wrap up the battlefield.
They were told to stop using the remnants of Salvia Kingdom and the other nations for military training. After finishing them off quickly, they were to march immediately to the border between the other nations and Salvia Kingdom.
There, they would rendezvous with General Qi, and then launch a full joint offensive on Salvia Kingdom together with Dahlia Kingdom and Gladiolus Kingdom.