novelSusiti Chapter 110 Ambush
Chapter 110 Ambush
Chapter 110 Ambush
On the hillside of Qingshi Gorge, in the dense forest, Xianbei commander Aruzhen lay behind the bushes, staring at the smoke rising in the distance, his brows furrowing more and more.
He was ordered to lie in ambush here, waiting for the Liaoxi reinforcements to rush into Qingshi Gorge impatiently. Then he would attack from both sides, block the pass, and trap them like turtles in a jar.
But when that Liaoxi cavalry reached two miles outside the pass, they stopped and refused to move.
Not only did they stop leaving, but they also casually set up a stove and started cooking.
One plume of smoke rose up after another; a rough count would reveal at least thirty or forty plumes.
"Chief, have they spotted us?" a centurion beside him asked in a low voice.
Arujin didn't answer; he stared at the smoke rising from the chimney, his mind racing with calculations.
Three thousand soldiers lay in ambush in the mountains and forests, not daring to move, waiting for the enemy to crawl into their trap.
But the enemy sat outside the enclosure, leisurely cooking over a fire, as if to say, "I know you're there."
I will not leave unless you come out.
If you come out, this opportunity will be wasted.
Having waited and lay there for so long, if this Liaoxi cavalry were to return the way they came, and Lord Huaitou were to blame him, Aru would truly be unable to bear the consequences.
"We can't wait any longer!" Arujin gritted his teeth. "While they're cooking, let's break out!"
The sound of horns tore through the mountains and forests, and three thousand Xianbei cavalrymen poured out from the slopes on both sides of Qingshi Gorge, their hooves crushing the bushes and raising clouds of dust.
Arujin took the lead, brandishing his scimitar and emitting a sharp whistling sound.
In the Liaoxi army formation, Liu Bei put down the dry rations in his hand and stood up.
"They're here!"
He mounted his horse and his voice echoed throughout the army: "Retreat!"
Two thousand Liaoxi cavalrymen mounted their horses in unison, their movements perfectly synchronized and without the slightest sign of panic.
They didn't even forget to kick the uncooked rice pot to the ground.
Arujin was overjoyed when he saw the Liaoxi cavalry fleeing in panic from afar.
The Han people were Han people after all; they were terrified at the sight of the Xianbei warriors' blades.
The overturned cooking pots and the luggage left on the roadside all told him that the enemy was truly panicked.
Chase them! Chase after them!
He spurred his horse's flanks with both legs, raised his scimitar high, and the horns behind him grew increasingly urgent. Three thousand Xianbei cavalry surged out of the pass like a tide, giving chase.
The Liaoxi cavalry rode fine horses from Liaodong, while the Xianbei people also rode excellent steeds from the grasslands. The two sides, one in front and one behind, left a trail of dust that stretched for several miles across the grasslands.
After chasing for five miles, they came to an open area.
There is a low hill on each side of the official road, covered with shrubs.
Aruzhen's horse had caught up with the edge of the Liaoxi rear guard, and he could even see the back of the last cavalryman.
But at that moment, the Liaoxi cavalry suddenly stopped running.
As if something had pressed the pause button, the two thousand riders simultaneously reined in their horses and turned around, transforming from a fleeing charge into a formation in just a few breaths.
Aru's heart skipped a beat, and he was about to rein in his horse when a deafening battle cry suddenly erupted from the low hills on both sides.
On the left flank, Zhao Yun, wielding a silver spear, rode a white horse like a dragon, swooping down from the low hill.
On the right flank, Hou Cheng, spear in hand, led five hundred cavalry to cut off their retreat.
Just as the Xianbei commander Aruzhen turned his horse around to prepare to meet the enemy, he saw the white horse.
It was too fast; his pupils had barely contracted before the silver spear was already in front of him.
The sound of the gun tip slicing through the air was extremely faint, like a venomous snake flicking its tongue.
Aru instinctively raised his sword to parry, and at the instant the curved sword touched the tip of the spear, a force came from the blade.
The spear tip slid along the blade, and with a gentle twist, his scimitar flew out of his hand.
Zhao Yun's spear moved like a dragon, followed by a flash of cold light that gave him no time to react; the spear tip pierced his throat.
He was lifted off his horse, arcing through the air and knocking over two guards behind him.
The Xianbei cavalry erupted in commotion; the visual impact of this scene was simply too stunning!
Zhao Yun's spear blossomed amidst the crowd, its tip swirling like falling pear blossoms. Each thrust precisely pierced the gaps in armor or the weak points of warhorses; not a single move was superfluous.
Wherever he went, Xianbei cavalrymen fell from their horses, as if swept away by an invisible wind.
The Xianbei cavalry's formation completely collapsed.
With their rear cut off and their commander killed, they were surrounded on three sides. Three thousand cavalrymen were crammed onto the narrow official road, their warhorses colliding with each other. Many were pushed off their horses by their comrades and trampled into a bloody pulp by the horses' hooves.
In less than a quarter of an hour, the three thousand ambushers were either dead, surrendered, or fled.
Liu Bei rode his horse to inspect the battlefield. Hou Cheng brought over several surrendered soldiers from the other side, and Liu Bei had them interrogated.
They learned that Huaitou's main force was still outside Changli City.
He gazed towards Qing Shi Gorge, a cold smile playing on his lips. "Strip them of their armor."
An hour later, a group of "defeated Xianbei soldiers" appeared on the grassland outside Changli City.
There were about three hundred men, their armor and weapons discarded, their banners askew, and from a distance they looked like they had suffered a defeat.
They spurred their horses and galloped away, fleeing towards the Xianbei camp outside Changli City.
The Xianbei soldiers guarding the camp saw them, recognized their own men's armor and banners, but did not fire arrows; instead, they shouted questions at them.
The fleeing soldiers shouted in Xianbei, "We've been defeated! The Han reinforcements have arrived!" Their voices were filled with panic.
The camp gates are open!
The moment the defeated soldiers entered the camp, the leader of the "defeated soldiers" suddenly straightened his back, pulled out a Han-made ring-pommel sword from under his tattered Xianbei fur robe, and with one stroke, cleaved the Xianbei centurion who was coming at him to the ground.
"kill!"
Hou Cheng raised his arm and shouted, and the fleeing soldiers behind him tore off their disguises, revealing the true colors of the Han army. Blades rose and fell, and blood splattered.
Chaos erupted at the camp gate.
In the distance, the sound of horses' hooves rolled like muffled thunder. Liu Bei personally led 1,500 cavalry, taking advantage of the moment when the attention of the Huaitou camp was drawn to the 300 elite soldiers, and thrust straight into the camp gate like a sharp knife.
Liu Bei took the lead, his long sword flashing, and wherever the sword passed, none could withstand it.
Zhao Yun followed beside him, his spear flashing, and he knocked several men off their horses.
The camp gate was breached, and 1,500 cavalrymen poured into the Xianbei camp like a flood, their hooves trampling over tents and their blades slicing through felt tents.
The Xianbei soldiers were in a panic. Some were still cooking, some had just picked up their weapons when they were trampled by horses, and some ran out of their tents barefoot.
The siege camp was breached, and Liu Bei did not pursue, but instead headed straight for the gate of Changli.
Gongsha Shao, who was on the city wall, had already seen the changes outside the city. The city gate slowly opened, and Liu Bei took the lead and stepped into the devastated Changli City.
The scene in Changli City was even more tragic than Liu Bei had anticipated.
The city wall was riddled with arrow slits, and several sections of the battlements had been damaged by falling stones.
The garrison soldiers were ragged, emaciated, and some leaned against the battlements, too weak to even stand up.
The people in the city hid among the ruins. When they heard the sound of horses' hooves, they instinctively huddled together. Only when they saw that it was the banner of the Han army did some of them burst into tears.
The ground was covered in blood and filth, and the air was filled with a strong stench of decay—the smell of corpses that hadn't been buried in time.