Accidentally dressed as an empress

Chapter 164 Combat

Night fell once again, but this time the military camp was no longer peaceful. Soldiers patrolled nervously, arrows on bowstrings, swords unsheathed. Yunxiu and Lin Zichen stood atop the city wall, their gazes piercing the unknown in the darkness.

Lin Zichen made a bold decision. The situation was complicated, and the enemy was eyeing them covetously. A head-on confrontation would likely result in heavy losses. He had to come up with a clever way to make the enemy relax their vigilance.

Therefore, she planned to let some soldiers lie down in the military medical tent. These soldiers needed to pretend to be extremely weak, as if they had really been poisoned by mushrooms.

Lin Zichen knew very well that the success of this strategy depended on these soldiers, and the soldiers she selected were all people she trusted.

When Lin Zichen informed the selected soldiers of this plan, they were stunned at first, and then a hint of excitement flashed in their eyes.

A young soldier scratched his head and grinned, "General, this is a brilliant move! We promise to perform it convincingly so the enemy won't be able to detect any flaws."

The other soldiers also responded and said they would do it.

Another young soldier scratched his head and asked curiously, "General, how do we pretend to be sick and weak?"

An old soldier beside him nodded slightly and said with a firm look, "General, feigning illness requires some skill. We must know the symptoms of this mushroom poisoning."

Lin Zichen smiled slightly and explained patiently, "You should look pale and have a weak breath, just like you are extremely unwell after being poisoned. Try not to move as much as possible and occasionally let out a few painful moans."

Lin Zichen looked at the veteran with admiration and said, "You've thought it through. This mushroom poison will manifest as excruciating abdominal pain, weakness in the limbs, and dizziness. You must act out these symptoms."

The young soldier grinned and said, "General, this is a great trick. We promise to perform it convincingly so that the enemy won't be able to see any flaws."

The soldiers shouted in unison: "Yes, General, we will fulfill our mission!"

At the same time, Lin Zichen issued an order. Standing in front of the tent, she surveyed every corner of the camp. "Night patrols are a crucial part of our defense. While reducing our numbers is risky, it's necessary to ensure the enemy perceives us as lax."

She ordered a reduction in the number of night patrols, and the patrol shifts, which were once tightly organized, now became sparse.

Although the soldiers whose patrol duties were reduced were a little confused, they all obeyed the orders and did not ask any more questions.

Moreover, she also made special arrangements for the layout of the tent.

The tents were no longer as neatly arranged as they once were, but rather appeared somewhat disorganized. Items were placed in a chaotic manner, and the spacing between the tents seemed to have lost its former regularity, creating a feeling that the entire camp was in a state of neglect.

The enemy's spies soon discovered these anomalies. They saw the "weak" soldiers in Lin Zichen's camp, the disorganized tents, and the lax patrols, and immediately reported to the enemy leader.

The enemy leader was overjoyed, thinking that Lin Zichen's army must have encountered an accident and been poisoned by their mushrooms. Most of the soldiers had fallen, and the huge military camp had lost its proper defenses.

When the enemy thought they were unaware and sneaked into the camp under the cover of night, Lin Zichen gave an order and the soldiers who had been pretending to be sick quickly picked up their weapons and rushed out of the military doctor's tent.

Although they pretended to be weak before, they had actually been maintaining a high level of vigilance. At this moment, they were all in high spirits and pounced on the enemy like tigers descending from the mountains.

The main force hidden in the dark also appeared one after another. They took advantage of their rest and launched a fierce attack on the enemy.

Although the enemy fell into brief chaos after being ambushed by Yunxiu and Lin Zichen, they were not unprepared.

In the chaos, the enemy leader immediately realized that this was a trap and quickly adjusted his tactics. He secretly sent an elite force with a special smoke bomb that could instantly obscure vision and cause great chaos.

Just when Yunxiu and Lin Zichen thought victory was in sight, the enemy's elite troops suddenly threw smoke at several key locations in the military camp.

In an instant, the camp was filled with smoke, visibility was almost zero, the soldiers lost their direction, and the battle line began to become chaotic.

The enemy took the opportunity to launch a fierce attack. Under the cover of smoke, their soldiers appeared like ghosts in every corner of the military camp, causing great damage.

Yunxiu and Lin Zichen reacted quickly. They ordered the soldiers to remain calm and fight based on their hearing and intuition.

Lin Zichen remained calm and directed the overall situation: "Infantrymen on the left wing, hold your formation steady and don't let the enemy break through!"

After hearing the order, the soldiers on the left wing quickly adjusted their positions, with their shields tightly connected and their spears extending from the gaps between the shields, forming a solid line of defense that effectively blocked the enemy's encirclement from the left wing.

"Archers on the right wing, listen to my command and prepare to shoot!"

Lin Zichen keenly observed a dense formation on the enemy's right flank, a perfect target. At her command, the archers on the right flank, hidden behind the tents, quickly rose and drew their bows. "Shoot!"

Arrows flew towards the enemy's right wing like raindrops, instantly disrupting the enemy's right wing formation. The enemy soldiers fell down one after another, screaming in pain.

She also saw a group of cavalrymen in the rear of the enemy army, ready to move, as if they were planning to bypass the rear and launch a surprise attack. Lin Zichen immediately shouted, "Central Cavalry, engage the enemy cavalry in the rear, don't let them charge!"

Upon hearing the order, the soldiers of the central cavalry immediately mounted their horses, their horses' hooves raising clouds of dust as they galloped towards the enemy's rear cavalry.

The two teams of cavalry met together, the shouts and neighs of horses intertwined into one, and the flashes of swords and knives flashed on the horses' backs.

Su Qing used his familiarity with the terrain of the military camp to lead a small team around the enemy's rear, trying to cut off their retreat.

In the smoke, the battle became extremely brutal.

The soldiers could only rely on each other's voices and occasional flashes of figures to distinguish between friend and foe.

At this moment, Su Qing discovered the trace of the enemy leader.

As long as the leader can be captured or defeated, the enemy's morale can be completely destroyed.

Su Qing and her team quietly approached the enemy leader.

Su Qing held a spear in his hand, the tip of the spear flashing a cold light in the moonlight.

She was the first to rush into the enemy camp, and she immediately swung her spear so tightly that the tip of the spear cut through the air, making a humming sound.

Su Qing would sometimes lift the approaching enemies into the air, and those enemies would struggle helplessly in the air like fallen leaves blown up by the wind; sometimes he would stab, and the tip of the gun would accurately penetrate the enemy's armor and hit the vital points.

Several enemy troops attempted to join forces to besiege Su Qing, hoping to subdue her by relying on their superior numbers.

Su Qing showed no fear. She turned around and skillfully moved through the enemy's encirclement. Her gun swept past like a roaring dragon, sweeping down the enemy and causing them to scream in pain.

Su Qing fought his way in and out of the enemy's camp, his battle robe stained red with blood.

While she fought bravely, she shouted loudly to boost morale: "Soldiers, follow me! Today, we will make sure the enemy has no chance of returning!"

Inspired by her, the morale of the surrounding soldiers was greatly boosted. They followed her steps closely and launched a more fierce attack on the enemy.

The enemy's main force consisted of heavily armored warriors, their faces obscured by the dust and smoke of the battlefield. Most of them were short and stocky, and clearly men. Su Qing felt deeply ashamed that a foreign tribe would even push men onto the battlefield.

The skin of these warriors looked rough due to long-term exposure to wind and sun, and their faces were engraved with traces of time and battles. Some of them had thick beards, while others had cloth strips tied on their foreheads, and their armor was dark black.

There were also some light infantrymen in the enemy army. They wore leather armor, carried short swords and round shields, moved more agilely, and had red battle patterns painted on their faces.

The enemy general was wearing a suit of fine chain mail, with two thick leather belts crossed across his chest, on which hung metal plates symbolizing his status. His helmet was decorated with feathers, making it particularly conspicuous.

There was a deep scar on the enemy general's chin. He held a huge battle axe in his hand. The axe blade was covered in blood and gleamed with cold light.