flstandardbreds Chapter 153 Night Battle
Chapter 153 Night Battle
In the dark night, a dazzling light broke the silence of the night sky like an alien. It was the commander's chariot. Under the moonlight, the silver armor shone, and it rushed out like a ghost, fleeing out of the camp. The soldiers' minds seemed to be hit by a heavy hammer at that moment. They knew that it was their commander, Zhou Kai, who was fleeing from the battlefield.
The air in the camp was filled with despair, and the soldiers' eyes were full of confusion and panic. The weapons in their hands seemed to become extremely heavy and could no longer be wielded. The meager military pay, which was originally their only motivation, now vanished with the escape of the commander.
"General Zhou has already escaped!" A voice exploded in the night, like a bolt from the blue, and it moved everyone. The soldiers showed an expression of disbelief on their faces. They never thought that their commander would choose to escape at this time.
"General Zhou has fled, why should we fight?" This question spread like a plague, and the morale of the soldiers collapsed instantly. They threw down their weapons and turned to flee outside the camp. The originally complete formation collapsed at this moment, and the soldiers fled in all directions like headless flies.
Veterans such as Yuan Quan looked at the chaos in front of them. Although they were angry, they knew that they could not push too hard at this moment. They knew that these soldiers had lost their fighting spirit and pushing them further would only backfire. So they led their men to follow the fleeing soldiers slowly, not giving them a chance to regroup, nor rushing to defeat them in one fell swoop.
Du Chong was left with only a dozen loyal soldiers. They looked at the chariot going farther and farther away, with a determined light in their eyes. Without any hesitation, they followed closely behind the chariot and chased it all the way. The chariot, which looked particularly gorgeous in the night, became their only target at this moment.
The night was getting darker and the wind was getting stronger. The wheels of the chariot rolled on the dirt road, making a dull sound. Du Chong and his men were chasing after them, and their footsteps echoed in the night sky, like a drum of war, urging them to move forward. They knew that as long as they caught up with the chariot, they would be able to find their commander; as long as they caught the commander, the battle would be over.
However, the chariot was pulled by four horses at a very fast speed. Although Du Chong and others chased after it, they could not close the distance between them. Zhou Kai did not realize the seriousness of the situation at this moment. He thought that the soldiers rushed out of the camp to gather with him. So he rushed to a flat place about one kilometer outside the camp, stopped, and hung up his general flag.
Some soldiers also began to gather towards him, but Zhou Kai soon found that something was wrong. Those soldiers had nothing in their hands, and they had thrown away their weapons. Zhou Kai was shocked, he knew that if the enemy attacked, these unarmed soldiers would be powerless to fight back.
"General Zhou! Beat the drums and gather the troops! Gather everyone together quickly, otherwise if everyone scatters, we will lose this battle!" At this time, a deputy general finally came over and reminded him. Zhou Kai woke up as if from a dream, and immediately ordered someone to beat the drum on the chariot. As the drums sounded, the soldiers who had escaped from the camp began to gather here.
Seeing more and more government troops gathering outside the camp, Yuan Quan and his men knew that it was not appropriate to attack at this time. They gave up the purpose of continuing the attack and turned to look for the location of the military rations. They took away what they could take away, and burned what they couldn't take away. They also confiscated a lot of weapons as trophies.
"Young Marshal! We should not attack in the current situation! The enemy has already reacted and assembled! If we attack head-on, we, the soldiers who have not been trained much, will suffer heavy losses!" A general reported to Yuan Quan. Yuan Quan nodded, knowing that he would not gain any advantage if he continued to fight.
"It seems that the enemy's commander is not completely useless! He was able to find a way to escape from the battlefield and gather soldiers so quickly!" Yuan Quan sighed. Although he felt a little regretful, he also knew that this was the best result. Although they missed a great opportunity, they also successfully destroyed the enemy's siege equipment and seized a large amount of food and weapons. The enemy probably lost thousands of people in the process of escaping and being killed. Now there are probably only about half of them on the other side.
Yuan Quan did not want to fight and quickly retreated back to the city with his men.
"It's a pity that today's battle opportunity was wasted! I didn't expect the commander of the government army to react so quickly and gather soldiers directly outside the camp!" At this time, someone next to Yuan Quan sighed. I thought we could deal with this government army in one fell swoop tonight!
"It's already pretty good! We burned all their food and siege equipment! And at least 30% of their soldiers were killed or fled by us today! If they want to continue attacking, I'm afraid they won't be able to hold on!" Tang Hai was standing at the city gate at this time, greeting them with a smile!
"Young Marshal! We just robbed a lot of food in! I think we should give some food to each person who participates in the battle tonight! This way, these people will be determined to follow us!" Tang Hai proposed while looking at the food that was transported in!
"Your suggestion is very good! We must reward those who have made contributions! How about this, everyone who participated in today's battle will be given half a pound of loose grain! Those who have made contributions in the war will be rewarded extra!" Yuan Quan listened to Tang Hai's suggestion and thought it made a lot of sense, so he nodded and agreed.
"Thank you, young commander! Young commander is wise!" Tang Hai was overjoyed when he heard this and bowed to express his gratitude. Yuan Quan nodded slightly, signaling Tang Hai to leave. Tang Hai turned around and was about to leave, but suddenly he turned back as if he had thought of something.
"Is there anything else?" Yuan Quan asked.
"I still want to say that you are really wise!" Tang Hai said seriously.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Yuan Quan asked with a frown.
Tang Hai chuckled and said, "I want to tell you that the army outside is no longer a concern! Why don't we make good use of them!"
"Oh?" Yuan Quan was stunned. He couldn't believe what Tang Hai said: "How to use it? What's your idea?"
"This batch of prefectural troops have no food and even the logistics personnel have fled!" Tang Hai laughed, "They will definitely ask for support from the prefectural city. At least we must ensure that they have food supply. In this way, we can send people to observe the road they must pass through and find a way to rob the food as long as there is food transported here! In this way, these thousands of troops will collapse without a fight! We can also get more food!" Tang Hai pointed to the simple map he drew and said. From Songshan County to the location of the prefectural city in the northwest, we have to pass through several mountains. They are all places where they can be ambushed.