Chapter 592: Ambush from Ten Sides
"General, the troops from Southern Xinjiang have left the camp and are heading south!" To the west of Baima Town, on a high slope of Qingshen Mountain, Jia Cong stood on horseback, looking at Baima Town below in the distance, with Meng Hua and several other generals following behind him.
"Next, the Marshal's ambush from all sides is enough to give the enemy a hard time!" Meng Hua laughed.
"Alright, we don't need to stay here any longer. Leave the traces intact and order all units to follow my orders! A hundred miles ahead is where tens of thousands of Southern Border soldiers will be buried."
Shentu Mou naturally didn't know that everything he saw was fake.
The so-called reinforcements were actually fake. The troops were indeed from southern Xinjiang, but they were captured before and were just put on a show.
Meng Hua's defeat was faked, and the news was also false. Moreover, the captured soldiers were also kept in the dark and had no idea that the news was fabricated by their side.
Including the remnants of the soldiers that Shen Tumou encountered, they were also fake...
Therefore, what Shentu Mou saw and knew was that Jia Cong had staged a big show. The purpose was naturally to make Shentu Mou's tens of thousands of soldiers and horses come out of their tortoise shells.
Although the troops in southern Xinjiang were blocked, Shen Tumou still had over 40,000 soldiers. Furthermore, the main camp was well-protected, so no matter how they attacked, their own side would suffer heavy losses. Furthermore, the current situation did not allow Jia Cong to delay any longer. Therefore, letting the enemy leave the main camp and head south would be a good opportunity to intercept and kill them.
Sure enough, Shentu Mou's troops had been blocked for many days and were exhausted. Now that they had the opportunity, they could not wait to verify the authenticity and immediately chose to go south to Jiading Prefecture to join forces.
Jia Cong's troops did have a detachment that forged traces in the direction of Qingshen to dispel Shentu Mou's last suspicion, but the rest of the troops had already set up layers of obstacles along the more than 100-mile journey south to Jiading, waiting for the arrival of Shentu Mou's army.
When the scouts sent by Shentu Mou discovered traces of the Daqian troops' retreat and even discovered part of the enemy's troops, they naturally felt relieved and immediately urged their troops to advance as quickly as possible.
After marching for half a day and just passing the Baima Town area, Shen Tumou received a report that the front line had been attacked by the enemy, resulting in the loss of hundreds of soldiers and horses . The enemy had fled at the first sign of trouble, not giving Shentumou any chance to engage in battle.
"How many soldiers does the other side have?"
"Elder, the enemy has about two to three thousand soldiers, all cavalry! They charged for a while, then retreated directly into the barren mountains ahead. The commander in front feared an ambush, so troops in pursuit."
"Ignore them! These are just the remnants of their army. Keep marching!" Shen Tumou said calmly. "They're naturally unwilling to leave like this, so it's normal for them to leave a few troops behind to harass us. However, I don't think the troops they left behind will be many, and at most only two or three small divisions! Have the front troops strengthen their defenses and send out more scouts!"
In this way, the army continued to move forward. After walking for another ten miles, the rear army suddenly fell into chaos.
Shentu Mou received a report from the rear army that a large group of soldiers suddenly attacked the rear army. The two sides fought a battle and more than a thousand soldiers on his side were killed or wounded. When the enemy saw that they could not achieve any success, they all retreated.
“Bang!”
Shen Tumou clapped his hands fiercely. "These treacherous Central Plains people, do they think such an attack can disrupt the entire army? Keep advancing, and tell all the troops to gather their spirits and set up camp twenty miles ahead!"
This time, the army had just started moving and had not traveled more than ten miles when another group of cavalry rushed towards the side of the army.
These cavalrymen cruised outside the main army, barely charging twice, and didn't even kill many soldiers before retreating.
Seeing this situation, Shentu Mou sneered immediately. As long as he took more precautions, could the Daqian army do anything to him?
Next, the army marched another ten miles. Seeing that it was getting dark, Shen Tumou did not dare to advance at night, so he ordered the army to set up camp for a temporary rest!
"Instruct all troops: Reduce the number of troops patrolling in the dark by 60%. The troops at the main gate are to feign fatigue and exhaustion! As for the rest of the troops, brace yourselves and prepare for battle! We will set up camp today. They will surely attack in the dark of night. No matter how many troops arrive, bring them all into the main camp and then unite to surround and kill them!"
"Their main force has already headed for the Qingshen area. There are only a few thousand soldiers here. As long as we completely destroy this force, there will be no more obstacles ahead!"
The generals responded and began to prepare.
Thus, in the dark night, the camp was brightly lit, but patrols were evidently few. Even at the gates and arrow towers, many soldiers had found a corner and were fast asleep. Elsewhere, however, almost all the soldiers were armed and armored. If the enemy entered the camp, they would encircle and crush them from all sides.
The night is long, especially the night of waiting. In this quiet waiting, time passes slowly. Unknowingly, the sky has turned white. They suddenly realized that they seemed to have waited in vain this night?
Shen Tumou, who had also waited all night, also had a rather grim expression on his face. He had spoken so confidently yesterday, but the Daqian soldiers hadn't given him the slightest bit of respect...
Feeling the generals' gazes all turned towards , Shen Tumou coughed lightly and then spoke calmly, "It seems that the enemy launched several surprise attacks during yesterday's march. However, our army was heavily guarded and had no chance. So, they naturally wouldn't stay and must have retreated. They're lucky, otherwise, this elder would have wiped them out here."
"Order all troops to rest for two hours before advancing again."
By noon, the Southern Border troops had finally broken camp! However, despite having rested for two hours, the soldiers, having not slept all night, were still listless. Besides, the elders and generals had already said that the enemy troops had retreated, so how could there be any troops left to intercept them?
As expected, the army advanced for more than ten miles in peace and did not encounter any surprise attacks at all.
Under such circumstances, the spirits of the generals and the troops under their command all relaxed. Even Shen Tumou was convinced that the enemy had obviously withdrawn. Otherwise, how could they allow him to march so easily?
However, after their army's morale and defenses relaxed, they had just advanced three or five miles when a cavalry group emerged from the dense forest ahead and headed straight for their front line!
