Early the next morning, not long after the troops who were outflanking and attacking had left, Shui Linglong volunteered to lead Yun Qigong in the first battle.
General Gao was overjoyed and mobilized a team of 500 people to supply water to Linglong.
Many people felt uneasy when they heard that they were taking the lead. There were numerous military orders, but there was nothing they could do.
The army waited for a while, divided into several relatively independent teams, and entered the canyon one after another.
Lu Jin followed the vanguard into the canyon. The road inside was rugged and narrow, and they could only move forward in a long formation.
When they arrived at Wan Yanxi's camp last night, they saw his team rummaging through it, and then a fire lit up the small camp, and the flames shot into the sky.
Shui Linglong led the team through the canyon smoothly. According to the agreement last night, she ordered: "While Zhennanguan is unaware, we will catch them off guard."
Shui Linglong was familiar with the road to Zhennanguan. She deliberately took the wrong route and didn't stop until the sun turned to the west.
"Oops, did we go the wrong way?" Shui Linglong pretended to be panicked.
"Elder Shui, please be patient. I'll go investigate later." Several disciples from Yunqi Palace rode forward to investigate.
Shui Linglong led the team away from the canyon without incident, while the army remaining inside was suffering.
——————
After Lu Jin left last night, Wan Yanxi asked Fang Ju to return to Zhennan Pass immediately, and asked the King of Zhennan to select a group of elite soldiers to enter the canyon overnight and guard one side of the exit.
So Shui Linglong and the others left the canyon under the eyes of Zhennan Wang's soldiers.
Wan Yanxi and Ma Guanshan led their team and lurked quietly near the imperial army, watching helplessly as they all entered the pocket.
Later, Ma Guanshan acted as Wanyan Xi's eyes, telling her every move of the imperial army's rear ranks.
Wanyanxi's perception is astonishing. As her internal strength improves, she can already detect clues within a radius of a hundred feet. No matter how far away she is, she still has to rely on the help of others.
The imperial army was so numerous that they could only march slowly in the canyon, unable to follow each other from head to tail.
Finding the right moment, Wan Yanxi ordered his men to fire a volley of bows and crossbows. The soldiers who were slowly following behind suddenly fell to the ground.
The valley is narrow and unlike the flat wilderness where it can be surrounded from both sides, it can only move within a limited range.
Although the imperial army has an absolute advantage in numbers, those in front are powerless and cannot help at all.
When the army behind them gathered to prepare for a counterattack, Wan Yanxi and the others immediately ran away without a trace. They wanted to pursue them, but no one dared to attack rashly for fear of an ambush.
After a long stalemate, the imperial army was on its way again. The long snake formation could not take care of both the beginning and the end. Those who were left behind were slow and shot to death by random arrows. The formation was in chaos.
The last team did not dare to move anymore and quickly sent someone to report to General Gao.
General Gao received news from the scouts that the Shui Linglong vanguard team had successfully left the valley. He was afraid of another incident, so he ordered the entire army to move forward faster.
As a result, the distance between each team and between teams gradually widened, and no one could help anyone.
When General Gao learned that there was a sneak attack behind him, he was afraid that there was an ambush in the front, so he quickly ordered the entire army to defend on the spot, causing panic among the entire team.
The scouts who had just shuttled in front began to rush behind the army, passing information back and forth.
The last team of the imperial army was waiting anxiously. A scout rushed over on horseback and said, "The general has given the order. The army is moving forward at full speed. Those in front have already left the canyon. If we delay any longer, we may really be trapped here." .”
After everyone heard this, they all rushed forward in a hurry, and the formation was in chaos and had no order.
But the scout galloped back on his horse.
Little did they know that Ma Guanshan had intercepted and killed a scout on the way, under Wan Yanxi's instruction, and put on his clothes to convey false information.
There is no suspense that this team was shot dead by random arrows before they could go very far.
Ma Guanshan continued to rush ahead and captured several scouts who came to spy on intelligence, allowing the imperial army to launch an attack on the rear.
Don't know anything about it.
Wan Yanxi ordered all his men to put on the armor of the imperial army. When scouts arrived, Ma Guanshan told them: "The ones behind the sneak attack were the small force of King Zhennan. They have all been killed by us. There is no hidden danger."
General Gao ordered to continue moving forward. Not long after, another scout reported: "The troops behind are in chaos. No one can figure out how many people have come. Our soldiers have been injured and killed one after another."
It's no wonder that Wan Yanxi and the others put on identical armor, making it difficult for the army behind them to defend themselves.
Finally, someone slipped through the net and conveyed the information to the Chinese army's headquarters. General Gao was shocked: "It's impossible. It's impossible for our own people to kill our own people. They must have put on our armor and pretended to be following my orders. When the last team saw soldiers wearing the same clothes, they were killed without mercy."
The idea was good, but no one knew whether the troops following were friendly or enemy troops. If nothing else, something unexpected happened.
Under tremendous pressure and suspicion, the two isolated teams began to fight each other.
Effortlessly, the effective strength of the imperial army was eliminated.
The army in front, which was about to exit the canyon, encountered a fierce ambush by the Zhennan King's army and fell not far from the exit.
There was an ambush in front of them and pursuers behind them. Seeing the mountains and jungles in the canyon blocking the westward sun, trying to get out before dark was like reaching the sky.
In desperation, General Gao ordered the entire army to quickly move closer to the center and set up camp on the gentle hillside, waiting to break out at dawn tomorrow.
After making a pot of rice and having enough to eat and drink, General Gao passed on the instructions for that night to prevent outsiders from sneaking in.
In fact, Wan Yanxi and the others had already mingled with the team and had a good meal. They took advantage of the patrol opportunity to tell the password to their own people who were waiting for the charge outside.
At the end of the ugly period, when people were sleeping most soundly, the King of Zhennan's army first sent a small team to use the password of the night to trick the camp gate into opening, and easily eliminated the soldiers patrolling the perimeter.
Suddenly, the shouts of killing were loud, and the army killed the imperial army by surprise.
Wan Yanxi and the others who had sneaked in earlier put on the armor of the imperial army. In order to avoid accidental injuries, they all tied red strips of cloth on their left arms to distinguish them.
In the melee, many people were killed before they could react, and many more died from trampling on each other while their own people were fleeing.
Wan Yanxi and the others acted as internal agents in the army, setting fires everywhere to create chaos. The flames soared into the sky, making it even more unclear how many people were coming, and fear enveloped everyone's heart.
The army was defeated like a mountain. Even if General Gao killed several fleeing soldiers with his sword, it could not change the situation of defeat.
Seeing that he could not control the situation, he raised his horse and was about to break out, when a flying arrow hit his throat and fell from his horse.
In the chaos, everyone was in danger, and no one cared about anyone else. The general who led tens of thousands of troops died quietly like this.
After daybreak, the imperial camp was full of unburned tents, still emitting black smoke.
The soldiers died and escaped, and there were groans and wails of the wounded everywhere in the canyon.
The army of the King of Zhennan cleared the battlefield and escorted all the injured and surrendered people back to Zhennan Pass.
After careful screening, it was discovered that Shentu Prince Shentu Hong had survived the melee and was unscathed, so he was naturally treated as a prisoner and held in a separate room for good entertainment.
The Tianrong Kingdom's Shentu Department relied on the feared 10,000 cavalry. Among them, the complete equipment of 3,000 cavalry fell into the hands of the King of Zhennan, which was a huge bargaining chip.
Guan Yi, the head of the Shuangdao Sect who was responsible for protecting Shen Tuhong, and several of his disciples were missing, and they probably took advantage of the chaos to escape.
This battle was originally intended to sneak attack and delay the imperial army, but in the end, they used the trick to achieve a complete victory. It was an accident within an accident.
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