Chapter 1993: Chapter 1788: Intimidation
At the end of the two-hour period, the Southern Hun Chanyu and the Left and Right Virtuous Kings of the Southern Huns were dressed in battle attire, drinking in the tent.
The three of them had already arranged for their subordinates, so when the Han Army arrived, they would lead their remaining soldiers to disrupt the situation in the Southern Hun’s camp.
Even though their original forces had been significantly weakened, they had to admit that Sima Yi was right; those who left were the fickle ones, and those who remained were loyal subjects.
If such a major betrayal was to be carried out by those fickle ones, it would be a miracle not to be discovered, and now, after being filtered once, the confidentiality alone far exceeded the level before.
Therefore, after Huchuquan entrusted instructions to their confidants that night, the other Southern Hun leaders, who had been silently watching the three of them, received no news at all.
"The time should be about right," Huchuquan drank a cup of wine and looked at Liu Bao, asking.
"Almost, in two quarters of an hour, we should awaken the trusted aides under our command," Liu Bao was very nervous at this point.
Since Sima Yi’s arrival that day, the Southern Huns had internally divided into two factions, and unfortunately, they, who were the strong side before, were now completely at a disadvantage.
There was nothing they could do about it; compared to the plundering, they did not have much to reward their soldiers. The soldiers who were still following them were basically their tribesmen, but it was just as well.
"Should we strike at the Nu Rong?" Liu Qubi was silent for a while, and then brought up the issue once again. They had not reached a consensus on this several times before, but now time was running out, and they needed to come up with a plan.
Upon hearing this, Liu Bao and Huchuquan looked at each other, and finally, Liu Bao spoke, "Strike; at least if we strike, we might still save him, but if the Han Army strikes, our already weakened strength will be weakened again."
Huchuquan and Liu Qubi nodded in agreement. With a unified opinion, they could execute their plan accordingly without being flustered when the time came.
"It’s about time. Wake our trusted aides and have them awaken the others. We are in the center, and the patrols outside will not discover us for some time," Liu Bao said to the others after checking the remaining incense stick.
Liu Qubi and Huchuquan nodded and immediately went out of the tent to awaken their trusted aides, and subsequently, Liu Bao also went to his camp to awaken his trusted aides. Tonight, they would be ruthless to their former compatriots, but such matters did not pressure them much.
Five miles north of the Southern Hun camp, the White Horse Soldiers spontaneously formed an attack formation. Although the current distance was still quite far, they had already prepared for the first charge of the Light Cavalry White Horses.
Similarly, the elite led by Cao Zhen had tiptoed to within less than fifty paces from the Southern Hun camp. At this distance, under the moonlight of this day, going further in, as long as the other side was awake, they could see the shadows with a glance, which is why Cao Zhen stared intently at the Southern Huns at the camp gate, who seemed to be asleep.
Originally, at this distance, Cao Zhen should have launched the attack. However, upon seeing the Southern Hun soldiers dozing off at the camp gate, Cao Zhen hesitated and moved forward another thirty steps, finding no response from the other side.
A delighted Cao Zhen made a gesture to continue leading the warriors selected by Cao Ang to silently advance into the camp. However, at this moment, possibly stirred by the cool night breeze, a soldier suddenly awoke, inadvertently scanning the direction of Cao Zhen and the soldiers’ crawling position as he shook his head.
The guard soldier was stunned momentarily, then opened his mouth to shout, but saw a flash of silver light. A hand halberd was thrown over, though failing to decapitate him as Dian Mann intended. The powerful blow successfully broke the opponent’s neck.
Then Dian Mann pushed with one hand, sprang forward over ten steps, pounced on the group of soldiers, and swung the wooden club in his hand, with a cracking sound through the air, at the soldiers who had not yet grasped the situation. In the next moment, red and white splattered everywhere.
"Enemy attack!" Such a commotion woke the Southern Huns’ sentries from their stupor, and a fierce sound was immediately emitted. Early on, when the first Southern Hun soldier awoke, Cao Zhen was ready. At the same time as the Southern Hun sentry roared, Cao Zhen led all the warriors charging forward.
"Quickly move the deer antlers, those with mallets, hurry and destroy the fence." Cao Zhen said in a slightly panicked tone, and as he spoke, they could hear the sound of hooves behind them, which was the Personal Army trained by Fuu Wan with Xuzhou veterans!
A group of carefully selected warriors quickly moved the deer antlers aside, while others swung large mallets frantically to dismantle the Southern Hun camp’s fences. Soon, several zhangs of fences were torn down by the warriors, and at this time, Feng Kai led three thousand Northern Army roaring through this path, after which, Cao Zhen also mounted his horse and rushed into the Southern Hun camp.
With a shout of "enemy attack" from the entrance of the Southern Hun camp, some soldiers nearby awoke directly from their dreams. But now, what they could hear was only the fierce sound of hooves tramping the ground!
Cao Zhen blended into the frenzy of the Youzhou cavalry, fearlessly launching an attack on the Southern Hun camp. All the freshly awoken Southern Huns were in a fluster under the sound of hooves, and many soldiers who charged out only wore lower garments, without any weapon.
Under such circumstances, how could they possibly counter this elite force honed over years? Feng Kai roared, treading over the tents, overturning countless fire basins, leaving a visible path of fire in his wake.
"Intercept the Han Army!" The Hun leader near the outskirts rushed out, wearing only an outer garment, shouting angrily to direct his soldiers, hoping to withstand the Han Army’s charge.
However, the cavalry led by Cao Zhen was a true elite, requiring several times more Southern Hun soldiers to stop them. How could the Southern Huns quickly organize a large elite force to resist Cao Zhen’s elite cavalry under such circumstances?
Yet this intensity was still a far cry from causing the Southern Hun camp to explode. Although Cao Zhen’s army stormed into the vanguard, it was, after all, just a three-thousand-strong elite cavalry; their destructive power was strong, but it was far from enough to obliterate the front camp.
Naturally, when the Southern Hun leader discovered the Han Army’s extreme elite strength but few numbers, he stopped giving random orders and began to gather his personal soldiers.
However, before he could assemble enough personal soldiers to confront the Han Elite Cavalry, Dian Mann, leading five hundred warriors, charged towards them.
The iron birchwood baton, as thick as a bowl, with one swing from Dian Mann, was enough to blow away any obstruction directly in its path. That sheer brute force had no match, and the soldiers following him were all warriors. The freshly gathered Southern Hun group virtually disintegrated on contact!
"Retreat, others go gather the soldiers!" Upon realizing the situation, the Southern Hun leader immediately made a decision, shouting angrily as he led his personal soldiers away, cherishing his life. But even so, he still remembered to gather his soldiers, indicating some intelligence.
In fact, in a normal army, those placed close to the camp gate were vigilant and good at commanding troops, and the Nu Rong placed this Southern Hun leader here because they trusted his command ability.
However, as this Southern Hun leader retreated, he suddenly heard a dull thumping sound, followed by another dull thumping sound.
This sound was like a giant stepping out from the darkness; the dull footsteps even drowned out the killing sounds within the Southern Hun’s front camp.
Subsequently, in the instant as he looked back, he witnessed a chilling scene, countless Han soldiers stepping from the darkness into the moonlit area.
That stepping sound, like that of giants, was actually the collective marching footsteps of those soldiers. The standard displayed by the approaching legion from the darkness completely devastated the hope of this commander-in-chief who understood military strategy.
Knowing how to command troops and understanding the difficulty of such a command style made him realize the terrifying nature of this magnitude. For a legion, what was truly fearsome was never the individual skill but the common soldiers who moved as one man.
