Chapter 1: The Sun Rises for the First Time Section 9

  Ke Zhong's troops rushed for a day, and the soldiers were all very tired. After dinner, except for the soldiers on guard duty, everyone else fell asleep.

  The night was extremely quiet in the village of Chenzi. The cool night breeze occasionally blew the snorting sound of war horses into the air, drifting with the wind. In the grass, unknown insects were calling out loudly without restraint.

  There was no moon in the sky, and it was so dark that one couldn't see his own fingers when stretching out his hand. The patrolling soldiers lit up over a dozen bonfires around the military camp to be able to see further away, and the burning flames emitted scorching light, illuminating the surrounding area of hundreds of steps.

  Suddenly, the sound of horseshoes like thunder came from afar. The soldiers who were patrolling around were startled and quickly gathered in groups of three to five outside the camp. The mournful alarm horn sounded through the dark night.

  The whole camp was suddenly in an uproar, with people shouting and horses neighing, all mixed up together. The soldiers who had just fallen asleep were called out of their tents by officers at all levels, rubbing their eyes sleepily, grumbling and rushing out of the tents, quickly gathering together to make various preparations for the enemy's surprise attack on the camp.

  Ke burst out of the camp, mounted his horse in a flash, without even finishing dressing, followed by a large group of disheveled generals, attendants and messengers, everyone rushed out of the camp in a chaotic manner.

  The first thing that caught my eye was a patch of red dots, which stood out particularly brightly in the dark night. This patch of red dots moved extremely quickly. Before long, it had transformed into a large, scattered cluster of leaping flames. Judging from the distribution of torches, there were at least several thousand enemy cavalrymen attacking the camp. The sound of horse hooves grew louder and closer, pounding against each soldier's heart like drumbeats, and an atmosphere of tension instantly enveloped the entire military camp.

  "All units in position, prepare for battle." Ke said calmly to the generals behind him. Everyone responded loudly and dispersed.

  At a distance of about one mile, the other side's dozen or so buglers simultaneously sounded the charge. The low, mournful sound surged through the dark night sky, making it seem even more solemn and terrifying.

  Just then something strange happened.

  The enemy's torches suddenly went out, and the earth was plunged back into blackness. Immediately afterwards, a chaotic sound of horse hooves trampling could be heard, followed by the sound of organized horse hooves turning around to run deep into the darkness until it became inaudible.

  Ke Zui did not know what kind of trick Murong Feng was playing, with a loud and vigorous preparation to raid the camp, but then mysteriously withdrew. A false alarm.

  Several scouts flew out of the camp and quickly merged into the darkness. Soon they ran back from all directions to report to Ke: Within five miles, no enemy tracks were found.

  Ke let out a long sigh and turned his horse back to the camp. The various department heads ordered their soldiers to disperse and rest. The soldiers of the Tiger Department cursed loudly as they listlessly returned to their tents to continue sleeping.

  Before long, the camp gradually quieted down. The soldiers fell asleep with their heads down, and snoring sounds filled the air.

  Suddenly, a dozen or so bugles sounded simultaneously in the big camp, and the loud, mournful, short calls once again awakened the sleeping soldiers.

  Ke Zhui and all the other soldiers rushed out of their tents. They saw an incredible scene. Three hundred paces east of the main camp, densely packed enemy cavalrymen were everywhere. Each cavalryman held a torch high, with swords drawn, bows strung, ready to charge.

  Ko's camp was thrown into a state of utmost confusion, the soldiers rushing about wildly like headless chickens, while their commanders were at their wit's end, shouting and gesticulating frantically.

  Ker's main force was indeed well-trained, although the camp looked chaotic, the soldiers all knew where to run and what to do, and the department heads were able to accurately lead their subordinates to the position of battle. It was a bit chaotic, but everything was still under control. Ker rode his horse at the front of the troops, from time to time issuing orders to the messengers behind him.

  The leader of the thousand-strong patrol knelt before Ke Zui's horse, his face filled with fear.

  "Why wasn't it discovered earlier?" Ke asked coldly.

  "Reporting to the lord, the enemy sneaked in quietly and lay in ambush here. We didn't discover them until they suddenly lit up their torches together, that's when we knew we were invaded. Your humble servant was remiss in his duties, please punish me, my lord."

  Ke looked at the enemy's iron cavalry in the distance and found it strange that they were still stopped there, neither blowing the charge horn nor showing any signs of attacking. Logically, when their own camp was in chaos, it was the best opportunity for them to attack, so why didn't they? What did Murong Feng want to do?

  "It's none of your business, go back." Ke Zui said calmly, waving his hand at the thousand-year-old.

  "Sir, all units have assembled and are ready to strike at any moment."

  Ke Zhui nodded slightly. Originally, facing Mu Rongfeng as an opponent, even if Ke Zhui had ten times the courage, he still wouldn't have any confidence in challenging him, not one bit. Mu Rongfeng's military prowess was unparalleled among the Xianbei people, and even riding the fastest Dawan horse, Ke Zhui couldn't catch up to him.

  The great general was a heaven-sent talent, but if he hadn't been greedy for wealth and glory, he wouldn't have suddenly defected during the Battle of Bunei Yuan, causing the great general to suffer a crushing defeat. However, from then on, the Xianbei state also fell into continuous internal strife. With the great general's way of doing things, he would definitely want to overthrow He Lian and establish a new ruler. Was it really wrong for him to do so? If he had joined forces with the great general back then to overthrow He Lian, the Xianbei state wouldn't have been thrown into chaos by He Lian's rebellion, and its national strength wouldn't have greatly diminished.

  Ke sighed. If he had known today's outcome, it would have been better to stay with the general and fight a battle back then.

  Ke Zhong was indulging in self-pity here, but the enemy cavalry opposite him suddenly changed.

  The torches of the enemy cavalry began to go out one by one, a few, a dozen, a group, this strange situation made the soldiers of Kemo and Hu's tribe bewildered, their hearts filled with fear for Murong Feng.

  Soon, all the enemy cavalry fell into darkness, and there was no sound.

  Ke Zui and the several Qian Chang surrounding him exchanged uneasy glances, unsure what kind of divine plan or clever strategy Murong Feng would use to attack them tonight, their hearts growing increasingly apprehensive.

  The soldiers were exhausted. These past few days, the soldiers had been rushing to catch up under the urging of Commander Ke, and they were already extremely fatigued. Tonight, they were repeatedly harassed by the enemy, and everyone was so tired that they couldn't even stand up straight. Many soldiers, seeing no movement ahead, simply fell asleep standing up.

  After a very long time, there was no movement on either side, only a dead silence and deep darkness.

  Ke was finally impatient, he ordered the scouts to carefully move out and search for the enemy cavalry's tracks in the dark east.

  The enemy probably wrapped their horses' hooves in cowhide, they came silently and left the same way.

  After Ke Zui received the report that everything was safe, he immediately ordered the soldiers to take turns resting to prevent the enemy from attacking again. A thousand-year-old followed behind Ke Zui and carefully reminded him: "Sir, Murong Feng must be trying to use this frequent harassment method to make our army unable to rest, in order to gain an advantage in tomorrow's decisive battle. Our army marched hard during the day, and the soldiers were already exhausted. If we let Murong Feng continue to harass us tonight, even if we let the soldiers take turns resting, we will have no strength to fight back tomorrow."

  Ke shook his head helplessly and sighed, "What can we do? If Murong Feng were to launch a surprise attack on our camp when we are most exhausted, it would be a disaster."

  "But the soldiers didn't sleep all night, what will happen tomorrow?"

  "We won't be leaving tomorrow." Ke said with a wave of his hand, "Tonight we must prepare for battle."

  The news that they wouldn't be leaving the next day greatly relieved the soldiers. The army was then divided into two parts, with some of the soldiers led by Ke Zui himself to keep watch for the first half of the night, and the remaining soldiers led by Xiao Shuai Ke Rong to keep watch for the second half of the night.

  Half a time later, the sound of galloping horses came again from the south of the main camp. The enemy who came to launch a surprise attack saw that the generals and soldiers of the Hu tribe were lined up in the main camp with high spirits, and immediately turned their heads and ran away.

  This repeated itself every half hour, and a group of enemy cavalry would appear in different directions each time. After a while, even an idiot could see that this was Murong Feng's harassment tactic.

  Ke was extremely cautious, every time the enemy cavalry came to raid, he ordered his soldiers to prepare for battle. The soldiers whispered among themselves, thinking that their commander was too timid, and how could they fight a war if they were so afraid of the enemy? Later on, the soldiers couldn't hold out anymore, many people secretly lay down on the ground to sleep, as long as they heard the sound of the horn, they would reflexively stand up, but most of them still had their eyes closed. The leaders of each department also became numb, everyone pretended not to see it by closing one eye and opening another.

  It wasn't until the second half of the night that everyone finally saw Xiao Shuai Ke Rong leading his troops to take over. With a single order from Ke Rong, the soldiers dispersed in an instant and disappeared from sight. Ke Rong called Ke Rong over to his side and gave him some careful instructions before returning to the main tent to rest.

  The soldiers on night watch were woken up in the middle of the night, one by one they yawned continuously, and couldn't hold on for long. Before long, a large area around the camp had fallen asleep.

  The alarm horn sounded again. The enemy cavalry always harassed from a distance and disappeared immediately, and the soldiers patrolling outside the camp were so lazy that they didn't even bother to blow the horn. The soldiers inside the camp had not yet stood up and formed their ranks when the enemy cavalry was already gone like a whirlwind.

  After the patrolman blew the alarm whistle three times, the disturbing enemy cavalry suddenly disappeared. Perhaps the enemy was busy all night and went to rest too. The soldiers in the camp who should sleep were asleep, and those who shouldn't sleep were also asleep. Ke Rong struggled to hold on, but he was too tired during the day, his eyelids gradually became heavier and heavier until they closed completely.

  The entire camp, except for a few loyal and dutiful patrolmen, was completely drunk.

  The darkness before dawn is the darkest period of time.

  Murong Feng and his two thousand iron cavalry, divided into east and west teams, launched a surprise attack on Ke's large camp from two directions. Murong Feng ordered the soldiers to fight for the shortest time to rush into the enemy camp and give the sleeping enemy a devastating blow. Two hundred iron cavalry patrolled the perimeter, killing anyone who tried to escape.

  The iron cavalry suddenly rushed out of the darkness like a ghost.

  The patrolling soldiers didn't react for a moment, thinking the enemy cavalry was just coming to harass them like before. They lazily raised their bugles with a lack of energy, but they were soon thoroughly awakened by the long arrows shot into their bodies. The unhit patrolmen panicked and frantically shouted as they flew back to camp, blowing the alarm bugle with all their might to signal the enemy cavalry's attack.

  The soldiers in the big camp didn't think much of the noise that had disturbed them for a whole night, instinctively thinking that the enemy was harassing them again.

  Ke Yun was startled awake.

  He saw countless enemies with bared teeth and brandished swords, pouncing on him like the wind in the dark of night, silently and stealthily. He instinctively let out a blood-curdling scream: "The camp is being raided..."

  His voice cracked and stopped, his head suddenly flew off his body, flying in the air, blood splashing everywhere, a mouth still opening and closing with great force, as if to utter one last syllable.

  This is a massacre. On one side are the wolf-like poachers with bloodshot eyes, on the other are the prey immersed in their dreams.