Defeat the enemy and retreat

  Gao Fei was very satisfied with the scout's report. Beigong Boyu had indeed taken the bait, and although he followed closely behind, he did not take any action, maintaining a distance from the Han army that was neither too close nor too far, neither letting them off easily nor attacking them lightly.

  For three consecutive days, the Han army retreated only 100 miles under Gao Fei's leadership, marching 30 miles a day and reducing their campfires by 500 each day. Moreover, even the large camps they set up were smaller than before, although the number of flags remained the same, but the soldiers in the rear of the camp had already begun to alternate between real people and straw men. The purpose of this was simple: first, to confuse the enemy, and second, to give the retreating civilians enough time to retreat to the east of Chen Cang.

  Bei Gong Bo Yu was waiting in the forest ten miles away, and as soon as he heard the scout's report, he seemed very happy. Moreover, within three days, the dry rations they had brought with them were almost gone, and it was time to take action. Whether it was the Qiang people or the Xiongnu, they all belonged to nomadic tribes. When marching, they did not need to bring as many things as the Han army, but each person simply carried a little cheese and water, which was enough for them to eat. Everything else relied on the Han people's supplies, and "using war to feed war" was their most characteristic way of warfare.

  But these three days on the road, all the places they passed were either empty cities or empty villages. The Han people didn't know where to run, and they couldn't loot anything. This was something that the entire rebel army could not tolerate. Beigong Boyu, as the leader of this ten thousand men, naturally knew what his subordinates were thinking. Seeing the dissatisfaction among many of his troops, he finally made up his mind: today, they would launch a surprise attack on the Han military camp!

  After a brief rest, Beigong Boyu mounted his horse again. According to his estimation and the scouts' reports, there were at most 5,000 to 6,000 soldiers left in the Han army's camp now, and the others had already fled. He wanted to completely annihilate this enemy force.

  Bei Gong Bo Yu shouted a few words of encouragement to his subordinates, exposing the weakness of the Han army and boasting that there were large quantities of gold and grain in the Han military camp, whoever seized them would be theirs. Those rebel troops were all money-eyed people, as soon as they heard this, their eyes gleamed with gold light, following Bei Gong Bo Yu's order, they rushed out.

  In the Han army's large camp ten miles away, three days of time had already allowed the Han army to make sufficient preparations and recover their spirits. Today, every one of them knew in their hearts that there would inevitably be a great battle.

  The outer camp was still surrounded by obstacles such as deer horns and refused horses, which could slow down the speed of the rebel cavalry and increase the defensive strength. The Han army flags inside the camp were still fluttering in the cold wind, and the weather had been getting colder day by day, already entering the late September. Gao Fei was wearing armor and bringing twenty personal guards, making a final inspection around the camp.

  After the inspection, Gao Fei said to several bodyguards following him: "You guys split up and pass on the orders, let each department make preparations, let every ten archers shoot one enemy soldier, and have the swordsmen, spearmen, and halberdiers ready to charge out at any time. Also, inform Zhao Yun and Li Wenhou outside the camp that when they see the red flag flying in the big camp, they will come out and kill again."

  Several guards nodded and ran in different directions towards the camp, with two of them running out of the camp and into the woods on either side.

  Today's sky has no sun, the sky is filled with gloomy clouds, those clouds are gathering more and more, gradually forming a thick layer of clouds, the sky is overcast.

  About half an hour later, everyone in the camp could feel the earth shaking, and the chaotic sound of horseshoes stunned people's hearts. A cloud of dust rose from the western official road, and majestic Qiang Hu cavalry emerged from the dust, truly a spectacular sight of ten thousand horses galloping by.

  Gao Fei looked through the gap in the wooden palisade of the camp and saw the scene of galloping horses, but only saw Beigong Boyu leading the way on horseback, with all the men behind him wearing armor and looking very strong. Compared to the Han military officers in his own camp, they were even more impressive. However, he also noticed that every face of the Qiang Hu cavalry had a look of disdain, and their expressions seemed complacent, as if everything inside the camp would soon belong to them.

  The Han army camp was set up on the official road to the east, and on both sides of the official road were not-too-high hills. On the hills there was a patch of not-too-dense forest, which was quiet and did not attract the attention of the Qiang Hu cavalry at all.

  Bei Gong Bo Yu rushed to a place three miles outside the camp and stopped, first looking at the sparse Han army soldiers in the camp, then looking at the towering flags, the two scenes formed a huge contrast, sneered and said lightly: "Just pretending to be powerful! Let's attack!"

  As soon as Beigong Boyu gave the order, hundreds of cavalrymen rushed out first. They took down a lasso from under their saddles and swung it in a line above their heads, preparing to use the lassos to dismantle all the deer horns surrounding the gate of the village.

  The hidden archers at the gatehouse shot out more than a hundred arrows in a scattered manner according to Gao Fei's instructions, which posed no threat to the rebel cavalry who were born to be horseback riders. Hundreds of rebel cavalry quickly pulled open the deer horns in front of the gatehouse with lassos, and such a negligible defense made those rebels shout with joy.

  After the antlers were opened, Beigong Boyu raised his hand and lifted it up. A cavalryman beside him blew a mournful horn, and as soon as the horn sounded, the cavalrymen behind him drew out the curved knives in their hands. Some cavalrymen even placed arrows on the bowstring, making loud shouts, and charged towards the gate of the camp.

  Everyone at the gate of the camp felt the earth shaking again, everyone held their breath, they did not move, and stared blankly as the rebel cavalry rushed over with a swaggering air.

  One thousand meters, getting closer! Eight hundred meters, even closer! Five hundred meters, even more closer! Two hundred meters...

  "Pull!" Gao Fei gave the order at the right moment, and the soldiers guarding the gate also pulled the ropes in their hands. In front of them, 200 meters away, a row of triangular wooden spikes were quickly erected from the earth mound. The rebel cavalry rushing forward was caught off guard, and both men and horses were violently crashed into the hard wooden spikes. Blood instantly flowed down along the wooden stakes on the spikes, dyeing the nearby yellow soil red.

  The rebel cavalry was shocked, and they had not expected that the Han army's horn array had been removed earlier, but they encountered a barrier again. The war horses of the cavalrymen in the back were also frightened by the scene in front of them, and the riders all hastily reined in their horses' reins. Except for the more than 100 cavalrymen who charged to the front and lost their lives, the rest remained intact and turned around on the spot at the back.

  "Don't be afraid, the Han army has only these tricks. Jump over, charge into the camp, cut down the gate, and let them see the power of our iron hooves!" The small casualties didn't matter to Beigong Boyu at all. In his eyes, the Han army was already at a dead end.

  The rebel cavalry, upon hearing Beigong Boyu's shout, backed their horses a few steps before turning around again. With a loud "Drive!" they urged their horses forward with their superb horsemanship, making the horses leap into the air and charge at top speed over the abatis. Each man wielded a lasso in his hand, intending to use it to rope the gate of the Han army's camp and then use the strength of the horses to pull down the gate and palisade.

  One hundred meters, the rebel cavalry was close beyond description.

  "Release the arrow!" Gao Fei took aim at the right moment and shouted loudly.

  At the sound of the order, the bowmen who had been hiding behind the palisade of the camp alternately shot out arrows, with ten marksmen aiming at one rebel cavalryman, and none of the arrows missed their target.

  The sudden appearance of the Han army's arrow rain made the rebel cavalry unprepared, and a large number of rebel cavalrymen were shot into hedgehogs along with their horses, falling to the sandy ground in front of the camp gate, forming a special moat eighty meters away. This time, the rebel cavalry suffered heavy casualties, and more than 1,000 cavalrymen instantly became lonely souls and wild ghosts.

  Bei Gong Bo Yu was not discouraged, he didn't care about this small loss, wielding his curved knife and shouting loudly from behind: "Charge for me! The Han army is only 5,000 people, victory belongs to us! Charge!"

  The rebel cavalry seemed to have no fear of death, they were all licking blood on the knife from a young age, everyone had been receiving strict training since childhood, they were not afraid of Han people, on the contrary, Han people should be afraid of them. The second wave of cavalry rushed up quickly, followed by the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh waves, with one thousand men as a team, the rebel cavalry rushed to the Han army camp like layered waves, only this time they held bows and arrows in their hands instead of lassos and curved knives, they wanted to use their own arrows to pierce through the Han army's camp.

  Six thousand rebel cavalry suddenly surged forward, and the crossbowmen initially were able to shoot at them in an orderly manner, with ten people shooting at one person. However, when the rebel cavalry quickly charged over and shot arrows into the camp, the Han army's crossbowmen began to get a bit flustered. Several thousand crossbowmen suddenly fought individually, each choosing their own target.

  Arrows rained down, tens of thousands of arrows flew back and forth above the camp, some Han soldiers were shot through the body by the rebel army's arrows as soon as they exposed their heads, the two armies engaged in a shooting match between archers.

  "Open the gate!" Gaofei held a square shield in his left hand and a long knife in his right hand, scanning the two thousand swordsmen who were waiting in array, and seeing that the rebel cavalry had already charged to within fifty meters of the camp, he shouted loudly at the soldiers guarding the gate.

  The gate opened suddenly under Gao Fei's command, and he led the charge with his shield, followed by the rest of the shield-bearing soldiers. The Han army soldiers in orange-red uniforms poured out like a flood, rushing into the rebel cavalry at top speed, hacking wildly with their swords.

  A mournful cry suddenly erupted in front of the camp, and the sudden attack by 2,000 dagger shield soldiers left these rebel cavalry troops caught off guard. Behind them were the constantly arriving cavalry, while in front of them were the Han army's dagger shield soldiers, who were very close to them. The killing power of the bows and arrows was immediately weakened, and before they could even switch to their horse knives, they were charged by this group of dagger shield soldiers. As hands rose and knives fell, human arms, thighs, and heads continuously fell from the horses' backs, while the warhorses also suffered a fright, scattering in all directions.

  At this time, Bian Xi led 2,000 long spear soldiers rushing out of the camp, followed by a large red flag waving continuously on the watchtower of the main camp. Then, two groups of Han army cavalry suddenly killed from both sides of the official road, Zhao Yun and Li Wenhou each led 1,000 cavalry to appear on the side and back of Beigong Boyu.

  The rebels were shocked at the time, and all they heard was the orange-red troops shouting "Han army is mighty", but they couldn't figure out how many people there were. The morale suddenly dropped, and many rebels began to flee in all directions, but they saw the Han army flag fluttering in the forest on the left side of the official road, Fu Shuo led three thousand Han army to kill, while on the right side of the forest, Gai Yun led three thousand Han army to kill. The rebels were surrounded by a small open space, people crowded with people, horses crowded with horses, and it became very crowded immediately.

  In the camp, Han army's bowmen were still shooting arrows non-stop. They appeared one after another and shot randomly at crowded areas, using a rain of arrows to suppress the rebels.

  The air was filled with the sound of human voices, wails and screams, and the neighing of horses. Blood spurted out from bodies everywhere, and the yellow earth quickly turned into a bloody mess. Corpses lay scattered all over the ground.

  Bei Gong Bo Yu saw the situation and immediately gathered the cavalry behind him, attempting to charge out. However, the cavalry behind him had already fallen into disarray. The arrogant rebel cavalry experienced the fierce attack of the Han people for the first time, and the sudden appearance of so many people far exceeded their imagination, causing them to fall into extreme panic.

  Behind them, the charge was unable to break through, while in front of them, they continued to retreat. Very soon, Bei Gong Bo Yu was squeezed into the center of the troops, and the crowded road made it impossible for him to turn around, or even dismount. All that could be seen was the Han army constantly closing in, surrounding them in a narrow area, while the rebel cavalry was dwindling. In just this short moment, the rebel cavalry had already been reduced to less than 5,000 men.

  The Qiang Hu cavalry were not afraid of death, and Gao Fei knew this deeply, so he didn't dare to press them. If the remaining rebels fought desperately like cornered beasts and clashed with the Han army, it would be a loss for both sides. After Gao Fei killed the last rebel cavalryman, he surrounded all these people in a very crowded area and hastily shouted loudly behind him: "Change the white flag! Change the white flag quickly!"

  The sound was transmitted to the camp in a relay, and the soldiers on the watchtower heard it immediately waved the white flag vigorously. As soon as the white flag was raised, Zhao Yun and Li Wenhao, who were blocked at the back, saw it and slightly opened up a gap, pretending to be broken through by the rebel cavalry.

  As soon as the mouth was opened, the rebel cavalry, who had originally seen that the situation was already gone and were preparing to fight to the death, suddenly lost that intention and thought of breaking out of the encirclement.

  The situation on the battlefield changed, Gaofei led his men to charge forward again, and Fu Shuo, Gai Xun and others attacked from three sides. Meanwhile, Zhao Yun and Li Wenhou, who had retreated to the side of the road, used rolling logs and stones to heavily crush those who were fleeing. Those with good archery skills simply replaced them with bows and arrows.

  Although the road ahead was fraught with danger, with arrows falling like rain, these rebels still charged forward without hesitation along the open path, not wanting to lose both their lives and their loot.

  Bei Gong Bo Yu also escaped quickly along the path under the escort of his attendants, and at this moment he didn't care about anything else, escaping was the best way out.

  Half an hour later, the killing completely stopped. Zhao Yun led five hundred elite cavalry to follow those Qiang Hu rebels, hoping to kill a few more Qiang Hu.

  The battlefield was filled with the smell of blood, and all the personnel who participated in the battle began to clean up the battlefield after the war, separating the bodies of Han soldiers and rebel soldiers, counting the casualties, and collecting weapons, horses, and money. After half an hour of cleanup, the result came out: 8,913 rebels were killed, while only 567 Han soldiers died, what a shocking number! The Han soldiers were all impressed by Gao Fei's command, and in their excitement, they couldn't help but shout out the slogan "Hou Ye Wei Wu" (Lord Hou is mighty), which established a kind of prestige for Gao Fei in the hearts of these soldiers.

  "Your Excellency, today is a great victory indeed! If it weren't for your wise command, we wouldn't have achieved such a triumph. As a result, Bei Gong Bo Yu will surely be intimidated by Your Excellency and won't dare to pursue us again. We should hurry back to Chen Cang to prepare our defenses; if Bian Zhang and Han Xi lead tens of thousands of troops against us, I fear we'll find it difficult to withstand them." Fu Xie said with a delighted expression.

  Gao Fei nodded and immediately ordered the soldiers to burn the bodies of the rebels and bury the bodies of the Han army soldiers.

  After all the aftermath was prepared, Zhao Yun led the 500 cavalry back without missing a single one. Each horse's head had a human head hanging from it, and they had actually pursued and killed another 500 rebels. Then they broke camp and started to advance rapidly towards Chen Cang, eighty miles away.

  In the late afternoon, rain fell from the sky, and the cold rainwater failed to wash away the hot blood flowing on the bodies of the Han army soldiers. In their hearts, Dou Xiang, who led them forward, had become the only one who could save the entire Liangzhou.

  The rain grew heavier, but the Han army on the mountain road did not stop advancing due to the influence of the rainwater. They continued to march towards Chen Cang at a rapid pace, striving to reach Chen Cang by nightfall.

  The night quietly fell, every soldier's body was wet and their clothes were wrapped around their bodies, but despite this, everyone's heart was warm.

  It was almost nine o'clock in the evening when they arrived at Chen Cang, and everyone let out a long sigh of relief. The quiet Chen Cang suddenly became crowded, but fortunately, Liao Hua and Lu Xiang had already made preparations for reception, and after some reasonable arrangements, the Han army settled into temporary camps stretching more than ten miles east from Chen Cang.

  In the county government office, Gao Fei, exhausted and worn out, changed into dry clothes and took a hot bath. Thinking about his fruitful trip to Liangzhou over the past fortnight, he couldn't help but smile in satisfaction. After drinking a bowl of hot soup, he fell asleep on the comfortable bed, sleeping more soundly than he had in weeks.