"You are required to evacuate the north bank within three days, and let things be bygones. Otherwise, the day the army crosses the river will be the day when the defenders on the north bank will be put to death!"

Linghuzhen opened the letter and read softly.

Ma Baoyun slapped the table and shouted: "These people don't pay enough attention to the national laws of the dynasty! Do you still want to punish us?"

Linghuzhen waved his hand and asked the soldiers who delivered the message to step back. He turned to look at Ma Baoyun and said, "They are using a stratagem to make us confused!"

"Then how should we respond?" Ma Baoyun looked at him and asked.

"What are you afraid of? They are in the river and we are on the shore, so we get on them and build a raft to cross the river. We can also attack with fire!" Linghu Zhen looked outside the tent and said coldly.

When Ma Baoyun heard this, he praised him and said, "This is a great move. No wonder His Majesty asked you to lead the army to fight against the enemy."

The two looked at each other and smiled, but did not take Li Ye's letter seriously.

...

That night, many of the 50,000 troops on the north bank slipped away quietly.

Since each battalion was stationed separately and there was no combat training, no one knew that anyone had deserted.

What they didn't expect was that at noon the next day, someone sent the same letter again. The content remained the same, but the date was changed to two days later.

Linghuzhen looked at the messenger and asked, "How many rafts are coming today?"

The visitor replied: "That's the same boat as yesterday, and it's the same girl who shot the arrows yesterday! But they shot ten arrows today."

"Did anyone get hurt?"

"Nobody!"

"Go back. Let everyone cheer up and be careful of sneak attacks!" Ma Baoyun waved his hand.

Linghuzhen stood up, walked outside the tent, looked in the direction of the south bank and said, "What tricks do they want to play?"

Ma Baoyun wiped his face and said: "It's freezing cold today. I guess it will snow tomorrow. I don't believe they dare to attack on a snowy day? If they fall into the river, they will freeze to death without us having to do anything."

"

"I hope so!"

...

That night, many of the 50,000 troops on the north bank quietly slipped away again, and this time there were more of them than last night.

Because the ten feather arrows Mu Mu shot today were all warning letters, and the soldiers guarding the river saw that the contents were the same, so they only sent one to Linghu Zhen, and they were passing on the others for reading.

Linghu Zhen never expected that the leaked letter would cause him to lose tens of thousands of soldiers overnight.

During the assembly in the morning, some people discovered that the people around them suddenly disappeared.

The guard generals of each battalion were startled and counted the personnel one after another. After doing the counting, they found that 10,000 people had slipped away quietly in two nights.

The shocked generals of each battalion reported the situation to Linghu Zhen and Ma Baoyun in the big tent.

They were so angry that they were furious.

Ma Baoyun scolded: "Ten thousand people have fled before this battle even started!"

Before the two of them had finished being angry, the soldier guarding the riverside ran over with another letter in his hand, looked at Linghu Zhen and said, "Same as yesterday, they shot fifty arrows today!"

The two of them took a look and found that the content was the same as the previous two days, except that the date was changed to the last day.

Linghu Zhen looked at the visitor and said, "Let the guard leaders of each battalion come for a meeting. We will strengthen patrols tonight and don't let the soldiers run away again."

The visitor has been ordered to leave in a hurry!

However, fate is not as good as God. Linghu really expected that someone would run away again, so he strengthened patrols at night. In the early morning of the next day, many soldiers still left, including a group of soldiers who were patrolling.

After three nights, out of the 50,000 troops on the north bank, 15,000 had fled, leaving only 35,000.

Linghu was so angry that he looked at Ma Baoyun and said, "You personally take people to patrol tonight. Anyone who dares to escape will be killed on the spot!"

Ma Baoyun looked at him and didn't reply, but nodded heavily.

...

Facing the camp, in Li Ye's tent.

With a charcoal fire burning and looking at the sparse snowflakes falling from the sky, a group of people sat making tea and chatting.

It took the army three days to build a raft for crossing the river.

Today Li Ye asked all the soldiers in the army to stay in their tents to rest and recover their strength.

"They must not have imagined that we would dare to attack in the snow!" The eldest prince said quietly while looking at the snowflakes outside the tent.

"These are all minor issues. I guess what they have a headache about now is not whether we can attack or not. According to my estimate, in a few days, they will lose at least one-third of their soldiers, although I don't know how many troops they have.

!”

Li Ye also looked at the sky outside the big tent and said quietly.

Tang Qiuyu looked at the two of them and smiled and said: "If the people in the imperial city knew that you just shot dozens of arrows in the air, which reduced the opponent's horse power by one third, I don't know how many people would be angry to death!"

It was only now that Yeluyan knew what Li Ye and Mu Mu had done in the past few days. Looking at the frail Li Ye in front of her, she was so shocked that she was speechless.

"National Master, are those who are still refusing to leave really going to be punished?" The eldest prince turned around and looked at Li Ye.

Li Ye did not answer immediately, but looked at all the people in the tent with calm eyes. After a long time, he said, "What else?"

Mu Mu glanced at everyone, curled her lips, and muttered: "We have already warned them, and we have been warning them for three days!"

"In war, people always die, and your life is almost at stake. For this reason, I want to make them afraid! Scared to death!" Li Ye said lightly.

The way Xia Wutong looked at him, he suddenly felt a strange feeling. He opened his mouth but couldn't say anything.

Li Ye looked at her and smiled and said: "I know what you want to say, but the emperor entrusted you and the generalissimo to me, and I will be responsible for your lives!"

Xia Wutong turned around and glanced at the eldest prince, who smiled bitterly and said, "It did happen. I was right in front of you at the time."

"If something happens to you brother and sister, how will I explain to him when I see him again? Are you saying that I, Li Ye, am incompetent and did not protect you well?" Li Ye shook his head and sighed.

I don’t know how many times I scolded myself, and I don’t know when I started to develop the habit of sighing.

Xia Wutong looked at the young man in front of him who made him feel a little scared. Thinking about what his mother said to him, his face turned red again unconsciously.

Yeluyan looked at Li Ye and smiled and said, "If I had known that we were going to fight when we came back, I would have asked my brother to lend you tens of thousands of troops."

Li Ye looked at her and shook his head: "I think the reason why His Highness Yelu is willing to borrow troops from me is entirely for your face, princess. However, looking for war will lead to death."

Li Ye didn't know what Yelu Qi was thinking, but he just didn't want to shoulder more burdens for the grassland soldiers.

The responsibilities on his own shoulders are already heavy enough.

Yeluyan looked at him and said, "You scared away the opponent's large army without spending a single soldier. It's very impressive."

The eldest prince looked at him and asked: "What will you do tomorrow?"

Li Ye turned back to look at him and asked, "Tomorrow is the second day after General Nalan and the others leave?"

"The fifth day!" the eldest prince replied quietly.

"Report! General Nalan and General Ma have sent people over." A soldier came in from outside the tent to report.

Li Ye clapped his hands and said with a smile: "Come in quickly!" He turned back to look at the eldest prince and said: "Whatever you want, come here!"

In a moment, Nalan Yu and Ma Feihu's men walked into the tent.

"I've met the Grand Marshal, I've met the Imperial Master!" the two of them greeted in unison.

"Why did they send you two here?" Li Ye asked quietly.

"The general said that everything is going well for us. When will we launch an attack on the north bank?"

Li Ye looked up at the two of them and said calmly: "Go back and tell the two generals that you will set off at 10 o'clock tomorrow. After seeing the fireworks signal we sent out on the river, we launched an attack at the same time!"

The eldest prince told the two of them again and again that they must set off on time and not miss the time.

The two took the order and left in a hurry.

...

Looking at the group of people in the tent, Li Ye said quietly: "The original plan was the day after tomorrow. Since both armies are ready, let's catch them off guard one day in advance."

"I don't think the general on the other side would have expected that we would launch an attack on a snowy day, right?"

Li Ye pointed at Yelu Yan and said with a smile: "Last year I invited her to have tea with General Yelu, but neither of them believed me."

Yeluyan glared at him and replied fiercely: "At that time, I really wanted to beat you up!"

Mu Mu looked at her and smiled: "Am I the one who shot you?"

When Yeluyan heard this, he ran over, pinched her arm and cursed: "No wonder my brother said, how dare the Imperial Preceptor from Southern Xinjiang come to Xichun City alone? It turns out you are here too?"

Mu Mu gently broke free and said with a smile: "I am responsible for protecting my brother."

Li Ye looked at the two men and shook his head. He looked at everyone and said, "You all know the time to attack. Don't go outside and talk nonsense."

The eldest prince looked at him and said, "You must tell the leaders of the army to get them ready."

Looking at the rising wind and snow, Li Ye said softly: "Let's cook at 10 o'clock tomorrow. After dinner, we will notify the army. We will launch the attack on time. It's too late!"

Xia Yunlan looked at the two of them, thought for a long time, and said in a solemn voice: "There is enough time, anyway, we will not bring heavy equipment when we attack."
To be continued...