Chapter 53 Unexpected
It was already midnight, and the night was dim.
A thousand Han troops marched quietly on the trail. These were all light infantry.
Although cavalry is the best way to attack, there are no cavalry in Changsha. In order to bypass Jiangdong Army's checkpoints, Han Hao chose a remote and difficult trail.
Han Hao was riding a horse and walking slowly at the front of the team. In the entire team, he and a commander under his command were the only ones riding a horse. The horse's hooves were also wrapped with a thin layer of cloth to reduce the sound.
The moon is sparse with stars, the insects are chirping, the frogs are chirping, and the trees are casting shadows. These are all wonderful sights.
Having said that, it would be a bit scary for one or two people to play in a place like this at night, and with a group of soldiers and horses on the road like now, such a beautiful night scene has lost its fun.
Such random thoughts suddenly appeared in Han Hao's mind.
His nerves had been too tense during this period of time, and the quiet night finally calmed his mind.
Whoosh!
A soldier next to Han Hao had a confused look on his face. He reached out to touch the arrow that had penetrated his throat. His hands were covered with blood. He opened his mouth wide, but fell to the ground unable to make a sound.
Bang!
It's like dropping a pebble on a calm lake.
"Enemy attack!"
Han Hao roared in horror.
But before the sound came, Jiangdong Army's arrows had already fallen like raindrops on the Han Army's ranks.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh~~
Immediately following the attack signal from the first arrow, countless noises came from the depths of the dark forest, and arrows flew through the night and flew towards the eyes.
The mountains and forests on both sides seemed to have come alive, transforming into man-eating monsters.
As screams rang out, the soldiers of the Han army panicked. Instead of rushing to both sides of the team to form a shield wall, their shield bearers scattered like everyone else and hid behind the trees on both sides.
It was only then that the shield bearers remembered their mission and quickly put up their shields to cover the archers' counterattack.
Han Hao also hurriedly abandoned his horse and hid behind the shield of a small group of soldiers who came later.
Some sparse arrows were shot into the dense forest. It is not known whether they really hit someone, hit a tree, or fell into the bushes.
It's like a group of blindfolded people shooting at a group of people hiding behind shields.
"Retreat! Retreat!"
Before Han Hao gave the order, some people were already rushing towards the road behind without thinking, but without the cover of shields and trees, a large number of them had become the targets of Jiangdong's army and fell to the ground.
The soldiers, who had been terrified for a long time, immediately gave up shooting when they heard Han Hao's order to retreat. Under the cover of the shield bearers, they began to move closer to each other and slowly retreated to the rear.
Some fires gradually lit up in the woods, and soon they turned from one to two, and from two to three.
This scene is like a will-o'-the-wisp splitting in the forest, as if some demon is about to come out.
Han Hao swore that he never wanted to see such a night scene again.
If possible, he would like to hide in the house in the coming nights and watch those enchanting dancers perform their hot dances.
If he still has what if.
"Run! Run!"
He anxiously urged the shield soldiers to run faster.
But is it really too late?
The gorgeous will-o'-the-wisp seemed to hear the prey's fleeing footsteps. It rushed across the night sky with a whooshing sound, and plunged headlong...
On the shield.
Boom~~
The shield lit up with brilliant sparks, it was a rocket!
The linen soaked in kerosene did not stop burning just because it reached the end.
One arrow, two arrows, three arrows, the whole shield started to burn.
The formation of the Han army began to collapse, and the last string in the hearts of the soldiers was broken.
There was no formation to speak of, and everyone began to run desperately.
The shields around him were burning, and Han Hao desperately wanted to rush behind the few intact shields not far ahead.
What was annoying was that those shields kept running away. Han Hao chased them for a long time but failed to catch up.
Suddenly, there was a crisp sound of something breaking from the left side, and then something fell to the ground with a thud. Han Hao turned around to take a look.
Whoosh!
Before Han Hao had time to react, he only felt severe pain in his chest, and then his vision became blurred.
······
"kill!"
The soldiers around Gan Ning rushed forward with excitement on their faces.
Gan Ning gently shook his injured arm and frowned slightly. He sighed softly, put down the repeating crossbow in his hand, and shouted to the soldiers.
"My eyes are shining brightly for me. I want to keep the enemy general alive, so please don't chop them down for me!"
The soldiers passing by heard Gan Ning's words and immediately replied loudly.
"yes!"
"Capture the enemy general alive!"
"Kill!"
Gan Ning stood on the top of the mountain and looked at these guys and couldn't help laughing.
Is our army too strong or the enemy's army is too weak?
With just two waves of arrow attacks, the Han army was completely defeated!
He also deliberately left a lot of back-up troops. In the front, there was a phalanx of 200 heavy infantry waiting for them around the hilltop. In the rear, they also set up horse resistance on their retreat path, and deployed 200 sword shieldmen and 100 archers.
But the current situation made him feel like he was bullying a group of bandits and new recruits, considering that the 1,500 people guarding the other road had not arrived yet.
"General, General Han who is guarding the official road has received a military report from Luoxian Port and asked me to come over and forward it to the general."
Gan Ning turned his eyes back from the battlefield and saw a soldier coming to him, clasping his fists and reporting, and handed over an official document with both hands.
This is a fool's errand.
Gan Ning took the official document and didn't bother to read it in his hand, he just asked.
"If you have any military information, please report it to me directly."
"yes!"
"Jin Xuan was defeated by Ling Tong at Luoxian Port today. Our army captured prisoners. Jin Xuan fled back by boat with only three to four hundred people."
"Um?"
After hearing the news, Gan Ning was a little surprised.
Jin Xuan had 3,000 soldiers and horses, while Ling Cao and Ling Tong only had 2,000 soldiers. Although Gan Ning felt that the strength of his own soldiers and horses was not inferior in comparison, he did not expect to win a big victory so quickly.
Ji Shu's original plan was for him to ambush the reinforcements from Changsha and then rush to Luo County to join them and eliminate Jin Xuan. Unexpectedly, he could return home early now.
"What's going on?"
Gan Ning couldn't help but ask about the details of Luoxian Port. Upon seeing this, the soldiers immediately explained it to Gan Ning in detail.
It turned out that Ling Cao listened to Ling Tong's plan and left 300 soldiers to guard the water stronghold openly. When Jin Xuan's troops arrived, he pretended to retreat and evacuated the water stronghold.
After most of Jin Xuan's troops entered the water stronghold, Ling Tong led a thousand soldiers and horses out to surround the water stronghold and kept firing rockets into the camp. A large number of fire starters had been placed in the camp.
Ling Tong's attack turned into a sea of fire.
Jin Xuan suffered heavy losses and had to flee toward the port.
At this time, Ling Cao led 700 men in building ships to appear at the side and rear of the Han army. They fired crossbows and rockets at the Han army ships for free.
The Han army's ships had no time to turn around and attack, and were severely damaged again. Ling Tong also led 1,000 troops to catch up, and the Han army was in chaos.
After a chaotic battle, Jin Xuan led only three to four hundred soldiers and horses and fled in a hurry towards the public security port.
Gan Ning was overjoyed and said to himself.
"I also said that Ling Tong became the commander at the age of 15 because he relied on his father's care. Unexpectedly, he did have some skills. My Jinfan Army is newly built and is short of talents. I must find an opportunity to ask Ling Cao for them.
Already."
"General, the rest of the Han army has surrendered, but the leader, Han Hao, died in the random arrows just now."
Gan Ning was not happy for a long time, but when he heard the news, he didn't come back to his senses for a while. He stared at the soldier who had just walked up to report the news with wide eyes, and was stunned for a long time.
"Dead?"
Chapter completed!