The order from the Grand General was passed down, "Assemble at the hour of zi tonight, attack the Dawei enemy troops." The messenger galloped around the barracks passing down the order.
With this message, the troops in each camp started boiling with excitement.
"First Charging Battalion No.1 team, assemble!" Wei Team Leader's shouting to gather the troops came from outside.
Their small team included the injured, about one hundred and fifty men in total, with twenty heavily injured.
Wei Team Leader looked at the one hundred and thirty men in front of him.
"From now on, everyone rest in the camps, conserve your energy. Cook your meals at the hour of xu tonight."
"Once on the battlefield, follow the same strategy as last time, form teams of five men, focus on both offense and defense. The entire team should stay together as much as possible, don't panic. Otherwise, you will be intimidated and die even faster."
"If you want to live, fight desperately for me."
"Yes!"
"Dismissed!"
Gong Xiaohua came to her own tent and changed into the robes that were just distributed.
She tied the waistband around her waist, bundled up her long black hair, and securely fixed it on top of her head.
The Daye army's armor was a red robe as the base garment, with pieces of iron armor worn over it, connected front and back, and secured under the armpits with straps on both sides.
The weapons equipped varied for different troops. The charging troops were equipped with a big saber for close combat on the battlefield.
Gong Xiaohua tied the short dagger she always carried to her leg, then put on her boots.
Li Zichen was unable to return to the battlefield due to his serious injuries.
Gong Xiaohua picked up the medicinal soup on the side and spooned a mouthful to feed Li Zichen. The two of them were silent.
She knew her uncle was still angry, angry at his own incompetence, and angry that his niece was implicated because of him.
In fact, the root cause of all this was her, not him.
"Uncle, don't worry, I will definitely come back alive."
The other party still remained silent. The soup was slowly turning cold. Gong Xiaohua put down the soup and got up to leave.
Seeing Gong Xiaohua's departing figure, Li Zichen finally choked out, "Xiaohua, your uncle will be waiting for your return."
"Mm." Gong Xiaohua replied and left after turning back.
At the hour of zi, the dark wind howled, battle horns sounded, the killing field was set.
Gong Xiaohua ran with the troops all the way on foot, rushing to Duping Mountain where the Dawei troops were camped, thirty li away.
The scouting troops had set off earlier to scout enemy situations along the way.
The troops marching out this time totaled 120,000 cavalry, with 20,000 troops left to guard Xing Mountain Pass, 10,000 of which were heavily wounded, and 10,000 to guard the city.
The army arrived five li away from Duping Mountain at the hour of yin. The messenger's shouting came again.
"The Grand General's order, set up camp here, eat your rations, attack at the hour of mao."
Gong Xiaohua busied herself with the others setting up camp. Suddenly, a soft call came from beside her, "Mistress."
Turning to look at where the voice came from, she saw an ordinary, unfamiliar face there, with two others standing with their backs to them, observing the surroundings - clearly together.
"Mistress, I am Qin Er, sent here by the young master to protect the mistress's safety at all times."
"Mm."
"Before coming, the young master asked me to relay that everything is well in the capital, and told the mistress not to worry. Also, General Gao Hu of Dawei has great ambition for meritorious deeds, think thrice before acting."
"Thanks, you go find a place to rest first. On the battlefield, blades have no eyes, everyone be careful."
"Yes, thank you for your concern, Mistress."
At the hour of mao, the army slowly advanced. When they were about a hundred meters away from the Dawei troops at Duping Mountain.
"Ambush, ambush." The Dawei camp's sentry kept shouting the alarm.
Following closely were the mournful sounds of horns.
Low yet piercing, echoing continuously around Duping Mountain.
On the flat plains, the dark mass of Daye soldiers surged into the enemy encampment like a tide, accompanied by hoarse battle cries.
Swords clashed, screams arose everywhere.
At this time, in the Dawei commander's camp.
"Report to Second Prince, Daye has brought over 100,000 cavalry to invade." The Dawei general rushed to report to the Second Prince.
"Where is the Third Prince?" Hearing this, the Second Prince hurried over.
"The Third Prince has taken some troops to engage the enemy."
"Didn't expect the other side to take the initiative to attack. How goes the defense at Bu Luo Jian?"
"Replying to the Prince, everything is ready, just waiting for the fish to take the bait."
"Very good, tell the Third Prince to act according to plan."
"Yes." The general was about to go out when,
"Wait."
"Second Prince?"
"You must ensure the Third Prince returns safely, otherwise you will be punished by death." The Second Prince commanded.
"Please be assured, Your Highness, I will not fail my mission."
After issuing orders, the Second Prince stealthily left with his guards from the back, heading for Bu Luo Jian.
All this happened in an instant.
The general who came out of the commander's camp found the Third Prince leading troops at the front and whispered, "Third Prince, the Second Prince orders that you act according to plan."
The Third Prince nodded to show he understood, then rode his horse and loudly shouted to the soldiers behind him, "Soldiers, follow me to kill the enemy. Reward one gold for killing one enemy soldier, one hundred gold for killing one enemy general."
"Kill!"
Thirty thousand cavalry rushed to kill the enemy, merging with Daye's troops. Volleys of arrows whistled past their ears, torrents of arrows shot through battle armor and clothes, blood sprayed and splattered in the air.
Wherever the Third Prince went, his sword rose and fell, blood rained everywhere.
Seeing this, Daye's General Gao Hu galloped swiftly towards the Third Prince, trampling everything in his path.
In the midst of the battlefield, the two met and began fighting continuously.
In First Charging Battalion No. 1 team, Gong Xiaohua partnered with Old Wei as a team, with three guards sent by the Qin family next to them.
This team was originally led by Old Wei, later changed to be led by Gong Xiaohua.
Her hands kept waving the bloodied blade, felling large swathes of enemy troops around her. She was like a relentless reaping machine, going everywhere and ceaselessly reaping enemy heads, a terrifying sight to behold.
Old Wei was deeply shocked, this wasn't someone powerless at all, she was simply a killing god.
After an unknown period of time, suddenly the Third Prince of Dawei was unhorsed by Gao Hu's spear and escorted to safety by his guards at the cost of their lives.
A whistle, and his warhorse galloped over. He leapt on and fled while shouting, "Retreat, retreat quickly!"
Hearing this, the Dawei soldiers stopped fighting and fled after the Third Prince.
This action gave Gao Hu tremendous joy. He thought the Dawei army was nothing much after all.
"Soldiers, follow me to raid and annihilate the enemy, capture the Third Prince of Dawei. There will definitely be great rewards when we return."
As these words fell, Gao Hu chased after the Third Prince first, with the motivated soldiers following behind.
Gong Xiaohua frowned. The Dawei soldiers were clearly far fewer than the remaining 70,000 enemy troops, and where did the others go?
"Xiaohua, what are you still dazed for? The Grand General has given chase, we should follow too."
"Wei Team Leader, something is wrong."
The order from the Grand General was passed down, "Assemble at the hour of zi tonight, attack the Dawei enemy troops." The messenger galloped around the barracks passing down the order.
With this message, the troops in each camp started boiling with excitement.
"First Charging Battalion No.1 team, assemble!" Wei Team Leader's shouting to gather the troops came from outside.
Their small team included the injured, about one hundred and fifty men in total, with twenty heavily injured.
Wei Team Leader looked at the one hundred and thirty men in front of him.
"From now on, everyone rest in the camps, conserve your energy. Cook your meals at the hour of xu tonight."
"Once on the battlefield, follow the same strategy as last time, form teams of five men, focus on both offense and defense. The entire team should stay together as much as possible, don't panic. Otherwise, you will be intimidated and die even faster."
"If you want to live, fight desperately for me."
"Yes!"
"Dismissed!"
Gong Xiaohua came to her own tent and changed into the robes that were just distributed.
She tied the waistband around her waist, bundled up her long black hair, and securely fixed it on top of her head.
The Daye army's armor was a red robe as the base garment, with pieces of iron armor worn over it, connected front and back, and secured under the armpits with straps on both sides.
The weapons equipped varied for different troops. The charging troops were equipped with a big saber for close combat on the battlefield.
Gong Xiaohua tied the short dagger she always carried to her leg, then put on her boots.
Li Zichen was unable to return to the battlefield due to his serious injuries.
Gong Xiaohua picked up the medicinal soup on the side and spooned a mouthful to feed Li Zichen. The two of them were silent.
She knew her uncle was still angry, angry at his own incompetence, and angry that his niece was implicated because of him.
In fact, the root cause of all this was her, not him.
"Uncle, don't worry, I will definitely come back alive."
The other party still remained silent. The soup was slowly turning cold. Gong Xiaohua put down the soup and got up to leave.
Seeing Gong Xiaohua's departing figure, Li Zichen finally choked out, "Xiaohua, your uncle will be waiting for your return."
"Mm." Gong Xiaohua replied and left after turning back.
At the hour of zi, the dark wind howled, battle horns sounded, the killing field was set.
Gong Xiaohua ran with the troops all the way on foot, rushing to Duping Mountain where the Dawei troops were camped, thirty li away.
The scouting troops had set off earlier to scout enemy situations along the way.
The troops marching out this time totaled 120,000 cavalry, with 20,000 troops left to guard Xing Mountain Pass, 10,000 of which were heavily wounded, and 10,000 to guard the city.
The army arrived five li away from Duping Mountain at the hour of yin. The messenger's shouting came again.
"The Grand General's order, set up camp here, eat your rations, attack at the hour of mao."
Gong Xiaohua busied herself with the others setting up camp. Suddenly, a soft call came from beside her, "Mistress."
Turning to look at where the voice came from, she saw an ordinary, unfamiliar face there, with two others standing with their backs to them, observing the surroundings - clearly together.
"Mistress, I am Qin Er, sent here by the young master to protect the mistress's safety at all times."
"Mm."
"Before coming, the young master asked me to relay that everything is well in the capital, and told the mistress not to worry. Also, General Gao Hu of Dawei has great ambition for meritorious deeds, think thrice before acting."
"Thanks, you go find a place to rest first. On the battlefield, blades have no eyes, everyone be careful."
"Yes, thank you for your concern, Mistress."
At the hour of mao, the army slowly advanced. When they were about a hundred meters away from the Dawei troops at Duping Mountain.
"Ambush, ambush." The Dawei camp's sentry kept shouting the alarm.
Following closely were the mournful sounds of horns.
Low yet piercing, echoing continuously around Duping Mountain.
On the flat plains, the dark mass of Daye soldiers surged into the enemy encampment like a tide, accompanied by hoarse battle cries.
Swords clashed, screams arose everywhere.
At this time, in the Dawei commander's camp.
"Report to Second Prince, Daye has brought over 100,000 cavalry to invade." The Dawei general rushed to report to the Second Prince.
"Where is the Third Prince?" Hearing this, the Second Prince hurried over.
"The Third Prince has taken some troops to engage the enemy."
"Didn't expect the other side to take the initiative to attack. How goes the defense at Bu Luo Jian?"
"Replying to the Prince, everything is ready, just waiting for the fish to take the bait."
"Very good, tell the Third Prince to act according to plan."
"Yes." The general was about to go out when,
"Wait."
"Second Prince?"
"You must ensure the Third Prince returns safely, otherwise you will be punished by death." The Second Prince commanded.
"Please be assured, Your Highness, I will not fail my mission."
After issuing orders, the Second Prince stealthily left with his guards from the back, heading for Bu Luo Jian.
All this happened in an instant.
The general who came out of the commander's camp found the Third Prince leading troops at the front and whispered, "Third Prince, the Second Prince orders that you act according to plan."
The Third Prince nodded to show he understood, then rode his horse and loudly shouted to the soldiers behind him, "Soldiers, follow me to kill the enemy. Reward one gold for killing one enemy soldier, one hundred gold for killing one enemy general."
"Kill!"
Thirty thousand cavalry rushed to kill the enemy, merging with Daye's troops. Volleys of arrows whistled past their ears, torrents of arrows shot through battle armor and clothes, blood sprayed and splattered in the air.
Wherever the Third Prince went, his sword rose and fell, blood rained everywhere.
Seeing this, Daye's General Gao Hu galloped swiftly towards the Third Prince, trampling everything in his path.
In the midst of the battlefield, the two met and began fighting continuously.
In First Charging Battalion No. 1 team, Gong Xiaohua partnered with Old Wei as a team, with three guards sent by the Qin family next to them.
This team was originally led by Old Wei, later changed to be led by Gong Xiaohua.
Her hands kept waving the bloodied blade, felling large swathes of enemy troops around her. She was like a relentless reaping machine, going everywhere and ceaselessly reaping enemy heads, a terrifying sight to behold.
Old Wei was deeply shocked, this wasn't someone powerless at all, she was simply a killing god.
After an unknown period of time, suddenly the Third Prince of Dawei was unhorsed by Gao Hu's spear and escorted to safety by his guards at the cost of their lives.
A whistle, and his warhorse galloped over. He leapt on and fled while shouting, "Retreat, retreat quickly!"
Hearing this, the Dawei soldiers stopped fighting and fled after the Third Prince.
This action gave Gao Hu tremendous joy. He thought the Dawei army was nothing much after all.
"Soldiers, follow me to raid and annihilate the enemy, capture the Third Prince of Dawei. There will definitely be great rewards when we return."
As these words fell, Gao Hu chased after the Third Prince first, with the motivated soldiers following behind.
Gong Xiaohua frowned. The Dawei soldiers were clearly far fewer than the remaining 70,000 enemy troops, and where did the others go?
"Xiaohua, what are you still dazed for? The Grand General has given chase, we should follow too."
"Wei Team Leader, something is wrong."
