Chapter 92: The Battle of Luancheng (4)

The surprise attack had reached this point with remarkable effect, but the entire Longqi Army had also scattered, organized by army and battalion, galloping across the camps within several li of Liu Chengyou, acting as troublemakers, specifically targeting those organized, structured Khitan formations to attack and kill, seeking to keep the chaos going.

At the moment, the closest to Liu Chengyou were the Second and Third Armies of the Longqi. Without any hesitation, Liu Chengyou directly ordered the two Army Commanders to be summoned, and commanded: "Immediately concentrate the soldiers of the Second and Third Armies nearby, launch an attack on the Khitan central army, and at all costs, break through them for me!"

Sun Li, Commander of the Second Army, had not yet sheathed his blade, his body reeking of blood and slaughter, eyes wide, hearing Liu Chengyou's overwhelmingly forceful command, without a moment's hesitation, clasped his fists and replied: "This general will surely break the Liao camp, please Your Highness oversee the battle!"

With that said, the two Commanders wheeled their horses and departed, their crisp decisiveness taking Liu Chengyou somewhat by surprise. He knew that this charge would surely cost many lives, and had originally thought the two would hold something back...

The Longqi battalions had always fought in mutual coordination, especially those of the same army, who were not far apart. While Liu Chengyou was still surprised, they had already rapidly assembled.

Commander Sun and the other, without waiting for the full army to gather, seized on a gap that suddenly appeared in the southeast direction of the Liao camp, and one after another led their men, shields raised, spears thrust, swords swung, in an assault formation, charging forth. More than two thousand fearless warriors, roaring "Kill the barbarian slaves," charged without fear.

By the light of the raging fires around, Liu Chengyou could see clearly that the two Commanders were charging at the very front, their leading-by-example effect obvious.

Without time to think further, Liu Chengyou continued commanding: "Order Guo Rong, Han Tong, and Luo Yangui to continue pursuing and striking the Khitan scattered troops with their cavalry. Send word to Zhang Yanwei, telling him to join with Ma Quanyi and Murong Yanzhao to gather the two armies and come assist the battle."

"Yes!"

The two columns of the Longqi Army entered the fight from the southeast, launching the most frenzied attack from the very start, holding nothing back. The Liao central army defenders, accustomed to the rhythm of scattered troops, clearly failed to react in time to this sudden change of tempo, and in less than half a ke, the left flank's formation line began to waver.

Seeing it was working, the Longqi soldiers charged even harder. Officers like Commander Sun might lack extraordinary strategy or profound foresight, but when it came to donning armor, wielding sharp weapons, storming camps, and seizing strongholds, once they got fierce, they would not fall behind anyone.

Liu Chengyou watched from behind, unable to resist moving his command banner forward a hundred paces. He could see that at the fierce fighting on the Liao camp's left flank, although the Longqi Army had opened a breach, they were hampered by insufficient numbers and seemed unable to expand it. As for the other "friendly forces," without unified command, they had no intention of supporting, and had not even noticed the gap the Longqi Army had smashed open.

Seeing this, Liu Chengyou swept his gaze around—he still had over five hundred personal guards at his side—and without hesitation, pointed directly at the Liao camp and ordered: "Li Chongju, lead my personal guard forward to assist the battle!"

Unfortunately, he received a very blunt refusal from Li Chongju: "Please forgive me, but I cannot obey this order. Our duty is to protect Your Highness's safety!"

At ordinary times, faced with such loyal protection of his person, Liu Chengyou might have expressed approval and praise, but at this moment, on the battlefield, a surge of rage rushed to his head. Liu Chengyou swept a cold, harsh glare at Li Chongju, staring piercingly at the young officer: "Do you dare defy my military orders!"

Facing Liu Chengyou's somewhat terrifying gaze, Li Chongju's response was resolute: "Your Highness's safety outweighs everything!"

"The soldiers are all fighting the enemy—compared to routing the enemy army, what does my safety matter!" Liu Chengyou roared out directly, a faint killing intent appearing in his eyes.

At this moment, Liu Chengyou's desire to defeat the Liao army was too overwhelming, with a hint of recklessness. Immersed in the slaughter of battle, his emotions and state of mind were clearly affected, and he could not maintain his usual composure at all.

And Li Chongju, this young man who was ordinarily low-key, reserved, and showed no edge, now displayed a determination extraordinary compared to ordinary men. Under Liu Chengyou's pressure, his expression did not waver in the slightest: "If Your Highness comes to harm, even routing the enemy army would be a loss that outweighs the gain!"

Hearing this, the corner of Liu Chengyou's mouth twitched: "Are you asking me to personally lead troops and charge at the front myself?"

Seeing that Liu Chengyou's neck was turning red and thick, Xiang Xun stepped forward at this moment: "Guard Li's words are correct. Your Highness bears the weight of the three armies; where the great banner stands, you must not risk danger again. Let me lead a portion of the soldiers to provide support. The rest will remain under Guard Li's command to protect Your Highness!"

"Then do it that way!" Liu Chengyou agreed to Xiang Xun's suggestion after only brief consideration, immediately dividing three hundred soldiers from his personal guard and placing them under his command to go into battle.

After Xiang Xun left, Liu Chengyou's protective force was reduced to just over two hundred men—utterly insignificant in this melee of one to two hundred thousand. Because of the great banner, some scattered enemies were already drifting toward him.

To guard against the unexpected, Liu Chengyou sensibly led his men and calmly withdrew toward the periphery, away from this dangerous zone before the Liao central army camp. His movements were decisive, without the slightest discomfort, while Li Chongju continued to carry out his steadfast duty, expression as taut as ever, guarding closely at Liu Chengyou's side.

Although the reinforcements led by Xiang Xun were few in number, they were Liu Chengyou's personal guard, and their effect was clearly catalytic. Morale soared even higher; they shouted and struck, wading through blood and advancing, and at the cost of heavy casualties, finally broke through the defensive line that had held for so long in the Liao camp.

The breach in the southeast was a heavy blow to the Liao army. Though their forces were still ample, their morale had long since sunk to a certain depth. Had Yelu Ruan not ordered his generals to supervise the battle with executions, they would have collapsed into chaos like the Liao troops in the central and southern camps.

The Longqi Army thoroughly opened up the situation, and the scattered troops on the sidelines finally took advantage of the chaos to surge forward, swarming in all at once...

For the Liao camp, once this deflation happened, it became completely uncontrollable, collapsing straight to the bottom. Liu Chengyou, supervising from the rear, saw the camp broken and shouted praise repeatedly, utterly uninhibited.

In the imperial camp, Yelu Ruan stood in full armor, hand on his sword, on the watchtower overseeing the battle. Seeing from afar the left flank camp broken, he was furious beyond measure.

"Great King, the camp gate is broken, it cannot be held—retreat first!" Yelu Anbo suggested with a hurried expression.

"There are still tens of thousands of elite troops in the camp, more than enough to suppress everything. How can we speak lightly of retreat! Have Yelu Chage lead troops, retake the camp gate for me, and drive the enemy out!" Yelu Ruan fiercely flung his hand.

"Though the troops are many, their morale is all lost—they cannot be used!" Yelu Anbo saw clearly and urgently advised: "He who hesitates is lost. If the scattered troops charge in and mix together, even these tens of thousands of men will be completely swallowed up!"

"Great King must not act on impulse—better to retreat north to Zhending first and regroup!"

"Ah! Are over a hundred thousand Khitan sons to be defeated just like this?" Yelu Ruan let out a mournful roar, eyes bloodshot, his tone full of unwillingness.

That said, Yelu Ruan did not stubbornly persist. Wiping his eyes, he roared out the order: "Send the order: Yelu Shugu is to lead troops to cover the rear, and all other units, follow me in retreat!"

"Yes!" Hearing the order, Yelu Anbo breathed a sigh of relief.

With the retreat order given, the Khitan troops in the imperial camp all withdrew northward—or perhaps "fled" would be a more apt description, for they were only a hair's breadth from total collapse. As for Yelu Ruan's side, they moved even faster. He had several thousand of his most loyal troops, who had been guarding the imperial tent all along without being committed to battle. At this critical moment of retreat, they became the most reliable protective force.

As Yelu Ruan led his troops north in retreat, gold, silver, treasures, weapons, warhorses, grain, and goods—none of it could be cared for, all abandoned. The only thing not forgotten was probably the "emperor jerky" made from Yelu Deguang's corpse.

With Yelu Ruan's voluntary retreat, Liu Chengyou's gamble of this night raid had been won. While the various troops continued pursuing, looting, or fighting among themselves, Liu Chengyou began to fully pull back and assemble the various Longqi armies.

Though the Liao army was defeated, the chaos did not stop. Among the tents by the Xiao River, the sounds of killing remained fierce. Not all Khitan had retreated; the scene was chaotic, hearts divided—many scattered and fled, and even more had truly gone mad with killing, looking like they would fight to the death.

Withdrawing to the east, Longqi soldiers continuously received orders and gathered in. Liu Chengyou, from afar, admired the hellish scene at the fires, his excitement already past, a complex color emerging in his eyes.

This battle had truly seen countless casualties—and not just among the Khitan...