Chapter 125: Sounding the Gongs to Withdraw Troops

Everyone stared blankly at this troop they had never seen before.

That uniform, rhythmic sound of footsteps seemed to echo in everyone's mind.

Boom, boom, boom, boom!

Even the sounds of the War Horses seemed to have undergone long-term training, shaking people to their cores.

The 80,000-strong Yinzhou Army, at this moment, actually produced the sound of an army of several hundred thousand.

Momentum!

In terms of momentum alone, they firmly suppressed the Longyan Army, which had fallen into despair, and even the 200,000-strong Xiongnu Army, which was like a mob of Scattered Soldiers, was left dumbfounded.

Cheng Mu's expression changed drastically: "Defend, defend!"

However, it was already too late.

Liu Zheng chuckled and shouted with his arms raised: "Jiang Xuan!"

"This general is here!"

"Open a gap and let the brother troops out!"

"This general obeys! Mo Dao Soldiers!"

"Roar!"

"Follow me and kill!"

"Qin Zhangfeng!"

"This general is here!"

"Cover Jiang Xuan!"

"Yes!"

With several military orders in succession, the Yinzhou Army obeyed commands and prohibited actions, their momentum astonishing. In an instant, the Cavalry, Blade Infantry, Shield Infantry, Spearman, and Crossbowman, organized in layers, charged toward the Xiongnu soldiers surrounding the Longyan Army under the command of the dense war drums, without needing much preparation.

What was even more shocking was that no matter how the Yinzhou Army charged, they could still maintain a neat formation.

Even when the Xiongnu soldiers began to resist and killed some of the charging Yinzhou soldiers, the formation here did not fall into chaos, and someone would quickly fill the gap to ensure the integrity of the battle formation. This was a complete battle formation where everyone only needed to complete their own actions, without having to worry about anyone shooting cold arrows at their backs. As a result, everyone in the battle formation had no distractions, naturally allowing their combat effectiveness to reach an astonishing level!

"This..."

Zheng Yuxing was stunned.

Having led troops for over twenty years, how could he not know how difficult it was to achieve such a level of unity and mutual trust on a real battlefield.

"Kill!"

At this time, the war drums of the Yinzhou Army became even denser. If one listened carefully, one would find that although the drumbeats were dense, they followed a pattern—it was a dense drumbeat of three long and two short! Under the command of these war drums, the Shield Infantry covered the Spearman, and both wings flew out, forming an encirclement of the incoming Xiongnu soldiers.

The Crossbowman followed behind, the Crossbow Bolt interfered with the Cavalry, the Shield Soldier blocked the first wave of the Xiongnu soldiers' Curved Saber offensive, and then the Spearman launched a fatal blow against the Xiongnu Cavalry!

"Bang!"

"Bang, bang, bang!"

The arrogant Xiongnu soldiers were one by one knocked off their horses by the Rhodok Spear. The Long Spear pierced through, dripping with blood!

Just one round.

The Yinzhou Army won completely!

"Good!"

"Roar!"

"Kill!"

Seeing the Yinzhou Army so powerful, the Longyan Army was also reignited with bloodlust. After all, the Yinzhou Army was 80,000 strong, and attacking from the periphery, it was easy to open a gap, which gave the Longyan Army, which had been surrounded for half a day, a gap to escape.

A gap is something that either doesn't appear, or once it does, it grows uncontrollably.

"Surround them for me, keep surrounding them!"

Cheng Mu shouted coldly.

He had designed this great battle and it was about to succeed, who would have thought such a change would occur?

The Xiongnu soldiers received the order and rushed to support the gap in the south, but no matter how they attacked, they could not shake the defense of the Yinzhou Army. Once the 80,000-strong formation of the Yinzhou Army unfolded, unless the 200,000-strong Xiongnu Army attacked with all their might, they really could not do anything to the Yinzhou Army. But if that happened, their encirclement of the Longyan Army would naturally be broken. In this way, if the Longyan Army rebounded and counterattacked, the Xiongnu Army would lose the advantage of the encirclement, and the war situation would change instantly.

"Kill!"

"Charge for me!"

Seeing the reinforcements arrive, Zheng Yuxing naturally knew that the opportunity could not be lost, and quickly reorganized his troops, retreating toward the direction of the Yinzhou Army while fighting.

The Longyan Army, having regained their vitality, fought for their lives.

The murderous aura and desire to survive displayed for a time left even the Xiongnu soldiers, who were known for their ferocity, dumbfounded. At this time, it was not just weapons; the Longyan soldiers used their hands and feet, and even their mouths, to fight.

They bit the necks of the Xiongnu soldiers hard.

They bit the necks of the War Horses hard.

They bit the legs of the enemy soldiers, and even their faces!

The battlefield had gone mad.

Cheng Mu's expression was extremely gloomy.

For the first time, the arrogant Xiongnu soldiers actually felt fear. Looking at the Yinzhou Army again, no matter how chaotic the scene was, they still advanced steadily, guarding the gap that was slowly being torn open.

Yinzhou Army?

Cheng Mu gritted his teeth, muttered the name twice, and then shouted loudly: "Retreat!"

"Retreat!"

The Xiongnu sounded the gongs to withdraw their troops.

Because Cheng Mu knew that the current situation was no longer under his control; it had lost control. Compared to the strict military discipline of the Longyan Dynasty, if the Xiongnu soldiers occupied an advantage on the field, they could be invincible in the world.

But once they lost their advantage, the attribute of the Xiongnu soldiers as Scattered Soldiers would be infinitely magnified, and in the end, there might even be a ridiculous scene of killing each other.

Knowing the characteristics of the Xiongnu soldiers well, Cheng Mu chose to withdraw his troops immediately.

Nearly two hundred thousand Xiongnu soldiers soon retreated back to Rongshan Pass.

The Longyan Dynasty soldiers finally escaped death and cheered with joy. This was equivalent to escaping from Hell, and almost everyone was teary-eyed.

Zheng Yuxing also turned his head with a sorrowful face, looking at the brothers whose remains could not even be recovered.

Today's battle had actually resulted in the direct loss of a one-hundred-thousand-strong army!

One hundred thousand!

The fifty-thousand-strong army brought by Crown Prince Xie Fang was almost completely wiped out. Zheng Yuxing, the Baiya Army, and the Pingzhou Army brought by the Prince of Lu also lost fifty thousand men...

Tragic!

A heavy loss!

When the various units of the Longyan side returned to Longhu Pass, they all collapsed onto the ground one by one, unable to believe everything that had happened today. When they went out today, it was still an army of over two hundred thousand; when they returned today, only one hundred thousand remained...

Many people burst into loud wails on the spot.

The veterans were fine, but among them were many new recruits who could not bear the scene today.

"It's all your fault, why did you have to pursue the Xiongnu!"

"What use is this Crown Prince to Longyan!"

Suddenly, in the crowd, a young man holding a long saber was about to strike at Xie Fang.

Everyone was shocked.

"Take him down for me!"

Zheng Yuxing kicked out, and immediately someone tied the man up tightly.

Xie Fang's expression turned cold: "How dare you ambush the Crown Prince of this dynasty! Kill him for me, behead him!"

Zheng Yuxing deliberately shouted angrily: "Drag him away and behead him immediately!"

"Yes!"

That young man had lost his father and two brothers in today's battle and had been wailing all the way.

Xie Fang trembled all over: "How could it be my fault? Hmm, you tell me, is it my fault? It was that the Xiongnu were too cunning! Do they dare to fight a head-on battle!"

The crowd was speechless, clenching their fists.

"What do you mean by this? Speak!"

"Does it have anything to do with me! Wasn't I trying to recover the lost territory!"

He kept roaring.

But no one paid him any mind.

If he were not the current Crown Prince, he would not be alive here today.

At this moment, the Yinzhou Army, responsible for covering the main force, also finally returned slowly. This immediately attracted everyone's attention.

Zheng Yuxing first cupped his hands and took a deep breath: "Prefectural Assistant Liu is a heavenly soldier and a divine general, using troops like a god; Yuxing admires you!"

The generals echoed him one after another.

Even the Prince of Lu looked at Liu Zheng with interest.

Chen Ping was expressionless and did not say a word.

But after all, people understand right from wrong; with Zheng Yuxing doing this, the one-hundred-thousand-strong army at Longhu Pass knelt down with a roar, expressing their gratitude to Liu Zheng.

"No, no, no, please don't!"

Liu Zheng was startled and hurriedly dismounted, feeling a bit at a loss for a moment.

This Zheng Yuxing was quite an arrogant person in the Longyan Dynasty; showing such reverence to Liu Zheng was likely a first for him.

"Young Master Liu has great talent and is worthy of such a bow!"

Who would have thought that before Zheng Yuxing could speak, Xie Ling had already walked over with a smile, his eyes gleaming as he looked at Liu Zheng.

Liu Zheng was just about to bow respectfully.

Xie Ling looked affectionate, grabbed Liu Zhen's arm, and said: "Young Master, you must not stand on ceremony. My life today was saved by you. Today, we shall disregard rank; you are our benefactor!"

"Good!"

"Yes, benefactor!"

Liu Zheng smiled bitterly in his heart.

This Third Prince was indeed no ordinary person; with a simple sentence, he made Liu Zheng feel a warmth in his heart. Who could withstand such methods of winning people's hearts?

"Hmph!"

Xie Fang watched from the side and said with a cold face: "Is that Prefectural Assistant Liu? I think he is nothing special. With such a good opportunity just now, the Xiongnu were in disarray, why didn't you pursue the victory?"

Liu Zheng was stunned.

The crowd was even more speechless upon hearing this.

Even the Crown Prince's staunch supporters sighed while covering their foreheads.

To this, Liu Zheng could only cup his hands and smile bitterly.

Jiang Xuan and Qin Zhangfeng almost killed this Crown Prince with their glares.

Pursue the victory?

He himself had just run back in a sorry state, yet he thought about such unrealistic things every day. He was high-minded but impractical. The loss of one hundred thousand troops was entirely the Crown Prince's responsibility, yet in the blink of an eye, he had forgotten about it and was ordering Liu Zheng around.

With such a Crown Prince, it was no wonder the Emperor did not like him.

The Third Prince comforted Liu Zheng: "Young Master Liu, His Highness the Crown Prince has a sharp tongue but a soft heart; please do not take it to heart. You are exhausted from the reinforcements; you should get some good rest!"

As he spoke, he pulled Liu Zheng into his own tent without further ado.

Crown Prince Xie Fang cursed angrily and also went back to bathe and change clothes, with Chen Ping following closely behind.

And Zheng Yuxing also followed into the Third Prince's tent.

He was originally Xie Ling's uncle, so he naturally saw the Third Prince's desire to win over Liu Zheng, and he was naturally happy about it.

The strength Liu Zheng displayed today is enough to live up to the rumors and evaluations about him in the outside world.

If the Third Prince could have this person's assistance, it would be a great help for the Bitter Remonstrance for the throne.

Who would have known, he had just sat down.

Liu Zheng then asked with a smile: "General Zheng, within three days, can the soldiers' morale accept a counterattack?"

"What?"

Xie Ling and Zheng Yuxing changed color at the same time.