Chapter 1082: Disguise

Mu Yangling looked down from above and said to Little Bear, “We’re forcing them into the dense forest. Having set up so many traps in advance, we can’t let it go to waste.”

Little Bear agreed.

If they stayed on the road, there would be too many casualties. Thus, Little Bear organized the soldiers with good archery skills and lined them up in two rows, forcing them into the forest.

“When they’ve more or less entered the forest, take a detour to the right and go down the mountain to meet up with the people in front.” Mu Yangling instructed him seriously. “Remember, preserving our strength is of utmost importance. Don’t fight for longer than is necessary.”

Little Bear agreed.

Meanwhile, Mu Yangling brought another group of people down the mountain to fight in the forest. They wanted the enemy to enter the forest because the trees were dense, making it easy for them to hide. Even if they were outnumbered, they were not afraid.

Reason being, the trees were dense, so they could not be sure if the person beside them was one of theirs.

Before arriving, Mu Yangling had already planned how to fight this battle, and her specialty was jungle ambush warfare, naturally utilizing her most adept combat method.

The forest was dense with trees, obscuring visibility beyond ten steps. Turning around could mean bumping into a tree, making it extremely convenient for them to conceal their movements and strike.

Mu Yangling divided her soldiers into groups of five, with three groups forming one team. As they moved forward in unison, she said, “In two hours, no matter where you are, you have to think of a way to rush to the gathering point. We will only wait there for half an hour, and those who don’t arrive in half an hour will be considered dead.”

The soldiers agreed in a low voice as they followed Mu Yangling into the mountain.

By the time Commander Shu led his men to push away the huge rock, less than 10% of the people surrounded inside were still alive. The rest were either dead or hiding in the forest.

Commander Shu’s eyes were red as he said, “Send a signal and point out the direction for the soldiers hiding in the forest. Go find firewood and light a fire.”

“Sir, I’m afraid starting a fire will attract the enemy…”

Commander Shu gritted his teeth and said, “All the better.”

The other party wasn’t the only one who knew how to ambush; he, too, knew how to do it!

The deputy general could only listen to orders and lead his men to light a huge fire in the open area to point out the direction for their men hiding in the forest.

Little Bear lay on the ground and gazed in the direction of the fire, eager to attack. However, remembering his mother’s instructions, he could only whisper to the person beside him regretfully, “Let’s go.”

Commandant Fang heaved a sigh of relief. He was really afraid that the Prince would disregard his advice and run over. Although the temptation of the fire was huge, there was a 50% chance that it was a trap.

Seeing that the enemy didn’t attack, Commander Shu’s expression became uglier and uglier. When dusk fell, there were only more than 3,000 people who came out of the forest one after another. Including the nearly 1,000 people from before, there were only 4,000 of them left out of the 10,000 people. And this was before they even met the enemy face-to-face.

A soldier reported that they had encountered Great Qi soldiers in the forest and barely managed to escape.

“Any idea how many of them there are?”

The soldier shook his head. “We got separated as soon as we entered the mountain. With the shielding from the trees, we couldn’t see how many people there were. I myself only saw three people.”

However, everyone saw that there were three, four, or five people, which totaled nearly 20,000 people. The deputy general hurriedly said, “Sir, it’s impossible for the enemy to have such large numbers. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have forced us into the dense forest. They must have fewer people than us.”

“I naturally know. But now that we’ve lost nearly 6,000 people, do you think we still outnumber them?”

The deputy general was silent.

Frowning, Commander Shu said, “I seem to have seen such a tactic before. At least, someone told me about it, but I only have a vague memory of it.”

“General, should we go back to Zhengzhou?”

“No, it will take three days to go to Zhengzhou, but it will only take less than two days to go to Henan Prefecture. Get our men to get some rest in and we’ll set off for Henan Prefecture tomorrow morning. Let’s take another route.” Commander Shu felt uneasy. “How did they know that we would go to support Henan Prefecture?”

At this moment, Mu Yangling sent out three scouts and said, “Don’t get too close. Just keep close enough to see where they’re heading.”

She then instructed Commandant Fang and the others, “Tell the soldiers to get some rest. There’s still a tough battle to fight tomorrow.”

“Yes.”

“Mother.” Little Bear ran over excitedly. “Should we ambush them in advance?”

Mu Yangling shook her head. “We’re not familiar with the enemy general and don’t know if he’ll change his route. It might be a waste of effort to ambush them in advance. It’d be better to wait for the scouts to report before making a decision.”

Smiling, Mu Yangling said, “I’m not expecting to kill them all in one ambush anyway.”

At the fifth watch the next day, Commander Shu left the camp. After walking for almost two hours, at dawn, shouts suddenly came from the forest, announcing that Great Jin’s reinforcements had entered the ambush circle again.

Commander Shu drew his broadsword and shouted, “There aren’t many enemies. Let’s charge out!”

“Didn’t we send scouts to take a look in advance? Why would our men still enter an ambush?”

“Now is not the time to pursue the matter. Let’s rush out first!”

Mu Yangling drew her bow and shot the deputy general beside Commander Shu with an arrow, causing him to fall off his horse. Seeing that the other party was about to attack, she said, “Send the signal and let the cavalrymen charge. Make an opening for the enemy to charge out.”

“Your Highness, why don’t we take advantage of their flustered state and take them down in one go?”

“There are 4,000 of them. Surrounding them might make them fight to their deaths which is actually disadvantageous for us. Let them leave. There’s still a team of ambushers behind us.”

Commandant Fang was impressed.

Little Bear was riding on a horse. When he saw the signal, he immediately charged out with the cavalrymen.

As the enemy was already panicking, they could not stop them in time. The cavalrymen advanced three times and came out three times. Having already suffered heavy casualties, the morale of the enemy was extremely low. Just as Commander Shu wanted to order the soldiers to counterattack, a loud shout suddenly came from the front. Someone had broken out of the encirclement!

Hence, the soldiers rushed forward, hoping to break out of the encirclement.

This time, less than 2,000 people successfully broke out of the encirclement.

When Commander Shu came back to his senses and began to count his men, he realized that something was wrong. His expression changed drastically as he shouted, “We’ve been tricked–there must be an ambush ahead. Let’s go back!”

“But General, there are ambush troops ahead too!”

Commander Shu’s expression changed a few times. Gritting his teeth, he said, “Since we’re going to die either way, brothers, let’s charge forward and fight with all our might! That way, we might be able to break out of the encirclement. Are you willing to follow me and charge out?”

Erupting with a strong will to live, the 2,000 remnant soldiers chanted, “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

Mu Yangling hid behind the tree and nocked a bow. When Commander Shu raised his hand again, the arrow shot out. Commander Shu waved his hand and shouted, “Set…”

Before he could say the word ‘off’, he suddenly widened his eyes and fell from his horse. Now that Mu Yangling had killed the commander in front of the 2,000-strong enemy army, the morale that they had just mustered dissipated instantly and they fled in panic.

Mu Yangling looked ahead and ordered, “Kill!”

That night, all 3,000 soldiers of Great Qi changed into Great Jin’s military uniform and headed for Henan Prefecture.

After traveling day and night, the 3,000 soldiers arrived at the northern city gate of Henan Prefecture at dusk the next day.