knife

Chapter 227 The First Ambush

Zhu Zhe was shirtless, revealing his muscular physique and numerous scars. He gripped a shovel in both hands, moving it up and down rapidly, sending large chunks of soil flying into the bamboo basket above. The soldiers standing nearby then lifted the basket and carried it away into the distance.

He alone is worth seven or eight strong soldiers.

Zhu Zhe, who just turned twenty-one this year, has a peak cultivation level of the sixth grade of Xuan Yuan. Although he is young, he is a seasoned veteran. He joined Gu Xiaoman's Human Battalion at the age of fifteen and became one of the three battalions' captains at the age of twenty.

After the establishment of the Anxi Protectorate, Gu Xiaoman became a captain, leading a 1,200-strong garrison.

And this time, he was the one to fight the first battle in the fight against Jebe.

To put it bluntly, this battle was an ambush.

Zhu Zhe was very excited.

He was a man born to fight; whenever he had free time, he felt an itch to get to his very bones.

But the Anxi Protectorate kept him occupied for more than half a year.

The battle in which Zhu Zhe annihilated Yan Sheng was Zhu Zhe's only recent battle.

Since then, he has been scheduled for a rotation of days off.

Not only him, but the entire Zhechong Prefecture under his command was put on rotation for rest.

This break lasted for more than half a year.

He really wanted to tell the Protectorate General that he didn't need to rest.

But his soldiers needed rest; they had land to cultivate, money to earn, and families to support.

Otherwise, where would the money come from to buy war gear?

After all, the spoils of war are considered external wealth. Although it is said that a horse will not get fat without night grass and a person will not get rich without external wealth, if you want to solidify your foundation, you must naturally cultivate your own fields well and do business well.

Now that the autumn harvest is over and the crops in the fields have been stored in the warehouse, the soldiers are free and naturally want to make some extra money.

Especially in the past six months, the soldiers who participated in the war have followed Xiao Changche to fight everywhere and made a fortune. They are all very rich.

Don't think that eradicating those mountain strongholds and fortresses in the Black Domain was fruitless. On the contrary, these places are truly wealthy. Once you conquer a stronghold, you can plunder to your heart's content. Those guys from the Black Domain have been entrenched there for many years, and in terms of wealth, they are quite well-off.

However, the spoils from this battle are unlikely to be plentiful.

Because the main force of the enemy was the barbarians from the north and west who had been conquered by the Yuan people.

Those people were dirt poor, and it was difficult to find anything of value on them.

Zhu Zhe was very surprised by Chi Qiuyuan's abilities.

He knew that Chi Qiuyuan was very powerful, but it was somewhat unbelievable that he knew exactly where the enemy would launch their attack, how many people were involved, and who the commanding general was.

Knowing all this, Zhu Zhe was able to calmly dig a trap and set up an ambush.

He had a total of 1,200 people in the entire Zhechong Prefecture.

His opponents numbered only three hundred, all of whom were Xihu.

Jebe's tactics were simple, but they were very effective.

That is to send out multiple small cavalry units, using Longgoubao as a base, to head towards the interior of the Anxi Protectorate. As for the destination, Jebe doesn't care.

Jebe simply told them to go wherever there were many people and wealth.

There's only one mission: burn everything, kill everyone, and loot everything.

This was certainly in line with the nature of the Xihu people, and they all shouted with excitement.

Of course, these people wouldn't amount to much, and Zhebie knew that in the end they would definitely be eliminated by Li Dachui and Xiao Changche.

However, in the process of pursuing and killing these small groups of Hu cavalry, the forces of the Anxi Protectorate would be severely dispersed.

At this moment, Jebe's large force suddenly launched an attack, heading straight for the key locations of the Anxi Protectorate, such as Tai'an City and Baoping City. Xiao Changche and Li Dachui could only hastily gather their troops to meet the attack. It is easy to disperse troops, but it is difficult to regroup them. It is even more difficult to effectively utilize the concentrated troops and maintain their combat effectiveness.

Jebe did not underestimate Xiao Changche and Li Dachui at all.

On the contrary, he attached great importance to it.

How could a force that even Linghu Ye couldn't handle be simple?

All the ideas are wonderful, but reality often shatters dreams.

Jebe never imagined that before any of his troops had even left Longgoubao, his detailed troop deployment plan had already been thoroughly discovered by his opponents.

The trap, which was more than ten feet deep, about a hundred meters long, and two zhang wide, was dug. The most amazing thing was that there was a path in this long trap. Three or four paths were marked with special signs, and no one but a careful person would be able to tell them apart.

Of course, there's nothing good in the trap! Thick, sharpened bamboo skewers were densely stuck into the bottom of the pit, and then brambles and straw mats were laid on top, sprinkled with topsoil, and some turf and small shrubs were carefully placed on top.

By the time all this was done, it was completely dark.

Everything on the road was restored to normal. Zhu Zhe stayed behind to check it one last time before he felt at ease and went up the gentle slope on one side.

In fact, many arrangements were made on the gentle slope, and many trenches were dug. However, after being camouflaged, the trenches were completely invisible from below.

Zhu Zhe's soldiers were all hidden in these trenches, along with various types of crossbows. Further back were Zhu Zhe's only 150 cavalrymen from his military headquarters.

Zhu Zhe, who came from a bandit background, always attached great importance to the use of cavalry.

Under the bright moonlight, Zhu Zhe lay on the hilltop, listening to the thunderous snores of his brothers in the trench and on the hilltop, and a happy smile appeared on his face.

The fact that everyone could sleep so soundly before the big battle shows that they were truly relaxed.

It makes sense. The soldiers of the Anxi Protectorate have always been trained by experienced soldiers mentoring new ones. Only after going through small battles and accumulating enough experience can they be selected to participate in such a major campaign.

Therefore, in this great battle, the Anxi Protectorate did not have any new recruits participating.

"I need to work even harder!" Zhu Zhe thought to himself as he chewed on a blade of grass.

If you don't work hard for even a day, you risk being overtaken by others!
I heard that on Commander Xia's side, there is a guy named Ding Ergou who has only been practicing martial arts for five years and is only eighteen years old. He has already reached the fifth rank of Qi Control and is now a regimental commander.

When I was eighteen, I was also at the fifth rank of Qi Control. However, I had been practicing martial arts since I was eight years old, and it took me a full ten years to reach the fifth rank of Qi Control.

At least Ding Ergou is more talented than me in martial arts training.

However, experience in fighting is another matter.

Just like his own superior, General Gu Xiaoman, who was at the peak of the eighth rank in martial arts, he was often sprayed with spittle by his deputy, General Xiao Dongwei, the one-eyed dragon, when he was commanding battles.

Martial arts is the accumulation of power.

War is the accumulation of experience.

Zhu Zhe lit a stick of incense, held it between his fingers, stretched out his limbs, and fell into a comfortable sleep.

At the fourth watch of the night, as the incense burned to its last bit, Zhu Zhe suddenly opened his eyes. Although he had only slept for about one watch, he was still full of energy. He walked along the trench and kicked his soldiers awake one by one.

The soldiers, once awake, silently began to eat their rations and drink water, and then began to carefully inspect their combat equipment.

As dawn breaks, it means the war is about to begin.

As the first rays of sunlight pierced through the mist and fell upon the earth, the sound of rapid hoofbeats filled the air.

Then, three or four riders galloped towards the direction of the sunlight, followed by a large troop of cavalry.

Ahead were scouts from the Anxi Protectorate.

And chasing after them were the barbarian cavalry that Zhu Zhe was waiting for.

More than a thousand people held their breath and watched silently as the enemy below rapidly approached.

The scouts clearly knew the paths leading to the traps. They split into groups of three or four and sped along the three or four paths, which made it seem to the pursuers behind them that the area ahead was safe and sound.

They shouted and yelled, and those at the front drew their bows and shot arrows at the fleeing scouts of the Anxi Protectorate.

His archery skills were extremely accurate and powerful.

But before the archers could even see their results, their horses stumbled and crashed into the trap.

The bamboo spikes in the trap were not enough to kill these leather-armored barbarians; the real threat came from the other cavalrymen who swarmed in at breakneck speed.

The first few cavalrymen fell one after another into the trap until it was completely filled.

The Hu people behind struggled to rein in their horses and stop, causing chaos to erupt at the scene.

Then they heard the whistling sound of a rain of arrows.

Countless crossbow bolts rained down from one side of the hillside, and a large number of Hu cavalrymen immediately fell.

The remaining Hu cavalry reacted swiftly. They immediately pulled their horses, turned around, and fled to the other side, instantly getting out of the crossbow's range. Then they reined in their horses and turned back.

Traps and crossbow bolts—two consecutive rounds of attacks had wiped out most of the three hundred-plus barbarian cavalry, with at least two hundred rendered incapable of fighting.

The remaining hundred or so riders were a complete surprise to Zhu Zhe.

They didn't run away.

After a brief reorganization, they spurred their horses, drew their swords, and charged towards the Qin army on the hillside.

However, this time their formation was extremely spread out.

More than a hundred people were divided into seven or eight waves, with each rider separated by tens of meters.

"Damn, they're fierce!" Zhu Zhe exclaimed.

Not only were they fierce, but they also had considerable combat experience. It seems they had suffered many attacks from the Yuan people's crossbows in the northern frontier, and thus learned how to deal with them.

Using a crossbow at this point would be incredibly effective.

Ordinary bows and arrows, unless shot by a martial arts master, are really ineffective against these tall and strong Hu people.

"Archers, shoot the horses!" Zhu Zhe roared. "Spearmen, swordsmen and shieldmen, prepare for battle!"

(End of this chapter)