The Sui Dynasty's chess game

Chapter 774 Backstab in the Dead of Night
As the third watch of the night approached, the 30,000-strong army stood in neat rows within the city, ready to charge out at any moment. At the forefront were 1,000 arrow and grenades handlers and 3,000 crossbowmen. The crossbowmen were to fire rockets first, and only after the enemy was awakened could the arrows and grenades be fired, as this would be the most effective time.

In fact, if conditions permit, launching a large iron fire mine with a catapult to explode over the enemy camp would be the best effect, enough to terrify tens of thousands of enemy soldiers.

Li Jing stood atop the city wall, gazing into the distance with his all-seeing eye. He could already vaguely make out the silhouettes of the Sui army cavalry.

The 20,000 cavalry were led by Su Dingfang and Luo Cheng respectively. Although Qu Tutong became Su Dingfang's superior, Su Dingfang still accepted the position obediently. Qu Tutong was his father's generation, and his father's qualifications were not as good as Qu Tutong's, let alone his.

Qu Tutong said to the two men, "It doesn't matter if they have scouts on the outskirts. Once they reach the main camp and report back, we will have already arrived. We can spare the other soldiers who surrender, but we cannot let Xue Ju escape. Whether we kill him or capture him alive, it will be a great achievement!"

The two men rubbed their hands together, and Qu Tutong immediately ordered, "Let's go!"

Su Dingfang and Luo Cheng returned to their respective units, and the 20,000-strong army set off at a slow pace, keeping a distance of a thousand paces from each other, heading towards the enemy camp three miles away. Leading the way were five hundred crossbowmen, who were specifically tasked with shooting down sentries.

Two miles from the main camp, a patrol spotted the enemy. Before he could even shout, several crossbow bolts shot out, striking the patrolmen and killing over twenty outer patrols. A mile away, the inner patrol spotted the enemy, rang the bell, and the cavalry began to accelerate. Ten thousand horses galloped towards the enemy camp at breakneck speed.

In just a moment, they arrived at the camp, where the alarm bells rang. The urgent alarm bells echoed through the night.

The 20,000 sleeping soldiers were all awakened. Many of them got up and ran out of the tent barefoot, fearing that the tent would be burned down.

But what they saw was an even more terrifying scene: 20,000 cavalrymen stormed into the camp like an avalanche. The soldiers were terrified and fled in panic, pursued relentlessly by the cavalry.

Xue Ju's main tent and Zong Luohou's main tent were not next to each other, but about a mile apart. Xue Ju's army was supervising the battle, not going into battle, so their morale was much more relaxed. The two armies' emotions had to be kept separate to prevent them from influencing each other.

At this moment, Li Jing also issued the order to attack. The south gate was opened wide, the drawbridge was lowered, and 30,000 troops rushed out in a mighty procession, with 3,000 rocket soldiers leading the way.

Zong Luohou's camp was two miles away from the city wall. The soldiers ran at full speed. At this moment, alarm bells rang in Zong Luohou's camp. Something happened in the southern camp, which affected them.

The soldiers had just put on their shoes, grabbed their weapons, and run out of the main tent when three thousand fire arrows rained down on the camp, and the tents began to burn rapidly. Zong Luohou was shocked and shouted urgently, "Fold down the main tent!"

No sooner had the words been spoken than a thousand arrows and grenades shot into the camp, exploding inside. Soldiers cried out in despair, and chaos reigned. The fire, fanned by the wind, spread rapidly through the camp. Amidst the raging flames and detonations, when the second volley of arrows and grenades exploded within the camp, the soldiers finally broke down and began scrambling to escape. The Western Qin army suffered a crushing defeat, with countless soldiers fleeing wildly in the darkness, pursued by cavalry and infantry. Countless surrendered.

The nighttime chase continued until dawn, and by then the enemy could no longer be found within a 30-mile radius of Jincheng. The 10,000 cavalrymen were divided into 200 small teams to search the 30-mile radius again.

More than 38,000 enemy soldiers were captured, and nearly 5,000 enemy soldiers were killed or burned. More than 20,000 enemy soldiers escaped in the night. This is the biggest drawback of night fighting: capturing prisoners is not easy.

However, the fact that more than 20,000 soldiers ran away did not mean that they were still Western Qin soldiers. In fact, most of the soldiers who ran away took the opportunity to go home, and almost no one was willing to fight for Western Qin anymore.

Xue Ju's headless body was found in the soldiers' camp. Luo Cheng took the head. When Xue Ju tried to escape, Luo Cheng intercepted him and pierced his throat with a spear.

Two days later, Luo Shixin led an army of 100,000 to Jincheng County, where they joined Li Jing's army of 50,000. However, according to Emperor Xiao Xia's plan, another army marched from Hanzhong into Lintao County.

The main task of this army was not to participate in annihilating the Western Qin army, but to prevent the Western Qin army from escaping into Hanzhong and Bashu.

At this moment, on the official road south of Lintao County, an army of 10,000 men was marching swiftly, followed by 20,000 donkeys and mules fully loaded with grain supplies.

This army was led by General Qiu Xinggong, and their goal was to capture the strategically important Lintao County.

Lintao County is located in the southern part of Lintao Prefecture. It guards the official road to the south. The official road from Tianshui Prefecture in the east and the official road from Jiaohe Prefecture in the west meet at the Tao River in the north of Lintao County. After crossing the Tao River, the road passes through Lintao County and goes south. Once Lintao County is defended, there is no way to go on either side of the county town.

This road is usually a trade route, and caravans coming from Hanzhong and going to Hanzhong all pass through here. It used to be very bustling, but since the war between the Western Qin army and the Tang King's army, there have been virtually no caravans appearing here in the past two years.

Although it was a trade route, it was equally important in terms of military value. It was a necessary route from Longyou to Hanzhong, as well as a place for rest and resupply, and had extremely high strategic value.

Because of its strategic importance, three thousand Western Qin troops were stationed in Lintao County. However, this army was there to defend against enemy forces from the north, not from the south. The garrison had no idea that an army would come from Hanzhong.

However, Lintao County was also an important garrison for the Western Qin army. Meixiang County, which was the county seat to the north, was where 20,000 Western Qin troops were stationed, about 150 li away from Lintao County.

However, this place is right at the intersection of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Loess Plateau. The terrain is complex, with many dangerous passes and difficult roads. The Tao River also rushes through the canyon with a large drop, making it impossible to navigate by boat, not even a raft.

Qiu Xinggong stopped his advance about thirty miles south of Lintao County. He sent out scouts to investigate the situation of the garrison. Ten thousand soldiers rested and ate dinner on the spot. The soldiers boiled water to soak their dry rations. The soldiers' dry rations were flatbreads, which were very hard and had to be soaked in boiling water for a while before they could be eaten. These flatbreads had no filling. Their biggest advantage was that they could be stored for half a year without spoiling, but their biggest disadvantage was that they tasted terrible.

Each soldier also had a bottle of meat sauce. They would scoop a spoonful into the soup and eat it with the soaked flatbread; it would taste much better that way.

The water boiled quickly. The honeycomb briquettes were convenient, clean, and had a high heat output. The water boiled in no time, and each soldier was given a bowl to soak in the broth.

At this moment, the scout returned and reported to Qiu Xinggong: "Reporting to the general, there are guards on the city walls, but very few, mainly on the north and south towers. There are basically no fixed soldiers on the east and west sides, but every incense stick or so, a patrol team will appear, walk around, and then leave."

How many people are in the patrol team?

"There are about thirty people, all of whom have battlements. We can use rope ladders to go up the city wall."

Qiu Xinggong nodded and ordered, "Order the entire army to rest, and depart at the first watch!"

(End of this chapter)