In my dream of returning to the Tang Dynasty, I snatched Wu Zetian from my lap.

Fuai City.

At three-quarters past midnight, the sky was pitch black.

The downpour suddenly stopped!

Although the ground was still muddy, this was undoubtedly a good thing for Li Yuanchang, because the rain would greatly affect his plans.

The absence of rain is like icing on the cake.

He immediately ordered 243 personal guards to leave the city quickly, orderly, and secretly.

Before his departure, Murong Khan personally came to see him off.

"Your Highness, please be careful!" Murong Khan bowed, his eyes full of respect.

Li Yuanchang returned the salute: "The same goes for the Khan. Tomorrow at dawn, the rebels will surely attack. You must lead your troops to resist them. As long as I break through the enemy's main camp first, this internal strife will be quelled."

"Whoever can't hold on first loses!"

"As for the princess, I have already made arrangements."

"Let's work together to get through this difficult time."

"Good, if the enemy wants to get in, they'll have to step over my dead body!" The two looked at each other, appreciating each other's camaraderie.

Li Yuanchang said nothing more, mounted his horse, and quickly disappeared into the darkness outside the city gate.

"King Han, what a true man!" Murong Khan exclaimed sincerely as he watched him go.

"But the King of Han only has a little over two hundred men... Even if the enemy launches a large-scale attack on the city, the army at the main camp cannot be less than ten thousand men." Someone worried.

"I, the Khan, believe in him!"

"I see the shadow of invincibility in him!"

Murong Khan said in a deep voice, "Go! Quickly set up the city defenses, get into position, and don't rest tonight. We absolutely cannot let the King of Han down!"

"yes!"

After leaving Fuai City, Li Yuanchang led his troops with a large amount of "supplies" and turned onto a side road. He then used the uneven terrain of the river valley to complete a large detour.

During this period, the more than two hundred cavalrymen did not light torches at all, and the muddy ground made their journey extremely difficult.

After walking for only a short distance, everyone was covered in mud, and some even fell off their horses several times.

However, thanks to the intelligence gathered in advance by the scouts and the route provided by Murong Khan, they managed to avoid the reconnaissance of the rebel cavalry without any major incidents along the way.

At that moment, the massive rebel camp was completely unaware that an army of only two hundred men was approaching them.

Time passed by, from midnight to 1-3 AM, and then to the fourth quarter of the 3-5 AM.

Finally, Li Yuanchang and his men completed a perfect detour!

Below a vast hillside, a continuous stretch of camps came into view, with thousands of torches still burning brightly.

Li Yuanchang immediately ordered all his troops to dismount and hide on the reverse slope.

He then crawled to the highest point himself.

"Where is it!"

"Rebel camp!" a scout whispered.

The light rain and muddy ground had soaked the clothes of Li Yuanchang and everyone else. It was the dead of winter, and the chill of the early morning seeped into their bones.

Li Yuanchang wiped the rain and mist off his eyelashes, then wiped his glasses. Looking through the binoculars, the blurry black figure gradually became clear.

The massive military camp stood tall and was extremely intimidating.

However, aside from the basic rangers and watchtowers, the defenses were somewhat lax, lacking meticulous encampment and defensive measures such as horse traps.

These people from Barto probably never imagined that Tang troops would appear on their backsides!

Li Yuanchang was secretly delighted!

The timing, location, and people were all in place.

"It's almost dawn, hurry up and make sure the brothers have enough dry rations."

"You few, go around and crawl over there, and see which area the rebels' warhorses are parked in!"

"yes!"

"..."

A series of pre-battle preparations were carried out swiftly and systematically. The two hundred-plus men were like ghosts in the night, constantly watching their prey, but never making a sound.

At 6:45 AM, the scouts located the area where the rebels stored their warhorses by sound.

The sky was still pitch black, but for the ancients, the roosters had already begun to crow.

With the rains stopped, the rebel camps gradually reopened, and numerous boilers were emitting white smoke as they prepared meals.

Li Yuanchang and his men remained prostrate in the darkness, making no movement whatsoever.

He was waiting, waiting for some of the rebels to leave their camp and attack Fuai City, that would be the perfect opportunity to leave the main camp empty!

Time passed by, second by second, feeling as long as an eternity.

Li Yuanchang's body was frozen stiff, and he had to rely on distilled liquor to relieve the cold and warm his body.

During the long wait, time arrived at Mao Shi, which is 5 a.m. in later times.

Finally, after the rebels had their meal together, various bugle calls sounded, signaling their mobilization!

"Where!"

"Where did the bugle call come from? It must be Bato's troop-calling stand!" Li Yuanchang pinpointed the source of the sound. Although he couldn't see it with the naked eye, he could determine its approximate location.

Soon, approximately 20,000 rebel troops emerged from their camp, carrying torches as they marched toward Fuai City.

Li Yuanchang waited patiently, like a seasoned hunter who would not move until the moment was right to deliver a fatal blow, even if his clothes were soaked and his face was covered in mud, lying in wait like a dead man!

The fifth quarter of the hour of Mao (卯时) is approximately 7:00 AM, just before dawn.

In summer, it would have been bright long ago, but because it was the dead of winter, the world was still shrouded in darkness. In addition, the heavy rain last night had shrouded the entire plain in a thick fog, with visibility less than ten meters!

Boom!!

A loud explosion came from afar—the sound of trebuchets. The rebels had begun their pre-battle bombardment of Fuai City. This sound signaled that the impatient rebels had already launched their attack.

Li Yuanchang suddenly stood up, his frozen body fully recovered, and his eyes were full of fighting spirit.

"Soldiers!!"

Clang! Clang! Clang!

More than two hundred people all got on the job.

"Now is the time to act!!"

"yes!"

At the edge of the rising demonic mist, a furious roar of a desperate battle could be heard.

The first to emerge from the slope were a line of warhorses, numbering over two hundred. Instead of people, the horses carried dry firewood wrapped in oiled paper and covered with tung oil.

Behind them were more than two hundred elite soldiers from the Prince of Han's mansion, fully armed to the teeth.

With a flick of the command flag in Li Yuanchang's hand.

Wow!!

The guards lit the fire, and towering flames quickly erupted from the warhorses, like more than two hundred celestial horses bathed in flames.

"hiss!"

"roar!!"

The warhorses, which had been silent all night, felt the high temperature and immediately became restless, neighing and then, startled by the heat, charged forward.

bang bang bang...

Its running speed was no less than that of a car traveling at full speed, rushing towards the enemy camp.

Meanwhile, in the still relaxed rebel stronghold, no one noticed the strange noises coming from behind them, assuming they were the sounds of their own troops and warhorses.

In just a short while, the burning warhorses charged wildly into the enemy camp.

boom!

Boom!!

Wherever they went, men and horses fell, and camps were trampled flat.

"ah!!"

Screams and cries of panic filled the air.

"Fire! The horses are on fire!" a rebel shouted, throwing their ranks into chaos as many soldiers rallied to try and control the horses.