As the Art of War says: Attack the enemy when he is least prepared, and you will be outnumbered.
Be it the Khitan wise man Yelu Shilu, the Yaonian tribe hero Yelu Xiadi, or Murong Ba, who was known as the god of war, none of them could have imagined that under such circumstances, the Tang army would dare to take the initiative to attack.
The dawn has not yet arrived and the night is deep.
At about a quarter before 1:00 pm, the gate of Juyongguan was quietly opened, and Zhu Li, riding on his Red Hare, was the first to walk out of the city.
Afterwards, countless Yue cavalrymen filed out. Without exception, all of them had bridles on their horses and thick cloth wrapped around their hooves. They quietly moved towards the Di camp forty miles away.
Juyong Pass is located in the southwest of Jundu Mountain. Coming out of Juyong Pass and marching along Jundu Mountain is heading northeast, and the Di people’s camp is stationed not far to the northeast of Jundu Mountain.
The Di coalition forces would never have imagined that after both sides suffered such heavy losses in the previous battle, the Tang army would dare to come out and launch a night attack.
Although there were many Di people patrolling guards, no one thought that anyone would really come to attack. Many people gathered in the corners of the big camp to keep each other warm. Some people even couldn't resist the sleepiness and fell into a deep sleep without any care in the world.
Beside Zhu Li, there is Li Hanzhi on the left, and the two brothers Gao Siji and Gao Mian on the right.
Four generals lined up in a row. When they were still an arrow's distance away from the stronghold, they took out their bows and strung arrows. In the dark night, on the towers on both sides of the stronghold gate, there were two cruising Khitan warriors. With the sound of "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh" breaking through the air, a total of four people fell down as soon as they were shot by the arrows.
Without waiting for the bodies of the Khitan warriors to fall to the ground or fall from the tower, Zhu Li, with a double-edged spear in his hand, rode his horse like lightning and rushed out first. By the time the Khitan warriors fell to the ground from the watchtower with a loud "thump", Zhu Li had already rushed to the gate of the village with his horse.
Red Hare is so fast that, when running at full speed, it is no exaggeration to say that it is not much slower than a flying arrow.
A horse was flying in the air, a spear was held up to the sky. When the other patrolling warriors of the Di people heard the noise and looked over in surprise, what they saw was a general of the Tang army, who was descending from the sky on a red cloud like a flying god.
The man held the steel spear high in his hand and smashed it hard against the wooden door of the camp with the force of splitting Mount Hua. There was a loud "boom", and wood chips flew and broken wood was thrown horizontally.
The heavy gate of the camp shattered with a sound, from top to bottom, as the steel spear fell, the gate was split directly in half.
The Falling Sky God General wielded his spear like flying, splitting the gate in half and moving it to the side. He then shouted, "Brothers, charge! Don't fight too long, and try to set fire to it."
"Yes!" As the man shouted loudly, a response suddenly sounded in the darkness. Before the voice fell, countless cavalrymen rushed into the camp, killing almost everyone they saw and setting fire to tents and wooden frames.
At this time, the Di warriors on patrol suddenly realized what had happened. They turned pale almost instantly and cried out in panic: "Oh no, the water is leaking, the enemy is attacking."
"Enemy attack, run."
... ... .
There was a panic of riot and panic. For a moment, everyone was running for their lives with their heads in their hands, and no one stepped forward to stop them.
This was because Zhu Li and the other four generals took the lead. With steel spears crisscrossing, long spears flying, and iron rods dancing wildly, anyone who was touched by them would die in the dark night.
On the spot, such ferocious killing completely frightened the Di warriors out of their wits.
The emotions of noise, panic, and horror continued to spread, instantly engulfing the entire Di camp.
The Yue cavalrymen who followed closely behind the four generals each had a tinder in their hands. As soon as they rushed into the camp, they immediately used the tinder to light the torches that had been prepared.
While killing the Di warriors who were missed by the four generals in front, they set fires everywhere.
Some Di warriors woke up from their dreams, shouting in panic, and rushed out with a scimitar in their hand without even having time to put on their pants. As soon as they rushed out of the tent, they were greeted by either cold spears or ruthless long swords.
Some people were even a little slow, and the marching tent they were living in was set on fire. When they wanted to rush out of the tent and run out to kill the enemy, they were surrounded by a sea of fire. They were only concerned with avoiding the fire and had no time to fight back.
There were waves three feet high at no wind on the sea, and there were strong winds on the Liaoyuan Plain. Usually there was a gentle breeze, but in mid-October, there was a fierce northerly wind. The wind helped the fire, and the fire helped the wind. The fire in the entire camp became more and more intense, and the flames soon turned into several crazy fire dragons, raging and sweeping across the entire camp.
A general came riding towards them, looking a little unfamiliar, but facing this man, all the weapons, including a spear, two guns and a stick, were immediately used like floating lights and lightning.
Poor General Di didn't even have time to say a word of polite words before he was stabbed with three holes in his body. In the end, under Li Hanzhi's stick, both he and his horse were turned into minced meat.
Zhu Li and his companions did not want to fight. If anyone tried to stop them, they would kill them directly. If no one tried to stop them, they would head north, riding their horses madly and setting fires, enjoying the attack to their heart's content.
This riot lasted for more than a quarter of an hour and was finally stopped by Yelu Xiadi, Yelu Shilu and others who got up after hearing the news.
The Di leaders all looked very unhappy. When they saw Zhu Li and the others riding their horses directly towards the depths of the stronghold, they quickly organized their men and horses and chased after them. They had to chase after them. Deep inside the stronghold, at the northernmost part of the camp, there were countless cattle and sheep, which were the army's rations.
The army on the grassland went to war, and they all drove cattle and sheep. They had very little food and fodder, and relied entirely on cattle and sheep. If these cattle and sheep were affected by the fire, or even fled and got lost, then it was foreseeable that this march south would be defeated without a fight.
Yelu Sala was the last one to leave the tent. He saw Murong Ba, Bala and others leading their troops in pursuit, as if they were on fire. Only Yelu Xiadi and his third brother Yelu Shilu were still there. He wondered, "How dare the Tang army choose this time to launch a surprise attack? It's really incomprehensible."
Upon hearing this, Yelu Xiadi and Yelu Shilu also frowned. The former said in confusion, "The number of troops they brought with them for this night attack is no more than 10,000 at most. They rushed north with such a small number of people. What on earth do they want to do? Do they expect to return to the interior of the country?"
Yelu Shilu asked suspiciously, "Could it be that the Tang army wants to destroy our military rations?"
Even he himself was not completely sure about this reason. You know, even if all the cattle and sheep were killed, the meat would still be left. The Khitans and Tuhun people could make the dead cattle and sheep into dried meat to sustain for more than a month, which was not a difficult task.
"No matter what, since we have sent out cavalry to attack the camp at night, we must make sure they never return and kill more than ten thousand soldiers and horses." Yelu Xidi said viciously.
Although Zhu Li and his men attacked the camp at night and killed many Di warriors,
Many tents were burned, but the number of dead warriors was still a small part compared to the warriors who survived in the military camp of nearly 100,000 Di people.
This was also the reason why Yelu Xidi said this. Anyone whose camp was raided would probably not be in a good mood. What's more, none of them had expected the Tang army's sudden attack, which made them too ashamed and angry.
In shame and anger, both Yelu Xiadi and Yelu Shilu wanted to get back at the cavalry that had come out of the pass for a night attack. As soon as Yelu Xiadi's proposal was made, it was immediately agreed by Yelu Shilu and Yelu Sala.
Since everyone had no objection, the three of them immediately gathered their men and followed Murong Ba and Bala, chasing them all the way.
The Khitan coalition's camp was indeed huge. It took Zhu Li and others more than an hour from the time they entered the camp gate to the time they completely rushed out of the entire camp.
Although the murder and arson took a lot of time, it was also because Dazhai was too big.
This night attack was not in vain. More than ten thousand Khitan tents were burned down, countless of their cattle and sheep were scattered, and a group of war horses were scared away. It was a very successful job.
However, although it was a surprise attack, the number of Yue cavalry was still reduced by thousands. There was no way around it. Clay pots were bound to fall into the well and generals were bound to die in the battle. Breaking out of the camp of a hundred thousand troops with a reduction of a thousand men was already a miracle.
However, this amount of casualties is negligible compared to the losses suffered by the Khitans.
Zhu Li alone killed hundreds of people, and Gao Siji, Gao Mian, Li Hanzhi and others also killed a lot, not to mention the Yueqi guards themselves. If you calculate it this way, the Khitan and Tuhun coalition forces lost at least more than 10,000 people in one night attack.
The next step was to go around in circles and see if he could make it back successfully. As soon as he rushed out of the camp, Zhu Li waved his hand without saying a word, and rode his horse straight to the north, completely ignoring the pursuers behind him.
Murong Ba and Bala chased out of the camp, and they couldn't even eat the dust left by Zhu Li and the others. They could only vaguely know that the direction the Tang army fled was the north. This situation made them look very ugly.
The two of them did not hesitate at all, and directly led their subordinates to chase after the traces left by Zhu Li and the others. Yelu Shilu, Yelu Sala and others who followed behind had no choice but to chase after them along the traces left by Murong Ba and the others.
Outside Juyongguan is the territory of Guizhou, and the nearest river is the Guishui River. Zhu Li and others fled all the way to the Guishui River, then immediately turned east, following the Guishui River upstream and running towards the middle section of Jundu Mountain.
Murong Ba and Bala chased to Guishui and hesitated for a moment. They did not know what Zhu Li's intention was. It was not until Yelu Xiadi, Yelu Shilu and the other two arrived that Murong Ba worriedly said to Yelu Xiadi, "Yu Yue, I suspect that Zhu Li is deliberately going around in circles, and his target seems to be our camp."
The God of War's thinking was indeed extraordinary. Many people had done this kind of roundabout escape and counterattack, so it was no wonder that Murong Ba thought so.
Everyone's expressions tensed when they heard this. Yelu Xidi was very decisive and trusted Murong Ba's judgment very much. He said without hesitation: "Shi Lu and I will lead the troops back to defend the big camp. You guys continue to chase them. Since they dare to come out, don't even think about going back."
"Yes." Murong Ba, Bala and Yelu Sala immediately bowed and responded.