Chapter 2709: Major Assault II

Yin Li saw the dust rising, his gaze became sharp, “Your Majesty, General Ashina has lured the enemy out.”

The Emperor immediately stepped forward to look, glanced at the place where dust flew, clenched his fist and said, “Wait a little longer.”

The Emperor instructed Ashina to lead a thousand cavalry to lure the enemy army, but also arranged two other cavalry teams for ambush, one with State Duke Zhao leading fifteen thousand soldiers hidden at West Ridge, and another with Governor Niu leading eleven thousand soldiers ambushing north of the mountain.

Ashina led the thousand cavalry to lure the enemy into the canyon, and Governor Niu ambushed on the north side of the mountain saw them fall into the trap, immediately charged out with his men, and the Emperor standing on the high mountain saw the dust flying, knowing that Governor Niu had acted.

Immediately, he sounded the war drums, waved flags, and ordered State Duke Zhao to lead the troops to charge and encircle the enemy army.

Yan Shou heard the drumbeat, raised his head and saw the Great Jin Emperor standing on the mountain peak, feeling excited, he immediately ordered his men to form a formation to face the enemy, pointing his long sword at them, “Men, that’s the Emperor of Great Jin, any warrior who can capture him will be rewarded with a thousand households rank!”

The army roared, and immediately some charged towards the northern mountain.

Ashina turned back to attack, along with the troops charging in from Governor Niu, they instantly intercepted most of them.

Some still broke through, Yin Li saw, left a thousand men to guard the Emperor, and led three thousand troops charging down.

Bai Shan glanced at the Emperor, then followed immediately.

The Emperor stood on the mountain peak, could clearly see the battle below, directly used flag signals to command, State Duke Zhao and Governor Niu adjusted formations according to the flag signals, continuously slaughtering the enemy entering the canyon, and constantly drawing in more enemy forces.

Yin Li led three thousand cavalry charging down the mountain, collided head-on with the attacking enemy, and with one slash, cut the foremost rider into two halves.

Bai Shan, who fell behind him, somewhat uncomfortably looked away, drew out his sword and entered the fray. He used a sword, far gentler than Yin Li, only slicing throats and piercing abdomen, absolutely not like Yin Li chopping people in half with one cut.

Daji was regarded as Bai Shan’s bodyguard, always closely following behind him, hacking people while protecting him as they charged forward.

The three thousand men quickly slaughtered all the enemy who broke out of formation.

Yin Li raised his hand to withdraw the troops, all the soldiers orderly lined up behind him, looking fiercely towards the battlefield within the canyon.

They would not join the fight; their task was to protect the Emperor, preventing any soldier from advancing to the mountain.

Goguryeo soldiers constantly attempted to charge over, most could not breakthrough, and those who did got cut down by the three thousand imperial guards beneath their horses.

After fighting for half a day, Yan Shou realized they were suffering constant losses, completely surrounded and killed by Jin troops, his expression changed drastically, both alarmed and fearful, he had no choice but to withdraw, yet the retreat was also blocked by Jin forces.

“Great General——”

Yan Shou gritted his teeth and said, “Withdraw to the mountain, defend along the mountain, quickly——”

But they were too many, by the time they finally occupied a mountain on the side and reinforced defensively, they had lost over twenty thousand men.

Yan Shou was heartbroken, but there was something even more heartbreaking. State Duke Zhao led his men to charge out, directly killing those building barricades along the road, cutting off their retreat.

In this way, although they temporarily defended after occupying a mountain, they were also surrounded, unable to retreat or advance.

Yan Shou and the Emperor on the northern mountain gazed at each other from afar, after a long time he turned back to the hastily erected tent, angrily banging the table.

Mohe General Huihe, who was with him, widened his eyes and said, “We must cut our way out, we don’t have much provisions.”

Yan Shou felt frustrated, “I naturally know, but how to fight now?”

He felt somewhat critical of Huihe’s lack of discretion, if it weren’t for him relentlessly pursuing Ashina, their sixty thousand men would not have been trapped.

As many as sixty thousand, although they claimed to have one hundred and fifty thousand reinforcements, there were actually not that many, only one hundred twenty thousand able to fight, so the main camp had only sixty thousand left, unclear if they would come to aid.

Aid was impossible, because they were blocked by twenty thousand troops of Great Jin.

The Emperor watched from afar, feeling very satisfied, the results were even greater than he imagined, the battle progressed smoother than expected.

Unexpectedly, Yan Shou was so timid, did not fight his way out, but instead fortified defensively along the mountain, without provisions, no logistical support, wasn’t that courting death?

Effortful desperation, although a gamble, might cause heavy casualties, yet their numbers far exceed Great Jin, they still have a good chance of fighting their way out.

Bai Shan and Yin Li returned to the Emperor’s side, glanced down, asked the Emperor, “Your Majesty, shall we negotiate surrender?”

The Emperor looked approvingly at Bai Shan, “How do you know I want to negotiate surrender?”

Bai Shan said, “The weather is cold, prolonging will consume us greatly too, they lack courage to charge out, should be easy to negotiate surrender.”

The Emperor nodded slightly, “No rush on this, I saw below a young commander in white armor, quite brave, what’s his name?”

Yin Li noticed too, was about to send someone to inquire, Bai Shan said, “His name is Xue Gui, from the Xue clan of Hedong, descendant of the Northern Dynasty’s Prince of Hedong.”

The Emperor raised an eyebrow, “Indeed a descendant of a famous general, let him rest for a while then lead a thousand troops to dampen their remaining morale.”

“Yes.” Bai Shan agreed, then someone naturally went to transmit the order, but he needed to write the order and decree himself, well, this is the role of the Central Secretariat on the battlefield.

Thus, the Goguryeo troops had no peace even at night, Xue Gui, Ashina, and Governor Niu took turns entering the fray, one goes up to fight for half an hour, after a while another comes to fight for half an hour…

By the next morning, when tallying casualties, Yan Shou nearly cried.

Soldiers reported they carried little provisions with the army, whether to break through or wait for what, tears rolled from Yan Shou’s eyes.

Feeling somewhat indecisive, wanting to organize troops to charge out, the outside erupted with deafening battle cries, not only the soldiers below, but as Yan Shou heard these seemingly explosive sounds beside him, he couldn’t help but be terrified.

Huihe, pale-faced, said, “Our retreat is cut off, how to withdraw?”

Yan Shou said nothing.

Several deputy generals silently standing in the tent couldn’t help but exchange glances, someone then softly proposed, “General, otherwise, shall we surrender?”

Everyone’s gaze focused brightly on Yan Shou.

Even Huihe whispered, “Otherwise let’s surrender, Great Jin’s Emperor does not kill surrendering troops, look at Ashina, isn’t he a surrendering general?”

Yan Shou seemed grilled on fire, struggling to make a decision.

Outside, the Emperor said to State Duke Zhao, “Let the men shout louder, cook meat soup for their midday meal.”

The order was passed down, everyone shouted louder, encircling Yan Shou’s army yelling and drinking, the echoes bounced around the canyon, making the sound grow larger.

Holding weapons defensively, Goguryeo soldiers had trembling hands, Huihe dragged Yan Shou to see, sorrowfully said, “Their courage is broken, how can we fight?”

Yan Shou’s face turned pale, finally closed his eyes, unbuckled his sword and went down.

Everyone immediately knew he agreed to surrender.