Liu Heita prepared everything and waited for the fish to take the bait, but he didn't expect that the fish really took the bait.
Liu Heita was extremely excited.
Soon, loud drum sounds spread throughout the camp, and all Liu's troops gathered on the parade ground in the camp, waiting for Liu Heita's orders.
After gathering his troops, Fan Yuan raised his neck and shouted at Liu Heita on the lookout tower.
"My lord, the brothers are ready."
“Hehehe…”
Liu Heita ordered with a sly smile, "Tell the brothers to act according to the plan."
Fan Yuan readily agreed, "I understand."
Fan Yuan sent someone to pass the order again, asking all Liu troops to act according to the plan.
There is no need to remind Liu Jun specifically what he needs to do.
Long before Liu Heita secretly exchanged letters with the Turks and discussed strategies, he had already given Liu Jun specific "combat missions".
After receiving Liu Heita's order, Liu Jun quickly dispersed.
Some people operated the heavy crossbows, some went to the places where the tripwires had been buried in advance and waited for the opportunity, and some gathered together to form a military formation, waiting to deal a heavy blow to the Tang army.
The light cavalry and rangers in the camp also rushed out at this moment.
They are responsible for supporting the brothers who are ambushing in the mountains and forests.
When necessary, they can also act as bait to lure the Tang army into an ambush.
After Liu Heita and his Liu army soldiers were ready, Su Dingfang had already led his troops halfway.
The faces of Su Dingfang and others were gradually seen clearly by Liu Jun who was ambushing in the mountains and forests.
Some of Liu Jun's soldiers who were handling bows and crossbows became dazed and pale after seeing the familiar blushing face.
"ah……"
Someone screamed, and the man holding the crossbow trembled in fear, and a crossbow arrow flew out.
The captain who led them saw this, his eyes widened like bells, his heart felt like a heavy hammer was hitting, and he roared at the screaming person, "What are you shouting?!"
The screaming man was frightened by the captain's reaction, shrank his neck slightly, and said timidly: "I saw Hu Jin in the enemy team..."
The captain whipped the screaming man hard, gritted his teeth and growled, "Who is Hu Jin? I've never heard of him. Why are you shouting?"
The screaming man swallowed his saliva and whispered: "Hu Jin is a well-known strongman in our village. He worked under Lord Xia in his early years. After Lord Xia was defeated by Li Tang, he became the overlord of our village.
After the king raised his army, I followed him with my people and served as a captain in the king's personal army."
The screaming man was trying to explain to the captain what kind of character Hu Jin was in his eyes.
But the captain no longer had the heart to listen.
Because more exclamations were heard.
"I saw General Su!"
"Is General Gao here too?!"
"I saw Captain Zhang!"
"I saw Brother Tieniu!"
“…”
More and more Liu Jun began to exclaim, and noise arose.
The captain's heart suddenly sank.
They were responsible for the ambush, but before the enemy entered their ambush circle, their own people made a mistake. First they screamed, then they shot the crossbow arrows in advance. Now the screams became continuous again. What kind of ambush was this!
The moment Su Dingfang shot a crossbow arrow in the forest, he knew that his psychological attack strategy had worked. He also knew that Li Yuanji had guessed correctly. Liu Heita was indeed luring them to attack and that Liu Heita had already set up an ambush.
But Su Dingfang did not retreat, instead he chose to face the challenge head-on.
Su Dingfang was sure that even if Liu Heita recruited some vagrant soldiers on his way to escape from Mingzhou to Weize Pass, the number would not be too large.
Now that Liu Heita has not yet established a firm foothold outside the Weize Pass, it is a good time to defeat Liu Heita.
Once he retreats this time, Liu Heita will be able to gain a firm foothold.
With Liu Heita's eloquence, he will surely be able to persuade more people to join his camp, and then they will surely become a major threat to Weize Pass.
"Draw your bow!"
Su Dingfang galloped on his horse while giving orders.
The soldiers on horseback all drew their bows and drew their arrows.
Su Dingfang also bent his bow and drew his arrow, shooting towards both sides of the forest.
The soldiers followed suit and shot towards both sides of the forest.
A rain of arrows fell, and many screams were heard in the forest.
Su Dingfang roughly deduced how many people were lying in ambush in the woods based on the screams in the woods.
Su Dingfang decisively ordered the left third military commander beside him, "There are probably two to three thousand people hiding in the mountains. Liu Heita is setting up a trap to lure us in, so he must have set up a lot of ambushes ahead.
You lead 500 cavalrymen to continue advancing. Make sure to pin down the enemies hiding in the mountains and don't give them a chance to escape.
If the enemy is too strong, you must not fight to the bitter end."
The captain of the Left Third Army nodded solemnly, "I understand."
He used to be under Gao Yaxian's command and had followed Su Dingfang to the battlefield several times.
After Dou Jiande was defeated by Li Shimin, Gao Yaxian chose to retire and returned to his hometown.
When Gao Yaxian responded to Liu Heita and raised an army again, he immediately brought the militia from his hometown to Gao Yaxian's camp and surrendered.
However, Liu Heita was somewhat afraid of Gao Yaxian, so he did not assign him to Gao Yaxian's camp, but instead handed him over to Dong Kangmai.
When Dong Kangmai followed Liu Heita to escape from Mingshui City, he was ordered to lead his followers to cover the retreat. However, he was shot off his horse by Guo Zihe and became a prisoner of the Tang Dynasty.
After Su Dingfang discovered him, he rescued him and took him back into his camp.
Su Dingfang knew his character and had no doubt about his loyalty, so he let him lead the troops to attract the enemy's attention.
Su Dingfang and his soldiers ran another hundred meters. The left third lieutenant of the military headquarters led 500 cavalrymen and suddenly accelerated, continuing to rush towards Liu Heita's camp.
Su Dingfang led the remaining soldiers to run to one side.
"Why did the bandits split their forces?"
Liu Heita had been watching the battle on the lookout tower. Seeing that the enemy was about to fall into the ambush, he was very excited.
But the enemy suddenly divided their troops in front of the ambush circle, and a large group of soldiers rushed to other places. Liu Heita's face suddenly turned dark, and he stood on the lookout tower and asked loudly.
Fan Yuan quickly sent someone to ask, and soon he found out the truth.
"Your Majesty, the enemy's general is a subordinate of the former Right General Gao Yaxian, and many of the enemy's soldiers were our soldiers.
The brothers who were lying in ambush in the forest were inevitably confused when they saw an acquaintance, and were discovered by the enemy. "
Fan Yuan looked up and explained to Liu Heita with a complicated expression.
No one expected that the Tang army that broke out from Weize Pass at this time were actually their acquaintances, and had been under their command more than a month ago.
"Traitor!"
Liu Heita gritted his teeth and cursed.
He never expected that at such a critical moment, the person who helped the Tang Dynasty was actually a traitor under his command.
Seeing those traitors risking their lives to help the Tang Dynasty in the raid when Weize Pass was in danger, it was obvious that they had already offered their loyalty to the Tang Dynasty. The anger in his heart surged.
"Gao Yaxian is really untrustworthy!"
Liu Heita angrily slapped the railing on the observation deck.
Fan Yuan said with a bitter face: "My king, now is not the time to talk about this. Our ambush in the forest has been discovered by the enemy, so the enemy split into two groups and a large number of troops bypassed our ambush. We have to find a way to deal with it."
"waste!"
Liu Heita cursed again out of frustration, and it was unclear whether he was cursing the people who were ambushing in the mountains or the leaders of the ambushers.
"Let some of the people ambushing retreat back and guard our flanks!"
He set up many ambushes for the enemy in front of the camp, but no ambushes on the flanks.
If the enemy attacks from the flank, it would be easy for them to break through the defense of the main camp and enter it.
Once the enemy explodes in the camp.
Then he is not far from death.
The enemy is composed entirely of cavalry, and their main tactics are surprise attacks and pursuits.
Once the enemy attacks the camp, he will have nowhere to escape.
He has two legs, but who can run faster than others with four legs?
"I will do it right away!"
Fan Yuan quickly sent someone to pass on the message.
When Liu Heita's order reached both sides of the forest, the captain of the Left Third Military Office had already led his troops into the ambush circle.
Liu Jun could only leave part of his men to attack them from both sides, and the rest returned to the camp to help Liu Heita guard the camp.
The captain of the Left Third Military Commander's Office led his troops and horses to fight against the ambushes on both sides. They fought their way forward for hundreds of feet, then suddenly turned their horses' heads and tried to fight back.
"Stop them!"
The general of Liu Heita's army who was in charge of supervising the battle immediately gave the order.
A group of Liu's troops rushed out of the forest in a black mass and surrounded the captain of the Left Three Generals' Office and his soldiers.
The captain of the Left Third Army's Mansion raised his lips slightly and laughed.
The next moment, he shouted loudly.
"Block here and fight them to the death!"
All the soldiers tied up their weapons with cloth strips.
After Liu's army surrounded them from all directions, the captain of the Left Third Military Commander's Office led the soldiers to target the weakest point and rushed forward bravely.
Some soldiers of the General's Office who found familiar faces in Liu's army would wave their weapons and shout with a cackling laugh, "Hey so-and-so, why don't you surrender your head to Yeye's knife right now?" and "Hey so-and-so, kid, have you forgotten how Yeye dealt with you in the past?"
Although the soldiers of the General Military Office were inferior to Liu Jun in number, they firmly dominated Liu Jun in momentum.
Some of them used to be in Liu Jun’s army and had a great reputation, so they were able to suppress Liu Jun in terms of momentum.
The soldiers of the General Military Office soon engaged in battle with Liu's army.
The soldiers of the General's Office, relying on their war horses, charged recklessly into Liu's army.
Liu Jun had prepared spears and other weapons in advance to deal with the cavalry, so he did not suffer much loss from their charge.
The fight between the two sides became more and more stalemate, and soon it turned into a chaotic battle.
Liu Heita looked anxious, but did not dare to send more men to help, because the large force led by Su Dingfang was about to reach the flank of his temporary camp.
He also could not call back the men who were fighting the Tang army, because the Tang army would use them to break through all the traps he had set and break into the temporary camp.