On the right wing, Shangwutang and Fenglei Hall joined the battle as the second echelon,

Relying on his familiarity with the terrain, the enemy arranged more than a dozen condescending positions, each of which was equipped with more than 20 strong crossbows and several large artillery crossbows.

Yun Zhan led the disciples of Shangwutang to rush forward, and the first echelon of Lianyunbao, Jinghangzhai and Sixiang Mountain suffered heavy casualties, dozens of corpses were thrown on the ground, and hundreds of people were injured.

"Everyone calm down, raise their shields, and keep in formation," Yun Zhan ordered in a low voice,

Xiao Chen, Piao Piao and Yun Xue followed closely behind him, Xiao Chen held two shields and blocked the crossbow arrows shot several times,

According to preliminary estimates, the number of enemies on this side is more than two thousand, and three people are in a group, using a strong crossbow.

After the disciples of Lianyunbao stabilized their positions, they launched a charge against the nearest enemy formation, and the momentum was huge.

But when they were halfway there, a dozen crossbows roared, and their arm-thick crossbows pierced the sky and fired at them.

The lethality of a ballista is much greater than that of a crossbow arrow, and it can easily penetrate ordinary shields.

Puff puff......

The disciples of Lianyunbao were killed and wounded in an instant, and the reason why the enemy's ballista was only fired now was to block the opponent's large-scale charge.

Yun Zhan was startled, he didn't expect the enemy to use ballistas,

Xiao Chen said in a deep voice: "Great Elder, the enemy is really prepared, we rushed forward so stupidly, there is no difference between sending us to death,"

"Then what to do," Yun Zhan was a little panicked, because the position they were in now was within the range of the enemy's ballista,

To advance is to die, and to retreat is to desert,

"I suggest we change direction, take a detour from the side, go around the back of the enemy, and then finish them off," Xiao Chen suggested.

The idea is good, but they rushed too fast just now, and they have already entered the enemy's line of sight, and the other party will not watch them go around behind their backs.

Piao Piao opened his mouth and said, "Chen, someone wants to go with you,"

When he looked back, it turned out to be Ouyang Weiyi and Ximen Sirui, who led the five hundred masters of the Ouyang family to penetrate the enemy's back at the fastest speed.

At the same time, Ouyang Tongfu led another elite army to circle the enemy's left flank,

This strategy turned out to be correct, and while the frontal pressure was much reduced, the enemy, seeing that the situation was not good, quickly began to retreat,

A quarter of an hour later, Ouyang Weiyi, who had blood on his armor, returned, and said unconvinced: "Those bastards are even more slippery than loaches, I led people to run wildly for dozens of miles, and only caught up with a dozen enemies,"

Simon Sirui added: "When the enemy retreats, there is no panic at all, and they will cooperate with each other to fight a small counterattack or two,"

These things all proved that Xiao Chen's guess was correct,

The people of the twelve families reunited, and the largest casualties were the first echelon, with battle losses of about 20%, and the casualties of the second echelon were also close to 10%, and the Ouyang family of the third echelon made great contributions, and there were dozens of casualties.

The only unscathed family is Wuthering Heights,

No one would have thought that as soon as the team walked out of the Imperial Forest, they would be ambushed by the enemy, causing such a big loss.

To say that everyone underestimated the enemy, it is understandable, there is no shortage of veterans who have participated in the war many times in the team, and the heads of each family are also experienced, but there is still such a result, which is unacceptable,

A lot of people are depressed and demoralized,

Ouyang Tongfu convened the heads of each family to count the casualties on the one hand, and on the other hand to study what to do next.

Beside a bonfire, Xiao Chen threw a few dry firewoods into the fire, raised his head and said, "Brother Ouyang, I suggest changing the previous route of the march, our actions have been completely exposed to the enemy, if we don't take action, there will be more traps waiting for us next,"

Ouyang Weiyi nodded and said, "I believe that my father has also thought of this, and will definitely make tactical adjustments, I don't understand, we were very careful along the way, and we didn't encounter the enemy's scouts, how could we be ambushed by them,"

This is indeed very strange, Ouyang Tongfu is a qualified commander, in the process of marching, constantly send reconnaissance teams to reconnoiter the surrounding area of forty miles, in order to avoid or destroy the enemy's scouts in time.

However, the whole process of crossing the Imperial Forest was very smooth, except for some beasts that did not have long eyes, and did not find any trace of the enemy.

But as a result, the enemy not only knew their marching route, but also ambushed heavy troops to carry out sneak attacks, indicating that they knew everything about intelligence.

Ximen Sirui wanted to speak and stopped, but Xiao Chen saw it clearly, and said, "Brother Ximen, you want to say that there are traitors in our team, right?"

He lowered his voice and said: "I am so suspicious, if there is no internal ghost, how can the enemy know where we came from, but this cannot be said explicitly, first of all, I don't know who the internal traitor is, and secondly, the morale of the team is low, if there are rumors of internal mole, I am afraid that the matter will become more serious,"

Xiao Chen nodded: "Your concerns are very necessary, by the way, when the Ouyang family master and the team leaders have a meeting, let's go and meet him together, how about it?"

Ouyang Weiyi said: "I also have this intention, with Brother Xiao's IQ, I will definitely be able to give advice to my father and help everyone get out of the predicament,"

A quarter of an hour later, the three of them came to Ouyang Tongfu's big tent,

"Father," Ouyang Weiyi asked, "How did you discuss with the squad leaders, are we going to change the marching route?"

Ouyang Tongfu pointed to the map behind him and said, "We decided to take the line of Gray River Ridge,"

"Gray Chuanling, that is, the alternate route you made before the team set off," Ouyang Weiyi asked,

"Yes, it's the alternate route,"

Entering the Netherworld is a big deal for the Emperor Extreme Realm, and determining the route of the march and the alternate route before setting off is the homework that must be done, and it has been done for thousands of years.

Xiao Chen frowned and said, "Ouyang Family Master, the junior feels that it is inappropriate to take the alternate route,"

"Why," Ouyang Tongfu looked him in the eye and said, "You suspect that there are traitors in our team and send information to the enemy, right?"

"Could it be that the head of the Ouyang family doesn't have such suspicions," he asked rhetorically,

"Of course there is," Ouyang Tongfu said with a straight face: "The enemy knows so much about our situation, if it is said that there is no traitor to betray the information, it will definitely not make sense, you can rest assured, the alternate route is only known to me, and it has not been announced to others in advance, the team will set off immediately, I will not leave the traitor a chance to send information,"

Xiao Chen asked again: "Ouyang Family Master, did you directly propose an alternate route, or did you ask everyone's opinions first, has anyone proposed other plans?"

Ouyang Tongfu smiled: "At this point, there are several people who coincide with me, and before I can tell me the alternate route, several detachment leaders suggested taking the Gray River Ridge,"

"Yes, the suggestions made by the detachment leaders,"

"Hundred Flowers Valley, Tingtao Pavilion, Jinyulou...... By the way, there is also your Cloud Battle Great Elder of Shangwu Hall,"

Xiao Chen's brows furrowed slightly, and then asked, "What about Xiaoxiao Heights, what is Chen Ziying's attitude?"

"He, he didn't say anything, just sat here and listened to everyone," Ouyang Tongfu said as he recalled, "Moreover, his expression has not changed in any way from beginning to end, and there is reason to believe that if it weren't for my strong request, he probably wouldn't have attended the meeting just now,"

After listening to his words, Xiao Chen fell into deep thought,