The next day, as soon as the soldiers had breakfast, the spies sent out came back to report that the army of Zheng Kai, the king of Qiulu, had been chasing after the garrison, and the distance was about twenty miles.

The army of the king of Qiulu took the army of Zheng Kai, the king of Qiulu, to go around the mountains for a day, and the army of the king of Qiulu carried a lot of military supplies, and was not familiar with this complex mountain environment, so it was impossible to catch up with the lightly armed soldiers.

As soon as the afternoon passed, Zheng Kai, the king of Qiulu, ordered the army to set up camp, and they really couldn't walk this mountain road.

As soon as the time arrived, there was already snoring in the tent of the camp of Zheng Kai, the king of Qiulu.

Just after the hour, more than 3,000 soldiers who were responsible for patrolling and guarding outside the barracks of Zheng Kai, King of Qiulu, were suddenly shot back to the barracks by a burst of arrows.

The soldiers shouted hoarsely as they ran: "The enemy has stolen the camp——! the enemy has stolen the camp——!"

In a few moments, the sleeping soldiers were awakened.

When Zheng Kai, the king of Qiulu, led his soldiers to rush out of the camp, he only saw hundreds of soldiers on the ground who were shot down by crossbow arrows, but he did not see a single figure of the enemy army.

Zheng Kai, the king of Qiulu, was so angry that he scolded him, and chased forward with his soldiers.

After chasing for a while, there was still no one to be seen, and Zheng Kai, the king of Qiulu, was afraid of the scheme, so he returned to the camp. That night, the soldiers who were afraid of being attacked again did not sleep.

Coming to steal the camp, Shi Dewa led two thousand crossbowmen, who quietly crawled to both sides of the soldiers who were keeping vigil in the camp of Zheng Kai, the king of Qiulu, and then shot crossbow arrows, and when the soldiers ran back to the camp to deliver the message, Shi Dewa quietly withdrew with the crossbowmen.

After dawn, Zheng Kai, the king of Qiulu, looked at the listless full battalion of generals, sighed and gave the order to retreat.

For several days, the soldiers had been marching rapidly through the undulating mountains, on the broken mountain roads, and had not slept all night, and their fatigue was close to the limit of what their bodies could bear.

The soldiers had lost most of their combat effectiveness, and the soldiers of the Nine Desolation Ridge, who were accustomed to walking the mountain roads and had been taking shortcuts, had much less physical exertion.

The army lost its troops, the morale of the soldiers was low, and the fighting spirit was completely lost.

If at this time, the formation of the Nine Desolation Mountains came over to fight, and it would be difficult for their own army with superior forces to win.

In addition, the military rations and supplies were only enough to sustain the army for three days.

Thinking of all this, Zheng Kai, the king of Qiulu, reluctantly admitted that his army had failed.

Soon after Zheng Kai, the king of Qiulu, led his army to retreat, the chieftain who received the news led the First Army of the formation to make a detour to the mountains south of Cen Lai Mountain, where he prepared to set up an ambush and intercept the enemy. The ridge to the south of Cen Lai Mountain will be the only way for the enemy to evacuate the Nine Desolation Ridge.

When the army of Zheng Kai, the king of Qiulu, retreated, the commander of the army, Da Ran, led the second army of the formation to pursue the enemy from the left flank of the enemy, while the third army led by Shi Dewa to pursue the enemy from the right flank of the enemy.

Knowing that there were pursuers behind, Zheng Kai, the king of Qiulu, ordered to speed up the retreat, and he had no intention of fighting now.

Seeing that the enemy army had accelerated their retreat, the soldiers Daran and Shi Dewa also maintained the speed that could put pressure on the enemy and chased after them.

The army of Zheng Kai, the king of Qiulu, began to march rapidly from morning to night, for the two armies behind them kept in pursuit.

At night, the roads in the mountains are more difficult to walk, and the pace of the soldiers naturally slows down.

Extreme fatigue and hunger were like two ropes, tightly binding the hands and feet of the soldiers of Zheng Kai's army, the king of Qiulu.

Many hoplites quietly threw away their iron halberds and long knives.

The soldiers of the warlord Daran and Shidewa did not suffer from hunger, and they ate the dry food they brought with them as they walked.

The soldiers on both sides walked like this all night, and before they knew it, they had come to the front of the ridge south of Cen Lai Mountain.

When Zheng Kai, the king of Qiulu, saw a mountain range in front of him, he ordered his soldiers to quickly occupy the mountain range, and he wanted to use the mountain range to block the pursuers of the Nine Desolation Mountains.

Seeing that the dense soldiers were about to climb to the top of the mountain, Zheng Kai, the king of the hills, was in a slightly relaxed mood.

At that moment, a loud drum beat came from the other side of the mountain.

Countless crossbowmen suddenly stood up on the top of the mountain, and the rain of crossbow arrows immediately descended from the top of the mountain to the soldiers of Zheng Kai, the king of the hills.

After a burst of screams, the soldiers on the hillside fell in droves, killing and wounding countless people.

This sudden onslaught repelled the advancing soldiers.

The crossbowmen rushed down from the top of the ridge, and the rain of crossbow arrows fell on the retreating soldiers.

The retreating soldiers collided with the advancing ones, and the chaos became one.

Behind the rows of crossbowmen were spearmen standing in a phalanx.

The spearmen rushed down the hill with a four-meter spear.

The phalanx of spears resembled a giant assassination machine, and everywhere it passed, all the soldiers were stabbed and fell to the ground.

Behind the phalanx of spears were lightly armed swordsmen, who followed behind, chasing down the enemy who had escaped the clash of the phalanx of spears.

These crossbowmen, spearmen, and shortsword men were the soldiers of the First Army led by the chieftain who had long been ambushed on the ridge south of the Cen Lai Mountain.

The soldiers of Zheng Kai, the tired and hungry and demoralized king of Qiulu, suddenly encountered a battle with extremely strong combat effectiveness, and they retreated in one fell swoop.

At this moment, the second army led by the commander Da Ran, and the third army led by Shi Dewa chased after the enemy from behind.

A war of anger is in full swing.

Although the army of Zheng Kai, the king of Qiulu, was tossed by the soldiers of the soldiers of Da Ran and Shi Dewa and lost most of their combat effectiveness, when the soldiers saw the brother soldiers of the same camp in front of them fall and die one by one, the instinct to survive gave rise to extraordinary power, and they began to fight back.

The army of Zheng Kai, the king of Qiulu, was well-trained, and after panicking for a while, the well-commanded officers at all levels quickly rearranged the battle formation and organized an effective counterattack.

The truly tragic battle began.

Zheng Kai, the king of Qiulu, stood in the middle of the army, and he observed the battle situation in front of him for a while, and estimated that his army would not be able to win this battle.

Zheng Kai, the king of Qiulu, immediately summoned twelve division commanders - the other six division commanders had already fallen into the encirclement attack of the formation and announced a breakthrough plan.

The five division commanders led 50,000 troops to pretend to break through from the front; the three division commanders led 30,000 troops to contain the formation troops in the rear to cover the breakthrough army; while Zheng Kaiqin, the king of Qiulu, led the elite division of 30,000 troops directly under him to break through to the flank of the weak formation.

The breakthrough operation of Zheng Kai, the king of Qiulu, was successfully completed, and the 30,000 troops of the elite division led by Zheng Kai, the king of Qiulu, broke through the encirclement of the formation, and detoured to the rear of the first army of the chieftain's formation, and soon broke through the phalanx of the formation, and joined the 50,000 people who were breaking through in the encirclement of the formation, and then went up the mountain and fled to the outside of the Nine Desolation Ridge.

The encirclement of the formation was broken open by a gap, and the breakthrough soldiers of Zheng Kai, the king of Qiulu, were knocked down by the formation one by one, but the soldiers who desperately broke through were unstoppable, and the gap in the encirclement became bigger and bigger......

An hour later, Zheng Kai, the king of Qiulu, led the soldiers who broke through the siege to completely get rid of the pursuit of the soldiers and fled to Luyang Mansion in embarrassment.

After returning to Luyang Mansion, Zheng Kai, the king of Qiulu, received the casualties reported by the commanders of each division. A total of 200,000 troops were dispatched to the Nine Desolations, and in the end 38,000 soldiers were killed and 15,000 were captured.

The army of Zheng Kai, the king of Qiulu, suffered heavy losses, especially the most effective fighting swordsmen, and the chieftains of Jiuhuangling finally received the battle report: 2,800 soldiers were killed, and only one regimental commander among the senior officers was killed.

The chieftain looked at the number of dead armies on both sides, shook his head and sighed, and said to the chieftain, the soldier lords Daran and Shi Dewa: "The compensation for the families of the fallen soldiers must be paid in time, the soldiers of Zheng Kai, the king of Qiulu, are too many people killed in battle, I think the more than 10,000 captives will be let go back to their hometowns!"

The chief said: "The compensation for the families of the fallen soldiers will be paid in a few days." As for the more than 10,000 captives of Zheng Kai, the king of Qiulu—"

"Those captives can't just be put back, Zheng Kai, the king of Qiulu, wants people, so let's redeem them with silver!"

The chief said, "Is this not unkind?"

The soldier lord Da Ran said: "Speaking of benevolence and righteousness! They have come to invade our Nine Desolate Mountains for no reason, and they have not declared war, is this benevolence and righteousness? If we don't kill them, they will kill us, and they who provoke the battle, and they must pay the ransom for the captives." ”

The chief sighed and said, "Then you can see what you do." I don't understand now, Zheng Kai, the king of Qiulu, must have been instructed by the Xurui Dynasty to attack our Nine Desolation Mountains, but for so many years, we have lived in harmony with each other, why is the dynasty attacking us now?"

The soldier lord Da Ran said: "I guess it was the last time on Yong'an Island, Shi Dewa defeated Emperor Zhou Tian's cousin Zhou Chi, and saw our soldiers again. The dynasty is afraid that the Nine Desolation Mountains will become stronger, so they want to get rid of us. ”

The chief said: "The analysis of the soldier master is reasonable! The Xurui Dynasty has shocked the Eastern Continent with its powerful force, and they will not allow the existence of forces around them that threaten their power. ”

Shi Dewa, who had been silent, said: "Although we have won a big victory this time, Zheng Kai, the king of Qiulu who has suffered huge losses, will definitely not give up, the power of the dynasty is as big as the sky, we must take precautions!"