Twenty miles to the east, Guo Luo saw the signal and his eyes flashed with a sharp light: "Brothers, it's our turn! Target—the left wing cavalry of the Northern Barbarians, cut them off!"
One thousand heavy cavalry and three thousand light cavalry of the Yin army charged out from behind the sand dunes like arrows, heading straight for the Northern Di left-wing cavalry that was making a flanking maneuver.
At the same time, Wu Shangzhi made a decision that surprised everyone.
Instead of charging towards Wuhan's central army, he led his troops in a sudden turn, attacking the rear of the Northern Di camp.
That was the supply camp of the Northern Di army, where grain, horses, and weapons were piled up like mountains.
"What is he going to do?" Wuhan was taken aback.
He quickly understood.
"Burn! Burn it all!" Wu Shangzhi ordered sternly.
Rockets rained down on grain carts and haystacks.
The oil canisters were thrown, hitting the tent; the torches were tossed into the stables...
A raging fire shot into the sky!
"No—!" Wuhan's eyes widened in horror.
Food supplies are the lifeblood of an army, especially in this vast desert.
Without supplies, what will the 40,000-strong army eat? What will they feed the warhorses?
"Split your troops! Quickly split your troops to put out the fire!" he roared hoarsely.
But it was too late.
The fire spread rapidly, fueled by the wind.
The Northern Di soldiers panicked and tried to put out the fire, causing their formation to break down.
Even more fatally, the warhorses were spooked and ran amok in the camp, trampling countless animals.
"Now!" Seeing the chaos in the Northern Di army's formation, Wu Shangzhi raised his embroidered spring blade high. "All troops, charge! Target—the Wuhan Banner!"
Five thousand soldiers roared in unison, like a flood bursting its banks, and rushed towards the already chaotic Northern Di central army.
Wuhan's face turned deathly pale.
He knew that he had already lost this battle.
They lost not because of insufficient troops or combat strength, but because of poor strategy and Wu Shangzhi's unexpected fire.
"Your Majesty, let's retreat!" King Xiutu cried urgently. "As long as we live..."
"Shut up!" Wuhan roared, drawing his scimitar. "This time, we didn't gain any advantage in Longyou, and now we've failed to achieve anything in the Western Regions either. Are we just going to return to the northern desert like this?"
"I am not reconciled, I am not reconciled to go back and see Wuzhu's mockery."
He mounted his horse and personally led the cavalry to charge towards the direction of the Yin army's advance.
The two torrents collided with a deafening roar in front of the burning camp!
The two armies clashed.
Although the Yin army was small in number, its morale was high and its equipment was excellent.
Although the Northern Di army was numerous, their supplies had been burned, their morale was low, and they were divided by the fire, making it impossible for them to form a united force.
The battle lasted from dawn until noon.
The desert was stained red with blood, and corpses piled up like mountains.
Murong Chunhua successfully cut off the left wing of the Northern Di cavalry and, together with Guo Luo's heavy cavalry battalion, launched a pincer attack, annihilating most of them.
Lin Yuan's crossbowmen continuously rained arrows down on the Northern Di army's formation, causing sustained casualties.
The most crucial blow came from the Loulan defenders.
Seeing that the Northern Barbarians were doomed, they actually broke out of the city and joined the battle.
Although their combat strength was not strong, their numbers were considerable, which completely reversed the balance of power.
"Your Majesty! We can't hold on any longer! Let's retreat!" King Xiutu, covered in blood, knelt before Wuhan's horse.
Ughhan looked around and saw that his army had been completely routed.
The central army formation was broken, the left and right flanks were annihilated, and all supplies were destroyed...
He spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Where else can we go?" he roared, looking up at the sky. "I don't want to go back to the grasslands!"
"Your Majesty, let's continue westward. There are other small countries to the west that can supply us," King Xiutu hurriedly said. "We can keep going west, bypassing the Sayan Mountains, and then return to the northern desert."
"Alas, this is the only way!" Wuhan looked dejected as he headed west towards Loulan, escorted by generals including Xiutu Wang.
Guo Luo wanted to give chase, but Wu Shangzhi stopped him: "Wait, our army has suffered heavy casualties and is exhausted. We cannot pursue them any further! The most urgent task is to regroup the troops, treat the wounded, and consolidate our gains!"
"Sound the retreat...clean up the battlefield."
Clang—clang—clang—
The sound of gongs signaling the end of the battle echoed across the battlefield.
The surviving Northern Di soldiers were as if granted a pardon and scattered into the desert.
Neither the Yin army nor the Loulan army pursued them; instead, they began clearing the battlefield.
In this battle, of the 40,000-strong Northern Di army, more than 10,000 were killed, 3,000 were captured, and the rest scattered.
The grain and supplies were completely destroyed, and the company suffered a severe blow.
The Yin army suffered approximately 2,000 casualties, including over 1,000 killed in action, 800 seriously wounded, and over 1,000 lightly wounded.
The Loulan defenders suffered 3,000 casualties.
A Pyrrhic victory.
But regardless, they won.
As the sun set, Wu Shangzhi climbed to the top of the city wall of Loulan.
Below the city, the battlefield is being cleared.
The soldiers carefully collected the bodies of their comrades and piled up the corpses of the enemy to burn.
The medical officers were busy treating the wounded, and the air was filled with the smell of blood and burnt food.
The King of Loulan personally ascended the city wall and bowed deeply to Wu Shangzhi: "General, Loulan will never forget your life-saving grace! From this day forward, Loulan is willing to be a vassal state of the Great Yin Dynasty forever, paying tribute every year, and will never betray you!"
Wu Shangzhi helped him up: "Your Majesty need not be so polite. Although the Northern Barbarians have been defeated, the Khan is not dead and the Western Regions are not yet pacified. We will need your country's strong support in the future."
"I will obey the general's orders!"
That night, a banquet was held in the Loulan royal palace to celebrate the victory.
But Wu Shangzhi only drank three cups of wine before leaving the table and returning to his military camp.
In the wounded soldiers' camp, cries of agony filled the air.
Medical officers and auxiliary soldiers were busy shuttling back and forth, but medicines were in short supply, and many seriously wounded soldiers could only watch helplessly as they waited to die.
“General…” A young soldier with a broken leg saw him and struggled to sit up.
Wu Shangzhi held him down: "Don't move, take good care of your injuries."
"General...did we win?" The soldier's eyes were full of anticipation.
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