On this day, Bo Yi's army encountered the enemy in the central route. The enemy army claimed to number 800,000. After facing them, Bo Yi immediately ordered a battle. Bo Yi personally took to the battlefield. The two sides had barely clashed when the Jiuli army retreated in full force. Bo Yi thought that the enemy army had retreated because they saw that his army was large. Bo Yi then led his army in pursuit, and the Jiuli army counterattacked again. By the time Bo Yi was ready to fight again, the Jiuli army had retreated again. This continued, with the Jiuli army retreating only five li each time for a battle, and their retreat route was circuitous and winding. Bo Yi fought continuously for three days, but only advanced a little over twenty li. His soldiers were also very tired of fighting, but the Jiuli army still refused to engage in a direct confrontation.
While Bo Yi was facing this situation, Tian Feng also encountered a battle. When they reached Qingshui, the enemy army claimed to have 400,000 troops. Tian Feng was eager to attack, but the enemy, relying on their advantageous terrain, only defended and did not engage in battle. Tian Feng continued to reinforce his troops and launch strong attacks, but he could not break through. Moreover, Tian Feng discovered that the enemy's number was not only 400,000 as claimed, but often many more troops would appear. Tian Feng was afraid of being tricked and did not dare to launch a large-scale attack with his entire army. After three days, they were still stuck in the same place.
Meanwhile, Xiang Lu's army was advancing triumphantly. Three days prior, his forces had encountered a Jiuli army, claiming to number 800,000, but Xiang Lu's subsequent observation revealed their numbers to be only around 200,000. Xiang Lu had also heard news of encounters between the central and left flank armies. Combining the strength of the forces at both locations with Xuan Yuan's analysis of the approximate number of Jiuli troops, Xiang Lu deduced that this 200,000-strong army was the last remaining force of the Jiuli, sent to stop him. With this in mind, Xiang Lu decided to first annihilate this Jiuli army, then, while the rest of the Jiuli forces were engaged by the central and left flank armies, launch a solo attack on the Jiuli stronghold, thus maximizing his own merit.
The 200,000-strong Jiuli army fought and fled. Xiang Lu led his army at a very slow pace. Seeing that there were Jiuli soldiers deserting along the way, and judging from the observation of the enemy's cooking stoves, he determined that the 200,000-strong Jiuli army now had less than 150,000 soldiers left. Xiang Lu decided that the army would abandon its baggage and provisions, carry only three days' worth of rations, and advance lightly to speed up the pursuit.
Four days later, Xiang Lu indeed caught up with the army in a valley, but the number was obviously wrong. The army in front of him looked like 600,000 to 700,000, and there were hundreds of thousands of troops at the valley exit behind them. Only then did Xiang Lu realize that he had fallen into a trap. In a great panic, he led his army to break through the encirclement, but arrows and rolling stones were constantly fired from the surrounding mountains, killing countless soldiers. In desperation, Xiang Lu led his soldiers to keep charging through the encirclement, and finally retreated to the side of the valley before stopping.
Across from them, the Jiuli army raised a large banner with a bull's head and a human head painted on it—a portrait of Chi You. Chi You, carrying a demonic sword on his shoulder, leaped out from the crowd and shouted, "Xiang Lu, you are surrounded by my 1.5 million troops! And I am guarding the exit of this valley. How can you escape? Surrender quickly! Your troops are running out of food and won't last more than a few days."
Xiang Lu angrily said, "Chi You scoundrel, you shameless villain, you plotted against me. I swear I will never let you get away with this. Don't even mention surrendering again."
Chi You laughed loudly, "You are indeed incredibly foolish. In warfare, how can one not resort to underhanded tactics? Do you expect me to tell you how many troops I have and how much fighting power I possess? Your own foolishness is no one else's fault." With that, Chi You shouldered his demonic blade and returned to his formation, ignoring Xiang Lu's roars.
In the first battle of the Fifty-One Years, Xuanyuan suffered a crushing defeat (Part 2)
As evening fell, the Jiuli army set up cooking pots, and the aroma wafted into Xiang Lu's army, causing a stir. Xiang Lu, in order to catch up with the Jiuli army as soon as possible, abandoned his food supplies and only brought three days' worth of rations, which were now long gone. The soldiers had also fought a life-or-death battle during the day and were starving. How could they resist the aroma of the food coming from across the way?
Xiang Lu also learned of this situation. While secretly anxious, he also deeply resented Chi You for his treachery. Suddenly, Xiang Lu noticed that the enemy army's food preparation area was located on the outer perimeter of the main force. Xiang Lu believed this was a ploy by Chi You to demoralize his troops, using the aroma of food to lure them into surrendering without a fight, taking advantage of the army's current lack of food. Xiang Lu was proud of his own cleverness in thinking of these strategies and resolved to catch Chi You off guard, making his efforts counterproductive. He ordered his soldiers to gather men and seize the food.
Xiang Lu led tens of thousands of troops in a massive attack. As he suspected, the enemy army had deliberately set up a food depot outside his main force to lure his troops into a trap. The Jiuli soldiers, seeing the attack, were terrified and scattered in all directions. By the time Chi You led his army to meet them, Xiang Lu had already seized the food. Chi You could only curse Xiang Lu in front of his own lines.
Having seized the food, Xiang Lu ordered the entire army to share it, and he himself ate a great deal. The soldiers below, seeing that they had food, all praised Xiang Lu's wisdom. That night, Xiang Lu instructed the army to maintain strict defenses against a nighttime attack by Chi You, but he himself went into his tent and fell fast asleep.
As expected, Chi You led his army to attack that night, and the number was considerable; the entire army was mobilized. The soldiers on Xiang Lu's night watch were alarmed upon discovering this and hurriedly woke Xiang Lu. Upon learning the situation, Xiang Lu hastily rallied his troops to meet the attack, but to his surprise, all his soldiers were weak and powerless, lying on the ground, unable to rise. Before Chi You's army, they were like sheep, slaughtered without exception.
It turned out that Chi You had anticipated that Xiang Lu's army would be without food. He first devised a plan to cook outside the main army, using the food to incite riots among the enemy soldiers. Then, he poisoned the food. Among the Jiuli tribe was a great shaman named Xiang Liu, who had once been a shaman guarding the Pangu Temple. Later, he broke through his cultivation and achieved the body of a great shaman. Xiang Liu was skilled in using poison, so Chi You ordered Xiang Liu to poison the food. After Xiang Lu divided and ate the stolen food, Chi You led his entire army to attack at night. Xiang Lu fell into the trap as expected, and his entire army was rendered powerless. He himself was also poisoned by Xiang Liu. Fortunately, he possessed the cultivation of a Taiyi Loose Immortal and could hold out for a while. However, under the attack of the great shaman Chi You, he was eventually killed.
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