"Lord Qu, what should we do now? Should we continue the pursuit or clear the battlefield?" Seeing Qu Changqing quietly looking at the direction where the King of Chu left, the guard walked up and asked in a low voice.
"Are there any casualties in our army?" Upon hearing this, Qu Changqing retracted his gaze, swept his sharp eyes across the blood-stained battlefield, and asked the guard in a deep voice.
"Our army suffered more than one hundred casualties, and the Dongyu army suffered four thousand casualties." The guard reported the number of people accurately, waiting for Qu Changqing to give the next order.
In the dark night, Qu Changqing's face was solemn, tinged with anger and coldness. His gaze swept over Yun Yiheng's corpse, which had not yet been carried away. His eyes suddenly darkened, and he ordered in a cold voice, "Leave one hundred men to clean up the battlefield. The rest of you, mount your horses and follow me to capture the king."
After he finished speaking, Qu Changqing lifted up his robe and in the blink of an eye he had already climbed onto the horse's back.
Upon hearing this, the rest of the Chu army instantly dressed and mounted their horses in an orderly fashion. After Qu Changqing whipped his whip to spur the horses, everyone immediately followed. For a moment, the deafening sound of iron cavalry echoed throughout the world...
"Come here, go to the northwest camp of the King of Chu's army immediately and ask the old prince to send 10,000 reinforcements. I will have people leave secret signals along the way." On the galloping horse, Qu Changqing led the way while giving orders to the guards beside him.
The wind was cold, but Qu Changqing's voice was clear and could be heard clearly by the guards.
"Don't worry, my lord!" A personal guard immediately raised his upper body and bowed to Qu Changqing. Then he pulled the reins, turned his horse's head, and led a hundred Chu soldiers towards another path...
"Each of you will lead 300 men to block each intersection. Do not release any Dongyu soldiers. Kill them all! Do you understand?" Qu Changqing looked back at the guard who went to report the news, and then gave orders to the remaining guards.
"Sir, this will leave you with only eight hundred men. This is far too dangerous. Let me lead the troops!" Seeing Qu Changqing about to charge into the enemy camp himself, several guards intervened. Qu Changqing's noble status aside—not only was he the future Marquis of the Fuguo Mansion, but he was also the brother-in-law of the King of Chu. His years of experience and experience in battles with the King of Chu alone made him a formidable leader among the army's generals. How could they allow him to take such a risk?
"It's settled! Princess Dongyu suffered a loss today, and seeing that we're busy rescuing the prince, she'll undoubtedly think we won't pursue her, and her defenses will undoubtedly be lax! How can I let such a good opportunity slip by? Once Dongyu is dealt with, the prince can focus more on dealing with Prince Chen and the Sea King. There's no need to argue any further; it doesn't matter who goes. Let's just follow our pre-arranged plan." With that, Qu Changqing led the Chu army, fewer than a thousand men, toward the longest and deepest stretch of night road...
"Princess, we lost thousands of soldiers this time. We were too careless! If we hadn't trusted Yun Yiheng so much, how could Qu Changqing's sneak attack be successful?" The deputy general, who had just escaped back to the Dongyu military camp, handed his warhorse to the guard and walked quickly to the side of the eldest princess, complaining with a look of disgust on his face.
If Yun Yiheng and Yun Yijie hadn't been so confident, how could they have suffered such a great loss? First, they lost over ten thousand soldiers at the hands of the Princess of Chu, and now Qu Changqing killed several thousand more. If this continued, the tens of thousands of troops the Princess had brought to Western Chu would be slowly eroded by the King of Chu and his men.
Thinking of this, the deputy general's disgust towards Yun Yiheng and his brothers became more and more obvious.
"Pah!" Hearing this, Princess Dongyu slammed the whip in her hand fiercely on the table. Her chest heaved, her eyes revealed a sinister look, and her face was full of anger. She gritted her teeth and said, "No wonder Yun Yiheng wanted to attack Qu Changqing first. Eliminating him is like cutting off an arm of Chu Feiyang. But Qu Changqing was lucky enough to be rescued by Jiao Da that time. Otherwise, Chu Feiyang would have died today! Who would have thought that Qu Changqing had secretly followed Yun Yiheng's whereabouts and gave me such a gift!"
Thinking of the scene where the Chu King's army had mercilessly slaughtered the Dongyu Army, the princess was filled with anger. If Qu Changqing hadn't suddenly appeared, why would she have had to flee in such a panic? This was the most embarrassing time she had experienced in all her years of marching and fighting. She felt so helpless when she thought about it!
Unable to extinguish the rage in her heart, Princess Dongyu raised her fist and slammed it on the table several times...
"Princess, now that brothers Yun Yiheng and Yun Yijie are dead, should we continue to stay in the northwest or return to the east to reunite with the general? It is too dangerous for us to continue staying here." This is the issue that the deputy general is most concerned about now.
Without the guidance of Yun Yiheng and his brothers, it would be extremely difficult for the Dongyu Army to seize the Western Chu kingdom from the cunning Chen Wang, Chu Wang, and Hai Wang. Moreover, the princess only brought a few tens of thousands of troops with her into Western Chu this time. How could she possibly compete with the millions of troops of the three kings?
However, the eldest princess has always been very competitive. I am afraid that Qu Changqing's insult this time will only arouse her warlike spirit and she will be unwilling to withdraw from Western Chu.
Hearing the worry in the deputy general's words, Princess Dongyu suddenly narrowed her eyes, a sinister glint flashing in her eyes. She said with great hatred, "Danger? You can't get a tiger cub without learning from its blood. If we retreat now, how can I explain to my brother the emperor? How can I rest in peace for those soldiers who died? Go down immediately to count the number of people and report to me!"
After hearing the eldest princess' words, the deputy general grew increasingly anxious. He frowned, took a step forward, and earnestly advised, "Princess, the best strategy is to retreat! Our abduction and assassination of the King of Chu has already alerted the enemy. He will surely be on guard. If we want to attack again, it will be harder than climbing to the sky. We'd better retreat first. On the one hand, we can preserve our strength, and on the other hand, it can also reduce military expenses..."
But before he could finish his words, a cold sword was already placed on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw Princess Dongyu staring at him with a frosty face. She said in a cold voice, "Are you going to back down just like that? Wouldn't that make the whole world laugh at me? If you keep talking nonsense, I'll kill you first!"
"Princess... Princess... something bad has happened..." The two were facing each other in the tent when the guards on night watch outside suddenly opened the curtains and ran in, kneeling before them to report, "Princess, Qu Changqing is leading his troops to attack!"
"What?" Upon hearing this news, the deputy general immediately turned and glared at the guards, demanding, "What exactly happened? How many people did Qu Changqing bring with him?"
"About a thousand people, but we were caught off guard and hundreds of them were killed by the Chu King's army..." The guard was frightened by the deputy general's stare, and he finished describing the situation outside with trembling hands.
Princess Dongyu sneered after hearing this. "You dare to charge into my military camp with only a thousand men? Qu Changqing, you are too conceited!"
After she finished speaking, she hung her sword at her waist and rushed out of the tent with a long whip in hand...
The campfires were brightly lit, but everywhere one could see the Dongyu army fleeing defenselessly, and the Chu king's army rushing into the camp and slaughtering the enemy...
Inside the military camp, there was the sound of cavalrymen trampling past, and all around were shouts of killing, screams, and the sound of weapons clashing...
Princess Dongyu rushed out of the tent and saw the Dongyu army, who had always marched and fought at her side without fear, now in such a state of disarray after Qu Changqing's surprise attack. She was instantly enraged. Her eyes, filled with anger, searched for Qu Changqing's figure among the running crowd...
"Snap!" A crisp sound rang out amidst the noise...
Qu Changqing felt the danger coming, and immediately retracted the long sword and swung it out to block the attack, but he didn't expect that the oncoming attack was so fierce that not only did it deflect the sword in his hand, but the whip also swept towards the warhorse he was sitting on.
"Neigh!" the warhorse cried out in pain as the whip swept its front leg and it fell suddenly to the ground in front of it.
Qu Changqing quickly released his left hand from the reins, and his feet instantly left the stirrups. He flipped backwards and fell off the horse's back to the ground, narrowly avoiding the danger of falling.
But just as he stood firm, the whip came again, and each whip was aimed at the vital parts of the body.
"Dang, dang, dang..." Qu Changqing blocked with his sword, and his feet quickly retreated under the attack of the whip. In the end, he leaned his back against a tree to fight with it.
In the fiery campfire, Qu Changqing suddenly looked up and saw that Princess Dongyu was the one who was waving the whip, and was fighting with him with anger on her face.
Although the opponent is a woman, it is not difficult to see from the previous few moves that Princess Dongyu is very skilled and is by no means an ordinary person.
Especially at this time, the opponent was obviously forced into a corner by him, which made Qu Changqing even more cautious and swung his sword even faster.
However, the opponent can use a whip to attack from a long distance, while she has to attack at close range with a long sword. From this point of view, Princess Dongyu has the advantage.
Considering the difference in weapons between the two sides, Qu Changqing dealt with Princess Dongyu while looking around for a weapon that could replace the long sword.
However, apart from the torches, there was nothing else in sight...
Qu Changqing, however, suddenly thought and quickly ran towards a nearby tree. Before the whip could swing, he used the force of the trunk to quickly run up the tree in front of him. As soon as he stood on the trunk, he swung his sword to pick up the torch that was originally stuck in the branch and threw it towards Princess Dongyu who was not far away...
Seeing the torch being thrown towards her, Princess Dongyu immediately drew back her whip and struck the torch...
Qu Changqing saw the opportunity and flew down from the tree trunk with a slight movement, stabbing towards Princess Dongyu with his sword...
"Princess, be careful..." Deputy General Dong Yu, who was busy dealing with the King of Chu, saw this and was very anxious. However, the distance between them was too far, so he could only shout to remind the princess, "Ah..."
However, he didn't expect that his distraction caused his sword swinging speed to slow down, and a bloody cut was immediately made on his arm. Blood spurted out violently, and he frowned and cried out in pain.
However, Qu Changqing was even faster. After the deputy general's warning, Qu Changqing was already in front of Princess Dongyu. He held the sword in both hands and slashed down at the skilled woman in front of him...
When danger came, Princess Dongyu subconsciously retracted her whip and used it to block in front of her. At the same time, she stepped back quickly, trying to avoid Qu Changqing's attack.
However, Qu Changqing's attack was extremely fierce, and the sword he chopped down with all his strength was concentrated. With one strike, the long whip was instantly cut in two, and blood spurted out of Princess Dongyu's shoulder...
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