Chapter 284 Surrender
The following day, the military camp advanced smoothly.
By dusk, the army camp was set up at Zhitouwan, more than 20 miles from the capital.
Gu Yan followed the others in preparing for setting up camp, his face calm and expressionless, but his heart was pounding.
The night before he left the capital, the emperor sent someone to inform him that a surprise attack would be launched the night before the Tiger Flying Army entered the capital, which would be the best opportunity for him to assassinate the King of the Northern Frontier.
He had assumed that the Northern Frontier King, with his shrewdness, would avoid this excellent campsite that everyone had their eyes on, but he did not. The Tiger Soaring Army was united and quickly completed the campsite setup process at Zhitou Bay.
Gu Yan was temporarily appointed as a centurion. In the military camp, he could only see the Northern Frontier King from afar and could not even speak to him. However, when the Emperor's men stormed into the military camp late at night and the Tiger Soaring Army was in chaos, he could indeed take advantage of the chaos to find the Northern Frontier King. He could even use the pretext of protecting the Northern Frontier King to secretly kill him while the Northern Frontier King was fighting the enemy.
But he wasn't sure how much of a chance he had of winning.
He hadn't decided whether or not to do it.
Gu Yan had considered informing the Northern Frontier King about this matter, but firstly, his identity as a spy would be exposed, and secondly, if it were discovered by other spies in the military camp, the Emperor would certainly not let his family and Consort Xi, who had been banished to the Cold Palace, off the hook.
Although he had only been in the Tiger Soaring Army for a day or two, the people in the camp treated him very kindly. The thought that so many people were about to be in mortal danger, and that he knew such a big secret but was powerless to do anything about it, made him even more absent-minded.
He barely ate dinner, and coincidentally, it was his team's turn to be on night duty that night.
Gu Yan was both relieved that he was able to discover the situation in time and hoped that the imperial troops would not come tonight.
The torches on the watchtower would burn until dawn, and his men would change shifts with each watch. As a centurion, Gu Yan only needed to occasionally scout the area.
But he had something important on his mind and couldn't rest at all, so he simply kept his eyes wide open, paying close attention to any movement.
The first half of the night was quiet.
Just after the hour of Yin (3-5 AM), Gu Yan saw from the arrow tower that soldiers in two different directions secretly got up and lit a long tube, and thick smoke rose up, making the military camp under the dim moonlight even more obscured.
It seems these are all spies of the Emperor, spreading sleeping gas.
Since it was only a temporary camp for one night, only some generals had pitched tents, while the soldiers were in open areas. The smoke wouldn't immediately knock people unconscious like it would in an enclosed space, but it would still make them sluggish and slow-moving. If a powerful enemy were to invade at this time, they would be like lambs to the slaughter.
Gu Yan's mind was in turmoil, but upon seeing this scene, he quickly adapted to his role as a centurion and immediately struck the gong.
Three long and two short rapid knocks shattered the silence of the night. At the same time, figures began to emerge from the river in front of the Tiger Soaring Army soldiers. Many well-equipped officers and soldiers climbed out of the water and rushed directly towards the Tiger Soaring Army, which had just been awakened.
No wonder we hadn't heard a sound before. The officials from the capital had chosen to come by water. Although this was more laborious, the effect of the surprise attack was even more unexpected.
They hadn't expected that after swimming so much effort, they wouldn't even have a chance to wreak havoc before being discovered as soon as they surfaced.
In fact, if Gu Yan hadn't been keeping a close watch, those spies who timed their drugging with smoke perfectly wouldn't have been discovered so quickly in the dark.
If the Emperor knew that the person he sent had immediately alerted the Tiger Flying Army, he would surely be so angry that he would spit out a mouthful of blood.
The soldiers who swam over didn't know why they were discovered so quickly, but now that they were already in the enemy camp, they had no choice but to grit their teeth and charge forward.
But as the sound of the gong stopped, there was no sign of the Tiger Soaring Army being confused, panicked, or fleeing in terror. Instead, everyone in the camp was in high spirits and quickly lined up, holding torches high.
Before the officers and soldiers could react, a dense barrage of arrows came flying from afar.
The arrows were also cleverly placed, all hitting the outer edge of the torches, each one precisely aimed at the enemy, without harming any of their own men.
Only then did the officers and soldiers realize that the Tiger Flying Army lit torches to mark targets for the archers on the slope, and that their surprise attack was entirely within the enemy's expectations, and that the enemy had already begun to prepare countermeasures.
The officers and soldiers were hit by arrows one after another. Even those who managed to dodge the arrows and rush into the Tiger Flying Army's camp were quickly killed by the enemy.
People came up from the water in batches, only to be shot dead as soon as they surfaced or climbed out halfway. The river was stained with blood and the banks were piled with corpses before the soldiers withdrew by water.
The officers and soldiers attacked in two groups, one by water and one by land. The water team attacked first, followed by the land team. When the water team retreated, the land team arrived in turn.
But what awaited them was not the victory of the water team and the chaotic rout of the Tiger Soaring Army, but rather bright red blood, the corpses of their comrades, and countless rains of swords.
Upon seeing what was happening, the officer in charge of the detachment realized the danger and shouted for a retreat.
The hordes of government troops surged in like a tide, but after enduring a barrage of swords, they retreated like sand in an hourglass. However, halfway through their retreat, a single man led a thousand troops to block their path, turning the government troops into a trapped beast that surrounded them from both the front and the rear.
Under the moonlight, this man appeared like a divine warrior. A long sword flew through the air from several meters away. The leading official was unable to dodge in time and was slashed on the arm by the sword, falling off his horse.
He clutched his bleeding arm and shouted, "It's the King of the Northern Frontier! The Emperor has decreed that whoever kills the King of the Northern Frontier will be rewarded with ten thousand taels of gold! Charge!"
The troops that launched the surprise attack tonight number over 30,000, including 10,000 sailors and 20,000 land troops.
The number of troops was far less than that of the Tiger Flying Army. The Emperor certainly did not expect to wipe out the Tiger Flying Army with these few men. He only wanted to launch a surprise attack and win a small victory to demoralize the enemy, and then quickly withdraw when the Tiger Flying Army was defeated.
But now the situation has completely reversed. The officers and soldiers are caught in a pincer movement and have nowhere to retreat. They can only fight desperately. The leading official even tried to lead a group of elite soldiers to break through the encirclement, but Wen Zhiming slit his throat with a single sword.
With no leader, the officers and soldiers immediately lost their will to fight and their morale plummeted.
Cao Ran, standing behind Wen Zhiming, shouted: "You are all surrounded by our army. There are no reinforcements outside and no generals inside. If you continue to resist, you will only die! The emperor is incompetent and his policies are harsh and cruel. Why should you die for such a person? The King of the Northern Frontier is benevolent. All those who surrender will be pardoned. Those who wish to return home will be given travel expenses, and those who wish to join the army will enjoy the same treatment as our army!"
Upon hearing this, the soldiers' expressions of despair instantly brightened. Immediately, some soldiers dropped their weapons and surrendered; no one wanted to die if they could live. The sound of weapons hitting the ground followed one after another. With the exception of a few casualties, all 20,000 marines surrendered.
Standing atop the arrow tower, Gu Yan gazed at the scene before him, unsure whether to be thankful that he hadn't yet attacked the Northern Frontier King, or to be pleased with the Tiger Soaring Army's victory.
The Tiger Soaring Army soldiers escorted the surrendered officers and soldiers away. Those who wanted to return home were given travel expenses, while those who wanted to stay in the army camp were assigned jobs.
Soon, the sound of hurried footsteps came from the intersection again, and Ren Yang led his soldiers to bring back all the officers and soldiers who had withdrawn by water.
At this point, all but a few hundred of the 30,000 soldiers that the Emperor had sent tonight were captured and surrendered.
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