Tie Guoli fled back to his formation, swung his big club again, and the more than 10,000 soldiers he brought immediately roared and charged towards Wei Jin's 5,000 troops.
Wei Jin was prepared and spoke up:
"Archers, prepare."
As soon as he finished speaking, three thousand archers immediately stepped forward. The first row of one thousand archers squatted down, the second row half-squatted down, and the third row stood at the back.
At this moment, the soldiers of Tieguoli rushed to within fifty paces of them, and Wei Jin began to give orders:
"Release the arrows."
Arrows rained down immediately.
Imagine three thousand crossbowmen, each shooting an arrow, could fire three thousand arrows in an instant. These powerful crossbow bolts would all be deadly.
The soldiers who charged ahead were quickly felled in droves, and the soldiers who rushed up behind them were also felled.
In the blink of an eye, Tieguoli lost several thousand soldiers. If they continued to charge, all their resources would be wiped out.
He quickly ordered his soldiers to stop charging and retreat to a distance of two hundred paces.
Suddenly, someone reported that the military camp was on fire and had been attacked by the Northern Dynasty army.
Tieguoli was shocked and quickly looked in the direction of the main camp. Although he could not see the main camp from here, he could see the direction of the military camp and a large amount of thick smoke rising.
"withdraw."
Tie Guoli ordered that if the military camp was burned down, they would have nowhere to go and would surely be defeated.
To prevent Wei Jin's army from pursuing them from behind, Tie Guoli led his troops out in batches and headed to the military camp.
Wei Jin did not order his soldiers to pursue and kill, but watched as the entire Tieguoli team withdrew.
In Wei Jin's view, Tie Guoli and his more than 10,000 soldiers were just casualties to him, and there was no need to rush into action.
Moreover, if he were to order a pursuit, his soldiers would certainly suffer casualties, and Wei Jin was unwilling to make such a deal.
Seeing that all the soldiers in Tieguoli had withdrawn, Wei Jin ordered his troops to return to camp.
As for Wang Bingling, after receiving Wei Jin's order, he immediately led three thousand soldiers to detour to the enemy camp.
There were not many defenders in the enemy camp, and Wang Bingling entered as if the place were empty, and began to order his soldiers to set fire to the camp.
These low-lying barracks were easy to catch fire. Three thousand men rushed into the camp and set it on fire, and most of the barracks were burned down.
According to Wei Jin's orders, once the military camp catches fire, Wang Bingling must lead his troops back along the original route to avoid encountering Tie Guoli's army.
However, Wang Bingling seemed to have forgotten Wei Jin's instructions. At this moment, the military camp was already ablaze, and the remaining soldiers began to scatter and flee.
Seeing this, Wang Bingling was like a hungry wolf encountering a flock of sheep, his eyes gleaming with greed. He immediately ordered his soldiers to hunt down the soldiers in the camp.
The soldiers then began a chase through the camp, and the soldiers in Tieguo were chased so hard they cried out in pain. Even so, the soldiers did not achieve much success.
The soldiers in Tieguoli were familiar with the terrain, and they quickly fled the camp and went into hiding. Only a few soldiers were killed.
The fire in the military camp burned brighter and brighter, trapping the three thousand men that Wang Bingling had brought.
Wang Bingling realized the situation was dire and quickly ordered his soldiers to evacuate, but it was too late; at least a thousand soldiers perished in the flames.
Wang Bingling was dumbfounded. Because he had disobeyed Wei Jin's orders, he had lost so many soldiers. How was he going to explain this when he returned? Wei Jin would definitely punish him.
However, he wasn't worried about anything. As a deputy general and also a man of the eldest prince Li Hui, Wei Jin wouldn't dare to do anything to him.
Just as Wang Bingling was leading his team to return, Tie Guoli had already returned with his team. Upon seeing the burned-out military camp and the soldiers of the Great Northern Dynasty who had just escaped from the fire, he immediately understood what had happened.
At this moment, Tie Guoli's eyes were blazing with anger. He had just suffered a great loss at Wei Jin's hands, and now his military camp had been burned down by these people. If he didn't avenge this, when would he ever get another chance?
"Kill them all."
Tieguo roared and spurred his warhorse forward.
Although Tieguoli suffered heavy losses in the battle against Weijin, his main force still remained, with more than 10,000 men.
Seeing their commander take the lead, the soldiers were not to be outdone and followed Tie Guoli in charging forward.
The soldiers of the Great Northern Dynasty, who had just escaped from the inferno, were still in shock when a large number of enemy troops charged towards them. Feeling overwhelmed, they immediately lost their composure.
Wang Bingling had lived in Wild Wolf Village for many years and was essentially a bandit. When they encountered opponents, they would fight if they could win and run away if they couldn't.
Wang Bingling forgot that he was a soldier, and when he saw so many people rushing towards him, he immediately turned around and fled.
When the soldiers saw their commander flee, they followed Wang Bingling and ran. At this point, there was no way to escape, and they were quickly surrounded by Tie Guoli's army.
It was an almost one-sided massacre. In a short time, the more than two thousand soldiers who had just escaped from the fire were all killed.
In the end, only a dozen or so soldiers followed Wang Bingling back to the military camp.
Upon learning of the situation, Wei Jin was greatly surprised and hurriedly asked Wang Bingling what had happened.
Wang Bingling realized he had made a grave mistake, but dared not face it. So he lied and claimed that when he set fire to the enemy camp, he was ambushed by many soldiers, which led to his crushing defeat.
Wei Jin didn't believe it. If that were true, how could they have successfully set the fire? So he summoned the surviving soldiers to find out what had happened.
It turned out that Wang Bingling disobeyed Wei Jin's orders. After setting the enemy camp on fire, he did not withdraw from the enemy camp and return along the original route, but instead pursued and killed enemies in the enemy camp.
This caused the soldiers to miss the opportunity to evacuate, resulting in the burning of a large number of soldiers. Due to one mistake after another, the soldiers encountered the main force of Tieguoli, leading to the annihilation of the entire army.
Wei Jin was furious and roared:
"Men, tie up Wang Bingling and take him out to be beheaded."
Several soldiers rushed forward and tied Wang Bingling up.
Wang Bing was taken aback. He hadn't expected Wei Jin to tie him up and then take him out to be beheaded. He quickly spoke up:
"Wait a minute, I have something to say."
Wei Jin sneered and said, "What else do you have to say?"
"Although I made a mistake in this defeat, it is not a capital offense. After all, I led my troops to burn down the enemy camp, causing heavy losses to Tieguoli."
After setting the enemy camp ablaze, I did not lead my troops to retreat. My intention was to kill more enemies, and my starting point was good.
Furthermore, victory and defeat are common occurrences in warfare; there are no invincible generals in the world, and who says that defeat is forbidden?
Upon hearing this, Wei Jin coldly replied:
"This time, I, the general, have ordered you to lead troops to the enemy camp and burn it down. After the enemy camp is on fire, immediately lead the troops back along the original route. The purpose is to avoid encountering the main force of Tieguoli."
However, after you set the enemy camp ablaze, you disobeyed orders and did not return immediately. Instead, you ordered your soldiers to pursue and kill the soldiers in Tieguo in the inferno, resulting in nearly a thousand soldiers being burned to death or injured.
When you encountered the main force of the Iron Fruit Army, instead of organizing your soldiers to resist and retreat in an orderly manner, you fled first, which was a sign of cowardice and led to the annihilation of your entire army.
After returning to camp, you lied about military intelligence to evade responsibility; these are capital offenses. What else do you have to say?
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