Chapter 981 The Barbarians Who Won’t Be Fooled

Early the next morning, Jia Yao and Yu Shizhong sent troops to harass the barbarian army.

At the same time, Jiayao sent someone to inform Guge to pay attention to the situation on his side.

Once the barbarian troops attacked in the direction of the royal court, they must stop them and never let them enter the royal court.

Yun Zheng led the personal guards and their main force to set up an ambush in a valley about forty miles away from the camp.

As long as the elite cavalry sent out to harass the barbarian army could lure it into their ambush circle, even though their forces were far less than those of the barbarian army, it would be enough to defeat the barbarian army.

The cold wind whistled past, and even though they were wrapped tightly, they could still feel the chill.

There was icicles on the hair around the corners of the warhorse's mouth.

Many people also realized that their hands and feet were stiff, so they had to jump off their horses and stretch their stiff limbs to avoid being unable to hold their weapons when the barbarians came to attack them.

Yun Zheng's situation was not much better than that of ordinary soldiers.

Originally, Qin Qihu and the others said they wanted to build a snow house for Yun Zheng to shelter from the wind, but Yun Zheng refused.

With so many soldiers fighting hard, how could he hide in the snow house?

Just when everyone was shivering with cold, a team of messengers came galloping on horseback.

Arriving in front of the commander Yu Shizhong, the messenger quickly dismounted and said, "General Yu, our harassing troops were counterattacked by the enemy, and we lost more than 200 people..."

"what?"

Yu Shizhong's face changed. "What's going on? Didn't we say that we can't fight the enemy in close combat?"

"We did not engage in close combat with the enemy."

The messenger panicked and quickly explained, "When our troops were harassing the enemy's two wings, the enemy took out a strange object and threw a large number of stones at us. Many of our troops were knocked off their horses by the stones before they could react..."

"weird stuff?"

Yu Shizhong frowned and asked with a dark face: "What is that? What does it look like?"

The messenger answered cautiously: "It looks like a rope..."

"Sling!"

Yun Zheng narrowed his eyes and said in a deep voice: "Someone with greater strength may be able to use a slingshot to throw a stone thirty or forty feet away..."

Hearing Yun Zheng's words, everyone couldn't help but be secretly surprised.

Just this thing can throw stones so far?

Isn't this comparable to an ordinary archer?

"Have you ever seen barbarians use such weapons before?"

At this time, Miaoyin asked Jiayao again.

"never seen it."

Jia Yao frowned. "Before the Sauron Valley, I had never led an army to fight against the barbarians. But I heard from my mentor that when they fought against the barbarians before, the barbarians would at most throw stones at our soldiers. I have never heard of a slingshot..."

"We'll talk about this later."

Yun Zheng interrupted the two women and asked the messenger, "Is the barbarian army coming this way?"

"no!"

The messenger replied: "The barbarian army's route of advance has not changed at all. Instead, they are accelerating towards our camp!"

After hearing the messenger's words, everyone's faces turned ugly.

The barbarian army did not enter their ambush circle as they expected!

Doesn’t that mean that all of them have waited here for so long in vain?

The huge pits they had prepared for the mammoths by forcibly digging through the frozen, hard ground were completely useless?

This is not good news!

"Your Highness, what should we do now?"

Yu Shizhong frowned, his face full of unwillingness.

The harassment troops, who were originally thought to have no casualties or at most only a few, also suffered unexpected casualties.

They prepared elaborate traps, but the barbarians remained unmoved.

Such a result made Yu Shizhong very depressed.

"You're the coach, don't ask me!"

Yun Zheng shook his head. “If you don’t know what to do, you can discuss it with Jia Yao.”

Since Yu Shizhong was the head coach, he would not interfere too much in Yu Shizhong's decision.

He would only offer advice when Yu Shizhong really didn't know what to do next.

Yu Shizhong looked at Yun Zheng helplessly, thought for a moment, and said to Jia Yao, "If we retreat to the camp in disgrace, we will have been freezing for nothing for so long! Since the barbarians will not be fooled, we can lead our army to raid the barbarian army, and then quickly retreat to the camp..."

Yu Shizhong was basically brought up by Yun Zheng.

Both his combat thinking and personality were greatly influenced by Yun Zheng.

So many of them came here to set up an ambush, and they are all almost frozen to death. If they don’t get the advantage, they will definitely be at a disadvantage!

Even if we want to retreat now, we have to gain some advantage at least!

They sent several thousand men to harass the barbarians, but when they remained unmoved, they sent tens of thousands of troops to attack them.

Don't worry about it, just launch a surprise attack first, and then retreat quickly relying on the advantage of cavalry.

Jia Yao thought for a moment, frowned and said: "It's possible, but if we raid now and then return to the camp, I'm afraid we won't have enough time..."

If Yu Shizhong's idea was followed, they would definitely have to travel at night.

It's really a bit annoying to travel at night.

Moreover, they did not carry torches, so they could not even see the road clearly at night.

In addition, the barbarians unexpectedly possessed long-range weapons comparable to bows and arrows. Jia Yao felt that they should withdraw their troops and formulate new tactics to deal with unexpected situations.

"This……"

Yu Shizhong was speechless.

He really didn't have much experience in winter combat, which was not taken into consideration.

Yu Shizhong thought silently for a while, then looked up at Yun Zheng, "I think what Madam Jiayao said is absolutely right. We should prioritize the issue of where to stay tonight. Should we withdraw to the camp first and then make plans?"

"Withdraw!"

Yun Zheng nodded gently, "Don't forget our original intention!"

Original intention?

Defeat the barbarian army at the lowest cost and in the shortest time, forcing them to retreat.

If they wanted to fight, they would launch a surprise attack with tens of thousands of troops. Even if the barbarians had slingshots to attack them from a distance, they would definitely gain a lot of advantages.

But if you want to survive a cold night, it is indeed a big problem.

If we march for several hours in the cold night, both the men and the horses would probably suffer a lot of frostbite.

Since Yun Zheng also agreed, Yu Shizhong no longer hesitated and immediately gave a loud order: "Order all troops to withdraw to the camp immediately!"

Although he decided to retreat, Yu Shizhong still looked somewhat unwilling.

This damn weather!

If it were any other time, he would have led his troops to launch a surprise attack on the barbarian army.

Seeing Yu Shizhong's unwilling look, Yun Zheng couldn't help but smile: "As long as there is green mountain, there is no fear of running out of firewood! If it doesn't work today, there is still tomorrow! Think about the countermeasures tonight, and we can continue tomorrow!"

Yu Shizhong thought about it, and his expression finally improved a little. He said embarrassedly: "I am obsessed with this."

"Remember, in winter operations, the priority is always weather factors."

Yun Zheng said patiently: "Think about the retreat first, then make other decisions!"

The fact that these barbarians suddenly learned to use slingshots is indeed a big variable.

But compared to the weather, this is nothing.

"Thank you for your advice, Your Highness!"

Yu Shizhong bowed respectfully.

Yun Zheng nodded and smiled, "Let's go! It's time for us to leave! Let's go back to the camp and warm up."

Yu Shizhong took the order.