Breaking the Defense Line

At Zhang Hu's command, the Left Commander Guo Xianfu, who had been lying in wait beneath the night curtain, rose to his feet. With a single order, he led twenty-five thousand warriors racing through the darkness, straight toward the place where firelight had lit up the sky.

They had been positioned far away and had not dared draw near. Getting too close was too dangerous; discovery would have been unavoidable.

Some tripped and fell along the way, then scrambled back up and kept running madly onward.

When they encountered small enemy units harassing them along the way, they simply slaughtered their way through.

When word reached Xu Laiping, who was fighting fiercely along the riverbank, that troops had suddenly appeared in the rear, he nearly broke out in a cold sweat. Fortunately, he had been somewhat mentally prepared and promptly detached fifty thousand men to intercept them. Stomping his feet, he cursed, wondering why the hundred thousand reinforcements that had withdrawn had yet to arrive.

At this moment, he did not know that his retreating reinforcements were suffering a brutal interception.

Guo Xianfu was indeed one of Zhang Hu's capable officers and a veteran hardened by countless battles. His ability to adapt in combat was no weak thing. Seeing that they had alerted the enemy along the way, he immediately ordered five thousand men to continue their charge, drawing the enemy's attention and main interception force, while he himself led twenty thousand men around by another route.

Very soon, those five thousand raiders crashed into the fifty thousand intercepting Song troops, and another bloody battle erupted.

By the time Xu Laiping discovered that another enemy force was attacking from a different direction, it was already too late. It was also difficult for him to pull out a large number of