The sun had only just tilted west when the Exorcising the Dragon Army, after resting for a mere quarter of an hour, immediately launched its attack. As they attacked, Han Yingong, commander of the blocking force, took the initiative to retreat.
This was the predetermined plan. Han Yingong knew perfectly well that, never mind his four thousand troops who had already suffered losses along the way, even eight thousand men at full strength, drawn up and ready, could not match these five main-force battalions of the Exorcising the Dragon Army. It was not that the army could not hold them off, but that the gap in high-end fighting strength was too great... He did not know the might of the Thirteen Vajras, but he had heard so much about Xiong Bonan, Zhang Xing, Xu Shiren, Wang Shuyong, and Jia Yue that his ears had grown calluses, and he had fought some of them before.
So he could only retreat, and retreat resolutely, decisively, and in good order.
Retreat did not mean abandoning the fight. It meant falling back through successive layers, fighting as they withdrew, delaying and obstructing the enemy while awaiting reinforcements.
Bai Hengqiu and Xue Changxiong would arrive first to suppress the Exorcising the Dragon Army's high-level fighters. The troops following them would then surround the Exorcising the Dragon Army, forcing its already exhausted ranks, from top to bottom, to collapse and become prey to be hunted down... That was a proper strategy.
Put plainly, it was a gamble on timing: how quickly would the reinforcements arrive, and was this blade of the Exorcising the Dragon Army, already driven to its limit, still sharp?
Yet, setting all that aside, as the Exorcising the Dragon Army launched its assault and Han Yingong led his three core companies backward, this