Chapter 432 Fight to the death and break through!

Chapter 432 Fight to the death and break through!

At this time, the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan was standing in the tent, frowning and thinking about how to save the more than 100,000 soldiers trapped in the prison. He knew very well that if he failed to successfully rescue these soldiers, the consequences would be disastrous.

This is more than 100,000 people! If anything happens to them, or even if only half of them choose to surrender to the enemy, it will undoubtedly be a huge loss for our side. The enemy's southern border army will gain a strong reinforcement, and the strength comparison between the two sides will change dramatically in an instant. In this way, it has become a luxury to want to attack Gao Yao by force, and it is almost impossible to achieve.

The latest news was like a bolt from the blue. There was no food left in the army! Even the follow-up food and grass had disappeared. If they did not make a quick decision and withdraw decisively, not to mention that the soldiers trapped in the valley would be difficult to survive, even the tens of thousands of troops led by him and Wang Li would probably not be able to return to Xianyang safely.

Thinking of this, Yi Xiaochuan was extremely anxious and immediately ordered: "Quickly send scouts to try every possible way to break out of the encirclement, and be sure to convey my order to General Zhang Han in the valley. Tell him to find a way to lead his men to break out no matter what, and then retreat to Xianyang along the direction of Jiujiang County, without any delay!"

Hearing this order, the scouts in charge of delivering the message couldn't help but feel nervous and their faces became solemn. They understood the difficulty of this mission and the importance of their responsibility, but they still responded in unison: "Yes... Yes!"

There is no doubt that there is another important reason for the hesitation, that is, the order issued by the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan is almost equivalent to completely abandoning Zhang Han's camp. This approach naturally aroused strong dissatisfaction in the hearts of many soldiers.

The military campaign against the southern border was basically planned and led by the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan from beginning to end. However, now, in just a few months, 300,000 troops have suffered such a tragic defeat. This outcome is really unacceptable. If someone dares to openly stand up and oppose the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan at this moment, a mutiny may break out instantly.

On the other side, Zhang Han, who was in the camp, seized the opportunity without hesitation as the dawn quietly approached, and once again organized the huge army of the imperial court to launch a breakout operation. Moreover, this time Zhang Han was desperate, and gathered all his troops and personally supervised the battle. He knew that if he could not successfully break out today, every day of delay would make his soldiers lose the strength to fight back. By then, the hope of breaking out would become increasingly slim, or even negligible.

Taking advantage of the dim light before dawn, Zhang Han decisively dispatched many battle-hardened soldiers. They moved swiftly and silently, using the weak light to carefully grope their way towards the valley entrance. With a mission in mind, these soldiers attempted to take advantage of the enemy's relatively weak defense at this time, approach the valley entrance without anyone noticing, and create a chaotic situation, thus creating favorable conditions for the large army behind them to charge.

However, Zhang Han's opponent was Han Xin, a man of extraordinary wisdom! How could he be unprepared for this? At this moment, the battle situation was clearly more favorable to Han Xin's side. Zhang Han's attempt to successfully break through the siege when Han Xin was slightly careless was simply a pipe dream. Moreover, there was another reason why Zhang Han did not choose to break through the siege from the other side of the valley. On that side were guarded a full 5,000 elite black-armored soldiers led by Ying Bu.

If they had met in the open field on a normal day, Zhang Han might have had the courage and strength to compete with him. But now, at the critical moment of breaking out, facing such a powerful and highly mobile cavalry unit, the threat it posed was too great. If he was not careful, not only would there be no hope of breaking out, but the entire army might even be wiped out.

I'm afraid that as soon as they step out of the valley, their army will be like a flood that breaks through the dam, and will be completely washed away by the surging black-armored army! The threat posed by this possibility is too great, and it makes people shudder. After careful consideration, Zhang Han finally decided to break out in the direction of Han Xin.

Compared to other places, the situation on Han Xin's side seemed to be slightly more optimistic. Because most of his soldiers were infantry, their mobility and impact were naturally not as good as those cavalry troops that came and went like the wind. Moreover, according to the intelligence obtained earlier, Zhang Han's own rear army had once fought a thrilling and extremely tragic life-and-death battle with Han Xin's troops here.

Although a considerable number of soldiers chose to surrender out of helplessness in that battle, it was impossible for these surrendered soldiers to be put into use immediately at this moment. On the contrary, a certain number of troops had to be dispatched to guard and supervise them. In this way, the actual number of troops that Han Xin could use for combat was undoubtedly much less than expected, and accordingly, the chances of successfully breaking out from here were greater.

Because of this consideration, Zhang Han made up his mind to concentrate all his strength and launch a fierce attack on the position guarded by Han Xin, trying to tear open a gap and escape. However, the cautious Zhang Han did not put all his eggs in one basket. In order to prevent the southern border army from taking advantage of the situation and launching a sudden attack from the rear, he specially allocated a small number of elite soldiers to the other side of Heilongkou to pretend to launch an attack, and put on a posture of breaking out from here at all costs. Through such a tactical arrangement of making a feint to the east and attacking in the west, he hoped to confuse the enemy and create favorable conditions for his real breakout.

The hundreds of soldiers sent by Zhang Han were like ghosts. They cleverly used the lush weeds around them to cover themselves. Everyone clung to the side of the mountain wall and moved forward carefully, trying not to make any noise. As they approached the valley entrance, their heartbeats became more and more rapid.

When the distance between them and the valley entrance was less than 30 steps, the scene ahead could be vaguely seen. There were only seven or eight Southern Border Army soldiers patrolling back and forth at a leisurely pace at the valley entrance. If they continued to move forward, they would certainly alert the enemy, but at this moment, these soldiers did not hesitate at all and took out their weapons from their hiding places.

In an instant, hundreds of figures rushed towards the valley entrance like arrows. Due to the relatively small number of people, the obstruction caused by the dense barbs on the ground was reduced to a minimum. Surprisingly, when the soldiers responsible for defending the valley entrance found the sudden appearance of the imperial army, they did not show too much fear on their faces. Instead, they all seemed calm and confident, as if they had already known what was going on.