To achieve immortality, I cultivate using Qi Luck

Chapter 864: Chapter 367 Changsha Relief_3

The soldiers guarding them, who were closer to the wounded soldiers’ barracks, couldn’t help but feel a sense of sorrow for their fallen comrades when they witnessed their fate.

In addition, with the daily brutal siege warfare, the number of deaths was rising, and no one knew who would be next.

Under extreme pressure, some soldiers who couldn’t handle the stress suffered mental breakdowns and caused trouble along with the wounded, which was a common occurrence.

This was what was known as mutiny in the barracks.

Therefore, seeing the disturbance in the rear, Yao Qing’s first thought was that the soldiers were causing trouble.

“Perhaps it’s…”

Xiang Duan also had such a speculation, so he said gravely, “This disturbance must not spread, it should be suppressed immediately with heavy troops.”

Although a mutiny in the barracks was greatly damaging,

if it was suppressed harshly the moment it started to emerge, its harm could also be limited.

Looking in the direction of the rear camp, the mutiny’s range had affected only five or six camps, impacting at most three or four thousand men, which wasn’t considered very large.

If troops were dispatched to suppress it now, perhaps with one or two thousand dead, the unrest could be quelled.

Yao Qing also agreed with this suggestion, “The situation is urgent. The rear army is as far as ten miles away. We must not delay. We should dispatch troops to quell the disturbance immediately.”

Xiang Duan’s main camp was constructed to accommodate the scale of a hundred thousand men from the beginning.

A hundred thousand troops, built according to a standard of five hundred people per campsite, would require around two hundred campsites.

And one standard campsite, measuring about a hundred paces in both length and width, along with the gaps between two or three campsites, would take up about one square mile.

Two hundred campsites spread out would cover an area of ten to twenty square miles, with camp connections stretching over ten miles.

It was because of such a distance that Xiang Duan and Yao Qing couldn’t know what exactly had happened in the rear camp; they could only speculate based on experience.

Regardless of the reason, sending heavy troops to intervene and suppress was always the right move.

As the military order was issued, the soldiers originally prepared for the siege, nearly ten thousand strong, were quickly mobilized and assembled.

Xiang Duan directly ordered the rearguard to become the vanguard, dismounted from the command chariot, mounted a warhorse, and personally led them in a mighty procession towards the rear camp.

To suppress a mutiny, one must act with the speed and decisiveness of thunder, cutting the tangled hemp swiftly to deter others.

Only with him, the Inborn Grandmaster, taking action personally could the unrest be quelled fastest.

Yao Qing stayed behind to oversee the coordination of the troops at the front of the main camp, on alert against the Chu army taking advantage of the disturbance to launch a surprise attack on the main camp.

Xiang Duan led his troops towards the rear camp.

Along the way, whenever he encountered units from various camps, he immediately ordered their commanders to assemble their men, stabilize morale, and closely guard their campsites, ensuring the disturbance didn’t spread.

Meanwhile, he continued to lead his ten thousand troops forward while also dispatching scouts and vanguards to hurry to the rear camp to investigate the situation.

Upon reaching the middle section of the campsites, news finally arrived.

The disturbance in the rear camp was not a mutiny, but the Chu army suddenly attacking from behind, having taken several campsites already, and now they were heading straight for the Central Army.

Hearing this shocking news, Xiang Duan’s face was filled with disbelief, “With Anjiang and Fengling counties serving as barriers behind our great army, and over ten thousand soldiers stationed there, how could the Chu army have approached?

Moreover, around Dongting, the Chu army’s forces have already been fully deployed, and each area is monitored by soldiers from Da Ning. Where did they find additional troops for this sneak attack?

Could it be the troops from Lingnan?”

In Jiangxia, Changsha, Luyang, and Hengyang, there are Ning soldiers monitoring every move of the Chu army’s forces.

If there had been any unusual movements, surely the news would have come through.

Therefore, the troops that carried out this sneak attack could not possibly be from these areas; they must have been transferred from elsewhere.

And in Xiang Duan’s view, the only forces that the Chu army could mobilize were from Lingnan.

This must be said to be both good news and bad news.

The good news is that my goal has been achieved; I have successfully lured the Lingnan troops northward.

The bad news is that the Chu Army from Lingnan didn’t attack the Ning Army in Luyang and Hengyang; instead, they traversed a thousand miles to strike the utterly unprepared army in Changsha.

Now the Chu Army has come to attack, and I am completely unprepared; even the rear camp has been breached, leaving us in a situation that’s worryingly dire.

“Immediately send orders to the units of the Central Army to gather their forces and join me in striking the Chu Army together,” Xiang Duan immediately changed his command.

The number of approaching Chu forces is unknown.

At this moment, the ten thousand troops under my command to quell camp unrest are undoubtedly insufficient to confront the threat of the Chu Army.

Now, the urgent task is to gather more troops and amass greater strength to halt the Chu offensive.

After issuing the commands, Xiang Duan could not afford to wait for more troops to join him, and he continued to lead his forces forward, planning to make first contact with the Chu Army and stem their advance.

However, he had barely taken two steps when an urgent message suddenly arrived from Yao Qing at the position of the Front Camp.

“Report to the general, a large Chu force, numbering forty to fifty thousand, has emerged within the city of Changsha, personally led by Chu State’s Left Chancellor Sun Siwen; their vanguard has already breached several of our camps.

The Inborn Grandmasters are hard-pressed to resist; Military Superintendent Yao has sent someone requesting the general to hurry back with reinforcement.”

The messenger arrived looking battered, his report tinged with panic.

“Sun Siwen… the Chu Army…”

Having heard the message, Xiang Duan felt like shattering his teeth from clenching them too hard.

At this very moment, how could he not understand that the Chu Army was specifically targeting him?

This battle had been premeditated from the start.

Now, caught off guard and without any defense against a simultaneous front and rear attack by the Chu people, he had been completely taken by surprise.

Stuck in a dilemma, with neither advance nor retreat presenting a viable option.

Fortunately, before Xiang Duan had to make a difficult decision, a Chu Army force appeared before him and made the choice for him.

Ahead, a figure like a ferocious beast charged wildly, shattering everything in its path, whether Ning camp or Ning soldiers, none could withstand it.

Without a doubt, such a formidable force could only belong to an Inborn Grandmaster.

In this battle, the Chu Army had mobilized two Inborn Grandmasters; I had truly fallen into an inescapable predicament.

“Chu scoundrels, meet your death!”

Realizing his plight, desperation and then a resolute determination shone in Xiang Duan’s eyes. With a roar, he spurred his horse forward, charging towards the beast-like figure.

Behind him, tens of thousands of soldiers shouted in unison, courageously following their general into the fray.

Amidst the dense smoke and flames engulfing the Ning camp, a brutal battle unfolded between the two armies.

…

In the eleventh year of Shenwu, on the second day of the fourth month.

The Chu Army attacked the city of Changsha. During the assault, Huang Xuan led his troops in a surprise attack on Xiang Duan’s Ning rear camp, successively breaching over ten encampments, and Xiang Duan’s army urgently moved to reinforce.

Afterward, upon hearing of Huang Xuan’s movements, Left Chancellor Sun Siwen of Chu led fifty thousand troops in a fierce assault on the Ning Front Camp.

The Ning Front Camp, with only ten thousand men and without an Inborn Grandmaster, was quickly overwhelmed.

Sun Siwen then joined forces with Huang Xuan, surrounding Xiang Duan with a pincer attack. After half a day of bitter fighting, the Ning Army finally broke and scattered, with their general Xiang Duan falling in battle amid the onslaught of two great Inborn Grandmasters of the Chu Army.

Since the outset of hostilities between Chu and Ning, this marked the first casualty among the Inborn Grandmasters from both nations.

On this day, the Chu Army slew twenty thousand of the enemy, captured thirty thousand, and thus the siege of Changsha was lifted.