The camp fires blazed into the sky, while outside the camp, countless enemy soldiers were gathered.
The soldiers of the Chen Kingdom were in a panic, leaderless. Seeing that there was no hope of extinguishing the fires and that the situation was dire, they immediately scattered and fled.
They fled out of the camp gate and had not gone more than a mile before they encountered a torch-bearing procession.
The soldiers of the Chen Kingdom looked closely and saw that they were all banners of the Yunyue Kingdom.
"Surrender and live, resist and die!"
The dense array of flags and torches, it was impossible to know how many enemies there were.
With wolves in front and tigers behind, it was a dead end.
The defeated soldiers of the Chen Kingdom had no choice but to kneel and surrender.
In just this one night, Chu Chen accepted the surrender of over thirty thousand soldiers from the Chen Kingdom.
This was all thanks to Chu Chen's order for General Gao Le to bring able-bodied men to make up the numbers when they set out, with each man holding two torches and standing at the back, displaying more flags.
The soldiers of the Chen Kingdom were already in a state of panic and confusion. Their vision was limited at night, and they thought the Yunyue Kingdom truly had so many troops ambushing them outside.
In reality, that night, only a thousand border guards and three thousand able-bodied men were defending the city. The rest were ambushing three miles away from the three sides of the Chen Kingdom's camp, leaving only the east open for Chen Anmi and his generals to escape.
Even then, hundreds of border guards were dispatched to disguise themselves as thousands and pursue, frightening Chen Anmi and his men into fleeing all night without daring to stop.
They did not stop pursuing until they were close to dawn, and then they returned.
"Hoo~ Hoo~"
Chen Anmi collapsed on the ground with no regard for his appearance, exhausted. The others were even worse off, some even falling asleep on the ground from exhaustion.
"General, we... we actually lost?!"
After a few deep breaths, Ma Su said with resentment.
"Of course, I know we lost. Do I need you to remind me?"
Chen Anmi retorted irritably, gasping for air.
"But your subordinate cannot understand, how did we, who commanded nearly a hundred thousand troops, lose?"
Ma Su's face was full of confusion.
"What about you all? Do you know what happened?"
Chen Anmi looked at the other generals.
The generals all had martial arts skills. Several who commanded over ten thousand troops were at least in the Ancient Martial Realm, and they managed to escape, not being burned to death in the camp.
"We don't know either. We only know that many Kongming lanterns floated from the sky, dropping clay pots that seemed to contain oil fuel."
"By the time we realized something was wrong, the fire arrows had already fallen, and we didn't even know where they came from."
The old general and others answered one by one.
"Damn it, I'm not reconciled! This battle was lost inexplicably! What in the world happened?"
Chen Anmi stood up, clenched his fists, and pounded the ground, unable to figure it out.
They knew that Kongming lanterns could fly in the sky. They also knew that Kongming lanterns were not large, and they could not hold so many things, nor could they make the Kongming lanterns automatically drop.
If the Kongming lanterns fell, then they understood how they lost.
Unfortunately, they watched the Kongming lanterns come and go, and even after fleeing to this point, they still hadn't figured out the mystery.
After resting for a while, the soldiers had recovered some strength.
Ma Su then asked, "General, what should we do next?"
"Alas~"
"At this point, I don't know what to do either."
Chen Anmi was lost.
He remembered when he was full of ambition, only twenty-six years old, he had already become the General of the West Expedition, a second-rank official.
He commanded an army of 150,000 and marched towards the Yunyue Kingdom. He had anticipated the actions of the Yunyue Kingdom's General of the East and designed an ambush, achieving a victory and annihilating 30,000 enemy soldiers.
He never expected that in just a few days, he would have fallen to this state.
"General, let's not think about the punishment when we return for now. Let's send someone to gather the soldiers and head to Pingyang County?"
The old general thought for a moment and suggested.
Chen Anmi thought about it and agreed to do as the old general said.
In the morning, they had gathered about thirty thousand troops. They dared not delay any longer and led the remnants towards Pingyang County.
As night fell, the banners of Pingyang County were faintly visible, and the morale of the soldiers beside him was low.
Chen Anmi thought for a moment, came up with a plan, and stopped.
He immediately burst into laughter three times, attracting the curiosity of the soldiers.
Ma Su asked, "General, why are you laughing?"
"I laugh at the eunuch's lack of wisdom."
Chen Anmi pointed at the faintly visible city banners and said with a smile, "Although we have lost, with less than three out of ten remaining, I have left five hundred men in Pingyang County to guard a small portion of the army's provisions, which can meet our urgent needs."
"If I were that eunuch... if I were the commander of the Yunyue Kingdom, I would definitely dispatch cavalry to rush there overnight and capture Pingyang County, completely cutting off our retreat."
"But look, the banners are still hanging on the city walls, and there are not many figures. It seems it is still in our hands."
"Therefore, I laugh at the eunuch's lack of wisdom. He is not a wise and cunning person. When we return to our country, regroup, and send out a large army again, we will surely kill that damned eunuch and avenge our brothers!"
"What the General said makes sense!"
Ma Su did not understand and thought it was true, so he agreed. The old general, however, saw through Chen Anmi's intention to appease the soldiers' morale, did not expose him, and also agreed.
The surrounding soldiers heard these words and knew that there were still some provisions in Pingyang County. Although it might not be much, it was enough for them to have a meal. They no longer had any other thoughts and became much more stable.
Seeing that their morale had partially recovered and there was no crisis of collapse, Chen Anmi breathed a sigh of relief and waved his hand, leading the remnants to continue on their way.
When they reached the city, they saw that their own banners were indeed still flying on the city walls, and Chen Anmi was completely relieved.
Although there were not many provisions left in the city, if distributed evenly, it would be enough for nearly thirty thousand people to have a thin meal.
Tomorrow morning, they would find some wild grass and vegetables to make do with, and then fill up their water before continuing to flee.
"I am Chen Anmi, the Great General of the West Expedition. People on the city walls, quickly open the gates!"
Chen Anmi tidied his appearance slightly and shouted.
Unexpectedly, the few people wearing Chen Kingdom uniforms on the city walls suddenly surged out with hundreds of people, all wearing the armor of the Yunyue Kingdom.
Immediately after, the banners of the Chen Kingdom were thrown down from the city walls, and the great banners of the Yunyue Kingdom were hoisted.
"General of the West Expedition Chen Anmi, you are late! This city has been recaptured by me!"
From the city walls came a voice that Chen Anmi found familiar and detestable.
He looked closely and saw that it was the dead eunuch he had seen on the walls of Anzhi County!
"How can you be here?"
Chen Anmi was shocked.
"Hahaha, kill them for me!"
Chu Chen waved his hand, and the city gates immediately opened wide, and endless cavalry charged out.
"Go, quickly!"
Chen Anmi, terrified, turned and ran.
But his legs were tired and hungry. How could he outrun the cavalry, who had eaten their fill and were waiting by the trees?
He was caught up in less than two minutes.
Fortunately, Chen Anmi looked back and saw that there were not many cavalry, which put his mind at ease.
In the end, Chen Anmi escaped with several thousand men.
This was not because he could run, but because there were only a thousand cavalry, and they could not guard so many prisoners.
Looking in the direction Chen Anmi had fled, Chu Chen smiled triumphantly.
"You run, I chase. You cannot escape!"
"Chen Anmi, I'll be waiting for you behind."
After arranging the prisoners, he left a thousand cavalry and fifty of his own men.
Chu Chen then led the remaining hundred men in pursuit of Chen Anmi.