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Chapter 819: Extra: National War (Part )
Although the border troops suffered a series of defeats, they fought more and more bravely, consuming a lot of Rouran barbarians' manpower and firmly holding back the Rouran cavalry. It can be said that they made great contributions.

General Zuo, who was familiar with the combat effectiveness of the border troops, sighed that "Fan Zhongliang has made great progress in the border troops over the past few years."

Liu Hengchang took over the conversation because the border troops had been training with the method of the personal guard camp in recent years. To be more precise, they were training with the method formulated by Liu Hengchang.

General Zuo knew this very well. Hearing this, he curled his lips, put down the telescope, and said to Liu Hengchang: "After we win this battle, we will reward them according to their merits. General Fan and the border troops deserve the most credit, and no one can take it away from them. Don't worry, I am not the kind of person who likes to take credit for others' work."

This great general will not take away the credit from you, Liu Hengchang.

Liu Hengchang pretended not to understand the meaning of General Zuo's words, and solemnly bowed and asked for battle: "General, I am willing to lead the personal guard battalion to attack."

"No hurry," General Zuo said in a deep voice, "I will wait and see first. After I understand the strength of the Rouran barbarians, I will find the most appropriate time and then send the personal guard battalion to fight."

Among the 200,000 troops, the 30,000 Nanyang guards were absolutely elite, all of them were good at horse fighting, and they had spent several years practicing tactics to deal with the Rouran cavalry. Such a sharp knife must be used at the most appropriate time to pierce the Rouran barbarian's chest.

Liu Hengchang expressed his willingness to fight, and after getting the promise from General Zuo, he kept silent.

The fighting was fierce on the first day, and it was not until dark that everyone retreated.

At dawn the next day, General Zuo sent people to attack the Rouran camp again.

The imperial army camp and the Rouran army camp were only 40 li apart. For the cavalry, such a distance was only a matter of one or two hours of riding.

The sun rises, the sound of horse hooves roars, and the earth trembles and shakes constantly.

The shouts and cries of killing could be heard from morning till night.

The same thing happened on the third day, the fourth day, and the fifth day.

The Rouran barbarians had already lost a lot of their manpower to the border troops, and had suffered heavy casualties in the fierce fighting in the past few days, so they had begun to consider retreating.

In fact, this time they did not get the expected money, food and population when they invaded the border. The border troops kept biting them like annoying lice, and they could not get rid of them. The border troops were almost crippled, and reinforcements from the Daliang court arrived again.

The arrogant Rouran Khan Fu Mingdun also realized that something was wrong.

This time, the reinforcements were strong, powerful, and full of fighting spirit. After several days of fierce fighting, the brave Rouran cavalry could not gain the upper hand and suffered successive defeats.

If this continues, I'm afraid we'll suffer a major defeat.

The cavalry of the Rouran tribe fought like the wind. They were not good at such tough battles, nor were they willing to fight them.

The tribal leaders came one after another to complain, and Fu Mingdun also felt like quitting.

If they can't win, they will run away. They will come back after the imperial army leaves. They can come when they want and leave when they want. This is the fighting style that the Rouran cavalry is best at.

Come when you want? Leave when you want?
General Zuo observed carefully for a few days and sneered: "After a few days of hard fighting, the Rouran barbarians want to run away."

"Liu Hengchang!"

Liu Hengchang, who had been waiting for a few days, was refreshed and accepted the order: "I am here!"

"Have people cook and let the 30,000 elite soldiers of the Royal Guard Camp eat and drink their fill, and rest quietly in the military tents. We will attack at three o'clock tonight!"

"Remember, the goal of the Royal Guards is to destroy the Rouran camp. Don't fight too long and don't be greedy. This general has deployed troops along several routes where they will escape, just waiting for them to be caught." These days, General Zuo has been constantly deploying troops and using them like a god. Liu Hengchang had already suppressed his dissatisfaction in his heart and responded loudly.

The soldiers of the Imperial Guards had not been on the battlefield and had been resting in the rear camp. After half a month, they were all full of energy and vigor. When they heard the order to attack the Rouran camp at night, the Imperial Guards were not afraid, but all of them were full of joy.

The soldiers were happy to hear about the war. What an exciting scene it was.

Liu Hengchang specially called Qin Zhan and Meng Dashan over and whispered, "Tonight, our third battalion will lead the charge. The first and second battalions will follow closely behind."

Qin Zhan and Meng Dashan had long been convinced by Liu Hengchang. After hearing this arrangement, they were not annoyed at all and nodded in agreement: "Brother Liu, we will listen to you."

"Just as you said, the third battalion will go first, and we will all follow you."

"General Zuo asked our personal guard to take on this important task. We cannot bring disgrace upon the emperor."

"If we win this battle and completely defeat the Rouran barbarians, we can have real peace in Daliang."

"No problem, we're going to fight the Rouran barbarians tonight!"

Liu Hengchang immediately said, "Brother Qin and Brother Meng, don't get excited. The general's order to our personal guard camp is to attack the camp and kill as many Rouran barbarians as possible, but there is no need to pursue them. As long as they are defeated and flee, there will be ambushed troops waiting for them on the road."

"In a war, the most taboo is to be greedy for credit. We must follow the orders of the general."

Qin Zhan curled his lips and said, "The general is afraid that we will take away all the military merits, so he arranged an ambush for several armies."

"Even the border troops have set up an ambush along the way." Meng Dashan also murmured: "This is clearly a way to share the credit among everyone."

Liu Hengchang said: "The general is the commander-in-chief, so he has considered everything. Needless to say, the Yingwei Battalion has the largest number of troops, and they are the general's direct troops. They have been the main attackers these days, and the border troops have suffered the most casualties, and they need military merit the most. The commanders of the Shenwu Battalion and the Yongwei Battalion were unable to come, but they brought out all their elite troops."

"We have to let them make some military achievements. That way, everyone can save face."

"Speaking of which, our Royal Guard Battalion has the most important mission. As long as we win this battle, no one can take away our credit."

Therefore, being the commander in chief of the army is not an easy task. When deploying troops, one must also consider the morale of each army and the pressure from the court. In such a large-scale war, only General Zuo can be the commander. Even General Fan was very convinced.

Qin Zhan and Meng Dashan complained privately, and soon went back to watch their men eat and drink. Before it got dark, everyone in the Royal Guards Camp had gone to bed.

After sleeping for two hours, the guards got up, put on their soft armor, and picked up their swords and spears. All the horses' hooves were wrapped with soft cloth, which greatly reduced the sound of the horses' hooves.

No matter how restrained they were, 30,000 war horses were still discovered when they were ten miles away from the Rouran camp.

The Rouran barbarians who were in charge of lookout and guard looked in horror at the horses galloping in the night and the elite soldiers in soft armor.

"Quick! Sound the alarm!"

The hurried sound of the gong shattered the night.

The guards of the third battalion fired a volley of arrows, turning several sentries into hedgehogs, and set a fire to the wooden building.

Flames shot up into the sky and the cavalry rushed towards the Rouran camp like a flood.