Unparalleled Evildoer

Chapter 116: Taking an unexpected shortcut

Touman looked at the Qin army galloping away, his hair stood on end with rage, and shouted to Ugud: "Quickly let go of the reins, I will destroy them myself!"

Prime Minister Bi rushed over and advised, "Great Khan, you must not do this. Be careful of their ambush!"

Touman angrily rebuked Prime Minister Bi, "Be careful of the ambush, be careful of the conspiracy. What else can you say besides these words? Where is the ambush, what kind of conspiracy, if you can't think of it, don't say such nonsense. After all, everyone will fall into the trap. What else can I do with you!"

Prime Minister Bi blushed, feeling ashamed, and fell to his knees, saying, "I am incompetent and deserve death. Great Khan, please calm down!"

Ugude also knelt down and said, "Ugude, please lead the troops to chase and kill the Qin army!"

Touman was stunned for a while, then he withdrew his gaze, sighed, and said, "Forget it!" He got off his mount and walked back to the tent in a daze.

……

There was noise and flames in the Hun camp. Although the river was very close, they did not dare to take water from the river to extinguish the food and grass, so they could only cover it with mud. The wind at the mouth of the valley was strong, and the soldiers worked all night to put out the fire. Nearly half of the food and grass were burned, and more than 5,000 Huns were killed by the Qin army.

Prime Minister Bi did not sleep all night. What happened during this day and night made him confused. If he continued like this, he didn't know what danger he would encounter. The Taoist calculated every step accurately and his tricks were endless. The Khan was right. If he could not see through the tricks, what was the use of him? He must find a way to change the current passive situation.

The Hun army had not slept all night and had not had water for a day, so they were in low spirits. After they reorganized themselves, they crossed a river and looked for water. After walking half a mile, they found a stream. After testing it to be non-toxic, they drank the water with confidence. The entire stream was drunk dry by the Hun army.

Prime Minister Bi looked at the soldiers scrambling for water and said to Touman, "Great Khan, I have been thinking about this all night. We have been chasing the Qin army and have fallen into many traps. The Qin army did this just to prevent us from forming a siege. Therefore, they set up ambushes along the way, waiting for us to fall into their traps and delay us. If we do not chase the Qin soldiers, but find another way, their tricks will not succeed, and we will be unimpeded and get ahead of them to reach Yuyang quickly, and surround Meng Tian with the Donghu and Xianbei. Their forces are less than ours, and they are dispersed by our army. If we concentrate our forces to attack Meng Tian, ​​the Taoist will definitely take the initiative to attack us to help Meng Tian break through. By then, even if he has extraordinary talent, he can only go there to die."

After hearing this, Touman was delighted and said, "The Prime Minister has really become smart. This is a good plan, but how can we get to Yuyang before them?"

Prime Minister Bi stroked his silver beard, pointed to the north, and said leisurely: "If we go another hundred miles north, we will reach the Great Wall of Zhao. Because of the crisscrossing mountains there, there has been no soldiers guarding it since ancient times. The city wall is like the wall of our own courtyard and it is easy to push it down. I know there is a road there that does not lead to the outside of the pass, but directly to Shanggu. If we pass through there, the Qin army will never expect it. By the time they find us, we will have been ahead of them." After hearing this, the generals nodded and praised.

Ugude said: "If the Qin army also knows that road and ambushes there, won't we fall into the trap again?" Hearing Ugude's doubts, everyone felt that this plan was too risky.

Prime Minister Bi smiled and said, "I fled to Shanggu from there. Not many people would know about that road, and because of the dangerous terrain, it is impossible to set up an ambush. General Ying, just go through it without worry."

Touman laughed loudly and said, "Speed ​​is of the essence in war. We should catch the enemy by surprise. Let's march as the Prime Minister suggested, take a shortcut and kill them without leaving a single piece of armor behind!"

When the Xiongnu army arrived at the border of Dai County, they found no traces of the Qin army's march along the way. As Prime Minister Bi had said, the city wall was only more than ten feet wide. Due to years of disrepair, a large area had collapsed. After a little cleaning, the army quickly passed through. Outside the pass, there were mountains and lush trees. The shortcut was actually a dry mountain stream with overgrown weeds and fog. Even with more than ten riders, they still felt it was wide enough. Nearly 300,000 troops and horses were lined up in a long queue of more than ten miles in this river. Ugud rode on a giant eagle from time to time, circling in front of the team to explore the way to ensure that there was no risk of error. However, due to the heavy fog, he could only fly at low altitude. The horses kept going for a day, and when they could no longer see the road at night, Touman ordered a rest.

The Xiongnu soldiers were already exhausted. When they heard the order to rest, they found a place to shelter from the wind, ate some food hastily, and fell asleep on the ground. The night finally passed peacefully. In the early morning, the soldiers' spirits were restored a lot. After eating more food, they continued to march quickly.

The morning mist was so thick that only a few feet away could be seen. The soldiers' clothes were soaked by dew. The sun was not visible. Only a streak of darkness could be seen above the valley. They walked for another day but still could not get out of this shortcut. Until the streak of darkness turned into a shadow, they had to rest where they were and continue their journey at daybreak.

Prime Minister Bi began to feel uneasy. Normally, if they walked fast along this road, they would surely reach Shanggu in one and a half days. But they had been walking for almost two days and why had they not yet made it out? Was it because the team was too long and they walked slowly? If they could not make it out tomorrow, they would never reach Shanggu before the Qin army. He thought to himself, "As long as we can avoid their ambush, it doesn't matter even if the Qin army arrives first. The worst that can happen is that the Qin army will gather together and then it won't be difficult for the 400,000-strong army to surround and kill them all together." Thinking of this, his annoyance was relieved a lot.

……

The march continued on the second day. As time went on, Touman and his soldiers began to get restless. This shortcut was beyond their expectations. Touman asked in a deep voice: "Prime Minister, did you remember the wrong way? Why have we been walking for so long and still can't get out of this valley?"

Prime Minister Bi replied: "I am not mistaken. As long as we walk down this valley, we will definitely reach the Upper Valley."

"But you said it would only take a day or so, and now it's taken more than two days."

"I am also confused, but it took me a day and a half to get here that year, so I can't be wrong." "Did the Taoist know that we are here and set up some kind of magic circle?" Touman asked doubtfully.

"We have not found any traces of the Qin army along this route. The Qin army probably did not expect us to come here. Even if they found us, they would not have time to deploy their troops. Moreover, the cliffs on both sides are steep and difficult to climb. It is impossible for us to hide on them. I think this possibility is very small. Maybe the fog here is too heavy, which caused us to march too slowly. If we continue to move forward, we will definitely get out."

After hearing this, Touman felt relieved. He ordered the army to speed up the march and ordered Ugud to check the road ahead.

Ugude rode on the giant eagle and flew rapidly along the mountain stream for 300 miles, but still could not find the exit. He could not help but become suspicious and quickly returned to report to Touman: "There is still no exit 300 miles ahead!"

Everyone was frightened after hearing this. If they didn't find the entrance to the valley after 300 miles, they would not be able to get out of the valley today. It had already been three days. If they couldn't get out in another three days, Meng Tian would definitely repel the Donghu and Xianbei, and the encirclement would collapse. Meng Tian's 200,000 troops would turn around and fight them. Although they had more than 100,000 troops, the outcome would be hard to predict. Even if they won, it would not be a complete victory. The Huns would be seriously injured. If the Qin army sent reinforcements again, it would be difficult for the Huns to resist and they would have no choice but to withdraw.

Prime Minister Bi was already panicking, "How, how is this possible!"

Touman turned around and glared at Prime Minister Bi and said, "This is the shortcut you chose. If you can't get out of the valley today, I will chop off your head!" He then said to Ugud, "Go explore the way again, and come back to report when you find the valley entrance!"

Ugud rode on the giant eagle and disappeared into the fog in a moment. At that time, the vast sky began to darken.

Prime Minister Bi dismounted in panic, knelt on the ground and said, "I will never make a mistake, and I will never deceive the Khan. This road does lead to Shanggu, but I don't know why it took so long this time. Could it be that the Taoist really set up a magic circle?"

Everyone was terrified after hearing this. Half of the food and grass had been consumed, and they would run out of food in five days. If a magic array was set up here, it would not be as simple as delaying time, but would trap 300,000 troops in the valley. But what kind of magic array was so powerful that it could deceive 300,000 pairs of eyes? They couldn't figure out where and when to set it up, and where the Qin army was hiding. They felt that this possibility was very small, so they could only hope that Ugude would find an exit as soon as possible.

Touman knew that Prime Minister Bi was loyal and would never deceive him, so he said coldly: "Get up! Don't block my way. I will settle the score with you after we get out of the valley!"

……

The valley fell into darkness again, with mist and cold fog. Ugude had been gone for two hours. The later he came back, the longer the journey would be. With the flying speed of the giant eagle, it should have flown a thousand miles away. In total, the distance from Dai County to Shanggu would not be so far, and this distance was constantly lengthening as time went on. This made them wonder whether there was any exit from this valley.

The Xiongnu soldiers were more than just panicking. They recalled those terrible legends. It seemed that there were countless ghosts hidden in the dark forests, which would pounce on them and take their lives when they were not paying attention. They really hoped to meet the Qin army. Even if it was an ambush, at least there was a way out.

When the sky became bleak again, Ugude did not return all night, and Touman and others did not sleep all night. Did he encounter an accident, or did he still not find a way out?

Prime Minister Bi had a dead look on his face. He lowered his head and walked in front of Touman, saying humbly, "I have been thinking about it all night and I think the situation we are facing is very similar to the long-lost ancient formation 'Cloud and Mist Barrier'. The fog here is too thick, so we can't see the stars, the sun and the moon in the sky. We have lost our direction and can only judge by the terrain of the valley. Once we are too far away, we can't see the straightness of the terrain, so we can only walk endlessly in this fog. I suspect that the Taoist may have used the fog and the cliffs here to set up this formation."

Touman asked: "Can this formation be broken?"

"Legend has it that Chi You once set up this formation in Zhuolu, causing Emperor Xuanyuan Huangdi to lose his way and be trapped in the formation. Later, a goddess descended to the mortal world and taught Emperor Xuanyuan Huangdi the "Qi Men Dun Jia", which enabled him to build a compass chariot, and only then did he get out of the formation and defeat Chi You. Although we don't have a compass chariot, as long as we have an instrument that can identify the direction, perhaps we can get out of the formation." He turned to look at the ancestor Xuanming, who had his head buried under his hat and did not say a word.

Touman immediately understood what Prime Minister Bi meant, and smiled at the Xuanming Patriarch, "Ancestor, do you have a device for identifying directions that I can borrow from you?"

Patriarch Xuanming said hoarsely: "I have a compass here. I have tried it, but the directions are confusing. It must be because the cliffs here contain magnets. The method Prime Minister Bi said to crack it doesn't work!" Then he threw the palm-sized compass to Prime Minister Bi.

Prime Minister Bi took a few steps and tried. As the ancestor said, the needle pointed to a nearby cliff. After trying several times, he sat down on the ground, his heart dead, tears streaming down his face. He said sadly and regretfully: "I have the ambition to serve my country, but I don't have the talent to do so. I have brought an army of 300,000 to a desperate situation. My death is not a pity..." He took out a dagger and wanted to commit suicide.

The pale fingers of Xuanming Patriarch moved slightly, and a black light flew out, knocking the dagger away, and said contemptuously: "If you die, who will I kill? Don't worry, I am still in this formation, you can't die!"

Touman looked at the ancestor with eager hope in his eyes and said, "If you can lead us out of this predicament, I will agree to give you as many women as you want."

(End of this chapter)