I, the prince, only want to be deposed.

Chapter 426: God Proposes, Man Proposes
"My king should not take life and death lightly. If my king is determined to die, the army will be leaderless. How can we break through?"

Several personal soldiers hurriedly tried to persuade him, some even wiped away tears in anxiety.

"You... have a point!"

After hearing this, Tiefu regained some of his fighting spirit and got on his horse.

"In that case, I will lead many warriors to break out first, escape from here, and then commit suicide to thank Wuwei Chanyu and Youxian King!"

"Pass on my order. Hold high the royal flag and lead the army to break out to the upper reaches of Jiaohe River. Order the kings to lead their troops to follow the royal flag and charge forward to carve out a way out!"

……

On top of the city tower.

"This……"

Sima Qian and Su Wu looked at each other.

Although the two did not fully understand this almost one-sided battle, they were deeply shocked.

When did the Xiongnu army become so vulnerable?

When did the Han cavalry become so fierce?

Although the two great armies of the Han Dynasty had repeatedly marched north to defeat the Xiongnu, both of them had only heard of their battle achievements and had never witnessed the battle between the Han army and the Xiongnu cavalry with their own eyes.

In addition, there is no shortage of public intellectuals in any era. Since the time of Emperor Gaozu, there have always been people in the Han Dynasty exaggerating the power and invincibility of the Xiongnu, advocating peace and compromise. Even though the two great men of the Han Dynasty defeated the Xiongnu and forced them to retreat to the northern desert, they still failed to shut up these public intellectuals. Naturally, the two men were inevitably influenced by this subtle influence and were afraid of the Xiongnu cavalry.

What's more, this time it was several thousand Han cavalry against 20,000 Xiongnu cavalry. Anyone who only looked at this data would not believe that this battle was not only able to defeat the majority with the few, but was also almost a one-sided crushing victory.

Therefore, the scene before them seemed somewhat unreal to them.

"Sima Jianjun, the Xiongnu camp is in chaos now. Should we also open the city gates and charge out to support His Highness's attack?"

Su Wu finally came to his senses and asked this question.

Sima Qian also came back to his senses, but said helplessly:

"In this situation, I'm afraid we are no longer of any use, right?"

"The Xiongnu are no match for the Han army and are in chaos. I see the Xiongnu in the center and rear have already mounted their horses and are probably trying to find a way to break out. If we open the city gates and charge out now, I'm afraid our two legs won't be able to catch up with our four legs and we won't be able to achieve any success. We may even run the risk of the Xiongnu turning back and seizing Jiaohe City in order to hold it."

"So we just need to set up our crossbows and be ready for battle. This is the best support for His Highness and also a way to tell the Huns that this road is blocked."

"Moreover, I saw that when Your Highness led the army to encircle the Xiongnu camp, there was a gap in the upper reaches of the Jiaohe River. I'm afraid that not only is there a gap in the siege, but there is also the possibility that an ambush has been set up in that direction."

"If this is the case, we must not act rashly, lest we ruin His Highness's plan..."

Before he finished speaking, Su Wu already had an expression of hindsight and nodded repeatedly:
"What Sima Jianjun said is absolutely right. Otherwise, why is it said that reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles? Sima Jianjun traveled thousands of miles of the Han Dynasty in the past few years. His knowledge and wisdom are indeed incomparable to ordinary people!"

"General Su, you are too kind... Actually, I have read a lot of books."

Sima Qian smiled modestly.

……

Liu Ju did set an ambush in the upper reaches of Jiaohe River.

There were ambushes, but not many.

After all, he had limited cavalry, and this ambush force consisted of less than a thousand people, and they were light cavalry.

The ambush troops of less than a thousand people were naturally unable to resist the fleeing Xiongnu army, so they still used chaos tactics. When Tiefu led the Xiongnu cavalry, who had been scattered to less than half in the chaos, to flee hastily to the upper reaches of Jiaohe River, a mighty Han cavalry quickly intercepted and killed the Xiongnu army from the side with billowing smoke and dust.

"How many soldiers and horses did the Han army send this time?!"

Seeing this scene, Tiefu felt his head buzzing and he almost lost the ability to think.

Wasn't it agreed that there would only be 3,000 cavalry in total?
The Han army that had just surrounded and confronted them was estimated to be at least tens of thousands.

And now the Han army was still able to mobilize such a cavalry force for ambush and killing, and judging from the billowing smoke and dust, there were probably at least several thousand of them. Where did the Han army get so many cavalry?

Could it be that the intelligence previously gathered by the spies at Yumen Pass was wrong, and they had fallen into a trap set by the Han Dynasty before the troops were dispatched this time?
"kill!!!"

The shouts of killing shook the heaven and the earth.

"Dong Dong Dong!!!"

The sound of war drums is breathtaking.

The thousands of cavalrymen behind them had already cut through the Hun army and were pursuing them, leaving them no room to breathe.

"My fellow warriors, pick up your weapons and fight with all your might. As long as you pass this level, you can go all the way north and return to the grassland..."

Tiefu drew the scimitar from his waist, raised his arms and shouted, in an attempt to stimulate the Huns' desire to survive.

At this moment, they cannot engage head-on with the heavy cavalry of the Han army that is following closely behind them. Turning around temporarily is a big taboo for cavalry. Not only will they lose the momentum of the charge, but the breakout formation will also be completely messed up. In an instant, they will be dispersed and divided by the enemy's cavalry, making it even more difficult to resist.

However, at this time his voice was completely drowned out by the exclamations of the Hun cavalry.

From being complacent and even underestimating the enemy at the beginning, to being suddenly penetrated by the Han army and reaching the central army, to fleeing in panic all the way, to now suddenly encountering an ambush of unknown number but huge momentum.

With such a huge and rapid change, even the main general Tiefu was often at a loss. How could the already relatively "relaxed" Xiongnu cavalry withstand it?

Amid Tiefu's shouts, many Xiongnu cavalrymen were frightened and jumped into the nearby Jiaohe River on their horses.

Seeing this, more Huns followed suit and jumped into the river as if they were being instructed. No one could hear Tiefu's orders.

They only know one thing.

The shore was full of Han cavalry, but there were no enemies in the river. If they could wade across the river to the other side, they would have a chance to escape and return to the grassland alive.

In an instant.

The Huns jumped into the river like dumplings, and the originally clear river water was instantly muddied by yellow sand and mud.

Anyone who has been to the Turpan Basin knows that no matter how high the temperature or the surface temperature is, the rivers formed by meltwater from snow-capped mountains are still icy cold.

The Jiaohe River in this era was not diverted or dried up, otherwise Jiaohe City would have become the "Old City of Jiaohe" like in later generations.

There is even a lot of water flow in Jiaohe River, especially here. Although it is not deep when you first enter, the river is more than ten meters wide and at least three or four meters deep in the center of the river. No matter whether it is a person or a horse, they can be drowned.

At this time, the Huns, like the Han people, were mostly landlubbers and almost no one could swim. The result can be imagined.

"God is trying to kill me!"

Seeing this, Tiefu could only cry out in despair.

But what he didn't know was.

Even the ambush site was carefully selected by Liu Ju after investigation. After all, not every section of Jiaohe River is so wide and deep!
(End of this chapter)