Chapter 192 The Defeat of the Ghost Face Rider

The night was dark and quiet. Li Ke quietly stared at the distant night sky and remained silent. Chen Qi, Wang Zhongchang, and Zhu Tong were like three statues, guarding him in a triangle shape. Outside him were the only four remaining people among the six Taibaos standing in four directions, southeast, west and north, surrounding Li Ke. At the same time, the three hundred eagle guards rode on the war horse and quietly controlled the range of a mile nearby.

However, the quiet night could not hide the blood of killing. Not far away, Su Dingfang issued an attack order to everyone and clearly reached Li Ke's ears. Li Ke heard that Su Dingfang was assigning tasks to Guo Shifeng, Li Mengchang and Sun Erlang.

"Deputy General Guo, I will order you to take a thousand cavalry to the enemy's rear and ambush them, and wait until the enemy retreats and wants to escape before killing them and blocking their escape route." Su Dingfang continued.

"No." Guo Shifeng replied.

"General Li and General Sun, you two each brought a thousand cavalry to detour on both sides of the enemy. When I led two thousand men to attack from the front, you would unexpectedly attack from both sides. Our three men surrounded and attacked them in one fell swoop."

"No." Li Mengchang and Sun Erlang replied at the same time that their positions were the same as Su Dingfang, but this time, Su Dingfang was the main general. Li Ke followed his orders, so naturally neither of them dared to oppose him.

"If Vice General Guo starts now, it will take one stick of incense to go back to the enemy's rear. We will set the attack time after one stick of incense. After one stick of incense, our general's central army, General Li's left army, and General Sun's right army will fight to the enemy camp together." Su Dingfang said this, and looked at the three people in front of him and said, "Don't you know what else you have?"

"No!" the three of them shook their heads at the same time and said.

"It has been less than three months since the Ghost Face Rider was formed, and most of them were new troops who had not participated in the battle. This is their first time participating in the night battle. In order to annihilate the enemy in the first battle without unnecessary trouble, Dingfang could only trouble the two generals who acted as the deputy generals of the left and right armies of the generals to help him defeat the enemy together. I hope the two generals can understand Dingfang's difficulties." After Su Dingfang issued the order, he was very respectful to Li Mengchang and Sun Erlang, and said in a kind tone.

"General Su is so polite. You and I are all working for Your Highness. How can we get the word "Haihan"? Besides, it doesn't matter if I can come to Youzhou to kill the enemy, even if I can be a soldier, I can command a thousand people now. What else can I not satisfy?" Li Mengchang said.

"Yes, we are already very satisfied to be able to kill the enemy on the field. We only need General Su's words to kill the Turks," Sun Erlang also said.

"Well, if you don't have any objections, go and prepare! We will attack on time after a stick of incense." Su Dingfang said.

"No." The three of them received the order and left to prepare. Among them, Li Mengchang and Sun Erlang were both long-time generals on the battlefield. They had experienced hundreds of battles, but after hearing the orders given to them by Su Dingfang, they were also as excited as Guo Shifeng. They were excited because they could finally come on the field to kill the enemy. Li Ke's words that day were like a thorn stuck in their throats, making them unable to eat or sleep. Therefore, since they left Taiyuan Prefecture with Li Ke, they had been thinking about killing the enemy as soon as possible to wash away the blood of the Han people stained with their hands. And tonight their wishes could come true, how could they not be excited? Guo Shifeng's excitement was because he could command the army alone, which was his dream. Tonight he could not be able to command the army alone, but also attack the enemy. How could he not be excited? So he secretly vowed to complete the task well.

When Li Ke heard Su Dingfang's tactical arrangement, he nodded slightly satisfied. Su Dingfang is worthy of being a talented general. He did not ignore their existence because the opponent had only 800 people in battle. Instead, he used his strength to divide the 5,000 Ghost Face Riders into four parts, attacked three times, surrounded and annihilated them, and ambushed them all the way to prevent the enemy from escaping. Li Ke admired the steadyness he showed in his layout and his attitude towards war, and at the same time felt a little relieved because he had obtained such a loyal general.

"Your Highness, after a stick of incense, the general will send troops to attack the tribe ahead. I wonder if you have any instructions?" Su Dingfang didn't know when he came to Li Ke and asked softly.

"Dingfang, do you think I did the right thing?" Li Ke was a little depressed and said in an answer that was irrelevant.

"A man is determined to leave You Pass, and he will not return until he destroys Hu Nu. Why do you need to bury his bones? There are green mountains everywhere in life." Su Dingfang chanted Li Ke's poem softly, "Does Your Highness think you are doing the right thing?"

"Immortal Hu Nu swears not to return!" Li Ke sighed and remained silent. For a moment, he seemed to have figured out something in his heart, and a smile appeared on his face, "I still can't think about it and look far away!"

"Your Highness, the last general is just a soldier, how can he compare with you-" Su Ding said calmly, "Your Highness has a lot to do in the future. Can you not be as kind as a woman like now? Otherwise," Su Dingfang said this and stopped talking. He did not continue to say it. After spending a long time with Li Ke, he knew that he could just click some words, and Li Ke would know the meaning of it.

Li Ke did not continue to speak, he knew Su Dingfang's words, and he understood the meaning of Su Dingfang's words even more clearly. However, he felt a little difficult to let go of killing women and children. Therefore, he showed the kindness of a woman just now. He believed that Su Dingfang was convinced in a cold tone after seeing his own attitude, just to tell himself that he should not be too kind.

The kindness to the enemy is the cruelty to oneself. Li Ke understood this truth, so he was silent for a moment. Finally, he said, "I have received the teachings. Thank you for Dingfang's advice tonight. I will remember it in my heart in the future."

Su Dingfang bowed in a humble and arrogant manner, "Your Highness is so serious, I dare not!"

The north wind began to roar, drowning the conversation between the two. They stopped talking and just waited quietly, waiting for the burning incense stick.

"General's time has come, can you attack?" After a moment of silence, the words of the Ghost Face Knight interrupted the brief tranquility in Li Ke and Su Dingfang. After hearing the Ghost Face Knight's reply, Su Dingfang bowed to Li Ke beside him, "Your Highness, the time for attack has come, we will go to supervise the battle." At the same time, he said to the Ghost Face Knight's soldiers, "Order the cavalry to get on the horse and prepare to attack!"

"No——" The soldiers' answers seemed very loud in the darkness. Li Ke did not answer Su Dingfang's words, and quietly watched Su Dingfang and Ghost Face ride on a horse. More than two thousand people disappeared in front of Li Ke's eyes while running.

"Chen Qi, order the Eagle Guard to follow Su Dingfang, and we will also see how powerful the Ghost Face Rider has been trained for two months!" Li Ke said after watching Su Dingfang leave.

"No!" Chen Qi said with his order.

At the Turkic headquarters, the bonfire had already been extinguished, and only the cry of cattle and sheep could be heard from time to time in the quiet night. Because the Turks had always been overwhelming military operations against the Tang Dynasty, they who lived in the Youbei grassland had no vigilance at night. Therefore, they had no idea that the god of death had arrived and were preparing to harvest their lives.

"Pu-pu-p-pu-p-p-p-" The sound of horse hooves of the cavalry began to hover in the night sky, and the Turkic tribe's garrison began to tremble slightly.

Su Dingfang's two thousand cavalrymen rushed into the Turkish camp like a devil. The fire was burning, the cattle and sheep were wailing, and the Turks finally discovered that there was an enemy attack. But they found it was too late, because just as they ran out of the tent, the soldiers with green faces and fangs had already chopped the prepared Tang sword on their necks. They felt that their necks were cold and their heads left their bodies.

"Woo-Woo-Woo-Woo-Woo" the woman's cry, "Ah-Ah-Ah" the shout when the weapon penetrated into her body, "There is an enemy attack! - Everyone is ready to fight, it is the Tang army, it is the Tang army-" The fear and screams of the Turks broke the silence of the night.

Li Ke stood on a high slope not far away and quietly stared at the battlefield like the Shura Field in front of him. There was no expression on his face - no pain, no guilt, no sadness. The battle in front of him was not a battle at all, but an inhuman massacre. No one of men, women, old people, and children can live, and they were all Tang swords covered with blood from the ghost face.

The Ghost Face Rider is a new army. Only 800 of the 1,000 Turkic people have combat effectiveness, 2000 are old people and children, and the 5,000 Ghost Face Riders cleaned them up like cutting vegetables. However, what surprised Li Ke was that in a battle not far away, more than 300 Ghost Face Rider soldiers were suppressed by less than 100 Turkic cavalry and could not move forward. However, as time passed, Li Ke observed that more than 300 Ghost Face Riders showed signs of declining against less than 100 Turkic cavalry.

"Chen Qi, have you seen anything?" Li Ke asked with a calm expression. He had adapted to the bloody atmosphere on the battlefield, so he began to ask Chen Qi, Wang Zhongchang, Zhu Tong and others around him, wanting to see their observation on the battlefield.

"Your Highness, the Ghost Face Rider is still a new army after all. Because of the advantage of numbers, it can catch the Turks off guard. However, when the Turks recover, even if they have too many people, they will show signs of declining. It can be seen that they are still lacking in training." Wang Zhongchang said.

"Yeah——" Li Ke nodded in agreement.
Chapter completed!