Rebirth: The Journey of an Heiress novel Chapter 1570

Chapter 1570: Chapter 1565: Cunning

The King of Xiping had the archers and crossbowmen ambushed on both sides of the mountain pass, almost completely annihilated by the Zhou army led by Bai Qingyan.

However, due to the Zhou army’s lack of preparation, they were initially decimated by the barrage of arrows, suffering heavy losses.

Subsequently, Bai Qingyan ordered the soldiers to charge up the right hillside, annihilating the archers directly led by the King of Xiping, and then instructed the soldiers to use the arrows and crossbows from the King of Xiping’s troops to shoot down more than half of the Xiping army archers charging from the left hillside in a rush to save their leader.

Yet, the Xiping army had a significant advantage in numbers, being originally five times the size of the Zhou army. Although some were lost to the Zhou, and the Zhou also suffered heavy losses initially, later... when the thirty thousand heavily armored Xiping troops ambushing at the exit arrived, the Zhou army, already somewhat exhausted from battling the enemy, could not withstand. Bai Qingyan led the soldiers up the hillside, taking advantage of the higher ground to hold a defensive position, awaiting reinforcements.

After a day of intense fighting, the Xiping army could not succeed after repeated attacks and retreated to the foot of the mountain, intending to besiege the Bai family army to death.

The Crown Prince of Xiping, frustrated, said, "Set the mountain on fire! I refuse to believe they won’t be roasted alive!"

"Crown Prince, it has just snowed heavily, with snow knee-deep, and the large trees and branches in this deep forest are also heavily snow-laden, likely soaked by the snow water, and the fire might not ignite," the counselor in black advised, supporting the Crown Prince of Xiping, "No need to rush, we have far more troops than the Zhou army. Even if we besiege them at the foot of the mountain, we can trap them to death."

"Some Zhou soldiers have already broken out and will soon bring reinforcements. If we fail to kill the Emperor of Zhou, it will only invite trouble to ourselves! If... other vassal kings fear Zhou and turn against us for self-protection, pushing our Xiping army and royal mansion out to Zhou, what should we do?" The Crown Prince of Xiping thought of his father, his heart burning with hatred, "We must not hesitate, we must ascend the mountain to kill the Emperor of Zhou!"

The counselor in black, seeing the Crown Prince of Xiping’s resolve to kill the Emperor of Zhou, said no more. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The Crown Prince of Xiping looked up toward the mountain and said, "Let the soldiers have a full meal, we shall march up!"

Since sunset, the darkness fell quickly, and the mountain wind grew increasingly bone-chilling.

By now, the night was dark with the wind high, the moon unseen, and in the rarely traversed depths of the mountain forest, only the towering trees standing knee-deep in snow could be vaguely seen as dark shadows.

Wei Zhong found the wooden cabin built by the forest keeper by the water in the forest. This cabin seemed abandoned for quite some time, with a layer of dust on the furniture inside, but it could provide Bai Qingyan some shelter from the cold winds of the deep night.

Bai Qingyan glanced at the soldiers who had ascended the mountain with her, estimating that Bai Jinzhi should soon arrive with reinforcements.

"Light a fire, get some water or snow, boil it to warm the soldiers!" Bai Qingyan looked at the soldiers supporting their wounded comrades and said to Liu Pinggao, "Move the severely wounded into the cabin! I’ll just build a fire outside."

"Light a fire?" Liu Pinggao stepped forward, surprised, "In this dark, windy night, lighting a fire will reveal our position!"

"Do you think the Xiping army will let us stay on the mountain peacefully?" Bai Qingyan gazed at the mountain’s base calmly and said, "Our scouts reported that the Xiping army has begun cooking and will surely attack once they are full! No need to hide, let the soldiers rest and drink some hot water, dispatch a team to seek a path of escape!"

Liu Pinggao was silent for a moment, then nodded and ordered people to light a fire and boil water.

Bai Qingyan then gathered the uninjured soldiers and instructed them to form snowballs, preferably finding stones by the stream to wrap inside. The snowballs shouldn’t be too large, each just big enough to be held in one’s arms, and should be made using the snow along the mountain’s descent, piling them near the cabin, and blocking them with logs...

Some soldiers, puzzled, murmured, "Isn’t this clearing a path for them to climb up the mountain more easily?"

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