Li Zuoche guessed that the one who suddenly rushed to the vicinity of Bantianling in the middle of the night under the banner of the Han army was indeed a fake product arranged by Maodun. The purpose was to lure the Han army down the mountain to break through and create an opportunity for the Xiongnu army to annihilate the troops of Li Zuoche of the Han army, and the other was to test the reaction of the Han army to prove whether the Han army was deliberately surrounded by the Xiongnu army.

In order to be realistic, the Xiongnu army that pretended to be a fake Han army not only all took the banner of the Han army, but Zang Tu took nearly two thousand leaders from Yan to the grassland, and all wore Han army uniforms that were taken off the dead body. Zang Tu personally led them to rush to the front to avoid the Han army's discovery of flaws prematurely.

Maodun's plan also went very smoothly. After the fake Han army led by Zang Tu rushed to the vicinity of Bantianling, they shouted and played a show and fought, which immediately attracted the attention of the Han army on the mountain. Bantianling quickly sparked fire and people were surging. It was obvious that they were gathering urgently to prepare for action. Maodun and Zang Tu were secretly happy when they saw it, and they all said, "Come down the mountain quickly, come and die."

The Han army satisfied Zang Tu and Maodun's wishes. After a while, in the torches, the Han cavalry took the lead and rushed towards the mountain as fast as possible. The infantry followed closely behind, and they were also taking torches to go down the mountain. Maodun and Zang Tu were even more overjoyed when they saw it, and cheered in unison at different locations: "The army of the tyrants (barbarians) have been fooled!"

The Han army was indeed deceived. In order to contact the responding army as soon as possible, the Han cavalry kept rushing to the position of the fake Han army without waiting for the infantry to go down the mountain. Zang Tu pretended to be stopped by the Xiongnu army, and ordered the fake Han army to stop advancing and shout in place. Shake the torches, collide with swords and guns, and deliberately delay the time of meeting the Han cavalry, giving the Han infantry time to go down the mountain to die. The Huns troops lying around were also ready to charge, and just wait for the signal to be issued to charge, completely annihilate the Han infantry who were trapped in the trap and went down the mountain.

The Han cavalry's mentality of breaking through was more anxious than Zang Tu imagined. After rushing to the vicinity as quickly as possible, the Han cavalry desperately cut and killed the Xiongnu army with red eyes, racing against time to approach the fake Han army. Before the Han infantry reached the foot of the mountain, they rushed to the front of the fake Han army. They couldn't wait to shout loudly about the origin of the fake Han army, "Where are you from the army? Who are you leading the team?"

Seeing this scene, Zang Tu had no choice but to avoid being exposed too early, Zang Tu could only step forward in person and shouted at the Han soldiers who were rushing towards him: "We are from Mayi, General Nie sent us to pick you up! Hurry up, ask your infantry to follow you!"

"Ah! Oh no! Why is it him?"

When he shouted here, Zang Tu suddenly screamed in his heart and subconsciously lowered his head, because Zang Tu suddenly saw that the person who led the Han cavalry to rush in front was Xiang Yu's cousin who had dealt with him many times before. However, Zang Tu was still complaining even more. Xiang Guan actually recognized him at a glance and immediately roared, "Zang Tu's traitor! Is it you?"

"I've been fooled! It's our army that the Huns barbarians pretended to be! Go quickly!"

Xiang Guan shouted with confidence and speed, then he pulled out his horse's head more quickly, shouting orders to retreat while charging back to the mountain with the Han cavalry. When Zang Tu saw it, he could only yell: "I've been discovered, come on! Kill all these violent men's troops! Kill-!"

The shouts of killing also sounded. The fake Han army led by Zang Tu shouted up and chased the Han cavalry that was retreating as quickly as possible. At the same time, it was determined by the torch that the Han cavalry had already begun to retreat. Although Maodun didn't understand why the fake Han army was discovered so quickly, he decisively ordered the drum to send a signal, so that the Huns ambushed around him could immediately kill, killing the Han cavalry who were trapped in all directions, and of course there were ambushing troops to kill Bantianling and attacking the Han infantry infantry on the way down the mountain.

The next one was naturally a cruel and fierce bloody battle. In the end, less than half of the three thousand Han cavalry who were trapped down the mountain were able to escape back to the mountain. Xiang Guan himself was also injured in the fierce battle. He relied on his personal soldiers to save his life to escape back to the mountain and meet Li Zuoche. The Han infantry held a relatively slow movement and quickly withdrew back to the top of the mountain when the losses were not large. He continued to hold on, and was not wiped out by the Huns' army.

Then, when it was clear, Maodun naturally had to call Zang Tu in front of him, and asked him why he was discovered by the Han cavalry too early. Zang Tu, who was placed with a spy on his side, did not dare to hide it. He could only admit honestly: "The Khan forgives the crime, because the ministers are not lucky. When the ministers personally came forward to deceive the violent army, they happened to meet Xiang Guan, the violent general who had often met with the servants, so he recognized us at a glance as a fake."

After saying that, Zang Tu told Xiang Guan's identity truthfully and the situation he had dealt with Xiang Guan many times. Mao Dun naturally shouted unlucky when he heard this, and said regretfully: "It's a pity. If you didn't happen to meet someone you know, we could have completely annihilated the Barbarian army last night."

Zang Tu apologized again helplessly, but fortunately Maodun was quite generous and waved his hand and said, "Forget it, this matter is a matter of luck and has nothing to do with you. Fortunately, we did not work hard in vain. At least we killed a lot of barbarian soldiers, which also proves that Li Zuoche's barbarian is indeed in a hurry to break through and run for life, so that we can continue to surround them with confidence."

After saying that, Maodun quickly ordered Zang Tu: "Don't be idle, go and interrogate the captured barbarian soldiers, ask clearly what the situation was in the barbarian army on the mountain, and how much military rations there are?"

The result of interrogating the prisoners of course made Maodun overjoyed again. Some of the cartilled Han cavalry truthfully confessed, admitting that the Han soldiers on the mountain were frozen to death and frostbite were very serious. At the same time, in order to save food, Li Zuoche had ordered all Han soldiers to eat dry food that they usually had for half a day every day, including the wounded soldiers. After hearing this, Maodun was naturally extremely happy and decided to say decisively: "Continue to surround the mountain, and no matter what, this barbarian army must be completely annihilated!"

In this way, because Li Zuoche's intentional plan, Maodun, who had already been a little shaken, once again strengthened his determination to trap the Han army. The Hun army with a number of more than 300,000 set up camps on all sides, surrounding the Bantianling highlands. The 140,000 old, weak and weak women and children of the Huns were in the east, slaughtering cattle and sheep, milking cheese, and feeding the soldiers of the Hun army. At the same time, Maodun also adopted Zang Tu's suggestion and built a wall around Bantianling to completely trap the Han army. He also sent people to the mountain to shout for surrender and persuaded the Han army soldiers on the mountain to go down the mountain to surrender.

It’s not to mention surrender. Because I didn’t know that Dawn was right in front of me, there were actually some Han soldiers who were greedy and afraid of death who surrendered quietly. In addition to letting the Huns’ army know more about the situation of the Han army, it also seriously affected the morale of the Han army. This situation was reported to Li Zuoche and Xiang Guan. Xiang Guan suggested that Li Zuoche disclose the truth and stabilize the morale of the army. However, Li Zuoche shook his head firmly and said, “We cannot let our soldiers know the truth, otherwise, even if a cord hears the sound of the wind, it may cause all our previous efforts to be wasted!”

The Huns' army had more than these tricks. After three days of this, Maodun adopted the suggestion of Zhang Sheng, the pioneer of the party, and ordered the Xiongs' soldiers to cut countless trees from the surrounding area and piled them up to the bottom of the Bantianling Mountain to set fire to the mountains. The fire was raging and the thick smoke rolled, which made many Han soldiers at high places cry and cough. Li Zuoche had no choice but to repeatedly strictly enforce military orders and force the Han soldiers to continue to work hard and endure.

It was only this evening that the situation changed a little more. A Han army messenger who came from Mayi tried to sneak up the mountain from the weak encirclement of the Huns under the cover of the night. Unfortunately, he was not lucky and was discovered by the Huns cavalry halfway through the journey. The letters he carried were searched by the Huns cavalry, and the person was caught and robbed in front of Maodun.

Hurrying to know the movements of the Han army, Maodun could not wait to open the letter to check the contents. However, what made Maodun stunned was that in addition to the signature seal of the Han army's Mayi guard Nie Zheng, the letter only wrote a Chinese character that did not know any meaning. Maodun was surprised and hurriedly asked Zang Tu and Zhang Sheng present about the whole story. As a result, Zang Tu and Zhang Sheng just looked at each other and then immediately said: "It's a secret letter! It's a secret letter from the violent army created by the dog emperor Xiang Kang!"

"What does it mean? Tell me clearly." Maodun asked in even more confusion.

"Khan, this is the case." Zhang Sheng replied: "I heard that in order to prevent the messenger from being intercepted during the war, the tyrant emperor Xiang Kang personally created a secret letter, which was to make an agreement with the important generals in advance. Every word in the poem represents a meaning, for example, asking for help and food. Only those who wrote and received the letter knew what the specific word meant. In this way, even if the messenger was intercepted, the enemy did not know what the secret word on the letter represented."

"There is still such a way to keep it confidential? Can we learn?" Maodun exclaimed, and asked with a glimmer of hope: "Do you know what this word means?"

Zang Tu and Zhang Sheng shook their heads and smiled bitterly together, saying that they had only heard of this method, but in fact they had never used it. Maodun was disappointed when he heard it, so he could only point to the Han army messenger who was taken to him and said, "You can interrogate him and ask him clearly what the situation is in Mayi City, and what the reaction of the Central Plains barbarians, the more detailed the better."

The result of the interrogation made Maodun even more disappointed. Although the Han army messenger spoke, he only explained the general situation of the Mayi defender. He also admitted that the Mayi defender did not dare to send troops to rescue Li Zuoche because of the small number of troops. He knew nothing about other situations. Maodun had no choice but to wave his hand and let the guards take the messenger away, and then picked up the simple letter and thought in his heart, and said in his heart: "Although the secret words of the barbarians in the Central Plains are so clever, they can only convey some simple meanings. What does it mean? It is called the surrounded barbarians breaking through? Or is it agreed to take them back? Or is it the reinforcements coming?"

Thinking of this possibility, Maodun, who was carrying too many old, weak cattle and sheep in the army, suddenly felt a little upset, and subconsciously felt uneasy, and couldn't help but say in his heart: "Have I wasted too much time? If a large number of troops from the barbarians of the Central Plains came, even if my army could retreat quickly, the cattle and sheep and the old and weak could not escape?"

It was also coincidental that on this night, a few more Han soldiers who were afraid of death quietly went down the mountain to surrender, which made Maodun know that the situation of the Han army on the mountain was even more critical. Maodun quickly made up his mind and said, "You can't delay any more. Although the food of the barbarians on the mountain is almost finished, they can still kill horses and eat meat, hoping to starve them to death directly. I don't know when to wait. Anyway, I have many soldiers. As long as I can annihilate the barbarians on the mountain and seize their weapons and armor, even if three are replaced, it's worth it. It's better to attack the mountain directly!"

After making up this decision, Maodun decisively ordered the Huns army to launch an attack on the top of the mountain on foot. Li Zuoche and Xiang Guan had no choice but to lead the army to fight to defend the mountain to fight to the death with the Huns army that forcibly attacked the mountain.

The battle was even more tragic. In the wind and snow, the Hun soldiers in leather clothes were overwhelmed and charged in groups. The Han soldiers with many wounded soldiers could only rely on limited geographical location to persist and fight to the death with the Hun soldiers who were more adapted to this weather. It was just noon that there were already corpses on several key positions, with blood scattered. The warm blood melted the ice and snow. The blood flowed along the hillside, dyeing large areas of snow and forming blood ice.

The three infantry teams of the Han army were directly crippled, and all their thousand generals were killed and died. The feather arrows were densely packed in the mountains, comparable to weeds. In critical moments, not only did the Han cavalry led by Xiang Guan dismount, but even Li Zuoche's direct guard was forced to go into battle and served as a firefighter to rescue the crumbling defense position. During this period, Li Zuoche was even prepared to commit suicide to sacrifice his country.

The fierce battle lasted from the early morning until the darkness was not over, and the casualties were too heavy. Although several Hun nobles ran to Maodun and cried and begged Maodun to leave some seeds for their tribe, Maodun was still unmoved, but he shouted with a blue face: "I ordered the entire army to light the torches and attack the mountain overnight for me! Even if I fought for three days and three nights, I would kill all the Central Plains barbarians on the mountain to my Khan!"

The torches of the Huns army quickly lit up. Seeing this scene on the mountain, Li Zuoche laughed bitterly and had to yell: "Send the whole army! Let all our soldiers know that our reinforcements are coming soon! As long as we persist until tomorrow, our reinforcements will definitely arrive!"

The order was conveyed, and generals of the Han army also made similar roars, using the news fabricated by Li Zuoche to encourage morale in the military. As a result, this situation was soon heard by the leading party hidden in the Huns' army, and it was soon reported to Maodun. Maodun laughed and said, "Using false news to encourage morale in the military, the barbarians can no longer hold on. I will send an order to my Khan and step up the attack on the mountain! Annihilate the Central Plains barbarians on the mountain, everyone..."

"Report——!"

With panic and anxious screams interrupted Maodun's order. When Maodun subconsciously turned his head to look, he saw a Hun scout stumbled to the south and asked, "What's wrong? So anxious?"

"Report to the Khan! Barbarian Army! Barbarian Army!" The scout yelled twice in a row, then yelled a complete sentence, "The Barbarian Army in the Central Plains has arrived and crossed the Juzhu Mountain at noon! The number is too large to count. The front team has already set sail under the city of Mayi, and the back team has not crossed the Juzhu Mountain yet!"
Chapter completed!