Another attack

The chips Pindalipha offered were very tempting to Gao Yuan.

"In the former lands of Ayutthaya, except for the commander of Bangkok who is a confidant of Bayinnaung, the others are all subordinates of This humble general;

As long as the Commandery Duke defeats Bayinnaung, This humble general can have them open the gates and surrender."

A smile finally appeared on Gao Yuan's face.

"Good, I accept your loyalty. Rise."

"Thank you, Commandery Duke."

Gao Yuan waved Pindalipha over and whispered instructions into his ear.

"Tomorrow, I will launch another surprise attack before dusk. At that time, tell all your trusted subordinates not to resist, hide to one side, and help me point out the location of the commanders tent."

Pindalipha's eyes lit up, and he immediately understood Gao Yuan's meaning, nodding repeatedly.

"This humble general understands. When the time comes, This humble general will certainly assist the Commandery Duke in capturing Bayinnaung alive."

"Good, good. Alright, you may go back. Remember my instructions."

"Certainly, certainly."

Pindalipha left with a thousand thanks, and only then did Mu Qing approach Gao Yuan.

"Husband, do you believe him? According to what he said, he is a confidant of Bayinnaung..."

Gao Yuan showed a smile of a successful scheme.

"Whether his surname is Jiang or Wang, won't we know tomorrow?"

Although Mu Qing didn't understand Gao Yuan's joke, she roughly knew his meaning and quickly tried to stop him.

"No, absolutely not. If he is feigning surrender, Bayinnaung will surely be prepared. Won't we be walking right into a trap then?"

Gao Yuan smiled and pinched the woman's cheek.

"Is your husband really that stupid?"

Having said that, Gao Yuan straightened up and waved over his Personal Guards commander.

"Send a few men to keep an eye on the toungoo people and see if they make any moves."

As soon as Pindalipha returned to the main camp, he couldn't wait to duck into Bayinnaung's commanders tent.

"Your Highness, This humble general has found Gao Yuan."

"What? Where? Quickly mobilize the troops; I want to kill him myself."

"Your Highness, there is no need to rush. This humble general has already employed a small trick; tomorrow he will walk right into our trap."

Then, Pindalipha vividly described how he had found Gao Yuan and the process of his acting.

After listening, Bayinnaung couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"Hahaha, good, good, good! Once Gao Yuan is eliminated, I will appoint you as the Governor of Ayutthaya to oversee the south."

Pindalipha was overjoyed and knelt on the ground, kissing the surface of Bayinnaung's shoes while weeping with gratitude.

"This humble general thanks Your Highness! This humble general thanks Your Highness!"

This night was a beautiful one for Bayinnaung and Pindalipha, a night full of anticipation.

The next day, the Toungoo army's movements were significantly slower than before, dawdling all day and only covering twenty li.

Just as the sun began to tilt westward, the toungoo people stopped moving and began to get busy, preparing to set up camp.

This anomaly was naturally reported back. After hearing it, Gao Yuan gave a cold sneer.

"I thought he was a traitor, but it turns out he's playing Infernal Affairs. Trying to lure me into a trap, are you? Just wait!"

Today, the place where the Toungoo army set up camp was very specific: inside a valley.

Standing on a distant high mountain, Gao Yuan couldn't help but comment.

"The location is well-chosen. As long as they seal the two entrances, we'll be like turtles in a jar."

"Commandery Duke, are we still attacking today?"

"Attack? Of course we're attacking."

Mu Qing couldn't help but knock on Gao Yuan's helmet, saying huffily:

"You know there's an ambush and you still want to attack? Are you stupid?"

"I'm obviously not going to be stupid enough to just rush in. Just wait and watch me put on a good show for them. Come on, let's go get ready."

Originally, Gao Yuan wanted to use a Fire Cattle Formation, but he couldn't gather enough cattle on such short notice.

Moreover, even if he had them, he wouldn't be willing; farm cattle were so precious in ancient times, it would be too much of a loss to send them to their deaths.

However, Gao Yuan had a substitute on hand: pack horses.

Hundreds of pack horses charging wouldn't be any less effective than bulls, and most importantly, pack horses were relatively cheaper.

After careful selection, Gao Yuan chose over a hundred older pack horses.

With preparations made, Gao Yuan took the time to rest, preparing for a major operation at night.

Night fell, and the Toungoo camp was silent, but not a single person was sleeping.

Pindalipha, dressed in armor, stood at the entrance of Bayinnaung's commanders tent, his eyes wide like copper bells.

By the second watch, many people were getting impatient.

"The Han people wouldn't just not show up, would they?"

"Exactly, I'm waiting so long I'm dying of sleepiness."

"Quiet. If the Han people discover us, we'll all be in deep trouble."

"Thud... thud..."

Just when they were about to give up, the sound everyone had been waiting for finally appeared.

"They're here, they're here! Get ready quickly; the time to earn merit has arrived."

Pindalipha also heard the sound of hooves in the distance and called out excitedly toward the commanders tent behind him.

"Your Highness, Gao Yuan is here!"

Bayinnaung, wearing a set of magnificent gold mingguang armor with red trim and a phoenix-wing helmet, stepped out holding a long saber.

"Ready my horse. Today, I shall kill Gao Yuan with my own hands."

In the darkness of the night, a line of fire was particularly conspicuous and soon charged into the Toungoo army camp.

Today, to lure Gao Yuan into the trap, they hadn't even dug trenches or erected camp walls.

However, throughout the camp, there were chevaux-de-frise and abatis prepared everywhere.

At both ends of the valley, as the line of fire rushed in, large numbers of Toungoo soldiers also charged out from the mountain forests, striking defensive poses.

At this moment, inside the valley, over a hundred pack horses with their hindquarters on fire were in agony.

Seeing the abatis everywhere and the people watching them with weapons raised, they became even more panicked and lost.

Immediately, these pack horses began to run wildly in all directions, and the fire they carried quickly ignited a large number of tents.

In an instant, flames soared into the sky within the valley, and the toungoo people were thrown into chaos.

Bayinnaung arrived at the scene with a group of elites and cut down a rampaging horse with one strike, only then realizing something was wrong.

"Where are the people? Where are the people?"

"Your Highness, there are no people, only horses!"

"Your Highness, these aren't warhorses; these are pack horses!"

"Oh no, we've been tricked!"

While they were wondering, shouts of battle suddenly came from the east.

That right, Gao Yuan's target tonight wasn't the Toungoo camp inside the valley at all, but the troops he had ambushed at the valley entrance.

Their attention was all focused on the valley; how could they have imagined that the danger was right behind them?

Four hundred cavalrymen charged in from behind these Toungoo soldiers, harvesting over a thousand lives like cutting melons and vegetables.

There were only three thousand Toungoo troops at the valley entrance; losing over thirty percent instantly caused them to collapse and scatter.

Gao Yuan did not linger in the fight; after a brief cleanup and killing another two hundred or so people, he retreated.

By the time the fire was extinguished, it was already broad daylight, and everyone in the Toungoo camp was covered in soot and grime.

That night, over a hundred tents in the Toungoo camp were burned, and countless amounts of grain and fodder were destroyed.

In the main camp, casualties from the fire, trampling and crushing each other in the panic, and fratricide exceeded fifteen hundred people.

The troops ambushed at the valley entrance were hit by a surprise attack, with over fourteen hundred killed in action.

Calculated this way, the casualties that night were nearly three thousand, even more disastrous than the last time.

At this moment, Bayinnaung's face was as black as the bottom of a pot, his eyes fixed on Pindalipha, who was kneeling on the ground and trembling.

"Is this the brilliant plan you spoke of? Is this what you meant by capturing Gao Yuan alive?"

"Your... Your Highness, This humble general truly did not know!"

"I now suspect that you were in league with that Gao Yuan. Someone, take him away and put him under guard!"

Just as he turned around, Bayinnaung seemed to think of something else.

"Go, send someone to Ayutthaya to take his family into custody, especially those wives and concubines of his; not a single one must escape."

"Your Highness, spare my life! Your Highness, spare my life! This humble general has been wronged! This humble general has been wronged!"

Pindalipha was dragged away under the sympathetic gazes of the crowd.