Nine dragons fight for the throne, I don't want to sit on this throne

Chu Ning's voice rang out calmly, and at the same time, he extended his uninjured right hand and gently pressed down on Feng Mulan's horse reins.

This simple action startled Feng Mulan.

She turned to look at Chu Ning, her eyes filled with confusion: "Your Majesty? They..."

"There's no need to rush the attack."

Chu Ning slowly shook his head, his gaze sweeping across the battlefield: "Defense first, stabilize the situation."

"defense?"

Feng Mulan could hardly believe her ears: "Your Majesty, we are now attacking from both inside and outside, and our morale is high. This is the perfect time to counterattack! As long as I lead the Xuanjia Iron Cavalry in a single charge, we will surely crush the Scorpion Clan..."

"and then?"

Chu Ning interrupted her, her voice still calm: "After defeating the Scorpion Clan, what happened? Xue Che's 40,000 Tang troops are still fiercely attacking General Xue's defenses, and Xue Dingshan is almost at his breaking point."

"If we engage the Scorpion Clan in a prolonged battle now, the Tang army will seize the opportunity to completely destroy our defenses."

"By then, even if we annihilate the Scorpion Clan, the Tang army will still stab us in the back."

Feng Mulan fell silent.

She had to admit that Chu Ning was right.

The battlefield situation is constantly changing, and we cannot only focus on the enemy in front of us.

But she was still unwilling to give up: "Are we just going to let Helian Hui go like this? He hurt you!"

Chu Ning glanced down at the wound on her left shoulder, a cold smile curving her lips:

"Don't worry, he can't escape. I've said it before—now that he's here, he's not going anywhere."

He paused, then looked southeast, towards the lower reaches of the Huai River, the direction of the Scorpion Clan's territory.

“But now is not the time,” Chu Ning said slowly. “We need to wait.”

"wait?"

A look of doubt flashed in Feng Mulan's eyes: "Waiting for what? General Han Xing is clearing out the last remaining enemies in the city, and Guan Yun and Ran Ming are also cooperating with General Han. Where are the reinforcements?"

Chu Ning did not answer immediately.

He gazed into the distance, at the horizon dyed red by the morning light, a deep, unfathomable light flashing in his eyes.

“Reinforcements…” he repeated the two words softly, then slowly said, “There will be.”

Before he finished speaking——

From the southeast, in the lower reaches of the Huai River, a deafening bugle call suddenly resounded!

That was not the bugle call of the Tang army, nor the war drum of the Chu army, but a desolate, rugged sound, like the howling of a pack of wolves.

Immediately afterwards, countless black dots suddenly appeared on the surface of the Huai River.

It's a boat.

To the southeast, on the surface of the Huai River.

When that desolate bugle call pierced the sky, Helian Hui's first thought was—Chu Ning's reinforcements have arrived.

The thought made his heart sink, but then a deeper doubt arose.

The Huai River is hundreds of feet wide and has a rapid current. Where would the Chu army's reinforcements get boats to cross the river? And how could they possibly sneak up behind the battlefield undetected?

But when he finally saw the scene on the river, the Scorpion Khan's expression changed from surprise and doubt to horror.

It was not a simple wooden raft, nor were they remnants of soldiers struggling to cross the river while clinging to logs.

Instead—it was a warship.

The warships were neatly arranged, each about five zhang long, with iron-clad bows and ten oars on each side.

The boat was painted a grayish-blue color similar to the river water, appearing and disappearing in the mist like a ghost emerging from the water.

The soldiers on the ship were not dressed as Scorpion Clan members, but rather in dark blue naval uniforms, carrying standard spears and powerful crossbows.

What's even more terrifying is the size of the fleet—more than two hundred ships!

It spread out in a fan shape, almost blocking the entire lower reaches of the Huai River!

At the very front of the bow, a large naval flag embroidered with the character "Zhang" fluttered in the wind.

"It's the Chu navy!"

The general beside Helian Hui exclaimed in shock, "Zhang Shijie's navy! They... how could they be here?!"

Yes, shouldn't Zhang Shijie's navy be patrolling the middle reaches of the Huai River right now, blocking the river and preventing the Tang army from crossing?

How could they suddenly appear downstream, behind the scorpion army?

A thought flashed through Helian Hui's mind like lightning—he'd fallen for a trap!

From the very beginning, Chu Ning never intended to resolve this decisive battle solely through land warfare.

The young emperor had long ago laid out a plan to kill the Tang army by both land and water: on land, Xue Huaide's Dragon Gate Formation would block the Tang army, while the White Dragon Cavalry and the Black Armored Cavalry would deal with the Scorpion Clan cavalry.

On the water, Zhang Shijie's 20,000 naval troops did not fully blockade the river, but secretly divided their forces and went downstream to circle around to the rear of the battlefield!

"Quickly! Turn the rear guard into the front guard! Defend against the naval landing!" Helian Hui roared hoarsely, his voice distorted with shock and anger.

But it's too late.

Zhang Shijie's naval forces gave the Scorpion Clan absolutely no time to react.

“Shoot!”

Standing at the bow of the lead ship, Zhang Shijie gave the order.

This renowned naval commander, around forty years old, had a resolute face, and at this moment, his eyes burned with a cold fighting spirit.

He had been lying in wait on the water all night for this moment.

Om-!

Two thousand powerful crossbows fired simultaneously. The bolts soared into the air like swarms of locusts, skimming across the river and landing in the rear ranks of the Scorpion Clan, who were turning around.

This wasn't a projectile shot, but a horizontal shot, at a distance of no more than a hundred paces. At this distance, the power of a crossbow was enough to penetrate two layers of leather armor!

Puff puff--!

The sound of arrows piercing flesh was as dense as rain. Caught off guard, the Scorpion Clan's rear guard fell in droves.

Many soldiers didn't even have time to turn around before being shot through the back by crossbow bolts.

The first volley of arrows had barely fallen when the second volley followed immediately.

"Log in! Log in now!" Zhang Shijie pointed his longsword forward.

More than two hundred warships shot off like arrows toward the south bank of the Huai River.

The iron-clad bow was designed for beaching—the hull would slam into the riverbank, the foreboard would crash down, and the naval soldiers, who were already prepared, would surge off the ship like a tide.

These naval forces are different from the army.

They did not wear heavy armor, but only light chainmail; they did not use spears, but mostly short knives, hooks, and fishing nets.

Many even carried specially made water-splitting spikes—weapons used in naval warfare, but even more insidious and deadly in close-quarters combat on land.

More importantly, they landed at the weakest point in the Scorpion Clan army's rear.

There were only a small number of guard troops there; the main force was all at the front besieging the Chu army.

"kill--!"

Twenty thousand naval troops, like tigers released from their cages, pounced on the chaotic rear guard of the Scorpion Clan.

Their tactics were bizarre and cunning: they did not form ranks or charge, but instead operated in groups of three or five, specifically targeting lone Scorpion Clan cavalrymen.

One man covered the warhorse with a fishing net, another used a hook and sickle to cut the horse's legs, and a third used a water-splitting dagger to stab the knight's throat.

This fighting style was completely unacceptable to the Scorpion Clan soldiers, who were used to open field battles on the grasslands and cavalry charges.

Their scimitars were less agile than short swords in close combat, and their warhorses could barely move under the traps of fishing nets.

The rear guard collapsed instantly.

"Report—Khan! The rear army has been ambushed by the Chu navy and is already... is in chaos!"

The scout stumbled to Helian Hui's horse, his face covered in blood: "At least... at least two thousand men were killed, and the rest scattered!"

Helian Hui's vision went black, and he nearly fell off his horse.

Two thousand people! And in just a quarter of an hour!