Everything happening before his eyes shocked Jie Li Khan like a bolt from the blue, and it took him a long time to regain his senses.

What exactly was going on?

Initially, when Prince Qi and Lord Wei showed themselves, he still felt confident that the situation was under his control. However, as more and more people appeared, he suddenly realized he couldn't even grasp the situation, let alone understand it.

The Crown Prince and Emperor Gaozu of Liang had also appeared, and they seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely.

What did this mean?

It meant that there was no infighting within the Liang Dynasty!

Was the information he'd received earlier false?

Impossible. The sources of his previous information were reliable. Jie Li Khan would never make such a basic mistake; he always had his most trusted confidants gather intelligence.

This meant that the struggles for power and attempts at sabotage between the Crown Prince and Prince Qi, and the reported mutual plotting, must have been true, otherwise, his confidants wouldn't have brought back such information.

Could it be... they were acting?

Was the banquet where they were poisoned part of the act? Was arranging wild horses during hunting also part of the act? Even the great battle at the Xuanwu Gate was an act?

If one incident was staged, then all the others must have been staged as well, which wouldn't be surprising.

But why would they go to such lengths to put on this act? For whom were they performing?

And what could possibly make them unite so earnestly and perform this elaborate act?

A terrifying thought suddenly flashed across Jie Li Khan's mind.

This thought utterly alarmed him, but it surely was the only possibility at the moment.

They were performing for him!

And the purpose of the act was to lure him into advancing his troops southward!

"Woo!"

Accompanied by the sound of something slicing through the air, a huge stone came whistling towards them.

And with that, the great battle commenced!

The gamers had already set up trebuchets nearby and pre-targeted the locations that the Turkic people were likely to tread upon.

The Turkic people wanted a glimpse of Chang'an, which meant they had to pass by the Wei River. Furthermore, with the Turkic people advancing fiercely, leading an army of at least a hundred thousand, with flags fluttering for miles, the target was unmistakably clear.

The accuracy of these large-scale trebuchets was quite worrisome as they were originally designed for besieging cities.

But now, with the enemy's troops right in their faces, and standing densely packed for show of force, this gave the trebuchets the perfect opportunity to perform.

"Bang!"

With a loud crash, the giant rock deeply embedded itself into the mud by the Wei River, scattering large chunks of soil and stone and rolling tumultuously towards the distance.

The Turkic soldiers along its path were smashed to pieces, men and horses pulverized into a pulp!

And there wasn't just one such trebuchet.

More rocks flew in from all directions, their impact sounding like thunderous explosions that shook the earth and mountains.

Of course, the Turkic cavalry occupied a very open area, and within this instance, the Divine Machine gamers were only Li Hongyun and Li Weiyi, who obviously couldn't operate the trebuchets themselves. So, under the operation of ordinary soldiers, the accuracy of the trebuchets was still a concern.

Several huge rocks flew through the air with imposing might, but in actuality, they only killed a few dozen Turkic cavalrymen.

However, the players had gone to great lengths to construct these trebuchets not for their lethality but for their intimidation factor!

In this era, such giant trebuchets had never been seen before. They were several times bigger than any trebuchet that had appeared on battlefields before, and the rocks they flung were also several times larger.

How could the Turkic people have ever seen such an arrangement?

In their eyes, the huge rocks flying through the air were no different from the sky falling and meteorites pouring down.

The actual killing power was not significant, but the deterrent effect was extremely strong!

And even if the Turkic people could withstand it, their horses could not.

After all, horses are animals and naturally susceptible to shock. Although warhorses could be trained to increase obedience and courage, allowing them to charge at enemies wielding weapons, no amount of training could help them in the face of earth-shattering noises.

The moment the first rock struck the ground, resonating deeply, some of the horses immediately let out terrified whinnies, rearing up on their hind legs, then started to run wild!

The Turkic cavalrymen on horseback pulled hard at the reins, trying to control their horses, but to no avail.

Under such circumstances, the cavalrymen could only cling desperately onto their mounts like people grasping the sides of a boat in a flood; otherwise, they risked being thrown off and either getting killed or severely injured.

This fear spread quickly, and the Turkic forces soon showed signs of collapsing.

Among the chaos, the cavalrymen Jie Li Khan had sent ahead raced back.

"Report! Khan, a large force of the Liang Army has appeared behind our lines!"

Jie Li Khan felt somewhat dazed, as if, in this moment, the advantages of timing, terrain, and harmony were all out of his favor...

He thought he was seizing the right moment by capitalizing on the internal strife of the Liang Dynasty, but now he found that the enemy was well-prepared and had set a trap waiting for him;

He thought he had the geographical advantage, positioned to attack or defend at the gates of Chang'an, but now he realized the enemy had already set an ambush waiting for him to fall into;

As for the harmony of the people, the enemy was united with high morale, whilst his own troops were like startled birds, morale plummeting.

Not to mention there were literally meteor-sized rocks flying in the sky!

What would happen if he retreated now?

Jie Li Khan couldn't estimate.

The only good news was that he led a cavalry.

In retreating, the cavalry had many advantages over infantry.

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