Early the next morning.
Zhang Liao held the rough trees on the edge of the mountain road and looked into the depths of Tianzhu Mountain. There, the black deep mountains stretched out in pieces, blending with the vast sky, as if endless. There were cliffs on both sides of the mountain road, and the violent autumn wind gushed out from the depths, making the trees whirlwind, and then roar like waves. There were vague voices mixed in the wind, but they were too far apart to hear them. The torches raised by the guards rose and fell in the strong wind, reflecting Zhang Liao's face also flashed and dark.
Yesterday, he was threatened by the bandits under the prevailing situation and had to retreat in the face of battle. The next day, he led his troops back, but found that the bandits were not stationed in the valley, but retreated in panic.
Zhang Liao immediately rushed his army to pursue him, so his position was pushed forward several miles from yesterday. It was already the last relatively flat land on the west side of the canyon, which could accommodate more than a thousand people. Going further, the valley converged into an increasingly narrow mountain path, and the direction also turned south. According to the guide, along the mountain path, there were steep rock walls on both sides, the terrain was getting higher and higher, and the road became more and more winding and steep; until dozens of miles later, there was a dangerous pass called the drum sharpening.
Beside Zhang Liao, about forty years old, the tall and thin deputy general Zhu Gai held a big knife in his hand and was eager to try: "General?"
"Don't worry, let the light soldiers cover up and test it first."
"yes."
Zhu Gai waved his hand, and there was a flag behind him, and the soldiers responsible for sending the order ran out.
After the military orders came out, many figures appeared among the rocks and trees that were within sight.
These are soldiers who are light armor-only equipped with weapons suitable for complex terrain combat, mixed with Shiwu units. The military strategy says: The method of forest warfare is to lead our spear and halberd together. They cover each other and move slowly along the mountain road. Many people carry cloth bags with soil, fill in rugged areas along the way, and clear obstacles for the subsequent troops.
Large pieces of wood and stone rolled down above the mountain road and violently hit the queue. There were archers hiding behind the cliffs on both sides and whizzing arrows. Some light soldiers shot their bows and shot, but they were lowered and there was no cover around them, so they could not suppress their opponents. In a short time, several people were caught and retreated under the cover of the robes. However, the other soldiers did not stop moving forward. With the advantage of numbers, they rolled up along the mountain road like a black and gray wave, crossed several temporarily dug trenches, and then passed several lower cliffs on both sides. Dozens of bandits immediately ran out from behind the cliffs and quickly evacuated with the help of their companions at a higher level.
"The number of bandits is less than expected." Zhang Liao murmured.
Zhu Gai said: "We can let the light soldiers continue to rush. Unless the resistance of the bandits suddenly strengthens, we can at least rush to the first platform, with a maximum of dozens or more than a hundred people killed or injured."
After saying that, he looked at Zhang Liao, but saw Zhang Liao pondering and silent.
"General?" Zhu Gai asked.
Zhang Liao nodded slightly and said, "You can rush for a while, but two hundred people are definitely not enough... Two hundred more people!"
Zhu Gai immediately issued an order, and the drums behind him urged the army to urge him to quickly sounded. More light soldiers followed the orders to join the ranks of battles in front, forming a thicker, gray-black tide.
The further you go, the steeper it becomes. After three or five hundred steps up, there is a corner, and then three or five hundred steps up, there is another corner. The straight line distance between the previous section of the road and the next section of the road is not far, but it is difficult to climb through the steep slopes and cliffs.
The Cao army's light soldiers rushed along the mountain road, but the upward slope quickly consumed their physical strength, and they had to pause every other period. After half a journey, hundreds of crossbowmen suddenly shot arrows at the edge of the mountain road above. The light soldiers who rushed in front fell down and screamed. However, the Cao army is worthy of being a powerful soldier created by many years of war in the south and north. Even if they were attacked, the soldiers were not panicked at all. Some of them ran while shooting their bows upwards; some bit their knives and axes in their mouths, freeing their hands to climb the rock walls directly... However, these steep cliffs were very steep, and even hunters living in the mountains were difficult to climb. They climbed halfway and had to return to the mountain road one after another; more people shouted loudly, gathered next to the robes holding their shields, and speeded up their pace.
Just as they reached the corner, a group of warriors wearing armor and holding sharp blades rushed into the queue. Dozens of blades shone with light and slashed and killed in the dense crowd. These people were undoubtedly the brave men selected among the bandits. The light soldiers were focused on avoiding the arrows shot from above, and were running, and it was difficult to form a formation to defend immediately, so they were killed almost in an instant. Under the slash of the long sword, the slashed heads rolled down along the steep slope below, and the sprayed blood drew terrifying red arcs in the air.
The Cao army soldiers who were in the rear roared repeatedly, and some soldiers holding spears and other long soldiers rushed forward from behind, but were blocked by the chaotic team in front. At this time, rolling wood, stones, etc. were thrown out from the mountain road above, further disrupting the queue, making it impossible for them to set up a suitable formation.
The sword-holding soldiers easily crushed Cao's army at the corner, and then pushed the contact line that was about the width of the mountain road downward. In the extremely narrow space, a large number of soldiers were crowded together, and dozens of weapons continued to attack violently, making terrifying noises, echoing among the undulating mountains.
Zhang Liaoqing couldn't help but take a few steps forward, carefully observing the chaotic situation of swords and guns dancing wildly and flesh. He saw a man with a very tall and majestic figure among the soldiers, who was like a pagoda made of steel, holding a particularly lengthened sword and bravely advanced against the sword spear of Cao's light soldiers. This man waved his sword with his hands, and every time he made a knife, there would be casualties under the knife. The soldiers in front of the man were immediately chopped down. The man took this opportunity to stand forward and embed in the dense queue of Cao's army.
The situation afterwards could not be seen clearly. Zhang Liao could only barely see the light soldiers' queues gradually loosening, and more and more soldiers were unable to stand, so he had to retreat and retreat to the bottom of this section of the mountain road. He received support from the second batch of 200 people to barely maintain the front.
When the light soldiers tried to counterattack, the bandits were not indulged in fighting and immediately pulled away. A dense arrow flew out from the mountain road above at the right time, covering them back to the corner of the mountain road, and disappeared.
"These bandits are quite difficult!" Zhu Gai sneered and cursed. Looking at the increasingly narrow and steep paths deep in the mountains, he was a little anxious: "When should I fight like this?"
"Did you find it?" Zhang Liao suddenly said: "Their number is very small."
Zhu Gai thought for a while: "That's right. The number of crossbowmen is about a hundred; there are dozens of swordsman soldiers. Even if they replace them in turn, the total number is only more than a hundred. I don't know how many people they put in the mountain roads afterwards, and probably not much more... Hum? What you mean..."
Zhu Gai suddenly thought of something, looked at Zhang Liao and showed a shocked expression.
Zhang Liao nodded and said, "There are not many people in this group of bandits. Last night, they pretended to be thousands and scared me. If they had made up their minds to continue fighting, hehe, or there would be no need to fight this battle today."
Zhu Gai is also a warrior with rich experience on the battlefield. Since he thought about it carefully, how could he not think of the man who called Lei Yuan yesterday and was really suspicious? He recalled his experience carefully and found that it was clearly an excellent opportunity to eliminate the important leader of the bandit in one fell swoop and then smash the blocking... He already understood that Lei Xiu was the only hero in the bandit. As long as he killed this person, the bandit would be defeated and then regain the many households that were plundered by the bandit. It was easy to get rid of the hands of the bandit... However, no one expected that the victory was so close, so this opportunity was easily let go!
Chapter completed!