November 22nd, early morning, Gui Ping Pass.
With the help of the morning light and the dew, the 80,000-strong coalition army marched on the undulating mountain road.
In front of Gui Ping Pass, there was a long and narrow mountain road, twisting and turning. The 80,000-strong army was lined up in a straight line, stretching for dozens of miles, with no end in sight. It was so dense that it made people panic.
The army marching forward was like a huge black dragon, winding in the mountains and rivers.
At first glance, there was a strange sense of beauty.
Who would have thought that this was a group of tigers and wolves that would choose their prey, a group of determined, cold-blooded killers?
At the front of the army was a phalanx of sword and shield soldiers. They would be the main force to attack the pass. Behind them were rows of archers and crossbowmen.
Because the mountain road was rugged, the coalition army could not carry large siege weapons. They only carried simple ladders. Occasionally, there were a few heavy giant battering rams.
At the end of the army, there were more than 10,000 elite cavalry.
In the middle of the cavalry phalanx, there was a middle-aged general who was particularly eye-catching. He had sword-like eyebrows, bright eyes, and a determined expression. He wore a red robe, silver armor, and a gold-plated helmet.
This middle-aged general was the commander of the coalition army in charge of attacking Gui Ping Pass. He was also the general of the 200,000 strong coalition army, Li Mu.
Li Mu, a famous general of Zhao during the Warring States Period, was one of the four famous generals of the Warring States Period. During the Battle of Changping, Li Mu was only a good general at the northern border of Zhao.
It was not until the end of the Warring States Period that Li Mu shone.
Li Mu first fought against the Xiongnu at the northern border of Zhao, then he mainly fought against Qin. Because of the Battle of Yi An, he heavily injured the Qin army and received the title of Lord of Martial Peace. In 229 BC, King Qian of Zhao fell into the trap of Qin. He listened to slander and seized Li Mu's military power. Not long after, he killed Li Mu.
And the designer of the trap was Wang Jian, one of the four famous generals.
Needless to say, Li Mu was a famous general who could not be underestimated.
With the appearance of Li Mu, the four famous generals of the Warring States Period finally appeared in the wilderness. Bai Qi served Shanhai City, Wang Jian was under Emperor Qin, and Lian Po was under Di Chen. As for Li Mu's lord, it was still a mystery.
He only knew that it was one of the lords of the allied forces.
With such a great general in the coalition army, it was no wonder that they were able to capture more than half of Guilin County in just three days without encountering any decent obstacles.
One had to know that even if they wanted to gallop across the entire Guilin County, it would take at least three to four days. This was because Guilin County was long and narrow from east to west and narrow from north to south.
Li Mu gazed at the fortress in the distance, deep in thought.
The scene in front of him was obviously beyond his expectation.
For one thing, Li Mu did not expect that a large number of troops were stationed in the pass. Logically speaking, since the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had surrendered, neither the Taiping Army nor the Shanhai Army had any reason to stop at the pass.
If they really had an army, why didn't they enter Guilin County?
Everything was a mystery.
After all, only a few people knew of Ouyang Shuo's' good intentions'.
Secondly, Li Mu did not expect that the enemy seemed to have already known of their existence.
The intelligence system of Shanhai City was truly impressive.
Therefore, Li Mu also thought of another point. "Since the garrison of the fortress has received the news, the garrison of Shanhai City in Xunzhou County must have also received the news, right?"
"Maybe the reinforcements of Shanhai City are already on their way."
From this, it could be inferred that the capture of Guiping Pass was urgent. Because once the reinforcements of Shanhai City arrived, Li Mu really did not have the confidence to capture Guiping Pass in one fell swoop.
"It seems that the military counselor's plan has been changed."
Li Mu muttered to himself, but the look in his eyes became more and more determined. No change could stop the allied forces from achieving their strategic goal — Guiping Pass must be taken!
Although Li Mu was best at cavalry warfare, he was also good at attacking cities and seizing strongholds.
When two enemies met on a narrow road, only the brave would win.
Inside the fortress, on the city wall.
When the fierce 80,000 allied troops appeared on the mountain road in front of Guiping Pass, they would be faced with an iron-blooded army that was ready to defend the pass with their lives.
At this moment, the blood of the mountain barbarians suddenly boiled.
In this battle, they would fight for the new Barbarian King, to prove their loyalty and bravery.
All the failures and humiliations would be washed away with the blood of the enemy.
Military exploits were always the greatest glory of a soldier.
Pei Ju, the old minister, stood in the center of the city wall, watching the army in the distance with a grave expression. The number of the enemy was somewhat beyond his expectations.
How long could an army ten times their size hold out?
In addition to Guiping Pass, there was another pass that Pei Ju was worried about — Xuanwu Pass.
But there was nothing he could do to help Xuanwu Pass.
In fact, the two passes were not next to each other. There were hundreds of miles between them.
Therefore, what Pei Ju could do was to try his best to protect Guiping Pass, the main pass. Pei Ju did not completely give up on Xuanwu Pass. He did not transfer the 5,000 mountain barbarian soldiers stationed in Xuanwu Pass.
After all, if there was not a single soldier stationed in Xuanwu Pass, the enemy could easily take Xuanwu Pass. They could even take a detour to Xunzhou County and catch Guiping Pass unprepared.
Therefore, whether it was Guiping Pass or Xuanwu Pass, they could not be easily lost. These two passes could be said to be the two important gates to the north of the Mountain Sea Territory.
Once the gates were opened, it would be a sign of great decline.
"Wu ~ ~ ~"
Accompanied by the low sound of a bugle horn, the great battle suddenly began without any warning.
The two sides did not provoke each other, nor did they criticize or curse each other.
Ever since the battle began, the two armies had entered the fiercest and most tragic battle of offense and defense.
Pei Ju's confidence in defending Guiping Pass was first because of the strength of the mountain barbarian soldiers, and second because the pass was narrow, which was not conducive for the allied army to launch a large-scale attack.
Therefore, although the allied army had a vast army, the number of soldiers that could be invested in a unit of time was limited.
As the saying went, one man can hold the pass against ten thousand enemies.
Impregnable passes were not just words.
What was about to be tested now was the will and battle power of the eight thousand mountain barbarians. They had to endure under the continuous attacks of the enemy. They could not be discouraged in the slightest.
Once the mountain barbarians showed signs of fatigue, a gap would appear in the defensive line, giving the enemy an opportunity to take advantage of.
Muffled shouts echoed in the quiet mountain ridges.
Every moment, there were people dying on the battlefield.
Batches of the allied army were sent to the front line by Li Mu, and they fell one after another.
The strength of the mountain barbarian soldiers made all the allied soldiers look askance.
The defense line formed by the eight thousand mountain barbarians, braving the continuous rain of arrows from the allied army, efficiently and orderly harvesting the lives of the allied soldiers like the god of death.
The soldiers looked grim, and their eyes were fanatical.
Shi Hu, the commander of the mountain barbarians, took the lead and killed the enemy the most bravely.
This group of mountain barbarians seemed to be born for war. No enemy would make them retreat.
For a whole morning, the allied army launched five waves of fierce attacks, but they were all defeated. At the foot of the city wall of Guiping Pass, there was already a one-meter-high pile of white bones.
Similarly, under the baptism of the rain of arrows, the mountain barbarian soldiers on the city wall also suffered heavy losses.
The mountain barbarians were strong, but they were too brave and did not know how to be flexible. When killing the enemy, they did not know how to protect themselves at all, and were killed one by one by the rain of arrows.
More than a thousand mountain barbarian soldiers slept forever in Guiping Pass.
Seeing that it was already noon, Li Mu did not want to give the mountain barbarians any chance to breathe at all.
The well-rested army replaced the battered and battered remnants of the army, continuously launching a fierce attack on Guiping Pass.
The speed at which the troops changed from the front to the back was amazing.
The mountain barbarian soldiers on the city wall only had time to drink water and swallow a cold steamed bun, and the densely packed enemy troops once again rushed to the top of the city wall through ladders.
"Brothers, kill!"
Shi Hu swallowed the last mouthful of steamed bun, drew his Tang knife in advance, turned around, and waved, cutting off the head of a allied soldier, and a long line of blood splashed in the air.
The blood splashed on the steamed bun in the hands of the mountain barbarian soldiers, but the soldiers did not care at all. They did not even wipe it off and directly swallowed it with blood.
How could the bloody deeds of the Chiyou era be easily erased?
Seeing this, the allied soldiers were all shocked.
The enemy in front of them was not so much human, but a group of evil spirits from hell.
They were afraid before the battle began.
However, the bugle call to attack was endless.
The allied soldiers could only grit their teeth and fight with this group of "evil spirits".
This battle caused even the heavens and the earth to change color.
The red clouds above Guiping Pass formed a huge vortex, slowly rotating. Endless blood qi and murderous intent converged into the blood-colored vortex, which was very frightening.
This battle was not only a race of time, but also a competition of the will of the two sides.
In the face of endless attacks, the mountain barbarian soldiers were like immortal gods of war. Their bodies were filled with a steady source of power, and they did not show any signs of fatigue.
Seeing that the sunset had already risen in the distant sky, Li Mu's expression also became more and more solemn.
The tenacity of the enemy was beyond his expectation.
Because of this, Li Mu even thought of his old opponent, the powerful soldiers of the Great Qin.
At that time, the Qin army was also so brave and fierce.
"I didn't expect that there would be such an iron-blooded army in the wilderness."
Li Mu sighed and ordered the troops to retreat, ready to fight again tomorrow.
After a day of attack, although the allied forces suffered heavy losses, more than 25,000 people, according to Li Mu's estimation, more than half of the garrison troops in the stronghold had been killed or injured.
The remaining 4,000 soldiers would face the strong attack of the allied forces tomorrow.
If everything went well, they would be able to take Guiping Pass by noon tomorrow.
Li Mu's will had never been so firm.
The military counselor was right. Shanhai City was a giant dragon that was about to take off. They had to give this dragon a fatal blow before it took off.
Otherwise, there would be no space for other territories in the southwest to survive in the future.
"Even if you're a dragon, you'll still have to coil up." (To be continued.)
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