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Mu Tianbo hurriedly withdrew from Baoshan, and Long Zaitian had no time to gather his one thousand defeated soldiers.
They had less than two thousand soldiers left, and they fled south in panic, but were chased by Bai Wenxuan all the way.
Once morale is lost, a tiger will become a lamb. It is not surprising that an army of 100,000 people was chased by a few hundred people and dared not even turn their heads. After Long Zaitian was defeated, Mu Tianbo fled south in panic. It is conceivable how serious the morale loss was.
There were obviously many dangerous passes that were easy to defend but difficult to attack, but the local soldiers that Mu Tianbo left behind to stop Bai Wenxuan were always defeated at the first blow, and some even surrendered at the first sight of the enemy.
Seeing that Bai Wenxuan was getting closer and closer and could not be stopped, the two thousand soldiers became even more panic-stricken, fleeing day and night without daring to stay for a moment.
Mu Tianbo was in his early thirties, in the prime of his life. He had practiced martial arts since childhood and was good at using the meteor hammer. It was no problem for him to run all the way. However, the seventeen or eighteen-year-old prince Zhu Cihuan could not bear it. Due to the fatigue and shock, he fell ill and had to be carried away to escape.
This Zhu Cihuan was a handsome man with delicate skin and was accompanied by an old eunuch. Except for Mu Tianbo, even Long Zaitian and others did not know whether he was real or fake.
Along the way, Mu Tianbo personally guarded them on both sides and was very polite, so everyone was skeptical.
Seeing that Zhu Cihuan was bedridden, Mu Tianbo was extremely anxious. He had finally raised this great banner, and if anything happened to Zhu Cihuan at this critical juncture and people's hearts were scattered, then it would be really over.
After escaping to Diecui Mountain, seeing Zhu Cihuan's pale face and dying from the bumpy ride, Mu Tianbo had to order his troops to stop and use the pass of Diecui Mountain to block Bai Wenxuan.
That night, it rained heavily.
Long Zaitian, Lu Yongming and others believed that the Qin army's firearms could not be used in the heavy rain, so they persuaded Mu Tianbo to launch a night attack while the rain was heavy, and wiped out Bai Wenxuan's thousand pursuers in one fell swoop.
Seeing that everyone agreed, Mu Tianbo ordered Lu Yongming to take 300 people down the mountain to steal the camp.
The night was as dark as ink, the rain was pouring down, the water in the mountains was getting more and more, pouring down, the sky was thundering from time to time, and there were shocking flashes of lightning. After the lightning, there was often a deeper darkness, and you couldn't see your hand in front of you.
The mountain path was rugged and steep. After the rain, it became even more difficult to walk on. If you were not careful, you would slide down the deep valley next to it.
Lu Yongming led 300 people to walk less than a hundred steps in the dark when three or four soldiers fell into a ravine. Everyone was so scared that they didn't want to go forward anymore.
Lu Yongming had no choice but to have ten soldiers walk forward holding a rope. This way, if one person slipped, the others could hold him up and he would not fall into the ravine and die.
Relying on this method, Lu Yongming spent nearly an hour to reach Bai Wenxuan's camp, which was a few miles away. He looked around and saw that the camp was pitch black, without a single person in sight.
Lu Yongming thought that the Qin army had taken shelter in tents, so he led his troops to charge in. He shouted and overturned the tents one by one, only to find that the camp was empty. There was not even a ghost.
Lu Yongming was horrified, thinking that this time it was all over. This was clearly Bai Wenxuan's empty city plan. "Quickly retreat, quickly retreat!" Lu Yongming shouted loudly, and hundreds of soldiers hurriedly retreated from the empty camp.
But until this moment, there was still silence and no one was seen around. Lightning flashed across the sky one after another, and the sound of thunder was so loud that it made people's scalps numb. The empty camp was like a ghost town, appearing and disappearing in the lightning.
What's going on? Where did the Qin army go
In fact, they didn't run too far. It turned out that heavy rain fell at night, and Bai Wenxuan was worried that it would cause mountain torrents. He couldn't even demolish the camp in time, so he took his soldiers and hid in a huge cave nearby.
At this time, they heard shouts coming from the camp, and realized that the enemy had come to steal the camp. How could this be? Bai Wenxuan personally led the Qin army to fight in the rain.
Lu Yongming thought that the Qin army had set an ambush, so he dared not stay for a moment and fled back to Diecui Mountain with hundreds of his men. It was a miserable journey as people kept falling into the valley and screaming.
Even though he was drenched in the rain, Bai Wenxuan refused to give up and chased all the way to Diecui Mountain Pass. When Lu Yongming escaped to this place, there were only about a hundred people left, and more than half of them died from falling.
The defenders at the pass saw him fleeing in a panic, and heard the Qin army's shouts and screams behind them. They were so horrified that they actually fled with Lu Yongming.
Lu Yongming was covered in mud and water and fled back to Diecui Mountain. When Mu Tianbo and others heard that even the pass had been lost, their soldiers became even more panicked. Without any time to think, they immediately fled in the rain.
Bai Wen selected two hundred men and horses to chase and kill Mu Tianbo desperately, forcing him to abandon his weapons and armor and be defeated. When he met the 20,000 Dongwu troops who came to support him, he was left with less than five hundred people. Zhu Cihuan's illness became more serious. He felt hot and cold, and kept talking nonsense. It was obvious that he was dying.
This time, the Dongwu Kingdom not only dispatched an army of 20,000, but also hundreds of precious elephant soldiers. Hundreds of elephants are huge in size, but they are extremely suitable for fighting in mountainous areas like the southwest.
When Cui Feng's army arrived, they were overjoyed when they saw these hundreds of elephants. These elephants could carry several people on their backs, climb mountains and wade through water as if walking on flat ground, and they could find leaves to eat by themselves, without the need for special fodder. They could be used for fighting or for carrying food and fodder.
The two sides, with a total of 60,000 troops, confronted each other at Wenji Mountain, north of Mangshi.
In order to capture the 500 elephants, Cui Feng put a lot of effort into it. He first let Miao Xi's chieftain soldiers fight. As expected, Miao Xi's 2,000 chieftain soldiers were instantly defeated in front of the rumbling war elephants.
But Prince Pingdali of Dongwu State saw that the Qin army was in a neat formation and was very cautious, so he did not take advantage of the situation to launch a fierce attack. Before Cui Feng could send spearmen to surround them, Pingdali immediately ordered the elephant soldiers to retreat to the mountain pass, causing Cui Feng to lose more than he gained, and lost two or three hundred chieftain soldiers in vain.
Pingdali has been fighting in wars since he was a teenager, and has made great contributions to the expansion of Dongwu Kingdom over the years. Now that Dongwu King Talong is old and in poor health, he has been designated as the heir to the throne.
This time, He Long sent him personally with 20,000 troops to support Mu Tianbo, which shows how much importance he attaches to this.
Seeing that he had won the first battle, Mu Tianbo felt relieved and handed over all matters of resisting the Qin army to him, and concentrated on serving Zhu Cihuan.
Pingda was victorious but not arrogant, nor did he take the initiative to attack. He defended the mountain strictly and prepared to fight with Cui Feng. Cui Feng had a large number of troops and great logistical pressure, so he would definitely not be able to outlast him.
Afterwards, Cui Feng sent Bai Wenxuan to the foot of the mountain to challenge Ping Dali. Bai Wenxuan and his men went down the mountain and cursed for a long time, but Ping Dali acted as if he didn't hear anything and refused to fight. Bai Wenxuan wasted a lot of energy in vain and finally had to return disappointed.
This won't do. Cui Feng urgently summoned all the generals to discuss countermeasures. In the central army tent, Song Qingxian said, "General Cui, we can't delay any longer. It's difficult for us to transport food and grass. We must advance to Dongwu Kingdom as soon as possible so that we can get food from the enemy and fight to support the war."
Cui Feng's strong and powerful hand with bulging veins hit the commander's table and said unwillingly: "Don't worry about Song Jian. I know the problem of food and grass. Wait a little longer. We must capture these 500 elephant soldiers. This will be extremely beneficial to our next battle."
Bai Wenxuan added: "The terrain here is sandwiched between two mountains with a path in the middle. Now the enemy is firmly guarding and won't come out. There is no other way except to attack violently."
Chen Guimin said, "General, what I mean is that we should launch a night attack. After all, this mountain forest is different from the fortress. There are always many places to climb. At night, let a small group of troops sneak up the mountain with rockets to launch a surprise attack. Once they succeed, the main army will immediately attack the mountain. As long as the coordination is good, we can still capture the 500 elephant soldiers."
Cui Feng nodded and said, "It seems that this is the only way now. After nightfall tonight, General Chen will select fifty men and horses to sneak up the mountain and give him a hard blow."
"Yes, General."
In the past, it would be difficult for fifty people to achieve anything significant. But after being equipped with heavy individual weapons such as rocket launchers, it is different. Once they can successfully break through the enemy's sentry post, a dozen rocket launchers will attack together, and the firepower will be so fierce that all enemies will tremble.
Cui Feng was planning a night attack, and Long Zaitian was also advising Ping Dali: "Your Highness, the Qin army has been challenging us for half a day, but we ignored them. They will most likely attack us at night, so we need to prepare early."
Pindali replied calmly, "I know. Has General Long ever hunted wild boars? Wild boars are very strong. The easiest way to catch them is to install more iron clamps and dig more traps in places where they can pass, and then just wait for the prey to come to you."
"Your Highness, are you talking about setting a trap on the mountain? Okay, I'll take people to set it right away."
"Okay, I'll leave this matter to General Long."
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ps: Today seems to be Valentine's Day. I can't ask for a lover, but I ask for subscriptions and recommendation tickets. Unknowingly, another half a month has passed. Have your subscription monthly tickets come out? Monthly tickets, I also ask for monthly tickets!
.(To be continued..)
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